WASHINGTON—U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy and Canada’s Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna today announced that Canada and the U.S. have adopted targets to reduce phosphorus entering affected areas…
Traffic Noise Second-Biggest Pollution Problem in the European Union
Traffic noise is the second biggest environmental problem in the EU, according to WHO. After air pollution, noise is affecting health the most. But legislation…
City Planners Increasingly Connect Public Health Problems in their Planning
Standing on the edge of the Anacostia River, with the disused piers of the old 11th Street Bridge in front of him, Scott Kratz says he doesn’t yet know…
Transportation Director Calls Traffic ‘Public Health Threat’
Portland Bureau of Transportation Director Leah Treat declared war on cars Tuesday, saying her top priority was providing more alternatives to automobiles for city residents. "We have a growing public health crisis in Portland — traffic," Treat said during…
Environmental Group Maps Gas Leaks Across Massachusetts
Environmental advocacy group Conservation Law Foundation has been working with Boston University and using public records to map the gas leaks reported by utilities. Those leaks cost consumers money in lost fuel and pose safety and environmental risks. Read…
How Town Planning Can Make us Thin and Healthy
It isn’t hard to find an architect who will tell you that vast swathes of the British urban landscape are ugly, grey and unappealing – nor would you struggle to find people who agreed with them. But could it be that the look and the layout of our cities…
New York City Releases an Interactive Rat Map
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has announced a new initiative, an interactive map that informs users of the number of rats living in their neighborhood. Dubbed the Rat Information Portal (RIP), the mapping system lets users search…
WHO Road Safety Statistics: Sweden Almost Ten Times Safer than Egypt
The World Health Organization has an online map site with global data for road traffic death rates. The risk of dying from a road traffic accident is almost ten times higher for people in Egypt compared to Sweden. The site also factors in other causes of mortality.…
Air Pollution Sensors Take the Tram in Zurich
For almost two years, researchers at ETH Zurich have been measuring air quality along tram lines in Zurich. They have now presented maps that for the first time show precisely when and where air pollution in Zurich is at its highest. About 200 million passengers…
How Do You Tell a Whole City to Shush?
We’re speeding toward the loudest night of the year—New Year’s Eve. But for some city folk, the decibel levels on Dec. 31 may not sound all that different from the volume on, say, Jan. 4. And that, says a growing group of noise control advocates, is…
