The U.S. recently celebrated the Fourth of July with dazzling fireworks displays in many cities.

Deep in the heart of a protected area like Doñana National Park, it is supposedly clean and free from pollution compared to other kinds of areas such as a big city’s downtown area. 

Around the world, more than three billion people – nearly half the world’s population – cook their food using solid fuels like firewood and charcoal on open fires or traditional stoves. 

From high levels of lead found in school drinking water to industry sites releasing toxic heavy metals into the air, over 40 years of regulations in the United States have failed to protect human and environmental health from toxic chemicals.

Agriculture contributes to 70% of total emissions by humans of nitrous oxide (N2O), a potent polluting gas and the one to blame for the hole in the ozone layer.

If these walls could talk, they might tell you that cutting energy costs and pollution may be as easy as giving them a fresh coat of lighter, more reflective paint.

Hundreds of household items, including furniture, paint and electronics, emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which at high levels can pose health risks.

A study released today provides the most complete list yet of the advantages of solar energy — from carbon sequestration to improvements for pollinator habitat. 

Populations living around Amazon areas where forests are cleared with fires to grow crops in soils fertilised by the ashes might have an increased risk of DNA damage, mutation and cancer because of the air pollution.

The “zero waste” trend could have a friend in the form of biosolids.