A new United Nations commissioned report claims that climate change is a major challenge to a 2004 global treaty whose purpose was to slash exposure to 21 very dangerous chemicals. The 66-page report states that the risks of exposure may rise if additional landfills and stockpiles leak as a result of flooding or other extreme types of weather conditions associated with temperatures that are on the rise. The chemicals that are kept in waste dumps or stockpiles to later be removed or incinerated could just wash away, become more erratic, or escape in the warmer weather via gas emissions. The report was being discussed very recently at a United Nations environment meeting in Kenya. The report from the United Nations is expected to be released on the treaty’s website. The treaty, which is also known as the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, is for the purpose of protecting the environment and people’s health from very dangerous chemicals that store up in the environment, travel for long distances through the air and water, and then find their way into and through the food chain.  These chemicals present a known risk to people and the environment because they endure in people’s bodies, ...

PepsiCo Inc. Recently announced a bottle that is made one hundred percent from plant material, attesting that their green technology is better than their competitor's, Coca-Cola, in reducing their carbon footprint in the manufacturing of their drink products. Pepsi is basically saying that their bottles are now greener than Coca Cola's bottles. Let the battle begin! Pepsi's bottle was crafted from switch grass, cornhusks, pine bark and other materials. Down the line, Pepsi plans to utilize oat hulls, potato scraps, orange peels and other leftovers from its food business to manufacture its drink bottles. Their new bottles have the same look and feel they always have, and the new bottle protects the drinks in the bottle just the same way as it always had, according to Rocco Papalia, the senior vice president of advanced research at PepsiCo. According to Papalia, people won't be able to tell the difference between the two bottles. According to PepsiCo, they have manufactured the world's first bottle of PET, a common type of plastic, that is made one hundred percent from plant-based materials. Coca-Cola is currently manufacturing a bottle that uses thirty percent plant-based materials. They recently estimated that it would be a number of years before ...

A number of hedge fund managers are grabbing up shares of LyondellBasell Industries, which produces chemicals like polyethylene and propylene, both of which are the materials that go into making plastics. Propylene is a molded plastic that is used in producing clothing, rope, car parts and numerous other common products. Polyethylene is the most common plastic, used in a wide array of products from bulletproof vests to shopping bags. Plastics and raw materials are growing in popularity, suggesting that hedge funds are diversifying commodity bets beyond gold, the sweetheart of 2010 returning 30%, as inflationary pressures ooze into energy and food. It seems that investors are looking for commodity-related plays as the global economy surfaces from the recession, because of the bets that major hedge funds are making on LyondellBasell and other raw materials manufactures like Penn West Petroleum and Repsol YPF SA. In 2009, LyondellBasell declared bankruptcy as a result of the struggling economy. They are the third largest chemical maker in the United States. York Capital Management, Greenlight Capital, Viking Global Investors, and Farallon Capital Management made their stakes in LyondellBasell public when the chemical manufacturer returned to the public markets last October. China is leading the way in the rebound ...

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) predicts in a recent study that rising gasoline prices will result in Americans resorting to public transportation in record numbers. The APTA is calling on Congress to address the growing demand for public transportation by putting together a better long-term investment in public transportation. The study's analysis suggests that if expert's predictions of regular gas prices reaching $4 per gallon across the country come true, an additional 670 million passenger trips can be expected. That comes out to over 10.8 billion trips per year. If gas prices soar to $5 per gallon, the study expects an additional 1.5 billion passenger trips, which would result in over 11.6 billion trips annually. If gas prices reach $6 per gallon, the study says we can expect an additional 2.7 billion passenger trips, resulting in over 12.9 billion trips annually. The APTA President William Millar stated that the rising prices at the gas pumps are a serious wake up call for our country to deal with the rising demand for public transportation services. Without major, long-term investments in public transportation, Americans will be limited by travel options or in the worst-case scenario, stranded. Public transportation is the best ...

The connection between cell phone usage and brain cancer has been on the minds of doctors and activists for the last years. The cell phone industry has consistently retorted that there is no evidence that cell phone radiation can affect the brain, let alone cause cancer. According to a recent study from the Journal of the American Medical Association, a cell phones electromagnetic field can in fact cause changes in brain activity. Regions closest to the antenna show higher rates of energy consumption.  This does not demonstrate that cell phone use can lead to cancer. The study revealed only that there were changes in brain activity occurring as a result of cell phone radiation. It is not clear whether the changes were good, bad or neutral. However, this is the first study that definitively demonstrates that cell phone radiation does something to the brain, even in short durations of time. Exactly what it does is still unclear. Fortunately, there are easy ways to cut back on your cell phone radiation exposure without having to stop using your cell phone altogether. Use A Wired Headset The easiest and most effective way to keep radiation away from your head is to use a wired ...