The drinking water of a large number of cities in the United States contains an unhealthy amount of contaminants and chemicals. Some organizations and state environmental agencies that analyze water data claim that the level of chemicals in some drinking water is higher than the recommended health guidelines and the pollutants found in the water are higher than the limitations set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Unknown to most Americans, a surprising number of U.S. cities have drinking water with unhealthy levels of chemicals and contaminants. 24/7 Wall St, a website that took a cold hard look at the quality of water supplies in big cities, utilized data from the Environmental Working Group that was collected for a five year period that ended in 2009. While some cities failed to submit the necessary information for the database including Salt Lake City, Washington D.C. and Detroit, cities in other states provided inadequate data to be included in the database including cities in Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Kansas and Louisiana. The test results from the national database reported 316 contaminants in water that is supplied to 256 million Americans in 48,000 communities in 45 states. The data suggests that there were 202 ...

The National Workgroup for Safe Markets is a coalition of public and environmental health advocacy groups. They published a report that revealed that cans of food expose people to dangerous levels of bisphenol A (BPA), which is a hormone-disrupting chemical that has been connected to aggression in children, heart disease and obesity. The report examines the levels of BPA in canned food products in addition to how much BPA the average person would consume from eating the foods that are packaged in those cans. 50 samples of canned foods were gathered from home cupboards in 19 states and 1 Canadian province. The samples were tested by an independent lab, which measured the BPA levels in the cans. The lab found BPA in 92% of the canned foods. The research found that people, who ate their meals throughout the day from canned goods, had high levels of BPA in their system. Even someone who had only a can of veggies at dinner and a can of soda had a high amount of BPA in their system.  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states that a low exposure level of BPA per day is safe, however low levels of BPA have been connected to aggressive ...

The environmental movement is facing some challenges. Supporters of the movement are starting to accept that the chance of both national and international action on climate change has become an afterthought. Republicans in Congress are attacking the Environmental Protection Agency, arguing against putting more money toward environmental protection since the country is in so much debt. The environmental movement has been challenged to maintain its importance in a rough political climate that isn’t always rooting for the environment.  The food movement is on the rise and it is bringing together producers, consumers, politicians and the media. The food movement’s growth might be able to start a social and political transformation that the environmentalists have been striving for in recent years. The food movement strives to change the way Americans eat, the way they farm, and moving them away from cheap calories and industrialized food production and toward smaller scale organic food production. The food movement is a series of organized smaller mobilizations, rather than a single national movement. A producer for the documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, explained that routine family dinners improve both eating habits and schoolwork and positive behavior for families. All around the country, activists are speaking about a ...

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced that it would make it less expensive for companies to cut down on toxic air pollution from industrial boilers and incinerators. The EPA explains that they have found ways to control pollution at over 200,000 industrial boilers, incinerators and heaters around the country at a 50% cost savings to the institutions and companies that run them. These savings would amount to $1.8 billion while still preventing numerous heart attacks and asthma cases annually.  These new ways come after pressure from Congress and a court ordered deadline, which resulted in majorly overhauled regulation from the EPA. The new rules established by the EPA set forth regulations for public health safeguards while keeping costs lower than what was originally estimated. The original cost was set at $3.9 billion. The agency also completed an updated job analysis that reveals that the changes made will yield 2,200 jobs, which doesn't yet include employment stemming from purchases of pollution-control technology. The major discount for polluting industries lets Congress know that public health benefits can be reached more economically, and that the administration is serious about President Obama's executive order to review regulations that had a negative impact on job ...

The incandescent light bulb will soon be no more. IKEA recently sent out a reminder that they will no longer be selling incandescent bulbs at all of its stores in the United States. Incandescent bulbs are being phased out starting next year, as manufacturers in the United States will not be allowed to produce 100-watt bulbs, under federal law. By the start of 2014, the only incandescent bulbs that will be found on the market will be 3 way bulbs, plant lights, and appliance lamps. Despite the fact that incandescent bulbs are disappearing off the shelves, consumers have been slow to the punch when it comes to purchasing the alternative: LEDs and CFLs. Consumers have complained that CFLs, aka compact fluorescent lights, put off a harsh greenish beam of light, which is unappealing when compared to the warm glow of the incandescent bulb.  LEDs cost more money and consumers in the United States are less aware of them. Neither CFLs nor LEDs are available as a dimmer and thus, both options are not ideal for people looking for some kind of mood lighting. As a result, incandescent bulbs still dominate sales in the lighting world, holding a high of 82% of ...