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Data Center Consolidation: Agencies Making Progress, but Planned Savings Goals Need to Be Established [Reissued on March 4, 2016], GAO-16-323: Published: Mar 3, 2016. Publicly Released: Mar 3, 2016: The 24 agencies participating in the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative have collectively made progress on their data center closures efforts. As of November 2015, agencies …
“Houston is the fourth-largest city in the country. It’s home to the nation’s largest refining and petrochemical complex, where billions of gallons of oil and dangerous chemicals are stored. And it’s a sitting duck for the next big hurricane. Learn why Texas isn’t ready…” This is a visual and content rich piece of reporting that …
News release, March 3, 2016: “Today, the U. S. Environmental protection Agency (EPA) released for public comment and peer review a draft risk assessment for 1-Bromopropane (1-BP) used in spray adhesives, dry cleaning (including spot cleaners) applications, and degreasing uses. “This draft assessment will provide workers and consumers with critical information about the risks associated …
theguardian: “More African elephants are being killed for ivory than are being born, despite poaching levels falling for the fourth year in a row in 2015. The new data, released on UN world wildlife day on Thursday, shows about 60% of elephant deaths are at the hands of poachers, meaning the overall population is most …
“A new NASA study finds that the recent drought that began in 1998 in the eastern Mediterranean Levant region, which comprises Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Turkey, is likely the worst drought of the past nine centuries. Scientists reconstructed the Mediterranean’s drought history by studying tree rings as part of an effort to …
Via FAS – CRS Report – Legislative Options for Financing Water Infrastructure – Claudia Copeland Specialist, in Resources and Environmental Policy; Steven Maguire, Section Research Manager; William J. Mallett, Specialist in Transportation Policy. February 18, 2016. “This report addresses several options considered by Congress to address the financing needs of local communities for wastewater and drinking …
CDC Statement, February 18, 2016: “CDC/ATSDR [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry] was notified February 13 of an error in its report released February 10, 2016, about the possible health effects from exposure to formaldehyde emitted from select laminate flooring samples. Health risks of people who have the laminate …
Via EPA – “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today released DWMAPS – the Drinking Water Mapping Application to Protect Source Waters. This robust, online mapping tool provides the public, water system operators, state programs, and federal agencies with critical information to help them safeguard the sources of America’s drinking water. DWMAPS allows users to learn …
Carey Gillam writes: “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the nation’s chief food safety regulator, plans to start testing certain foods for residues of the world’s most widely used weed killer after the World Health Organization’s cancer experts last year declared the chemical a probable human carcinogen. The FDA’s move comes amid growing public …
“Welcome to the new NOAA.gov. This site was redesigned with you in mind. Based on your feedback, we re-engineered the site with the theme of “At Your Service.” We’ve made big changes to help you more quickly and easily find the NOAA news, data and information you’ve come to expect. We’ve also made it easier to …
Managing waste in emerging markets – Hauke Engel, Martin Stuchtey, and Helga Vanthournout: “Economic growth in emerging economies is bringing prosperity, rising living standards, and overdue relief from poverty, but increased consumption typically increases resource use—especially the use of plastics—and waste production….the rapid surge in waste volumes since 2007 is straining waste-management systems in many …
E-Commerce: Convenience Built on a Mountain of Cardboard: “Online shopping is even worse for the environment than traditional retailing, with environmental costs including additional cardboard and other packaging plus emissions from “increasingly personalized” freight services. Consumers expect that even their modest wants should be satisfied like urgent needs….From a sustainability perspective, we’re heading in the …
