Harmful algal blooms are a growing concern in the Great Lakes. The toxins they produce can close beaches, and even poison drinking water. What’s fueling these blooms? Phosphorus, a key ingredient in agricultural fertilizers. But the way it’s being used comes at a cost.
To Breathe Again: Living Along Sulphur Run
It takes a lot of work to survive winter. It takes a lot of gear, a lot of preparations. Buying salt for the driveway, buying kitty litter for our trunks. Making sure there’s blankets and flashlights and bottled water in the car in case we’re stuck in a drift or the car won’t start when it’s below freezing.
“Green space is an equity issue... Part of environmental justice is making sure that everyone has access to the outdoors. It's important for physical health, it's important for mental health, and it's not a luxury—it's a human right.”
Toxins are not constrained by fences, boundary lines, or ownership deeds. Toxins don't care whether you actually live here or [...]
Low-quality air has things in it that will get inside you and kill you slowly.
In Ohio, local advocacy groups are using low-cost sensors to gather information.
A local factory in West Chicago, Illinois was once the largest producer of thorium in the world. This fall the “radioactive capital of the Midwest” is doing one last cleanup.
In Pennsylvania’s Oil Creek Valley, the messy legacy of the country’s first petroleum boom.
Draining Ohio’s Great Black Swamp was a feat of human effort and engineering. Restoring it will be even harder.
In Akron, Ohio, toxic exposures to benzene and asbestos made people sick and cut lives short.
The largest potash mine in the country is coming to Central Michigan. But at what cost?