Author: E-The Environmental Magazine

Solar desalination is a technique used to remove salt from water via a specially designed still that uses solar energy to boil seawater and capture the resulting steam, which is in turn cooled and condensed into pristine freshwater. Salt and other impurities are left behind in the still...

Dear EarthTalk: What’s the latest on efforts to ban plastic bags? How many U.S. locales have instituted some kind of ban, and have these initiatives made a dent in the amount of plastic litter?

Dear EarthTalk: Why are wildfires on the increase and what can be done to stop them from happening?

Dear EarthTalk: With summer officially here now, what can you tell us about which sunscreens are safe and which are not?

Fracking, short for hydraulic fracturing, is a process whereby drillers blast millions of gallons of water, sand and hazardous chemicals at high-pressure into...

Sadly for our world and its biodiversity, whales are still being killed despite an international ban on commercial whaling.

Dear EarthTalk, Which are the most fuel-efficient hybrid and/or all-electric cars available to consumers today (just the affordable ones, please!) 

Dear EarthTalk: Pharmaceuticals were in the news again recently, how they are polluting water and raising a host of health issues because we dispose of them both unused and used through body waste elimination. What can be done? — Lucy Abbot, Macon, GA

Given the lack of federal action to curb greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., several East Coast states joined together in 2008 to form the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)...

Mercury in the fish we like to eat is a big problem in the United States and increasingly around the world.

Dear EarthTalk: Some drycleaners I've seen offer "wet cleaning" as opposed to dry cleaning. What's the difference? Is it better for the environment? — Elizabeth Connelly, Tampa, FL

Dear EarthTalk: I heard someone say that legalizing pot — as Californians considered doing last year — would benefit the environment. How would that be? — William T., Portland, OR

Dear EarthTalk: How are wild dolphins faring on the high seas? Recent reports of dolphin deaths in the Gulf of Mexico may well be due to last year's BP oil spill, but I imagine there are many threats to dolphins from pollution, human over fishing and other causes. — Henry Milken, Atlanta, GA

Aren’t environmental issues primarily about health since the bottom line is that pollution makes us sick?

Has anyone ever studied the environmental impact of discarded  cigarettes?

Dear EarthTalk: I saw a TV ad for toilet paper with no cardboard core to save paper...

Dear EarthTalk: Why did 34 million wild sockeye salmon return to the Fraser River in British Columbia this year?

While most of the world fixates on how to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases we emit into the atmosphere, scientists and engineers around the world are busy working on various “geo-engineering” technologies

Best described as a loose association of cities focused on sustainability, the emerging “green cities movement”.

Is there a way to utilize the energy in my dogs’ poop? I have three dogs and lots of poop and would like to dispose of it...

Thousands of American municipalities add chlorine to their drinking water to get rid of microbes.

The reason you don’t hear much about recycling these types of plastic films is that most municipalities...

Native tribes across the American West have been and continue to be subjected...

While there is no nationwide program administering prison agriculture programs...

Dear EarthTalk: What kind of job opportunities might be opened up by the new federal emphasis on green projects? — Dick Wetzler, St. Paul, MN

Dear EarthTalk: What are “eco-villages?” I’ve heard of one in  New York near  Ithaca and another one called Arcosanti being built in  Arizona . — Jim Killian,  Brookline,  MA

Dear EarthTalk: Is it true that military sonar exercises actually kill marine wildlife? — John Slocum, Newport, RI

Due to its high cost, energy intensiveness and overall ecological footprint...

This argument that human-caused carbon emissions are merely a drop in the bucket

Dear EarthTalk: What’s the deal nowadays with aerosol spray cans? I thought that the ozone-depleting chemicals used in them were eliminated back in the 1970s. Is this true? If so, what is now used as a propellant? Are aerosols still bad for the ozone layer?

Dear EarthTalk: What's the story with LED light bulbs that are reputed to be even more energy-efficient than compact fluorescents?

Dear EarthTalk: What’s available now in lawnmowers that are easier on the environment?

Dear EarthTalk: The 2008 Summer Olympics in China drew a lot of attention for political reasons. One ray of light is China's effort to make the event as green as possible.

Dear EarthTalk: I’ve heard that there are plans to build a large repository for nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain in Nevada, but that plans have been slow and are very controversial.