The UN recently outlined its development goals for 2030 at a conference in Olso, where Director General of the U.N. Industrial Development Organization Kandeh Yumkella stated that air pollution is a bigger killer than AIDS and malaria combined. He went on to say that the transition towards cleaner energy sources could cut this death toll 50% by 2030.

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Post tags: air pollution, Air quality, alternative energy, green energy, Kandeh Yumkella, pollution deaths, renewable energy, UN Industrial Development Organization, World Health Organization

Just a couple of days ago we reported on the incredible blanket of pollution overtaking the city of Beijing. The problem has plagued the city for more than two weeks, but over the last few days pollution levels have spiked and air quality readings are 40 times above recommended safety levels. Visibility in the area was reduced to about 600 feet at one point, with some areas experiencing visibility as low as 300 feet. The near emergency state has resulted in cancelled flights and forced much of Beijing’s population indoors as they’ve been advised to stay inside to avoid respiratory illness. To capture the dire scope of the current situation, The Atlantic’s Alan Taylor gathered a collection of incredible eye-opening photos taken over the last weeks of this city shrouded by pollution.

SEE ALL THE PHOTOS AT THE ATLANTIC >

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Post tags: air pollution, air pollution in china, air quality health, beijing air quality, carbon emissions, china pollution, chinese air pollution, environmental regulations, pm2.5, pollution monitoring, respiatory disease, smog, World Health Organization

NASA’s Earth Observatory has released startling new satellite images of the thick layer of smog that engulfed Beijing over the weekend. Two images, taken on January 14 and January 3, 2013, show the record-breaking levels of air pollution in China’s capital, with extensive haze, low clouds and fog over the surrounding region. After the pollution levels reached their maximum mid-January, an “orange fog warning” was issued by the state, advising residents of Beijing to stay inside.

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Post tags: air pollution, Beijing air pollution, beijing air quality, Beijing record air pollution, Beijing smog, China air pollution, China environmental destruction, China orange fog warning, China satellite images, NASA Earth Observatory, NASA satellite images Beijing, World Health Organization

While transparency regarding air quality data may still be relatively new to China, Sunday marked the third day of record-breaking, and remarkably dangerous smog in Beijing. Residents of the notoriously polluted Chinese capital were advised to stay inside as hospital admissions for respiratory illness reportedly jumped by 30%, and sales of gas masks and respirators spiked. The US Embassy—supporting the data from the Beijing Environmental Monitoring Center—described “beyond index” levels of PM2.5, an airborne particulate that is small enough to deeply penetrate the lungs.

Read the rest of Beijing Smog ‘Beyond Index’ as Air Pollution Recorded at Over 30 Times Safe Levels

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Post tags: air pollution, air quality health, beijing air quality, carbon emissions, china pollution, environmental regulations, pm2.5, pollution monitoring, respiatory disease, smog, World Health Organization

Hong Kong is set to introduce a new clean-air measure that will ban high-polluting vehicles and offer subsidies to help owners replace diesel-powered buses and trucks. Among the banned vehicles will be some of the 121,300 commercial diesel vehicles that form a substantial source of smog in the city. Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying will announce the new measures in January and a reduction in emissions is expected to be seen as early as 2014.

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Post tags: air pollution, clean air measures, diesel-powered vehicles, emission reduction, emissions free transportation, European emission standards, exhaust fumes, high-polluting vehicles, Hong Kong smog, World Health Organization

There’s something fishy going on in the Golden State, and we aren’t talking about the GMO genes being spliced into the tomatoes. On Tuesday, California voters ultimately failed to pass Proposition 37, a bill that would mandate labeling for GMO foods – the vote was close, with 47% in favor and 53% against. However back in October, the U.S Department of Justice received an official complaint from an attorney with the CA 37 Right to Know campaign stating that the opposition had made a number of outrageous and possibly illegal statements in their efforts to defeat the law. The advertisement featured the FDA logo below the quote, “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says a labeling policy like Prop 37 would be ‘inherently misleading’.” The FDA never made such a statement, and faking their endorsement could get the creators of the ad into serious hot water.

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Post tags: academy of nutrition and dietetics, California, california nurses association, dupont, fbi, fda, food democracy now, GMO, jason jones, Monsanto, national academy of sciences, official voter guide, organic consumers union, Pepsi, proposition 37, Right to Know, Sacramento, Sierra Club, syngenta, the center for food safety, ufw, us department of justice, World Health Organization

In the developing world, disease caused by poor sanitation is the second largest cause of death in children under five years old, and according to the World Health Organization, 1.5 million lives are lost each year to diarrhea and contaminated drinking water. Now a group of undergraduate students from Arizona State University participating in the 2012 International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition have developed an inexpensive biosensor that can detect major pathogens.

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Post tags: Arizona State University, bacteria, biosensor, diarrhea, DNA, drinking water, igem, MIT, stanford university, World Health Organization

Residents of Japan may be able to breathe a sigh of relief as the World Health Organisation (WHO) recently announced that radiation levels in most of the country are “below cancer-causing levels.” It has been 14 months since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan caused a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The damage caused massive radiation leaks and forced the evacuation of thousands of people. At the time, the disaster was said to be worse than Chernobyl, but now the WHO report suggests that the contamination is not as bad as originally supposed.

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Post tags: cancer, chernobyl, Fukushima, inhabitat-news, Japan, nuclear disaster, nuclear power, radiation, tsunami, WHO, World Health Organization