Science and Technology: Conservation, List 1

How could intelligent beings seek to control a few unwanted species by a method that contaminated the entire environment and brought the threat of disease and death even to their own kind? Silent Spring

As for the Delaware, it was a handy dumping ground for anything and everything—household and human waste, manufacturing rubbish, and debris from the hundreds of ships that visited the city every year. An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793

Leading a departmental working group, Silverman identified huge gaps in air pollution controls at DOE facilities and initiated steps to prevent the discharge of these emissions. The Washington Post

The project was triggered by a BBC report on plastic pollution in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, which left me wondering if it was possible to eliminate disposable plastic from normal daily life. BBC

Unlike fossil fuels, wind, solar, and hydroelectric systems generate electricity with no associated air pollution emissions. 1919 The Year That Changed America

The bus exhaust freezes, trapping all the noise in a gritty cloud. Wintergirls

He said there were so many untapped sources of energy in the world that it was ridiculous to be burning all that fossil fuel. The Glass Castle

“The fumes were very strong and burned our eyes and throats. If I had stayed there long, I believe the chemicals would have permanently damaged my lungs and eyes.” Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps

He didn't stop until cars and buses began to snarl and belch their way through the roads of the park, filling his nose and mouth with gas and oil fumes. The Contender

Reducing pollution from gas-powered vehicles will have a direct, immediate and positive impact on health. The Seattle Times

As I waited, I saw Ali Shekari, who was trying to fix a bicycle he had found in the landfill behind Hotel Barba, under the mountains of trash. Everything Sad Is Untrue

They were nearing the edge of Lkossa, a grittier part of the city littered with old crates, debris, and other filth. Beasts of Prey

It found that 90% of the emissions attributed to the top 20 climate culprits was from use of their products, such as petrol, jet fuel, natural gas, and thermal coal. The Guardian

Drinking straws that are made from materials like paper and bamboo are often promoted as more eco-friendly than their plastic counterparts. Salon

Trees are known to improve air quality by capturing six common air pollutants and toxic gases: ground-level ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and lead. Scientific American

The problem of water pollution by pesticides can be understood only in context, as part of the whole to which it belongs — the pollution of the total environment of mankind. Silent Spring

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the world's worst, brought death, misery and radioactive contamination. Reuters

You and Kutti watched as the boys carefully separated our rubbish into piles: cardboard, metal, plastic, glass. The Bridge Home

“Here’s a fun fact,” Mr. Chang says, “if humans bomb the planet with their nuclear arsenal, the only life left on Earth will be cockroaches. Only they can survive the toxic fallout.” Free Lunch

But industrial waste is a huge problem: Vehicles release heavy metal pollutants, for instance, and acid mine drainage seeps into water sources. Salon