Tugboats dragging air quality anchor

Tugboats remain generators of disproportionate amounts of dirty petroleum product exhaust.

Waterless Car Wash and Polish from Mary Moppins

Unless you go to a carwash that filters and reuses their water, car washing wastes and dirties lots of water. This product is produced for an eco-friendly cleaning products designer, Mary Moppins. Works great. Saves water.

I don't receive anything of value from Mary Moppins. I am a retail customer of her business.

Mother's air pollution exposure before birth linked to lower childhood IQ

"Prenatal exposure to environmental pollutants known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can adversely affect a child's intelligence quotient or IQ, according to new research by the the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at the Mailman School of Public Health. PAHs are chemicals released into the air from the burning of coal, diesel, oil and gas, or other organic substances such as tobacco. In urban areas motor vehicles are a major source of PAHs."

Click blog post title to jump Science Daily's report.

International accord to limit shipping emissions falters

Roger Harrabin, BBC environment analyst, says, "Plans to reduce rising emissions from global shipping have faltered at a key international meeting." A fuel surcharge is proposed to fund technology improvements, but rich and poor countries fail to agree. Shipping is a huge source of particulates and carbon emissions.

Click on blog post title to jump to source report from BBC.

EPA moving on air impact of big ocean cargo ships

If this comes to pass, break out the champagne, because it is a huge step forward.

Click on the title of this post to jump to an excellent article by Michael Graham Richard in Treehugger.

The new regulations are projected to annually eliminate "about 1.2 million tons of NOx and 143,000 tons of particulate matter (PM)" by 2030. Says Richard, "Just 15 of the world's biggest ships may now emit as much pollution as all the world's 760m cars."

Another report: "Mitigating the Health Impacts of Pollution from Oceangoing Shipping: An Assessment of Low-Sulfur Fuel Mandates," in an Environmental Science & Technology special focus issue on particulates and human health, estimates that cleaner shipping fuels could reduce excess deaths from this particulate pollution by 40,000 annually.