Human burning of fossil fuels and biofuels for energy use affects global climate change through increasing carbon dioxide (CO2), but also a host of other short-lived non-CO2 effects that are complex and involve impacts that are both warming and cooling.

Many factors have contributed to China

Facilities involved in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products are an under-investigated source of pharmaceuticals to the environment. Between 2004 and 2009, 35 to 38 effluent samples were collected from each of three wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in New York and analyzed for seven pharmaceuticals including opioids and muscle relaxants. Two WWTPs (NY2 and NY3) receive substantial flows (>20% of plant flow) from pharmaceutical formulation facilities (PFF) and one (NY1) receives no PFF flow.

The U.S. has abundant natural gas resources within the Barnett Shale, Haynesville/Bossier Shale, Antrim Shale, Fayetteville Shale, New Albany Shale, and Marcellus Shale. This article is focused on the Marcellus Shale because it is the most expansive shale gas in play in the U.S.

At the time of this writing, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has continued unabated for one month. On April 20, 2010, the Mississippi Canyon 252 Deepwater Horizon oil well exploded, killing 11 people. The rig sank on April 22.

Chemical warfare agents (CWA) represent environmental legacy contaminants as production and subsequent dumping of CWA typically occurred decades ago.

Today coal mining causes ecosystem damage, soil erosion, dust and air pollution from surface activities, landscape disruption from surface mining, interruption of streams and aquifers with impacts on water availability, acidified water, subsidence and land instability from underground mining, and emissions of methane and other greenhouse gases.

Evidence that links increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations to global climate change has amplified over the years and led to a broad scientific consensus that the climate is changing fast and will have far-reaching impacts on our planet.

Given the popularity of swimming for recreation and sport, it is remarkable that we are only in the early stages of understanding swimming pool chemistry, human exposure(s), and potential health risks. This is partly due to the complexity of swimming pool water chemistry, which increases with transformations that water undergoes as it moves from its source to pools filled with swimmers.

There are clear signs that China feels challenged to take a quantitative emission cap in a post-Kyoto world and expects developed nations to lead on emission reduction, a view that was clearly expressed by Chinese authorities in Copenhagen. However, we think China carries part of the responsibility of global climate change and is capable to offer more.