7 Depressing Environmental Stories

If our recent article - 7 Environmental Problems That Are Worse Than We Thought - didn’t get you down enough, here’s a whole new set of 7 from The Daily Green that are almost just as scary. Much as we wish that we could report on cool eco gadgets, sunshine and rainbows all the time, the fact is that there is a lot of crappy stuff happening in the world right now. The good news is, learning about them might actually give us all the motivation to do something about it.

From The Daily Green:

1. Detroit May Kill The Electric Car (Again)
Facing the prospect of financial ruin, the Big Three American automakers, Ford, Chrysler and General Motors, may abandon fledgling efforts to create electric cars, according to Reuters. It’s a speculative article, but when one considers that tackling global warming or freeing ourselves from dependence on foreign oil will almost certainly require electrifying the vehicle fleet, it’s a depressing setback.

2. The Largest Forest Infestation in North American History
The infestation of mountain pine beetles is growing “exponentially,” according to the New York Times, with tens of millions of acres of Rocky Mountain forests from New Mexico through Canada succumbing. It’s called the largest infestation in the known history of North America. Drought, global warming and fire suppression all play a role in the outbreak, and the death of trees will make the region susceptible to more violent wildfires, among other ills.

3. Highly Polluting School Buses May Not be Upgraded
The economic crisis will likely prevent many school districts, states and even the federal government from continuing to pay for the upgrading and replacement of old, dirty diesel school buses, according to Environmental Health News. These pollution nightmares pump out 90% more pollution than their cleaner counterparts, including fine particulates and cancerous chemicals that tend to build up inside the bus, where children are sitting.

Check out the rest – which include Bush opening land to shale development, Desert Storm vets with Gulf War Syndrome, dying soil and half the world going without clean water over at The Daily Green.

And, don’t just collapse crying into your bowl of Cheerios. You may not be able to personally address any of these problems, but you can use that energy to start doing whatever you can to help out on a local level. Contact your local Sierra Club chapter or other environmental organization to find out how you can assist with environmental activism in your area.

Link [The Daily Green] + [The Sierra Club]
Photo credit: MIT

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