TEN ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTS

May  2025

1.New research has exposed deep and dangerous gaps in our understanding of the threat from wildfires and climate crisis

Gabrielle Canon, and Andrew Witherspoon, “Millions of Americans believe they’re safe from wildfires in their cities. New research shows they’re not,” The Guardian (5 Apr 2025).  bit.ly/4i5oNOk

Communities across the US that were once considered beyond the reach of wildfires are now vulnerable to disaster. As fires increasingly spread deep into neighborhoods, researchers estimate roughly 115 million people – more than a third of the US population – live in areas that could host the next fire catastrophe.

The understanding that many more Americans are at risk of losing their homes to wildfires comes as the climate crisis turns up the dial on extreme weather, drought and heat. But it’s also the result of new research that has exposed deep and dangerous gaps in our understanding of the threat.

2.  As LRIs put pressure on health services, a Spanish-led study examines what role exposure to air pollution may play

Gary Fuller, “Are rising lower respiratory infection hospital admissions linked to dirty air?” The Guardian (4 April 2025). bit.ly/4jlnuf9 via @guardian

A flurry of studies carried out during and after the Covid crisis allowed a UK government advisory group to conclude that long-term exposure to air pollution may contribute to worse coronavirus symptoms. Later evidence included a study of more than 3 million people in Denmark that showed air pollution added to the risk of death or hospital admission with severe Covid, especially in the least well off.

Now a study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health has examined whether long-term exposure to air pollution is a factor in hospital admissions for lower respiratory infections (LRIs). LRIs include chest infections, pneumonia and bronchitis and place a large and increasing burden on health services. Alone, they accounted for a 15% increase in the rate of hospital admissions in the UK between 1999 and 2019.

3. Alarming levels of toxic chemicals in children’s mattresses

Sara Vaezafshar, et al., “Young Children’s Exposure to Chemicals of Concern in Their Sleeping Environment: An In-Home Study,” Ecotoxicology and Public Health (14 april 2025). bit.ly/4jFnR4d

See also, Tom Perkins, “New research finds alarming levels of toxic chemicals in children’s mattresses,” The Guardian (21 April 2025). bit.ly/3GvB7tP

“Alarming levels of highly toxic phthalates, flame retardants and UV filters in the air in small children’s bedrooms likely stems from kids’ mattresses off-gassing the chemicals, new research suggests.

The peer-reviewed study measured air in the rooms of children under four years old, and the highest volumes were detected around the kids’ beds. An accompanying study checked for the same chemicals in 16 common kids mattress brands, and found them at concerning levels in each.”

4.  Scientists sound the alarm over substances such as arsenic and lead contaminating soils and entering food systems

Deyi Hou, et al., “Global soil pollution by toxic metals threatens agriculture and human health,” Science (17 April 2025). bit.ly/4cKH3eT

See also, Sinead Campbell, “About 15% of world’s cropland polluted with toxic metals, say researchers,” The Guardian (17 April 2025).  bit.ly/3YEm7QA

Editor’s summary

Metals and metalloids are ubiquitous in soils, originating from bedrock and from human activities and infrastructure. These compounds can be toxic to humans and other organisms, and their soil distribution and concentrations at global scale are not well known. Hou et al. analyzed data from more than 1000 regional studies to identify areas of metal toxicity and explore drivers of these trends. They estimate that 14 to 17% of cropland exceeds agricultural thresholds for at least one toxic metal. Climate and topography, along with mining activity and irrigation, predicted which soils would exceed metal thresholds. Soil metal pollution is a global issue that will likely increase with the growing demand for toxic metals in new technologies. —Bianca Lopez

5.  Support for climate action is growing in the US, but partisan divides and fossil fuel interests hold sway

Peter Andre, “Globally representative evidence on the actual and perceived support for climate action,” Nature Climate Change go.nature.com/3YQl4x0

Abstract

Mitigating climate change necessitates global cooperation, yet global data on individuals’ willingness to act remain scarce. In this study, we conducted a representative survey across 125 countries, interviewing nearly 130,000 individuals. Our findings reveal widespread support for climate action. Notably, 69% of the global population expresses a willingness to contribute 1% of their personal income, 86% endorse pro-climate social norms and 89% demand intensified political action. Countries facing heightened vulnerability to climate change show a particularly high willingness to contribute. Despite these encouraging statistics, we document that the world is in a state of pluralistic ignorance, wherein individuals around the globe systematically underestimate the willingness of their fellow citizens to act. This perception gap, combined with individuals showing conditionally cooperative behaviour, poses challenges to further climate action. Therefore, raising awareness about the broad global support for climate action becomes critically important in promoting a unified response to climate change.

6. EU Transparency Register shows law firms also among lobbyists working for fossil fuel companies

Ajit Niranjan, “Public affairs firms in Europe enable pollution by lobbying for big oil, says analysis,” The Guardian (25 April 2025). bit.ly/44hKxDr

A handful of “small but dirty” public affairs and law firms in Europe are enabling pollution by lobbying extensively for big oil, an analysis has found, with most major companies in the industry working for at least one fossil fuel client.

Several of the top spenders on activities to influence EU policymaking are on the payroll of oil and gas companies, according to an analysis of the EU Transparency Register by the Good Lobby nonprofit, but fossil fuel clients represent just 1% of the industry’s revenue.

The researchers said it showed that public affairs companies could cut ties with the big polluters who pay them to influence policy without hurting their bottom lines – but warned there was little public or regulatory pressure on lobbyists to go green.

7.  Last-Mile warehousing and delivery of goods

Kiley Price, “ Behind the Scenes: Communities Around ‘Last-Mile Warehouses’ Struggle With Online Shopping Boom’s Pollution,” Inside Climate News (25 April 2025). bit.ly/4jOzBRU

Online shopping has reached epic proportions in the United States—and Manhattan is its beating heart. More than 2.4 million packages are delivered to New York City every weekday, and around 90 percent of goods are transported into or around the city by trucks.

While shipping may be free for consumers on many of these orders, these deliveries come with environmental costs. Trucks emit fine particulate matter, also known as PM2.5, and nitrogen oxides, smothering urban areas with harmful pollutants linked to health impacts like childhood asthma, cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and premature death.

In recent years, a number of warehouses have popped up across neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn to help accommodate the fleet of trucks and the goods they carry. Dubbed “last-mile warehouses,” these facilities give companies a place to sort goods before they are transported to their final destination. The city’s commercial and manufacturing districts don’t require permits or environmental reviews for them, leaving communities surrounding them more vulnerable to truck-related pollution…

A number of facilities have popped up around NYC to help accommodate the online shopping surge. Many environmental justice communities pay the toll of their pollution.

8. GHG emissions from carrying LNG from US to other countries

Phil McKenna, Peter Aldous, “The Hidden Climate Costs of Exporting US Liquefied Natural Gas,” Inside Climate News (16 April 2025).

Scientists have warned that LNG production involves significant greenhouse gas emissions at every step in the process, from methane leaks at wells to the burning of the gas by end users. But there’s been little attention to the impact of emissions from the tankers that ship LNG from the U.S. to other countries.

That too is substantial, an Inside Climate News analysis found. A single year of greenhouse gas emissions from tankers carrying LNG from the United States more than cancels out the annual emissions reductions achieved through all the electric vehicles currently on U.S. roads.

9.  Recent clues as to how the climate emergency might affect Antarctica

Karen McVeigh, “Giant icebergs once drifted off the coast of Britain, scientists find,” The Guardian (24 April 2025). bit.ly/42tSdRE

Giant, flat-topped icebergs the size of the city of Cambridge drifted off the coast of Britain during the last ice age, according to a study that has uncovered evidence of their existence for the first time.

A series of distinctive, comb-like grooves found preserved in sediment near Aberdeen in Scotland were left behind by the underside of huge “tabular” icebergs that dragged across the North Sea floor between 18,000 and 20,000 years ago, the researchers said…

When the grooves were made, an ice sheet covering much of Britain and Ireland was retreating due to a warmer climate.

10. Soot and smog can cause premature death and increase the risk of an array of serious medical conditions

Nina Lakhani, “Nearly half of Americans breathing in unsafe levels of air pollutants – report,” The Guardian (23 April 2025).  bit.ly/4iC7WCX

Almost half of Americans are breathing in dangerous levels of air pollutants, a new report shows, a rise compared with a year ago and likely to further increase in coming years thanks to the climate crisis and the Trump administration’s sweeping environmental rollbacks.

Just over 156 million people live in neighborhoods with unhealthy levels of soot or smog – a 16% rise compared with last year and the highest number in a decade, according to the American Lung Association (ALA) annual state of the air report.