Air pollution is slashing years from billions of people’s lives around the world and is a greater threat to life expectancy than smoking, HIV/AIDS or war, a report published Wednesday shows. 

As beach season winds down in Chicago, the Shedd Aquarium is hosting a series of weekend cleanups to clear the shoreline of a summer’s worth of litter and debris.

Rowers, kayakers and other users of the Chicago River are getting a real-time look at one measure of water quality in the system that weaves through downtown and several neighborhoods. 

The parent company of a now-shuttered metal recycler on the North Side will pay a fine as part of an agreement to resolve charges that the firm’s operation violated the Clean Air Act, Environmental Protection Agency officials announced Wednesday.

Each year, 22 million pounds of plastic finds its way into the Great Lakes – the source of potable water for more than 30 million Americans. We take a look at what can be done to limit plastic pollution.

Black and Latino neighborhoods in Chicago are more likely to be burdened by industries that pollute the air, ground and water, making environmental justice an important part of the equation as the country moves forward.

The parent company of General Iron, which wants to operate a metal shredding and recycling operation on Chicago’s Southeast Side, failed to notify city officials that a vacant building collapsed on the site of the proposed facility, officials said Thursday.

The city is conducting additional environmental studies after the head of the Environmental Protection Agency said the proposal raises “significant civil rights concerns.”

Strides being made against the use of plastic products were derailed by the coronavirus pandemic. Now, a global campaign is encouraging people to choose reusable materials over single-use plastic and get the reduction back on track.

A federal judge will not force the city to permit Reserve Management Group, the parent company of General Iron, to operate a metal shredding and recycling operation on Chicago’s Southeast Side.

Oxygen levels have dropped in hundreds of lakes in the United States and Europe over the last four decades, a new study found. And the authors said declining oxygen could lead to increased fish kills, algal blooms and methane emissions.

The city has yet to replace a single lead service line in the eight months that have elapsed since Mayor Lori Lightfoot rolled out her plan, officials acknowledged.

Southside Recycling has long planned a move to the Southwest Side. But last week, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency asked Mayor Lori Lightfoot to conduct an environmental justice assessment in the community before allowing the company to operate.

State and federal agencies are still assessing how much damage was done to natural resources in Northwest Indiana as a result of the 2019 discharge of hazardous chemicals into a Lake Michigan tributary.  

City officials agreed Friday to conduct an environmental justice assessment of the proposed shredding operation before issuing the final permit the facility needs to start operating. 

Working with specimens in the Field Museum’s collections, researchers from Loyola University Chicago found microplastics in fish dating back to the 1950s. “Plastic is everywhere,” the scientists said.