Air

"As temperatures drop well below freezing during [Afghanistan's] harsh winter, bombs and bullets from a near-decade long war against a Taliban-led insurgency are not the only threat -- just trying to light a home and stay warm can be deadly." Heating and cooking with solid fuels like wood and coal kills some 54,000 Afghans a year, most of them children under five. By contrast, 2412 civilians were killed by conflict-related violence in the first 10 months of 2010."

"In a move that could help clean up Chicago's chronically dirty air, the Obama administration on Thursday brokered a legal deal that cracks down on some of the biggest sources of pollution along the southern shore of Lake Michigan."

As part of a settlement, air filters will be installed in the schools of five communities around the Port of Los Angeles, where almost 22% of children suffer from asthma, compared to a rate of 14.2 percent nationwide.

"Republicans in Congress are introducing legislation to curtail the role of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act and to prevent and roll back regulations intended to reduce air pollution such as mercury emissions from cement plants. These efforts amount to attacks on the nation's health, the advocacy coalition Health Care Without Harm said [Tuesday]."

"The average Canadian is in denial about the impact of air pollution on human health, assuming that it is either a long-term threat or a risk factor for vulnerable parts of the population, says a newly-released federal report."

"The Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that it will regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and oil refineries next year in an attempt to curb global warming."

"The Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday that it will seize authority from Texas to regulate major emitters of greenhouse gases because Gov. Rick Perry and state regulators refused to implement the rules."

"Asthma rates are on the rise in California, but the condition disproportionately affects low-income children and adults, according to a study from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research."

A yearlong Pittsburgh Post-Gazette investigation has shown that persistent air pollution in southwestern Pennsylvania is linked to higher incidence of killers like heart disease, respiratory disease, and lung cancer in hundreds of communities.