In the News: New Laws to Clean Up the Dirty Impact of Cleansers
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Many of the products that are keeping us clean are actually doing significant harm to the environment.

​The US and UK have recently passed legislation to curb or eliminate some of these products... here's the latest news:
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​UK: 

• UK Government to Ban Microbeads From Cosmetics by End of 2017
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US: 

• U.S. Bans Common Chemicals in Antibacterial Soaps
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• US signs new Toxic Chemical Substance Act: 10 Things You Need to Know 
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• ​Toxic Substances Will Now Be Somewhat Regulated

“One cleansing product can contain hundreds of thousands of the microbeads, which end up in the oceans after being washed down sinks. Yet natural alternatives that biodegrade and pose no harm to marine life exist, including jojoba beads, apricot kernels, ground nutshells and salt."
-- From "UK Government to Ban Microbeads From Cosmetics by End of 2017"

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Sorek Desalination Plant. Photo courtesy of IDE Technologies

​How a New Source of Water is Helping Reduce Conflict in the Middle East  

Just a few years ago, Israel was suffering from its worst drought in nearly 900 years. Now, the country has a surplus of water. What changed?

​Learn more about how this remarkable turnaround was engineered, and how sharing this surplus may help heal the turmoil surrounding water scarcity in the Middle East.

Flickr/Ivan Plata

Baby Teeth of Iraqi Children Tell Troubling Tale of Toxic Impact of War 

According to a recent study, Iraqi children are showing signs of alarming levels of heavy metals and other toxins associated with warzone bombardments.

Here are the surprising results that researchers found when they compared the baby teeth of young Iraqi children to donated samples in Lebanon and Iran. 

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Flickr/Javier Losa

Flickr/Sloan Poe

Panama’s Indigenous Peoples are Using
​Drones to Save the Rainforest​

World's First "Bee Highway" is Being Created in Norway 

Indigenous tribes in Panama are losing their rainforest homelands to development, logging, and mining.

Here's how seven tribes are utilizing a technology to help monitor and protect their land- drone surveillance. 

​The city of Oslo in Norway has devised a creative way to protect endangered bees that are crucial to food production: a "bee highway." It's an innovative relay system of food and shelter, the first of its kind in the world.

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