POLLUTION BLOG

Fariha glows with joy as she receives the Lead Champion Award from Pure Earth Bangladesh. The recognition marks more than just personal courage—it represents a real turning point in Bangladesh's fight against one of its most pressing environmental crises. Her...

Pure Earth Ghana , in collaboration with the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), has completed a study assessing the presence of mercury and other heavy metals in artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) communities in Ghana. The assessment, funded by the Foreign,...

As with all fights for public health, the campaign to raise awareness and limit exposures to lead is ever evolving. It has most recently been confronted with a new study that has finally confirmed that vapes and e-cigarettes are just...

A wave of international media coverage has brought necessary attention to the lead poisoning crisis in Bangladesh, where 36 million children are estimated to have elevated blood lead levels. A powerful report from Agence-France Presse (AFP) details how the unregulated...

An article in Vox titled How to buy a year of happiness, explained in one chart reports that Pure Earth is one of Vox’s “best buys” for charitable giving to improve wellbeing, based on the Happier Lives Institute report. Read more...

A California regulation went into effect this month that marks a significant milestone in preventing infant exposure to heavy metals. The new regulation requires manufacturers to disclose heavy metal levels in baby food. This regulation is part of the California...

Pure Earth was honored to participate in the World Bank Regional Dialogue on Mercury and E-Waste Pollution Management in Tanzania earlier this month. Rev. Dr. Esmond Quansah, Pure Earth Ghana's Country Director, represented Pure Earth, presenting our innovative solutions for...

This has been an unprecedented week for Pure Earth, and all organizations across the globe working to solve the childhood lead poisoning crisis.  Pure Earth Founder, Rich Fuller and Executive Director, Drew McCartor were in attendance September 23rd at the...

Accra, Ghana — On August 27th, 2024, a significant stride towards environmental sustainability and public health was made as Blacksmith Initiative dba Pure Earth launched the Mercury Impact Assessment Study Project in Accra. The project, funded by the Foreign Commonwealth...

After a quick lesson at Pure Earth's office, Molly shows off her skills with the XRF--a handheld X-ray fluorescent analyzer that can identify toxic particles in soil in about 30 seconds! #FightPollution with Molly Bair When you see model Molly...

This post is from Pure Earth summer intern Taylor Carroll, an environmental studies major in her senior year at Lehigh University. Some may be surprised to hear that the Environmental Protection Agency is primarily a public health agency, but EPA...

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="203"] Dr. Amalia Laborde[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="109"] Dr. Lilian Corra[/caption] The World Health Organization (WHO) has just released a new series of children's environmental health training modules that were prepared by experts around the world, including...

Dirty Talk With A View  For our latest Dirty Talk (Pure Earth's awareness-raising lunchtime series), we brought experts to the New York Times building to talk about pollution in Latin America. The event attracted a full house and boasted some of the best...

The Pure Earth family is sad to learn of the sudden death of Dmitriy Tereshkevich, our country director in Kazakhstan. He was just 33. His passing is a shock and a tremendous loss to everyone at Pure Earth worldwide, and to the...

The Pure Earth program and management team recently concluded a three-day retreat at a donated vacation home in coastal Maine. There was much to plan as Pure Earth received a new grant and a renewal from a previous funder. In addition, our...

On Oct 1, a panel of world leaders and key experts in the fields of pollution management, environmental health and sustainable development gathered in Geneva to launch the Global Commission on Pollution, Health and Development. Like the Stern Review, which brought...

A new report - The New Top Six Toxic Threats: A Priority List For Remediation - has been released by Pure Earth and Green Cross Switzerland. It is the tenth report in the World's Worst Pollution Problems series that over the years has served...

This post is from one of our resourceful communications summer interns Alex Rivlin, who spotted this story and realized the connection to the work we do. How polluted does water have to be to become flammable? Bellandur Lake is just...

  “… while most everyone has heard about “going green,” few are aware of the more dire and sinister “brown” pollution — places where man-made toxic pollutants have taken root and spread.” - from "The Brown Agenda," by Richard Fuller...

Calling all researchers. Are you looking to improve your skills in writing papers for peer-reviewed scientific journals? Do you have a draft of a scientific paper you are preparing for publication? Are you a citizen of, and is your research related...

Mexico's 500-year old tradition of using toxic lead-glazes in pottery is a problem that continues to plague residents to this day. In our paper "Blood Lead Levels in Mexico and Pediatric Burden of Disease Implications,” published in the Annals of Global...

Usher, No Doubt, Mary J. Blige, Fall Out Boy, Common, Train, My Morning Jacket and others rallied an estimated 250,000 people on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on April 18 in a day-long Earth Day concert organized by the...

  Blacksmith Institute has changed its name to Pure Earth.  Our work and commitment remain the same. "... in the end, it was Dev Patel, the brilliant actor who played the hero of Slumdog Millionaire, who pushed us to choose Pure Earth....

  What did we do in 2014? We are glad to report that it was a great year of progress in the fight against toxic pollution. Here's why: Out In The Global Field - Asia, Africa, Central Asia/Eastern Europe, Latin...

  Over the past few years, Blacksmith Institute for a Pure Earth has embarked on a broad effort to expand research and understanding about the issue of toxic pollution, especially its damaging impact in low and middle-income countries, where pollution is the...

  When an airliner disappears into the Indian ocean and hundreds of people are assumed dead, it’s huge news and millions are spent to find it and understand what went wrong. But in Zamfara, Nigeria, in 2010, over 200 children...

http://youtu.be/V7ugPCl-oq4 UPDATE:  Our voices are being heard at the U.N.  Our call to #SpotlightPollution in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is making a difference. We've received 26 letters of support from governments, agencies, NGOs & universities. As a result, the zero draft...

[caption id="attachment_15288" align="alignnone" width="300"] Dev Patel with Freida Pinto at the inaugural PURE EARTH benefit gala in NYC on April 26, 2014.[/caption] Happy Birthday Dev Patel! Just three days after Patel's 24th birthday on April 23, the young actor/activist helped...

What does a Pure Earth look like to you? This is what it looks like to Susan Sarandon, Anne Hathaway, Yoko Ono, Faith Ringgold and our other friends and supporters. PURE EARTH extends our deepest appreciation to the artists and celebrities...

It is a small but powerful tool.  The handheld XRF (X-ray fluorescence) analyzer can identify toxic particles in soil in about 30 seconds, allowing remediation crews to quickly locate and determine the extent of any contamination, and potentially begin life-saving cleanup without...

The conversation about pollution just got louder. Since 2006, Blacksmith’s yearly reports have been instrumental in increasing public understanding of the health impacts posed by toxic pollution, and in some cases, have compelled cleanup work at pollution hotspots. This latest...

A new report released this November updates the top ten list of world's worst polluted places previously identified in 2006 and 2007, removing sites that have made progress, and adding new sites. "Top Ten Toxic Threats in 2013: Cleanup, Progress and Ongoing Challenges" from...

The Global Alliance on Health and Pollution (GAHP) has released a technical guide focused on the containment of lead, one of the world's worst pollutants. It is the first in a planned series of guides on best practices in global...

Welcome to Blacksmith’s Newsletter Archives. Sept/Oct 2013: Top Ten Toxic Threats in 2013 Helping Countries Abide by Minamata Bringing Poisoned Poor to the European Parliament Training Women in Senegal Why are Children in Mexico Still Suffering from Lead Global Remediation...

See updated version: 15 Pollution Facts that Might Surprise You Pollution is a topic that often gets buried by talk of conservation, climate change, sustainability and energy issues.  Perhaps because it is a complex subject with lots of sources and...