Lexington air quality gets unhealthy rating.

According to the state’s Division of Air Quality, monitors in the Lexington area indicate that air quality has reached unhealthy levels for sensitive segments of the population.

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If you ’scooter’ to work, park free at PA garage. As part of his strategic plan to encourage alternative forms of transportation, the mayor and the Lancaster Parking Authority quietly unveiled 15 free parking spaces dedicated to scooters in the downtown parking garage. [News Source]

Bolivia’s Lake Titicaca strangled by pollution. Nestled high in the Bolivian Andes, the famed Lake Titicaca is being strangled by city-fed pollution that is driving away local people who draw sustenance from its mythical waters. [News Source]

Olympic visitors to breathe China’s ‘green’ dream. Big, bad industrial China will be hidden from view during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. [News Source]

Air quality not an issue during 2008 Olympics. Air quality will not be a concern for the US delegation during the Beijing Olympic Games, according to Steven M. Roush, chief of sport performance in the US Olympic Committee. [News Source]

Emission cuts will let Shanghai breathe and avoid acid rain. Shanghai announced yesterday it will cut emissions from industry by up to 90 percent over the next three years - a move that will lessen the chance of acid rain developing. [News Source]

Study says pollution haze contributes to the melting of glaciers.

Huge haze clouds over the Indian Ocean contribute as much to atmospheric warming as greenhouse gases and play a significant role in the melting of the Himalayan glaciers, according to a study published Thursday.

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Climate change: aerosols heat up. Solid particles suspended in the atmosphere have long played second fiddle to greenhouse gases as agents of climate change. A study of atmospheric heating over the Indian Ocean could provoke a rethink. [News Source]

Asia’s brown clouds heat the Himalayas. For much of the year south Asia languishes under a thick brown haze some 3 kilometres thick. Now scientists have shown that this polluted atmospheric layer is causing significant warming in the region, equivalent to that caused by recent greenhouse gas emissions. [News Source]

China’s green accounting system on shaky ground. Beijing is attempting to introduce a 'green GDP' accounting scheme as a way of ranking local governments' success in achieving economic growth that does not cost the environment. But the scheme is faltering at the pilot stage due to political infighting. [News Source]

Indian Ocean haze adds to global warming (AP via Yahoo! News) Huge haze clouds over the Indian Ocean contribute as much to atmospheric warming in Asia as greenhouse gases and play a significant role in the melting of the Himalayan glaciers, according to a study published Thursday. [News Source]