Air Pollution Damaging New England Forests (WBZ Boston) So far this season, 16 days have been tagged for bad air quality. But according to a new study just released by The Nature Conservancy, air pollution isn't just a concern for humans. Our environment suffers too. [News Source]

Pollution degrades ecosystems, report says (UPI) MILLBROOK, N.Y., July 21 (UPI) -- Every major ecosystem type in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic United States is being degraded by air pollution, a report released Monday said. [News Source]

Study reveals air pollution is causing widespread and serious impacts to ecosystems (PhysOrg) If you are living in the eastern United States, the environment around you is being harmed by air pollution. From Adirondack forests and Shenandoah streams to Appalachian wetlands and the Chesapeake Bay, a new report by the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies and The Nature Conservancy has found that air pollution is degrading every major ecosystem type in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic ... [News Source]

Study reveals air pollution is causing widespread and serious impacts to ecosystems (EurekAlert!) The Chesapeake Bay, like other East Coast estuaries, suffers from pollution by excess nitrogen. Top: Coal-fired power plants are among the leading sources of airborne mercury, sulfur and nitrogen pollution. Bottom: A newly hatched common loon chick is watched by its parent as it takes... [News Source]

State wants to extend ban on open burning. A state proposal to ban most open burning is fanning debates across the region. [News Source]

States should set fuel efficiency, McCain says. Sen. John McCain said this morning that states should be able to determine their own fuel efficiency standards. [News Source]

Beijing limits traffic to cut smog ahead of games. To gear up for the summer Olympic Games in less than a month, Beijing has rolled out new pollution-control measures. [News Source]

Beijing takes pains to clear the air. Plenty of other cities have taken steps to clean up the air and ease congestion before past Olympic Games. But experts say this is the first time that such drastic efforts, affecting such a large part of the country, have ever been undertaken. [News Source]

China trying to clear the air. Authorities on Sunday ordered half of Beijing’s 3.3 million vehicles off city streets for two months in an experiment designed to remove a smoggy halo over the capital and ease traffic jams before the Summer Olympics. [News Source]

Beijing’s attempt to slash smog exhausts commuters. 3.3 million motorists in Beijing who will be forced to give up their cars every second day for the next two months. The drastic new rules are a last-ditch attempt to reduce the heavy smog that threatened to wreak havoc for athletes at the Olympics next month. [News Source]

Beijing skies still hazy despite car ban. Traffic in China's capital was lighter Monday but hazy skies still hovered over the Olympic host city 18 days before the Beijing Games despite factory closures and a ban on more than a million cars. [News Source]