Hy-Vee's new HealthMarket offers organic foods, adjoining fitness center

Hy-Vee has operated HealthMarkets in its larger grocery stores, but the operation about to open in West Des Moines, Iowa, is bigger and, perhaps, better. The 15,700-square-feet site is about three times bigger than the previous store-within-a-store projects. It offers a health clinic, a sports nutrition are and even a hydration station that offers kombucha and infused waters. There’s even a doorway that connects the retailer with an Orangetheory Fitness center. Read more at the Des Moines Register …

3M knew about the dangers of PFOA and PFOS decades ago, internal documents show

During the 1970s, 3M discovered that two industrial chemicals it created, PFOS and PFOA, were toxic. The company knew these chemicals accumulated in people’s blood; it found them in fish, as well. But none of this information became public until the Minnesota attorney general sued the company in 2010, accusing the company of polluting groundwater and knowing that the chemicals were destructive. 3M settled the lawsuit in February, and the attorney general’s office has released numerous internal documents about what the company knew. Read more at The Intercept …

Death Valley to post hottest month ever recorded on Earth, for the second July in a row

A year ago, the hottest month ever recorded on Earth was at Death Valley, California—shattering a 100-year-old record. In response, July 2018 said, “Hold my beer.” Depending on the July 31 temperature, the 24-hour average temperature of 108 degrees at Death Valley will break the record by one-half a degree. For comparison, the 30-year average is 102.2 degrees. Read more at The Washington Post …

Facebook has a climate-denial problem

As Facebook confronts allegations that Russian hackers used its social-media platform to affect the results of the 2016 election, and sees the number of European users decline after a privacy regulation took effect there, it’s also running into trouble for sharing misinformation. Not only does it disseminate posts, videos and advertisements that deny climate change science, it employs climate-change-denying organizations as fact-checkers. Read more at Media Matters …  

Ravenous for meat, China faces a climate quandary

When Jian Zhang was growing up in rural China, he often went hungry. Eating meat was rare, as his family could afford to do so only a couple of times each month. Now, though, economic growth has raised the income of millions and sparked the skyrocketing growth of meat consumption. The average Chinese consumer now eats 140 pounds of meat per year, up from 30 pounds a year in the early 1980s. The increase, however, challenges the country’s commitment to reducing greenhouse emissions and fighting climate change. Read more at Undark …