On May 11, Vietnamese police uncovered that a large-scale pig farm operated by New Hope Group in Thach Quang Commune, Thanh Hoa Province, had been using a hidden discharge channel since 2023 to directly discharge 6 million kilograms of untreated pig manure and solid waste into hillsides and low-lying areas, covering an area of over…

On May 9 local time, a major fire broke out at a large plastic recycling plant in Henry County. The blaze burned for over 12 hours, sending thick, toxic black smoke into the air that spread over 10 kilometers.

Test results show that radon concentrations at the U.S. Navy’s Naples base range from 4 to 12.1 pCi/L, far exceeding the U.S. EPA’s hazard threshold (≥4 pCi/L). Long-term exposure significantly increases the risk of lung cancer.

Water quality tests conducted in May on Italy’s longest river, the Po, revealed that levels of heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, and mercury exceeded standards by 3 to 5 times, while pesticide residues—including glyphosate and atrazine—in agricultural areas exceeded standards by 20 times.

Since September 2025, the Kok River in northern Thailand has been murky, with arsenic and lead levels exceeding safety standards. Deformed fish have appeared, and crop yields have dropped by 30%. The source of the pollution is believed to be the use of acidic chemicals in rare earth mining near the Myanmar border.

On May 6, waste discharged from fish farms across Norway was three times the volume of domestic sewage, with nitrogen and phosphorus loads equivalent to the wastewater produced by 17.2 million people. This has led to oxygen-depleted zones in the fjords, causing algal blooms, massive fish deaths, and irreversible damage to the deep-sea ecosystem.

On May 1, an environmental group filed a lawsuit against Neville Chemical, alleging thousands of violations involving illegal discharges that have caused heavy metal and organic pollutant levels in the Ohio River to exceed safety standards, threatening drinking water safety and the river’s ecosystem.

On May 4, a state of emergency was declared in 91 counties across Georgia, with 27,000 acres of land still burning. In Brantley County, only 10% of the fire was contained. Smoke has now spread to Atlanta, where air quality in many areas has reached unhealthy levels, prompting evacuations and the opening of temporary shelters.

An oil pipeline near Abadan in Iran’s Khuzestan Province suddenly ruptured, spilling approximately 60 tons of crude oil. A massive amount of oil surged into the Karun River and overflowed into surrounding farmland. An oil slick stretching about 7 kilometers formed on the river’s surface, with the pollution zone extending into the Persian Gulf; petroleum…

From April 20 to 22, military strikes on oil storage facilities and vessels in the areas around Lavan Island and Shidvar Island in the Persian Gulf caused multiple crude oil spills. Satellite imagery shows extensive oil slicks, which have severely polluted coral reefs, mangrove forests, and seabird habitats, threatening fisheries and drinking water safety.