In The News

Clock Running Out on Irreversible Climate Change – Part II

Bo Ekman April 18, 2008
The coming negotiations over the successor to the Kyoto Protocol appear doomed as states express more concern about their narrow rights than the planet’s health. Bo Ekman, founder of Tällberg Forum, argues for developing fallback policies that global citizens must consider in the event of failure of the Copenhagen Process. Ekman fears that the “world will descend into eco-protectionism, where...

Clock Running Out on Irreversible Climate Change – Part I

Jim Hansen April 16, 2008
The goal of slowing climate change takes on urgency with growing populations, increasing emissions and melting polar ice that would irrevocably change the global environment. Energy suppliers often fend off worries about climate change by suggesting that the facts are not all known. The same could be said about industry estimates on oil, gas and coal reserves, suggests Jim Hansen, director of...

Outpacing Resources

Nayan Chanda April 15, 2008
In 1798, economist Thomas Malthus predicted that population growth could lead to declining resources and catastrophe. The global population was then less than a billion, and critics dismissed his concerns. Now, the human population has grown more than sixfold, and is estimated to reach 9 billion in less than 50 years. Shortages of basic resources, including oil, food and water are not uncommon in...

New Mapping Technique Offers Hope for Madagascan Wildlife

Jessica Aldred April 15, 2008
Environmentalists, governments, researchers and even some businesses have good reason to protect the world’s biodiversity. High-resolution satellite images allow researchers to identify and map biodiversity “hotspots,” reports Jessica Aldred in the Guardian. “Traditionally, conservation work has focused on protecting just one species or group, like the giant panda, in the belief that saving one...

Arid Barcelona Forced to Import Water

Elizabeth Nash April 14, 2008
Spain’s second largest city must cope with a water shortage resulting from extreme drought. Now, the city must import water by ship and rail. Barcelona has a reputation for efficient infrastructure, reports Elizabeth Nash for the Independent, but climate change and water shortages disrupt city life. The city has turned off public fountains and pools and plans to conserve the imports by lowering...

Logging Boreal Forest Could Detonate Massive “Carbon Bomb,” Says Report

April 14, 2008
The boreral forests of Canada store more than 25 times carbon dioxide that is currently released in world’s annual fossil-fuel emissions, reports an article from the Canadian Press. “About 80 percent of the carbon is stored in the soil as dead organic matter. The rest is stored in the forest's evergreen trees, moss and peat.” Older trees tend to store more carbon than younger trees,...

Food Prices Stir Poverty Concern

April 11, 2008
Development and trade have lifted many from poverty, but have also widened inequality around the globe. Diverting grain crops from food products to biofuels depleted global food stocks causing spikes in prices. Climate change and a declining dollar also add to prices. Reports of food riots and families stretching meals by adding dirt as an ingredient reveal growing desperation in the world’s...