In The News

Nuclear Weapons: The Greatest Peril to Civilization

March 25, 2008
Ted Turner started a global broadcasting network well before globalization became a common currency. His philanthropic efforts have since demonstrated both his global vision and blunt assessments of the challenges facing the world. As such, Turner is a master of globalization. As co-founder of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, Turner delivered the keynote address at a Yale Center for the Study of...

Time to Bury a Dangerous Legacy – Part III

Jonathan Schell March 19, 2008
Proponents of nuclear weapons suggest that eliminating the arsenals of world powers could endanger the world. Such analysts contend that nuclear weapons deter threats, preventing both nuclear and even conventional war while providing political stability. Author Jonathan Schell challenges those arguments in the third and final article of a three-part series that analyzes the dangers of nuclear...

Time to Bury a Dangerous Legacy – Part II

Alan Robock March 17, 2008
Alarm about nuclear weapons and the irreversible harm that detonation might cause for the globe prompted nations to sign the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which went into force in 1970. Signatory nations without weapons agreed to not pursue the research, and nations with them agreed to reduce the numbers. But with the end of the Cold War, public fear about nuclear warfare...

Time to Bury a Dangerous Legacy – Part I

Graham Allison March 14, 2008
The detonation of a nuclear weapon – intentionally or not, by state powers or terrorists – will produce no winners. The very real danger that terrorists could unleash a nuclear weapon in major cities adds new urgency to dealing with the gathering threat. This three-part series explores the consequences of nuclear Armageddon and explains why immediate plans to eliminate all nuclear weaponry are in...

Italian Waste Hits New Snag

Judy Fahys March 11, 2008
Utah is more remote than Italy, with about 30 people per square mile to Italy’s 5000. That doesn’t mean Utahns want 20,000 tons of radioactive waste from Italy buried in their deserts. “We believe that any country that has the technological capability of producing nuclear power within its borders should not seek to dispose of its waste outside them,” reads a letter from a state advisory board...

Carbon Prices, Not Quotas

Ernesto Zedillo March 11, 2008
For now, while oil and coal are still relatively plentiful, burning fossil fuels is the least expensive method in harnessing energy for transportation, heating, electricity and industrial development. Controlling emissions carries extra costs, and few countries want to take that step on their own – even though the global strategy of procrastination means putting the burden on future generations....

Can the World Afford a Middle Class?

Moisés Naím February 28, 2008
Population adds pressure not only to the global environment, but also for societies and economies. Sustained growth in developing nations like China and India rapidly lifts people from poverty and the world must adjust, warns Moisés Naím, editor in chief of Foreign Policy. A growing middle class around the world is already increasing demand for meat, milk and other foods, thus increasing the...