In The News

Antarctic Ice Sheet Is Melting Rapidly, New Study Warns Of Rising Sea Levels

Juliet Eilperin March 8, 2006
The Antarctic ice sheet is losing mass at a significant rate, which can be linked to global warming, reports the journal Science. At the same time, two other scientists from South Africa warn that climate change could seriously deplete the water supply in the southern and western regions of Africa by the year 2100. Satellites supplied data on the ice sheet and the global sea level, which is...

One Man’s Drive to Clean Up the Earth

Eric Prideaux February 27, 2006
Imogen M. Greene, a US citizen who has lived outside of Tokyo for years, is on a mission. His pseudonym, IM Greene, describes his goal to decrease air pollution. Greene confronts drivers of idling vehicles, tapping on their windows and telling them, “idling forbidden.” Most drivers are cooperative. Some might ask what right does a man from the US, the world’s largest producer of greenhouse...

An Age-Old Salt Lake May Yield a Washday Miracle

Marc Lacey February 21, 2006
The otherworldly microbes in Kenya’s Lake Bogoria have proved instrumental in perfecting many worldly goods. Genencor International, Inc., has patented and used enzyme samples it purchased from scientists who visited the lake to enhance such mundane commodities as detergent and blue jeans. While Genencor touts the commercial success of innovative science, however, Kenyans demand that the...

How Kenya Is Caught on the Thorns of Britain's Love Affair with the Rose

Jeevan Vasagar February 14, 2006
Kenya controls a quarter of the British rose market, and the flower, now the country’s second-largest export, is fueling much of the nation’s economic growth. Once blasted over low pay and poor working conditions, Kenya’s foreign-owned rose growers have cleaned up their act and reinvest some of their profits in Kenyan communities under the principles of fair trade. The flower industry’s...

China's Powerhouse Vision for 2050

Jonathan Watts February 13, 2006
China released a report from its leading research institute with an optimistic vision for the nation’s next 50 years. The projections depend on China undergoing a transition from a predominantly agricultural society to a suburban knowledge-based economy – and moving 500 million people closer to the cities. China would also have to maintain a strong growth rate, now at 9 percent. Noting that China...

Economists Price the Ravages of Climate Change

Scheherazade Daneshkhu February 8, 2006
The emerging discipline of environmental economics struggles to persuade people to set aside concrete short-term economic advantages to act against the long-term problem of global environmental change. No individual country can solve the problem on its own, and some economists fear that this means the problem could go unsolved - why should nations risk competitive edge today for a problem with...

China, the WTO and Globalization

Dorothy Guerrero February 6, 2006
Most commentators, stunned at China’s growth, are interested in projecting how soon the country will overtake the US as the world’s largest economy. But for the Chinese people, the more pertinent forecast is when the benefits of WTO accession and foreign investment will make their way to them. China has succeeded in making itself a top destination for foreign direct investment by offering tax...