In The News

How to Allocate CO2 Emissions

Humberto Llavador, John Roemer, Joaquim Silvestre June 25, 2013
Delivering on his election pledge to tackle the climate change issue, President Barack Obama today instructed the US Environmental Protection Agency to establish carbon emission standards for both new and existing power plants. Important as this is, the unilateral move will have a limited impact as the world struggles over how to limit carbon emissions. Any global plan will lead to economic...

Panamanians Reject UN Forest Plan

Alex Kirby June 11, 2013
The REDD program, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, was promoted by the United Nations to protect vulnerable forests and stem climate change. A group in Panama is suggesting that REDD reduces local indigenous control of forest resources. “Instead of safeguarding the forests for the indigenous people of Panama, the chief argues, the UN scheme is being used to wrest...

China: The Dark Side of Growth

Yanzhong Huang June 6, 2013
In just three decades, China has been transformed from one of the world’s poorest nations to the world’s second largest economy. But rapid growth imposes long-term environmental, health and social costs, and other nations should be wary of emulating China’s model, cautions Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. Smog choking Beijing and other cities...

Sustainability or Greenwashing?

João Paulo Cândia Veiga May 28, 2013
The candeia tree of Brazil is an excellent source of an ingredient valued for its anti-inflammatory effect and used in cosmetics for sensitive skin. “Brazil is the sole world producer of natural Bisabolol, and until 2010, when Symrise bought more than 70 percent of local production, controlled the market and defined the global price of the asset,” explains João Paulo Cândia Veiga, a professor of...

America's First Climate Refugees

Suzanne Goldenberg May 14, 2013
Americans, particularly those in oil-rich and Republican-dominated states like Alaska, are very sensitive about any foreign threat to their way of life. Yet outrage wanes about the pressing need to address climate change even as Americans already lose homes to extreme weather. A series in the Guardian newspaper based in London focuses on climate change, including a warning from economist...

Scientists Map Global Routes of Ship-Borne Invasive Species

Matt McGrath May 8, 2013
Studying the logs of more than 3 million ocean voyages, a team of German and British researchers have mapped likely transit patterns for marine invasive species, reports Matt McGrath for BBC News. “Marine species are taken in with ballast water on freighters and wreak havoc in new locations, driving natives to extinction,” he reports. “There has been a well-documented boom in global shipping over...

NASA Study Projects Warming-Driven Changes in Global Rainfall

Kathryn Hansen May 6, 2013
A NASA-led study shows that increased concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increase risks of extreme weather patterns including drought and heavy rains. Modeling suggests that areas that are already wet, like the Asian monsoon regions, could receive even more rain while arid and desert regions like the Middle East and southern parts of the United States could become even drier. “The...