In The News

Guardian: Indigenous Women Confront Ecuador's President

Dan Collyns March 28, 2018
Amazon indigenous women are protesting oil drilling and mining in their territories, urging Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno to combat not only environmental exploitation but also the sexual and psychic violence “they claim accompany the industries.” A delegation of indigenous women met with Moreno after 100 protested by camping in Quito’s plaza near the Carondelet government palace for five days...

New Yorker: When 26,000 Stinkbugs Invade a Home

Kathryn Schulz March 9, 2018
Brown marmorated stinkbugs are ravaging an array of crops along with ordinary trees and plants. They also swarm some US homes by the thousands. The insect, known for a noxious smell, is a product of globalization, explains Kathryn Schulz for the New Yorker. The stinkbug’s native habitat is East Asia, and the United States lacks natural predators like the samurai wasp. Stinkbugs are attracted to...

New York Times: Forests Protect the Climate

Henry Fountain March 7, 2018
Hurricanes and other large storms have ravaged forests in recent months. Writing for the New York Times, Henry Fountain reports on the environmental implications after Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in September. About 23 million to 31 million of the island’s trees were damaged or killed after the hurricane. Researchers are assessing the damage to forests and studying how extreme weather...

BBC: Could AI Help Create a Meat-Free World?

Jose Luis Penarredonda January 18, 2018
With expanding wealth and middle classes in emerging economies, global production of meat has more than doubled since 1986. Such agricultural production also has environmental costs. So entrepreneurs are trying to develop new foods that taste like meat products. “Meat is not their only target: mayonnaise, cookie dough, cheese, chocolate, and pretty much every other food produced using animal-...

Caixin: China’s Ban on Plastic Waste Imports to Choke World?

Yang Rui January 4, 2018
Discarded plastic for recycling is a major export for many nations. China was the largest importer of such waste, but that ends with a ban imposed on such imports as of 1 January. Yang Rui reports for Caixin: China “imported 7.3 million metric tons (8 tons) of plastic waste in 2016 mainly from Europe, Japan and the United States, worth billions of dollars. The country’s hunger for plastic has...

Asia Sentinel: Indonesia for Sale

November 1, 2017
Palm oil is the most widely consumed vegetable oil on the planet, reports the World Wildlife Fund, and the agriculture product is in found in a variety of common packaged foods and household products. Wealthy investors have burned large swaths of rainforest in Indonesia to produce palm oil for export. The Asia Sentinel is running a six-part series investigating the politics, land rights,...

Caixin: Xi Offers Clues to China’s Future Economic Policy

Wang Tao October 21, 2017
China will soon be the world's largest economy, and the world’s eyes are on China’s 19th National Congress of the Communist Party, which lays out an agenda and priorities for the next five years. President Xi Jinping admits that “uneven and inadequate development” is at odds with “people’s ever-growing demand for a better life.” China will not embark in any major policy shifts and aims for...