In The News

Hungary Toxic Sludge Spill an “Ecological Catastrophe” Says Government

Mark Tran October 7, 2010
An industrial dam broke loose, releasing a torrent of toxic red sludge, left over from an aluminum manufacturing plant, over the Hungarian countryside. In minutes, the sludge transformed picturesque communities into scenes from a horror movie, with deaths, injuries, mass evacuations and threats to the Danube and Raba rivers, already heavily polluted in that nation. “Local environmentalists said...

Inside the Knockoff-Tennis-Shoe Factory

Nicholas Schmidle September 22, 2010
Putian, China, with its sneaker manufactures, is a global counterfeiting center, sometimes beating the real sneakers to market and shipping everywhere from Italy to New York. Major footwear companies loathe discussing the problem for fear of upsetting Chinese authorities or losing consumer trust over product authenticity. Even authorities have a tough time distinguishing the best fakes from brand...

Maoist Insurgency Trips Up Rising India

Eric Randolph July 29, 2010
Enjoying rapid growth, India looks to make use of rich mineral holdings in its eastern states. But the rural poor and tribal people living near these deposits have been deprived of their rights and often oppressed by corrupt officials in cahoots with developers, explains journalist Eric Randolph. About 40 percent of India’s majority rural population lives in poverty but cell phones and...

Tuna's End

Paul Greenberg July 15, 2010
The decline in fish stocks beneath the ocean’s surface is not readily apparent. Paul Greenberg describes the Atlantic bluefin’s beauty, power and rapid decline in this New York Times article. “Overzealous globalization,” suggests one expert, contributed to a transformation of tuna sushi – from local, seasonable delicacy to unsustainable mass craving. Today, Japan eats 80 percent of the world...

Globalization of Energy Demand

June 18, 2010
In an interview with Nayan Chanda, Editor of YaleGlobal Online, Daniel Yergin, one of the world’s leading experts on energy, discusses the future of dependence on oil and a push towards efficiency. He also talks about the “globalization of demand”, in which he states that the success of globalization, notably demonstrated by rapidly rising incomes in, for example, China and India, is reflected in...

Britain Should Back Down Over BP

Clive Crook June 15, 2010
Oil continues to gush unchecked into the Gulf of Mexico, after an April 20 explosion of a rig leased to BP. Neither the British multinational nor the US government have come up with a way to stop the oil, and growing numbers of Americans demand action – a quick fix, cleanup, more government regulation and environmental protections, punishment for BP, criminal charges and more. The damages include...

Ahmadinejad’s Sugar Daddy

Gal Luft June 10, 2010
The Brazilian government is developing closer ties to Iran, even as Iran faces stringent economic sanctions for its nuclear program. By exporting ethanol, President Lula da Silva’s government seeks to help Iran, a major oil exporter that lacks refinery capacity, lessen its dependence on foreign gasoline. Assisting Iran complicates Brazil's relationship with the United States, one of the...