In The News

A Young Tinkerer Builds a Windmill, Electrifying a Nation

Sarah Childress December 31, 2007
Forced to drop out of school at age 14 because his family could no longer afford tuition, William Kamkwamba of Malawi set out to study energy and build windmills on his own. “Energy poverty” limits development, economies and jobs in the world’s poorest nations, explains Sarah Childress for the Wall Street Journal. Kamkwamba, now 20, built his windmill, by lashing blue-gum tree trunks together for...

Fishing for Compliments

December 23, 2007
Marine biologists have urged the creation of ocean reserves for decades – for both environmental and economic reasons. Overfishing occurs in areas without restrictions, with catches including increasing numbers of young fish that have not yet produced offspring and other unsustainable practices. Reserves, though, mark part of the ocean as off-limits for all or part of the year to fishermen. Such...

It’s Too Late for Later

Thomas L. Friedman December 18, 2007
People worldwide, even those in the least developed nations, are fully aware of the causes and dangers associated with global warming. “‘Later’ was a luxury for previous generations and civilizations,” writes New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. The planet’s transforming before our eyes – polar ice melting at faster rates, tides moving higher along coastlines and the population of some...

Britain's Carbon Strategy “Up in Smoke”

Steve Connor December 17, 2007
Nations closed the climate conference in Bali with vows to tackle climate change. Scientists are taking the government leaders at their word. Jim Hansen – director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in the US, who has long warned that global warming poses real dangers to the planet, including species extinction, raised sea levels and ruined coastlines – urges governments to back away...

World Bank Fund Will Pay to Leave Forests Standing

December 14, 2007
The World Bank will establish a fund to compensate developing nations to protect forests, with the hope that preserving forests will slow climate change. "The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility signals that the world cares about the global value of forests and is ready to pay for it,” said Robert Zoellick, World Bank president. Deforestation is responsible for about one fifth of total carbon...

For China and Vietnam, a Highway Link Means Speedy Growth

Donald Greenlees December 14, 2007
Investments in infrastructure contribute to economic growth, which in turn can reduce poverty. A new highway between China and Vietnam will encourage trade and many other connections, reports Donald Greenlees for the New York Times. The highway, when completed in 2012, is expected to reduce travel time between the two huge developing markets, ranked first and 13th in terms of population, both...

US Told to "Wake Up" Over Climate Change

David Adam December 13, 2007
In global talks about climate-change policy, the European Union would prefer some binding targets to reduce carbon emissions, while the United States argues that setting big goals, possibly unsustainable or unrealistic, is mere talk and a waste of time. The US would have more leverage in the global discussions if it weren't the world's largest energy consumer and carbon emitter....