In The News

Shell Withheld Reserves Data to Aid Nigeria

Jeff Gerth March 19, 2004
Shell Oil recently downgraded its oil reserve estimates by 20%, sending the company's stock spiraling and investors panicking. Now, reports indicate that Shell's revisions include a downgrading of its Nigerian reserves by 60% - a diminution the company has kept "confidential in view of host country sensitivities." The fragile Nigerian government, which depends on oil export...

Dam Building Threatens China's 'Grand Canyon'

Jim Yardley March 10, 2004
Dam projects are often controversial, for they require the displacement of peoples, destruction of the riparian zone, and other environmental consequences. In China, most attention has focused on the large Three Gorges Dam, set to be completed in 2009 at an expense of $25 billion and the displacement of one million people. There is, however, another project worth paying attention to, though it...

Still Not Too Late to Prevent a Doomsday

James Gustave Speth March 10, 2004
When it comes to the global environment, optimistic views are few and far between. In his new book, Red Sky at Morning, James Gustave Speth, Dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, tackles the challenges posed by global environmental problems with rare optimism. In this essay adapted from his book, he acknowledges that there is much to be pessimistic about. Although some...

Six 'Green' Mercs Heading Here for Test

Christopher Tan March 4, 2004
Singapore will soon host six of 60 environmentally friendly Mercedes-Benz cars built by DaimlerChrysler. The cars, which run on fuel cells powered by hydrogen, will be tested by a number of different firms, including BP Singapore, Michelin, and Lufthansa. Once complete, the tests will help to develop future models. While the estimated price of each vehicle – some say close to $1.8 million –...

It Must Be Something in the Water

Gamal Nkrumah March 3, 2004
The Nile River Basin of Africa marks one of the poorest areas of the world. Population numbers are unsustainable with the current water resources and are only expected to grow. With too many people competing for too little water, the Nile River has become a bastion of controversy. Downstream lies Egypt, the most well-developed of the nations and the one that takes the most water. Upstream,...

Indonesia Urges Global Boycott on Malaysian Timber

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja February 13, 2004
Although Malaysia and Indonesia acknowledge illegal trade of the rare ramin wood from Indonesia to Malaysia, both countries refuse to take responsibility. Malaysia claims the "onus is on Indonesia to upgrade their laws" to prevent smugglers from chopping rare trees; Indonesia accuses Kuala Lumpur of tacitly consenting to the importation of illegal wood. Meanwhile, Indonesia has called...

Global Environmentalism Hits China

Guobin Yang February 4, 2004
Capitalism is not the only '-ism' flourishing in China today. Since the early 1990s, the country's battles against dust storms, deforestation, watershed pollution, and other problems have attracted the attention of both domestic groups and foreign environmental organizations. The government in Beijing signaled its official commitment to sustainable development after the 1992 Rio...