In The News

A Renegade Trawler, Hunted for 10,000 Miles by Vigilantes

Ian Urbina July 31, 2015
A global chase of a trawler for illegal fishing is a thrilling high-seas adventure tale: “For 110 days and more than 10,000 nautical miles across two seas and three oceans, the Bob Barker and a companion ship, both operated by the environmental organization Sea Shepherd, had trailed the trawler, with the three captains close enough to watch one another’s cigarette breaks and on-deck workout...

Zimbabwean Officials: American Man Wanted in Killing of Cecil the Lion

Don Melvin July 29, 2015
A wealthy Minnesota dentist – alleged to have paid $50,000 for baiting a beloved community lion in Zimbabwe to a nearby farm before shooting it with a bow and arrow and then tracking the wounded creature for 40 hours – is wanted by Zimbabwean authorities. US representatives are calling for an investigation, too. “Cecil, who was 13, was a prized lion in Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park, where...

How to Create a New Climate for Peace

Lauren Herzer July 20, 2015
The G7 commissioned an independent report to address the threats to international security from climate change including competition over resources, volatile food prices and natural disasters. Weak states and poor governance exacerbate the problems: The Ethiopian government’s policy of selling privately owned land in the face of a food shortages has left indigenous minorities without farmlands or...

Climate Change Brings Ill Winds for Airline Industry

Tim Radford July 15, 2015
Researchers studied round trips for airlines between Hawaii and airports in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angles over the past two decades: Eastbound trips are now an average 10 minutes shorter and westbound trips were 11 minutes longer. The researchers suggest that climate change and volatile wind patterns are the reason. “[T]iny differences began to add up to substantial costs in time and fuel...

Climate Change Brings Moral Change

Mary Evelyn Tucker July 14, 2015
The world’s major religions urge both respect for nature’s power and gratitude for Earth’s bounty. No one should have been surprised by the encyclical of Pope Francis, rallying believers and non-believers in a global call: “The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that...

The Way Humans Get Electricity Is About to Change Forever

Tom Randall July 6, 2015
Renewable forms of energy gain favor with investors. “Trillions of dollars will be invested over the next 25 years, driving some of the most profound changes yet in how humans get their electricity,” reports Tom Randall, based on a report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance that forecasts global power market trends through 2040: Solar prices are falling and could be competitive for most world markets...

Solar Impulse: One Giant Leap for Green Energy

Zach Rosenberg July 3, 2015
Solar Impulse, with its skeletal frame, took off from Nagoya ,Japan, on June 28 and landed in Hawaii today. Traveling at 30 knots per hour, Swiss pilot André Borschberg has set the world record for longest-duration solo flight. The plane began its journey in Abu Dhabi March 9, and the plan is circle the globe without using fuel. Borschberg shares this feat with Bertrand Piccard. “The airplane,...