In The News

US Congress Blocks World Bank Move on Safeguards

January 12, 2015
The US Congress has inserted a provision in an appropriations act that requires greater “protection for the environment or for human rights than the bank’s current safeguards,” reports Environment News Service. The United States is the largest contributor for World Bank operations, and the measure formalizes criticism about the World Bank’s 2014 proposal on environmental and social safeguards: “...

Oil’s Well to Stop Binging

Nayan Chanda January 9, 2015
Consumers rejoice at the fast-falling price of oil, by half since summer of 2014. Nayan Chanda, editor of YaleGlobal Online, urges governments to use the period of respite to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, ending subsidies and instead investing in alternative energies like wind, solar and other alternative energies. The Modi administration in India has made a start, suggesting subsidies for off...

Managing Climate Change

Nicholas Stern January 8, 2015
Countries have limited resources, and careful planning could reduce waste and poverty while ensuring prosperity and security. Nicholas Stern, an economist who assesses the effects of climate change, focuses on India in this article for Seminar and argues that investing in urban planning and reducing sprawl has value: “Investments in cities, energy and land use have very long-run effects (lock-in...

A Football Stadium Covered in This Solar Cloth Could Power a Small Town

Megan Gambino January 2, 2015
Flexible, lightweight fabric could extend the possibilities for solar power and fit in places not practical for large panels. While the idea is not new, one startup has covered a 12-space parking lot with fabric containing photovoltaics that generate 15 kilowatts per hour, reports Megan Gambino for Smithsonian Magazine. A company goal is for solar technology not to compete for productive farmland...

Great Apes Facing “Direct Threat” From Palm Oil Farming

December 8, 2014
The booming palm oil industry is destroying habitats for orangutans as well as other endangered species like Asian rhinos and tigers, reports the news syndicate AFP. Palm oil’s expanded use in cosmetics and food products has encouraged deforestation and expansion of plantations in Southeast Asia and Africa. Activists suggest that the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, an industry organization...

Geoengineering Could Worsen Climate Change

Tim Radford December 1, 2014
Representatives from around the globe gather for the UN Climate Change Conference in Lima, Peru, starting December 1, to consider measures to adapt and mitigate the results of global warming. Relying on geoengineering to forestall impending disasters associated with climate change is foolhardy, expensive and possibly even dangerous, suggests Tim Radford in an article for Climate News Network. He...

Dear Snow-Trolls: Winter Weather Does Not Refute Global Warming

Chris Mooney November 28, 2014
After a period of cool weather or heavy snow, those ignorant on science and research proclaim that climate change cannot possibly be true. “Despite the fact that weather and climate are not the same thing – climate is the statistical average of weather – extremely cold winters do appear to shift climate beliefs,” writes Chris Mooney for the Washington Post. He goes on to explain that cold weather...