In The News

The Politics of Palm Oil

Pavin Chachavalpongpun September 17, 2013
Palm oil is Indonesia’s most valuable agricultural export and the industry employs nearly 2 million people. Indonesia has laws prohibiting the slash-and-burn method of clearing fields for large plantations, explains Pavin Chachavalpongpun, of Kyoto University’s Centre for Southeast Asian Studies. Yet allowances for small farmers and a regional culture of patronage politics may hamper enforcement...

Boat's Voyage a Shining Example of Solar Potential

Richard Anderson September 16, 2013
An international team of engineers, investors and designers created and launched a solar-powered vessel that circled the globe. The boat traveled close to the equator to maximize its exposure to the sun. “The Turanor uses energy harnessed from more than 500 [square meters] of solar panels to drive two, 60kW electric engines, each in turn driving a standard propeller,” reports Richard Anderson for...

Ecuador Approves Yasuni Park Oil Drilling in Amazon Rainforest

September 13, 2013
Ecuador is moving to open an Amazon national park, one of the most biodiverse areas in the world, for oil drilling. Developed nations balked at a UN-backed conservation plan that included international payments for not drilling in Yasuni National Park, reports BBC News. “Oil is Ecuador's main export,” reports the article, adding that drilling could start in weeks. President Rafael Correa...

A Syrian Lesson for India

Nayan Chanda September 11, 2013
The United Nations monitors global weather conditions, population growth, security and refugee populations, and the trends are interconnected in many complex ways. In Syria, severe drought between 2006 and 2010 turned more than half the land into desert, contributing to a vicious civil war: Drought and water shortages led to unemployment, forcing hundreds of thousands into Syria’s cities – many...

Botanical Bandits: Rampant Poaching Threatens Ginseng’s Survival

Jake Frankel September 9, 2013
The delicate plant with tiny red berries has drawn thousands of scavengers to Appalachia forests, digging up roots of the ginseng plant, wiping out entire groves, for sale to Asian markets. “[W]ith wild ginseng root fetching upward of $800 a pound, untold numbers of poachers have taken to local forests, overwhelming meager law enforcement resources and leaving the plant’s survival in doubt,”...

The Day the Earth Ran Out

Carter Roberts August 23, 2013
Earth’s natural resources, whether water or precious metals, are limited. Global Footprint Network calculates the day each year when demand for resources exceeds the ability to renew them in one year. “Earth Overshoot Day is an approximation, but it is yet one more sign that humanity is consuming the planet’s finite resources at an unsustainable rate,” reports Carter Roberts, World Wildlife Fund...

The Decline of Renewable Energy

Bjørn Lomborg August 21, 2013
The world is stalled in developing renewable energy. Countries have invested more than $1 trillion over the last decade in developing renewable energies, which represent about 13 percent of all world energy in 2011 – about the same share as in 1971 – explains Bjørn Lomborg for Project Syndicate. “The vast majority comes from biomass, or wood and plant material – humanity’s oldest energy source,”...