In The News

Environmental Woes Could Reverse Global Development

Christopher F. Schuetze March 20, 2013
Storms, fires, rising seas, floods and other consequence of climate change could plunge one third of the world’s population into extreme poverty by 2050, according to the 2013 Human Development Report, released last week by the UN Development Programme. On a more positive note, the report says, “Extreme income poverty has plummeted from 1990, when 43 percent of the globe’s population lived on the...

World Agriculture Suffers From Loss of Wild Bees

March 18, 2013
Wild bees are better at fertilizing plants than bees managed by humans, and their falling numbers are hurting global agriculture, according to a study in the journal Science, reported on by Health24. Wild bees live in edge habitats, borders between grasslands and forests, which are increasingly targeted by development. The Canadian researchers examined 41 crop systems. “Paradoxically, most...

Fossil-Fuel Subsidies Help Asia Roar

Will Hickey March 15, 2013
Governments have long provided subsidies, direct and indirect, on fuels for both consumers and producers. Providing subsidies on fossil fuels is costly in terms of public health and climate change. In 2009, G20 leaders agreed that subsidies should be curtailed, but Asian countries continue to fund them to support economic growth. Subsidies for consumers lead to waste, traffic and pollution. Less...

UK Seabed Resources Joins Deep-Ocean Mineral-Mining Rush

David Shukman March 15, 2013
Technology, including robotics, is allowing more mining firms to explore the ocean floor for oil and minerals, as “surveys have revealed huge numbers of so-called nodules – small lumps of rock rich in valuable metals – lying on the ocean floor south of Hawaii and west of Mexico,” reports David Shukman for BBC News. Another method involves removing material near hydrothermal vents....

Weaning From Fossil Fuels and Growing a Green Economy

Dennis Posadas March 8, 2013
Innovation in renewable energies is taking many directions, though implementation of best practices and policies is naturally slow to follow. It may be unrealistic to expect a global treaty on climate before innovation plays out. “Worldwide implementation may require getting comfortable with many different culturally appropriate approaches,” writes Dennis Posadas, author and fellow of the Climate...

The Coal Monster: Pollution Forces Chinese Leaders to Act

Bernhard Zand March 7, 2013
Under a haze of smog, China’s economic successes seem less amazing. Bernhard Zand describes acid, bleach, smoke, sulfur, soot and pollutants that assault the senses in China’s cities. “Chinese bloggers are on a rampage, and even the most loyal government newspapers are examining every aspect of the crisis and attacking those responsible for conditions in China with unprecedented ferocity,” Zand...

As Sea Ice Melts, Storm Surges Batter Arctic Coasts

Becky Oskin March 7, 2013
As the climate warms and changes, scientists learn more about the planet’s the intricate connections. Rising temperatures not only deliver harsher storms and melt sea ice – the loss of thick sea ice eliminates an obstacle that once slowed Arctic storms, and analysts predict new speed and power behind storm surges and ocean flooding. In turn, rising saltwater is killing off vegetation that...