In The News

Heat Damages Colombia Coffee, Raising Prices

Elisabeth Rosenthal March 10, 2011
Is global warming now making your cup of coffee more expensive? Rising temperatures, heavy rains and fungus are certainly reducing coffee yields throughout Latin America, reports Elisabeth Rosenthal for the New York Times. The reduced yields coincide with attempts in Colombia to establish brand certification based on flavor and origin. Some commodity analysts suggest that the nation has hit a “...

UK Consumers Add Solar Panels to Shopping Lists

Nina Chestney March 7, 2011
Low-cost energy is one of life’s conveniences – so convenient with a flick of a switch that most consumers don’t understand how power generation works. Even those aware of the value of alternative energy are in the dark as to where they can purchase their own renewable systems or how to install. But small solar-power systems are about to join cookware and other products on the home-and-garden...

World’s Sixth Mass Extinction May Be Underway

March 4, 2011
By over-hunting, over-fishing, over-heating the planet, humans may have triggered the sixth known mass extinction in the history of Earth, notes a paper in the journal Nature and reported on by the news agency AFP. In early mass extinctions, most animal species were destroyed. Mammal species, typically a rare event, are on a decline, struggling against human encroachment on their habitats. If...

Global Warming Blamed for Heavy Snowstorms, Record Floods

March 3, 2011
Melting polar ice, evaporating oceans and rising temperatures influence global weather patterns in volatile ways. Climate scientists warn that even as winters gradually shrink in length, Earth’s inhabitants can expect heavier rainstorms, snowfalls and flooding. Climate-change skeptics argue that heavy snows are evidence against global warming, but climate researchers point out that average...

Activists Go on Warpath Against Transgenic Crops—and Scientists

Richard Stone February 28, 2011
Chinese activists, restricted from political protests, lash out with ferocity in other areas such as the environment. Activists known as Wu You Zhi Xiang, or Utopia, are influenced by international organizations like Greenpeace, writes Richard Stone Science Magazine. Claiming to protect the rural poor in the tradition of Mao, the activists reject government tests and policies on safety...

The Looming Food Crisis

David Dapice February 18, 2011
In wealthy nations as well as in poor ones, consumers express alarm about fast-rising food prices, and their governments are well aware that shortages can quickly translate into unrest and political crisis. Complaints today may be mild compared with those looming ahead unless governments take steps to curb policies that encourage speculation, warns economist David Dapice. Subsidies that divert...

Butterflies Make Partial Comeback in Mexico

Mark Stevenson February 16, 2011
Year after year, generations of monarch butterflies migrate the stretch of North America from Mexico to Canada and back again. No single animal makes the entire trip, but descendents follow the trail. Every year, hundreds of volunteers create way stations, report sightings and even tag the vivid copper and black insects. Butterflies east of the Rockies head to Mexico, and “This winter, there are...