In The News

Elimination of Food Waste Could Lift 1bn Out of Hunger

Adam Vaughan September 9, 2009
Eliminating food waste could have a number of beneficial, and potentially multiplicative, effects. First, if a quarter of the amount of food typically thrown away annually in the US and UK was instead redistributed globally to the poor, this action could lift over a billion people out of the hunger. Second, by reducing food waste, consumption would decline, thereby lowering demand and thus prices...

China Tightens Grip on Rare Minerals

Keith Bradsher September 2, 2009
While one might not have heard of dysprosium and terbium – these elements are rare – they are critical ingredients in green technology and military hardware, and China, the country with some of the largest deposits, wants to limit their export. Though not as precious as gold or platinum, rare earth elements can fetch hefty prices. Some of their primary uses include components for the electric...

China’s Incinerators Loom as a Global Hazard

Keith Bradsher August 13, 2009
China’s garbage-burning incinerators have become a contentious issue not just for local residents in an uproar over the smoke, but also for communities and lakes halfway across the world. China’s gigantic economic growth has spawned a monumental garbage problem. And with China’s landfills nearing capacity, the alternative has been to employ incinerators. But the incinerators across China and even...

Driving Out of Germany, to Pollute Another Day

Carter Dougherty August 12, 2009
Old polluting German cars meant to be destroyed are being smuggled into the developing world, particularly Eastern Europe. Started in January 2009, Germany’s “cash for clunkers” program pays people up to $3,500 to give up an old car for a more environmentally-friendly one. Unlike the US program, which stipulates that engines be destroyed, the German program only requires clunkers to be left at...

Developing Responsibility

Nayan Chanda August 7, 2009
The two-pronged solution to climate change proposed by the G-8 at the summit in L’Aquila has left much to be desired. First, it calls for an 80 percent reduction in emissions by 2050. While the proposed reduction seems encouraging at first glance, the reality is that it lacks a concrete plan to get to the target. Second, the G-8 agrees on a two-degree warming target for the planet. Yet, if...

The Last Straw

July 17, 2009
Pakistan’s biggest problem may not be poverty or insurgency, but potential conflict due to climate change. Current estimates suggest that in as little as 25 years, climate change could wreak havoc on the rivers in Kashmir, the source of 90 percent of Pakistan’s supply of irrigated water, creating significant food security hurdles. Pakistan’s options to address the possible crisis are to let its...

Dams in China Turn the Mekong Into a River of Discord

Michael Richardson July 16, 2009
The Mekong, one of the world’s major rivers, starting in Tibet and flowing through south China, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, provides sustenance through irrigation and fishing to those living in its basin. But it also provides hydroelectric power through dams, three of which were built in China and with more planned. And it is precisely these dams that are now threatening the...