In The News

Calling for a Green Revolution: An Interview with Tom Friedman

October 31, 2008
Developing alternatives to fossil fuels – solar, wind or other energy technologies yet undiscovered – is the most pressing task confronting the globe, presenting a new frontier of opportunity. Tom Friedman, best-selling author and columnist with the New York Times, decries a planet being destroyed by climate change in his latest book, “Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution and How...

Green Energy Is Not a Middle-Class Conceit, More the Only Way Forward

Geoffrey Lean October 22, 2008
Despite a global credit crisis, environmental protection and development of alternative energy sources by no means should be pushed to the back burner, argues Geoffrey Lean for the Independent. The current financial crisis could be quite mild compared with future crises, as supplies of natural energy decline and climate change causes raging storms, rising seas and fluctuating temperatures. The...

Our Vanishing Night

Verlyn Klinkenborg October 20, 2008
The growth of cities across the globe has obscured the line between night and day. Artificial lights that regularly brighten the night sky for human activity in metropolises and their suburbs has repercussions on humans and other living organisms that are only now beginning to be understood. Increased light disrupts the migratory patterns of birds, confuses newborn sea turtles, upsets amphibious...

Thirsty Giant

Somini Sengupta October 7, 2008
In India's capital city, explains journalist Somini Sengupta, increasing demand and weak public water and sanitation systems have left even middle-class people "foraging" daily for water, testifying to "the government's astonishing inability to deliver the most basic services to its citizens at a time when India asserts itself as a global power." When water rushes...

Green View: Testing Metal

October 3, 2008
Consumers take products like aluminum for granted but resent the smelly, unsightly smelters that produce the product. As a source of cheap clean geo- and hydropower, Iceland has attracted aluminum smelters. Yet increasingly, Icelanders question whether they should sacrifice their landscape for the good of the planet – with some suggesting that global consumers could do more to conserve products...

Biologists Hope to Kill All of Rat Island's Rats

Mike Campbell September 25, 2008
Species have long migrated about the globe, settling into new territories, often with the help of humans. But humans label some species as “invasive” and “unwanted.” In Alaska, a crew of biologists has set out to destroy all Norway rats on Rat Island, because the rodents eat seabirds like puffins and auklets and their eggs. Biologists have successfully eliminated rats from about 300 islands...

Keeping Up With China's Olympic Shine – Part I

David Dollar September 22, 2008
Awarded the right to stage the 2008 Olympics, China set to work polishing cities and parks, designing grand architecture, and coaching citizens to be warm and welcoming hosts. No sacrifice was deemed too great for achieving a successful Olympics and sending a message worldwide about China’s can-do spirit. Perhaps more than anyone else, China’s people appreciated the end results, with the emphasis...