In The News

Globalization Draws Green Activist Attention

Joe Leahy September 9, 2008
As companies or individuals expand and accrue more power, they attract scrutiny from activists. Members of Greenpeace purchased shares in Indian companies like Tata Steel or Vedanta Resources to speak out at annual meetings about environmental problems, including port development that could interfere with breeding habits of turtles or mining projects that desecrate sacred sites. Greenpeace “still...

Massive Canada Arctic Ice Shelf Breaks Away

David Ljunggren September 8, 2008
A huge Arctic ice shelf breaking away in Canada signals rapid ice melt in the region. Arctic temperatures have risen faster than the global average in recent decades, report researchers. Researchers express alarm about the speed and irreversibility of melting ice. “The rapid melting of ice in the Canadian Arctic archipelago worries Ottawa, which fears foreign ships might try to sail through the...

Salmon Fishers Demand a Seal Cull

Henry McDonald August 29, 2008
Seals are a protected species in Ireland, and some fishermen blame them and even cormorants and other birds for a decline in salmon populations. Salmon swim the oceans and then return to the rivers where their own lives began to reproduce. There, humans and other predators wait to pick off the fish. Ecologists dismiss fishermen’s complaints, pointing to over-fishing by humans as the leading...

Power-Sector Emissions of China to Top US

Steven Mufson August 28, 2008
China and India view development and growth as a path to eliminating poverty and raising living standards, and that means more power generation in both nations. This year, China’s carbon emissions will surpass those of the US for the first time, reports the Center for Global Development, a think tank based in the US that examines how policies in developed nations impact the developing world....

Millions Forfeit Water to Olympic Games

Michael Sheridan August 27, 2008
Many Chinese sacrificed to put on a great show for the Olympics, but perhaps none as much as more than 30,000 people in Baoding who lost homes or land, according to Michael Sheridan, reporting for the London Times. In planning for the Games, Chinese officials worried about Beijing’s water supply and hastily made plans for diverting water from the agricultural area of Hebei province to the capital...

Japan to Launch Carbon Footprint Labeling Scheme

Justin McCurry August 22, 2008
Japanese consumers take environmental protection into account while choosing products, even suggesting in surveys that they don’t mind spending extra to purchase environmentally-friendly products. So the Japanese government has devised an intricate system to calculate and inform consumers on labels the level of carbon emissions associated with each product. Companies quickly supported the plan to...

Stark Warning on Britain's Shrinking Coast

Nigel Morris August 21, 2008
Some stretches of British coastline are doomed because of rising seas, climate change and erosion and are not worth inhabiting, insuring or developing, suggests the head of Britain’s Environment Agency. The British agency is drawing up a series of maps that assess coastal erosion over the next 100 years and identify priority areas. The agency will then work with the public to achieve consensus on...