In The News

China Says Rich Countries Should Take Lead on Global Warming

Jim Yardley February 9, 2007
China is taking steps to fight global warming, but demands that developed countries take primary responsibility. Currently the world’s second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, China is set to bypass the US by 2009, but points out that Chinese per-capita emission rates are lower than those of many rich countries. Chinese officials argue that long-term industrial development in the West caused...

America’s China Worries – Part II

Bruce Stokes February 8, 2007
China has emerged as both mammoth producer and consumer, and that means more countries, including key US allies, depend on China for their economic well-being. The second article in this three-part series on worries besetting China-US relations explores how one nation’s expanding influence over global trade policy diminishes the other’s influence and flexibility. As the US trade imbalance with...

Managing Globalization: The Global Quest for a Second Passport

Daniel Altman February 7, 2007
With citizenship comes certain rights – and some workers try to accumulate more rights be acquiring citizenship in more nations. Nations tinker with citizenship laws to attract talent, and individuals examine citizenship laws to broaden a job search. For example, people with grandparents of European heritage, would-be soldiers willing to fight for the US in Iraq and pregnant women who travel to...

America’s China Worries – Part I

Joan Johnson-Freese February 6, 2007
For more than a decade, the US was a lone superpower in terms of economic, diplomatic and military might. But China has steadily stepped up to the challenge, demonstrating its intent to serve as a counterweight to US influence when it comes to global affairs. In the first of this series of articles about challenges to US-China relations, Joan Johnson-Freese, chair of the US Naval War College’s...

Once a Dream Fuel, Palm Oil May Be an Eco-Nightmare

Elisabeth Rosenthal February 5, 2007
In the race to find alternatives to traditional fossil fuels, an eager public often hails any new find as the solution to world energy shortages. Initial enthusiasm often fades as the reports of harmful complications emerge – and such is the case with biofuels derived from palm oil. Palm oil decreased carbon-dioxide emissions in the Netherlands, but environmental groups suggest that the emissions...

China’s Poison for the Planet

Andreas Lorenz February 2, 2007
Researchers around the globe are monitoring weather patterns that push the billowing smoke from China’s factories around the globe. The factories that lack state-of-the-art environmental protections produce huge clouds of pollution that know no borders. “Just as trade is global these days, so too is the threat against nature,” write Andreas Lorenz and Wieland Wagner in “Der Spiegel.” Japan,...

Climate Panel Issues Urgent Warning to Curb Gases

Elisabeth Rosenthal February 2, 2007
Human activities are almost certainly the main cause of global warming since 1950 and immediate action will only blunt some of the damage, reports the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Humans must strive for conservation and slow use of carbon-based fuels, such as oil and gas. Severe weather patterns, deteriorating habitats and species decline are accelerating as a result of climbing...