In The News

A Spanish Blowout: The Iberian Giants of US Wind Energy

Mark Scott November 4, 2008
Because they enacted strict emissions limits early and their business models adapted, two countries have a head start in developing alternative energy from wind – Portugal and Spain. As a result of that head start and a global credit crisis, major wind-energy companies from Spain and Portugal are aggressively pursuing wind projects overseas, including the US. Small wind-farm firms in the US find...

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...

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...

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...

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...