July 2010
35 posts
Saudis Stop New Oil Exploration to Prolong... →
For the radar: The Saudi Gazette reports King Abdullah has announced that the nation has stopped oil exploration on new fields to protect the petroleum supply for future generations….
An Argument Against the Obama Global Health... →
A new article in the journal AIDS argues against the Obama Global Health Initiative.
A new article in the journal AIDS argues against the Obama Global Health Initiative. The authors…
Tim Wirth: #1 Goal of Natural Gas Industry Should... →
In a speech today, Sen. Tim Wirth, a longtime advocate of natural gas, urges the industry to take the gloves off in its lobbying effort against the coal industry.
UN Foundation President (
EPA Approves First Mountaintop Removal Coal Mine... →
Mountaintop removal mine in Kentucky, photo: iLoveMountains.org via flickr. One more item that probably would’ve made more headlines had there not been a gigantic oil spill in the Gulf…
How Even the Most Remote Villagers Can Watch the... →
UNICEF erects a giant inflatable television screen in a remote village in Zambia to broadcast the World Cup
Check this out. UNICEF erects a giant inflatable television screen in a remote…
Walmart 'Surprised' Greenpeace Singled Out Them... →
Responding to Greenpeace’s recent report (a screengrab of which is above) on the wholesale destruction of Indonesian rainforest by Sinar Mas Group affiliate Asia Pulp & Paper, …
Morning Coffee - 8 July 2010 →
Summary: Spy swap meet; BP says relief well not ahead of schedule after all; Iranian mom faces death by stoning;
Top Story: U.S. & RUSSIA PLAN LARGEST SPY SWAP…
Morning Coffee - 7 July 2010 →
Summary: Iran bans mullets; “Climategate” hack victims cleared of wrongdoing; UK grants asylum to persecuted gays; BP oil in Lake Pontchartrain; Queen addresses UN.
Top Story:
China No Longer a Developing Nation - Per Capita... →
Beijing shopping mall, photo: John via flickr James Kanter over at the New York Times point out a very important statistical update: According to an assessment of per capita carbon…
Sea Shepherd's Captain Pete Bethune Given... →
photo: Barbara Veiga / Sea Shepherd Pete Bethune, captain of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s now-sunken Ady Gil, has been given a two-year suspended sentence for boarding the…
Today's Oil Spill Nonsense: Overt Media... →
As the BP oil spill moves from being a short and bloody battle to a long and drawn out war, I’ve personally have moved to from anger to trying to think more constructively, but here are two…
Queen Elizabeth II at the United Nations →
The Queen of 16 UN member states addresses the General Assembly.
The Queen of England addresses the General Assembly today.
Mr President, Secretary-General, Members of the General…
What Is Sustainable Development & Why Is Defining... →
photo: Jaume Ventura via flickr Even though it’s at the center of environmental thinking, the concept of sustainable development is pretty broad; and considering how often the term gets…
UN Under Siege in Sri Lanka: Why Accountability... →
The UN compound in Columbo, Sri Lanka is under siege by nationalist hordes who oppose efforts to investigate or prosecute war crimes committed against Tamil civilians last year.
There is a…
Melinda Gates on Microsavings →
The next big thing in microfinance is going to be microsavings.
It turns out that microcredit is not just for developing small businesses and raising incoe levels. One of the major benefits…
Morning Coffee - 6 July 2010 →
Summary: Obama and Netanyahu meet in D.C.; Australian PM proposes “Ellis Island” in East Timor; Libya wants to buy up “bargain” BP stock.
Top Story: NETANYAHU…
Hyper-Invasive Kudzu Worsens Ozone Levels, Air... →
photo: Donna Sullivan-Thomson via flickr Just as much of the US east of Appalachia is in the midst of a serious heat wave comes word that kudzu—that hyper-invasive vine that can…
Walmart, KFC, Burger King Paper Purchases... →
photo: Patrick Barry via flickr Greenpeace is again pointing a finger the international companies responsible for Indonesian deforestation, and the international brands aiding and…
Feds Back Big Solar Power With Nearly $2 Billion... →
photo: Cam Vilay While you were watching fireworks this past weekend, the Department of Energy has announced $1.85 billion in loan guarantees for some big solar power projects—what…
Traditional Birth Attendants Persist in Uganda →
Traditional birth attendants in Uganda refuse to disappear, despite a ten-month-old government ban.
Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) are one of the trickiest topics in global health. On…
Bangladesh and Our Global Future →
Agriculture researchers in Bangladesh predict that if nothing is done, rice production will dramatically decline by 2050, just as the nation’s population is peaking.
Agriculture researchers…
Expanding the U.S. Transmission Grid: Past... →
The U.S. electricity grid is in desperate need of an update. Currently, the country has more than 164,000 miles of high-voltage electric transmission lines. They power millions of American homes,…
Global Inequality and the Financial Crisis... →
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development cuts this video of the economist James Galbraith explaining how the financial crisis has effected levels of global inequality.
The…
New EcoLabel Index Sorts Out Validity,... →
photo: Joshua W via flickr The sheer proliferation of eco-labeling, certification and recognition programs, covering everything from food, to clothing, to energy and more, is…
UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Kyrgyzstan... →
The head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres headed to Kyrgyzstan this week to oversee the UN Refugee Agency’s efforts there. Sky News caught up with him yesterday
The…
Morning Coffee - 2 July 2010 →
Summary: Lahore suicide bombing kills 42; Why Tibetans don’t get altitude sickness; UN investigates “forcible transfers” of Palestinians from E. Jerusalem.
Top Story:
Scrubbing CO2 From Atmosphere Could Be A... →
photo: Sarah McD via flickr Regardless of what methods are used, from hard geoengineering artificial CO2 scrubbers to softer methods like reforestation projects, actively…
Feed-In Tariffs Boost Renewables in Italy,... →
Solar PV panels in Furth, Germany, image courtesy of Siemens
In an article published Monday, renewable energy expert Paul Gipe documents the rapid advance in Italian solar…
Organic Farming's Balanced Ecosystems Naturally... →
photo: USDA There are myriad advantages that organic farming has over chemical agriculture, from the health of the land to the quality of your food. Now a new study in the…
Failed States and the UN →
Foreign Policy magazine takes an annual look at the world’s “failed states.”
I attended a panel at the New America Foundation yesterday that included James Traub (one of my favorite
BP Oil Spill Causing More Gulf Dead Zones as... →
BP oil spill protest in New Orleans, photo: Infrogmation of New Orleans via flickr It’s only been a few days since NOAA-backed scientists forecasting the size of this year’s Gulf of…
Morning Coffee - 1 July 2010 →
Summary: Storm stalls oil cleanup in Gulf; Greek workers strike; UN prosecutor to Guatemala; “Dr. Death” jailed in Oz; Survey: Humans sorta support gender equality.
Top Story:
New York Power Authority Applies For Long Island... →
photo: Julian Menichini via flickr Never to be left out of the action, New York has joined other northeast states in marching down the path towards building offshore wind farms: …
Happy Canada Day! →
In honor of Canada day, here is arguably the best classic wrong song written about Canadian colonial history.
In honor of Canada day, here is arguably the best classic rock song ever…
A Picture is Worth... In 1991 The Fattest US... →
2009: photo: Ed Yourdon via flickr. TreeHugger has done post after post on why people in the United States are fat, detailing everything from the effects of farm policy, suburban…
June 2010
107 posts
Urban Outfitters' Faux-Local NYC Storefront Isn't... →
Un-ironic NYC, photo: David Trawin via flickr This all just leaves me shaking my head before it falls into my hands: Urban Outfitters is opening three new stores in New York City…
Algae Biofuels Still Years From Commercialization:... →
Microalgae testing, photo: Steve Jurvetson via flickr If it sometimes seems that second generation biofuels, and especially algae biofuels, also seem to be commercially just over the…
Liberia Qualifies For Complete Debt Relief →
Liberia has reached the “completion point” under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative.
In Liberia’s post-conflict reconstruction process and for Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s…
Enter the Dragon: China’s Growing Presence in... →
Last Thursday, state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) announced a new joint venture with Encana, Canada’s largest producer of natural gas, to develop some of Encana’s…
Morning Coffee - 30 June 2010 →
Summary: German presidential election goes another round; Alleged Russian spy ring short on secrets?’; UN sounds alarm on human trafficking in Europe.
Top Story:
Paris Plans Hydropower Turbines Under Four Seine... →
photo: Jean-Francois Gornet via flickr At the opposite end of the population scale from the remote Alaskan village now powered entirely by a hydrokinetic river turbine, Paris wants…
Measles Outbreak in Southern Africa →
758 people have died from measles in Southern Africa this year.
It’s easy to forget about measles. It has an effective vaccine, and it is one of the milder childhood diseases. That doesn’t…
Morning Coffee - 29 June 2010 →
Summary: UN summer camp attacked in Gaza; BP has spent $2.7 billion on oil spill; Feds bust up alleged Russian spy ring; UK docs vote against homeopathic quackery.
Top Story:
Above Average Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone Forecast by... →
File image of Gulf areas affected by hypoxia, NOAA No, it has nothing directly to do with the BP oil spill, but it won’t help things… Scientists supported by the National Oceanic and…
Research We Wish We Didn’t Need →
Sleepy people make more mistakes.
It’s harder to see things that are far away.
Being fired makes people sad.
No, these aren’t the thought-provoking and compelling statistics about…
Italy Installing More Solar Power in Two Months... →
photo: teesha dunn via flickr We already knew that Italy was the world’s second-largest solar power market in 2009 (the United States was fourth, by the way), but according to a new…
Doubling Natural Gas Usage in US Will Come At High... →
Hot on the heels of recent MIT survey showing that natural gas use in the US is set to double in the coming decades, an important counterpoint over at Yale e360 highlights some of the…
Human Trafficking in Europe a 2.4 Billion Euro... →
A new report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime shows the extent of human trafficking in Europe.
In Europe, trafficking in humans is a 2.4 billion euro industry. This is according to a…
Critically Endangered Indian Vultures Bred for... →
White-rumped vulture, photo: Lip Kee Yap via flickr Some hope for three species of endangered Indian vultures: Conservationists have successfully bred all of them in captivity for the…
Whaling & Dolphin Hunting Not About What's Being... →
Humpback whale breaching, photo: Christopher DiNottia. Continuing on a theme that keeps coming up on TreeHugger, the fact that an increasing number of scientists believe that …