June 2010
107 posts
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…
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…
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…
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…
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:
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…
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…
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…
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…
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:
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…
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…
Voice of the Voiceless is Silenced →
Human rights activist Floribert Chebeya Bahizire was found dead in his car on June 2nd, in the Mont Ngafula neighborhood of Kinshasa.
The New York Times reported today on the killing of a…
Geological Storage of CO2 Emissions Only Viable if... →
photo: Alex Proimos via flickr Even with all the serious doubts about its scalability or financial viability, carbon capture and storage repeatedly continues to get talked up as a…
Kyrgyzstan: On The Move →
The UN Refugee Agency posts a harrowing video of people fleeing violence in southern Kyrgyzstan
The UN Refugee Agency posts this harrowing video of people fleeing violence in southern…
Gaza UN Summer Camp Attacked....Again →
Once again, UN run summer camps for Gaza children are being targeted by extremists:
It seems that once again, UN run summer camps for Gaza children are being targeted by extremists:
Canadian Tar Sands Corp Found Guilty of Killing... →
photo: Darren Kirby via flickr A quick update on the slow motion oil spill that is the Alberta Tar Sands and how the death of birds is just one of the huge environmental problems here:…
Meat & Dairy Matter - Changing Consumer Choices... →
photo: Tambako the Jaguar via flickr One more piece of information supporting how important your personal dietary choices are in dealing with climate change: New research published in…
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 …
Morning Coffee - 28 June 2010 →
Summary: Texas GOP denounces UN, oral sex; Kyrgyzstan approves new constitution; “Climategate” fizzles out; G20 leaders strike compromise; Scandal roils pro sumo.
Top Story:
Judging the Millennium Villages Project →
The Millennium Village Project was discussed at a presentation on Capitol Hill yesterday. Is this the best way to achieve the Millennium Development Goals?
I attended a presentation on…
Natural Gas Use to Double in US in Coming Decades:... →
photo: citylovesyou_ffm via flickr After two years of study, researchers from MIT have forecast natural gas use in the United States doubling in the coming decades, increasing energy…
New Jersey's Offshore Wind Power Plans Will Have... →
photo: mbtrama via flickr One more step towards getting some offshore wind farms built in the northeast US: As Renewable Energy World reports, an environmental impact assessment…
Ignoring Soot Pollution Means We're 8 More Years... →
Cairo is behind that smog… photo: Nina Hale via flickr TreeHugger has written about the growing acknowledgement that soot pollution is a major component of global…
How Heroin Travels →
About 85% of the world’s heroin comes from poppy cultivated in Afghanistan—a near global monopoly.
About 85% of the world’s heroin comes from poppy cultivated in Afghanistan—a near global…
What If We Abolished Income Taxes & Replaced Them... →
photo: Alan Cleaver via flickr Over at Green Biz there’s an interesting article that proposes a way to address the environmental impact of the goods we buy, as well as realign our…
Commercial Hunting Just One of Many Problems... →
photo: Minette Layne via flickr The IWC meeting in Morocco may have seen the failure of plans to compromise on commercial whaling, to bring Japan and other international law…
Introducing the MDG Super Group →
Ban Ki Moon appointed an outside panel of government officials and civic leaders as part of an advocacy group in support of the Millennium Development Goals.
As I mentioned earlier, this is…
European Cap-and-Trade Experience Suggests a U.S.... →
Pricing Carbon, a new book co-authored by Denny Ellerman with contributions from Felix Matthes, Tuesday’s presenters, image courtesy of Cambridge University Press
The European…
Miller-McCune Magazine takes on HIV →
Miller-McCune magazine just published a nice article about the changing global role of HIV funding.
Miller-McCune magazine just published a nice article about the changing global role…
Morning Coffee - 25 June 2010 →
Summary: Fetuses don’t feel pain before 24 weeks; Boat captain says BP is burning sea turtles alive; Venezuela threatens to nationalize 11 U.S.-owned oil rigs.
Top Story:
Wireless ICT for Maternal and Newborn Health →
International health and technology groups announced a wide ranging collaboration to harness the power of information and communications technologies to fight this terrible scourge of needless…
Join Hands Across the Sand This Saturday! Support... →
It’s probably a pretty safe bet that if you’re reading TreeHugger then you’re mad as hell (and don’t want to take it anymore) about the BP oil spill. Now, there are plenty of ways you can take…
Sprawling US Cities Heating Twice as Fast as Dense... →
photo: Matt Lemmon via flickr It may not offer relief from the sweat dripping down your forehead in the midst of a heatwave as you walk down the street, but you can take comfort that…
Scientists Predict Continued Rapid Summer Arctic... →
image: Klimacampus Though currently the extent of Arctic sea ice in lower than it was back in 2007, when the current record minimum was set, two different groups of German scientists’…
Hydropower Without Dams: Alaskan Village Powered... →
photo: Business Wire A couple weeks back when writing about whether hydropower really should be considered a clean power source, there were a couple varieties that were left out. Thanks…
Morning Coffee - 24 June 2010 →
Summary: BP recaps the oil gusher; Australia gets first female PM; Rape on the rise in Haiti; Train crash kills 12 in Spain; Belgian Catholic Church HQ raided.
Top Story:
Taking Stock of the Millennium Development Goals →
A new report on progress toward the Millennium Development Goals kicks off the “summer of the MDGs.”
In September, world leaders will meet at the UN for a summit to discuss strategies for…
UNICEF’s MDG World Cup →
UNICEF’s Authentic Voices blog offers an alternative to World Cup games.
If watching the world games are too stressful for you, UNICEF has a handy alternative. They’re tracking the…
Whaling 'Peace Plan' Talks Fall Apart - Japan... →
photo: Chris via flickr It’s rare that a whaling peace plan falling apart could be a good thing, but for considering that the one being negotiated in Morocco, which would effectively…
Morning Coffee - 23 June 2010 →
Summary: New BP exec to tackle oil spill; Alleged Jamaican drug lord arrested; UN Celebrates public servants; Iraq’s electricity minister offers to resign;
Top Story:
What's the Best Way to Price Carbon Emissions: Cap... →
photo: Jeffery DelViscio via flickr With all the talk about getting the United States off of oil, energy independence, creating a low-carbon future, et cetera, one of the key parts of…
Biogas: Moving Toward Cleaner Energy Policy, One... →
Livestock are a major source of biogas, giving farmers the incentive and opportunity to invest in this new energy resource.
So far, discussions of new energy solutions in the…
Morning Coffee - 22 June 2010 →
Summary: Warlord, Inc.; Tens of thousands displaced by floods in Brazil; Tiger hijacking in Canada; L’OREAL heiress to pay her taxes; Anxiety disorders may lead to heart disease.
…
Closing Loopholes and Bridging Gaps After Bonn →
International youth invite delegates to hide their emissions by throwing plastic “emissions” balls through a parody of the LULUCF loophole rules (Photo courtesy SustainUS)
Logging…
Oil Corp Lawyers Claim Offshore Drilling Ban is... →
The latest image of the oil spill from NASA I have to admit that I’ve been trying to think beyond the ongoing environmental horror-show of the BP oil spill and get past blame and anger…
Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier Detached From... →
This image from 2008 shows deep crevasses in Pine Island Glacier (in the square), indications of its rapid movement. Photo: NASA. Some new research on the rapidly melting Pine Island…
Support Grows for Indigenous Peoples’ Protections →
Photo courtesy Broddi Sigurðarson. Indigenous New Zealanders celebrate their country endorsing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
At the December 2009 climate…