Recently added articles from World Watch:
Pencils.(LIFE - CYCLE STUDIES)
Sep 01, 2008 ... Introduction The modern pencil was once a controversial addition to the classroom. Some American schoolteachers said the 1858 invention of pencils with attached erasers would encourage student carelessness. But the pencil prevailed and is now among the world's most popular ...
Alexander, not so Great?(FROM READERS)(Letter to the editor)
Sep 01, 2008; Khan, Arshad ... In your recent "Life Cycle Studies--Bananas" (March/April 2008), the phrase "Alexander the Great's conquest of India" drew my attention. A remnant of colonial beliefs of the superiority of Western man is both offensive to Indians and most certainly false. First, Alexander did not set foot ...
On Tigers.(FROM READERS)(Poem)
Sep 01, 2008; Commander, Joshua ... <Pre> The Tiger Human truth is exceedingly meager; Man's Denial an invariable Feast: Did Blake abolish the "I" from Tiger, So as not to see himself in the Beast? Tiger, Tiger - fading light Blake painted you a ghastly sight. Perhaps his eyes be riddled with sties: ...
U.K. committee supports personal carbon trading.(EYE ON EARTH)(House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee )(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008; Block, Ben ... A United Kingdom House of Commons committee has suggested that Parliament create a personal carbon-trading scheme for all U.K. citizens. It was the strongest statement yet by any government in favor of an individual cap-and-trade system for buying and selling greenhouse gas emissions. ...
European Union increases recycling targets.(EYE ON EARTH)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008; Block, Ben ... The European Union increased its waste management targets in June. By 2020, EU households must reuse or recycle at least 50 percent of their waste, and construction waste is required to meet a 70-percent recycling target. The general recycling targets are a first for the EU. Yet ...
U.S. Postal Service begins e-waste recycling.(EYE ON EARTH)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008; Block, Ben ... In an effort to improve electronics recycling in the United States, the U.S. Postal Service is developing a free national collection program for small electronic items. The program, now in its pilot stage, provides courtesy envelopes with pre-paid postage for patrons to deposit ...
Brazil environment leader resigns.(EYE ON EARTH)(Marina Silva)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008; Block, Ben ... Brazil's outspoken environment minister, Marina Silva, resigned in May--a move that was widely expected after years of tension with the country's largely pro-development administration. In her resignation letter, Silva omitted specific reasons for her departure. She described her decision ...
Green jobs find international support.(EYE ON EARTH)
Sep 01, 2008; Block, Ben ... Sitting in a warm Capitol Hill office building in Washington last May, a panel of green-collar job activists attempted to rally support among a room of sleepy congressional staffers. At the end of the briefing, Van Jones, a civil-rights lawyer-turned-green jobs champion, delivered the ...
Genetic Makeover.(UPDATES)(Genetic Makeover China plans to push development of genetically modified crops)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008 ... Genetic Makeover China plans to step up its development of genetically modified (GM) crops as it seeks to feed its population of 1.3 billion. The push to cultivate high-yielding and pest-resistant GM species is part of a "strategic" drive ...
Tainted trade.(UPDATES)(cutting emissions from marine transportation)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008 ... Tainted Trade Officials from more than 50 ports in 35 countries met in July to discuss how to cut emissions from the roughly 100,000 large ships that ply global waters. Estimates of marine transport's contribution to global emissions range from 1.4 percent to 4.5 ...
Tiger-less woods.(UPDATES)(South China tiger is close to extinction due to deforestation)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008 ... Tiger-less Woods Hunting and deforestation have driven the South China tiger close to extinction, with none seen or captured in the past two decades. An estimated 10-20 individuals remain in the wild. The tiger's decline was accelerated by poaching for traditional ...
Solar success.(UPDATES)(solar field becomes fully operational in 2009)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008 ... Solar Success In June, the world's largest solar field--spanning 110 hectares--came online at the Waldpolenz Solar Park east of Leipzig, Germany. When it becomes fully operational in 2009, the facility will ...
Study supports U.S. wind expansion.(EYE ON EARTH)
Sep 01, 2008; Block, Ben ... Wind energy can supply 20 percent of U.S. electricity needs by 2030 at a "modest" cost difference, according to a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) report released in May. The analysis predicts that the wind scenario would cost about 2 percent more than sticking with the current energy Mix, ...
Rare iguanas struggle for survival as Grand Cayman Island population grows.(EYE ON EARTH)(rare blue iguana)
Sep 01, 2008; Block, Ben ... When a team of volunteers with the Blue Iguana Recovery Program arrived to work at their Grand Cayman Island breeding center in May, they were shockede by what they found: someone had savagely attacked the program's endangered reptiles, eventually killing seven. Investigators have found no ...
Editor's introduction; women: population's once and future key.(POPULATION FORUM)(Editorial)
Sep 01, 2008; Prugh, Thomas ... Four years ago this August, World Watch published its "Population and Its Discontents" theme issue (September/October 2004). Although much has changed since then, it appears that the most important conclusion of that issue--that the best strategy for constraining population growth is ...
Unnatural increase? A short history of population trends and influences.(POPULATION FORUM)
Sep 01, 2008; Engelman, Robert ... From at least the Axial Age (800-200 BCE) until the late eighteenth century, most organized efforts to influence the size of populations aimed at boosting it. Women have been extolled, pressured, or coerced into having children early and often, whether or not they would have timed their ...
Population, Health, and Environment through a "gendered" lens; When women are better off, so are populations.(POPULATION FORUM)
Sep 01, 2008; Huhter, Lori M. ... The water lapped at the side of our tiny outrigger boats as we struggled to get our sea legs up onto the dock. We had just arrived at Gilutongan, one of more than 7,000 islands that make up the Philippines nation. Coming from land-locked Colorado, the turquoise blue water signaled vacation ...
Talking pictures: know your energy source.(coronal mass ejections)(Photograph)
Sep 01, 2008 ... 8 January 2002: A widely spreading coronal mass ejection blasts over a billion tons of matter into space at millions of kilometers an hour. (Coronal images normally black out the disk of the sun here a sun image is superimposed for effect.) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] All ...
U.S. attitudes on population: a mixed picture that seems to reflect confusing media messages.(POPULATION FORUM)
Sep 01, 2008; Connolly, Scott ... Our planet faces a "perfect storm" of unprecedented challenges, including climate change, food and water shortages, and a severe energy crisis. But while the urgency of addressing these issues is undisputed, many people in the United States fail to understand how overpopulation aggravates ...
Of butterflies, birds, and bees: one program that understands the links among education, economic opportunity, and population.(POPULATION FORUM)(Wafula launched butterfly farming enterprise with help from the Kakamega Environmental Education Program)
Sep 01, 2008; Orimbo, Bernard O. ... Before his fellow villagers understood what he was up to, they called Wafula "the moneyed mad man"--"moneyed" because he had enrolled his daughters in secondary school rather than send them off to hard labor in the nearby Kakamega Forest; and "mad" because every day he could be seen ...