World Watch back issues from November 2005:
Plywood.(LIFE-CYCLE STUDIES)
Nov 01, 2005 ... Overview Plywood may be the most prosaic building material ever. Even concrete, polished to a mirror finish, can be made into high-end kitchen counters; there's no equivalent glory for softwood-based plywood. (Hardwood laminates are another tale.) But when toughness is required, ...
Who cares about farmers?(EDITORIAL)
Nov 01, 2005; ... From my desk, I can see a wall calendar with glossy images of happy farmers. For March, a group of Mozambican fisherman haul seine. For May, an Ecuadorean woman in a traditional wool sweater and felt hat harvests massive collard greens from her greenhouse. On December's page, two Turkish ...
Darcey Rakestraw: dancing across the culture gap.(WORLDWATCH FIRST-PERSON)
Nov 01, 2005; ... "Do you know Arabic dance?" asked Souha, my husband Atef's cousin, on my first night in his home on the Tunisian coast--somewhere between the unrelenting Sahara and the tourist-laden beaches of the Mediterranean. I was meeting most of Atef's family for the first time and was eager to make ...
Conservationists: don't forget the academics.(FROM READERS)(Letter to the Editor)
Nov 01, 2005; ... Mac Chapin's November/December 2004 article "A Challenge to Conservationists" and the responses to it [January/February 2005] failed to address a key element in the bigger picture with respect to indigenous people and conservationists. Chapin implies that "science" is the driving force ...
Misguided Tompkins.(FROM READERS)(Letter to the Editor)
Nov 01, 2005; ... While I admire the Tompkins's intentions and efforts to conserve biodiversity ["Buy Now, and Save!" July/August 2005], I find their approach economically inefficient and politically naive. As Frank Zeller indicates in his article, the Tompkins's purchase of large tracts of land for ...
Corn maze.(FROM READERS)(Letter to the Editor)
Nov 01, 2005 ... "Reducing 'Globesity' Begins at Home," [Green Guidance, Sept/Oct 2005] unfortunately mischaracterizes high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), a natural, home-grown sweetener from U.S. cornfields, by stating that it raises blood triglyceride levels. The writer appears to be confusing ...
Online species trade booming.(ENVIRONMENTAL INTELLIGENCE)
Nov 01, 2005; ... The Internet has become a key marketplace for the global trade in threatened and endangered species, according to a recent report by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). In a one-week period, the London-based organization identified online listings for more than 9,000 live ...
U.S. Great Lakes thawing earlier.(ENVIRONMENTAL INTELLIGENCE)(Brief Article)
Nov 01, 2005; ... The Great Lakes region of the United States, home to the largest concentration of fresh water on Earth, is thawing earlier each spring, according to findings reported in the August 20 issue of New Scientist. Scientists with the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-M) found that on 56 of 61 ...
Two new reports show industrial toxins common in human bodies.(ENVIRONMENTAL INTELLIGENCE)
Nov 01, 2005; ... Heavy metals, pesticides, solvents, fire retardants, glues, coatings, and combustion emissions are just some of the pollutants absorbed into our bodies on a daily basis, according to two recent studies on human exposure. In the National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, ...
U.S. EPA environmental justice plan falls short.(Environmental Protection Agency)(Brief Article)
Nov 01, 2005; ... A draft environmental justice plan released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has alarmed critics, who charge that the plan will stall any further progress toward remedying the disproportionate pollution load suffered by minority populations. [ILLUSTRATION ...
Land use is top global environmental concern.(ENVIRONMENTAL INTELLIGENCE)
Nov 01, 2005; ... The large-scale conversion of natural landscapes to agriculture and other human uses is a leading threat to human health and global sustainability, researchers reported in the July 22 issue of Science. The authors conclude that accelerated transformation of critical landscapes, including ...
World Bank involvement in economic reform: "a warning flag"?(ENVIRONMENTAL INTELLIGENCE)
Nov 01, 2005; ... The World Bank, one of the world's leading development lending agencies, has long faced criticism about its role in international development and poverty-reduction efforts. Now, a study by economists from the Universities of Pennsylvania, Western Ontario, and California at Berkeley ...
Hydrogen promise not just gas?(UPDATES)
Nov 01, 2005 ... See "California Drives the Future of the Automobile," March/April 2005, p. 26 General Motors, Honda, and BMW say they all plan to produce small numbers of hydrogen-powered fuel ...
Climate lawsuit will proceed.(UPDATES)(Brief Article)
Nov 01, 2005 ... See "Everybody's Talking About the Weather ... and Now They're Suing. Too." Environmental Intelligence, May/June 2005, p. 9 A lawsuit filed in U.S. federal court by environmental groups and four U.S. cities passed an important milestone in ...
Clones cloning around.(UPDATES)
Nov 01, 2005 ... See "Beyond Cloning: The Risks of Rushing Into Human Genetic Engineering." special theme issue, July/August 2002 The prospect of using cloning to save endangered species got a boost last summer, when male and female clones of African wildcats were ...
Pumalin park goes public.(Brief Article)
Nov 01, 2005 ... See "Buy Now, and Save!" July/August 2005, p. 24 U.S. eco-philanthropist Doug Tompkins, co-founder of the Esprit clothing chain, has finally succeeded in turning over his nearly 290,000-hectare Pumalin Park Nature Sanctuary to the Chilean government. The donation caps several ...
Environmental tipping points: a new slant on strategic environmentalism.
Nov 01, 2005; ... Step off the outrigger canoe and Apo Island greets you like a palm-shaded Shangri-La. It's early afternoon, but the men have already come in from fishing. A dive shop and two small hotels overlook the shore, catering to tourists enticed by the pristine coral reefs. Thirty minutes from the ...
Attending to children's health at home and school.(GREEN GUIDANCE)
Nov 01, 2005; ... No sooner have the kids returned to school, it seems, than it's back to sniffles and sneezes. As flu season starts, it's important to guard against pollutants that can trigger or worsen illnesses, from asthma and allergies to learning and attention problems. School environments ...
Street children.(TALKING PICTURES)
Nov 01, 2005; ... These pictures were taken in Rio de Janeiro, but could easily come from any of the world's large cities where one of the wealthy minority's byproducts is a social gulf of misery. Living under the most extreme conditions, these children have no time to develop dreams for when they grow old ....
You say you want a revolution? Emerging economic strategies may hold the key to broadening democracy and enhancing environmental protection at the same time.
Nov 01, 2005; ... Since the modern environmental movement was born in the 1970s, enormous funds and energies have been expended globally to understand and cure our environmental ills. The result has been some spectacular successes--the Montreal Protocol to control chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) emissions and ...
Trade and consequences: the globalization of trade is having some unexpected--and unwelcome--effects.
Nov 01, 2005; ... Walk into any Wal-Mart, Target, or Sears store in the United States, pick out a selection of goods from the shelves, and look at the manufacturer's label. The portable DVD player for your teenage daughter costs less than $100 and is made in Singapore. The silk-screen T-shirt with the ...
At democracy's edge.(ESSAY)
Nov 01, 2005; ... <Pre> It's far too late and things are far too bad for pessimism. --Dee Hock </Pre> Under the banner of exporting democracy, Americans are sacrificing our lives abroad--even as many fear we are losing democracy here at home. But it's not too late, not if we seize the power of ...
Seven tons.(ESSAY)
Nov 01, 2005; ... I never thought I was very attached to the stuff I own. But it sure is attached to me. This little epiphany struck while I was standing in the middle of my basement a few weeks ago, paralyzed by exhaustion after the fourth consecutive 15-hour day of lifting, shoving around, ...
We're number [begin strikethrough]1[end strikethrough]29!(MATTERS OF SCALE)(Illustration)
Nov 01, 2005 ... <Pre> We're Number [begin strikethrough]1[end strikethrough]29! Rank of Norway on the United Nations Human Development Index (2003) 1 Rank of United States10 Rank of Cuba 52 ...