Latest Articles

BioDee was in Arizona

Kaela was able to deduce where I was with very few clues because this ecosystem in Arizona is so unique. Would developers cover the Saguaro National Park in subdivisions given the opportunity? Sure they would. The only reason they don't is, they can't. This is another function of government -- protecting biodiversity from the profit motive.

This time, the lovely hand model holding the flying grasshopper is my youngest daughter. We didn't see many hummingbirds, but at one bush I counted five butterfly species.

Peter Madden ponders the upsides and downsides of CO2 offsetting

This is the second installment of a monthly column on sustainability in the U.K. and Europe, from Peter Madden, chief executive of Forum for the Future, Britain's leading sustainable development charity. Read the first column here.

We have gone offset-crazy in the U.K. Open any newspaper or magazine at the moment and you'll see full-page advertisements from oil giant BP offering the chance to "neutralize the impact of your car's CO2 emissions."

Buy a new Range Rover, book a holiday with First Choice, or pay for a flight with British Airways and you are given the chance to offset. Even this year's World Cup declared itself "carbon neutral."

Government has got in on the act too, with a clutch of departments promising to offset their impacts.

For some environmentalists, though, this is all a dangerous distraction from the need to reduce emissions at source. Kevin Anderson, a climate-change scientist, argues, "Offsetting is a dangerous delaying tactic because it helps us to avoid tackling that task. It helps us to sleep well at night when we shouldn't sleep well at night."

Charles Liesenberg, an offset provider, argues the opposite: that because climate change is a global problem, "it doesn't matter where you reduce emissions, as long as you do it."

Won’t give interviews

Rep. Richard "Dick" Pombo has decided that the way to win his race is to clam up, avoid the media, and allow his name recognition and the native conservatism of his district to carry the day. He figures that's enough.

Others disagree.

Iceland resumes commercial whaling

The recent decision by Iceland to resume whaling, and to blatantly ignore the nearly two-decade-old moratorium established by the International Whaling Commission (IWC), is infuriating and puzzling.

Iceland's Ministry of Fishing justified its decision by arguing that the "catches are clearly sustainable and therefore consistent with the principle of sustainable development," but conveniently left out the fact that the fin whales now on their whaler's list are also on the International Conservation Union's "red list" of endangered species.

Within hours of the decision, the first harpooners were off on their mission of "sustainability," and the first two fin whales have already been caught.

Iceland's actions make the next IWC meeting all the more important. In the meantime, let's tell Iceland to call the fleet back in.

Help! We Need Somebody

Grist seeks volunteers for festive events in San Francisco You know how they say if you’re going to San Francisco, you should wear flowers in your hair? Well, Grist is getting the organic Gerbera daisies ready. We’re going to be in town from Nov. 10 – 12 for the Green Festival, and we’ll be holding […]

Pretty in Sink

Carbon trading market could help save rainforests Rainforests are worth far more intact, acting as carbon sinks, than if they’re cleared for farmland or pasture, the World Bank said yesterday, and therefore countries should be compensated for keeping trees standing. Enter: the global carbon market, where polluters must pay to offset excessive carbon dioxide emissions. […]

Here So Suin’?

Courts see “boomlet” of climate-change-related lawsuits Climate-change-related lawsuits are the new black. At least 16 cases are pending in federal and state courts in which plaintiffs seek to hold automakers, oil companies, and electric utilities liable for environmental devastation wrought by global warming. “To me, Katrina was a clear result of irresponsible behavior by the […]

Slow Down, You Hoover Too Fast

Humans consuming planet’s resources at unprecedented rate, warns WWF Humans are consuming the planet’s resources 25 percent faster than the earth can renew them, a rate “unprecedented in human history,” the World Wildlife Fund said today in its 2006 Living Planet Report. If we keep it up, we’ll need two planets’ worth of natural resources […]

Will the latest corporate sustainability reporting guidelines herald a brave new world?

What a swell party it was. The first week of October saw a crowd of 1,150 people from 65 countries rubbing shoulders in the Netherlands, including royalty (in the form of HRH the Prince of Orange), politicians (including former Vice President Al Gore and Margot Wallström, VP of the European Commission), titans of industry (like […]

Humanity faces the fight of a lifetime against heavyweight climate change

Suppose you’d been invited to go into the ring with Muhammad Ali at his prime, for a 15-round bout. You’d almost certainly have said, “No thanks.” Climate change: down for the count. Photo: iStockphoto But what if you had no choice? Say someone had a gun to your head, and you’d be killed if you […]