Articles by Geoff Dabelko

Energy and security bedfellows

The latest broadside on energy and security has been fired, with the bipartisan Energy Future Coalition organizing a March 24 letter to President Bush with 25 security heavy-weight signatories. The letter (PDF) details their demands for a combination of investment in efficiency and alternative energy development, all couched in national security terms.

Read earlier Grist coverage of the Energy Future Coalition here.

Geo-green, geo-green, geo-green

Tom Friedman wrote another geo-green column this weekend, presumably hoping that repetition begets action. The piece does not cover new ground for Friedman or the argument but is useful for keeping the issue on the front burner. It is both fitting but also a bit concerning that he twice quotes Peter Schwartz, the scenario writer (and occasional Hollywood script consultant) behind the Pentagon climate change report that got so much attention after mentioned in Fortune.

Winning water

Any list of top environmental NGOs in India has the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) near the top.  They have coupled research-based innovations with action on the ground. Their forward looking work on rainwater harvesting builds on the fundamental insight that water management, and not water scarcity per se, is the critical difference in many situations. Through in no small measure CSE's efforts, the Indian water strategy now takes rainwater harvesting seriously.

CSE just had its 25 year record of research, practice, and lobbying recognized internationally with this week's announcement they will receive the 2005 Stockholm Water Prize. The prestigous award, and its $150,000 prize, will be awarded to CSE director Sunita Narain this August at World Water Week, held every summer in Stockholm.

Get your assessment

Get a sneak peek at the massive Millennium Ecosystem Assessment before its official launch on March 30 in nine cities around the world. Billed as the most comprehensive assessment ever of the world's ecosystems and the impacts of those ecosystems on human health, the four-year study was written by 1,300 experts from 95 countries with another 900 serving as editors and reviewers. The hope is that like the consensus-driven Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the pains taken at inclusive and comprehensive scientific assessment will bring more political as well as scientific heft to the conclusions.  With the report embargoed until its release March 30, it is hard to say more. But there is something for everyone in this effort.