Climate Technology
All Stories
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Choosy Administrations Choose GEF
The U.S. and 31 other countries pledged this week to allocate a total of $2.92 billion over four years to support the Global Environmental Facility, an international fund to promote clean and efficient energy, biodiversity protection, and water-restoration efforts in developing nations. The Bush administration contributed $500 million of that total, but is currently about […]
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Now That Cali Took the T-bird Away
To the extent that somebody in the auto industry could be the darling of environmentalists, that somebody is William Clay Ford, Jr., chair and CEO of Ford Motor Co. Ford, who has earned kudos in the past for his eco-friendly outlook but has more recently drawn barbed comments from greenies, said yesterday that America’s love […]
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Pick Your Poison
In the First World, debate over genetically modified (GM) foods is about differing ideologies; in southern Africa, where famine is deepening its grip, it is about life and death. The U.S. has offered to provide emergency food aid in the form of corn to seven stricken African countries, but some of that corn has been […]
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To Russia, With Empty Tanks
As President Bush weighs the pros and cons of waging war on Iraq, the issue of U.S. oil energy security looms large. And although no one would have believed it 50 years ago, the U.S. is increasingly contemplating Russia as a stable and desirable alternative source of oil. The strategic partnership between the Cold War-era […]
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Amazon Quivers
Deep in the southeastern jungles of Peru, a stand-off has begun between illegal loggers and some of the world’s last wholly isolated indigenous groups. Around 400 native Amazonians, who traditionally have little to no contact with the outside world, have emerged to try to run the illegal loggers off the land. After four of the […]
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Oh, What a Bad Feeling
Toyota has been getting a lot of kudos recently for its low-emissions hybrid vehicle, the Prius — but the car company increased its carbon emissions in the U.S. during the 1990s more than any other major automaker in the country, according to a report released this week by Environmental Defense. The group said Toyota increased […]
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Cruise Control
Norwegian Cruise Line, the fourth-largest cruise company in the world, will pay a $1.5 million fine for illegally dumping oil and untreated wastewater into the ocean, and subsequently lying about its actions. The company kept a false logbook and for three years lied to the Coast Guard about unlawful discharges off the coast of Florida; […]
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Cutting emissions to raise profits
As the epidemic of accounting scandals continues to spread and the term Corporate Responsibility rings with the oppressive severity of an 11th Commandment, it’s nice to catch a little glimpse of the brighter side: A growing number of U.S. companies have been making voluntary pledges to reform their internal operations in order to cut the […]
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Balkan Death Grip
Fleeing extreme poverty, thousands of Albanians are squatting in and near the abandoned Porto Romano chemical plant — one of the most severely contaminated sites in the Balkans, with soil and groundwater pollutants at 4,000 times the levels considered acceptable by the European Union. Despite admonitions from United Nations experts, the Albanian government has failed […]
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99 Bottles of Beer in a Dumpster
For the first time in at least a decade, Congress is considering a national bottle bill, thanks to the efforts of Sen. James Jeffords (I-Vt.), head of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Jeffords, who has battled for such a bottle bill for nearly 30 years, introduced a measure today that would shift […]
