Thursday, January 16th, 2014
When a crisis develops, what sort of governance is best? Crises have traditionally resulted from situations of social turmoil, such as military invasion, revolution, or corruption, but expectations are that modern-day emergencies are more likely to arise from disturbances due to climate change and other environmental disruptions. Rising sea levels and severe weather patterns are
Thursday, January 9th, 2014
In 2012, gross world product increased to just over $83 trillion, a 4.85 percent increase over 2011. On the surface, this metric supports the argument that the worst of the global recession is in the past; however, the economy continues a pattern of slowing growth rates since 2010 and 2011, when gross world product grew
Wednesday, November 13th, 2013
Many environmentalists today miss the broader political picture by advocating for small day-to-day “green living” acts that in reality are far more symbolic than they are effective. The truth is that most people are proponents of a cleaner environment, safer products and labor conditions, and a better functioning democracy-they are just not actively working together
Tuesday, October 22nd, 2013
In the past decade, approximately 200-300 million people have been seriously affected by natural disasters or technological accidents each year-a staggering figure that is bound to only increase in the coming decades. It is becoming clear that a failure to make political systems pay attention to climate challenges might lead to massive population displacements. In
Wednesday, August 7th, 2013
Geoengineering, by definition, is any deliberate large-scale manipulation of the planetary environment to counteract human-caused climate change. As the planet continues to warm, the potential solutions offered by geoengineering are tempting, and several serious projects are actively being pursued. In the latest edition of the Worldwatch Institute’s (www.worldwatch.org) State of the World 2013: Is Sustainability
Thursday, July 18th, 2013
The Worldwatch Institute is assisting the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in developing a Caribbean Sustainable Energy Roadmap and Strategy (C-SERMS) to provide a more strategic approach to implementing renewable energy and energy efficiency measures in the region. The overall goals are to address the inadequate energy security of most CARICOM member states and to establish them
Tuesday, May 21st, 2013
As the world continues down the path of unmitigated and unsustainable development, it is becoming increasingly clear that we have successfully pushed ourselves out of the stable geological era of the Holocene and into the more volatile and unpredictable Anthropocene. Nevertheless, many remain blissfully unaware of this truth due to the fact that ecosystem thresholds
Tuesday, January 15th, 2013
Despite a slight decline between 2009 and 2010, since 1999 the global land area farmed organically has expanded more than threefold to 37 million hectares, according to new research conducted by the Worldwatch Institute for its Vital Signs Online service (www.worldwatch.org). Regions with the largest certified organic agricultural land in 2010 were Oceania, including Australia,
Tuesday, December 4th, 2012
This summer, record temperatures and limited rainfall parched vast areas of U.S. cropland, and with Earth’s surface air temperature projected to rise 0.69 degrees Celsius by 2030, global food production will be even more unpredictable, according to new research conducted by the Worldwatch Institute (www.worldwatch.org). Although agriculture is a major driver of human-caused climate change,
Tuesday, November 27th, 2012
In 2009, the most recent year for which global data are available from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 311 million hectares in the world was equipped for irrigation but only 84 percent of that area was actually being irrigated, according to new research conducted by the Worldwatch Institute for its Vital Signs Online service
