World Watch articles from January 2003

World Watch archives from January 2003

Climate business as usual.(George W. Bush response to climate change)(Editorial)
January 1, 2003... The Bush administration has undertaken a quest for "sound science" as its basis for addressing climate change. But as evidenced by reports of the past year alone, the administration's "science" is driven more by politics than by the pursuit of...

Bush's scientific relativism. (Note from a Worldwatcher).(George W. Bush)
January 1, 2003... Humans have had a stake in technology from the beginning. In fact, you might argue that technology--the ability to use materials and energy outside our own bodies to greatly multiply our bodily powers--is a large part of what defines us. We've...

From readers.
January 1, 2003... Rwanda: Another Holocaust Denial? I was distressed to read "Remember Rwanda?" by James Gasana (September/October 2002) in your otherwise esteemed magazine. The article seems to contradict everything I had read on the subject. Mention of...

World Bank halts funding for massive Romanian mine. (Environmental Intelligence).
January 1, 2003... The World Bank on October 10 halted loan negotiations with Canadian mining company Gabriel Resources, which is hoping to raise capital to take over and expand an existing state-run mine in Romania. In a highly unusual move, World Bank President...

Studies find sprawl exacerbates drought, threatens farmlands. (Environmental Intelligence).
January 1, 2003... The rapid spread of sprawling suburbs in the United States is substantially limiting the amount of water that can filter into the soil to recharge aquifers and provide underground flows to rivers and lakes, according to a new report by American...

Scientists map genetic code of malaria parasite. (Environmental Intelligence).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... In October 2002, a group of international scientists announced that they had successfully mapped the genetic code of both the deadly malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, and the mosquito that transmits this parasite to people, Anopheles...

Insurance companies warn global warming will cost $70 billion annually. (Environmental Intelligence).
January 1, 2003... Natural disasters in 2002 may cost more than $70 billion, according to Germany-based Munich Re, one of the world's largest insurance companies. Company experts attending UN talks on climate change in New Delhi, India, in October 2002,...

A human thirst: humans now appropriate more than half of all the freshwater in the world. Rising demands from agriculture, industry, and a growing population have left important habitats around the world high and dry.
January 1, 2003... On March 20, 2000, a group of monkeys, driven mad with thirst, clashed with desperate villagers Lover drinking water in a small outpost in northern Kenya near the border with Sudan. The Pan African News Agency reported that eight monkeys were...

Oil & Blood: the way to take over the world.
January 1, 2003... In its drive toward war against Iraq, the Bush administration insisted throughout the fall of 2002 that its purpose was to eliminate weapons of mass Ii destruction and establish democracy. No doubt, Saddam Hussein's regime was dictatorial and...

Poisoned waters: Bangladesh, desperately seeking solutions.
January 1, 2003... Bangladesh has both too much water and not enough of it. On the one hand, this poor and densely packed nation--130 million people in an area the size of New York state--is laced with the great Ganges and Jamuna rivers and countless lesser...

Cultivating the butterfly effect.
January 1, 2003... Chaos theorists suggest that the waving wings of even a single butterfly affect the weather around the world. All life affects all life. And so, in a vastly larger way, does the growth of even the smallest home or neighborhood garden. The...

Privatizing water. (Essay).
January 1, 2003... On April 8, 2000, Robinson Iriarte de la Fuente, a U.S.-trained captain in the Bolivian army, lifted his rifle and fired into a barricade line of protestors. The previous evening, Bolivia's President Hugo Banzer had imposed martial law and...

Biodiversity factors. (Matters of Scale).(Brief Article)(Illustration)
January 1, 2003... Biodiversity Factors Time it takes to grow 1 inch of soil 1,000 YEARS Time it has taken to erode and wash away one- 40 YEARS third of the topsoil in the United States Number of fish caught by a single Norwegian...

No fishing.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... "Making the deserts bloom" is the triumphalist mission of planners convinced that nature wastes her resources. In correcting this error they have turned many arid lands into breadbaskets. Forty percent of global agricultural output now relies...