World Watch articles from July 2004

World Watch archives from July 2004

Why should we be Novartis's Guinea pigs?(Editorial)
July 1, 2004... Things move fast in the brave new world of biotechnology. In 2003, only a few years after the first widespread plantings of genetically modified (GM) crops, American farmers sowed 43 million hectares of GM corn, soybeans, cotton, and canola....

Twin towers and ivory towers.(Note from a Worldwatcher)
July 1, 2004... Who won the Templeton Prize this year, and why? I didn't have a clue. Winning a "Templeton" doesn't have quite the same ring as winning a "Nobel" or "Pulitzer." So, I listened with curiosity in March as National Public Radio announced that a...

Science and propaganda.(From Readers)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... Thanks for the thoughtful essay, "What Happens to Civilization When Its Main Source of Knowledge Is Ads?" [Note From a Worldwatcher, March/April]. Ed Ayres mentions all-too-briefly the widespread use of misinformation and disinformation from...

The hidden cost we overlooked.(From Readers)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... Your Matters of Scale page, "The Hidden Cost of Embodied Energy" [May/June] contains a subtle bias. You claim that a bicyclist will achieve the equivalent of 31 miles to the gallon if he eats meat and 300 mpg if he eats wheat. The motorist...

"Gloomy" mindset--or realism?(From Readers)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... Thanks to Guy Dauncey for his letter pointing readers to the example of Tikopia, a tiny island thousands of miles to the west of Easter Island [From Readers, November/December 2003]. Mr. Dauncey cites reports that the Tikopians kept their...

Good news from the University of Colorado.(From Readers)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... I would like to respond to the Note From a Worldwatcher, "Did You Hear the Big News?" [May/June], which rightfully laments the types of issues that get major media attention. As an example, you cite the University of Colorado football scandal,...

Ranching accelerates Amazon deforestation.(Environmental Intelligence)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Rising international demand for Brazilian beef is encouraging high rates of Amazon deforestation, according to the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), an Indonesia-based NGO. The area lost in 2002-2003 is expected to exceed...

U.S. food crops widely contaminated by genetically modified seed.(Environmental Intelligence)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... A study by the U.S.-based Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has found evidence that DNA sequences from genetically modified (GM) crops have found their way into many of the country's conventional food crops. GM crops have been developed to...

Atmospheric C[O.sub.2] reaches a record high.(Environmental Intelligence)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... The concentration of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere last year reached its highest level in at least 420,000 years--and likely the highest in 20 million years. Measurements taken at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric...

Plant genetic resources treaty enters into force.(Environmental Intelligence)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Recent ratification by the European Community, 11 European countries, and Egypt will allow a treaty aimed at conserving the biodiversity of plant genetic resources used in agriculture to enter into force on June 29. Forty-eight countries now...

Ocean dead zones multiplying.(Environmental Intelligence)
July 1, 2004... The number of oxygen-starved areas in oceans and bays around the world has doubled to 146 since 1990, according to Global Environmental Outlook Yearbook 2003, newly released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Such areas have...

Heroic river diversion plan resurrected.(Environmental Intelligence)(Ob and Irtysh rivers to the Aral region)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Supporters of an ambitious Russian river diversion plan think they can revive the Aral Sea, bolster the flagging economies of certain unstable central Asian states, and forestall abrupt climate change, in one stroke. As reported in New...

Too much mad-cow safety?(Environmental Intelligence)
July 1, 2004... Last December, the first known case of mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE) in the United States was discovered in a Washington state cow imported from Canada. A panel of experts assembled by the U.S. Department of...

UN launches campaign to clean up coastal waters.(Environmental Intelligence)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... The United Nations Environment Programme has launched a campaign to clean up coastal waters by reducing the quantities of untreated sewage flowing into the seas. While much attention has been given to pollution from agricultural runoff (see...

Projected costs of global warming damage escalate.(Updates)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... See "Insurance Companies Warn Global Warming Will Cost $70 Billion Annually," Jan/Feb 2003, p. 11 In 2003, we reported that climate experts assembled by the United Nations attributed the "vast majority" of damages from natural disasters in...

Storm intensity: one case isn't a trend, but ...(Updates)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... See "The Oceans Are Coming Ashore," Nov/Dec 2000, p. 26 and "The Risks of Disrupting Climate," Nov/Dec 1997, p. 10 Seven years ago, we reported the current views of climate scientists that "If the planet's average temperature continues to...

Perchlorate in lettuce.(Updates)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... See "A Little Rocket Fuel with Your Salad?" Nov/Dec 2003, p. 12 Concerns about the discovery that lettuce grown in California contains alarming quantities of perchlorate, a potent chemical used to fuel rockets, have become more widespread...

Airplane pollution and runway design.(Updates)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... See "Airports and Cities: Can They Coexist?" July/Aug 2001, p. 22 The questions raised by our article on the huge but generally overlooked threats to environmental and public health posed by conventional airport design were lost in the...

Chad oil pipeline.(Updates)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... See "World Bank Approves Controversial Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline Project," Sept/Oct 2000, p. 34; "Chad/Cameroon Oil Pipeline Moving Forward," July/Aug 2000, p. 10; and "Chad Purchases Weapons With Oil Pipelines Money," March/April 2001, p. 29...

Political suppression of science continues.(Updates)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... See "U.S. Environmental Policy: Where Is It Headed?" July/Aug 2001, p. 12 and "Bush's Scientific Relativism," Jan/Feb 2003, p. 3 An independent panel of biologists and ecologists says that after it was asked by the U.S. National Marine...

Now, it's not personal! But like it or not, meat-eating is becoming a problem for everyone on the planet.
July 1, 2004... Ask people where they'd rank meat-eating as an issue of concern to the general public, and most might be surprised to hear you suggest that it's an issue at all. Whether you eat meat or not (or how much) is a private matter, they might say....

The emperor's new language.(Essay)(deceptive definitions and classifications)
July 1, 2004... In January 2004, Subaru announced a minor redesign for the Outback, one of the cars it sells in the United States. The vehicle frame will rise 1.4 inches higher above the road surface than the older model. But this seemingly immaterial...

Water and peace: for clues to resolving the Middle East conflict, consider the case of the embattled Dead Sea.(Cover Story)
July 1, 2004... Headlines in the Western press depict a seemingly hopeless cycle of violence in the Israeli-Palestine sector of the Middle East. An Israeli warplane destroys the home of a militant Palestinian. A retaliatory suicide bomber blows up an Israeli...

Pass the fish, hold the toxins.(Green Guidance)
July 1, 2004... At the end of a summer day, it's a fine thing to amble along a wharf as fishermen reel in their catch, whetting our appetites for dinner. Until quite recently, we could assume that any fish or shellfish would make a healthy meal and that...

Brain drain.(Matters of Scale)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Age at which Mozart composed his first symphony 9 YEARS Cumulative time the average American will have spent watching TV, by the age of 65 9 YEARS Percentage of Americans who can name three Supreme...