World Watch articles from May 2007

World Watch archives from May 2007

Lipstick.(LIFE-CYCLE STUDIES)
May 1, 2007... Overview Lipstick's long and colorful history begins as early as 3500 BCE, when Queen Shub-ad of the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur used a mixture of white lead and crushed red rocks to color her lips. Over the years lipstick has slipped...

On Bhopal.(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2007... I am writing to express my extreme disappointment in a recent article in World Watch, on Bhopal ["Bhopal Campaigner's Death Highlights Victims' Plight," November/December 2006, p. 9]. The author got it almost all wrong. [ILLUSTRATION...

Program aims to save "Mona Lisas" of the animal world.(EYE ON EARTH)(Zoological Society of London program to protect endangered, distinct animals)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... A new program from the Zoological Society of London is working to identify and protect some of the world's "most bizarre and unusual animals," according to a news release from the group. The EDGE of Existence program focuses exclusively on...

Ecuadorian city winning against traffic, pollution problems.(EYE ON EARTH)(Guayaquil mayor Jaime Nebot honored with Institute for Transportation and Development Policy's Sustainable Transport Award )(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... Guayaquil, Ecuador, and its mayor, Jaime Nebot, received international recognition in January for the city's successful introduction of the Metrovia bus rapid transit (BRT) system and other improvements to public space. The Institute for...

Innovative approach to development recognizes role of grandmothers.(EYE ON EARTH)(The Grandmother Project)
May 1, 2007... Grandmothers in the Kati district of Mali, in West Africa, used to advise pregnant women to work harder so their muscles would be strong for childbirth, and to eat less so their babies would be smaller and easier to push out. But with...

IPCC report: barring action, more weird weather on the way.(EYE ON EARTH)(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... This past winter, unseasonable warmth in Europe drew Dalmatian pelicans to their summer roosts in the Danube River delta months early. Camels and big cats at the Moscow Zoo caught spring fever, frolicking and mating ahead of schedule. And...

World governments adopting bright idea.(EYE ON EARTH)(using fluorescent lamps to cut energy costs)
May 1, 2007... From Australia to Russia, governments are now promoting and even mandating the use of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and other energy-efficient light bulbs to address concerns about rising energy costs and climate change. Lighting absorbs...

Biogas program fuels sustainable agriculture in Tibet.(EYE ON EARTH)(Global Environmental Institute)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... They were told it would never work in the high altitude and cold climate of Tibet. But a Beijing-based non-profit, the Global Environmental Institute (GEI), has successfully implemented a biogas program in the mountainous Chinese province. The...

Geothermal could power millions of U.S. homes, Study says.(EYE ON EARTH)
May 1, 2007... Geothermal power, a renewable energy source that has been largely ignored in the United States, could supply a significant share of the country's future energy needs, according to a recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) study. The...

Coal reversal.(UPDATES)(TXU Corp. not to build coal-fired power plants)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... See "Coal Rush," January/February 2007, p. 8 Under a proposed $45 billion buyout by two private equity firms, Texas utility TXU Corporation will abandon plans to build 8 of 11 new coal-fired power plants. In an about-face from its earlier...

Operation e-waste.(UPDATES)(United Nations public-private partnership to tackle electrical and electronic waste)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... See "E-Wasted," July/August 2006, p. 21 A new United Nations initiative aims to tackle the growing mountain of electrical and electronic waste. The public-private partnership, called StEP, hopes to create a global recycling standard, extend...

Sea level slam.(UPDATES)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... See "Black Water Rising," September/October 2006, p. 26 One meter of sea level rise by the end of the century would force some 60 million people living in coastal areas in developing countries to abandon their homes, according to a new...

Fattening toxins.(UPDATES)(endocrine-disrupting chemicals may cause obesity)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... See "Fat City," September/October 2005, p. 10 New studies suggest that exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals may be fueling rising global obesity. The chemicals, which have been shown to produce more and larger fat cells in mice, are...

Climate change, coming home: global warming's effects on populations.
May 1, 2007... Since the 1970s, rainfall has been scarce in the Sahel, the wide belt of semi-arid land that stretches across Africa on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. One of the worst-affected areas has been the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia,...

Carbon on credit: global warming and the derivatives markets.
May 1, 2007... The environmental community may be missing the forest for the trees. Environmentally conscious consumers know that every purchase counts, and that taken together all our choices make up a "forest" of environmentally crucial decisions. But are...

Refined beauty.(TALKING PICTURES)(petroleum refineries)(Brief article)(List)
May 1, 2007... Getting the oil out of the ground is only the beginning. The common refinery might include: * a desalter unit * an atmospheric distillation unit * a vacuum distillation unit * a naphtha hydrotreater unit * a catalytic...

Las Gaviotas: sustainability in the tropics.(Paolo Lugari designed sustainable village )
May 1, 2007... In the early 1970s, facing overwhelming obstacles, a young visionary named Paolo Lugari set out to build a sustainable village on los llanos, the remote plains of Colombia, some 500 kilometers east of the country's capital, Bogota. Lugari and a...

Individualism and America: the news from L.A.(Los Angeles)
May 1, 2007... In my parting note to readers as editor of this magazine ["Note from a Worldwatcher," January/February 2005], I wrote that my wife Sharon and I were moving from the East Coast to southern California, where we planned to build a house. Putting...

Friends of Worldwatch.
May 1, 2007... Many thanks to the thousands of people who recognized the urgency of our work and supported Worldwatch in 2006, allowing us to reach decision makers and concerned citizens in over 100 countries. --Christopher Flavin, President COUNCIL...

Greenhouse car-nations.(MATTERS OF SCALE)(motor vehicles)(Table)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... Greenhouse Car-Nations World total of motor vehicles, 2004 826 million Total length of road network, United States, kilometers 6.4 million (rank = 1) India (2) ...