World Watch articles from November 2002

World Watch archives from November 2002

The continuing GMO quagmire. (Editorial).
November 1, 2002... Fourteen million southern Africans are on the verge of starvation, but Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe recently refused a shipment of American food aid because it contained genetically modified corn. The often abstract biotech debate now has...

The paradox of Biophilia. (Note from a World Watcher).
November 1, 2002... Edward O. Wilson wasn't the first to use the term "biophilia," but he brought it into popular discussion. His interest, as reflected in Biophilia (Harvard University Press, 1984) and with Stephen R. Kellert in The Biophilia Hypothesis (Island...

The Rwanda genocide: there's more to the story. (From Readers).
November 1, 2002... While I can certainly appreciate the underlying conditions of population pressure and environmental degradation behind human conflict in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa as explored by James Gasana's article ("Remember Rwanda,"...

Nigerian women pressure oil companies to promise changes. (Environmental Intelligence).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... On July 8, more than 150 Nigerian women laid siege to the Escravos oil terminal, which is operated by U.S.-based ChevronTexaco, demanding that the corporation provide the surrounding communities with jobs, electricity, environmental...

Peruvian town rejects planned gold mine. (Environmental Intelligence).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Residents of the town of Tambogrande in northern Peru on June 2 voted overwhelmingly against a planned $315 million copper and gold mine that would dig up a number of buildings and homes and displace more than half of the 16,000 inhabitants....

Bhopal court upholds criminal charges against former Union Carbide CEO. (Environmental Intelligence).
November 1, 2002... On August 28, the Indian courts rejected a bid to reduce criminal charges against Warren Anderson, who was the CEO of Union Carbide in 1984 when the company's pesticide factory in Bhopal leaked 40 tons of chemicals that killed thousands in the...

Risking corn, risking culture.
November 1, 2002... If genetically modified corn spreads around the planet, one of humanity's greatest creations--a highly diversified and reliable food source--could be severely weakened or even destroyed. So could many of the human communities that depend on it....

Where the sidewalks end.
November 1, 2002... One out of every seven people now lives in a slum--or at least that's the UN's best estimate. More and more slum residents are organizing to improve their lot, as their numbers swell in cities all over the world. SOUINTING IN THE SUNLIGHT,...

HIV/AIDS epidemic is still in early stages. (Update).
November 1, 2002... The scale of the AIDS epidemic is far beyond even the worst-case scenarios projected a decade ago, according to several new reports released at the 14th International AIDS Conference in Barcelona in July 2002. HIV/AIDS, now the world's...

Afghanistan, again. (Essay).
November 1, 2002... The reconstruction of Afghanistan is not going as smoothly as the U.S. government had hoped. A little historical perspective suggests that there may be a long--and perhaps treacherous--road ahead. In 1996, the Taliban seized control of an...

Chairman Mao's War on Nature. (Interview).(Interview)
November 1, 2002... China's recent economic boom is frequently blamed for the country's mounting environmental dilemmas--its cities are among the most severely polluted in the world, much of its original forestland has been cleared, and water shortages are a...

Threats to security. (Matters of Scale).
November 1, 2002... MATTERS OF SCALE Threats to Security When 3,000 people died in the "9-11" attacks, Americans went into deep shock and declared that "the world has changed." Here's how that event compares with some other recent and ongoing causes of...

Population Pressure and "Revenge Fertility". (From Readers).
November 1, 2002... Thank you for James Gasana's highly informative article on the social conditions that led to the disastrous genocide in Rwanda, important among them the conflict for resources caused by rapid population growth. Unfortunately I can have no...

A Misunderstanding about overpopulation. (From Readers).
November 1, 2002... I am responding to the letter in the July/August 2002 issue by Mr. William Dickinson. Like many people concerned about overpopulation, Mr. Dickinson seems to be unaware that the single best predictor of a woman's fertility is education. It...

Mediated experience. (From Readers).
November 1, 2002... Thanks for the thoughtful piece, "Out of Touch" ("Note from a Worldwatcher," September/October), about the "mediated experiences" of the new technologies. While your personal observations are generally perceptive, the language in the magazine...