World Watch articles from November 2004

World Watch archives from November 2004

The morning paper: good news and bad news.(LIFE-CYCLE STUDIES)
November 1, 2004... Disposal Roughly two-thirds of all newsprint is recycled; the other third is dumped. Several years ago, in the book Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things, Alan Durning and John Ryan noted that about two-thirds of American adults read...

Hope in a time of fear.(EDITORIAL)(Editorial)
November 1, 2004... In recent years, I've traveled throughout the country to give lectures. Almost everywhere, I've met people who question whether their actions really matter. They wonder whether it's worthwhile to keep making the effort. Yet history is...

Worldwatch turns 30.(LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT)
November 1, 2004... Birthdays are times both to look forward and to look back. As Worldwatch completes its first three decades, we are doing both. The changes the world has witnessed over that period are breathtaking. And indeed, it was the anticipation of...

What's a map?(NOTE FROM A WORLDWATCHER)
November 1, 2004... There's a story I once heard--maybe apocryphal, but who knows--about the time some years ago when the government of Venezuela decided to give the territory of the Yanomami Indians, who had lived there since before memory, back to the Yanomami....

A little perspective, please.(Population AND ITS DISCONTENTS)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... I'm absolutely astounded at the one-sided perspective of World Watch readers on the issue of population growth. My frustration peaked when one reader suggested that affluent countries "... close their borders, enjoy their affluence, and say to...

New material, still discouraging.(Population AND ITS DISCONTENTS)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... Thanks for your issue on population. I started reading it thinking, "What can they say that is new and not too discouraging." It was new and engaging--but still pretty discouraging. One problem with raising the retirement age is that the...

A Quaker view.(Population AND ITS DISCONTENTS)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... On the population issue: Quakers have had a hard time coming to consensus on this critical matter. In part this is due to our searching for precedent in the Bible or the writings of early Friends. Hopefully the approval of the following...

What about corporations?(Population AND ITS DISCONTENTS)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... Over the years, I have read with interest some of the writings of Herman Daly in the field of environmental economics. So I took up his article in the September/October issue of World Watch with relish. The article is good as far as it goes,...

Immigration and jobs.(Population AND ITS DISCONTENTS)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... Many thanks for publishing Herman Daly's excellent article. I wonder, though, if Robert Ayres read it. Daly points out that industrialized countries could supply their own labor needs if all work paid a living wage with safe working conditions....

P.D. James on aging populations.(Population AND ITS DISCONTENTS)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... The usual excellent job with your publication. Noteworthy for us boomers is Robert Ayres' article addressing the problem of supporting an aging population with an expanding (or contracting) youthful population. For those who may find statistics...

Impressed, but not convinced, by Abernethy.(Population AND ITS DISCONTENTS)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... Your issue on "Population and Its Discontents" was superb. I was particularly impressed by Virginia Deane Abernethy's analysis of Malthus's second edition of "An Essay on the Principle of Population," in which Malthus sounds the optimistic...

Three quibbles.(Population AND ITS DISCONTENTS)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... Congratulations and thanks to World Watch for your September/October issue. Having had the "global population problem" as my avocation for over 40 years, I have to give you credit for covering so much so well and with such an outstanding group...

Exasperated student had a point.(On the Ecology of Meat, GM Crops, and the Embodied Energy in a Car)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... In "Ocean Dead Zones Multiplying" (Environmental Intelligence, July/August 2004), you say dead zones "occur when high concentrations of nitrogen build up in marine waters." Several years ago, in a University of Maine class on environmental...

A miscalculation about bicycles.(On the Ecology of Meat, GM Crops, and the Embodied Energy in a Car)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... In the April/May 2004 Matters of Scale, you claim that a bicyclist will get the equivalent of 31 miles to the gallon if he eats meat, versus 300 mpg if he gets his energy from wheat. The motorist driving the Honda Civic would be getting 32 mpg....

"What a nation values".(On the Ecology of Meat, GM Crops, and the Embodied Energy in a Car)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... Once again I find myself in awe at the accuracy with which you have put into words what many of us have dimly perceived but were not able to articulate (Note From a Worldwatcher, September/October). You make many points, but I would like to...

The ecology of meat (I).(On the Ecology of Meat, GM Crops, and the Embodied Energy in a Car)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... Huge thanks for your July/August issue with its focus on the vastly destructive implications of meat-eating. Soooo important, and the editors did a fantastic job! CATHLEEN YOUNG Oakland, California

The ecology of meat (II).(On the Ecology of Meat, GM Crops, and the Embodied Energy in a Car)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... Thank goodness for the article, "Is Meat Sustainable?" We have been very discouraged because environmental organizations do not speak out about the great harm a meat diet is causing in terms of the environment, world hunger, and cruelty to...

The ecology of meat (III).(On the Ecology of Meat, GM Crops, and the Embodied Energy in a Car)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... I am responding to Mark Muller's letter defending "sustainable" ("environmentally appropriate") animal killing, and Mindy Pennybacker's "Green Guidance" column (September/October). The sad thing is that people of good will continue to use the...

The ecology of meat (IV).(On the Ecology of Meat, GM Crops, and the Embodied Energy in a Car)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... Former president Clinton's coronary bypass surgery should be a wake-up call for the millions of Americans whose chosen lifestyles elevate their risk of heart disease. According to the American Heart Association, more than 60 million Americans...

The ecology of meat (V).(On the Ecology of Meat, GM Crops, and the Embodied Energy in a Car)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... Thanks for doing a great job on the vital albeit dirty subject of meat. DAN BROOK San Francisco, California

GM crops (I).(On the Ecology of Meat, GM Crops, and the Embodied Energy in a Car)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... I was extremely disappointed with your recent anti-GM [genetically modified foods] editorial "Why Should We Be Novartis's Guinea Pigs?" (July/August). World Watch does the world a great disservice by bashing this wonderful technology that has...

GM crops (II).(On the Ecology of Meat, GM Crops, and the Embodied Energy in a Car)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... I enjoyed the editorial on GM crops in the July/August issue. The concluding sentences related to Monsanto's decision to cease development and distribution of Roundup Ready wheat were of special interest, especially when one considers that...

GM crops (III).(On the Ecology of Meat, GM Crops, and the Embodied Energy in a Car)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... How could it escape a diligent scientist that Novartis has been out of agricultural products for years? If you do not even get the company name right (it should be Syngenta), how can one believe that the rather complex scientific pros and cons...

Rocket fuel in your salad?(On the Ecology of Meat, GM Crops, and the Embodied Energy in a Car)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... I am writing regarding the article by Gene Ayres on perchlorates showing up in vegetable crops ("A Little Rocket Fuel With Your Salad," November/December 2003). I was born in 1951 in Riverside, California. I have two sisters who were also born...

Corrections.(Correction Notice)
November 1, 2004... The July/August 2004 issue carried a banner at the top of the front cover that included the line "Hello? Novartis? Do We Look Like Lab Rats?" The editors wrote that to attract attention to an editorial by senior researcher Brian Halweil, and...

China taking a serious look at "Green GDP".(ENVIRONMENTAL Intelligence)
November 1, 2004... Early in 2004, the Chinese government declared that it would implement a new indicator of economic output--one that, unlike Gross Domestic Product (GDP), would incorporate the environmental impacts associated with economic development....

C[O.sub.2] content of ocean water is rising precipitously.(ENVIRONMENTAL Intelligence)
November 1, 2004... As if the oceans weren't already in deep enough trouble with their depleted fisheries, coastal pollution, dead zones, and rising water temperature, new research now finds that oceanic C[O.sub.2] is rising just as dramatically as atmospheric...

Global study finds huge cultural divides in attitudes toward women.(ENVIRONMENTAL Intelligence)
November 1, 2004... An extraordinary, 81-country survey of attitudes has found that the role of gender varies enormously across different cultures--a finding that could have important implications for the future of international relations on a range of fronts,...

China's consumption exacerbating global oil dependence.(ENVIRONMENTAL Intelligence)
November 1, 2004... In recent months oil prices have repeatedly set record highs in nominal terms. Oil producers have reached their limits, and fears of supply disruptions--from Iraq to Russia to Venezuela--have further lifted prices in a tight and jittery market....

Another alarm about farmed salmon.(UPDATES)
November 1, 2004... See "Feedlots of the Sea," Sept/Oct 2003, p. 22 and "Brominated Fire Retardants" (Green Guidance), Jan/Feb 2004, p. 30 Our 2003 article showed that farm-raised salmon, unlike their wild relatives, contain measurable amounts of pesticides,...

Do you know where your kid's mind is right now?(UPDATES)
November 1, 2004... See "What They Love" (Between the Lines), May/June 2003, p. 28, and "What a Nation Values" (Note From a Worldwatcher), Sep/Oct 2004, p. 3 In our annotated look at a website ad for the JC Penney toy "Forward Command Post," which featured an...

Now, it's 40 million children who could have had health care.(UPDATES)
November 1, 2004... See "... And Counting: Cost of the War in Iraq" (Between the Lines), Nov/Dec 2003, p. 30 At the end of 2003, we exhibited a website (www.costofwar.com) showing that the cost of the Iraq war up to that time, if the money had been allocated...

'Tis the season to be fair and green.(GREEN GUIDANCE)
November 1, 2004... Most of us, nowadays, are consumers rather than producers of food. Still, from autumn through the winter solstice, we celebrate the harvest and brighten the long nights with festivals such as Homowo, Chu Seok, Zhongqiu Jie, Hounen-Odori, Tet...

A challenge to conservationists.(conservation organizations)
November 1, 2004... As corporate and government money flow into the three big international organizations that dominate the world's conservation agenda, their programs have been marked by growing conflicts of interest--and by a disturbing neglect of the indigenous...

Sanctuary: for nature and the dead; Preserving the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
November 1, 2004... The Cold War briefly grew hot between 1950 and 1953, when the center of the Korean peninsula was devastated by savage conflict. An invading North Korea, backed by Communist Russia and China, was resisted by South Korea, supported by the United...

Conservation biology in the U.S.-Mexican border region.
November 1, 2004... The U.S.-Mexican border region has the highest rate of species endangerment in the United States. Some 31 percent of the species listed as endangered by the U.S. Department of Interior are found in the region. On the Mexican side of the border,...

Web traffic.(MATTERS OF SCALE)
November 1, 2004... Web Traffic Number of visitors to JohnKerry.com during the week of the Democratic Convention 771,000 Number of visitors that week to the website of Hidetoshi Nakata, a Japanese soccer star 3,500,000...