News and Trends About World Sustainability

I will post here articles that I come across that might be of interest to my students and others who wish to join in the conversation. Thanks for visiting. ~Professor Wayne Hayes 

Edition #6: 4/25/2011:

Lester Brown has written recently about food, water, population trends creating a sustainability crisis in the Arab world. The Star Online of Asia has provided a round-up of trends in food and population.

Edition #5.1: 2/24/2011

To help bring Lester Brown's Plan B 4.0 up to date, see Brown's February 15, 2011, article, World One Poor Harvest Away From Chaos. View the UN Food and Agriculture Organization indices. Consider the current world food crisis as seen from Calcutta.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance desk reports that wind is now cost-competitive with coal.

Note that conventional oil production peaked at 74 million barrels per day in 2005. Digest this chilling report from The Tampa Tribune. Thus, as demand expands --- coming from India and China and from the recovery from the recession in the USA --- oil supply will not be easily expandable. This is called Peak Oil. Check out current oil prices. Together with increased food shortages, such trends are likely the forward edge of the looming global crisis. 

Edition #4.1: 2/17/2011:

Get this. Chevron, which just lost a major suit against Ecuadorians over toxic contamination of their rain forest, is countering with a lawsuit accusing the Ecuadorians of racketeering.

Greg Allen has suggested an article that speaks to the growing population and the need to empower women. As the World Sustainability course moves along, we will come to appreciate how significant this step is to achieve a just and sustainable world.

Edition #3.2: 2/11/2011: businesses do sustainability | green consumer guide | China's coal moratorium

A study at Sloan Management Review from the Sloan Management School at MIT shows that more than two-thirds of businesses surveyed are enhancing their commitment to sustainability.

The Good Guide to healthy, green, and ethical products facilitates doing good with your consumption choices.

China has declared a three-year moratorium on new coal mining permits. China, heavily invested in wind energy production, appears to have cut investment in new coal-fired plants. See recent Scientific American report. EcoWorld provides background and analysis on China, energy, and coal.

Edition #2: 2/10/2011: Wael Gonihm's Revolution 2.0

I mentioned at the end of our World Sustainability class that the spontaneous uprising in Egypt was sparked by social media. A leader in this movement has emerged, Wael Gonihm, recently a Google executive. In a stirring CNN interview, Gonihm speaks intensely about Revolution 2.0. Follow the links to other videos of Wael Gonihm, such as that which provides context. 

Edition #1: 2/8/2011: tree deaths in Amazon | global inequality | climate and food | China drought | energy reform 

Global Policy Forum reports on a massive and unexpected spate of tree deaths in the Amazon, fearing that this might indicate a "climate tipping point." The conclusion of the article summarizes the tipping points to watch. The same edition warns of another type of tipping point, this coming from the effects of increasing global inequality.

Paul Krugman's commentary, Droughts, Floods and Food, in the New York Times points to themes of interest in Economics of Sustainability, such as the spike in protest movements being partially fueled by higher food prices. Look at it and figure out why and how. The New York Times reports on the effect of drought on agriculture in China.

The Yale Environment 360 web site offers an informative article, Why Does Energy Efficiency's Promise Remain Unfilled by John R. Luomo.