global warming

How are trends in emissions related to changes in GDP?
February 20th, 2009 at 5:58 pm EST
The relationship between economic growth and rising carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is the chicken or the egg question of the climate change debate. A growth in industry, and hence emissions, will no doubt stimulate a country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Conversely, a higher GDP will often lead to a greater disposable income and higher standards of living which could manifest in more cars, more residential energy use and more consumption all of which will impact on a country's total emissions.
Can Counting Food Miles do More Harm Than Good?
February 6th, 2009 at 4:51 pm EST
For those of us trying to make more sustainable choices within our daily lives, the decision to buy local produce appears to be an obvious next step. The transportation sector contributes nearly one quarter of greenhouse gas emissions in developed countries. It seems logical then that cutting down on the distance between consumers and producers should also have a direct impact on emissions. For this reason the last few years have seen a push for food miles labeling particularly in Europe. However, many critics of food miles feel that this system is at best tokenistic and in some cases does more harm than good. The food miles debate highlights a clash between differing sustainable development agendas. From an environmental perspective, encouraging consumers to alter their purchasing patterns and limiting transportation emissions can only be a good thing. However, from an economic development point of view, food miles labeling can damage important industries in poor countries.
Ocean layers launched on google earth
February 3rd, 2009 at 4:17 pm EST
Around 80% of all life on Earth can be found in the oceans, which cover more than 70% of the planet's surface. Despite this wealth of life, less than 10% of our vast oceans have been explored by humans. This week, Google has released a new version of their popular Google Earth program which will give users the ability to discover the depths of our oceans.
How Can the Study of Demographics Help to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals?
November 5th, 2008 at 5:23 pm EST
Sustainable development supports the concept of lifting populations out of poverty without endangering resources and the environment for future generations. A wide range of past projects have attempted to achieve these objectives, but the United Nations Millennium Declaration in 2000 established for the first time an extensive partnership among nations to reduce global poverty through a specified framework of time-bound objectives. These goals and objectives, which are to be met by 2015, were agreed upon by 189 nations and have come to be known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (Table 1).This year marks the halfway point in efforts to achieve the MDGs, and progress has been promising in some areas such as primary education and vaccination rates. However, demographic trends are interfering with efforts to achieve other goals. For example, increasing population exacerbates extreme poverty even as work is being done to mitigate it. Organizations such as the Center for Global Development (CGD) have recognized this impediment. Last month, CGD launched an initiative that calls for more adequate consideration of demographics in the formation of development policy.