Topic: Earth Policy Institute

All Content

Fukushima fallout: time to quit nuclear power altogether

Experience in northern Japan illustrates that even incremental investment in nuclear power threatens human civilization. The Fukushima disaster should once and for all drive global society away from nuclear power, and toward renewable energy.
Difference Maker
Saving monarch butterflies stirs the 'poetical soul' of Homero Aridjis

Homero Aridjis, one of Mexico's top environmentalists and poets, has led the battle to save the habitat of monarch butterflies, Pacific gray whales, and sea turtles.
Top Picks: Ken Burns's 'The Civil War,' a Horton Foote festival, a tax tracker, and more

Ken Burns's miniseries documentary 'The Civil War,' a Dallas festival dedicated to famed playwright and screenwriter Horton Foote, a mobile phone application to track your tax return, and more recommendations.
Africa Monitor
West Africa Rising: Could rising food prices spark Egypt-style revolt in Africa?

Soaring food prices – such as wheat, which has hit a 2-1/2-year high – could feed political tumult in Africa, despite earlier proclamations that an Egypt-style revolt would not spread to sub-Saharan Africa.
Brace yourself for the food-price bubble

If the world has a poor harvest this year, food prices will rise to previously unimaginable levels. Food riots will multiply, political unrest will spread, and governments will fall.
Chapter & Verse
10 "must-read" energy books

The Monitor asked two energy experts to share their lists of the best books on the future of energy.
Russia grain export ban benefits US farmers, sparks talk on climate change

The International Grains Council cut its projected world grain output Thursday. Drought in eastern Europe has sparked a Russia grain export ban.
Letters to the Editor – Weekly Issue of August 2, 2010

Readers write in about lessons from the oil spill and pay for politicians.
Earth's growing nitrogen threat

It helps feed a hungry world, but it's worse than CO2.
G8: Does world need new rules on food security?

As rich countries snap up farmland in developing world, calls grow for regulation to prevent what many see as neocolonial behavior.
The ‘holy grail’ of biofuels now in sight

Long-promised cellulosic ethanol is in modest production, but hurdles remain.
Can Obama's family-planning policies help the economy?

Population soars toward 9 billion in 2050. Changes may slow that growth.
Green revolution: still possible amid deep recession?

Economic retreat could hamper green investment – but it could also spur a drive to move economies away from fossil-fuel dependencies.
Bright Green
Google invests $10.25 million in geothermal technology

The money comes from Google's RE<C initiative, which seeks to develop renewable energy sources that are cheaper than electricity produced from coal.
Briefing: Lessons from past food crises

World leaders gather in Rome Tuesday for a UN food crisis conference. What does history teach about how to handle such shortages?
Can the earth provide enough food for 9 billion people?

That's how many are expected to inhabit the world by 2050. Experts worry over looming food shortages.
Climate change debate: push emissions goals or technology?

Should the world put less focus on emissions caps and more on spurring clean technologies?
Price shock in global food

Riots over grain prices call for a rethink of global stability based on better farming.
Climate change debate: push emissions goals or technology?

Should the world put less focus on emissions caps and more on spurring clean technologies?
Water shortages affect food, transit, security

A thousand tons of water produces just one ton of grain.
Water shortages affect food, transit, security

A thousand tons of water produces just one ton of grain.
As global food costs rise, are biofuels to blame?

Converting corn and soybeans into fuels is contributing to higher food prices. The dispute is how much.
As global food costs rise, are biofuels to blame?

Converting corn and soybeans into fuels is contributing to higher food prices. The dispute is how much.