The Pakistan earthquake continues a streak of shocking natural disasters during the past year: the Indian Ocean tsunami, killer droughts in Niger and other countries in Africa, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Central American mudslides, and Portugal’s wildfires. These events are unrelated, and...
The most shocking statement in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was President George W. Bush’s remark that “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees” that protect New Orleans from flooding. New Orleans is a city mostly below sea level, and must be protected by levees to keep...
After years of debate in the United States, and opposition to action by the Bush administration, America is finally waking up to the reality of global climate change. Leadership is still not coming from the president, but the private sector has begun to act.
Leaders of major US companies have...
Global debates about population policy are confusing. One side argues that rising human populations threaten our environment and prosperity. Land, water, energy, and biodiversity all seem to be under greater stress than ever, and population growth appears to be a major source of that stress. The...
All around the world people ask: what is the real motive for the Bush Administration’s threatened war with Iraq? Is it to curb weapons of mass destruction? Is it more personal, an act of vengeance by a son against the man who attempted to assassinate his father? Is it to defend Israel? Is it to...
Globalization is under strain as never before. Everywhere its stresses rumble. Most of sub-Saharan Africa, South America, the Middle East, and Central Asia are mired in stagnation or economic decline. North America, Western Europe, and Japan are bogged down in slow growth and risk renewed recession...
