World Issues

Global Warming Reduces Expected Yields of Harvests in Some Countries, Study Says

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JUSTIN GILLIS
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Global warming is already cutting substantially into potential crop yields in some countries — to such an extent that it may be a factor in the food price increases that have caused worldwide stress in recent years, researchers suggest in a new study.
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Wheat yields in recent years were down by more than 10 percent in Russia and by a few percentage points each in India, France and China compared with what they probably would have been without rising temperatures, according to the study.

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nytimes.com

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The End of Nuclear

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The End of Nuclear
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Praise for Nuclear Report:

"a vital public service... uniquely independent, thorough, and timely assessment"
       -Amory B. Lovins, Chairman, Rocky Mountain Institute

"Amid the hype and PR, the smoke and mirrors, of the 'nuclear renaissance', the Status Report offers a hard-edged reality check."
       -Walt Patterson, Associate Fellow, Chatham House, London

 

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worldwatch.org

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Food security key to global peace: FAO candidate

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Charles Abbott
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(Reuters) - The world has to act against hunger, which affects 13 percent of the population, if it wants to strengthen global security, a candidate to run the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said on Tuesday.

Franz Fischler, an Austrian who is former EU agriculture commissioner, said during an interview the whipsaw effect of volatile food prices complicates the effort to expand local production and improve the welfare of subsistence farmers. Prices spiked in mid-2008, plunged in 2009 and hit a record high early this year.

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Reuters

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Global switch needed on severe malaria drug: MSF

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Kate Kelland
Global switch needed on severe malaria drug: MSF
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(Reuters) - Up to 200,000 deaths from severe malaria could be averted each year if malarial countries were to switch to a more expensive but more effective drug, the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said Tuesday.

 

In a report on the mosquito-borne disease, MSF said data from recent trials in Africa had shown that the drug, called artesunate, was more effective and easier to use than quinine, a cheaper malaria medicine often used in poorer countries.

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Reuters.com

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Polar ice loss quickens, raising seas

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Richard Black
Polar ice loss quickens, raising seas
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Environment correspondent, BBC News

The Greenland ice sheet is losing its mass faster than its southern counterpart

Ice loss from Antarctica and Greenland has accelerated over the last 20 years, research shows, and will soon become the biggest driver of sea level rise.

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Original Title:Polar ice loss quickens, raising seas

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Sustainable Society Foundation - Maps

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Sustainable Society FoundationThe interactive maps offer anyone the opportunity to see how her or his country is performing with respect to sustainability. One can make comparisons with other countries, see how the various regions are doing, and so much more. Look for yourself and experience the possibilities of playing with the data.
Go to the maps you wish to see by clicking below:

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Global Arms Spending Tops $1.6T

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The Associated PressArmed soldiers on guard in Kingston, Jamaica, in May 2010. (Associated Press)Despite the global financial crisis, world military spending almost doubled in the past decade to reach $1.6 trillion Cdn in 2009, a Swedish think-tank said Wednesday. In its 2010 yearbook, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, said that spending between 2008 and 2009 grew 5.9 per cent. The United States remains the biggest spender, accounting for some 54 per cent of the increase, the report said.

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