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Worldwatch Institute
The Worldwatch Institute offers a unique blend of interdisciplinary research, global focus, and accessible writing that has made it a leading source of information on the interactions among key environmental, social, and economic trends. Our work revolves around the transition to an environmentally sustainable and socially just society—and how to achieve it.
Website: http://www.worldwatch.org/
Contact:
Worldwatch Institute
1776 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036-1904
U.S.A.
Phone: 1.202.452.1999
Fax: 1.202.296.7365
worldwatch [AT] worldwatch [DOT] org
Can Corporations Help Chinese Nonprofits Overcome Funding Barriers?
September 19, 2007 08:04 AM - Lila Buckley, Worldwatch Institute
One of the major barriers to the growth of civil society in China is the lack of funding to support a wide diversity of organizations and projects. There are no Chinese foundations to which groups can apply for grants, there is no established culture of public or corporate philanthropy, and there are no tax incentives to encourage donations. This means that most Chinese non-profits are forced to seek funding from foundations and governments outside the country, a process that often requires international philanthropy savvy and language skills that not all groups have.
Pesticides Pose Risk in Rural and Urban Communities Alike
September 19, 2007 08:01 AM - Alana Herro, Worldwatch Institute
n a recent study of 60 children of Latino farmworkers in the U.S. state of North Carolina, nearly 90 percent of those tested were found to have pesticide metabolites in their urine, according to a report in Environmental Health Perspectives. On average, the children had four different pesticides present in their urine, posing a potential long-term health risk. “Because children are so much smaller than adults and because they are developing rapidly, the effects of pesticides on their neurological systems can be devastating,” says Danielle Nierenberg, a food and agriculture researcher at the Worldwatch Institute in Washington, D.C.
Gas Flaring Wastes Resources, Pollutes Atmosphere
September 17, 2007 07:12 AM - , Worldwatch Institute
Every year, the oil industry burns off up to 170 billion cubic meters of natural gas released in the oil extraction process, according to a new report commissioned by the World Bank. The practice, known as gas flaring, not only harms the environment by emitting some 400 million tons of carbon dioxide globally, but is also wasteful of a cleaner energy source, the gas itself, notes Bent Svensson, manager of the Bank’s Global Gas Flaring Reduction partnership.
Window to Prevent Catastrophic Climate Change Closing.
September 14, 2007 07:06 AM - , Worldwatch Institute
Consumption of energy and many other critical resources is consistently breaking records, disrupting the climate and undermining life on the planet, according to the latest Worldwatch Institute report, Vital Signs 2007-2008. The 44 trends tracked in Vital Signs illustrate the urgent need to check consumption of energy and other resources that are contributing to the climate crisis, starting with the largest polluter, the United States, which accounted for over 21 percent of global carbon emissions from fossil fuel burning in 2005
Farm animal diversity: Forgotten in Interlaken?
September 11, 2007 10:55 AM - Danielle Nierenberg, Worldwatch Institute
The first international technical conference on Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, held last week in Interlaken, Switzerland, didn’t get much coverage from mainstream media—unfortunately. Despite the fact that, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, at least one breed of livestock has become extinct every month for the last seven years, most burger-eating, milk-drinking consumers in the U.S. and Europe haven’t taken notice.
Crop Yields Expand, but Nutrition Is Left Behind
September 10, 2007 02:44 PM - , Worldwatch Institute
Farmers today can grow two to three times as much grain, fruit, and vegetables on a plot of land as they could 50 years ago, but the nutritional quality of many crops has declined, according to a new report from The Organic Center, a group based in Boulder, Colorado. “To get our recommended daily allowance of nutrients, we have to eat many more slices of bread today than people had to eat in the past,”
Sao Paulo Bans Outdoor Ads in Fight Against Pollution
September 7, 2007 07:35 AM - Alana Herro, Worldwatch Institute
It looks like the Bay of Bengal could be the victim of the next major tsunami. A report published in the Nature journal today suggests that there is "compelling evidence" for tsunami-triggering earthquake activity in the region, north of the area where 2004’s tsunami hit.
China Launches Food Recall System
September 6, 2007 07:12 AM - , Worldwatch Institute
China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine (AQSIQ) has established a new recall system for food products produced or sold in the country. The regulation requires manufacturers to take the primary responsibility for recalling any problematic food items and to remove the products from the market within one week or less, depending on the severity of the associated health effects.