EcoHearth: Come Home to the Earth

Ever wondered why the Sahara desert hasn’t been converted into a giant solar panel by now? DESERTEC, a syndicate of engineering and construction firms, must have read your mind. Its ambitious plan is to power 15% of Europe and a sizable portion of the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) area by 2050 using the Saharan sun. Read on…

From time to time we see images of smog-smothered streets in Shanghai, Beijing and other Chinese cities. Surely it's unhealthy—perhaps we even feel a sympathetic scratchiness in our throats or sting in our eyes—but how about its deleterious effects on the health of that nation and its people? Read on…

Officially, commercial whaling has been banned by the International Whaling Committee (IWC) since 1986. However, the IWC—originally set up to monitor and regulate whale stocks—is essentially made up of volunteer member nations such as Australia, the United States and Japan. This makes its power and authority over commercial whaling limited, to say the least. Read on…

About two years ago, I worked for several weeks in Palangka Raya, a small provincial capital in Indonesia. My job was to help the provincial government prepare a master plan for the rehabilitation of the world’s largest peat-forest area. On the day of my arrival, the local newspaper ran an article about the “Green Gold of Central Kalimantan.” I soon discovered that the newspaper was talking about an intangible form of gold. By rehabilitating its peat swamp forests, the provincial government of Central Kalimantan hoped to reduce CO₂ emissions from these forests, and sell these reductions to overseas buyers through REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation). REDD is a new carbon finance mechanism that is under development by the international community. What follows is a short lesson in modern alchemy: how to turn improved peat-forest management into gold. Read on…

With global warming a growing concern, anything that spews CO₂—a major cause of climate change—is a no-no. Cars are responsible for about 35% of all CO₂ emissions, so it’s fortunate that some forward-thinking cities have used urban planning to provide attractive alternatives to the automobile—primarily transport by foot, bike, bus and train. Not only are these better for the environment, but they make us healthier, save time and increase our bank accounts. Read on…