Vanishing green
It is estimated that around 8,000 years ago, more than six billion hectares (around 40 per cent) of the Earth's surface was covered by forests. Today, the figure has plummeted to a mere 3.6 billion
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Breathless Asia
Asia has more polluted cities than any other continent. That's what a comparison of 20 leading cities of the world shows. Rapid economic growth spurs the growth of big cities, which in turn bring in
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Arctic meltdown
Global warming is threatening the Earth's thermostat. In the past two decades, average annual temperatures have climbed as much as 4
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On paper
Unless governments force paper companies to invest in cleaner technologies, encourage the manufacture of recycled paper and allow plantations only on lands that are
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The road ahead
If vehicular emissions are to come down, governments will have to provide incentives to develop and promote the use of cleaner alternatives. In 1999, global passenger car production reached a record
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Perilous pesticides
Despite international restrictions on its extensive use, pesticide trade has touched a new high. In 1998, world exports stood at US $11.4 billion, an increase of 5.4 per cent over 1997. Around
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Disastrous year!
The year 1999 registered the highest number of disasters since the last 10 years. The trend for the last decade shows that the Asian continent is most frequently hit by disasters. In 1999, nearly
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Warning signals
The burning of fossil fuels leads to the release of carbon dioxide and other gases into the atmosphere. Once in the atmosphere, these gases act like glass walls and trap heat on the Earth's surface.
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Fuelling heat
Humans have not being able to shed their reliance on fossil fuels. Every year, millions of tonnes of coal and oil is burned to produce energy. As a result, carbon locked in the Earth is being
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Nothing left to catch
In recent times there has been an alarming trend: that of feeding ocean-caught fish to farmed fish. It takes five pounds of ocean fish to produce one pound of farmed fish, therefore putting an
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Daunting numbers
Incredible but true: in the last 30 years rise in human population has been the same as in the 1,00,000 years prior to the mid-20th century. as a result, human encroachment on agricultural and
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Earth links
Despite being more expensive than conventionally grown crops, there is a growing preference for organic farming products, especially in the West and China. The primary reason seems to be their
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Winds of change
Wind power is constantly emerging as a preferred source of energy the world over. Fast forward by another couple of decades and wind power is predicted to meet 10 per cent of the world's electricity
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Time to fight
Despite the adverse health effects of tobacco, developing nations hesitate to take measures against tobacco consumption for fear of economic repercussions. But instances in countries like the UK have
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Surviving on trade
Developing nations are increasingly and comparatively more dependent on international trade than the developed countries. The past two decades have seen more nations joining the World Trade
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Pawns in the game
The adverse effects of climate change will be felt more in the South than the North. If preference for fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas is not curbed, developing nations will have to bear the
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Irresponsible minority
If only 16 per cent of the world's population behaved in a more responsible manner, many environmental problems would have been resolved. Consider this. In 1997, the 29 industrialised member-nations
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The polluting rich
There is a continuing preference for energy sources like coal, oil and gas among the industrialised nations. This trend persists against the use of more environment-friendly energy sources like
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Promoting desertification
What causes desertification in impoverished developing nations? Trade policies. The very nations who suffer from desertification are forced to indulge in intensive cultivation of cash crops in order
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A time bomb ticking
Air pollution continues to violate health guidelines in many cities of the world. Sulphur dioxide and particulate matter are the most commonly recorded pollutants. Independently or in combination,