fossil fuel

Science Desk

27 May, 2009 | Nicola Ross

The idea of replacing a fossil fuel, gasoline, with a renewable one, fuel-ethanol derived from corn, may seem like a smart green idea. Scratch the surface, however, and you discover that corn-ethanol doesn’t stack up well against other conventional sources of energy. But protecting the environment is not the prime motivator for our neighbours to the south. ...

Published in: Measuring Progress and Building Heritage 33.2-3
Tags: fossil fuel, ethanol

Buy this issue

Mining Dilemma

26 May, 2009 | Saleem H. Ali

Natural resources are often the most elemental means of livelihood for the world’s poorest populations. When all else fails, people look to the land to either grow their subsistence or to find whatever wealth it can offer. Small-scale miners are regularly driven to dig the earth due to economic pressures and an elusive promise of treasures. ...

Published in: Size Matters 35.1
Tags: politics, international issues, fossil fuel, foreign development

Buy this issue

Soil Not Oil

29 April, 2009 | Vandana Shiva

THE CLIMATE CRISIS is at its roots a consequence of human beings having gone astray from the ecological path of living with justice and sustainability. It is a consequence of forgetting that we are earth citizens. It is acting like we are kids in a supermarket with limitless appetites for consumption and falsely imagining that the corporations that stock the supermarkets have unlimited energy warehouses.