Publication archives

Upon determining that deforestation was to blame for devastating flooding by the Yangtze River in 1998, which killed 2,500 people and caused billions of dollars in damage, China promptly enacted an aggressive package of measures aimed at protecting its existing forest growth, rehabilitating distressed areas and reclaiming forests that had been converted to farmland.

Washington, DC [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has released a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled "Development of Robust, Highly Efficient Fermentative Organisms for the Conversion of Lignocellulosic Biomass to Ethanol" (DE-PS36-07GO97002).

Knox County residents value their trees and would like to see more of them saved from the developer's ax, but they don't want regulations on private landscaping, according to a new University of Tennessee study. But the report also shows that county residents by and large aren't aware of the regulations governing trees, which cover about half of the county's 526 square miles.

Tropical forests' ability to store carbon dioxide and mitigate climate change makes them more valuable than alternative uses like pasture or lumber, and rich countries ought to pay tropical countries to preserve their forests, the World Bank says.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments next month about a ruling that Oregon and seven other states say is critical in stopping big companies from getting away with illegal monopolies in forest products, agriculture and high-tech goods.

New measurements of soot produced by traditional cook stoves used in developing countries suggest that these stoves emit more harmful smoke particles and could have a much greater impact on global climate change than previously thought, according to a study scheduled to appear in the Nov. 1 issue of the American Chemical Society journal Environmental Science & Technology.

It was born in the Arabian desert more than 1,500 years ago and is now being revived in the battle-scarred greenery of Lebanon. Already its success is heralding a regional renaissance.