Publication archives

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.

Global warming caused by rapid deforestation could be curbed if developing countries were paid the proper rewards for maintaining their woodland, a World Bank study has said. The report noted that the world's forests are disappearing at a rate of 5% a decade as woodland is cleared for timber and production of in-demand commodities like beef, coffee and soybeans.

Google Inc. plans a solar-powered electricity system at its Silicon Valley headquarters that will rank as the largest US solar-powered corporate office complex, the company said Wednesday.

Plans for a global fund to help contain rainforest destruction and slash carbon emissions will be unveiled next month by the Brazilian government. The project, by which rich nations would offer financial incentives to developing countries that combat deforestation, will be announced at a November convention on climate change in Nairobi.

Along the road from the airport to the sweltering Peruvian jungle town of Puerto Maldonado, high walls guard a precious commodity: wood, in the form of raw logs, finished planks and parquet squares. Increasingly, much of this wood is illegally logged, said representatives of the Peruvian government and Native organizations, and people are dying because of it.

Scientists at the State University of New York's College of Environmental Science and Forestry are developing a way to add wood fiber to plastic to make it stronger. The process focuses on extracting nanocrystals of cellulose out of woody materials, like trees and willow shrubs, and mixing them with the plastic.