sustainable development news stories on Newser

Haiti Quake Cleanup Is Only First Step

Harry Kimball — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:46:02 CST

Before “one of the great humanitarian emergencies in the history of the Americas” struck, Haiti had a "bright future," Bill Clinton writes. The 42nd president is a UN special envoy to the perennially troubled nation, where he has helped spearhead development efforts. Today, “what Haiti needs most is money for...

Björk: Iceland Must Heal Itself

Matt Cantor — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:25:50 CDT

Given Iceland’s economic crisis, it would be madness to add to the country’s dependence on aluminum smelters, native singer Björk writes in the Times of London. In addition to environmental damage, lessons learned from the collapse of Iceland’s fishing industry should warn against putting “all our eggs in the same...

Windmills Pay the Rent but Spark Rage in NY

Caroline Zimmerman — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:20:00 CDT

Wind turbines are cropping up in rural New York state and threatening to pull communities apart, the AP reports. The state's largest wind energy project is worth $400 million and powers 100,000 homes; farmers get paid up to $6,600 per turbine per year to offset the sight and...

Green Housing: From Good Idea to Good Business

Clay Dillow — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:56:00 CDT

With US homes on average twice as large as they were 50 years ago—and, of course, dwarfing those in all other developed countries—rethinking our idea of "home" is as crucial to cutting global warming as switching to a smaller car, says architect Edward Mazria in Fast Company . Half...

Big Sugar's Exit Gives Hope to Everglades

Paul Stinson — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:22:57 CDT

Everglades restoration may finally be a reality, writes Michael Grunwald in Yale Environment 360 during his “vacation from defeatism.” Florida's tentative $1.75 billion land deal with US Sugar would halt sugar production (and pollution) on nearly 300 square miles, and have an ecological ripple-effect that extends beyond saving the...

Philanthropist Bets $40M on Eco-Tourism

J. Kelman — Tue, 22 May 2007 18:21:55 CDT

Philanthropist Greg Carr wants to turn an African ecosystem around—and he’s willing to pay to do it. The tech-bubble whiz kid will spend $40 million over the next 30 years to restore Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park, destroyed during the country's 16-year civil war. Stephanie Hanes follows Carr as he...