| September-October 2005
Biotechnology| Climate Change | Environment | Human Trafficking | Space|
D1 - Biotech On The Farm: Realizing the Promise
Anderson, Clifton E.
The Futurist, Sep/Oct 2005, v39, #5, pp38-42
There is no central planning and policy-framing agency overseeing genetic engineering in the United States, although other nations have such agencies. The author calls for the establishment of a Genetic Science Commission to provide the foresight, innovation, and strategy and institutional support to deal with the difficulties and unique possibilities of genetic engineering. Expanded testing and analysis of GM foods would also indicate the individual; this will become possible due to research currently taking place that is decoding human DNA, and how it varies from person to person. "Personalized medicine" is already beginning, as with the anti-cancer drug Herceptin, prescribed for patients with a particular genetic variation. The downside: soon so much will be known about an individual's genetic makeup that people might be discriminated against on the basis of theoretical genetic vulnerability. Kerry Capell is Business Week Correspondent in London. Michael Arndt is a Senior Correspondent for Business Week.United States is serious about food safety. Clifton E. Andersen is a University of Idaho professor emeritus in the field of agricultural communications. Fulltext
D2 - Drugs Get Smart
Capell, Kerry; Arndt, Michael
Business Week, September 5, 2005, pp76-85
The authors argue that new medications to cure human diseases are about to become more efficient. Genetic variations among individuals make today's prescription medications effective only for some of the people who take them. In the future, however, new technologies will help drug companies tailor innovative medications to the genome of the
variation. The downside: soon so much will be known about an individual's genetic makeup that people might be discriminated against on the basis of theoretical genetic vulnerability. Kerry Capell is Business Week Correspondent in London. Michael Arndt is a Senior Correspondent for Business Week. Fulltext
D3 - Vision and Framework for Strategy and Planning
U.S. Climate Change Technology Program, September 2005, 52p.
As a party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate change (UNFCC), the United States has formulated and is now implementing a comprehensive strategy to meet the challenge of climate change. The report outlines a strategy that promotes the use of technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It provides guidance and direction, along with goals, to Federal agencies involved in climate change research and development. The strategy “is science- and market-based; and encourages innovation, scientific and technology breakthroughs, and global participation. It focuses on reducing emissions, while sustaining economic growth. Growth and the capital it will create are needed to finance investment in cleaner, more efficient technologies...” Fulltext
D4 - The Wind and the Fury
Moreira, Naila
Science News, September 17, 2005, v168, # 12, p184ff
”New research suggests that, as global warming proceeds, hurricane winds will gain speed and the storms will dump more rain, but controversy lingers as to how much more violent the storms will become and when they will occur.” Moireira explores, whether this claim is correct or whether it is just hot air. Fulltext
D5 - How To Clean Coal
Canine, Craig
OnEarth, Fall 2005, v27, #3, Global Warming Special , online edition
”In the next 10 to 15 years, as many as 100 conventional coal-burning power plants may be built in the United States -- and many more in India and China, where booming economies create an almost insatiable demand for energy. These new coal-fueled furnaces will lock us into staggering increases in greenhouse gas emissions -- a carbon nightmare. Until coal is replaced with cleaner fuels, we must somehow make it part of the solution. The author explains coal can be converted into energy through a process called gasification, which strips away the CO2 before it is emitted as a pollutant, at which point the gas can be safely captured and stored in the ground. These technologies are available now. But their broader adoption requires that environmentalists, politicians, energy executives, and coal miners relinquish old habits of mind.” Craig Canine has written for Newsweek, The Atlantic , Reader's Digest , and Discover. Fulltext
D6 - Climate And Trade: Links Between Kyoto Protocol And WTO
Frankel, Jeffrey
Environment, September 2005, v47, #7, pp8-21
” Free traders, who include almost all economists, fear that talk about environmental protection will be used as an excuse by some economic sectors to gain protection for themselves against competition from abroad. The fear is symmetric to that of environmentalists, who worry that free trade will be used as an excuse to give inadequate weight to environmental goals and excessive weight to maximization of market-measured gross domestic product (GDP). Because both fears have a significant element of truth to them, both areas of policy need to acknowledge the legitimate concerns of the other. The good news is that, if they do, international institutions and multilateral trade can help achieve greater environmental protection for a given economic cost, a higher GDP for given environmental goals, or some of both.“ Jeffrey Frankel, Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government. Fulltext
D7 - The Role of Stakeholders
Assadourian, Erik
World Watch, September/October 2005, vol18, #5, pp22-25
Assadourian explores the ways investors, activists, and other stakeholders
are pressuring corporations into environmentally responsible behavior.
They “are playing an increasingly important role in improving
corporate behavior. Some NGOs are using tactics of direct confrontation.
Others have been working for years to create partnerships with companies
in order to help them green their production, often in ways that
actually save them money. As well, the investor community is taking
an increasingly active role in encouraging corporations to consider
not just the next quarter’s earnings but also the long-term financial
risks of failing to address broader social and environmental issues.
Together, these are proving key strategies in compelling corporations
to internalize the environmental costs that are often ignored in
the mad race for profit.” Erik Assadourian is a Staff Researcher
at Worldwatch and co-director of State of the World 2006.
Fulltext
D8 - The Promises and Pitfalls of Devolution: Water Pollution in the American States
Hoornbeck, John A.
Publius, Winter 2005, vol. 35, #1, pp87-114
”This article investigates state reactions to the relatively decentralized federal policy structures that are now in place for non-point source water pollution control and assess the extent to which state policies are living up to the promises of the policy devolution agenda. It develops and presents measures of state non-point source policy activism for all fifty states and analyzes the likely sources of variation in state policies. In so doing, it finds evidence that the “promises of devolution” are not being fulfilled across all states. The analysis also yields insights that can contribute to the development of new and more flexible federal-state policy arrangements in a policy area that has been characterized by command-and-control regulation.” John A. Hoornbeck serves as director of training services for the National Environmental Services Center at West Virginia University. Fulltext
D9 - Wind Power: Impacts on Wildlife and Government Responsibilities for Regulating Development and Protecting Wildlife
United States Government Accountability Office, Report to Congressional Requesters, September 16, 2005, 64p.
”Wind power has recently experienced dramatic growth in the United States, with further growth expected. However, several wind power-generating facilities have killed migratory birds and bats, prompting concern from wildlife biologists and others about the species affected, and the cumulative effects on species populations. GAO assessed (1) what available studies and experts have reported about the impacts of wind power facilities on wildlife in the United States and what can be done to mitigate or prevent such impacts, (2) the roles and responsibilities of government agencies in regulating wind power facilities, and (3) the roles and responsibilities of government agencies in protecting wildlife. GAO reviewed a sample of six states with wind power development for this report. Fulltext
Human Trafficking
D10 - Human Trafficking
Feingold, David A
Foreign Policy,Sep/Oct 2005, #150; pp26-31
"Judging by news headlines, human trafficking is a recent phenomenon. In fact, the coerced movement of people across borders is as old as the laws of supply and demand. What is new is the volume of the traffic - and the realization that humanity has done little to stem the tide." This article expands on this most urgent human rights issues and reports that labor trafficking is more widespread than the trafficking of women and children for prostitution, claims that tougher immigration laws will not help prevent human trafficking and that human trafficking is not controlled by organized crime. David A. Feingold is director of the Ophidian Research Institute and international coordinator for HIV/AIDS and Trafficking Projects for UNESCO Bangkok. This article reflects bis own views, and not necessarily those of UNESCO. Fulltext
D11 - Space Stations
Smith, Marcia S.
Congressional Research Service, The Library of Congress , CRS Issue Brief for Congress, Updated August 9, 2005.
Controversial since the program began in 1984, the space station has been repeatedly redesigned and rescheduled, often for cost growth reasons. Congress has been concerned about the space station for that and other reasons. Twenty-two attempts to terminate the program in NASA funding bills were defeated, however (3 in the 106th Congress, 4 in the 105th Congress, 5 in the 104th, 5 in the 103rd, and 5 in the 102nd). Three other attempts in broader legislation in the 103rd Congress also failed. Current congressional debate focuses on the impact of space shuttle-related delays, how and whether to ensure that U.S. astronauts can be part of long duration ISS crews, and the future of ISS in light of President Bush’s new exploration initiative. Marcia S. Smith, Resources, Science, and Industry Division. Fulltext
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