This SR edition is focused on what I and many others feel is the central geopolitical fulcrum point of the age.

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Nearly a quarter of global diseases are caused by exposure to avoidable environmental hazards, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a report on Friday. Environmental exposures cause as much as 24 percent of all diseases, and more than 33 percent in children under the age of five, said the report, titled ‘Preventing disease through healthy environments — towards an estimate of the environmental burden of disease.’ Well-targeted interventions could prevent much of this environmental risk, saving as many as four million lives a year, mostly in developing countries, the report added. WHO said the new report was the most comprehensive and systematic study yet undertaken on how preventable environmental hazards contribute to a wide range of diseases and injuries. By focusing on the environmental causes of diseases, and how various ones are influenced by environmental factors, the analysis breaks new ground in understanding the interactions between environment and health, the Geneva-based organization said. The report estimated that more than 13 million deaths annually are due to preventable environmental causes. Nearly one third of deaths and diseases in the least developed regions is due to environmental causes. More than 40 percent of deaths from […]

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Ancient woolly mammoth bones and grasslands locked in the Siberian permafrost are starting to thaw and could potentially unleash billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, accelerating global warming, a team of Russian and American scientists has concluded. The area involved is vast - 400,000 square miles. If the permafrost continues to thaw and releases heat-trapping carbon dioxide, it could dramatically increase the 730 billion metric tons already in the atmosphere, the scientists said in a study published in today’s issue of the journal Science. ‘It’s like taking food out of your freezer ¦ leave it on your counter for a few days, and it rots,’ University of Florida botany professor Ted Schuur said in a phone interview from Alaska, describing the process by which decaying animal and plant matter in the soil is converted by bacteria into carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases. The research team concluded that previous studies on global warming had not taken into account the deep carbon reserve trapped in permafrost in the northern plains of Siberia and central Alaska. The scientists said what was most surprising was the size and depth of the terrain that could be […]

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FRIGATE BAY, St. Kitts and Nevis — Japan suffered a resounding defeat on Friday at the International Whaling Commission, calming fears among conservationists that might finally win enough support in the world body to start attacking a ban on whaling. The commission voted against two proposals by Japan, one for secret ballots that it said would allow Caribbean and Pacific nations to back its pro-whaling stance without fear of reprisal, and another to prevent the IWC from discussing the fate of dolphins and porpoises as well as whales. Anti-whaling countries led by Australia, Britain, New Zealand and South Africa, and environmental groups, breathed a sigh of relief that their darkest fears — of a whaling body dominated by pro-whaling Japan — had not come about. ‘So far we have managed to dodge the harpoon,’ said Joth Singh, director of wildlife and habitat protection for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, at the IWC’s June 16-20 meeting in the Caribbean island of St. Kitts and Nevis. Japan has sought for years to overturn the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling and had been expected to be closer than ever this year to securing a majority in the IWC. […]

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President Bush has created the world’s largest marine reserve. Mr. Bush acted to protect an area of the Pacific Ocean that is roughly the size of California. More than 7,000 species of marine life live in a chain of reefs and shoals stretching nearly 2,000 kilometers northwest from the Hawaiian Islands. That ecosystem is now a protected marine area where commercial and sport fishing will be phased out over the next five years. Visitors wishing to dive or take photographs must have a permit and no one will be allowed to remove animals or minerals. President Bush signs a proclamation on the Establishment of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Monument President Bush says the move protects a precious natural resource and establishes an important place for research and learning. ‘The oceans contain countless natural treasures,’ he said. ‘They carry much of our trade. They provide food and recreation for billions of people. We have a responsibility, a solemn responsibility, to be good stewards of the oceans and creatures who inhabit them.’ The islands include endangered Hawaiian monk seals and threatened green sea turtles as well as a rookery for 14 million seabirds. […]

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