Eye on Earth: 2008 in Review
From promises of "green jobs" on the U.S. campaign trail to record-setting global investments in renewable energy, the year was marked by an international mobilization to address the world's most daunting environmental challenges and forge a green economy. While the science is clear that the time to address catastrophic climate change is now, a turbulent year - including food crises, natural disasters, and financial ruin - demonstrated the difficult road ahead.
Here is a collection of some of the major sustainability news stories from throughout the year, as well as some of the best ideas for a more sustainable 2009 and beyond.
January
Transportation: Indian auto manufacturer Tata unveiled its $2,500 "people's car," the Nano, raising concerns about more crowded roads and rising vehicle emissions.
Read More: Analysis: Nano Hypocrisy?
A Green Deal for Transportation
Consumption: China banned certain types of plastic bags and prevented retailers from handing out free plastic bags in general, as part of a campaign to fight "white pollution" in the country.
Plastic Bag Ban Trumps Market and Consumer Efforts
New Bans on Plastic Bags May Help Protect Marine Life
February
Energy: New studies revealed that biofuels can release more carbon dioxide than they save if natural carbon-sequestering habitats were converted to cropland to grow them.
Opinion: Time to Move to a Second Generation of Biofuels
U.K. Biofuels Sources Are Largely Unknown
March
Energy: The price of oil passed the all-time inflation adjusted peak of $103.76 set in April 1980, three times the price four years prior. Oil prices later fell dramatically as financial turbulence swept the globe.
Oil Prices Hit All-Time Record
Design: The North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation called for greater continental collaboration for green building design.
North American Commission Pushes for Green Building Design
Water: The bottled water industry estimated its U.S. market would grow 6.7 percent in 2008 - the smallest increase this decade. International campaigns against bottled water helped slow consumer demand.
Bottled Water Demand May Be Declining
April
Climate: Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore launched the Alliance for Climate Protection to "ignite" Americans into taking action on global climate change. He later calls for the U.S. to supply all of its energy with renewable sources by 2018.
Gore Launches Climate Change Awareness Campaign
Opinion: U.S. Environmentalists Finally Have A Leader
Agriculture: Two highly anticipated studies called for more sustainable food production, singling out the spread in desertification, chemical pollutants, and animal waste run-off.
International Commission Calls for ‘Paradigm Shift' In Agriculture
Report Calls for Better Animal Waste Treatment
May
Natural Disasters: Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar and a 7.9 magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province each killed some 70,000-80,000 people, continuing the trend of more frequent devastating disasters.
Are Myanmar's Storm Victims Suffering Needlessly?
Natural Disasters Becoming More Frequent
Forests: Brazilian environment minister and rainforest activist Marina Silva resigned after facing ongoing struggles with the Lula administration over Amazonian forest policies.
Amazon Leader Ends Her Embittered Era
Amazon For Sale (a three part series)
Deforestation Escalates in Shrinking Amazon
June
Agriculture: The World Food Programme announced it will provide $1.2 billion in additional food aid for the 62 countries hit hardest by the food and fuel crisis.
World Bank President Proposes "New Deal" for Food Aid
Climate: Twenty years after NASA scientist James Hansen delivered his groundbreaking Senate testimony on climate change, Hansen called for the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions to 350 parts per million.
The 20th Anniversary of the "Hansen Hearing" series
Guest Opinion: Global Warming Twenty Years Later
July
Governance: An internal review said World Bank investments fail to give enough attention to long-term sustainability and place uneven emphasis on economic benefits of environmental preservation.
World Bank Struggles to Prioritize Sustainability
Wildlife: China won the right to make a one-off purchase of registered elephant ivory stocks from four African countries, under strict conditions.
DNA Forensics May Prevent Elephant Poaching
August
Water: Throughout the International Year of Sanitation, activists heightened awareness for the 2.5 billion people worldwide who lack access to improved sanitation facilities.
Water Advocates Speak Out for Improved Sanitation
Economy: U.S. presidential campaigns throughout the summer discussed one of the year's most talked about ideas: green jobs. High quality employment in environmentally sustainable sectors became the promise of political leaders worldwide.
Green Jobs Find International Support
September
Energy: A new study announced that U.S. installed wind capacity exceeded 20,000 megawatts - enough electricity to serve 5.3 million American homes - making the country the world leader in wind power capacity.
U.S. Renewable Energy Growth Accelerates
Marine Life: The European Commission announced that its fisheries policy needs an overhaul due to continued ecological decline and unsustainable fishing practices.
European Fisheries Law Undergoes Review
Conservationists Push to Protect Marine Areas
Agriculture: U.S. researchers searched for innovative, clean water sources to sustain aquaculture operations. Efforts include springs from former coal mines and piped water from city reservoirs.
U.S. Fish Farms Tap Former Coal Mines for Water
New Fish Farms Move from Ocean to Warehouse
October
Energy: The U.S. government allowed a longstanding ban on offshore drilling to expire, opening most of the country's coastline to oil and gas leasing and exploration.
Opposition to Offshore Drilling May Fade
Wildlife: The International Union for the Conservation of Nature declared that more than a third of the world's species are threatened with extinction.
Global Species Survival "In Crisis," Red List Says
Coral Reef Loss Suggests Global Extinction Event
Agriculture: The local food movement moved closer to home as more urban residents raised chicken in their backyards or balconies - sometimes illegally - while lobbying to change their cities' poultry bans.
U.S. City Dwellers Flock to Raising Chicken
November
Governance: U.S. voters elected Barack Obama to be their next president, with expectations of a new direction on energy and environmental issues, especially climate change.
Obama: "Change Has Come to America"
Energy: A consortium of European governments announced the creation of the world's first International Renewable Energy Agency.
Europeans Form Renewable Energy Agency
December
Climate: International negotiators congregated in Poznań, Poland, to lay the groundwork for next year's summit in Copenhagen. Commitments from developing countries Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and South Africa to reduce their emissions highlighted the event.
Opinion: From Deadlock to "Yes We Can"
Reports from Day 1, Days 2-3, Midway, Days 6-7, and the Conclusion.
Transportation: U.S. automakers promised to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles as a precondition for billions of dollars in government aid amid a worsening economic recession.
Comments
Thanks for sharing this
Thanks for sharing this article! In the realm of global economic, energy and food crisis, people must find ways in order to loosen their savings and save these basic commodities which are becoming limited these days. To do this, we all know that energy is part of our life. It makes our work easy and accessible. Daily transportation, for example, is important in our daily lives. But with the increasing price of oil and car loans, majority of people in any industrialized country, never mind just America, are no longer employed in home agriculture, daily transportation to our chosen vocation is necessary. Anyhow, there are ways to reduce the costs associated with it so you don't need payday loans just commuting to work. (We are in a recession, but that shouldn't be your only motive to saving money.) Using public transport is a great start. It's cheaper, and since it's publicly funded, it's already paid for. Also, don't drive aggressively. Aggressive driving leads to more wear on brakes, more fuel consumption and wear on the motor and traffic tickets – a cost of daily transportationthat is one you really want to avoid.Resolution for 2009:
Resolution for 2009: SPEAK OUT loudly, clearly and often Dear Friends, In calling for change in our time, great scientists are speaking about what could somehow be true to wealthy and powerful people who prefer that the "business as usual" status quo be maintained. Industrial/big business powerbrokers and their bought-and-paid-for politicians want to keep things going along just as they are going now, come what may for the children and coming generations, for life as we know it, for the integrity of Earth and its environs. Many voices are needed to support "voices in the wilderness" like those of Jim Hansen and John Holdren, exemplary scientists who have been willing to speak truth to those with the power to make the kinds of necessary change that make belief in a good enough future at least a possibility. Assuring a chance of a good future for the children and for life as we know it is an achievable goal that will lead us to overcome the arrogance and avarice of many too many leaders of my "Not So GREAT GREED GRAB Generation" of elders. If too many leaders of the family of humanity choose to keep doing precisely the things they are advocating and doing now, and if we in the human community keep getting what we are getting now, then it appears a sustainable world for our children cannot be achieved. By so doing, the limited resources of Earth will be permanently dissipated, its biodiversity massively extirpated, its environment irreversibly degraded and life as we know it recklessly endangered. The current gigantic scale and anticipated growth of per-capita overconsumption of limited resources, global production and distribution capabilities, and absolute human population numbers worldwide are simply, clearly and patently unsustainable, even to the year 2050. Given Earth's limitations as a relatively small, evidently finite and noticeably frangible planet, the projected increases in these currently unbridled consumption, production and propagation activities of the human species could soon lead the human family to come face to face with some sort of colossal ecological wreckage. Now is the time to speak out loudly, clearly and often about what is true for you. Forget about political correctness and convenience. Let go of economic expediency and greediness. Embrace necessary change rather than waste another day preserving the selfish interests of the small group of rich and powerful people, and their many minions, all of whom are adamantly and relentlessly defending an unsustainable, same old "business as usual" status quo. Steven Earl Salmony AWAREness Campaign on The Human Population, established 2001 http://sustainabilityscience.org/content.html?contentid=1176