Bhola is a small island district in the south of Bangladesh situated softly on the edge of Bay of Bengal and home to nearly two million people. Few years ago on Al Jazeera, a documentary on climate change was aired which was titled, “Bhola: Ground Zero of Climate Change.” The basic message was that the […]
Hosted by Sarwar Kashmeri, the Foreign Policy Association’s Great Decisions podcast series will headline issues together with the leaders whose decisions today will mold the foreign policy of tomorrow. Each podcast will tackle a different Great Decisions topic in the 2014 series, a list of which can be found here. Tackling climate change has unearthed a […]
Bjorn Lomborg is Director of Copenhagen Consensus Center and author, most recently, of How to Spend $75 Billion to Make the World a Better Place. Copenhagen Consensus Center brings together many of the world’s top economists, including Nobel Laureates, to set priorities for the world. Dr. Lomborg is among TIME Magazine‘s 100 most influential people in the […]
The world continues to watch as President Obama and his administration increase their lobbying efforts to convince the Congress and the international community to support a U.S. led military strike in Syria. President Obama went on a media blitz Monday and is expected to deliver his case to the nation today to launch a “limited” […]
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, president of the smallest oil producing and exporting member of OPEC, has committed to expanding oil drilling – from the current 513,000 barrels of oil per day. President Correa announced last week that he signed an executive decree to end the Yasuni Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tipuni (ITT) initiative. ITT are oil blocks, which house […]
As the developing world continues its economic expansion, it is predicted to leave the developed world in its dust in regards to increase in energy consumption over the next 25 plus years or so. Dominant forces of China and India will drive the trend, but other developing nations will continue to become major […]
President Obama’s trip to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania was touted as a commitment to begin a new partnership with the rising continent. Home to 6 of the 10 fasted growing economies, Africa has made great strides – the International Monetary Fund predicts growth of 5.4 percent this year and 5.7 percent next year, but […]
Lac Megantic, Quebec, is a little town near the border with Maine, and it’s the kind of place where news doesn’t get made. Unfortunately for the people there, the town made headlines on July 6 when a number of oil tanker cars somehow rolled a few miles from the train’s locomotive, derailed and exploded. The […]
Britain continues to hold the distinction of being home to the largest offshore wind farm in the world. And with as much offshore wind capacity already installed across the U.K. as the rest of the world combined, it will likely maintain its global industry leadership for years to come. Prime Minister David Cameron was on […]
As immigration legislation is prodded through the U.S. Senate then likely to collect mothballs in the U.S. House of Representatives, and major Supreme Court decisions are announced, the executive branch has garnered a portion of the headlines. Ready to take on another challenge, President Obama laid out his plan to combat Climate Change – a […]
Ever since the nuclear power industry was born, its proponents have tried to find safer ways of using nuclear fission to generate electricity. And there is no doubt that the reactors built today are safer than those erected in the 1950s. However, the main problem with nuclear power as it stands is the inherently dangerous […]
The struggle for positioning in the solar energy marketplace took another turn. On June 4 Karel de Gucht, the European Commissioner for Trade, announced a new 11.8 percent tariff to be applied to imported Chinese made solar panels, and photovoltaic cells and polysilicon wafers, two system components. To avoid an additional increase escalating to […]
Ghana has been forced to cope with increased energy shortages as a result of damages to the West African Gas Pipeline, dating back to Aug. 28, 2012. The $1 billion, 650 kilometer long pipeline, built to carry gas from Nigeria to Benin, Togo and Ghana, was severely damaged during an incident between a Togolese Navy […]
April 5 symbolized a significant date for the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), as it marked 1,000 days remaining to Dec. 31, 2015, the agreed upon date to reach its targets. The MDGs encompass eight targets that span the spectrum of human development from eradicating poverty to promoting sustainable development, health, education, and economic and social […]
In addition to being Earth Day, yesterday was the end of the State Department’s 45-day comment period on the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline project. Among the 800,000 comments is a letter to State from the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA is not particularly happy with the analysis State has done, and this gives the environmental […]