Environment

Awesome Aughties

The decade through rose-colored glasses.

BY SUZANNE MERKELSON | SEPT. / OCT. 2010

Best. Decade. Ever.

The first 10 years of the 21st century were humanity's finest -- even for the world's bottom billion.

BY CHARLES KENNY | SEPT. / OCT. 2010

China's Warhol Gets Dirty

Chinese contemporary artist Zhang Hongtu, famed for his iconic Mao Quaker Oats images and for subverting traditional icons, takes on China’s greatest burden today -- environmental pollution and the downside of development.

BY CHRISTINA LARSON | AUGUST 4, 2010

They're Really Melting

Three glaciers that are fast receding from their icy peaks.

AUGUST 3, 2010

"It's Going to Make a Huge Mess"

The man who coined the term "global warming" looks back at 35 years of climate change.

INTERVIEW BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | AUGUST 3, 2010

How to Safeguard Afghanistan's Mineral Riches

A six-step guide.

BY ASHBY H.B. MONK | AUGUST 3, 2010

Who Killed the Climate Bill?

We asked the experts who is to blame.

JULY 23, 2010

Too Darn Hot

As record-breaking temperatures plague cities all over the world, everyone's trying to keep cool. 

JULY 13, 2010

The BP Oil Spill Winners

Beach crews aren't the only people cleaning up after the Deepwater disaster.

BY CHARLES HOMANS | JUNE 25, 2010

Are Rare Earth Elements Actually Rare?

Not if you're willing to dig for them.

BY CHARLES HOMANS | JUNE 15, 2010

From Land Mines to Copper Mines

Will Afghanistan's mineral wealth rescue the country from decades of instability and poverty? It just might -- and here's how.

BY MICHAEL L. ROSS | JUNE 15, 2010

Gasbags

Politicians, oilmen, and green-energy boosters love to invoke the idea of energy security. None of them know what they're talking about.

BY MICHAEL LEVI | JUNE 15, 2010

The Dhaka Solution

While the rest of the world debates climate change, Bangladesh has started living the reality of a warmer, more volatile world.

BY SEBASTIAN STRANGIO | JUNE 7, 2010

Oil, Oil Everywhere

A month after a BP drilling operation began hemorrhaging crude into the Gulf of Mexico, company executives and White House officials are still volleying the blame and the responsibility for what will be the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

BY BRIAN FUNG | MAY 25, 2010

A Proxy War in Peru

A rumble in the Amazonian jungle turns into a referendum on colonialism, genocide, and the role of foreign infiltrators in Peruvian policy.

BY ARNO KOPECKY | MAY 19, 2010

Back to Petroleum

Thanks to the unfolding catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, the public is finally seeing through BP's decade-long greenwashing campaign.

BY KATE SHEPPARD | MAY 3, 2010

Don't Panic, Go Organic

Be not troubled by Robert Paarlberg's scaremongering. Organic practices can feed the world -- better, in fact, than wasteful industrial farming.

BY ANNA LAPPÉ | APRIL 29, 2010

What Happens to the Oil After an Oil Spill?

Depends how fast you get to it.

BY JOSHUA KEATING | APRIL 27, 2010

The FP Quiz

Are you a globalization junkie? Then test your knowledge of global trends, economics, and politics with 8 questions about how the world works.  

MAY/JUNE 2010

Green Monster

The gas guzzlers at the Pentagon are under orders to get ecofriendly. The impact could be huge.  

BY NOAH SHACHTMAN | MAY/JUNE 2010

Food Fights

Some of the world's most bitter conflicts have nothing to do with access to resources, ethnic chauvinism, or the balance of power. Here's a short guide to the planet's fiercest gastronomic controversies.   

BY ANNIE LOWREY | MAY/JUNE 2010

Stormy Forecast

How climate change affects trade.

BY KAYVAN FARZANEH | MAY/JUNE 2010

The New Resource Crunch

The science and statistics behind the phosphorus shortage.

BY JAMES ELSER, STUART WHITE | APRIL 21, 2010

Peak Phosphorus

It's an essential, if underappreciated component of our daily lives, and a key link in the global food chain. And it's running out.

BY JAMES ELSER, STUART WHITE | APRIL 20, 2010

The Dirty Underside of Lula's Clean Energy Revolution

Brazil's biofueled paradise is looking more and more like a carbon-spewing wasteland.

BY NIKOLAS KOZLOFF | APRIL 9, 2010

The Big Thirsty

From contamination to droughts to just going without, images from the world's water crises.

MARCH 22, 2010

How Locavores Could Save the World

The latest yuppie craze could do more than just cut emissions -- it might also help feed the poor.

BY FELIX SALMON | FEBRUARY 26, 2010

Capping It Off

How a concept became an environmental policy catchphrase.

BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | MARCH/APRIL 2010

Peak Tuna

The familiar image of Japanese businessmen lunching on nigiri sushi may soon be a thing of the past.

BY DANE KLINGER, KIMIKO NARITA | FEBRUARY 12, 2010

The Glaciers Are Still Melting

The U.N.'s top climate panel has withdrawn a mistaken prediction that the Himalayan glaciers might not exist in 2035. But that doesn't mean the whole world isn't in hot water.

BY STEPHAN FARIS | FEBRUARY 11, 2010