Issues & Trends

More troubling news from the bottom of the world.

Scientists are studying coastal and glacier change along the entire Antarctic coastline. This map identifies the southern portion of the Antarctic Peninsula, which was the area studied as part of the project.

(U.S. Geological Survey)

3TIER® today announced the completion of its REmapping the World™ initiative, which was launched in March 2008 to address the biggest barrier to global renewable energy adoption – the lack of reliable information regarding resource potential and availability.

Study suggests the increased dumping of used computers, mobile phones and other electronic equipment poses a serious threat to health and the environment

PUTNEY, VERMONT — With the continuing failure of governments to reach agreements on combating climate change, the outlook for both humans and nature remains bleak. And nowhere is the failure more conspicuous than in the avoidance of the subject of population growth.

The number of mobile phone subscriptions worldwide reached 4.6 billion last year and is expected to hit 5 billion this year, says the International Telecommunication Union.

On a planet with around 6.8 billion people, we're likely to see 5 billion cell phone subscriptions this year.

Written by Jeff Thurston The devel­op­ment and release of 3D GIS is a major step for­ward into the future. It will undoubt­edly cause a stir, sev­eral peo­ple to scratch their heads and unleash a wave of new think­ing that we have not expe­ri­enced in the geo­com­mu­nity for quite some time.

New Delhi - The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) today launched the Vision 2050 report (2.6 MB), a study that lays out a pathway leading to a global population of some 9 billion people living well, within the resource limits of the planet by 2050.

By Bradford Plumer Sometime around 2050, there are going to be nine billion people roaming this planet—two billion more than there are today. It's a safe bet that all those folks will want to eat. And that's... an incredibly daunting prospect.

A few years ago a group of educators from BC, Canada set out to try to get an objective look at the state of the world. We wanted The Big Picture, not just this or that issue, but the most essential points of every important issue.