Often lost in the battles over offshore oil and gas drilling is the less well known but highly controversial practice of ocean-floor mining. Consider the uproar in Mexico over efforts by Odyssey Marine Exploration, a U.S.-based ocean exploration company, to begin dredging phosphates from the bottom of Ulloa Bay on the western coast of Mexico’s Baja California Sur state. In a public communiqué released Sept. 9, Odyssey argued that its underwater mining project is not only important to the food security of Mexico, which imports over 80% of its fertilizer, but can be done with minimal environmental impact. But numerous Mexican and international environmental groups reject that claim. They say the company’s plans to dredge an estimated 350 million tons of phosphate-rich...
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Energy experts concur that solar power generation is gaining ground in Brazil, but they disagree on the prospects for the latest effort to spur the sector—installation of floating photovoltaic (PV) systems on dam reservoirs. In late March, Brazil’s Mines and Energy Ministry announced it is studying the feasibility of floating solar PV systems with considerable energy-generating potential on the reservoirs of state-owned hydroelectric plants. The ministry, now in the initial phase of feasibility studies, has yet to quantify how much electricity such systems might generate or what dam reservoirs might be used. But Altino Ventura Filho, the ministry’s planning and energy development secretary, says that “the country’s potential to generate solar energy, either from terrestrial systems or those floating on dam reservoirs...
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Scientists in Colombia are celebrating the development of 30 new types of beans that can withstand the soaring temperatures expected to batter Central and South America by the end of the century. Beans, which originated in the brisk mountains of Central America, begin to have significantly lower yields at temperatures over 18-19 degrees Celsius (64-66 degrees Fahrenheit). But the new types can withstand temperatures above 22 degrees Celsius (72 degrees Fahrenheit). This means that despite global warming, beans can continue to serve as a staple for tens of millions of people in Central and South America as well as hundreds of millions more in Africa through at least the end of the century. The achievement by researchers at CGIAR, the nonprofit, global food research partnership...
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U.S. President Barack Obama this month pledged US$20 million in new funding for clean energy projects in the Caribbean in an expression of deepening commitment to a region trying to break its dependency on costly imported oil. The new assistance, offered April 9 at a one-day meeting between Obama and leaders of the 15-member Caribbean Community (Caricom) in Kingston, Jamaica, is part of a growing U.S. effort to help the Caribbean with money and expertise as it attempts to lower soaring fuel costs and contribute to the fight against climate change. Obama’s visit to the Caribbean came amid growing worry in the region about energy security. Imported oil accounts for more than 90% of the energy in the Caribbean and costs the...
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