A controversial relocation of one of the world’s last free-ranging elephant herds from Malawi’s southern Mangochi district to the Majete Wildlife Reserve in the Chikwawa region has been resumed after the country’s high court overturned an injunction issued by disgruntled locals to halt the rescue project. The Malawian government approached the International Fund for Animal […]
A report recently issued by the watchdog group Catholic Land Pastoral shows that debt slavery in Brazil has reached record numbers. The report stated that in 2008, there were 280 reported cases of debt slavery, a six percent increase from 2007. Over one third of the cases were linked to sugarcane production which propels Brazil’s […]
The struggle against global warming took a new turn recently as climate change experts discovered that soot emissions are the second-biggest contributor to rising global temperatures, after carbon dioxide (CO2). Also known as “black carbon,” soot is responsible for 18 percent of global warming, while carbon dioxide is responsible for 40 percent. However, unlike reducing […]
A report jointly released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) warns that hundreds of millions of people in South Asia are at risk from increasing water scarcity as water supplies in three of the region’s largest river basins become increasingly vulnerable. Although one-fourth of the world’s population […]
Developers in Badagry, Nigeria, are planning a controversial luxury resort with a slavery theme park in the hope of attracting more tourists to the African nation, especially African-Americans who want to learn about their ancestry while enjoying a relaxing vacation. The ambitious $3.4 billion venture is being led in part by Michael Jackson’s brother and […]
Child sex tourism has exploded along Kenya’s sunny coastal area around Mombasa, where increasing numbers of tourists flock for more than the beaches, preying on children as young as 10. According to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and as reported by Ethical Traveler in 2007, 30 percent of girls aged between 12 and 18 in […]
Mexico City, home to 20 million residents and 4 million cars, is not typically associated with the words “clean” and “green.” One of the most populous and polluted cities in the world, its notoriety stems primarily from smog, traffic congestion, and crime. However, thanks to the Green Plan, an environmental initiative introduced by Mayor Marcelo […]
Activists are calling for a tourism boycott of Utah after the Mormon Church exerted tremendous influence in the passing of California’s Proposition 8 to overturn gay marriage. The church, which counts 62 percent of Utah’s population among its members, pursued an aggressive grassroots strategy in the Yes on 8 campaign, drawing on manpower and donating […]
Chile’s recent decision to make its Pacific Ocean territorial waters a whale sanctuary is another step in the right direction to protect the world’s declining populations of marine mammals. In September, the Chilean Congress unanimously passed a bill put forward by President Michelle Bachelet that bans whale hunting for commercial and scientific purposes off Chile’s […]
