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Chris Wood: roads paved with good intentions

Voluntary business sustainability standards are tricky things, as Chris Wood found when he examined report cards on their applications to agriculture and Walmart. Another tricky thing? The vigilance of shoppers. AKA us. An excerpt of his new Natural Security column: Ronald Reagan, in a lucid moment, famously characterized his approach to nuclear negotiations with the Soviet Union as: “Trust — and verify.” Much the same, it turns out, might be said for the green boasts of business. If we’re honest about it, most of what threatens our natural security is the result of our own appetites. Boreal forests are turned

European Union’s role in Ukraine mayhem: analysis

Europe is culpable for the violence in Ukraine, writes international affairs analyst Jonathan Manthorpe in his new column. Excerpt: European leaders should not congratulate themselves too heartily for mediating the compromise agreement that, with luck, will end the demonstrations and appalling violence on the streets of Ukraine’s capital Kiev and other major cities. It is, after all, sins of commission and omission by Brussels that have played a large part in stirring up the political chaos in Ukraine as its people try to decide if their future should be with the European Union (EU) or their old political overlord in

Findings: Storm Petra, in video

Coastal France and Britain have been thrashed by gales, drenched by rain and flooded this month. French professional photographer Philip Plisson, who specializes in ocean photography, captured storm Petra as it hit the French coast:

Research shows infections spread from domestic to wild bees

Agricultural crops from almonds to zucchini are necessarily pollinated by bees, both managed and wild — but colonies of all bees have been collapsing, for reasons that are likely complex and but dimly understood. That’s why it matters, and not least to human food security, that researchers have now found that two infections common in domestic bees can spread to wild bees. Global trade may be worsening infection rates, suggests the study published in the February 20 edition of the science journal Nature. Log in to read F&O’s report, Wild Bees Catch Honeybee Infections, in Dispatches, Science, available with a

North Korea: China expected to veto action on UN report

Criticism of China was part of the report by the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, released Monday. By citing China, the UN ensured that China will use its Security Council veto to block action on the report’s recommendations, predicts international affairs analyst Jonathan Manthorpe. An excerpt of his new column: By emphasizing China’s complicity in the unparalleled atrocities by the North Korean regime of its people, United Nations investigators have doubtless ensured Beijing will use its Security Council veto to block further action. Beijing has reacted angrily to the commission’s

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