May 14, 2007

Welcome to the Earth Portal newsletter. We invite you to explore, learn, and join. Here are some of the things that you will find:
 

ENVIRONMENT IN FOCUS (go to)

This week, Dr. Robert Costanza discusses the role of the environment in supporting human well-being in his article Toward an Ecological Economy. Dr. Costanza touches on the importance of not limiting ourselves to economic income as a measure of well-being since "well-being tends to correlate well with health, level of education, and marital status, and with income only up to a fairly low threshold"

He explains what natural capital is and the use of Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) as an indicator for a country's or city's performance in his article Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) for Chittenden County and Burlington, Vermont, United States.

You can also see what Dr. Costanza believes are the most important recent events surrounding Ecological Economics in News in Focus. Do not forget to explore the Ecological Economics timeline or his choices for top Ecological Economics websites among other features in this week’s Environment in Focus.

Wikipedia with quality control. 2,341 articles written and reviewed for accuracy by 719 experts from 46 countries. Take a look at some of our most recent articles:

Among our first articles are:

• Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia by Dr. Myanna Lahsen
• Pathways to sustainable industrial development by Dr. Osamu Saito
• Rebuilding New Orleans: applying ecological economics and ecological engineering by Dr. Robert Costanza
• Human population explosion by United Nations and Dr. Theodore Steck
• Biological diversity in the Caribbean Islands from Conservation International
• Other article updated last week

We've also established new partnerships with the International Institute for Sustainable Development.  They have already provided two great e-books:

• Environment and Globalization: Five Propositions written by Adil Najam, David Runnalls, and Mark Halle
• Global Environmental Governance: A Reform Agenda written by Adil Najam, Mihaela Papa, and Nadaa Taiyab

Have you ever wanted to pick the brain of an expert?  Well here’s your chance.  Engage in discussions with experts on environmental issues – science, policy, news, something happening in your local community, or on any other topic of interest.

Join discussions already going on:

• Nature and Poetry: Denise Levertov, started by Dr. A. Karim Ahmed
• Radical engine redesign said to reduce pollution, oil consumption, started by Dr. Stephen Nodvin
• Tracing wildfire emissions, started by Dr. Sidney Draggan

Find out what is happening in the environment around the world in one place.  EarthNews gathers new from various sources, including hand picked stories by the experts to give you the most up-to-date information.  Some big stories this week include:

• Joint House panel turns to Sweden for advice
• Arizona tribes threaten U.S. with suit over eagles

Read about recent events that Dr. Robert Costanza thinks impact the world.

• Can capitalism be green?
• Green economics