By Therese Tepe and Derik Broekhoff

Consumers worldwide can now purchase carbon offsets from more than 30 companies in order to compensate for the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted by their day-to-day activities. Retailers who offer this service invest the consumer's money into various projects that otherwise would not exist, thus reducing atmospheric GHG levels. In other words, consumers pay to decrease emissions somewhere else in order to compensate for the emissions they can not reduce from their own lives.

By Tim Herzog

Last week, China released a draft of its First National Climate Change Assessment. The draft mostly focuses on the impacts that China will likely face due to global warming, but it also reportedly includes a goal of reducing China's carbon intensity by 40% by 2020, and 80% by 2050. The draft is not official (the official release has now been indefinitely delayed), but in any case it signals the first time that China has considered an emissions target in any form.

The social and economic costs of natural disasters impede sustainable development and poverty alleviation efforts, especially in developing countries. For several years, developed countries and international organizations have concentrated their efforts on alleviation and reconstruction after natural disasters have occurred. Recently, however, natural disasters have increased in both frequency and intensity of damage. New strategies are needed at the international level that prepare for these events instead of focusing on post-disaster mitigation.

World Water Day 2007 passed yesterday, drawing international attention to the over one billion people worldwide who lack access to safe drinking water. The drivers of this crisis are diverse, making the United Nations Millennium Development Goal on water--to halve the number of people without access to clean water or sanitation by 2015--a difficult yet critical target. Whether the challenge is arsenic contamination in Bangladesh, extreme weather in Africa, or lack of infrastructure in urban slums, it is clear that significant political will be an underlying necessity.

Episode 4 of the EarthTrends Podcast--a collaboration between World Resources Institute, StopGlobalWarming.org, and the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival--is now available.

Listen to Episode 4 of the EarthTrends Podcast.

Episode 4 features an interview with WRI's Liz Marshall about the current debate over foreign sources of energy for transportation in America and one energy alternative to gasoline - ethanol. Two live performances from the Disco Biscuits are also featured on this podcast.

The World Resources Institute is currently accepting applications for an EarthTrends Spring/Summer intern. We are looking for a highly motivated and innovative person to play a significant role in the continuing development and management of EarthTrends: Environmental Information.

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In his latest annual "State of the Union" address, U.S. President George W. Bush outlined an energy policy promsing to improve U.S. energy security by reducing gasoline usage by 20 percent in the next 10 years. Jonathan Lash, President of the World Resources Institute (WRI), has issued a response, challenging that this proposal does not call for sufficient steps to combat climate change. Read Jonathan Lash's full comments at the WRI website.

The World Resources Institute (WRI) has partnered with 10 major businesses and 3 environmental groups to form the United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), a coalition calling on the U.S. government to pass legislation that will reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 60 to 80 percent by 2050. More information about USCAP's members and policy recommendations, including the USCAP report, A Call for Action, are available through the WRI website and www.us-cap.org.

By Tim Herzog

The U.S. has not yet passed national legislation on climate change, but there have nonetheless been many climate change initiatives throughout the country. Northeast states established the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) in 2005, and in September 2006, California adopted a long-term goal to reduce its emissions by 80 percent by 2050. Other states and more than 350 cities are developing their own policies and commitments to reduce emissions, reduce energy use, and switch to renewables. And there are no fewer than seven legislative proposals coming before the 110th Congress.