Interested in understanding the scientific case for global warming?

Former United States Vice-President Al Gore presents an extremely accessible overview of human-induced climate change in a documentary film set for release in the United States later this month. An Inconvenient Truth highlights the current impacts and future implications of global warming, discussing many of the same facts and analyses that are currently available here on EarthTrends.

Visit www.climatecrisis.net for more information and to view the film's trailer.

EarthTrends is pleased to announce that we are changing the way much of our site content is licensed. It has been a longstanding goal of this project, and of the World Resources Institute (WRI), to make information free and accessible to all. In fact, "Access" is one of WRI's four institute goals. To that end, we have always encouraged the replication, modification, and dissemination of the information that you find on EarthTrends. But perhaps that has not been explicit. We are now licensing all of our content under a Creative Commons license. This means that anyone is free to use, modify, and share any of our information products so long as EarthTrends is acknowledged as the source.

"We've made some huge gains since that first Earth Day, but virtually all our progress has been local and regional. The Earth as a whole is in worse shape today than 35 years ago....We have had 35 more years of greenhouse gases, 35 more years of nuclear waste piling up, 35 more years of habitat loss and species extinction, 35 more years of population growth."

--Denis Hayes, First Earth Day organizer and WRI Board Member

This Saturday, April 22, is Earth Day, a reminder of our responsibility as global citizens to stay informed of environmental issues and act in ways that will protect natural resources for future generations.

The biennial State of the Planet Conference was held in New York City on March 28 and 29 to address the question "Is Sustainable Development Feasible?" More than 30 experts in policy, environmental science, industry, and economics spoke on an array of sustainable development topics. Two issues in particular were identified as the most pressing concerns for the global community: the eradication of extreme poverty and climate change. Specific challenges for better environmental stewardship, reduced consumption, enhanced technology, and improved education were also addressed. These goals are currently not being met on a global scale, but are critical to obtaining sustainable development.

In addition to the country-level data provided on EarthTrends, regional and classification aggregates calculated by WRI are available for most of the variables within the EarthTrends searchable database. These calculations require assignment of individual countries to specific regions or groups.

In general, data on water issues are sparse, particularly with respect to water quality and pollution; informative time series are often difficult to construct. Existing data typically come from national or regional studies undertaken by independent researchers, or data are the result of comprehensive surveys performed (infrequently) by international organizations. Since data have disparate sources, data collection and calculation methodologies may vary.

The World Resources Institute is currently accepting applications for a web development summer intern. We are looking for a highly motivated and innovative person to play a significant role in the continuing technical development and management of EarthTrends and NutrientNet. The closing date for this position is 1 April 2006.

The World Resources Institute is currently accepting applications for an EarthTrends summer intern (with the possibility of extension). The closing date for this position is 24 March 2006.

We are looking for a highly motivated and innovative person to play a significant role in the continuing development and ongoing management of EarthTrends. The successful applicant will help to fulfill WRI's mission of guaranteeing public access to information and analysis related to sustainable development and the environment.

For a full job description and contact information please see the posting on WRI's joblist page.

In our continuing efforts to provide the most reliable and current environmental information, the EarthTrends team has recently completed updates to 160 variables (both datasets and technical notes) in the EarthTrends searchable database. Click 'read more' and see below the appropriate research topic for a complete listing. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Welcome to the new EarthTrends home page!

The EarthTrends team at the World Resources Institute has redesigned this home page as part of our continued efforts to enhance accessibility to our site's content and disseminate important environmental information. We encourage both first-time and returning users to take a few moments to orient themselves with our new homepage and learn more by clicking below.