The global campaign to eradicate malaria in the 1950s and '60s successfully vanquished the disease from the United States and Europe and substantially reduced it in others – in India and Sri Lanka, for instance, malaria cases decreased by 99 percent. Malaria transmission was nearly wiped out in the subtropics, and it was significantly reined in in parts of the Soviet Union, Latin America, and Asia.

About the insecticide that served as a cornerstone of the campaign, the National Academy of Sciences wrote in 1970: "To only a few chemicals does man owe as great a debt." But the same insecticide has become one of today's most infamous chemicals. It is DDT.

The earthquake that struck Sichuan Province on May 12, 2008 was China's most damaging earthquake since the 1976 Tangshan earthquake disaster. Sichuan, a province in western China, has been historically known as the "Land of Abundance" (Tian Fu Zhi Guo), as it is one of the major agricultural production bases of China.

The most immediate concerns after such a disaster are human casualties, injury, and property destruction. However, earthquakes and other natural disasters wreak substantial environmental damage, with consequences for human health and economy as well as biodiversity and resource availability.

Economic accounts and social indicators have aided policymaking in both the public and private sectors for many decades. Here at EarthTrends, we catalogue information about more than 200 countries more than 700 different ways, with numbers showing population levels, energy consumption, economic growth, and ecosystem health.

However, some of the most critical data for good policymaking are not collected or reported in any meaningful or systematic way.

Trash is a pervasive but unnoticed part of our lives. The great irony of waste management is that even the most efficient and well-run waste collection programs remain out of sight, ignored by the public that they serve. Only with failure does the omnipresence of trash really come to light. Today, many nations face a looming waste management crisis, as their landfills reach capacity and continue to degrade the environment. But new and innovative waste-collection and construction techniques – far cries from the dirty incinerators and vast landfills of the past – can help to reduce waste volume and minimize environmental and health impacts.

As world food prices reach record highs, concerns over agricultural productivity are mounting. Productivity growth has stagnated as the world’s population has continued to rise, and the wealth generated from economic development is further increasing demand for food. The use of food crops like corn and sugarcane for biofuels production exacerbates the situation. The United Nations estimates that agricultural output will have to rise 50 percent by 2030 to meet this increased demand

Ecological resources have factored into many national conflicts--either through competition for scarce resources or greed to exploit plentiful ones. But some scholars see another role for the environment: fostering peace. Resources managed jointly can quell regional hostilities, or better, keep lines of communication open so that a conflict never starts, these scholars say, and it seems the idea is gaining traction.

One of the last untapped fisheries for human consumption may not remain that way much longer. Krill, shrimp-like crustaceans that grow about two inches long, are some of the most abundant marine life. They're regularly eaten by whales, seals, penguins, and sea birds, but so far not extensively fished for human consumption. However, fishery regulators say, that could change quickly, with high food prices and depleted fish stocks driving a new industry in krill oils.

But krill might yet be saved from the fate of its marine neighbors. Regulators are proactively aiming to prevent overfishing of krill, to stem off destroying a species fundamental to ocean food chains worldwide.

Environmental ministers from around the world are wrapping up two weeks of meetings in Bonn, Germany, as part of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Today, delegates made some of the best progress of the meeting, establishing plans to create an independent scientific panel to do what the IPCC did for climate change--bring it scientific credibility and urgency. However, some of the conference's biggest challenges remain unresolved, including financial commitments to follow through on this plan.

Countries are constantly being compared to one another in environmental measures--carbon emissions, energy intensity, environmental footprints. These international comparisons have generally focused on the activities of governments or businesses, making them a useful measure for policymakers but less helpful for average citizens. However, last week the National Geographic Society and polling firm GlobeScan released results from the first-ever international survey of the "greenness" of consumer behavior. (And if you want to test your own consumer greenness, you can take a shortened version of the survey here.)

In 1999, researchers developed a new variety of genetically modified (GM) rice boasting the potential to save "a million kids a year" in developing countries from life-threatening vitamin A deficiency. Nearly a decade later, however, the new variety--nicknamed "golden rice" for the yellow hue imparted by vitamin A compounds--has hardly moved beyond the lab. Hampered by the controversy and strict regulations surrounding GM technology, golden rice is a testament to the obstacles facing GM crops developed for humanitarian purposes.