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NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE
OCTOBER 2007
In this issue National Geographic introduces a new series on Meeting the Climate Challenge.
BIOFUELS: Green Dreams -- Page 38. Joel K. Bourne Jr. writes that environmentalists, farmers and politicians share a "green" dream that America will replace gasoline and diesel with biofuels -- homegrown substitutes made from food crops like corn, soybeans and sugarcane. While these renewable fuels contain less energy than traditional gasoline, proponents argue they could boost the rural economy, reduce our dependence on the Middle East and cut ballooning carbon dioxide emissions. But the road to this dream has speed bumps -- and may not be as green as we'd like.
Growing corn requires enormous amounts of pesticides and causes soil erosion, and as prices for the crops rise, farmers may be pushed to plow up millions more acres of precious land with their diesel-burning tractors to plant additional crops (that won't be made into food). This not only impacts the environment, it threatens to reduce food security and increase prices on everything from corn flakes to milk to meat. The process of making ethanol and biodiesel also browns biofuels' green label as it usually involves burning fossil fuel and gives off large amounts of carbon dioxide. Sugarcane yields more than twice as much ethanol per acre as corn, and its production and burning can generate 85 percent less carbon dioxide than gasoline. But making this "clean" fuel is dirty work, requiring backbreaking labor and field burning and potentially contributing to deforestation.
The key may be to make fuel from non-food plant material like prairie grasses or even algae. Making ethanol from these bastions of cellulose doesn't squeeze the food supply, and algae grow quickly anywhere, requiring little more than sunlight, carbon dioxide and water. While the processing cost and its energy output are still works-in-progress, pond scum may just line the road to our greener future.
CARBON'S NEW MATH -- Page 33. Bill McKibbon explains that while global warming presents the greatest test humans have yet faced, new technologies and habits offer some promise, but only if we move quickly.
Plus: Map supplement: Changing Climate.
DANGEROUS STRAITS -- Page 126. Pirates didn't disappear with the deaths of such notorious bandits as Blackbeard and Captain Kidd in the 18th century. Modern-day pirates exist, terrorizing the seas and threatening the economic health of the world. National Geographic writer Peter Gwin travels down dark alleys and sails uncharted waterways to speak to pirates who hijack ships and rob and kidnap seamen along one of the world's most vital economic arteries, the Strait of Malacca, which passes between Malaysia and Indonesia. A third of the world's crude oil shipments transit this critical choke point in the global economy -- and the strait's geography makes it nearly impossible to secure. For that reason alone, the Malacca Strait is a target for maritime terrorism. Gwin meets face-to-face with these pirates who explain why and how they plunder, and then, in an act of trust, they take him into the Strait on a "pirate training" excursion.
THROUGH THE EYES OF THE CONDOR: AN AERIAL VISION OF LATIN AMERICA -- Page 60. Renowned aerial photographer Robert B. Haas presents a series of dazzling photographs that capture the timeless beauty of Latin America. Over two years Haas traveled to 14 countries -- from Argentina to Venezuela -- covering some 80 percent of the land mass of Latin America for a rare glimpse into the most spectacular and inaccessible corners of the continent from an awe-inspiring vantage point.
SPACE: THE NEXT GENERATION -- Page 106. The space age began 50 years ago when Sputnik became the first man-made object to orbit the Earth on Oct. 4, 1957. Spurred by Cold War competition and idealist visions, the next 15 years were the golden age of space exploration. But when the vulnerability and expense of the space shuttle became apparent and space walks became common place, public interest waned. Now, spurred on by President Bush's "Vision for Space Exploration" and private sector innovation, a "new space age" is emerging -- a new generation of rockets and vehicles designed to carry astronauts back to the moon and, from there, to Mars and beyond.
DEADLY CONTACT -- Page 78. Ebola, yellow fever, Lyme disease, West Nile fever, rabies -- each is a zoonosis, an infectious agent that is transmissible from animals to humans. The scary headlines we read about SARS and bird flu are just recent examples of zoonoses. This interspecies leap of disease has become more common and more lethal. Author David Quammen looks at the causes and the deadly consequences. With the ever-expanding human destruction of natural environments, animals and humans are brought into closer proximity. And animals that have natural immunity to certain viruses become reservoirs for disease. Through consumption and handling, humans, with the help of jet planes and transcontinental railroads, have become the perfect global carriers.
National Geographic magazine is the official journal of the National Geographic Society, one of the world's largest nonprofit educational and scientific organizations. Published in English and 30 local-language editions, the magazine has a global circulation of around 8.5 million. It is sent each month to National Geographic members and is available on newsstands for $4.95 a copy. Single copies can be ordered by calling (800) NGS-LINE, also the number to call to apply for membership in the Society.
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Contacts:
Heather Cabral
National Geographic
(202) 457-8465
hcabral@ngs.org
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