The ongoing COP17 climate meeting in Durban, South Africa is themed "saving tomorrow today." Yet a global dam boom being promoted by dam proponents -- including dozens of megadams proposed for Africa's major rivers -- could make a mockery of this vision, by endangering rivers and the ecosystems...

It's been an unusually rainy spring here in the San Francisco Bay Area. The damp weather has a few California farm-belt politicians mad as wet hens, as some farmers in their districts will get less water than usual this year despite high rainfall. These politicians -- who call the situation...

The ongoing World Economic Forum -- the annual gathering of global decision-makers and business leaders -- is the place to discuss big ideas for economic development.

Some African participants are using the forum to promote the gigantic Grand Inga hydropower dam, proposed for the Congo River in...

Please, ma'am, just put down the aluminum foil and no one gets hurt.

It's a little known fact that this simple kitchen product has a Dickensian dark side. So as you serve your guests canned beverages, "tent" your turkey, cover the yams, or wrap leftovers at the end of the...

This week, I join hundreds of activists traveling to rural Mexico to attend Rivers for Life 3, a global gathering of people whose livelihoods and communities have been harmed or are threatened by destructive dams. Hailing from river-based communities from the Amazon to the Zambezi, the participants are...

As BP's Gulf oil spill is so tragically demonstrating, once the cows are out of the barn and the oil is out of the well, it's too late to come up with a disaster response plan. We can't afford more BP disasters; it's time to start turning down projects with...

What will the world be like for your grandchildren - and their grandchildren - if tigers disappear from the planet? Or sharks? What will their planet be like if Nectophrynoides asperginis goes the way of the dodo?

That last was a trick question; N. asperginis - the Kihansi Spray Toad...

The fishers of the world are fighting mad. Rivers and the lakes they feed are drying up, partly due to climate change and drought, but also because large dams are holding back their waters.

These formerly self-sufficient people want their rivers back, and they're making noise about it around...

In case you didn't catch it, the World Bank's top official for Africa just thumbed her nose at the dozens of renewable energy companies lining up to build clean energy in Africa's dirtiest economy.

Obiageli Ezekwesili, the Bank's Vice President for Africa, defended a controversial $3.75-billion loan...

In a reversal of the animated movie Madagascar, all of the world's Kihansi spray toads suddenly found themselves living in the Bronx Zoo, far from their home at the base of a waterfall in Tanzania. The tiny toads were no match for a dam that destroyed not only their life...

A new short documentary by the Dutch group BothEnds offers a clear, concise "you are there" view of problems being caused by the Bujagali Dam, now being built on the Nile River in Uganda. This well-done piece of activist filmmaking shows the viewer firsthand what is...

China has pulled the 2D version of the blockbuster hit, Avatar, from the big screen in what is being billed as cinematic protectionism -- reportedly, to keep its theaters focused on showing a new state-sponsored biopic about Confucius. But many believe there is another side to the...

Despite climate deniers’ attempts to slow progress with the “Climategate” brouhaha, the rest of us are hoping the negotiators in Copenhagen will come up with some kind of road map that will lead to positive change. But even under the best outcomes, the focus in Copenhagen will be on emissions,...

It’s been a bad week for dams – and a very good one for the world’s rivers.

In Queensland, Australia, river protectors thrilled to the news today that their long fight to Save the Mary River from the ravages of a large dam is, finally, over. The nation’s...

The world is greening its electricity supply at a fast (if not fast enough) pace. Germany is slapping solar on every building it can, Spain is becoming a world leader in big concentrating solar plants, and the US stimulus package includes a plateload of subsidies for renewables. At the...

California is schizophrenic when it comes to water.

In the past week, we Californians have been bombarded with news about our troubled water system, good and bad.

The most encouraging news comes from the northern part of the state, where a deal has finally been struck to

Africa is the least electrified place in the world. Some 550 million Africans have no access to electricity.

Not only are they living in the dark; many Africans also have a tenuous water supply. The majority depend directly on rivers and lakes for water. Water stress is growing, creeping...

More evidence that dams really are a dirty business.

The world could see an epidemic of "Hurricane Katrina" destruction from storms if dam builders persist in bottling up more rivers. Most of the world's major river deltas are sinking, thanks in large part to dams withholding land-building sediments, a...