Wasting Away
By Gretel H. Schueller, OnEarth Magazine
It has been decades since Americans first ran to their curbsides, ready to start a recycling revolution. In recent years, recycling rates have stagnated or dropped throughout the nation. Some cities, such as New York, have suspended recycling efforts, citing their failure to profit in a sagging economy. However, a number of recycling initiatives -- from San Francisco's user-friendly system to Germany's mandated program to recycle consumer packaging -- show that recycling can and does still work. -- Anastasia Masurat
http://www.nrdc.org/onearth/02fal/recycling1.asp

2003 Likely Europe's Hottest in 500 Years
By Paul Recer, Associated Press
Europe is on the hot seat -- or at least, Europe was on the hot seat last summer, when temperatures exceeded record highs from the last 5 centuries. And the climatologists are not just blowing hot air; they've got soil cores, tree rings, and old records to prove it. -- Andi McDaniel
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040305/D8149IV01.html

Lesotho's Orphans
The AIDS epidemic is making orphans out of a generation of Southern African children. Sarah Crowe travels to Lesotho -- where 10% of children have lost at least one parent to HIV -- to put a human face on the numbing statistics. -- Eliza Thomas
http://allafrica.com/stories/200403050528.html

Queer Sheik: Homosexuality in Saudi Arabia
By John R. Bradley, The New Republic
Queer in Saudi Arabia? It's been a nightmare scenario until recently. Traditionally, gays and lesbians have lived in mortal fear in a country where sodomy was punishable by death. But, as John R. Bradley points out, in some Saudi cities the authorities have started to look the other way. Thousands of Saudis have recently returned from the United States because of stricter US visa policies. The government in Riyadh has realized that these relatively liberal-minded citizens are unwilling to stand for harsh anti-gay policies. -- Eliza Thomas
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?pt=F4bD483qZPViqE1CyQTDkh