- Climate change bringing infection, hunger, illness
America's Climate Choices Are Narrowing
With every year of inaction the risks posed by climate change grow, according to a new report requested by Congress
By David Biello
Published May 15 2011 on Scientific American
In 1959 physicist Gilbert Plass warned in Scientific American that increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was causing climate change. In 1965 President Lyndon Johnson warned Congress of the risk. In 1979 the U.S. National Academy of Sciences warned against a wait-and-see attitude (pdf).
But we have waited. And now most of us see. Increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases are changing the climate. And a new report from the U.S. National Research Council argues—again—that we urgently need a national approach to reducing that pollution since its impacts will be with us for hundreds or even thousands of years.
One possibility is to make polluters pay for the cost of greenhouse gas emissions. For example, a tax on fossil fuel burned would spur investment in cleaner energy technologies, such as renewables or nuclear power.
Other nations will also have to reduce such pollution. But this latest report suggests that if the U.S. reduces its emissions, we're in a better position to influence others, such as China, to do the same. One thing remains clear—the time for waiting is over.
- Climate change threatens far more than our environment. It's already led to the spread of infectious diseases and respiratory ailments across the globe and contributed to thousands of deaths through heat waves and other extreme weather events. It's even fueled recent revolts in the Middle East and North Africa.
- There's nothing much new to say here, but every now and then, it's worth highlighting not only what we're doing, but what the results are. Just imagine the accumulated hatred from having things like this happen day after day, week after week, year after year, for a full decade now, with no end in sight -- broadcast all over the region. It's literally impossible to convey in words the level of bloodthirsty fury and demands for vengeance that would arise if a foreign army were inside the U.S. killing innocent American children even a handful of times, let alone continuously for a full decade.
- I remember my parents telling me how, on the day it was announced that Hitler was dead, there was no rejoicing in the streets, just private relief and satisfaction. The real celebration came six days later at the announcement that the war in Europe was over. THAT'S what the people wanted to hear – not just the demise of one evil madman, but the end to all the killing.
- Hunters call it "training," animal protection groups call it a bloodsport. Coyote and fox penning is the practice where packs of dogs are set upon wild coyotes and foxes trapped in fenced enclosures. The dogs run the terrified captive animals to exhaustion, often tearing them apart once they have them cornered.
- The American soldiers who killed Osama bin Laden found his two guns only after he was dead, while they photographed his remains, according to a detailed new account of the al-Qaida leader's final moments.
- The Associated Press revelation will add further fuel for critics who say US forces acted illegally in killing the unarmed Saudi fugitive. The Obama administration insists the shooting was lawful.
- Mark Feldstein, a professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University, warns that, if whistle-blowers and other dissenters are singled out for prosecution, "this has gigantic repercussions. You choke off the information that the public needs to judge policy."
- One Harold Camping, president of [bigoted Christian] Family Radio, warns WE CAN KNOW that Judgment Day is coming May 21, this Saturday, followed by five months of "chaos and tribulation" and, finally, the end of the world on Oct 21.
- The cola industry starts spreading pro-coal propaganda to 4th graders!
- "The United States of Energy’ is designed to paste a smiley face on the dirtiest form of energy in the world,” said Bill Bigelow, an editor of Rethinking Schools magazine. “These materials teach children only the story the coal industry has paid Scholastic to tell."
- One of the reactors at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant has a hole in its main vessel following a meltdown of fuel rods, leading to a leakage of radioactive water, its operator said on Thursday.
- “Earlier readings of water levels, temperatures and pressure Fukushima Reactor 1 lead to assumptions by the authorities that reactors 1, 2 and 3 were stabilizing. What we are now seeing is that at least some water level readings were entirely wrong. As the fuel rods were fully exposed and subsequently melted, it is highly likely that the core’s integrity is compromised and that there is larger amount of melted fuel at the bottom of the reactor pressure vessel. The situation is clearly far more serious than previously reported, and could escalate rapidly if the lava melts through the reactor vessel. This is yet another reminder that nuclear technology is inherently unsafe, and that there are no practical means of limiting the scale of damage when crises like Fukushima occur.”
- "Forks Over Knives" is a documentary in which Lee Fulkerson enacts a mirror image of the journey taken by Morgan Spurlock in "Supersize Me." Instead of eating only at McDonald's for a month and nearly killing himself, he eats a plant-based whole food diet for six months, gets off all of his cholesterol and blood pressure medications, drops a lot of weight, sleeps better and has more energy.
- ...concerns are emerging that draft plans from the European Commission do not go far enough or offer innovative solutions in a long-delayed push for sustainability.
- MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews pressed Paul during a TV appearance on whether he would have voted against the '64 law, a landmark piece of legislation that took strides toward ending segregation.
- "Yeah, but I wouldn't vote against getting rid of the Jim Crow laws," Paul said. He explained that he would have opposed the Civil Rights Act...
America's Climate Choices Are Narrowing
With every year of inaction the risks posed by climate change grow, according to a new report requested by Congress
By David Biello
Published May 15 2011 on Scientific American
In 1959 physicist Gilbert Plass warned in Scientific American that increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was causing climate change. In 1965 President Lyndon Johnson warned Congress of the risk. In 1979 the U.S. National Academy of Sciences warned against a wait-and-see attitude (pdf).
But we have waited. And now most of us see. Increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases are changing the climate. And a new report from the U.S. National Research Council argues—again—that we urgently need a national approach to reducing that pollution since its impacts will be with us for hundreds or even thousands of years.
One possibility is to make polluters pay for the cost of greenhouse gas emissions. For example, a tax on fossil fuel burned would spur investment in cleaner energy technologies, such as renewables or nuclear power.
Other nations will also have to reduce such pollution. But this latest report suggests that if the U.S. reduces its emissions, we're in a better position to influence others, such as China, to do the same. One thing remains clear—the time for waiting is over.
Sean
