Environment and Health
The Lineup: Week of November 29-December 5, 2010
As global climate talks get underway in Cancun, Miriam Pemberton calls for more parity in spending on climate and military security and Diana Bronson warns that “geoengineering” fixes for the world’s climate problems could do far more harm than good.
Geoengineering is a Recipe for Disaster
Think you’ve heard enough about climate change? Chances are you haven’t heard anything about the dangerous and costly sci-fi climate fixes known as geoengineering.
Trojan Malpractice
It was just a lone sentence tacked on to the very end of a long New York Times article. The story focused on a recent report from President Obama’s bipartisan commission on reducing the national debt. “Panel Seeks Cuts in Social Security and Higher Taxes” was indeed about cuts in Social Security and proposed tax increases–the things most pundits jump on. But the last sentence caught my eye: “[The commission plan] would limit malpractice awards, long a Republican goal.”
Nuclear Winter
Dumbed-Down Nation
As pundits and politicians argue about what the GOP midterm election sweep means, there are growing and disturbing signs that America increasingly is moving (and voting) to retreat from our nation’s commitment to scientific research and knowledge. We’re “dumbing down” collectively as a nation.
Simmering Water War
Here in my home state of Texas, we’re suffering from withdrawal pains.
How about Saving all the Miners?
Remember the joy shared by millions around the world as we watched as the Chilean miners were rescued one by one? Celebrating their survival made me wish that the global mining industry could find itself in the spotlight too, with lights glaring at each aspect of its destructiveness and criminality.
Reaching the Boiling Point
President Barack Obama recently announced plans to modernize our crumbling roads, rails, and airports while providing jobs for the construction industry. While we certainly need to fix our nation’s transportation infrastructure, there’s another form of infrastructure begging for a similar level of attention in the United States: that for our water.
It’s Still Not Easy to Die Peacefully
It’s been 25 years now since an AP poll revealed that a majority of Americans thought terminally ill patients should have the right to die. Assuming, of course, that they wanted to. Fat lot of good that poll did. Not one state legislature has followed it.
Confronting the Reality of Climate Change
It got so hot in downtown Los Angeles the other day that the thermometer broke. The National Weather Service’s device hit 113 degrees at about noon (the highest temp ever recorded in LA), then just quit. Climate change hawks were quick to seize on this as evidence that global warming is revving up and we ought to do something about it before it’s too late.
