Politics

The Religious Right Sets New World-Record for Projection : Dispatches from the Culture Wars

December 21, 2010

Here’s a trailer promoting a 12-DVD series titled, Resisting the Green Dragon, which is almost exclusively comprised of slanders against science, scientists, and environmentalists. Some of the biggest names of the religious right are promoting this video: Tony Perkins, David Barton, Wendy Wright, and Richard Land. via The Religious Right Sets New World-Record for Projection : Dispatches from the Culture Wars.  

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Monbiot.com » The Process Is Dead

September 20, 2010

It’s already clear that the climate talks in December will go nowhere – so what do we do? By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 21st September 2010. The closer it comes, the worse it looks. The best outcome anyone now expects from December’s climate summit in Mexico is that some delegates might stay awake during the meetings. When talks fail once, as they did in Copenhagen, governments lose interest. They don’t want to...

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Are We Stuck With ‘Blah, Blah, Blah, … Bang’?

May 29, 2010
Are We Stuck With ‘Blah, Blah, Blah, … Bang’?

Are We Stuck With ‘Blah, Blah, Blah, … Bang’? By ANDREW C. REVKIN I was struck by a comment that followed my latest piece on cutting disaster risks, reacting to this line: “Only direct experience seems to trigger change.” Yeah. It seems Homo S “Sapiens” at large needs to first get hit by the wall before changing path. There will be always someone debating (denying) the science (evidence) of walls and bricks. We can’t...

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“Planet or Death!” — Bolivian President Evo Morales’ Courageous Speech at World People’s Conference on Climate Change

April 23, 2010
“Planet or Death!” — Bolivian President Evo Morales’ Courageous Speech at World People’s Conference on Climate Change

The urgency felt by Morales and the more than 15,000 people from 150 nations attending the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth (CMPCC) was evident from the first sentences uttered by the host and convener of this unprecedented gathering in Tiquipaya, a small town just north of Cochabamba, home of the historic “water war” that helped sweep Morales into power.In a 21st century twist on “Revolución o Muerte”...

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Monbiot.com » An Eruption of Reality

April 20, 2010

Has our society become too complex to sustain?By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 19th April 2010Man proposes; nature disposes. We are seldom more vulnerable than when we feel insulated.The miracle of modern flight protected us from gravity, atmosphere, culture, geography. It made everywhere feel local, interchangeable. Nature interjects, and we encounter – tragically for many – the reality of thousands of miles of separation. We discover that we have not escaped from the...

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After Peak Oil, Are We Heading Toward Social Collapse?

April 16, 2010
After Peak Oil, Are We Heading Toward Social Collapse?

Recently, Glen Sweetnam, director of the International, Economic and Greenhouse Gas division of the Energy Information Administration at the Department of Energy (DOE), announced that worldwide oil availability had reached a “plateau.” However, his statement was not made known through a major US mainstream media outlet. Instead, it was covered in France's Le Monde. One could assume that the US assessment of the oil decline was exposed through this particular publication perhaps due to...

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Climate Scientist Bashing: a popular sport amongst German journalists

April 8, 2010
Climate Scientist Bashing: a popular sport amongst German journalists

A new popular sport in some media these days is “climate scientist bashing”. Instead of dealing soberly with the climate problem they prefer to attack climate scientists, i.e. the bearers of bad news. The German magazine DER SPIEGEL has played this game last week under the suggestive heading “Die Wolkenschieber” – which literally translated can mean both “the cloud movers” and “the cloud traffickers” (available in English here ). The article continues on this level,...

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Is the IEA downplaying peak-oil?

November 11, 2009

An IEA whistleblower says that the organization is downplaying the peak-oil situation to avoid panic in the markets. The world is much closer to running out of oil than official estimates admit, according to a whistleblower at the International Energy Agency who claims it has been deliberately underplaying a looming shortage for fear of triggering panic buying. The senior official claims the US has played an influential role in encouraging the watchdog to underplay the rate...

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Global Suicide Note

September 30, 2009
Global Suicide Note

Climate change is accelerating and surpassing even the worst-case scenarios predicted by the models. Meanwhile the world’s nations are bickering over details of inadequate action. Are we committing suicide on an unprecedented scale?  

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A Fish-Climate Analogy

May 9, 2009

Here’s a thought provoking analogy, comparing what’s happening with climate-change denial to what has happened with the cod fisheries in Newfoundland. The tragedy of climate commons  

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