Perhaps the revolt against the hypertrophy of the technosphere has finally begun. We’ve already noted the rebellion at a Druze village in Israel against the local siting of a cellphone antennae, and the strike by New York City taxi drivers… Read moreRural England revolts against GPS
We wish we were joking. From Canada’s The Tyee, Nov. 21: Earth’s Eighth Continent It swirls. It grows. It’s a massive, floating “garbage patch.” Located in the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii and measuring in at roughly twice the… Read moreContinent of garbage grows in North Pacific
Continuing to demonstrate hyper-priapism, oil inches unsteadily but seemingly inexorably towards the symbolic watershed of $100 per barrel despite high output. Prices briefly rose to over $95 a barrel before dropping back to just over $92 Nov. 29 as an… Read moreHyper-priapic OPEC still can’t get it down
It seems scientists at Oregon Health & Science University have cloned monkey embryos to create embryonic stem cells. “Breakthrough or an ethical nightmare?” asks News-Medical.net Nov. 15. We say it is far worse than an “ethical nightmare,” which implies some… Read moreSome monkeys push back
Predictably, a front-page Wall Street Journal story Oct. 25 bashes native plant advocate Richard Halsey of the California Chaparral Institute as a culprit behind the devastating Southern California fires that have left half a million displaced. The article also approvingly… Read moreEcology scapegoated in Southern California disaster
Crude oil rose above $89 a barrel for the first time this week as the US dollar declined to a record low against the euro. Analysts say the market is reacting to concerns over Turkish military incursions into northern Iraq…. Read moreMontana to Kurdistan: global oil prices react
None of the media accounts (e.g. London Times, Oct. 12) note the hysterical irony. We suppose Henry Kissinger‘s Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 was even more ironic, but at least his co-winner Le Duc Tho refused to accept the prize…. Read moreOxy oil scion Gore wins Nobel for global warming work
Here’s a rather perverse irony. Amid all the war hysteria over Iran‘s nuclear ambitions, a US utility has ordered a new nuclear plant for the first time since the 1979 Three Mile Island accident. Of course this time they are… Read moreNew US reactors ordered for first time since Three Mile Island
From the New York Times, Sept. 19: World’s Languages Dying Off RapidlyOf the estimated 7,000 languages spoken in the world today, linguists say, nearly half are in danger of extinction and are likely to disappear in this century. In fact, they… Read moreGlobal language die-back accelerates
No comment. From Reuters, Sept. 17: DUVANNY YAR, Russia — Sergei Zimov bends down, picks up a handful of treacly mud and holds it up to his nose. It smells like a cow pat, but he knows better. “It smells… Read moreMammoth dung may speed global warming
Valerie Taliman of the Indian Law Resource Center writes for Indian Country Today, Sept. 14: NEW YORK – After three decades of drafts, deliberations and delays, the United Nations General Assembly voted Sept. 13 to adopt the Declaration on the… Read moreUN approves Indigenous Declaration
Talk about a vicious cycle. Global warming opens the long-sought Northwest Passage, which will mean easier access to the Arctic and its resources (including oil), thereby exacerbating…global warming. It should also exacerbate the geopolitical struggle over the far north. Russian… Read moreGlobal warming opens Northwest Passage
