Europe, the richest and most fertile continent and the model for the modern world, will be devastated by climate change, the European Union predicts today. The ecosystems that have underpinned all European societies from Ancient Greece and Rome to present-day Britain and France, and which helped European civilisation gain global pre-eminence, will be disabled by remorselessly rising temperatures, EU scientists forecast in a remarkable report which is as ominous as it is detailed. Much of the continent’s age-old fertility, which gave the world the vine and the olive and now produces mountains of grain and dairy products, will not survive the climate change forecast for the coming century, the scientists say, and its wildlife will be devastated. Europe’s modern lifestyles, from summer package tours to winter skiing trips, will go the same way, they say, as the Mediterranean becomes too hot for holidays and snow and ice disappear from mountain ranges such as the Alps – with enormous economic consequences. The social consequences will also be felt as heat-related deaths rise and extreme weather events, such as storms and floods, become more violent. The report, stark and uncompromising, marks a step change in Europe’s own role […]
As a journalist, I’ve been writing about accidents for more than thirty years. In the last 15 or so years, I’ve concentrated on accidents in outdoor recreation, in an effort to understand who lives, who dies, and why. To my surprise, I found an eerie uniformity in the way people survive seemingly impossible circumstances. Decades and sometimes centuries apart, separated by culture, geography, race, language, and tradition, the most successful survivors-those who practice what I call ‘deep survival’-go through the same patterns of thought and behavior, the same transformation and spiritual discovery, in the course of keeping themselves alive. Not only that but it doesn’t seem to matter whether they are surviving being lost in the wilderness or battling cancer, whether they’re struggling through divorce or facing a business catastrophe-the strategies remain the same. Survival should be thought of as a journey, a vision quest of the sort that native Americans have had as a rite of passage for thousands of years. Once you’re past the precipitating event-you’re cast away at sea or told you have cancer-you have been enrolled in one of the oldest schools in history. Here are a few things I’ve learned that can help you […]
The US trade deficit with China has reached an all-time high, according to figures published on Wednesday, which will fuel calls in Washington for Beijing to revalue its currency. The politically sensitive trade gap with China reached $214bn in November, shattering the 2005 annual record of $202bn and putting the total on track to exceed $230bn. The overall US international trade deficit in November narrowed to $58.2bn from $58.8bn, as strong demand from America’s trading partners pushed exports to a record. The rise in exports is likely to bolster US economic growth for the fourth quarter, but the widening trade gap with China will increase the domestic political pressure on Hank Paulson, US Treasury secretary, to persuade Beijing to allow its currency to appreciate. Mr Paulson, a former head of Goldman Sachs, has initiated a strategic economic dialogue with China aimed at persuading Beijing to embrace further financial reforms. But there is mounting impatience in Washington, where some members of the newly-elected Congress are proposing legislative action aimed at China. The threat is a response to rising protectionist sentiment in the US and pressure from manufacturers, which blame China’s weak currency for giving exports […]
Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) has a personal interest in passing embryonic stem cell legislation for not only millions of others in dire need of this life improving research, but also for his Navy vet nephew who became quadriplegic from a spinal chord injury while serving in the US Navy. It was announced yesterday that new research shows some promise from stem cells found floating in amniotic fluid and able to be harvested from a fairly common and relatively safe procedure called amniocentesis. Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School after seven years of research published a study yesterday in the journal Nature Biotechnology about the latest source of stem cells which they have named amniotic fluid-derived stem (AFS) cells, Anthony Atala, M.D., senior researcher and director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine Atala said in a release: ‘In addition to being easily obtainable, the AFS cells can be grown in large quantities because they typically double every 36 hours. They also do not require guidance from other cells (termed ‘feeders’) and they do not produce tumors, which can occur with certain other types of […]
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Water scarcity is slowly becoming a fact of life in increasingly large areas. The summer of 2006 was the second warmest in the continental United States since records began in 1895, according to the National Climatic Data Center. Moderate to extreme drought conditions were evident in about 40 percent of the country. When Constance Brown moved from Arizona to Indiana two years ago, she was struck by a major difference: people in Indiana don’t think about water every day the way people in Arizona do. The difference shows up in many ways. In Arizona, Brown said, if you drop a piece of ice on the kitchen floor and ignore it, in a few minutes it will be gone — melted and then evaporated. In Indiana, if you drop a piece of ice on the floor and ignore it, the water will just stay there until it’s wiped up. In Arizona, she said, if you need a particular garment on short notice and it’s in the laundry, you can wash it by hand and hang it outside. It will be dry in 15 minutes. Not in Indiana. In semi-arid environments such as the […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
