KEYSTONE — Global warming is the hottest story of our time, and it will get even bigger as the full implications of melting ice caps and rising sea levels percolate through the media pipeline and into general public awareness, a panel of journalists said last weekend during the American Bar Association’s environmental law conference. The discussion was focused on how the media has covered the story and whether or not public perception of global warming has changed in recent months and years. Among the questions the panelists tried to answer is why it has taken so long for the story to reach critical mass. Most of the panelists credited Al Gore’s documentary, ‘An Inconvenient Truth,’ with helping to generate attention. The Democratic takeover in Congress has also advanced public debate, the panelists said. And even though the basic global warming science - heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere - is ‘third-grade’ stuff, according the Wall Street Journal’s John Fialka, the issues have been clouded by a massive, industry funded propaganda and disinformation campaign aimed at creating uncertainty. But now the issue is taking center stage, and journalists must help explain the evolving story in terms that readers can […]
SAN FRANCISCO — Internet censorship is spreading rapidly, being practised by about two dozen countries and applied to a far wider range of online information and applications, according to research by a transatlantic group of academics. The warning comes a week after a Turkish court ordered the blocking of YouTube to silence offensive comments about Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, marking the most visible attack yet on a website that has been widely adopted around the world. A recent six-month investigation into whether 40 countries use censorship shows the practice is spreading, with new countries learning from experienced practitioners such as China and benefiting from technological improvements. OpenNet Initiative, a project by Harvard Law School and the universities of Toronto, Cambridge and Oxford, repeatedly tried to call up specific websites from 1,000 international news and other sites in the countries concerned, and a selection of local-language sites. The research found a trend towards censorship or, as John Palfrey, executive director of Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, said, ‘a big trend in the reverse direction’, with many countries recently starting to adopt forms of online censorship. Ronald Deibert, associate […]
China will tighten controls on Internet blogs and webcasts in a response to new technologies that have allowed cyber citizens to avoid government censorship efforts, state press reported Tuesday. Following a call from President Hu Jintao in January to ‘purify’ the Internet, the ruling Communist Party will introduce new regulations targeting blogs and webcasts, one of the nation’s chief censors was cited as saying. ‘Advanced network technologies such as blogging and webcasting have been mounting new challenges to the government’s ability to supervise the Internet,’ Press and Publication Administration head Long Xinmin said, according to Xinhua news agency. Long said the government was in the middle of drafting the new regulations. No specific details of the new rules were reported, but Long said they would lead to ‘a more healthy and active Internet environment,’ according to Xinhua. The Chinese government, which has long maintained strict controls over traditional media, have this year ramped up a campaign to combat the rising influence of the Internet. ‘Whether we can cope with the Internet is a matter that affects the development of socialist culture, the security of information and the stability of the state,’ Hu said in […]
Air pollution from vehicles, industry and the burning of plant material can choke off the formation of precipitation in some semi-arid mountainous areas, threatening critical water sources, a new study finds. Aerosols, or tiny particles suspended in the air, could potentially affect the climate by reflecting light back to space and therefore cooling the surface below or altering the formation process of clouds and precipitation. Because aerosol measurements have only been collected reliably more recently, scientists have been unable to conclusively demonstrate the effects of aerosols on precipitation, but this new study did just that using meteorological data extending back to the 1950s and collected on a mountain in central China. How it works Clouds form over mountains when air is pushed upward against one side of the mountain and subsequently cools, causing the water vapor in it to condense. As the air descends on the other side of the mountain, it warms and the clouds evaporate. Water vapor forms cloud droplets by condensing onto aerosols. These droplets collide until they form large droplets and eventually become heavy enough to fall as rain. Because there is only a certain amount of water vapor in the […]
Homeowners who refuse to make their properties energy efficient will face financial penalties under drastic government plans to transform Britain into the world’s first ‘green’ economy. Ministers yesterday promised deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions that they warned would mean everyone in the country having to ‘live, work and travel differently’. They compared the scale of change that was necessary to reduce emissions by 60 per cent by 2050 to the industrial revolution of the 18th century. The Government said that every new home should be ‘carbon neutral’ within ten years – and existing properties subject to a ‘home energy audit’ to assess how green they are. Householders would be given access to ‘hassle-free’ renovation services to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. They would be able to ‘buy now, pay later’ for green improvements as their fuel bills decreased. Zero carbon homes are insulated to reduce heating costs, use solar panels, windpower or other renewable energy sources, are made with environmentally friendly materials and use energy efficient light bulbs and appliances. Critics said the plans raised the prospect of ‘eco-snoopers’ inspecting homes. Blair Gibbs, of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: ‘It’s bad […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
