Saturday, March 30th, 2013
CLIVE HAMILTON, Professor of Public Ethics at Charles Sturt University - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan: In my view geoengineering is a lot like Fracking. The companies who support and practice these technologies think they know what they are doing but, in fact, their understanding is simplistic and partial at best. As a result there are always unintended consequences that they did not anticipate or understand. In this case the result could be catastrophic.
Clive Hamilton professor of public ethics at Charles Sturt University in Canberra and the author of Earthmasters: The dawn of the age of climate engineering, just published by Yale University Press.
The political dilemma over geoengineering – deliberate, large-scale intervention in the climate system designed to counter global warming or offset some of its effects – will perhaps be most acute in China.
In December, the country listed geoengineering among its Earth science research priorities, in a marked shift in the international climate change landscape noticed by China specialists Kingsley Edney and Jonathan Symons.
On the one hand, China’s rapid economic growth has seen a huge escalation in its greenhouse gas emissions, which on an annual basis overtook those of the United States five years ago. Sustained GDP growth provides China’s Communist party with its only claim to legitimacy, its ‘mandate of heaven’. China’s efforts to constrain the growth of its emissions have been substantial, and certainly put to shame those of many developed nations.
Yet neither China’s efforts nor those of other countries over the next two or three decades are likely to do much to slow the warming of the globe, nor halt the climate disruption that will follow. Global emissions have not been declining or even slowing. In fact, global emissions are accelerating. Even the World Bank, which for years has been criticised for promoting carbon-intensive development, now warns that we […]
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Saturday, March 30th, 2013
JAYMI MCCANN, - Mail (U.K.)
Stephan: The thing about being an addict, whether it is an individual and meth, or a nation and oil, is that you have to deal with unsavory people who live in bad areas, and you can't criticize them lest they cut off your supply of the stuff to which you are addicted. You are always degraded by the interaction, and your dealer just gets richer.
Saudi authorities have beheaded a murderer and crucified his body after he killed and raped a Pakistani national.
The kingdom’s interior ministry announced the execution, stating that the man had murdered and sodomised another male. Both actions are punishable by death.
‘The Yemeni citizen Mohammed Rashad Khairi Hussain killed a Pakistani, Pashteh Sayed Khan, after he committed sodomy with him,’ said a statement carried by state news agency SPA.
Hussain was also convicted of robbery and carrying out a series of attacks.
The execution, in the southern city of Jizan, was followed by crucifixion, a punishment used by the ultra-conservative country for serious crimes.
Hussain was also convicted of robbery and carrying out a series of attacks.
The execution, in the southern city of Jizan, was followed by crucifixion, a punishment used by the ultra-conservative country for serious crimes.
In 2012, they executed 76 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures, while the US-based Human Rights Watch put the number at 69.
The oil-rich kingdom follows a strict implementation of Islamic law, or Shariah, under which people convicted of murder, rape or armed robbery can be executed, usually by sword.
The announcement comes after Amnesty International released the final words of a man sentenced to death […]
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Saturday, March 30th, 2013
DAVID FERGUSON, - The Raw Story
Stephan: Here is some more medical good news, that may help deal with the endemic obesity problem that threatens the health of some many people. Of course, eliminating Aspertame and High Fructose Corn Syrup from the American food system would probably do even more.
Taking the right mix of bacteria could lead to a form of ‘knifeless gastric bypass,
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STACY MITCHELL, - AlterNet (U.S.)
Stephan: Once again, corporate profit trumps all other considerations, and national wellness is hardly considered.
This article was published in partnership with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance [3].
When Michelle Obama visited a Walmart in Springfield, Missouri, a few weeks ago to praise the company’s efforts to sell healthier food, she did not say why she chose a store in Springfield of all cities. But, in ways that Obama surely did not intend, it was a fitting choice. This Midwestern city provides a chilling look at where Walmart wants to take our food system.
Springfield is one of nearly 40 metro areas where Walmart now captures about half or more of consumer spending on groceries, according to Metro Market Studies. Springfield area residents spend just over $1 billion on groceries each year, and one of every two of those dollars flows into a Walmart cash register. The chain has 20 stores in the area and shows no signs of slowing its growth. Its latest proposal, a store just south of the city’s downtown, has provoked widespread protest. Opponents say Walmart already has an overbearing presence in the region and argue that this new store would undermine nearby grocery stores, including a 63-year-old family-owned business which still provides delivery for its elderly customers. A […]
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Stephan: Although I am in the Dordogne in France, many readers read about the landslide on Whidbey island, and wrote to express concern that Ronlyn and I were o.k. We are, and this sad event occurred about 15 miles from where we live, so our property is safe.
There were too many emails to answer everyone, but I want you to know how touched I was that so many of you were concerned enough to write. Thank you.
-- Stephan
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