Archive for July, 2006

Justices Agree to Consider New Case on Emissions

Sunday, July 2nd, 2006

It would be nice if the courts could get this country out of idle and into motion on the Global Warming issue.  One can only hope. 

WASHINGTON, June 26 — The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether the federal government is required to control vehicle emissions of carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas that scientists have linked to global warming.

In accepting a petition from states, cities and environmental groups, the justices agreed to hear arguments on whether the Clean Air Act requires the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon dioxide and other gases as air pollutants that may affect public health or the climate.

More…

Research by John. Thx.

Human Family Tree: Shallow Roots

Saturday, July 1st, 2006

Whoever it was probably lived a few thousand years ago, somewhere in East Asia — Taiwan, Malaysia and Siberia all are likely locations. He or she did nothing more remarkable than be born, live, have children and die.

Yet this was the ancestor of every person now living on Earth — the last person in history whose family tree branches out to touch all 6.5 billion people on the planet today.

That means everybody on Earth descends from somebody who was around as recently as the reign of Tutankhamen, maybe even during the Golden Age of ancient Greece. There’s even a chance that our last shared ancestor lived at the time of Christ.

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Plan B 2.0 by Lester R. Brown now on-line

Saturday, July 1st, 2006

This excellent book, Plan B 2.0, which is a follow-on from Brown’s original Plan B which I reviewed here is now available on-line for free in the form of PDF files here.

I encourge everyone to read this book and to take to heart the warnings he issues. His concerns may seem like remote intellectual matters now but in not too many years, they will be in our back yards and they will have strong adverse effects on everyone of our lives.