People don’t want to deal with climate change if it disrupts their lives and the number of people in the US who don’t believe in climate change is increasing (despite the availability of information like this). This is silly because climate change is going to disrupt their lives a lot more than increasing public transportation or switching over to a green economy ever will.
Here are just a few things scientists have under-predicted:
Ocean acidification is happening faster than at any time in the last 55 million years. We’ve already done irreversible damage and if we don’t stop acidification, the oceans will become a place we don’t recognize anymore. Ocean acidification is caused by increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere – the more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the more dissolves into the ocean.
Sea level rise is already creating climate refugees and Bolivia is considering moving people because of its climate change induced water issues. Immigration is a difficult issue in most countries. Climate change will create refugees directly though things like sea level rise and changes in precipitation that convert livable areas of the world to desert. It will also create refugees indirectly – climate change will make already scarce resources scarcer, causing violent conflicts.
Science is describing what’s happening to our world and trying to predict what we should prepare for. But dealing with climate change isn’t a scientific issue – it’s an ethical, economic, and political issue. The science is being politicized, but science can’t tell us how to prepare for climate change or how to convince people to do something about it.
Large animal farms (actually large farms period) do incredible environmental damage with human victims. Dairies in New Mexico have led to contaminated water in a region where water scarcity is a growing issue.
We thought flowering plants had such an advantage because of their flowers. Actually, it’s their veins!
I had this crazy thought that things would slow down a little after the conference. I definitely wasn’t considering what missing a week of classes was going to do to my workload. Oh well.
The conference was a good experience for me. It was a smaller conference that brought together policy makers, social scientists, and ecologists to talk about water issues. Based on the arguments conversations we had, I can see why things take so long to change. Most of the students, including myself, were very frustrated with the pace of the discussion. We spent so long very carefully defining the problem (which we all knew and agreed on before we got there) instead of having real conversations about solutions. For example, we talked a lot about how important it is to engage all stakeholders, or at least as many as you can. I knew this before I got to the conference and so did everyone else. I wanted to talk about why we fail at it so often, how to do it, and what to do when you can’t engage them.
Japanese farmers grow the most beautiful apples. The process is incredibly labor intensive, however, and may die out in the next generation or so.
Anti-Ballistic Missile Complex
Peg Mullen, the Cindy Sheehan of the Vietnam war, died last week.
Why aren’t more women philosophers? It’s the same reason most women steer clear of computer science: the large proportion of arrogant, sexist pricks currently in the profession.
Just one more woman on a committee or in a group can make an incredible difference. I’ve been in math classes where I’m the only woman and math classes where I’m one of just a few women. FSP really captures the difference in the dynamic in her post.
ExxonMobil is still funding climate change denial PR. Since we’re going to hit peak oil in the next 20 years and there’s no way we can change things fast enough to prepare for that, they’ve set themselves up for some incredible profits. Unfortunately, their profits won’t help us much.
Think ecosystems don’t provide absolutely essential “services” for humanity? Check out what cutting down part of a forest has done to an entire country.
Postcards from a green future by Liam Young & Darryl Chen
For as wealthy as the US is, you’d think we’d have safe drinking water. But we really don’t. Pollution is one reason why the popularity of bottled water is such a bad thing – people think that because they’re drinking bottled water they’re safe. Then they stop worrying about the tap water until it’s too late.
fush suckerbutt by snickcluck on Flickr
Churches and sexual abuse seem to go hand in hand.
I've always wondered if we'd recognize alien intelligence
Archeopteris:
You've likely seen or heard about Archaeopteryx, a ...
Handwriting: Natt Nightly wrote about handwriting and gender the oth...
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I wish I’d said that
No one knew what would be saved. I watched the illness and drugs pass through my body, wondering what would be left whole afterwards. — Jennifer Clare Burke
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