Thanks to Vicky Markham for this letter published by the New York Times.
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There are many advantages to President Obama’s recent actions on family planning: They will help women of all incomes control their fertility. They will provide better education, economic, resource-use and family-raising opportunities. And they will help prevent abortions and unwanted pregnancies.

For full article, visit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/28/opinion/lweb28family.html?_r=2&ref=opinion

Thanks to Fred Stanback for this article.
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A man sunbathes on the beach at Melbourne yesterday as temperatures broke records, staying above 43C for the third day in succession. More than 20 people have died from the heat.

Leaves are falling off trees in the height of summer, railway tracks are buckling, and people are retiring to their beds with deep-frozen hot-water bottles, as much of Australia swelters in its worst-ever heatwave.

For full article, visit:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/parched

Thanks to Steve Kurtz for this article.

Bruce Sundquist responded to the article two days ago (“World of Wasted Time” by Wayne Roberts) with the following comment: “I became aware some time ago that the usual methods for fighting global warming like energy conservation, sequestering in pressurized tanks of CO2, nuclear power etc. would no longer work. But two alternatives would still work – sequestering in forest biomass and sequestering of carbon in tropical cropland soils (the terra preta strategy). These two alternatives have the ability to extract greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere and therefore could halt global warming, and reverse it and cool the earth. The forest biomass alternative comes with an astronomical price tag and four serious risk factors that pretty well insure failure of that option. The terra preta alternative has plenty of sink capacity, and could pull greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere fast enough to halt and reverse global warming, and at a low (if any) cost and minimal risk.” Bruce’s comments are equally applicable to the item below.

I have previously distributed Bruce’s article on terra preta. If you would like to see it, view it at http://home.windstream.net/bsundquist1/tpgw.html.

Continue Reading »

Thanks to Carter Dillard for this article, which is relevant to this week’s Global Economic Forum.
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Six years ago, Peter Orszag, President Obama’s new budget director, co-authored a Brookings Institution study that concluded: “Balancing the budget would require a 41% cut in spending on Social Security and Medicare, a 47% cut in discretionary spending, or a 17% cut in all non-interest spending.” It’s getting worse: Today entitlements eat up 40% of the federal budget and are growing.

No doubt Orszag’s earlier thinking had a lot to do with why Obama picked him. But it’s also a signal of what we can expect when a Social Security reform bill is sent to Congress during Obama’s “first 100 days.” And that will trigger a brutal battle. Why? Because AARP’s 35 million members will fight all benefits reductions while young voters who put Obama in office will fight any new Social Security taxes. Bruising battle?

For full article, visit:

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story

Thanks to Fred Stanback for linking me to this crash environmental course that cuts to the real problem. Worth the time for educators and all others: See http://www.chrismartenson.com/environmental_data.

When conservative groups like the American Enterprise Institute recognize climate change as real, it is heartening. However, the solution discussed in this article, geoengineering, needs a lot of scrutiny for unintended environmental effects.
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‘Geoengineering’ may not be a panacea for global warming, but it deserves more attention from policymakers.

As Congress debates legislation to mandate reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, a more radical type of intervention to reduce global warming has gotten relatively little attention. Earlier this month, the American Enterprise Institute held the first in a series of conferences to examine the scientific and policy implications of “geoengineering.”

For full article, visit:
http://www.american.com/archive

Many thanks to Ed Maibach for this article by Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Science Advisor to Chancellor Merkel of Germany.

Hans Joachim Schellnhuber on Climate Change

Thanks to Vicky Markham for the 2008 publication entitled, “U.S. Population, Energy and Climate Change.” To download a copy, visit www.cepnet.org.

Could TV really save the world from global warming?

Maybe not, but network television writers gathered on Tuesday anyway to discuss how incorporating the growing threat of climate change into primetime storylines could inspire viewers to live green.

Citing evidence that shows like crime drama “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” inspired a wave of wannabe forensic scientists, Hollywood movers and shakers said they believe more Americans will pay attention to the environment if they learn about global warming through their favorite TV series.

For full article, visit:
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE4AI0OI20081119

Apparently unsatisfied with NBC’s current “Green Week” programming (150 hours between Nov. 16 – 22), Hollywood has been working on getting more climate change agitprop on the air.

According to a Nov. 18 Reuters article by Sue Zeidler, a group of network television writers met in Los Angeles this week “to discuss how incorporating the growing threat of climate change into primetime storylines could inspire viewers to live green.”

For full article, visit:
http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2008/20081120083906.aspx