“Death knell” for paperless voting
Bob Morris @ Feb 2nd 2007 06:20 - Category: Unfiled ;
Archive for February 2nd, 2007
Global warming “unstoppable for centuries”
Bob Morris @ Feb 2nd 2007 00:35 - Category: Climate change ;
The Houston Chronicle explains in clear terms the conclusions of the widely awaited report from The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. That the home town newspaper of the center of the oil business in the US is saying this is significant indeed.
The world’s leading climate scientists said global warming has begun, is “very likely” caused by man, and will be unstoppable for centuries, according to a report obtained Friday by The Associated Press.
The scientists  using their strongest language yet on the issue  said now that world has begun to warm, hotter temperatures and rises in sea level “would continue for centuries” no matter how much humans control their pollution. The report also linked the warming to the recent increase in stronger hurricanes.
The phrase “very likely” translates to a more than 90 percent certainty that global warming is caused by man’s burning of fossil fuels. That was the strongest conclusion to date, making it nearly impossible to say natural forces are to blame.
This report, six years in the making, is the combined work of 2500 scientists from 130 countries and can be considered authoritative.
PS A ExxonMobil-funded thinktank offered scientists $10,000 each to ‘dispute’ the study, the Guardian is reporting.
The global warming and antiwar movements
Bob Morris @ Feb 2nd 2007 00:23 - Category: Anti-war, Climate change ;
Something quite extraordinary happened this month. Both the global warming and antiwar movements went mainstream, and are now front page news, being taken seriously by mainstream media and governments, with the vast majority of the populace now supporting both movements.
It took the global warming movement two decades and the antiwar movement four years to move from the fringes to center stage. That both broke through in the same month signifies something profound churning in the heartland. Will the movements get co-opted? Sure, that’s always a danger, but consider this - maybe the center is moving leftward.
As a small example, from the comments in Red Flags to their excellent and thoughful post, Antiwar and looking ahead: What’s it going to take?
What actually impressed me was the way some fairly mainstream people seem to be moving to the left. Leslie Cagan and UFPJ actually let a Palestinian group condemn the occupation on stage. Michael Lerner spoke with a Muslim cleric on stage.
Unless you’re inside the antiwar movement, this might not seem much. But UFJP has been adamant, until Saturday apparently, in not ever allowing mention of Palestine from the podium at their demos. So this was quite unusual for them.
The job for organizers is to move the center to the left and link up the movements. The antiwar and global warming movements share much in common. Let’s join together into a united front.
The BBC Climate Challenge Game
Bob Morris @ Feb 2nd 2007 00:15 - Category: Climate change ;
The future is in your hands. You are president of the European nations and must tackle global climate change from 2000 to 2100.You choose Europe’s policies and try to persuade competing regional blocs to reduce their carbon emissions.
