Climate change could mean the extinction of our species

[Ben]

[Ben]

It isn't just global warming. We're witnessing an ecological collapse on a grand scale:

N.Y. Times: Dead Dolphins and Birds Are Causing Alarm in Peru:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/08/wo...irds.html?_r=1

And, too, globalization is killing whales on a wide scale. So, localizing the economy (and localizing one's economy is a very conservative principle) would have far reaching benefits:

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/...ust-slow-down/

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-n...redibly-828597

[Ben]

[Ben]

[Ben]

I used to think the right were crazy. Now I'm starting to believe the left are equally crazy:

[Ben]

[Prospero]

God bless the extreme right. They never can stoop too low. I missed this until now (thanks to a friend in Chicago).

!

[Ben]

God bless the extreme right. They never can stoop too low. I missed this until now (thanks to a friend in Chicago).

!

Put simply: there's too much money at stake....

[Ben]

The headline says it all: Big Oil More Powerful Than Government....
And their core interest is not long-term decent survival for the species or other species or the planet.
Their goal, of course, is to make as much money as they can and as fast as they can.
What happens in 100 years doesn't concern them. Nor should it. It's a corporation. An institution designed for one function: maximize money.
But there's nothing in economic or business principle that says a corporation has to serve its shareholders. As opposed to its stakeholders. Meaning: communities.
The whole idea of maximizing shareholder return is strictly a judicial decision. And not a parliamentary (or congressional) decision.
So, it means: your kids and grandkids don't matter. Nothing matters. But maximizing wealth. And it's rational. That's why it's frightening.
Hence big oil, in its own interest, will fight the science of climate change.

[Ben]

The Acid Sea

The carbon dioxide we pump into the air is seeping into the oceans and slowly acidifying them. One hundred years from now, will oysters, mussels, and coral reefs survive?

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/20...n/kolbert-text