Environmental

The internet filter bubble

January 7, 2012
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Thanks to Google’s search engine we now have the ability to retrieve instantly a massive amount of information on virtually any topic or any question we might have. On the surface, it seems that we are all better informed and more knowledgeable as a result of Google.  But are we? Consider the fact that Google recognizes  users and collects information on their digital behavior–their favorite searches, articles they have read on Google news, and even their choice of words.  Everything is recorded, the pattern is analyzed, and a user profile is created. Then, when you perform a search, Google tries to find…

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Economic and environmental crises

January 3, 2012
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Interesting comments from Naomi Klein on the Occupy Wall Street movement.  She makes a connection between the economic and environmental crises that is worth repeating–that they are really two sides of the same crisis or two consequences of a single cause, namely, corporate capitalism. A system based on greed and growth inevitably destroys its own base, whether that be the workers on whose spending power the economic system depends or the natural ecosystem on which all life depends.

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Bill McKibben on Irene and climate change

December 28, 2011
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Democracy Now once again demonstrated its ability to connect the dots–in this case on climate change. In an interview with Bill McKibben on Hurricane Irene, Amy Goodman remarks: We did not hear those words, “global warming.” I watched a lot of the media coverage this weekend. What about this? I mean, to say the least, there was time in the endless coverage.  That the dots are not being connected by the mainstream media is deeply disappointing because it is precisely what the IPCC was predicting all the time: Climate Change 2007: Working Group I: The Physical Science Basis 3.8.3 Evidence for Changes…

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Student speaks up at the UNCCC in Durban

December 12, 2011
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Anjali Appadurai, a student at the College of the Atlantic in Maine, addressed the United Nations Convention on Climate Change on behalf of youth delegates. It was a powerful speech. Some Quotes:  I speak for more than half of the world’s population. We are the silent majority. You have given us a seat in this hall, but our interests are not on the table. What does it take to get a stake in this game? Lobbyists, Corporate Influence, Money? Now is not the time for incremental action In the long run, these will be seen as the defining moments of…

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Climate change is not just a theory

November 12, 2011
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Climate change is not just a theory

One still hears people saying that climate change is not a fact but a theory. Indeed that is what the U.S. House of Representatives recently declared while cutting off its funding for the Nobel Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). But the claim that climate change is just a theory does not stand up to scrutiny. Already in 2005 a study was conducted to examine this problem and to reveal the biased presentation of the issue (Climate of scepticism: US newspaper coverage of the science of climate change). Here are some quotes:  The results of this study indicate that…

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Video: A Farm for the Future

August 9, 2011
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The BBC describes the documentary A Farm for the Future as follows: Wildlife film maker Rebecca Hosking investigates how to transform her family’s farm in Devon into a low energy farm for the future, and discovers that nature holds the key. With her father close to retirement, Rebecca returns to her family’s wildlife-friendly farm in Devon, to become the next generation to farm the land. But last year’s high fuel prices were a wake-up call for Rebecca. Realising that all food production in the UK is completely dependent on abundant cheap fossil fuel, particularly oil, she sets out to discover just…

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