Whales and polar bears are bad for the economy: Palin

We can't drill our way out of any crisis.

Oh for some reality-based government.

The Story of Stuff

A quick and engaging overview about the state of the world, who profits from our destruction, and what we can do about it.

Green jobs for all - Van Jones and GreenForAll.org

Van Jones explains on video the important relationship between minority kids in places like Oakland and the coming "green-collar" job needs.

Japanese taste for whales

Australia threatened to attack ships hunting humpback whales. Japan apparently backed down. Japan will try to bag 1000 other whales for "scientific research" -- but this is a shameful lie. The truth is that the Japanese EAT whales (as apparently do some northern European peoples and Native American tribes).

In order for whale species to survive, individuals in whale-eating cultures must reduce demand. Hunting traditions that thrived when the oceans were full of creatures must adapt to the present reality or those precious traditions will die with their prey. All fish populations are under extreme survival pressure because of human activities, but the large ocean mammals may be the first to go if we don't use our big mammal brains now.

Yay for Australia! Let's save the leviathans who sing under the waters.

(Related tip for China and Japan: Viagra, not powdered endangered species!)

Why pay attention to the threat of climate change?

There's no debate among climatologists about whether or not global climate change is happening. It is. The only debate is between those who hope humans didn't cause it and those who hope humans can change it. That debate is meaningless. If we might be able to change it, we have to try, because it's our survival as a species that's at stake. The only smart thing to to is to try to curb the changes before life on Earth becomes difficult or impossible for humans.

We're the last generation of people who have a chance to try before it becomes too late, because the changes are not going to be gradual or incremental. Climate changes happen when conditions tip into a new dynamic and then become inevitable.

Don't let the wishful thinking of the anti-science people lull you into a false sense of security. Climate change is not something in the far future, it's something that will make our own lives and the lives of our children very different and difficult indeed. The earlier we act to curb human pollution the less expense and disastrous results we'll have.

The first step is to get everyone on board. Spread the word.

Thanks to Roger for the heads up on this video.

Our Whales Are Not Sushi

By Pest5, live during the 'Safe Journey - let the humpback live' event held in Manukau Square, Auckland New Zealand - 12th May 2007

Play Defcon free this weekend - till 6pm GMT Monday

Win-OSX-Linux online multi-player (or single player) strategy game

PC world said: "Through 6 p.m. GMT on Monday, August 27, Defcon is free for all to play; gamers are not required to enter key codes to have access to the full game.

Defcon is a throwback to the Cold War. Your job, as a general hidden in a deep underground bunker, is to totally destroy the other side - inflicting massive civilian casualties and disarming your opponent using a thermonuclear arsenal, trying to protect your own forces and people as best you can.

If the game sounds disturbing, it is -- its tagline is "Everybody Dies," and Introversion and Ambrosia don't shy away from showing you the dark side -- and the reality -- of global nuclear conflict."

59MB download
If you decide you like annihilating the world, it's $25 for a license after Monday.

[While you're at that website, you may notice that Ambrosia software also makes Snapz Pro, which is a tempting screen capture utility for OS X, but I like SnapNDrag and iShowu better and they cost a lot less. The Firefox extension PageSaver does a great job of capturing long web pages in one shot too.]

Finally some good news about seed patents

Monsanto has had 4 patents rejected, finally.

This is excellent news, because their patents were putting honest traditional farmers out of business and creating new dependencies and weaknesses that threatened the world food supply.

Before Monsanto tried to own all the food we eat, all farmers saved and traded their seeds, but Monsanto tried to make them buy and plant sterile seeds, so they would have to buy seeds every year. Some farmers can't afford to buy seeds every year, and many didn't understand that free sample seed would lead to them going out of business before it was too late.

Other farmers were vigorously and cruelly sued out of business when Monsanto's genetically modified crops pollenated their fields accidentally via the wind.

GMO contaminated crops could not be exported to some other countries, ruining the farmers' ability to sell their crops.

Monsanto's farming practices also lead to dangerous mono-cultures, where only one genetic strain of corn or wheat, etc., is planted in most plots, paving the way for killer diseases to wipe out a whole year's crop at once.

Profit today, while the world starves tomorrow. Brilliant.

The article talks about US farmers, but Canadian farmers were also hurt, and the most damage was likely done in India, Africa and poorer countries. I sure hope this patent rejection has a positive effect on the worldwide Monsanto problem. What we need is some unbought politicians to make some better laws around patenting food crops and the GMO contamination of traditional foodstocks. Mexico's traditional maize crop's genetic heritage is now under serious threat from the GMO cross pollination.

Related food facts here:

Future of Food documentary (Bittorrent)
Harvest of Fear (PBS documentary)

More info: Google search for Monsano Terminator

The Great Filter

"No alien civilizations have substantially colonized our solar system or systems nearby. Thus among the billion trillion stars in our past universe, none has reached the level of technology and growth that we may soon reach. This one data point implies that a Great Filter stands between ordinary dead matter and advanced exploding lasting life. And the big question is: How far along this filter are we?"