• The Environment

    Britain Finally Sees the Light, Admits Biofuels Are Bad News

    By Posted on 7.7.2008 17 Comments

    It’s common sense—people need food first, fuel second. But today, Britain became the first Western nation to announce that its biofuel production will be curbed, since it’s likely causing rising food prices and rainforest destruction.

    7.8.2008 at 12:36pm - Comment by sandman130

    orange, I was wondering if you can help me out... Can you explain why you think global warming is a hoax? I find nothing in the scientific research that makes me think it is a hoax. No scientist in a reconized journal to the best of my knowledge has said globalwarming is a nonissue. Now i'm not talking about gore worlds gunna burn stuff, but reconized solid research that concludes global warming is a very serious issue and that yes 1 degree has a huge impact. So please, enlighten me because I'm obviously missing something.

  • The Environment

    Polar Ice Likely to Disappear This Summer

    By Posted on 6.27.2008 9 Comments

    This summer, for the first time in recorded history, there may be no ice on the North Pole. In a dramatic symptom of climate change, the thick frozen layer at the pole is likely to melt away entirely, turning the top of the world from sea ice to sea water.

    6.30.2008 at 08:34am - Comment by sandman130

    Although I agree with many of the points brought up before this post, some of them I will not agree with. The ice caps melting is a huge concern in the scientific community and it should be a concern in the public community. The ice caps do a lot more than just look pretty and hold fresh water. They serve to help wind patterns, currents, and even monitor global temperature. Like the post before me said, everything is a chemical reaction- I believe this fully, but if we have an equalized reaction that is supporting life, why are we letting it slip out. The world will correct for any change whether we acknowledge it or not. And as I have always said- putting the blame solely on the world and past history is ignorant; we as humans collectively have had an impact in the global weather change. I know there are a lot of environmental "nuts" running around shooting about info they got from a movie, but I’m not one of them. The temperature has gone up; I think we can all agree with that. This change however is out of place when looking at the total cyclic weather change. We should be in a period of slight cooling. Now I'm not saying we have caused the entire problem, but I do believe we can help correct this issue, and it is something that should take a priority. And to respond to the last part of the article, there is no positive to the icecaps melting. All the things that this article brought up as possible positives are short sided and frankly I think they are crazy. Lastly a comment made earlier stated that our planet is not a fragile entity, I think that is true. Our planet is controlled not by emotions or a higher power; its controlled by nature and the laws of physics and chemistry. Humans and life on the other hand, is fragile. If we let the current trends continue the world will continue on without us. This is not an impossible task. We understand how it is working, and although there are many variables we can fix this. There isn’t anything driving climate change except science. And with science we can change the outcome of this situation.

  • The Environment

    You're Wrecking the Environment

    By Posted on 6.24.2008 13 Comments

    Everyday behavior, things that it's easy to take for granted, have a significant effect on the planet. Some habits are easy to change, but others are more deeply entrenched. And so, despite your good intentions, you're probably wrecking the environment as we speak. See the five ways you're ruining things (and how to turn them around) here.

    And check out PopSci's complete coverage of the future of the environment at popsci.com/futurecity.

    6.24.2008 at 01:08pm - Comment by sandman130

    ok, I understand the controversy with global warming and the greenhouse effects and such, but I cannot understand how people who seem to have done some research can say it’s not an issue. I'm not talking about this article, or Gore's documentary, I'm talking about what the research is saying. Yes, the temp. has only gone up 1 degree, but this not an insignificant amount. Now I recognize that you cannot fully make a jump to the increase in CO2, which has been measured to be true, is causing the increase in temp. However, the two do seem to be closely correlated. Despite if we are causing it or not, the temp has gone up. This has been proven in model after model to be a real issue, especially if it continues to go up. Now I'm not blaming humans solely as there is real evidence to show cyclic temp. changes, but all I want is for people to understand and recognize that when you can measure significant changes in CO2 atmospheric gases and other gases with the increase starting with only a short delay from when we started to become industrialized, you must accept we are not helping the situation. Just as laurenra7 suggested, the best thing we can do is not tuck our heads in the sand and say "we didn't cause it so its not our responsibility". It doesn't matter who caused it, it’s happening and simple moves like smaller cars and, god forbid a few extra trees, could make a difference.



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