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global warming

lovelock talks straight on the menace from ignorant ‘greens’

“Renewable energy might be a good idea in the long term, and is a showy way for politicians to prove that they are doing something, but it is already too late to expect it to play a significant role; global warming is already happening and is likely to intensify. To supplement the feeble energy supplies from renewables by lashings of natural gas is a risky option, particularly for Britain. The European encouragement of subsidised renewable energy might be justified were there no alternative tried and tested energy source - but there is: clean and safe nuclear energy. The objections to it are unscientific and perverse, but the green lobbies have preached against it until some European governments have been forced to act against the public good and allow it to be phased out.”
—
“[....] we must stop fretting over the minute risks of cancer from chemicals or radiation. In Britain, one quarter of us will die of cancer anyway, mainly because we breathe air laden with that pervasive carcinogen, oxygen. If we fail to concentrate our minds on the real danger - global warming - we may die sooner, as did more than 20,000 unfortunates from overheating in Europe last summer.

“The Kyoto protocol and the government white paper on energy use are small changes in the right direction but insufficient to alter the course of events and inadequate for stirring the altruism needed to curb emissions and our pressures on the land. My hope lies in that powerful force that takes over our lives when we sense that our tribe or nation is threatened from outside. In wartime we accept without question the severest of rationing and will readily offer our lives. Perhaps when the catastrophes of the intensifying greenhouse effect become frequent enough we will pull together as a global unit with the self-restraint to stop burning fossil fuel and abusing the natural world.”

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wolves, the ecologists of yellowstone park—the interacting web
an ongoing experiment (see related material item)

“Wolves have brought other lessons with them. They dramatically illustrate the balance that top-of-the-food-chain predators maintain, underscoring what is missing in much of the country where predators have been eliminated. They are a parable for the unintended and unknown effects of how one action surges through an ecosystem. More important, the Yellowstone wolves are bringing into focus hazy ideas of how ecosystems work in a way that has never been so meticulously documented. Just as the actions of the wolf echo through Yellowstone, they will reverberate into the future as they help to increase the understanding of natural systems.”

Ssongbirds, aspen, beavers are all returning as the wolves hassle the elk.

The same article, in 4 pages complete with holiday snaps

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critical predator species

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