Or maybe I'll ramble about the environment.

Warnings that China's rapid growth could have negative environmental implications! OMG, whoda thunk it!

But what can China do about it? They managed to wiggle out of having to make any changes for Kyoto (for now) and you can bet that if that changes in 2012 when the current Kyoto expires that they aren't gonna be jumping on the bandwagon to sign it if they actually have to control their emissions in any way. China is a very rapidly growing economy. Kyoto called for REDUCTIONS from 1990 limits, and went into effect this February. In that 15 years from 1990 to 2005, emissions skyrocketed in many countries, not necessarily because they were neglecting the environment, but because their economies grew.

The article also noted that "Beijing has to try and change the mentality of provincial officials, who, vying for promotion, are eager to show off their management prowess by presiding over strong economic growth on their watch." Isn't China basically doing the same thing on a global scale? They want their economy to grow, and why would they possibly want to hobble their rapid growth by being environmentally friendly? After all, the Western countries didn't have to do it when they were growing.



Okay, next!

The New Zealand Herald reported that there are fears of an ozone hole developing over Europe.

"The danger, which will also be assessed by scientists meeting in Zurich this week, has been provoked by the coldest winter on record, 19km above the Arctic, which provides the ideal conditions for the destruction of the ozone layer.

"It is linked with global warming - as the atmosphere nearer the Earth warms, the stratosphere cools. "

And "For more than 20 years a hole as big as the US and as high as Mt Everest has opened over Antarctica every southern spring. But since the continent is almost entirely uninhabited the hole has posed little danger to human health - though skin cancer rates in southern Chile are three times as high as elsewhere. "

I could see this triggering increased concern about global warming and pollution in Europe, and possibly even anger amongst some Europeans at the US, who might blame the US for being a big cause of climate change and not signing Kyoto.



The battle is still raging about drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. " Environmentalists have fought hard to protect the refuge's coastal plain, home to polar bears, caribou and musk oxen." Well, the polar bears might all be extinct by 2100 anyway so why bother preserving them now? I kid, I kid. Maybe they shoulda thought of this before creating it in 1960 and expanding it in 1980?




Rare bird seen for first time in over 50 years. Only mentioning this because of something that came up in Historical Geology the other day... people claim that the rate of extinctions has increased dramatically in the last 100 years, but has it really, or have we just gotten better at noticing extinctions?




Any why don't we hear about protests against genetically modified foods anymore? Has that particular issue gotten boring? And it's not like things aren't happening with regards to GMOs - The EU lifted its 6 year ban on importing GMOs, India has decided to allow farmers in some areas to grow genetically modified cotton, and Brazil is ending its ban on growing GMOs - all in the past few weeks.



This is fun. I have more, but I think this is long enough for now.