Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

"A dictator’s sudden death almost always triggers political instability. But it is doubly dangerous when it poses a risk of region-wide destabilization and a scramble for influence among the world’s greatest military powers – the United States, Russia, and China." F Stephen Larrabee

"This might be become a reality if ElefantAsia Laos launch a elephant time sharing arrangement. Before you raise your hands in horror and contact your local PETA branch, consider this. Stress and overwork are not just affecting your average downsized worker. Shrinking elephant populations afford little time to rest and recreate, or to be more precise, procreate. Too many elephants are suffering headaches and ‘not tonight-ism’.": Melody Kemp

"What do we owe to our great-great-great-grandchildren? What actions are we obligated to take now in order to diminish the risks to our descendants and our planet from the increasing likelihood of global warming and climate change? Almost everyone – except the likes of ExxonMobil, US Vice President Dick Cheney, and their paid servants and deluded acolytes – understands that when humans burn hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide goes into the atmosphere, where it acts like a giant blanket, absorbing infrared radiation coming up from below and warming the earth.": J Bradford DeLong

"From climate change to volatile oil prices, all signs point to a looming global energy crisis. Confronting the growing challenge means that humanity can no longer afford to ignore the inexhaustible resource found in the organic material that the sun provides each day through photosynthesis.": Jean-Michel Severino

"Sheikh Yamani, Saudi Arabia’s former oil minister and a founding architect of OPEC, once said, 'The stone age came to an end not for a lack of stones, and the oil age will end, but not for a lack of oil.' Humans stopped using stone because bronze and iron were superior materials. But will we really stop using oil when other energy technologies similarly provide superior benefits?": Karuna Raman

"China is dangerously near a crisis point. The country’s enormous environmental debt will have to be paid, one way or another. China must exercise the foresight needed to begin paying this debt now, when it is manageable, rather than allowing it to accumulate and, ultimately, threaten to bankrupt us all.": Pan Yue, China State Environmental Protection Administration

"The British government recently issued the most comprehensive study to date of the economic costs and risks of global warming, and of measures that might reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in the hope of averting some of the direst consequences. Written under the leadership of Sir Nicholas Stern of the London School of Economics, who succeeded me as Chief Economist of the World Bank, the report makes clear that the question is no longer whether we can afford to do anything about global warming, but whether we can afford not to." Joseph Stiglitz

"This is not rocket science. Clear the landscape, remove the surface roughage, change the albedo and dry out the countryside upwind and you get less rainfall – a perfect example of climate change. The solution is quite simple and could be achieved in one to two generations: revegetate the landscape.": Ian Read

"Last weekend, thousands of people indulged in one of our Prime Minister's favourite pastimes – walking – in response to an issue that still has our glorious leader ducking and weaving – global climate meltdown. ... Whereas 'the mob', as Howard would undoubtedly call us, clearly have an appetite for immediate action, the pollies have made it clear that, when it comes to the tough calls, they don't plan to budge for the next few decades.": Justin Tutty

"As an American, I am appalled, ashamed, and embarrassed by my country’s lack of leadership in dealing with global warming. Scientific evidence on the risks mounts by the day, as most recently documented in England’s magisterial Stern Report. Yet, despite the fact that the United States accounts for roughly 25% of all man-made global carbon emissions, Americans show little will or inclination to temper their manic consumption. ... America’s unwillingness to take the lead on environmental issues may some day be regarded as one of the country’s most profound political failures. One hopes that it changes course soon, before we all are forced to wear swimsuits to work.": Kenneth Rogoff

"Antarctic krill must not be fished to feed the fish farms of the world while starving the penguins, seals, whales, and other species whose survival depends on these tiny, but vitally important, creatures.": Virginia Gascón González and Rodolfo Werner Kinkelin, Antarctic Krill Conservation Project.

“The stark prospects of climate change and its mounting economic and human costs are clearly brought out in this searching investigation. What is particularly striking is the identification of ways and means of sharply minimizing these penalties through acting right now, rather than waiting for our lives to be overrun by rapidly advancing adversities. The world would be foolish to neglect this strong but strictly time-bound practical message. ” Amartya Sen

[Figures now added]

"Our political systems and global politics are largely unequipped for the real challenges of today’s world. Global economic growth and rising populations are putting unprecedented stresses on the physical environment, and these stresses in turn are causing unprecedented challenges for our societies. Yet politicians are largely ignorant of these trends. Governments are not organized to meet them. And crises that are fundamentally ecological in nature are managed by outdated strategies of war and diplomacy.": Jeffrey Sachs

"Cinemas everywhere will soon be showing former US Vice President Al Gore’s film on global warming. “An Inconvenient Truth” has received rave reviews in America and Europe, and it will most likely gain a large worldwide audience. But, while the film is full of emotion and provocative images, it is short on rational arguments." Bjørn Lomborg

"Damage to infrastructure and the environment will continue to be felt once hostilities cease. Of course, infrastructure can be rebuilt much more quickly than the environment can be restored or recover on its own. In the case of Lebanon, however, the two are closely linked, as much of the environmental damage comes from destroyed infrastructure.": Arne Jernelöv

"Americans tend to talk a lot about morality and justice. But most Americans still fail to realize that their country’s refusal to sign the Kyoto protocol, and their subsequent business–as-usual approach to greenhouse gas emissions, is a moral failing of the most serious kind. It is already having harmful consequences for others, and the greatest inequity is that it is the rich who are using most of the energy that leads to the emissions that cause climate change, while it is the poor who will bear most of the costs. ": Peter Singer

"Everyone I meet claims to love trees - I mean really love trees - yet collectively the human race behaves as if it abhors green things. If you take a step back from whatever biome you are in at the moment and look at the entire Earth and its forests through recorded history, you will see that the relationship between humans and trees looks Strangely Like War (the title of a recent book on forests by Derrick Jensen and George Draffan).": Joan Maloof

"Even when politicians don’t lead, it is still possible for committed individuals and voluntary organizations to change the world. The key is to link a bold idea with a practical and powerful technology, and then to push the idea and technology forward through mass citizen action." Jeffrey D Sachs

"Unfortunately, it appears that, among other presumptions, the PM has already decided that ecological impacts and community concern aren’t relevant issues to the proposal for a major expansion of the nuclear industry in Australia.": Justin Tutty
... brought back to the front page because the questions are still the same / unanswered by the report ...

"Global meat consumption is predicted to double by 2020. Yet in Europe and North America, there is growing concern about the ethics of the way meat and eggs are produced. ... As consumers, we have the power – and the moral obligation – to refuse to support farming methods that are cruel to animals and bad for us.": Peter Singer

"The expansion of the moral circle could be about to take a significant step forwards. Francisco Garrido, a bioethicist and member of Spain’s parliament, has moved a resolution exhorting the government “to declare its adhesion to the Great Ape Project and to take any necessary measures in international forums and organisations for the protection of great apes from maltreatment, slavery, torture, death, and extinction.” The resolution would not have the force of law, but its approval would mark the first time that a national legislature has recognised the special status of great apes and the need to protect them, not only from extinction, but also from individual abuse." Peter Singer

"Before thinking about the charade that is about to be played out before us, it's worth beginning with an overview of the nuclear situation between India and and the US. We'll begin when President Bush visited India in March. He and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed an agreement that seeks to provide India access to American and other international assistance in developing its civil nuclear power program." Richard Tonkin

"The release last month of a Federal Government discussion paper on the development of a national nanotechnology strategy created ‘nano ripples’ throughout the community – so small as to be imperceptible to the human eye." John Hepburn

"Marks & Spencer, a supermarket and clothing chain with 400 stores throughout Britain, recently announced that it is converting its entire range of coffee and tea, totaling 38 lines, to Fairtrade, a marketing symbol of “ethical production.” The chain already sells only Fairtrade tea and coffee in its 200 Café Revive coffee shops. It is also boosting its purchases of shirts and other goods made with Fairtrade cotton. The announcement came during “Fairtrade Fortnight,” a two-week promotion of Fairtrade products that included speaking tours by farmers from developing countries, telling Britons how Fairtrade has assisted their communities." Peter Singer

"James Lovelock’s major concern is rising CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, what it is likely to do to us, and what we in turn can do about it. That is, if it is not too late already to avoid a runaway greenhouse effect." Ian MacDougall

"The twentieth anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident of April 26, 1986 is prompting a new wave of alarmist claims about its impact on human health and the environment. As has become a ritual on such commemorative occasions, the death toll is tallied in the hundreds of thousands, and fresh reports are made of elevated rates of cancer, birth defects, and overall mortality." Kalman Mizsei and Louisa Vinton