Gotta start somewhere

(Reposted from a year ago.)

This blog is mainly for getting information to students in the Environmental Ethics class. On occasion I'll post something I think is interesting or seek feedback about some topic.

Power Plant Accident in Russia

Now viewing the headline of this story on Bloomberg today, "Russian Power Plant Accident Kills 8; 54 Missing," what was your first thought (after, of course, sorrow over the casualties)? That it was another nuclear generation plant that had gone bad? Nope. It was HYDRO. Just thought I'd point that out.

Current Events

I've been meaning to post this sooner, but Dr. Masters had a nice summary and commentary about the current state of the climate change/anthropogenic global warming debate, here: http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1187. The answer is that the numbers, cumulatively, do appear to show the medium-term trend of global warming. In the absence of good stats to the contrary, it's hard to say otherwise. At least the question is raised, although many more questions need to be asked.

Are you following Mount Redoubt? You can do it here: http://www.avo.alaska.edu/.

Remember our discussion ...

... about corrupt governments and poverty? The same is true of terrorism and plain violence. Governments of thieves and nations whose governance has been destroyed by warring factions funded by groups with no good in mind are the prime source of most of today's international crises. This CNS report discusses "kleptocracy"--the rule of thieves. I'm reminded of St. Augustine's remark about human governments always tending to be collections of robbers.

Scary stuff.

I was able to read Robert Preston's The Demon in the Freezer over the Thanksgiving holiday. It reads fast, but is very serious in its presentation of an analysis of the anthrax assaults of 2001 and the possibility of an even more dangerous attack using the smallpox virus. I recall it in the light of this article in today's Fox News. Bioweapons are far easier to build, according to the experts, than nuclear/radiation devices. The warning has been delivered to the new administration in very clear terms by an expert panel.

A more detailed examination can be found here, at the Washington Post.

UPDATE 12/3/08: More on the National Security Commission's report on CNS News today.

New President, new perceptions.

A new column at "America in the World" suggests that the new regime in America will be more "environment-friendly" than the outgoing administration. This perception, in turn, may give the US a "world-friendly" outlook which stands to be reciprocated by the Europeans and others. But--given the economic conditions, there simply will not be a lot of attention paid to big enviro initiatives for the foreseeable future. We'll see, however.

Oh, and one more thing...

Here's the reflection from last week, per request.

Article link: http://www.primitivism.com/facets-myth.htm

If that should happen not to work, just google the title and author: "The Myth of Progress" by Kirkpatrick Sale.

Here's the question: Comment on the article in the light of his quoting of Herbert Read, "Only a people serving an apprenticeship to nature can be trusted with machines; only such people will so contrive and control those machines that their products are an enhancement of biological needs, and not a denial of them."