Food for Thought

A New York Times article entitled "Rising Seas and a Looming Catastrophe" (21/Nov/2010) begins, "At great risk and with diminished support, scientists are racing to answer one of the most urgent – and most widely debated – questions facing humanity: How fast is the world's ice going to melt." At great risk and with diminished support? We are talking about the greatest threat to the earth we have known. Apparently the consensus now is that we may well be warming up faster than previously thought. In a sane world, solving this would be the major focus of the world's nations and their international; body, the UN. Obviously, it's getting in the way of making a profit!
 Here's an example. As Arnold Schwarzenegger is leaving the governorship of California, he is pushing through an environmental bill against oil industry practices. The oil lobby has introduced Proposition 23 that will mothball the legislation until the economy recovers – read never. Even Canada has got into the act as the federal and Alberta governments object to the green law on the grounds that it discriminates against the tarsands industry – another example of government going to bat for the owning class even when it's on 'dirty' ground. Schwarzenegger commented on the attempt by the oil industry to kill his bill, " This is like Eva Braun selling a kosher cookbook. It's not about jobs at all. It's all about their ability to pollute and protect their profits." He got this one right, at least. John Ayers