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Shh … It’s Around the Corner

As climate report downplays human impact, scientists struggle to speak freely The U.N.’s new climate report will apparently lower the estimate of human impact on global warming by 25 percent. Skeptics may salivate, but as a top U.K. scientist says, “The bottom line is that the climate is still warming while our greenhouse-gas emissions have […]

Discover asks it

Discover magazine's No. 1 science story of 2006: How To Live the Good Life Without Oil.

Solar Revolution author kicks up a stir

Before Gristmill became a claustrophobic circle jerk about animal rights, it used to focus quite a bit on energy issues. In those halcyon days of a week or two ago, we published an interview with Travis Bradford, author of Solar Revolution.

There was disappointingly little discussion of the interview here, but over on Alternet it kicked up quite a stir. I've asked Travis to respond to some of the questions and criticisms that came up there -- hopefully you'll see that in the next few days.

Secret-spice cookies

I am working on a health-of-the-oceans-conscious holiday menu for later this week. In the meantime, if you're looking for cookie recipes to give friends and family as gifts, here's one I concocted for curried peanut butter cookies. I figure most people like curry and peanut noodles -- why not combine the flavors and introduce a sweet/salty contrast?

Animal welfare and environmentalism, again

Over the past few months I have tried to accomplish two things with respect to the topic of animal welfare:

1. Demonstrate that animal welfare issues are central to environmentalism, and
2. lay out policies regarding animal welfare that environmentalists should support.

In retrospect I think I skipped an important step: laying out the basic principles that underlie this connection.

It’s not just growth that matters

Herman Daly was one of the first economists to truly grapple with the consequences of industrial expansion -- eventually coming to see a steady state as the inevitable end-point of human population and economic growth. The limited nature of the earth's resources require that we eventually get to zero population growth and zero growth in industrial output.

For trashing the oceans

The UN failed to ban bottom trawling largely due to Iceland's efforts, which is a huge blow to marine ecosystems. So put Iceland in the category with Japan as another country leading the charge toward oceanic collapse! Shame on them. Email their embassies.

NYT asks ad firms to take on energy addiction

What would the government's ad campaign look like if were it trying to shake Americans out of their energy consumption addiction? The Ad Council isn't putting out any bids, so The New York Times asked three fancy schmancy ad companies to try their hands at a poster.

While living the high life described in HAZMATLIFE looks like a thrill a minute, I am partial to Iranian petroleum drowning Texas while Iraqi crude takes out Florida. Those wild and crazy ad boys sure can be ironical.

Between hunters and environmentalists, that is

There has been a surge of discussion recently about hunter and conservation groups getting along better with environmentalists, especially in Western states where they have traditionally been on less-than friendly terms. That's all well and good, but the rash of poaching big animals to satisfy big egos is about as much the antithesis of environmentalism as you can get. Environmentalists need to step up and condemn this behavior and call for much stricter penalties.

The test for whether the honeymoon between hunters and environmentalists is real is whether hunting groups will also condemn this behavior and support tougher punishment. Reasonable people can disagree about whether it is right or wrong to kill many of these animals at all (even among environmentalists), but killing them simply to satisfy bloodlust and one-upsmanship is wrong and should be stopped.

Meet the male pill

This news is a few weeks old (I've been uncharacteristically busy lately), but for those of you who missed it, listen up. Researchers have stumbled on the fact that drugs used to treat hypertension and schizophrenia have the potential to become a male contraceptive pill.

It may actually be on the market some time in the next five years. Other than its capacity to alter the course of human history, reduce world poverty, and save the biodiversity of the planet, this really isn't a big deal.

According this source:

The pill, a single dose taken a few hours before having sex, affects contraction of the muscles that control ejaculation, but wouldn't interfere with performance or orgasm sensation, researchers at King's College London say. The result is a dry ejaculation.

No, I don't know what a dry ejaculation is, and I'm not sure I want to. If you click on the video at this site you will be forced to sit through an ad before being treated to a clip of Woody Allen running around in a sperm suit.