Aviation Emissions Higher Than Refineries Or Steel Plants

Aircraft produce about 3% of EU CO2 emissions - more than refineries or steel plants

Aviation emissions, since 1990, have gone up about 90% and, by 2020, they are going to be doubled, if business continues as usual.

International experts say aviation will account for 5% of total warming in 2050

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6195567.stm

contraceptive pill for men

"SCIENTISTS have discovered an innovative contraceptive pill that makes men infertile within hours. The one-off tablet works so quickly it could be taken as a last-minute contraceptive just a few hours before sex. The revolutionary new male pill returns a man's fertility to normal just hours after use. It contains chemicals which prevent the ejaculation of sperm without affecting the intensity of the orgasm."

from Australia Herald Sun

also read:

moneycontrol.com

Unexpected Consequences: Global Warming and the US Wine Industry

"Climate warming could spell disaster for much of the multibillion-dollar U.S. wine industry." "The main problem: An increase in the frequency of extremely hot days" "Grapes used in premium wines need a consistent climate. When temperatures top about 35 C they have problems maintaining photosynthesis and the sugars in the grapes can break down"

It's funny how there can be consequences of actions or situations that a person would never normally think of in a planning or preparedness scenario.

On a positive note, Canadian grape growing areas would increase in size in a global warming scenario, so there may be one upside for the Canadian economy (dark humour).

Full story here

Republicans Rebel Against Legalised Torture

George W. Bush has proposed a set of laws and rules to try and make legal (under U.S. law) the kind of interrogation and imprisonment that his administration has illegally been conducting to this point. Senior Republicans are rebelling.

"Leading the efforts against [Bush] in the Senate are three key Republicans on the Armed Services Committee with their own military credentials: the chairman and a former secretary of the Navy, Senator John W. Warner of Virginia; Senator John McCain of Arizona, a prisoner of war in Vietnam; and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a military judge. And publicly taking their side is Mr. Bush’s former secretary of state, Colin L. Powell."

Read the story

This Looks Like A Fascinating Show

THE HUMAN BEHAVIOUR EXPERIMENTS
Wednesday September 13 on CBC Newsworld at 10pm ET/PT

"atrocity-producing situations"

THE DOC: Why would four young men watch their friend die, when they could have intervened to save him? Why would a woman obey phone commands from a stranger to strip-search an innocent employee? What makes ordinary people perpetrate extraordinary abuses, like the events at Abu Ghraib?

WATCH VIDEO 2:28

THE TALK: Filmmaker Alex Gibney and parenting expert Barbara Coloroso join military families and others to discuss "atrocity-producing situations": how to identify them and how to prevent them, from the schoolyard to the battlefield.

from http://www.cbc.ca/bigpicture/

The Softwood Lumber Deal Should Be Canada's Signal To Get Out Of NAFTA

"NAFTA regulations prevent Canada from exporting oil from Alberta to the rest of Canada before sending it along to other markets."

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"'NAFTA is definitely not working," said Laxer. "We were supposed to get guaranteed access [to U.S. markets] in return for giving up energy sovereignty and control over foreign ownership.' But this hasn't happened, Laxer added, and softwood lumber is strong evidence that the original promise isn't being upheld."

Playing hardball over softwood

How Conservatives Stand Up For Canada

Under this brilliant deal the U.S. will only return about $4 billion of almost $5.3 billion in duties it has collected. The new deal will see a Canada put an export tax on softwood and export shipment restrictions. Canadian softwood producers are also forced to drop the close to 30 lawsuits stemming from the American’s illegal punitive action. "Despite losing countless cases in front of both its own legal system and the World Trade Organization, the U.S. simply ignored the rulings and used its heavy-handed tactics to force an agreement." "The U.S. has indicated it will increase tariffs should the deal collapse." - Canada submits on softwood

“No One Is Supporting This Deal"

George Bush Quote of the month: "I would never question the patriotism of somebody who disagrees with me"

"Among the many flabbergasting answers that President Bush gave at his press conference on Monday [Aug 21, 2006], this one—about Democrats who propose pulling out of Iraq—triggered the steepest jaw drop: 'I would never question the patriotism of somebody who disagrees with me. This has nothing to do with patriotism. It has everything to do with understanding the world in which we live.'"

The full story on Slate

Green Agenda Showing in Voting Interest

"Nearly one in three Canadians has considered voting Green and the party is now, surprisingly, the second choice for more than a third of Conservative voters"

As a strong New Democrat, and as a person who thinks that environmental issues should be front and centre of our platform, this kind of polling should show people who make decisions where the future lies. Vote growth is through a green agenda. Saving our planet from environmental devastaion is also going to happen through a green agenda, so that happens to a really spiffy conincidence.

Jack Layton is to be commended for marrying the issues of asthma and emissions during the last election campaign. I know that's his own personal issue because he was on about it even when I had some beer with him while he was running for the leadership (no we're not pals - a group of people went to a brew pub and yakked. His brain trust needs to trust that instinct.

Greens 2nd choice for some Tories

Immigration, Jobs, Labour Shortages, and Short Sighted Right Wing Ideas

Consider Canada's current labour shortage. Consider how we got to the point where we no longer have enough workers to supply all the jobs in Canada. Consider that our economy will not perform at the level it could because we don't have enough workers. Consider the growth at all costs agenda of the business class in Canada and then recall the Reform Party's platform which called for a 40% reduction in immigration to Canada. Remember that current Prime Minister Stephen Harper was policy chief for the Reform Party at that time. Recall the anti-immigrant rhetoric of many right-wingers. I would ask you to consider the kind of thinking and world-view sits behind policies and ideas like that.

The Liberals soaked up that bit of policy, just like the right-wing tax cutting policies implemented by then Finance Minister Paul Martin. The Liberals refused to look at their own projections and deal with an impending labour shortage in Canada. They cut tranfers to the provinces for education and they refused to increase immigration to neccessary levels.

Just for the record, my grandparents and great-grandparents were immigrants. And also for the record, as Slavic people, many in Canada tried to keep them out (to the point of forming branches of the KKK to stop Slavs from coming here saying that they were too "alien" in culture and practices.

I invite you to read the following stories which discuss the effects of the kinds of xenophic policies and ideas previously espoused by the the Reform/Alliance/Conservative brain trust:

"Short-handed: Making the most of Canada's labour crunch
Plenty of work, not enough bodies
Labour woes in the West are showing up elsewhere"

Immigrate.net

even the normally right wing slavering CFIB calls for "adjusting the immigration system to be used more effectively as a source of skilled labour"

here's a story about how a Social Democratic (NDP) government approaches it's labour shortage:

SHORT-HANDED: MAKING THE MOST OF CANADA'S LABOUR CRUNCH
A blueprint for a solution
In Regina, training gives natives the tools to fix the construction industry's shortage