Hot Topics in the News

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Climate Change and Human Health … Bangladesh Already Feels the Heat … The Big Green Fuel Lie … Biofuels and the Cost of Food. Recent articles from various sources for the activists’ arsenal.

A Cost of Climate Change that Can’t Be Counted in Dollars – Survival

QUOTE: “Much of the early public debate about climate change focused on the need to keep the economy ticking over, protect infrastructure, and maintain tourism and recreational facilities. The real problem, though, goes much deeper. Climate change, if not constrained, is ultimately a biological threat. We have been slow to grasp this fundamental point.”

Climate Change Laps at Bangladesh’s Shores

QUOTE: “Warmer weather and rising oceans are sending seawater surging up Bangladesh’s rivers in greater volume and frequency, experts say, overflowing and seeping into the soil and water supply of thousands of people. …Bangladesh, a densely crowded and painfully poor nation, contributes only a minuscule amount to the greenhouse gases slowly smothering the planet. But a combination of geography and demography puts it among the countries experts predict will be hit hardest as Earth heats up.”

The Big Green Fuel Lie

QUOTE: “The ethanol boom is coming. The twin threats of climate change and energy security are creating an unprecedented thirst for alternative energy with ethanol leading the way. …But a growing number of economists, scientists and environmentalists are calling for a “time out” and warning that the headlong rush into massive ethanol production is creating more problems than it is solving.”

As Biofuels Boom, Will More Go Hungry?

QUOTE: “Using plants to feed our fuel needs may be a great idea, and the biofuel goldrush could be a moneyspinner for several poor countries, but some experts warn people may go hungry as food prices rise. … Even though the biofuel boom is only just beginning, it has already pushed up the cost of staples in places like Mexico where rocketing tortilla prices have sparked angry protests. Some experts foresee a permanent change in food economics if farmers scent higher profit in fuel crops than in growing plants to feed people.”