Cynthia’s Interests

A clam was found off the coast of Iceland and researchers counted the rings on the shell and discovered it was 405 years old.

Some people were thinking if Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize then he would run for president. I hope this is not the case. The man had his chance and pissed on it.

Former Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to spread awareness of man-made climate change.

You will be surprised at what made the list!

Say goodbye to French wines, baseball and the Great Barrier Reef. Say hello to massive amounts of mosquitoes, the northwest passage and hurricanes.

The government is finally acknowledging global warming.  I wonder how this makes those conservatives feel who were promoting the lies that were being perpetuated by the government and corporate America?

 Only a fool who is out of touch with reality will say global warning doesn’t exist in the first place.

‘It’s later than we think,’ U.S. scientist and panel co-chair says

Global warming is so severe that it will “continue for centuries,” leading to a far different planet in 100 years, warned a grim landmark report from the world’s leading climate scientists and government officials. Yet, many of the experts are hopeful that nations will now take action to avoid the worst scenarios.

There is something to this global warming regardless of how this Republican administration and corporate giants are trying to spin (twist) the evidence. The temperatures in Chicago have been warmer than normal. December, January, and half of February are generally brutally cold. When I say cold, we are talking about sub-zero temperatures. We may have had a few cold days below 20, but on average, the temperatures have been ranging in the upper 30’s to the lower 50’s. This is actually a heat wave for us. It’s nice and disturbingly eerie to see green grass in Chicago in January.  I don’t ever remember noticing this before.

2007 could be the hottest year on record

Deepening drought in Australia. Stronger typhoons in Asia. Floods in Latin America. British climate scientists predict that a resurgent El Niño climate trend combined with higher levels of greenhouse gases could touch off a fresh round of ecological disasters—and make 2007 the world’s hottest year on record.

Media spin: Lettuce is the suspected source of an E. coli outbreak at Taco Bell. How can lettuce, a vegetable, be the real source of an E. coli outbreak? One would think the outbreak is from the contamination of the water supply by either pig or cattle farmers and the lettuce was inadvertently washed with this contaminated water. More than likely, we will have more of these outbreaks unless the real source is identified and decontaminated. 

If you want to spend less at the pump, all you have to do is lose those extra pounds.

Eat at your own risk. We all know the FDA/other governmental agencies have a history of approving things that are not always in the best interest of the public. In addition, ethical issues are also cropping up all over the place concerning FDA executives and the Republican Party. The bottom line – I bet if you drink milk or eat meat and it is not organic, you are already consuming these products. What’s next? Is this unethical?

FDA is set to approve milk, meat from clones

Three years after the Food and Drug Administration first hinted that it might permit the sale of milk and meat from cloned animals, prompting public reactions that ranged from curiosity to disgust, the agency is poised to endorse marketing of the mass-produced animals for public consumption.

This is good news….

Tom Brokaw joins the battle against global warming

Have anyone seen An Inconvenient Truth? Although I think the movie is an excellent case for global warming, and it shows proof that what scientists say about global warming is at odds with what is coming from the U.S. government. Maybe this is why Bush is hell bent on destroying the EPA.

Although I totally agree that the earth is being adversely affected, there are at least two things that were said by Gore that I think is part of a misinformation campaign to get a desired outcome. 

1. Why would he say that the increase in the world’s population is creating an increase burden on the earth when it is clear that "The West" is using ~80% of the world’s resources and this population is dwindling. The adverse effects to the earth is from this population. Something is not kosher with that statement.

2. I’m not convinced about that whole peakoil theory. Simply put, I’m not convinced we are near the point of running out of oil that can be extracted easily or cheaply. If you want a different view about this whole peakoil theory or why America went to war with Iraq, I recommend reading Chapter 2 in Greg Palast’s Armed Madhouse.