June 12, 2006

The Revenge of Gaia, by James Lovelock -
Is It Already Too Late?


On February 2nd, Penguin UK published The Revenge of Gaia by Dr. James Lovelock, the respected British scientist most famous for his "Gaia hypothesis" that the earth is best understood as a single complex organism.

In his new book, Dr. Lovelock makes a compelling case that it is too late to avoid catastrophic climactic change, and that each nation must do what it can to prepare for the inevitable. Within a week, it was out of stock at the publisher. Please read the following:

James Lovelock,
"The Earth is about to catch a morbid fever that may last as long as 100,000 years,"
The Independent (UK)

Penguin Books UK - The Revenge of Gaia: Why the Earth Is Fighting Back - and How We Can Still Save Humanity Amazon.co.uk - The Revenge of Gaia
Dr. James Lovelock's official site
James Ephraim Lovelock - encyclopedia entry at Wikiverse

Book Reviews: David King,
"Required reading: Global argument heats up,"
The Times (UK)

John Gray, "The Revenge of Gaia, by James Lovelock: Payback from the green goddess,"
The Independent (UK)

Boris Johnson, "We've lost our fear of hellfire, but put climate change in its place,"
The Daily Telegraph (UK)

Michael McCarthy, "Humanity faces 'revenge of Gaia',"
The New Zealand Herald

Richard Mabey, "The revenge of Gaia by James Lovelock,"
The Times (UK)

Top NASA Climate Scientist Pressured By Bush Administration
read more
hide details
Dr. James E. Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, claims that the Bush administration pressured him not to speak with the media about the imminent dangers of global warming.Please read the following:
Dr. Hansen's interview with the New York Times
The Boston Globe: Recent efforts to censor Jim Hansen are only the latest.
Dr. Hansen's papers at Columbia University
NASA article summarizing Dr. Hansen's findings that 2005 was the warmest year in over a century
Detailed report on Dr. Hansen's findings
NASA report that temperature increases could lead to abrupt climate change

Bush - The State of the Union is Oil-Dependent

It was just a small section of the State of the Union, but the press was instantaneous, and much of it skeptically positive - President Bush finally admitted that the United States was "addicted to oil," and pledged "to replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025." Unfortunately, the very next day Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman clarified that this pledge was "purely an example," and not meant to be taken literally. And, that same day, executives from the nation's largest oil companies refused to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about their record profits. Please read the following:

CNN - Text of Bush's State of the Union speech
AP - Bush Acknowledges U.S. Reliance on OilCNN - Bush has plan to end oil 'addiction'NYT - Bush, Resetting Agenda, Says U.S. Must Cut Reliance on OilThe White House Press Release: State of the Union: The Advanced Energy Initiative, The Office of the Press Secretary, January 31, 2006

One Day Later:
Reuters - Administration backs off Bush's vow to reduce Mideast oil imports
Reuters - Oil execs refuse to testify at Senate hearing
Houston Chronicle - Executives from 6 oil companies decline to show at Senate hearing

Testimony of Timothy A Hamilton, Senate Judiciary Committee, Washington, DC, February 1, 2006: "Decades of consolidation, regulatory lobbying and legal maneuvering by the industry... has resulted in formation of international corporations that dwarf the Standard Oil Trust and other monopolies that gave birth to the antitrust concept."

Analysis:
NYT - Call to Cut Foreign Oil Is a Refrain 35 Years Old
Reuters - Bush plan to help climate, but no green conversion
ABC News - President Bush Forgets About Global Warming
The Guardian - Fuel's Gold Reuters - Bush energy plan won't cut need for Mideast oil
The Independent (UK) - When the crude runs out: Life after oil
Reuters - US must stop gas guzzling to beat Gulf oil addiction
NYT - What if Exxon Mobil Went on a Little Shopping Spree?

Opinion Pieces:
NYT Editorial - The State of Energy
Maureen Dowd, "Oilman Plays Ozone Man," The New York Times
Gary Hart, "The Real Cost of Oil," The New York Times
"Dianne Feinstein on Energy Industry Consolidation, Raising Pump Prices," The Democratic Daily
Michael T. Klare "The Permanent Energy Crisis," Tom Dispatch

Links
Non-Government Organizationssee links
Government Organizationssee links
Other Websites of Interestsee links
Documents and Reports see links

No comments:

ShareThis