Déjà Vu at Rio+20 | Mark Hertsgaard - The Nation

Rio+20 is only talking about the end of the world as we know it. A new study in the journal Nature warns that Earth is approaching a “tipping point” that could lead, within decades, to irreversible degradation of the natural systems that provide humans with food, water and other vital services. A team led by Anthony Barnosky of the University of California, Berkeley, found that the rapidly warming climate, the disappearance of countless plant and animal species, the spread of toxic “dead zones” in the oceans, and other disturbing trends could trigger a transition to a radically less hospitable planet that would be “extremely difficult or even impossible” to reverse.

...As frustrating as it is to see the solutions ignored, it is also instructive. Environmental and development advocates often act as if the problem is a lack of information: give leaders more facts and they will make better decisions. But the world doesn’t work that way. Fighting climate change and poverty requires dismantling political and economic practices that are lucrative to powerful interests and replacing them with alternatives that serve the commonweal. No politician will take such steps lightly, for the powerful retaliate.

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All the way back on May 9th 1992, UN defined “climate change” as man-made.

Al Fin: A Few Ways in Which Climate Models Fail to Account for What is Happening in the Real World

Here is a very short list of a few important omissions from modern climate models.

These elderly fatality statistics may spoil your affection for big box stores | Grist

There’s a slight (actually, not-so-slight) correlation between strip malls and big box stores and increased deaths among the elderly.

Why The Media Can’t Be Objective About Mann and Ornstein, or About The Republican Brain

Before Current and MSNBC, The Daily Show served as the de-facto news source for people seeking dissenting views from conservative conventional wisdom