The Real Reason to Fear Climate Change

POLITICAL INSTABILITY CAUSED BY FOOD SHORTAGES WILL BE FAR MORE DANGEROUS THAN RISING SEA LEVELS OR HURRICANES - BUT NEW VARIETIES OF WHEAT COULD SAVE US.

Two stories from last week deserve greater prominence, because they will dominate the next decade. Droughts and floods have taken a toll on the wheat harvests this year, particularly in Russia and Canada. What is worrying, the weather patterns suggest these reduced crop yields may now become the norm, as world population continues to skyrocket. Food riots in the developing world may soon also become the norm, whilst high food prices in the developed world may lead to a faltering economy and extremist politics. We'll be at each other's throats even as the water rises around our necks.

At the same time however, scientists have just mapped out the wheat genome. Just like new varieties of wheat helped bring about the Green Revolution of the 1970's, we may soon have new drought resistant varieties of wheat that may buy us some time.

Ultimately however, we may end up 30 years later in the same situation. Now what are we going to do about that ? There is a famous story about NASA spending millions on researching ink pens that would work in space - before realising pencils could do the job just fine. Are we looking too closely at the crops, and not closely enough at what they grow in ? Good soil can resist drought just as well as billion dollar heavily researched wheat. If soils are protected from erosion and rebuilt naturally with composting, the humus that is built up can nurture a crop through all but the harshest droughts. So next time you're about to throw a banana skin in the trash, spare a thought for composting.

Evolution is not just a theory - Every new breakthrough discredits creationism or intelligent design, so why does it persist. ? Because too many people don't read

Some of the latest research on evolution focuses on chicken embryos. Apparently evolution works by adding genes rather than replacing them, so in the early embryonic stages it is often possible to glimpse what an organism's ancestors may have looked like. The early embryos of many mammals often look remarkably similar. Specifically in the case of chickens, the embryo forms five main claws ( like it's raptor ancestors )in it's early stages, then later these disappear to give way to three main claws. The cumulative evidence is beginning to be so overwhelming, how can anyone doubt that evolution is a fact , not just a theory ? How can such irrationalism persist in the modern age ? Maybe too many people just don't like reading.

Homeopathic medicine for dogs ?

Don't get me wrong. I believe there is a place for some alternative medicines. Herbalism is the basis for modern pharmacology and so has validity, some naturopathic cures won't dent cancer but no doubt can help with minor problems etc...

The other day our dog was wolfing down a suspicious amount of food, so we strolled round to the pet shop to take a look at worming medicines. The first treatment the assistant picked out was a homeopathic medicine. Now, despite it's popularity,it's safe to say that homeopathic medicine has no basis in science. It's diluted to one part per million and supposed to work like a sort of 'vaccination'. 'Like is treated with like' , whatever that means. It's pretty much 'magic water' that you buy off a wild west salesman. That said, clinical trials have shown some limited success, though no more than can be attributed to the placebo effect, like most alternative medicines. So, homeopathic medicine works a little, based on the placebo effect.

Now answer me this, shop assistant : How the @!&% is a placebo supposed to work on a dog ?

How much anti-social behaviour in the UK is due to undiagnosed mental illness ?

For the past decade, i've occasionally pondered the rise of anti-social behaviour in the UK. Why have so many of my fellow British become so casually aggressive, violent and anti-social in so many ways? My wife made a point last week that has stayed with me. As a north American , she's much more in tune with the 'therapy culture' , something the British have never been comfortable with. Her point was that perhaps Britain is seeing a near epidemic of undiagnosed mental illness ( to varying degrees of course). Look at the amount of Brits who 'self-medicate' with drugs and drink, and suddenly this point gains plausibility. The now infamous video of a middle aged woman throwing a cat in a trash can for no apparent reason ( See BBC news UK ) really drove the point home to me . The woman was later identified, and a 'mob' cornered her at her house. But she didn't need a mob and retribution. In North America the first point that would have occurred to people is : ' My God - the poor woman is clearly ill . She needs help, she needs a shrink !' Perhaps that cultural difference in the reaction is itself a clue to why the UK sees so much more of this behaviour than somewhere like Canada.
A less extreme example ( since perhaps the cat woman was obviously nuts ) was the woman who urinated on a war memorial, performed a sex act there, then fled court. My reaction was ' regular saturday night in UK' , my Canadian wife's, quite seriously : ' What the hell is wrong with that woman , is she nuts ?'. At first, I laughed, then I thought : ' Maybe you've got a point. Maybe she is kinda nuts. And that's the real issue here.'

How far should cultural relativity go ?

Have NGO's compromised human rights too much in their respect for traditions and cultural relativity ? Have human rights been tainted in the eyes of the developing world because of their strong association with a sometimes unpopular West, and especially United States ? When W Bush preaches 'freedom and democracy' does it become discredited in the eyes of developing nations who have less robust traditions in this arena ?

On a related note, do NGO's tiptoe around local corruption because they have bigger battles with the IMF and World Bank ? And in doing so, do they miss the real front-line battle ? When Jeffrey Sachs dismisses the impact of local corruption on development, is he legitimately re-focusing the debate, or missing the real issue ?

In other words, on both counts, are development issues hamstrung by politics ? Should development be led by economists, or rather technicians and scientists who do not fall prey to these pitfalls ?

Why is Haiti so poor ?

Of course there is no one single answer to this, and history and politics play their part. But aerial photographs that contrast Haiti and it's neighbour the Dominican Republic are striking. Simply put, Haiti cut down all of it's trees ! The result is soil erosion and vulnerability to flooding. The recent earthquake was a blow to what was already the world's most challenged nation. Is the crucial importance of reforestation and natural soil fertility being overlooked in development efforts ? How many NGO's really focus on the ability of a nation to feed itself by protecting it's own environment ?

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