Friday, December 14, 2007
The U.S. blocks climate agreement in Bali; American children trail the
industrialized world in math; stem cell researchers are preoccupied with
getting around the embryonic stem cell ban; the green revolution is
diverted to feed SUVs instead of people; creationists are conspiring to
get God back in the classroom; and our space program is reduced to
pointless media spectaculars. Instead of candidates debating who loves
Jesus most, Lawrence Krauss and Chris Mooney propose that science be the
subject of a debate. An impressive group of science leaders has already
signed on http://www.sciencedebate2008.com . It deserves the support of
every scientist and every science organization.
As oil lobbyists mounted a full scale assault on Capitol Hill, the Senate
yesterday passed a diluted energy bill that significantly raised fuel-
economy standards, but omitted a tax on oil companies. The bill also
dropped requirements that utilities generate 15 percent of their
electricity from renewable sources. It now goes back to the House but
passage seems certain, and the President is expected to sign.
Under Pope John Paul II, from whom so much was expected, there was little
progress. However, in his second encyclical letter to the faithful last
week, "On Christian Hope," Pope Benedict XVI, reveals an unexpected side.
As Cardinal Ratzinger, he had headed the Vatican office once known as "The
Inquisition," and was the defender of traditional Catholic doctrine.
About "eternal life" he now asks: "Do we really want this - to live
eternally? It appears more like a curse than a gift." Elsewhere he
finds: "The atheism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is - in its
origins and aims - a type of moralism: a protest against the injustices of
the world and of world history."
What the Pope thinks, is important - even to atheists. Progress in
fighting disease, or hunger, or environmental degradation, or global
warming will count for little in the long run if population growth is
unconstrained. The Church remains a powerful force in opposing birth
control, although we note with some glee that the population growth rate
in Vatican City is zero, as it is over most of Europe. The rate is
highest in poor countries, leading many to argue that the solution to the
population problem is prosperity - but in some very rich oil countries,
such as Saudi Arabia, the growth rate is quite high. It's not prosperity
that keeps population growth down; it's the freedom of women to achieve
their potential - and prosperity follows.
An essay by Stewart Brand in last week's Nature makes the point that WN
has made many times before: "Whether or not DSCOVR makes it to Lagrange-1,
something similar surely must, and soon."
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