[Graeme]

The State of Nature

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'J')uly/August 2005
Is the world getting greener? Or are we selling it short for a fistful of greenbacks? Apparently, even committed environmentalists can disagree. When Carl Pope looks out his door, he sees the polar ice caps melting, ecosystems on life support, and clean water disappearing. But Bjørn Lomborg believes humanity’s backyard has never looked better. Who’s got it right? For young and old, rich and poor, the answer might just mean the world.
Carl Pope is executive director of the Sierra Club.
Bjørn Lomborg, author of The Skeptical Environmentalist (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), is adjunct professor at the Copenhagen Business School.

[I_Like_Plants]

I'll go with Carl Pope, we're screwed. We don't need to go back to 1950, we need to go back to about 1850 BC.

[Graeme]

Challenges ahead for a changing Earth
Struggle to balance human growth, environment remains

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')utdoor air pollution is at its lowest level in 30 years. Government agencies report air pollution is down 48 percent, despite a 42 percent rise in energy consumption. And water quality, while problematic, has improved across the nation. The federal government has spent $80 billion on water quality since passing the Clear Water Act in 1972.
"Rivers, streams and lakes are measurably cleaner than they were before the Clean Water Act, but we still have a long way to go," said Bob Irvin of the World Wildlife Fund, the world's largest privately funded conservation organization.
Endangered species from bald eagles to alligators in Florida's waterways also are clawing their way back from the edge of extinction.
The spectacular ecological successes of the last 30 years have brought environmentalism into the American mainstream, but the movement is vastly different than the one that was gaining political and moral clout in the United States more than three decades ago.
"I think in the 1970s, environmental protection was driven by people who believed in strong advocacy and focused political pressure," said Paul Portney, economist and president of Resources for the Future, a nonpartisan institute studying the environment. "It was not so much a mainstream value. Today, it's hard to find some one who doesn't care about the environment."

[hotsacks]

Environmental debate? What debate? Where does Londberg get his funding from? The water in some of the major rivers and lakes is undoubtedly cleaner. Trouble is,there's a lot less of it.
In the thirties, many 'thinkers' spent many hours debating Hitler's views.Some of the world's most influential people decided he was perfectly justified in these.
There are too many people with too many toys.
Debate ends there.

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('hotsacks', 'E')nvironmental debate? What debate? Where does Londberg get his funding from? The water in some of the major rivers and lakes is undoubtedly cleaner. Trouble is,there's a lot less of it.
In the thirties, many 'thinkers' spent many hours debating Hitler's views.Some of the world's most influential people decided he was perfectly justified in these.
There are too many people with too many toys.
Debate ends there.

[hotsacks]

Now, THAT'S A BUMPERSTICKER!!!!