Give a Hoot
Not all news is bad these days, as I like to point out to myself and the never ending lamenting folk. Take for example this news in the NY Times today which says that even though the Bush Administration decided not to regulate the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming, nine states, including New York, will cap their greenhouse emissions and reduce them by 10 percent by 2020. While that’s not really a butload in terms of emissions caps, it sends a clear signal to the White House that if you won’t do what we want, we’ll do what we want. In other words, we live in a Republic, and the people wield the power, not G.B. in his little throne room. Not many New Yorkers realize that most of our smoggy air comes not from our own city, but blows in from the midwest. And a recent study showed that even Oregon, which was once thought to have the cleanest air in the country, receives a small amount of pollution from China. In other words, emissions control is a global problem, and it’s very nice to see these nine states wake up to that fact even while G.B. allows his energy producing buddies free reign to pollute.
Here’s another interesting article from the NYTimes about scientists and their religious faith. But enough about that already…
And here’s the coolest thing any self-respecting William Gibson fan will ever see. If you’ve read Pattern Recognition, you may remember the scene where Cayce is looking into a shop window on September 11th. Gibson, on his blog, has posted a photo of the shop that inspired that scene. I think all of us got the chills reading about that flower petal falling to the floor at the moment of impact. I can’t wait for his next novel. If you haven’t read PR, you need to go to the library now and read it.
My favorite quote of the religious scientist article was: “I think one of the great historical contributions of science is to weaken the hold of religion. That’s a good thing.”
It was disturbing to see the 40 percent number given for scientists who believe in God, but refreshing to see the 10 percent number given for leading scientists.
I am bothered by the idea that believer-scientists gave about meaning of life, moral issues, what it means to be human, etc needs to be derived via God or religion. I think of myself as a very moral person who often thinks about ethical and human issues and I am an ardent athiest. God is not necessary to contemplate humanity; I find little about God that relates to humanity.
Ajit, I’m with you on the god thing. Religion is a bit of an obsession with me and I hate that atheism is so often mistaken for hopelessness. But I won’t clog up Matt’s blog with such issues when I can rant freely on my own.
Matt, I think you have indeed found some wonderful news re: state level environmental intiatives. As I’ve said before, the current stronghold the religious/conservative/emission-spewing/fag-hating Right has on our country is a number’s game. There are more of them than there are of us so they are going to win national elections for the foreseeable future in my opinion. Is Federalism perhaps the last hope for salvaging responsible democratic government in this nation?
Also, I loved Pattern Recognition and can’t wait for his next.
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