Religous debates and questions [2]

Putting in my two cents again, I'm impressed by his emphasis on the problem being the rate of climate change, which the rich can adapt to easier than the poor. I do worry about language which implies we are ruining the planet just by changing the temperature: the planet has been much warmer before, and no problem. It's only the rate of adaptation that's a problem.

But the garbage dump syndrome IS ruining the planet. Separate topic, still a problem.

Not surprised that he's concerned about the environment.  He did choose to name himself after Saint Francis.

I think he's right that population is not the biggest issue here.  The rate of population growth has been slowing down for a while, mainly due to improvements in living conditions around the world, and is projected to stabilize in several decades.  But the current first world way of life is extremely wasteful, and the number of people globally who can afford that way of life is increasing rapidly.  So I think Frank is right that a re-evaluation of priorities is needed, though I agree that the garbage dump issue is separate.

Sadly nuclear power, which is our best shot at reducing carbon emissions significantly, is politically untenable, largely because of the environmental movement itself.  There's this bizarre self-crippling impulse, like also with the freak-out over GMOs even though their use reduces that of pesticides and herbicides, which actually do have documented harmful effects.

The nuclear political problem is largely confined to the US, thankfully...but it would be nice if we could outgrow the stigma. GMOs are a bigger hot potato in Europe. I personally feel the lack of genetic diversity is a bigger problem than GMOs per se, but they are closely linked via the mega corporations that control much of seed crop in the world.

Fusion power can't come soon enough, eh.

Problem is, most of the people who are against fission don't understand the difference. And modern fission plants in America use boronated water as both moderator and coolant, making a meltdown basically impossible, though you still have radioactive spent fuel rods to contend with.

That's some of the worst photo shop I've ever seen.

The sunlight on the side of his head but not hers is telling.

I saw this story- she was going to meet the Pope but they wouldn't let her see him due to her eye popping nipplage.
So the picture is definitely fake as they never actually got to meet.

#deepthoughts

That's a nice one to try out on fundamentalists. Fun to imagine how to lay the trap....

They could have swum. And maybe - if there were no killer whales around - they might have just swum about in the wake of the Ark.

I do wonder how Noah managed to herd in all those microbes in two at a time - apparently there is a lot of them, and they are quite small. But God knows, I'm sure.

Going back a few.... there are grown adults who think that penguins are only resident to Antarctica...