Morning No: Not Really

by: Natasha Chart

Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 06:00

Ten Dollars an Hour from Ben Guest on Vimeo. (Via)

- Police used sonic cannons, tear gas and stun grenades against demonstrators at the G20 in Pittsburgh. Police departments everywhere are apparently keen to see how that went over. Coming to a town near you? Jon Stewart didn't seem to think it was a big deal last night, but I don't like the idea of peaceful protesters and bystanders being treated like criminals.

- A post busting the myth that there was ever a global cooling consensus seems like the right introduction to the news that catastrophic climate change could happen in 50 years.

- Health care issues aside, Sen. Harry Reid has done something impressively farsighted by introducing a bill to develop biochar technology for improved carbon cycle and water management. No snark, I'm blown away. It's possible that biochar could be done unwisely, but this article discusses how it could be used to benefit ailing forests and denuded soils in the US, while reducing invasive plants and fire risks in managed forests. And wow, just unreserved, holy frakkin' wow.

- The downturn has been particularly hard on the poor, and has thrown more children into poverty. If only the government was as solicitous of ordinary people as it is of the preservation of banks.

- Greenery isn't just pretty, it saves lives.

- The UK government will extend their popular car scrappage program, which has encouraged 200,000 Britons to trade in cars that were more than 10 years old, stimulating sales and saving manufacturing jobs.

- Scientists may have taken some key steps towards reducing degenerative diseases of aging.

- Venezuela's Hugo Chavez no longer thinks the US is run by the Devil, even if he doesn't think its policies towards Latin America have improved all that much.

- Sustainable food advocate Michael Pollan met some angry farmers and turned away their rage with mild answers.

- The leaders of Iran's air force and nuclear energy programs have pledged that Iran won't make a first strike and that the enrichment facility at Qom will be opened to IAEA inspections.

- Lastly, I didn't really expect to find any Leslie Fish on YouTube and I didn't find much, but find some, I did. Hope this one cheers you up in spite of the political environment.