Students at the University of Sheffield have donated four tonnes of goods to city charities. As...
Why Recent Graduates Should Join Code for America
Sympathy for the dodgy salesmen of Australian politics
Babel Rising
T.C. Boyle: Incorporating Environmentalism in Art
The Stone Roses confirm all planned shows to go ahead after Ian Brown calls Reni a 'c**t' onstage
Earthquake Watch
Did the earth just move?

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How to Destroy the Earth
9 sep  |  Destroying the Earth is harder than you may have been led to believe.  . . read more
Sir Martin Rees: Earth In Its Final Century?
21 jan  |  In a taut soliloquy, renowned cosmologist Sir Martin Rees explains why the 21st century is a pivotal moment in the history of humanity: the first time in history when we can materially change ourselves and our planet. . . read more
Ten Ways the World Could End
20 oct  |  Stephen Petranek reveals the questions that keep some scientists up at night. How might the world end? He lays out the challenges that face us in the drive to preserve the human race. Will we be wiped out by an asteroid? Eco-collapse? How about a particle accelerator gone wild? . . read more
Survival Food Store
25 oct  |  Survival Food Store - get yourself prepared for Armageddon . . read more
Re-Terraforming the Earth - From Jamais Cascio
18 dec  |  Geoengineering - or re-terraforming the Earth - is back... in the wake of news that the geophysical mechanisms for cycling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere are beginning to slow down, thereby increasing the degree to which CO2 accumulates as a greenhouse gas. This is exactly the kind of news that makes one suspect that we may not have the time to re-imagine our urban systems, transform our agricultural methods, and move to a carbon-free economy. Geoengineering seems to provide a solution (of varying appeal) for just this kind of situation, focusing not on resolving the causes of global climate disruption, but on ameliorating the symptoms.

Given geoengineering's increasing visibility, debates among scientists, environmentalists, and engineers are not hard to find. But these debates center on the scientific risks and merits of the re-terraforming proposals. Few people, regardless of position, have focused on a fundamental non-geophysical risk of the method: political control, costs, and stability.

To put it bluntly, global-scale efforts don't happen without global-scale reactions. Should we see geoengineering efforts, there will certainly be struggles over control of the program(s), conflicts over liability for problems, and - most troublingly - independent "rogue" geoengineering projects undertaken in defiance of established guidelines. [More] . . read more

Life After the Oil Crash
18 jul  |  Civilization as we know it is coming to an end soon. . . read more
Church of Euthanasia
14 dec  |  Save the planet, kill yourself. . . read more
Agflation Is Here
6 apr  |  Just as we have become accustomed to eco-goosebumps and the drama of large ice shelves collapsing in the cold zones, a new and terrifying Rider of the Apocalypse has appeared on the horizon. RENATE OGILVIE on humanity's latest threat - agflation. . . read more
The Pale Blue Dot—Look Around, We Have This
5 oct  |  The Pale Blue Dot—Look Around, We Have This . . read more
Reflections in the World's Largest Mirror
10 sep  |  To calibrate the ICESat, a satellite that measures the melting of the polar ice caps, NASA points its laser at a massive stretch of reflective salt flats called the Salar De Uyuni in Bolivia, the flattest place on earth.  . . read more
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"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." -- Ronald Reagan (1986)