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Science Intrudes Into Morality Dec 23, 2008 — The Pope recently declared that we need to save humanity from self-destructive behaviors, like homosexuality. Can science intrude on questions of human behavior and morals? New Scientist thought so; a blog entry today says the Pope “misuses science to attack homosexuality.”One would think that moral behavior would lie outside the field for a scientific news source, but online news editor Rowan Hooper went on, mocking the Pope’s claim that the church has a role in saving “human ecology” like scientists have a role in protecting tropical forests. Hooper called this “a bizarre...

WARSAW (AFP) – Ecologists raised the alarm Monday over global warming as environment ministers from more than 30 states met in Warsaw ahead of December's UN Climate summit focused on slashing greenhouse gases. "We're ringing alarm bells -- the UN summit in Poznan must deliver a deal that will keep global warming below two degrees Celsius to the end of this century," Kaisa Kosonen from the global environmental group Greenpeace told reporters. "Five years from now will be too late," she said as activists rang bells outside of the Warsaw hotel where ministers were gathered. "We are currently on a...

Ban on solvent may be disastrous for state's businesses In the near future, the "Dry Clean Only" tag on clothes may become a thing of the past. Last week at a meeting in Sacramento, California Air Resources Board enacted the nation's first statewide ban of perchloroethylene - a toxic solvent used in more than 70 percent of the state's dry-cleaning machines.At the urging of environmentalists, dry cleaners will be banned from buying machines that rely on perchloroethylene beginning in January 2008. Also, those with such equipment must halt using them by 2023. In 1991, the state declared perchloroethylene a toxic...

With the Burning Man art festival in the Nevada desert starting Monday, a group of San Francisco scientists is busy calculating how much the event contributes to global warming. Encouraged by the resurgence of the green movement, the scientists are taking a hard look at all those sacred flaming temples, gas-powered scooters shaped like cupcakes, and hundreds of rumbling RVs that converge for a week on the dry Black Rock Desert lakebed. With an idea that would make Al Gore smile, the scientists have created Cooling Man, an online calculator that determines how many tons of greenhouse gases each of...

Most ecologists want to make life easy for butterflies and waterfalls. Who can argue with that? Some environmental extremists, however, think what Earth really needs is fewer people. In some cases, billions fewer. “We’re no better than bacteria!” University of Texas biologist Eric Pianka recently announced. “Things are gonna get better after the collapse because we won’t be able to decimate the Earth so much,” he added. “And, I actually think the world will be much better when there’s only 10 or 20% of us left.” Pianka dreamed that disease “will control the scourge of humanity.” He celebrated the potential...

ENSENADA, Mexico (Reuters) - For years, Cristina Imana has gazed out from her clifftop porch near the Mexican resort town of Ensenada and watched migrating gray whales roll around with their babies in the glistening surf below. Now, with U.S. oil executives busy laying the foundations for a huge gas import terminal on the shoreline beneath her home, she fears those days are numbered. "It breaks my heart," she said of Sempra Energy's project to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal. ChevronTexaco plans an offshore terminal nearby. In a classic spat between big business and environmentalists, major oil companies...

DETROIT — A group of religious leaders came to the Motor City on Wednesday with a proposition for U.S. automakers: Start producing vehicles that are kinder to God's creation, and we will urge the faithful to buy them.