Climate’s Coal Mine Canaries

Pikas, pygmy possums and tiny flowers in the high Swiss Alps are climate changes “canary in the coal mine,” signalling changes underway, according to a news piece in today’s Science by Kevin Krajick (sub. req.): Alpine ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to climate change, and recent studies suggest that mountain dwellers–from delicate flowers in the Swiss …

Continue reading ‘Climate’s Coal Mine Canaries’ »

Obesity, Health Care Costs, and Life on the Commons

Andrew Sullivan suggests, in response to yesterday’s CDC report on obesity, that if one wants to be fat, that’s a personal choice: What’s to be done on a collective basis? I have an idea: nothing. If people want to eat themselves into misery and early death, it really isn’t anyone else’s business. Well, perhaps. Or …

Continue reading ‘Obesity, Health Care Costs, and Life on the Commons’ »