What's New Robert L. Park 20 November 09

WHAT’S NEW   Robert L. Park    Friday, 20 Nov 09   Washington, DC

1.  POPULATION:  UN REPORT LINKS CONTRACEPTION AND CLIMATE.
Why, one wonders, has it taken this long?  If, as most scientists believe, 
human activity is driving climate change the place to start is fertility 
rates.  Even now, on the eve of the Copenhagen climate conference, this 
crucial report from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), The State of the World 
Population 2009, has been almost ignored by the US media.  The tactic of 
those who prefer to do nothing is to warn that the link between population 
and environment is complex. That's all it takes to scare the media away. Of 
course it's complex; everything is complex.  It is doubtless true that the 
starving masses are responsible for less greenhouse emission than the 
wealthy. Does this mean we have a stake in keeping them poor?  I hope not.  
But the poor do have high fertility rates.  Their offspring may grow up to 
join the Taliban or something, drawing wealthy nations into costly and 
wasteful wars with huge environmental consequences.

2.  HUNGER: UN FOOD SUMMIT IN ROME WAS A FAILURE.
The goal was to find a new strategy to help farmers in poor countries 
produce enough to feed their people.  Instead they wound up with a call for 
more international food aid. Meanwhile an estimated 1 billion people are 
seriously hungry.  This was foretold by Norman Borlaug in his 1970 
acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize.  The green revolution, Borlaug warned, 
would be for naught if human reproduction was not controlled.  We must face 
it some time.

3. LHC:  BIRDS PERMITTING, THE COLLIDER IS STARTING UP TODAY.
Protons could be circulating any minute now. Optimistically, there could be 
collisions in a week or two.  It's not surprising that there would be 
glitches in an undertaking of this scale.  It doesn't detract from the 
importance of understanding our universe; most of which, according to 
estimates of the amount of dark matter, is still a total mystery.

4. CREATIONISM:  NEED A LITTLE HELP IN SPREADING THE WORD?
Thanks, but we'll take it from here.  An evangelical Christian, Ray 
Comfort, is busy distributing more than 100,000 free copies of his personal 
edition of Charles Darwin's seminal work, "On the Origin of Species," on 
college campuses.  That's nice of him; I asked my students to pick me up a 
copy if they get a chance.  Eugenie Scott, of NCSE, the National Center of 
Science Education, dealt with Comfort in US News.   Nevertheless, I thought 
Comfort’s argument that all species are fully involved was truly 
original: "Nothing we have in creation is half evolved," he wrote. "We 
don't find a half-evolved cow."  You don’t get that kind of thinking every 
day.  

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
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