Ordc Forum/Blog

Can science and the truth withstand the merchants of poison?

By Al Gore
June 22, 2011 7:45 AM ET
Al Gore: Climate of Denial
Illustration by Matt Mahurin

The first time I remember hearing the question "is it real?" was when I went as a young boy to see a traveling show put on by "professional wrestlers" one summer evening in the gym of the Forks River Elementary School in Elmwood, Tennessee.

=> Read more!

Published on Sunday, April 24, 2011 by the Guardian/UK
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/22/water-the-next-arab-battle
By: Lester Brown

Long after the political uprisings in the Middle East have subsided, many underlying challenges that are not now in the news will remain. Prominent among these are rapid population growth, spreading water shortages, and growing food insecurity.

In some countries grain production is now falling as aquifers – underground water-bearing rocks – are depleted. After the Arab oil-export embargo of the 1970s, the Saudis realised that since they were heavily dependent on imported grain, they were vulnerable to a grain counter-embargo. Using oil-drilling technology, they tapped into an aquifer far below the desert to produce irrigated wheat. In a matter of years, Saudi Arabia was self-sufficient in its principal food staple.

=> Read more!

by Stephen Leahy

UXBRIDGE, Canada, Jan 28, 2011 (IPS) - The world's northern freezer is on rapid defrost as large volumes of warm water are pouring into the Arctic Ocean, speeding the melt of sea ice, according to a new study.

Surface temperatures in parts of the Arctic have been 21 degrees C above normal for more than a month in recent weeks.

=> Read more!