Timothy Wilken, MD
writes: As Mr. Spock explained, “The needs of the many … outweigh the
needs of the few … or the one.”

Synergy at its most basic simply
means “working together.”Synergic science is then the study of “working together.”

As science
has progressed in helping us understand the human condition, it is now
clear that we are an INTERdependent species. Sometimes I depend on
others, and sometimes others depend on me.

Another important fact of
being in INTERdependent species is we share the same environment—the
same reality. At home, we share the same living space with friends or
family. If I turn the heater thermostat up, the room will become warmer
for everyone. Control of that reality is shared.

If I start yelling and
screaming, things will get much noisier for everyone. Control of that
reality is shared.

If I make a mess or don’t clean up the kitchen, then
we are all living in that mess. This is just as true in the workplace,
our neighborhoods, our communities, and in fact in the whole world. We
live on a single planet, we all share the same water, the same air and
the same resources of the single small planet.

Because control of
reality is shared, if I foul the water or air, I foul your water and
your air. Whatever I do, will effect you. Whatever you do, will effect
me. If we work together and act responsibly, we can minimize the harm
we do each other, and maximize the benefits of solving our problems
together.

Freedom of action in a shared environment is a privilege, not
a right. …

That bears repeating! Freedom of action in a shared environment is a privlege, not a right!

Which is more important? The individual’s right to freedom of action or
community’s right to public safety? We can now see that this is a silly
and false argument. Community is simply “many” individuals. My freedom
of action stops at the boundary of another individual’s personal space
and safety.

America has long been the champion of the individual’s right to freedom
of action. In fact, our American criminal justice system is so
paralyzed by the need to protect the rights of the individual, that our
streets are full of criminals, and our e-mail boxes are full of
unsolicited junk mail and garbage including pornography and fraudulent
offers.

Why do we tolerate this? Isn’t it time to grow up? Aren’t we
smart enough to create a society that values both an individual’s right
to freedom of action and the community’s right to public safety. (05/11/08)
more…

Tom Engelhardt of Tom Dispatch.com writes: Already climate change — in the form of a changing pattern of global
rainfall — seems to be affecting the planet in significant ways. Take
the massive, almost decade-long drought in Australia’s wheat-growing
heartland, which has been a significant factor in sending flour prices, and so bread prices, soaring globally, leading to desperation and food riots across the planet.

A report from the Bureau of Meteorology in Australia makes clear
that, despite recent heavy rains in the eastern Australian breadbasket,
years of above normal rainfall would be needed “to remove the very
long-term [water] deficits” in the region. The report then adds this
ominous note: “The combination of record heat and widespread drought
during the past five to 10 years over large parts of southern and
eastern Australia is without historical precedent and is, at least
partly, a result of climate change.”

Think a bit about that phrase — “without historical precedent.”Except when it comes to technological invention, it hasn’t been much
part of our lives these last many centuries. Without historical precedent.
Brace yourselves, it’s about to become a commonplace in our vocabulary.
The southeastern United States, for instance, was, for the last couple
of years, locked in a drought — which is finally easing — “without historical precedent.” In other words, there was nothing (repeat, nothing) in the historical record that provided a guide to what might happen next.

Now, it’s true that the industrial revolution, which led to the release
of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at historically unprecedented
rates, was also, in a sense, “without historical precedent”; but most
natural events — unlike, say, the present staggering ice melt
in the Arctic — have been precedented (if I can manufacture such a
word). They have been part of the historical record. That era — the
era of history — is now, however, threatening to give way to a period
capable of outrunning history itself, of outrunning us.

The planet in its long existence may have experienced the extremes to come, but we haven’t. The planet, unlike much life on it, may not — given millions or tens of millions of years to recover — be in danger, but we are.

When you really think about it, history is humanity. It’s
common enough to talk about some historical figure or failed experiment
being swept into the “dustbin of history,” but what if all history and
that dustbin, too, goÖ well, where? What are we, really, without our
records? Once we pass beyond them, beyond all the experience we’ve
collected, written down, and archived since those first scratches went
on clay tablets in the lands of the Tigris and Euphrates — now being stripped of their cultural patrimony — at least two unanswerable questions arise. Once history has been left in the dust, where are we? — and, who are we?

Let the indefatigable environmentalist Bill McKibben, who has a powerful urge to stop us just short of the cliff of the post-historical era, take it from here. (05/11/08)
more…

BBC Ocean Science — Declining fish stocks could be partly responsible for algal blooms in the oceans, researchers have found.

Scientists found that the fall in cod stocks in the Baltic Sea in
recent decades increased numbers of the tiny marine plants that produce
the blooms.

Algal blooms – sometimes known as “toxic tides” – can be poisonous to
people, fish and other wildlife, and may be on the increase worldwide.

The research is reported in the Royal Society’s journal Proceedings B.

“In recent years, the frequency of intense blooms (in the Baltic Sea)
seems to have increased, and the level in summer has also been
increasing,” said Michele Casini from the Swedish Board of Fisheries in
Lysekil, lead scientist on the new research. …

The scientific team – which also involved researchers from Germany and
Latvia – assessed three decades of data on the Baltic Sea food web.

Basically, zooplankton (tiny marine animals) eat phytoplankton, and
sprat (small fish) eat zooplankton. Finally, cod eat the sprat.

“Right now, in the last 30 years, cod have been the top predators in
the Baltic, after populations of seals and other marine mammals
declined because of hunting,” explained Dr Casini.

The data showed a simple correlation. As the cod population declined
sharply from the early 1980s, the sprat population rose; zooplankton
declined, and phytoplankton increased. (05/11/08)
more…

BBC Science –
Destruction of mangrove forests in Burma left coastal areas exposed to
the devastating force of the weekend’s cyclone, a top politician
suggests.

ASEAN secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan said coastal developments had
resulted in mangroves, which act as a natural defence against storms,
being lost.

At least 22,000 people have died in the disaster, say state officials.

A study of the 2004 Asian tsunami found that areas near healthy mangroves suffered less damage and fewer deaths.

Mr Surin, speaking at a high-level meeting of the Association of
South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Singapore, said the combination of
more people living in coastal areas and the loss of mangroves had
exacerbated the tragedy. …

Mangroves have been long considered as “bio-guards” for coastal
settlements. A study published in December 2005 said healthy mangrove
forests helped
save Sri Lankan villagers during the Asian tsunami disaster, which
claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people.

Researchers from IUCN, formerly known as the World Conservation Union,
compared the death toll from two villages in Sri Lanka that were hit by
the devastating giant waves. While two people died in the settlement with dense mangrove and scrub
forest, up to 6,000 people lost their lives in a nearby village without
similar vegetation.

“Mangroves are a very dense vegetation type that grows along the
shore,” explained Jeffrey McNeely, chief scientist for IUCN. Where the
saltwater and freshwater meet, that is where the mangroves
grow; they often extend from several hundred metres to a few kilometers
inland. Especially in river deltas, mangroves prevent waves from
damaging the
more productive land that are further inland from the sea.”

A recent global assessment found that 3.6 million hectares of mangrove forests had disappeared since 1980. (05/11/08)
more…