Timothy Wilken writes: Orville and Wilbur Wright
were aeronautical scientists and they had to understand aeronautical
science to invent the Aeroplane. However, one doesn’t have to be an
aeronautical scientist to ride in an airplane, or for that matter even
to fly one. UnCommon Sense
is based on the synergic sciences. I have devoted many years of study
to the synergic sciences, but this book is not written for me. Most
humans living today are not scientists and it is not necessary for them
to understand science in order to benefit from it. Nor do they need to
be synergic scientists in order to act synergically. … I entered
medical school in 1966. In my first week I would learn one of the most
valuable lessons of my life. A fellow classmate and I were in the
medical library at our school. We had been reading some science papers
assigned in an earlier class, when I noticed he was reading one paper,
that I didn’t have listed on my assignment sheet. He seemed much more
interested in that paper than in those from our assignment sheet. My
classmate would read a paragraph or two and then hurry off to the big
medical dictionary across the room. He made so many trips, I surmised
the reading must be very difficult. Finally ,my curiosity got the
better of me, and I also was beginning to worry that I might have
missed getting the assignment to read that particular paper, so I
queried him. First he responded by saying, “No, its not part of our
assignment, I’m just reading this for myself. The author is a Nobel
laureate.” He started to return to his reading, but then he paused for
a moment to look me over and for some reason he decided to share his
secret with me. “Its something more than that. It is a secret way to
learn that my Father taught me.” I leaned closer and he continued.
“When you read and understand the work of a world’s leading expert, you
can become the world’s second leading expert.” At first I didn’t know
what to say. The thought was so foreign to me. I said nothing and
returned to my study of the assigned readings. Later that evening after
class, my mind kept coming back to what my classmate had said, “When
you read and understand the work of a world’s leading expert, you can
become the world’s second leading expert.” … I have filled UnCommon Sense
with the understanding and wisdom of many of the world’s leading
experts. Please make their expert knowledge your own. Please invest a
few hours in learning the language and methods of the experts and
bootstrap yourself to a more powerful and positive future. (12/20/04)
more…

BBC Environment & Politics –
The European Commission has proposed closing parts of the North and
Irish Seas and off western Scotland to save the seriously depleted
stocks of cod. The Fisheries Minister, Ben Bradshaw, says he will
oppose the plans when all EU fisheries ministers meet on Tuesday. But
John Gummer, who did the job from 1989 to 1993, says Mr Bradshaw has
been misled and should support the closures. This year’s EU Fisheries
Council, starting in Brussels on 21 December, will decide how much
fishing should be allowed in 2005. On 16 December, Mr Bradshaw told BBC
News there were “glimmers of a cod recovery”: his officials say the
decommissioning of UK boats and the restrictions on the days they can
spend at sea have helped the improvement in stocks.  Mr Bradshaw
said: “The cod recovery plan we introduced has been in place for just
two years; it’s entailed considerable pain. “There are now signs of
recovery, and so I think this is not the year for introducing closed
areas. As they’re currently proposed, we can’t support them.” Mr Gummer
is now a backbench Conservative MP, and chairs the board of the Marine
Stewardship Council.  He told the BBC News website: “I think the
government is being misled again. It should have supported the tough
European line. “Whenever there’s an effective suggestion for improving
the situation, there’s a huge tendency for a pull-back which comes from
the fishing industry. The problem with the EU’s common fisheries policy
is not that it’s common - it has to be that - but that the ministers
represent the fishermen, not the fish. And the fishermen whose
interests they’re talking about are today’s, not tomorrow’s. All over
the world we’ve underestimated the speed at which fish stocks have
become depleted, and that’s the trap Mr Bradshaw has fallen into.” (12/20/04)
more…

BBC Environment – 
Founded by North American Quakers, Monteverde is considered one of the
world’s most important nature reserves for its variety of plant and
animal species. In one sense, the reserve could become a victim of
Costa Rica’s success. It is considered only a matter of time before the
last segment of a journey from San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, to
the resort town Santa Elena - just four miles from the Monteverde
reserve - is paved. Once the road is paved, the journey from San Jose
will be cut from four or five hours to about two hours and the total
number of tourists to the area could double from the current 250,000 to
500,000. Not all of the tourists will be heading for the nature
reserve. There has been an increased demand for adventure tourism in
Santa Elena, where the only tourist options up to now have had an
educational purpose and caused little disturbance. Visitors on the
Canopy Tour, for example, use a zip line and travel at high speeds
between tree tops - albeit outside the protected park - and then abseil
down to the ground.  A dense population of tourists, some
environmentalists warn, risks upsetting a climatic and geographical
balance that now makes Monteverde - which is called a cloud forest
because of the mists that roll in at any time, shrouding the trees - so
unique. The forest teems with life. The Tilaran highland, where the
forest is situated, is a Continental Divide. As a result, rainfall is
constant, which keeps the forest moist and lush. It’s no accident that
it is named Monteverde - Green Mountain. Finally, it is one of just 12
rainforests left in the world where there is still primary forest:
trees that have never been cut. (12/20/04)
more…

BBC Environment — The
air around us seems abundant from Earth. But from space, our endless
blue sky is only a thin shield around a massive planet. Our atmosphere
is fragile; yet, it is a lifesaver. Without it, the Earth would be
frozen, lifeless, and pummelled by cosmic radiation. So it is in our
interest to protect it. Now a recently launched satellite is beaming
back information that may help. In orbit since July to monitor ozone,
climate change and air quality, the US space agency’s (Nasa) Aura
satellite has already produced the first direct measurements of lower
atmospheric - tropospheric - ozone from space, including chemicals that
are a precursor to “bad ozone” at ground level, and those that form
high levels of ozone over the tropics. It has also provided new images
of the ozone hole over Antarctica.  With colourful high-resolution
images, and a bit of animation, scientists can watch chemical reactions
in the atmosphere daily, such as the conversion of safe chlorine to the
dangerous form that destroys stratospheric ozone. It is an
unprecedented look at the health of the swirling mix of trace gases
that protect life on Earth, and also the chemical reactions that
threaten it. … Scientists say Aura will tell them whether the ozone
layer is recovering and whether atmospheric treaties such as the
Montreal Protocol - designed to reduce ozone-depleting substances in
the atmosphere - are working. Aura monitored both the good
stratospheric ozone that shields us from ultraviolet radiation, and the
toxic ozone below, in the air we breathe, explained Aura Project
Scientist Mark Schoeberl. “Ozone will attack your lung tissue and make
you really sick,” he said. “So we’re interested in air pollution, a
component of which is ozone. It’s a critical issue for urban, mega-city
environments.” Car exhausts, chemical solvents and industrial emissions
all can lead to bad ozone. The satellite will also monitor the effect
of climate change on atmospheric gases and tiny particles or aerosols.
Aerosols add an uncertain element to climate change because they are
highly variable in effect - either reflecting or absorbing heat,
depending on their type and where they reside in the atmosphere. Their
overall contribution to climate change is not clear. (12/20/04)

more…