]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]] POTPOURRI [[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[ Compiled by Oleg Panczenko (2/16/1990) (Freeman 10602PANC) SECULAR THEOLOGY: THE MISSION OF ST CARL ------------------------ The Following is from Nature 343, 398 (1 February 1990): Sagan appeals to world religious leaders Boston Astronomer Carl Sagan and 22 other well-known researchers chose Moscow as the unlikely venue for an appeal to world religious leaders in protecting the global environment. The appeal came at a recent conference on the environment and economic development which attracted over a thousand religious, political and scientific leaders from 83 nations. Ironically, Sagan traveled to the officially atheist Soviet Union to announce ``a religious as well as a scientific dimension'' to the problems of global change. Even more remarkable, the conference was sponsored by both the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Russian Orthodox Church. The appeal states that ``efforts to safeguard and cherish the environment need to be infused with a vision of the sacred.'' Among those who have given their backing are physicist Hans Bethe, evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould and former MIT president Jerome Weisner. The appeal certainly reached a global audience. It, and other parts of he five-day conference, were the first ever to be televised with satellite time provided jointly by the East and West communications networks Intersputnik and Intelsat and reached an estimated audience of 2,000 million people in 129 countries. Later at the conference, more than 100 religious leaders joined to hail the scientists; appeal as ``a unique moment and opportunity in the relationship of science and religion''. Seth ShulmanENERGY: CAPITALISTS HAVE THE SPINES OF BANANAS ------------------ Nicolae Ceausescu knew how much electricity people really needed. Too bad he's dead. The Following is from Nature 343, 399 (1 February 1990): Utilities see the green light San Francisco California's electric-power companies are making friends with their long-time enemies in environmental and consumer-protection groups and discovering the surprising fact that there may be money in not generating electricity -- or at least no more than is really needed. In a new scheme proposed last week, cash rewards would be paid to consumers adopting energy-efficient technologies. The utilities see energy efficiency benefiting them because they will have to invest less capital in new power plants and purchase less electricity from alternate sources. The plan brings together most of California's big electric-power companies, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the consumer organization Toward Utility Rate Normalization (TURN), as well as industry trade associations and government agencies. In submitting the plan to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for consideration, backers claimed that a $500-million investment over the next two years would result in savings of more than $1,000 million. Rewards would go both to the small and the large: Pacific Gas and Electric, the largest US electric utility, talks of rebates of up to $100 for the purchase of energy-efficient refrigerators and air conditioners, $15,000 for commercial customers installing more efficient equipment and $300,000 for large industrial customers building plants using the latest energy-saving technology. Participants stress that the plan is not yet finalized. Each utility has outlined different means of achieving its energy-conservation goals and redistributing the cost savings to shareholders and ratepayers. By the end of March, CPUC is expected to establish several test studies to determine which are more efficient. Robert Buderi THE GREENHOUSE: WE NEED THAT CO2 BLANKET! ----------------------- The Following is from Nature 343, 404 (1 February 1990): Sir -- The study of the oxygen-18 content of the CaCO3 shells of marine organisms by, for example, Emiliani (Science 202, 627; 1978) has shown convincingly that we are living at the zenith of the present Interglacial. The presence of an atmospheric CO2 blanket should therefore be considered as a blessing for the coming 50,000 years. A.J. Rutgers Antw. Steenw. 915, 9040 Oostakker, Belgium FEMINISH: LET'S ENCOURAGE THIS AMONG FEMINISTS ------------------ The Following is from Nature 343, 497 (8 February 1990): Sex selection continues in Maharastra Bangalore Legislative attempts to prevent the selective abortion of female fetuses in India's western state of Maharastra have failed, according to an Indian pressure group, the Forum against Sex Determination and Sex Pre-Selection. In 1988, Maharastra enacted India's strictest legislation on the issue, banning the use of amniocentesis for fetal sex determination. But the political will needed to implement the act has failed to materialize and nationwide legislation on the misuse of medical techniques in sex-selective abortion is still lacking. The Maharastra act lays down detailed procedures for complaints. But in a recent test case, the forum found it was impossible to get the government to take action against a clinic that advertised sex determination services. Radhakrishna Rao ANIMAL RIGHTS: FROM THE ASS'S MOUTH ----------------------------- Richard D. Ryder introduced the word `speciesism' in his book Victims of Science (1975), where he drew parallels with it and racism. This crank has now written another book, Animal Revolution: Changing Attitudes Towards Speciesism (Basil Blackwell, 1989). RULE BY EXPERTS: GOOD ENOUGH FOR US, GOOD ENOUGH FOR THEM ------- From David Asman, ``Panama's Hong Kong Vision'', The Wall Street Journal, 15 February 1990, p. A14:3: In 1965 U.S. Marines invaded and occupied the Dominican Republic. While many Dominicans criticized the invasion itself, few objected to a second invasion: the landing of economists sent in by the U.S. Agency for International Development to ``restructure'' the country's economy. Restructure they did, and the result became the foundation for a highly regulated economy -- one that has led to huge public-se Go;n deficits, entrenched do-nothing bureaucrats, a price-regulated market and the arrest for corruption of many top bureaucrats, including a former president. EMPLOYER'S RIGHTS: YOU MUST BE JOKING! -------------------------- An interesting article is David Orentlicher, ``Genetic Screening by Employers'', Journal of the American Medical Association 263, 1005, 1008 (16 February 1990). GREENHOUSE: WHO'S AN EXPERT? ------------------------------------ Stephen H. ``Greenhouse'' Schneider's PhD is in Mechanical Engineering (Columbia University, 1971), according to American Men and Women of Science, 1989-90. * * *
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