Tom Toles for August 16, 2012

The reality is our nation’s aquifers have been in trouble for quite some time. The climate change, drought, etc, are only PART of the problem. Think “sun belt” growth, in deserts never meant to support the populations, and industries, we’ve sited there. It hasn’t just been “climate policy”, but those golf courses and “lifestyle” choices, made in ignorance, but highly profitable, for a very few.

Isn’t that one of them things that free market capitalism is supposed to solve?-Or maybe a tax cut for ‘small’ businesses, like Koch Industries.

I wish we could export some of that water from here where it oozes up from cracks in the roadways.

oh, well…

Water-Aid CharityGo to the paragraph that reads:“WaterAid uses practical solutions to provide clean water, safe sanitation and hygiene education to the world’s poorest people. We now work in 27 countries in Africa, Asia, the Pacific region and Central America.”Then go to “Select a country” and a drop-down menu appears; choose “New countries”; add U.S.A.Hopefully a few volunteers from countries that benefited from water aid will payback their help and pop round your neighbourhood to explain to you how to manage scarce resources.

Be careful what you wish for. You might just get it.

*It is all the EPA’s fault. Romney will make good at his promise to eliminate the EPA.

“The Tragedy of the Commons” certainly applies to this problem: www.dieoff.org/page95.htm

Blame it on the cows (and bulls)! All that bovine flatulence in the form of methane is destroying us!

For years now, people who lean towards the right politically have been saying that global warming is a hoax. The word hoax is closely related to the word fraud. A hoax originally begins as a scheme for someone to enrich himself or herself. Scientists have nothing to gain by publishing papers that either do or do not support the theory of global warming they are paid either way. That being said I am going to try to explain why some people dismissed the theory out of hand with no evidence. Specific neurons and neurotransmitters such as neuropinephrine trigger a defensive state of mind when one feels that their thoughts need to be protected from the influence of others. When confronted by people who have ideas that differ from their own chemicals are released that are the same chemicals that come into play when we feel our safety is in danger. In this state of mind, the more primitive part of our brain interferes with rational thinking, physically cussing narrow mindedness. This is how politicians use the state of fear to override rational thinking. When confronted with complicated ideas, some people react as though they are being threatened even if the offending opinion is supported by facts. I could go on for paragraphs on this subject but it would involve chemicals and neurological structures and that would boor most of you. In conclusion, the reason scientists are open minded is that new ideas do not threaten them. The reason that conservatives are narrow minded is because they try to preserve their self-esteem by being lazy and refusing to learn anything more than they learned in grade school.

The problem with our “policy” is that “conservatives” don’t want to conserve ANYTHING , but personal wealth for the top 1%. The “dittohead” component hasn’t paid attention to a single FACT about our impacts on the WORLD-WIDE environment. Now that China and India, combined nearly 1/2 the world’s population, are starting to produce slightly more than the U.S. in "problem waste byproducts, our tiny proportion of that population claims the “right” to be stupid, and ignore reality.

Where’s all the left wing outrage at Obama? Almost 4 years and nothing. Im sure you guys would’ve given Bush a pass too, riiiiight

I love how you talk about the economic structure of the Soviet Union like you know anything about it.