“Our thesis is that there is no moral requirement to refrain from emitting reasonable amounts of greenhouse gases (GHGs) solely in order to enjoy oneself. Joyriding in a gas guzzler (joyguzzling) provides our paradigm example” – explain Ewan Kingston and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong of the Philosophy Department, Duke University, Durham, NC, US, in a new paper […]
Tag: global warming
The (carbon) footprints of criminals (new study)
A news release from the University of Surrey, UK, draws attention to the first study to have systematically assessed the carbon footprint of UK crimes. The research team found that :- “[…] crime committed in 2011 in England and Wales gave rise to over 4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents. Burglary resulted in the […]
Cow Catalyser Combats Climate Change (new patent)
Although hydrocarbon-burning factories and power stations belching CO2 might be first spring to mind when considering greenhouse-gas emissions, some say another kind of belching, from cows, causes even more damage. A newly patented (1st Dec. 2015) invention from Caldeira et al., entitled ‘Treatment of ruminant exhalations’ suggest that cows’ methane-loaded exhalations might be mitigated if […]
Global Warming and the Boston Marathon, Scientificalistically
Global warming will and/or will not affect many things. The 2013 Boston Marathon happens next Monday, April 14. This study implies that global warming will and/or will not measurably affect the results: “Effects of Warming Temperatures on Winning Times in the Boston Marathon,” Abraham J. Miller-Rushing, Richard B. Primack [pictured here], Nathan Phillips, Robert K. Kaufmann, […]
Ig Nobel winner Pat Robertson makes another prediction
Pat Robertson, who shared the 2011 Ig Nobel Prize in mathematics, has made a new prediction, this time about climate change. Robertson won his Ig Nobel for predicting the world would end in 1982, thus (eventually) teaching the world to be careful when making mathematical assumptions and calculations. His co-winners each made their own erroneous predictions […]
Joe Barton: lessons for scientists
US Congressman Joe Barton, in an interview on C-SPAN, patiently explained that most scientists don’t do science the way he does. Here are two of Barton’s many notable observations. Hear them and more in the entire interview (the numbers indicate when in the interview you can hear him give these lessons): 3:12: If we have […]
Windowspotting
In the June 28, 2008 issue of BMJ (the publication formerly known as the British Medical Journal) Barrie Smith, a retired physician from Birmingham, describes—though he does not name—a new form of the grand British tradition of otting. The proper name for it is obvious to anyone who reads Dr. Smith’s description: windowspotting. The best […]