Thor's Hammer: democracy ignorance climate change biodiversity crisis

Sunday, December 5, 2010

What chance for democracy to deal with global biodiversity meltdown or climate change?

From Harper's Index December 2010:
** Chances that an American believes that Jesus Christ will return to earth by 2050: 2 in 5
** Chance that a U.S. Protestant knows who Martin Luther was: 1 in 2
** Chance that an American believes Ramadan is the Jewish day of atonement: 1 in 10

From earlier Harper's Index:
** Percentage of Americans that cannot name a country that borders on the Pacific: 32

Never mind that 32 percent of Americans live in a state that borders on the Pacific... (Thor exaggerates sometimes)

Harper's Index December 2010

Thor's Hammer

Tormod Vaaland Burkey loves animals. With a vengeance. He has struggled since childhood with the difficulties of saving endangered species, the natural world, the habitats of other species, and the beautiful places on earth, from the greed and stupidity of humans. He has a PhD in ecology and conservation biology from Princeton University. He is an environmental activist, a birder, a diver, and a sea kayaker, who longs to experience wildlife untrammeled by habitat degradation and persecution. He lives in a cabin on the banks of the river Glomma, in Norway, with “his” cat, Kitty, and writes for a diversity of outlets.