Study: U.S. Trees Dying at Alarming Rate

This photo is from an essay in Time, about dying trees, published just about a year ago. It's pathetic that the same scientists quoted in the article haven't yet made the connection between tree decline and poisonous emissions, even though I've written to all of them so it's not like it's an alien notion. What charlatans! They are taking tax-payer money, ostensibly to protect us from toxins, and yet they blithely ignore the most existential threat to the human race in all time, which would be, crop failure from atmospheric toxins. Shame upon them! I'm talking about you, Nathan Stephenson!

Mongabay has published an analysis of the movie Avatar, which details the real-world exploitation of indigenous peoples by big corporations that steal natural resources through morally bankrupt and violent means.

In the "what is killing trees" department, today I found this article in Science Daily, which notes that there are huge increases in:

The substance HFC-23, or trifluoromethane, (which is) a byproduct of chlorodifluoromethane, or HCFC-22, a refrigerant in air conditioners and refrigerators and a starting material for producing heat and chemical-resistant products, cables and coatings.

After much searching for information about this alarming compound

(one pound of HFC-23 released into the atmosphere traps heat 14,800 times more effectively than one pound of carbon dioxide)

I eventually found this related report about emissions of that stuff from grocery store refrigerators, in the UK. It is clear that HFC-23 is increasing rapidly in atmospheric concentration, and that it is a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2 - but I can't find a single bit of research about what direct health impact, if any, it might have on humans or vegetation. It's truly amazing how willing we are to accept a potentially lethal product contamination into our environment without protest.

I suppose that shouldn't be any surprise, because the identical urge to ignorance is behind the utter lack of oversight on so many other chemicals and technological processes (like genetic modification) that are being spewed by profit-seeking industry into our food, water, and air, and even simple things like cosmetics.

Speaking of ignorance, here is a very funny essay on rampant human stupidity, with a scientific percentage of incidence -courtesy of our friend on the West Coast, RPauli!