Playitbackward

climateadaptation:

The head of the CIA has resigned because penis. Here’s a bit about the CIA’s very secretive climate change program.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the CIA has been very close-mouthed—even for, you know, the CIA—about its work on climate change. Republican Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming tried to kill funding for the center earlier this year, and conservatives—who increasingly discount the reality of global warming—have expressed skepticism about the CIA’s climate work. It’s a rule every spy should know—when the heat is coming, keep your head down and stay out of sight.

The problem is that such the CIA’s environmental intelligence gathering has little value if it’s not being shared—not a single document has been issued, and the agency insists on classifying much of its material classified. And that secrecy means the agency itself, by virtue of its isolation, is missing out on the latest science.

Read more: TIME

playitforwards:

His bedroom stinks; my crazy uncle Max,
of misspent dreams; of ships and ceiling wax,
I visit him; again this time of year,
I bring him life; he greedily appears,

“You’ll stay this time”; my crazy uncle prays,
”it suits you here; you’re free for all your days,”
I drop my papers; flutter to the floor,
He shuts my eyes; “These will trouble you no more,”

How long I stay; I really know not how, 
My past life haze; we’re using his eyes now,
We sit and muse; our patience is a must,
I’ll work no more—we’re making diamonds from the dust.

climateadaptation:

Solid reporting on this one.

Superweeds, Superpests: The Legacy of Pesticides

“The rapid adoption of a single weed-killer for the vast majority of crops harvested in the United States has given rise to superweeds and greater pesticide use, a new study suggests. And while crops engineered to manufacture an insect-killing toxin have reduced the use of pesticides in those fields, the emergence of newly resistant insects now threatens to reverse that trend.

Farmers spray the herbicide glyphosate, widely sold under the Monsanto brand Roundup, on fields planted with seeds that are genetically engineered to tolerate the chemical. Found in 1.37 billion acres of corn, soybeans, and cotton planted from 1996 through 2011, this “Roundup Ready” gene was supposed to reduce or eliminate the need to till fields or apply harsher chemicals, making weed control simple, flexible, cheap, and less environmentally taxing.

In fact, this system has led farmers to use a greater number of herbicides in higher volumes, according to the study, published this week in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Sciences Europe.”

NYTimes

Hmmm —- I should post this to my relatives in Kansas.