From Business Week, an article on the real costs of saving the planet: Critics say limiting carbon emissions could cost trillions. But a new study suggests the costs are much lower; and a look at an example of the tricks in the climate debate. From Grist, a review of Newt Gingrich's A Contract With the Earth. The other greenhouse gases: Is methane really worse for the environment than carbon dioxide? Green House vs. Greenhouse: To save the environment, imitate mobile homes and go pre-fab. We can disguise environmentally harmful practices and dress them up in words to help ease our consciences, but such practices will have a negative impact on the planet and the quality of life of future generations, no matter how we label them. The head of the world’s top scientific body on climate change, Rajendra Pachauri, has been thrust into the global spotlight after his Nobel win. From NYRB, will slower population growth stop global warming? Allen Schill and Bill McKibben debate; and where wonders await us: Tim Flannery reviews The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss by Claire Nouvian and The Silent Deep: The Discovery, Ecology and Conservation of the Deep Sea by Tony Koslow. Cold comfort in the Arctic: In September this year, novelist Vikram Seth travelled to the depths of the north polar region as part of an expedition by Cape Farewell, a charity that brings artists and scientists face to face with the effects of climate change. People living in the western Arctic are already getting a taste of the nightmares to come for coastal communities around the world if temperatures increase, sea levels continue to rise and summer ice disappears. Hey, what about us? The plight of polar bears may get most of the attention, but plenty of other species, from walrus and seals to one-celled specks, are also going to see their world change radically. Here's a map of Antarctica, but sliced differently. Today, countries battle for a piece of the Arctic. Tomorrow? The Moon.
