Ed O'Rourke
Op-ed Section

Globalization: The Race to the Bottom
May 2007· Free trade means no subsidies and no trade restrictions such as tariffs. The US maintains agricultural subsidies to mostly rich or corporate farmers and maintains agricultural tariffs, as if this were fair. The subsidies drive up the price of land making farming more capital-intensive. This has sad social and environmental effects. Small farmers sell out to larger farmers to obtain the capital gain. There is a heavier use of herbicides and fertilizers which takes its toll on the environment.

Climate Change: It Is Worse Than You Think
April 2007· There is a lot to be said for Joseph Romm’s Hell and High Water: Global Warming – The Solution and the Politics – And What We Should Do. Most of us have read several books about global warming. How is this book different or distinguishable from the rest? Romm’s description showing that things are worse than we think and his explanation of the reasons for the low acceptance of the global warming message are two outstanding contributions.

Petroleum Products Are Hazardous To Your Health
February 2007· A recent study by the University of Texas School of Public Health study shows a possible link between cancer risks and hazardous pollutants in Harris County.

Social Responsibility Amendment
January 2007· Ed O'Rourke gives his interpretation of Rabbi Michael Lerner's book "Left Hand of God" calling for a social responsibility amendment.

Decarbonization of the World’s Economy
December 2006·On October 30, 2006, Prime Minister Tony Blair put the entire weight of the British government into the mitigation of man-made climate change. Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer, commissioned an independent report from economist Sir Nicholas Stern to examine climate change and to make policy recommendations.

No More Conventional Coal Plants
November 2006·The governor’s proposed fast tract approval for coal-fired power plants will result in more global warming for the entire world. On October 30, 2006 Prime Minister Tony Blair put the weight of the British government into man-made climate mitigation, accepting global warming as a fact.

A New Way of Doing Things
October 2006· William McDonough and Michael Braungart call for manufacturing our goods in a totally different way by eliminating all toxic and harmful ingredients. After reading their book, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, I concluded that any product with toxic materials must have something like a Material Safety Data Sheet that list the harmful materials along with health effects. Prescription drugs have had an information sheet for a number of years.

Phase Out Nuclear
July 2006· The nuclear industry likes to brag about a safety record that does not exist. Sometimes radioactivity escapes the reactor or contaminated water spills. On any given day, there are two or three incidents at power plants throughout the country that are serious enough to report to the government.

Boycott ExxonMobil
July 2006· Please buy your gasoline from non-ExxonMobil filling stations until this company shows responsibility in its current practices and contribution to global warming. ExxonMobil presented a well-paid defense that scientists were still assessing global warming and that the jury was still out. In fact, the climatologists who publicly doubted global warming have one common trait: petrochemical companies directly or indirectly paid their consulting fees. This tiny minority of climotologists did not prepare papers that passed scientific muster, but talking points for petrochemical companies’ public relations departments.

A Hopeful Response to Global Warming
February 2006· The scientific consensus is that human activity is a major factor in global warming. In the December 2004 issue of Science, Naomi Oreskes presented an article, “Beyond The Ivory Tower: The Scientific Consensus On Climate Change.” She analyzed 928 abstracts published in selected scientific journals between 1993 and 2003, listed in the ISI database with the keywords, “climate change.” Remarkably, none of the papers disagreed with the consensus position.”

Stop Using Pesticides
January 2006·A number of sources (www.beyondpesticides.org and www.nopesticides.org ) state that pesticides do more harm than good. Children in families that use pesticides are 6.5 times more likely to get childhood leukemia than those who do not use pesticides. Research shows that a mere 1% of the pesticides applied to plant ever reaches its ultimate target, the bad bugs. The remaining 99% pollutes and poisons the soil, air, water, beneficial bugs, animals and eventually human beings.

Peak Oil’s Aftermath
November 2005· Because Houston, Texas in many respects is the “Oil Capitol of the World,” it particularly important for us to understand that we are approaching “peak oil” production worldwide. This means that sometime in the next 5 years that the annual production will hit an all time high and decline after that, no matter what resources are put into exploration and extraction.

A Wider Audience
September 2005·It is time for the environmental groups start looking for resources to take the message to a wider audience. Efforts until now have done some good. However, to make major changes in our society and to save mankind from extinction, most of the society has to be engaged.

Death of the American Dream
July 2005· The American Dream, which anyone can get ahead by diligence and hard work, is dead. The Working Poor by David Shipler and Nickled and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich depict the lives of people who with two jobs without benefits make just enough to get by or less.

Abrupt Climate Change
June 2006· Fortune Magazine carried a story in their January 26, 2004 issue about the possibility of abrupt climate change that ”would cause massive droughts, turning farmland to dust bowls and forests to ashes.” The story is based on an unclassified report that the Pentagon shared with Fortune. The news is the sources themselves, the Pentagon and Fortune, who have no reputation as tree huggers.