heat shock protein

what makes this so ridiculous, exactly? the article spends most of the text, as reflects the current discussions in this country, hemming and hawing about how people feel about this plan, neglecting entirely the more serious questions (which gore points out) of, what if we don't do this? and, even more importantly, what exactly has to be done? do we start ripping the gas tanks out of our cars and putting in little boxes that run on water, like japan? when do we get to bulldoze all the gas stations? can I stick a wind turbine in my backyard?

I spent some time along my trip talking to people about the energy problem, and got a range of factoids and opinions - windmills in europe are pretty, solar panels are expensive, only one person (besides me) thought that nuclear should be part of the solution, and we all generally agreed that ethanol is bad.

I don't know enough. I feel that the information is just not out there. it's incredibly common for me to pick up a magazine and read an article about another stunned scientist who can't believe how little sea ice there was this year, but I don't hear anything about major, far-reaching solutions (replacing lightbulbs would be perfect if all we did was sit around in well-lit rooms).* I remain extremely skeptical of the industries involved, especially automakers, and convinced that we could be so much farther ahead if invisible forces weren't holding us back.

most of this skepticism has come from films like who killed the electric car and also watching the incredible spectacle of bush administration wankers testifying in washington that they only modified NASA reports "according to procedure" or whatever the fuck their excuse is. it's so ridiculously apparent that james hansen has been pressured and silenced, who knows what else they've done?
then, other stories come along like the recent one about cheney and the EPA - the shady background somewhat revealed. I really feel that this man is responsible for 80% of the bad shit that's happened to us in the last eight years.

I'm not saying the media should go out and start pointing fingers (start getting outraged every ten minutes and, like keith olbermann, you will inevitably begin to look a little infantile and crazy), but the opacity of the capitalist media, which can be infuriating, might be life-threatening if it means we have no clue how these powers are permitting this environmental catastrophe.


*I did read this bizarre article in wired about shooting tons of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere to 'shade' the earth from the sun. first I thought this was a viable short-term solution - use this while we start the slow process of rehauling the entire energy infrastructure - but it does seem (and maybe this is influenced by my dad) that despite sophisticated prediction models, we don't know the effects this could have.