mckibben

Bill McKibben on whether 'the big brain' was a good adaptation:

http://www.thetakeaway.org/story/bill-mckibben-confronting-climate-change/

population

There is essentially no political will in this country to do anything about global warming. This is true of all but a handful of other countries as well. People are simply unwilling to accept higher prices for gasoline and heating oil, and anyway, we're supposedly on the verge of becoming the Saudi Arabia of oil and natural gas.

I'm thinking that population regulation is the way to go on this-- particularly the idea that people shouldn't have more than two children unless they have very, very good reasons for doing so (and religious 'go-forth-and-multiply' reasons don't qualify). I think this would seem reasonable to most people, and it would result in a gradually smaller human population. After all, if the human population of this planet were what it was in 1950-- about 2 billion-- global warming wouldn't be a problem at all.

voyager 1

We have left the Mother Ship.

http://www.space.com/22729-voyager-1-spacecraft-interstellar-space.html

ladee

NASA launches LADEE (Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environmental Explorer) to examine the Moon's 'exosphere' (extremely thin atmosphere), 9/6/13.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/video/nasa-launches-ladee-virginia-20186452?tab=9482931&section=1206833

politics

I see planetarians as people who are involved in their own national politics, but from the point of view of looking out for the well-being of the planet as a whole, including all its inhabitants.