Survival Aids

Some interesting snippets, to help us make it through the century:

• An industrial-scale carbon-dioxide sponge. Once we actually stop emitting CO2, there remains the issue of reversing the already-extant problem. This might help.
• Glucose-based plastics take a step forwards.
• Microwave-based technique turns plastics back in to oil.
• Floating wind turbines. Opens up much larger areas of the sea to build wind farms on, out of sight from Nimbyite Kennedys.
• Nissan working on all-electric car for 2010?

And, for no particular reason, an interview with Kim Stanley Robinson. The last line of the interview really is the killer:

Humanity is sane, and can make use of its intelligence. We have to act as if this is true. That's the whole story of the 21st century: Are we a sane civilization or not?

Indeed. To rephrase it a bit more cruelly, the question is whether or not we're too stupid to continue living.