The Environmental Literacy Council

Paul 03244 observes: "Ever wondered what causes red tides, and how long they have been a concern for seafood lovers? You can find answers to these & other environmental questions at the The Environmental Literacy Council's website. The site's front page has links to background information on topics of current interest, such as mad cow disease, mercury, world population in 2300, predicting seasonal climate, wild fires in southern California, Sunstorm 2003, World Parks Congress 2003, Iraq, and advances in ocean science."

"The ELC defines 'environmental literacy' as that which 'requires a fundamental understanding of the systems of the natural world, the relationships and interactions between the living and non-living environment, and the ability to deal sensibly with problems that involve scientific evidence, uncertainty, and economic, aesthetic, and ethical considerations.'

The Environmental Literacy Council's website has sections devoted to Air & Climate, Land, Water, Ecosystems, Energy, Food, and Environment & Society. The website also has sections geared toward the environmental education needs of teachers and students.

BTW, red tides are caused by algae blooms & have been happening for a long time."

Margin for error?

[Toxygen]

If you looked at some of the numbers from the article, they state also their best and worst case scenarios, with a range between 2.2 billion and 134 trillion. I dunno about the rest of you, but that doesn't seem to me to be any sort of reliable basis for such a prediction. You may as well play darts blindfolded if you put any kind of faith in these numbers.

Re:Margin for error?

[Toxygen]

For the world population projections I meant. whoops.

My kingdom for an edit button!

The Butterfly Effect

[Anonymous Coward]

The basis of Chaos Theory is that small things can have unforeseen (and large) effects.
A tiny virus killed more people than did WWI (The 1918 Influenza pandemic).

gewg_

funded by the far Right and oil money

[Mr. Slippery]

The ELC's main funding comes from the Sarah Scaife Foundation and the John M. Olin Foundation. [mediatransparency.org]

The Scaife Foundations are financed by the Mellon family fortune (from industrial, oil, and banking business) [mediatransparency.org]:

At one time, its largest single holding was stock in Gulf Oil Corporation. It was estimated some years ago to be a $200 million foundation. It became active in supporting conservative causes in 1973, when Richard Mellon Scaife became chairman. Since then, Scaife has been a leading financier of New Right causes. He controls not one -- but three (the Scaife, Carthage, and Allegheny) -- conservative family foundations. The Sarah Scaife Foundation is considered to be one of the top four conservative foundations.

The John M. Olin Foundation grew out of a family chemical and munitions manufacturing business, and funds right-wing think tanks like the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation.

So if you want a source that's biased to industry and to the right wing, the ELC would be a good choice.

The bias is well and subtly crafted; for example, they state "A number of environmental problems are attributed to our reliance on fossil fuels, yet increased use of energy is a primary signal that a country is developing a higher standard of living" - the unspoken connotation being that conservation and efficency is a reduction in living standards.

Burn the Heretics!

[Detritus]

The foul minions of the VRWC are spreading lies, distortions, and falsehoods, attacking the foundations and orthodoxies of the one true faith.

Re:Burn the Heretics!

[ndinsil]

Well, in this case the sin of omission is that although energy use and standard of living *do* correlate for the many countries of the world, it's a loose correlation. In particular, the economic efficiency (measured in units like GDP per BTU consumed) can vary tremendously. In fact, high levels of energy consumption but low efficiency is a characteristic of developing countries like Kuwait, Argentina, India, or (tellingly) the USA. Increased efficiency producing higher GDPs from lower energy consumption ch