Word: controllers
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...really bad news is that most of the planet's 6 billion people are just beginning to follow in the trash-filled footsteps of the U.S. and the rest of the developed world. "Either we need to control ourselves or nature will," says Gary Liss of Loomis, Calif., a veteran of recycling and solid-waste programs who advises clients aiming to reduce landfill deposits. As he sees it, garbage--maybe every last pound of it--needs to become a vile thing of the past...
...million total species, even though we still deeply rely on at least 40,000 species for food, shelter, clothing and fuel. We rely on natural products to replenish genetic diversity in our crops and to produce new medicines. We rely on pristine ecosystems to replenish oxygen, regulate water cycles, control erosion, cycle essential nutrients and restock critical fisheries. We still need these things to sustain life--our life. The irony is that our rampant success in living outside the world's ecosystems has put them all, and thus ourselves, in jeopardy...
...atmosphere by human activity, because how we will respond to the threat of climate warming is the greatest imponderable of all. We can probably develop technologies to deal with excess carbon--some scientists talk about removing it from smokestacks and stashing it underground--but the most direct way to control carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is not to put it there in the first place. This is the point of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol--signed by 84 nations but not ratified by the U.S. Senate--which would limit developed countries' carbon emissions from cars, power plants and other major users...
...more and more people flock to the backcountry, habitat for native plants and wildlife is inevitably compromised. To safeguard natural habitat, it becomes necessary for government agencies to exercise intervention and control. Inevitably, and justifiably, strict limits are placed on backcountry use. Camping, hiking, boating, hunting, fishing and climbing are restricted. Campfires are forbidden. Dogs must be leashed or are simply banished altogether. In the mountains above the Colorado city where I make my home, dog owners are now required by law to collect their pets' excrement and carry it out. In a growing number of places, as previously mentioned...
TOMORROW: Prosthetics wired directly to motor portions of the brain to improve control and simulate the sensations of touch, pain...