This is the season when every environmental group to whom we’ve contributed, the NWF, WS, Sierra Club, and others, send appeals for more funds. If you have ever contributed to these groups, you’ve no doubt been approached to join the Global Warming Crusade. Will this crusade become America’s Fourth Great Awakening? The First Awakening fostered […]

Last week at the UN’s global warming meeting in Indonesia, polar bear costumed activists passed out huge pieces of cake. They were celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions. I wonder if they understand how their obsessive focus on Kyoto as the “only solution” hinders progress? […]

I am writing this during Hanukkah, a minor religious holiday in the Jewish religion. Here it has become a Jewish analogue to the Christmas celebrations for they (usually) share the traditional American holiday season. In both traditions, the giving of gifts is customary, although among many Jews gift giving is for children and religious freedom […]

“Taboo” is a word associated with anthropology. If something is “taboo,” it may not be used, eaten, or discussed due to cultural, rather than legal, prohibitions. Cultural taboos create some tension when they constrain inquiry. However, they continue to survive in the academic, intellectual, and scientific worlds. Although I studied anthropology as a grad student, […]