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 Opinion A call to actionIf the CSIRO's latest climate report is not to become Australia's epitaph then our country must live up to its global responsibilities, and the following actions are required.  Why organic food can't feed the worldRecent studies have re-visited the idea that organic methods of agriculture would be sufficient to feed the world – but they are flawed because of naïveté about agriculture in developing nations.  Biodiversity needs a global monitorWith a growing global extinction crisis, we need a mechanism like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to put conservation into action.  Eternal frontierGoing into space may be one of the best things we can do to save our world, and ourselves.  Time to end loophole 'scientific' whalingThe International Whaling Commission has become increasingly dysfunctional. Australia and New Zealand should now use international law to prosecute Japan for 'scientific whaling'.  No more climate distractionsIt's time to move beyond squabbles over science as espoused by The Great Global Warming Swindle documentary, and move on to tackling the government policies needed to address climate change.  Is humanity suicidal?Is humanity suicidal? Eminent U.S. zoologist and author, E.O. Wilson, first asked himself that question more than a decade ago. And today?  Climate pornHeadlines scream of rising seas and violent weather, the terrifying upshot of human-caused climate change. But are such dire predictions scaring the public into cowering inaction?  Silent numbersWe need a new way of measuring a nation's progress - GDP just doesn't cut it, argues Peter Cosier, a director of the Australia's Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists.  Beam him up, Scotty!The world needs an icon to rekindle our flagging fascination with manned spaceflight - and Captain Kirk should step up to the plate.  Turning down the heatThe debate over global warming may have ended, but the conflict over how to cut emissions rages on. And those who are seeking a cure-all will be disappointed.  Stem cells: the costs of not cloningAustralia's Senate has voted to legalise therapeutic cloning. As the debate moves to the House of Representatives, we would do well to remember the USA in 1977: the technology accepted then has saved lives.  False dawn of solar powerWind and solar power are enormously appealing as planet-friendly sources of energy - but those who think we can completely rely on them in the future are dreaming.  Setting science back by decadesExperimentation, not politics and polemics, is the only way to truly resolve scientific debates. Those that think otherwise shouldn't be believed - even if they're scientists.  Write and wrongComputers may make our lives easier and boost economic productivity, but their impact on the beauty of the written word has been negative. 
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