At Conference on the Risks to Earth, Few Are Optimistic

August 25, 2008

Source: New York Times — Aug 23, 2008

At a conference on global risks like cyberterrorism, climate change, nuclear weapons and the world’s lagging energy supply, participants were not particularly optimistic.

They presented data showing that the boom in biofuels was depleting Southeast Asian rain forests, that “bot herders” — computer hackers for hire — were hijacking millions of computers, and that the lack of progress over handling nuclear waste was both hampering the revival of nuclear energy and adding to terrorism risks.