Here’s your Daily Digest for Wednesday Jan. 18:
More than 1 million signatures have been gathered by opponents of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to force a recall election, according to the Star Tribune. That&undefined;s 460,000 more votes than needed to force an election this summer. Lt. Gov. Rebbecca Kleefisch and four Republican state senators are also the target of a recall election, which the Strib refers to as “total recall.” (Which happens to be my favorite movie based on Mars.) Meanwhile, Walker attacked his union opponents, telling Fox News that, “The real bottom line is, the national unions want their hands on the money,” according to Politico. Political observers expect an election sometime during the summer.
The New York Times has an interesting piece on findings from the journal Science on how to curb global warming that doesn’t strictly rely on using less fossil fuels. “After looking at hundreds of ways to control these pollutants, the researchers determined the 14 most effective measures for reducing climate change, like encouraging a switch to cleaner diesel engines and cookstoves, building more efficient kilns and coke ovens, capturing methane at landfills and oil wells, and reducing methane emissions from rice paddies by draining them more often. If these practices became widespread, researchers say, the impact would be far greater than what is currently projected with currently-proposed measures. The Earth’s temperature could be reduced by one degree Fahrenheit by 2050.
Animal lovers and bear enthusiasts, look away. Alaska is expanding its “intensive management” policies against bears and wolves in the state by removing a historical prohibition on aerial gunning of bears and opening up more opportunities for snaring by wildlife officials, according to the Los Angeles Times. The move is prompted by worries over a declining moose and caribou population. But the National Park Service is worried that these methods could be used in wildlife refuge areas, and others argue that snaring animals is not humane.
