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Another favourite trick in the Netherlands (which is what I'm guessing you're posting about) is to have two bicycle lanes marked on both sides, leaving a normal road that would normally be too small for two cars to pass. This causes cars to drive in the center of the road, forcing them to drive more slowly:

http://www.brommerenscooterrij...

Another idea is that of a "shared space", having motorist mingle with pedestrians and bicyles, again forcing them to slow down:

https://www.allianz.com/v_1428...

What GP is ignoring is (1) that speed enforcement doesn't really work most of the time on smaller roads, as the proportion of cops to small roads will always be low, and (2) that speed enforcement itself causes people to drive in certain ways (braking when they see cop/radar,

None of these "environmental engineering" solutions will be a panacea: some will work in some conditions, but not in all. For example, the jury is still out on the new "shared space" between Amsterdam central railway station and ferry terminal. Ultimately, the question of what solution to use should not be political, but empirical: given a set of road conditions, what is the design that optimizes safety (or throughput, or speed, or whatever you want to optimize --- which is a political question).

How about we look at what happened last time the earth 'suffered' increased insolation? The Sahara was green. Offhand I can't find the research article I wanted, but turns out the Sahara greened up during every warm period. Anyway, a couple links as a starter kit:

http://knowledge.allianz.com/e...

http://news.nationalgeographic...

Since it's far more arid in the Middle East, the use of dung for fuel was more obvious due to dried dung being a common thing to find laying around. Where as in Europe, which is far wetter, seeing green things sprout up in dung in the Spring was more easily observed.

Not true. 8000 years ago was smack dab in the middle of the middle of the ‘African Humid Period’.

Much of north Africa and ME countries were much wetter, and much more lush in prior times, beginning 12,000 years ago and lasting until 3,500 years ago. There is no way civilization would have begun in a middle east as arid as it is now, let alone flourished.

Germany's Declining Birthrate

10 FACTS ABOUT DEMOGRAPHICS IN GERMANY

01. Germany has the world's 14th largest population, but by 2050, it is expected to have only the world's 26th largest.

02. Around 165,000 Germans moved abroad in 2007. Favorite destinations included Switzerland (20,000 people), the United States (14,000), Poland (10,000), and Austria (10,000).

03. The average age of German women having their first child (29 years old) is the highest in Europe.

04. By next year, 2009, an estimated 390,000 empty residences will have been torn down in eastern Germany since 1990.

05. With current birthrates and without immigration, Germany's population would drop to 24 million people by 2100.

06. An estimated 37 percent of the German population will be 60 and older by 2050.

07. The largest numbers of foreign citizens living in Germany come from Turkey (1.7 million), Italy (528,000), and Poland (384,000).

08. An average of 120,000 people per year become naturalized German citizens. The biggest countries of former citizenships are Turkey, Serbia, and Poland. Around 800,000 people of Turkish origin are German citizens.

09. Around 96 percent of Germany's over 15 million people with a "migration background" - immigrants and their descendants - live in the former West Germany or Berlin. They make up around 40 percent of the populations of the western cities of Stuttgart and Frankfurt.

10. Germany's annual average ratio of 8 births per 1,000 inhabitants is the world's lowest. The world's highest ratios are in Mali and Niger, both with over 49 births per 1,000 people.

http://knowledge.allianz.com/en/globalissues/demographic_profiles/germany/germany_demographic_profile.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=immigration%20germany&utm_campaign=Allianz%20Knowledge%20-%20Demographic%20Profile%20Germany

And:

New immigrants face prejudices and problems integrating with the native population and often segment into separate communities.[8]. Higher rates of delinquency and more general integration problems persist amongst some migrant groups. Notwithstanding police operations focusing on this matter, migrants may still be subject to racist assaults mainly in rural areas or small towns in former East Germany.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_issues_in_Germany

On July 31st The Climate Group convened a 'Climate and Energy Roundtable' bringing together 14 CEOs, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to discuss how business and government could accelerate the deployment of clean energy and clean technologies and facilitate the necessary transition to a low carbon economy. With BP as the host, the historic event took place in a large tent cooled using biodiesel fuel at a BP facility at the Port of Long Beach.

Those seated at the table included Lord Browne, BP; Chad Holliday, DuPont; Tom King, PG Richard Branson, Virgin; California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, Mike Morris, AEP; Sergey Brin, Google; and James Murdoch, British Sky Broadcasting.

http://knowledge.allianz.com/nopi_downloads/downloads/Leadership%20Statement%20on%20Climate%20Action.pdf

Just another hypocrite.

Personally, I'm an Anthropogenic Global Warming skeptic, but I see this as an opportunity for the little guy to get screwed again. Let's just wait for a 10% carbon tax to go on plane tickets. Private planes - no chance of a tax there...