Bird’s-Eye: Bad things can happen when you drive through a stop sign, and sometimes they’re a lot worse than just getting nailed with a traffic ticket. We seem to be doing that a lot these days. Here we look at three examples of global stop signs: the first is our warming of the planet, the second our over-reliance on antibiotics, the third our suburb-based urban design. As Marshall McLuhan famously observed, “Nothing is inevitable, so long as we are willing to contemplate what is happening.” That underlines the importance of starting to pay attention to those stop signs.

* Who Cooked the Planet? Paul Krugman The New York Times

Never say that the gods lack a sense of humor. I bet they’re still chuckling on Olympus over the decision to make the first half of 2010 — the year in which all hope of action to limit climate change died — the hottest such stretch on record.

So why didn’t climate-change legislation get through the Senate? Let’s talk first about what didn’t cause the failure, because there have been many attempts to blame the wrong people. First of all, we didn’t fail to act because of legitimate doubts about the science…. Nor is this evidence tainted by scientific misbehavior. …Did reasonable concerns about the economic impact of climate legislation block action? No.

So it wasn’t the science, the scientists, or the economics that killed action on climate change. What was it? The answer is, the usual suspects: greed and cowardice.

* Are You Ready For A World Without Antibiotics? The Guardian

Just 65 years ago, David Livermore’s paternal grandmother died following an operation to remove her appendix. It didn’t go well, but it was not the surgery that killed her. She succumbed to a series of infections that the pre-penicillin world had no drugs to treat. Welcome to the future.

The era of antibiotics is coming to a close. In just a couple of generations, what once appeared to be miracle medicines have been beaten into ineffectiveness by the bacteria they were designed to knock out. Once, scientists hailed the end of infectious diseases. Now, the post-antibiotic apocalypse is within sight.

* We Have Allowed Developers To Rob Us Of Our Village Green George Monbiot   The Guardian

Build loose suburbs carved up by busy roads and without green spaces and you help to create a population of fat, lonely people plagued by criminals. Build dense, leafy settlements with mixed uses, protected from traffic, and you help to create safe, fit and friendly communities.