She's right, you know. I've done my bit.

David

One more point. The journal of Jacob Roggeveen, the Dutch sea captain and first European to discover Easter Island (in 1722), says that the island was "destitute of trees". Of course, it is possible that a few trees were still hanging on in some isolated spot, so weren't technically extinct, but this is pretty good evidence that the island was already substantially deforested before Europeans ever got there.

Divergence - actually Diamond's errors in the collapse book are legion. As I said before, read the chapter on Australia. For anyone who know something about Aus his remarks on our constitutiona dn history are a hoot. The man didn't bother to research it at all. As for the rats, sorry but Hunt's work would trump his. He may well have simply invented the bit about burnt stumps.. and there are all the other problems with the supposed evidence about a collapse in the middle ages..
As I said before he's in the nutter category.. if Science has put him in, that Science's problem, not ours..

The most interesting development in electric vehicles at present is with motorcycles. e.g.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/10/brammo-enertia-plus.html

The lighter weight means that batteries are currently good enough to make them a viable alternative. Currently the main risk to lighter vehicles is the heavier vehicles on the road. Up the petrol price enough and the reduction in tanks on the road will make it safer.

jared diamond is a Prof. of Physiology and a Prof. of geography and of Environmental Health Sciences

he has also written some books including; The Third Chimpanzee,Why is sex fun and Gun,Germs and Steel

he also has a Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction and is the ONLY two-time winner of the Science Book Prize

the broad range of the disciplines he covers - linguistics,genetics,animal behaviour,molecular biology and others - caused a reviewer to write, '"Jared Diamond" is suspected of actually being the pseudonym for a committee of experts'

he also speaks 12 languages

obviously a nutter

Don't worry about it kiwichick, curmudgeon (Mark Lawson) is quite often apt to describe anyone who he doesn't agree with in terms of mental illness.

Jared Diamond, well published scientist, author and winner of numerous medals and awards such as the Archie Carr Medal, the Skeptics Society Randi Award, National Medal of Science and Dickson Prize in Science just to name a few....writes one book Mark doesn't agree with (because it crosses his politics) => nutter

Professor Zhou Qiulin of the Third Institute of Oceanography of State Oceanic Administration (China), makes a statement about sea levels in a lecture at Peking university....=> ‘a right, raving nutter’ who ‘deserves to be locked up’.

And pretty much anyone who believes the IPCC is a ‘lunatic’, it's in the title of his book: A Guide to Climate Change Lunacy.