GOVERNMENTS often seem depressingly immune to good ideas that would spur the
rest of us into action. So we shouldn’t be too surprised to hear about the sad
fate of a plan drawn up by a senior British space scientist that could help save
lives and money next time a major flood or earthquake or forest fire strikes
(see p 4).
The proposal is to ring the globe with hundreds of small remote sensing
devices, designed to watch out for natural disasters and monitor their progress.
It was submitted to the British government three years ago, and has been…
