Archive for 2006

Pollution From Chinese Coal Casts a Global Shadow

Sunday, June 11th, 2006

Those who naively think recycling their garbage and driving a little less is going to help solve the world’s pollution and climate change problems haven’t the remotest idea how big and intractable the problems really are. Lester R. Brown in his book, Plan B – Rescuing a Planet under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble :arrow: , said that nothing less than a reorganization of how we do things equivalent to the mobilization the U.S. underwent as we changed our economy over to a war-time footing at the outbreak of WWII, will be enough. And this ‘reorganization’ of how we do things needs to be global if it is to have a chance of succeeding. Contrast that with the foot dragging going on here in the U.S. with regard to even recognizing that there is a Global Climate Crisis. And contrast it with the likelihood that we can talk the billions in China and India into giving up their long held ambitions to live just like we do here in America. No, friends, if someone says things are desperate, they’re not exaggerating – not by half.

Unless China finds a way to clean up its coal plants and the thousands of factories that burn coal, pollution will soar both at home and abroad. The increase in global-warming gases from China’s coal use will probably exceed that for all industrialized countries combined over the next 25 years, surpassing by five times the reduction in such emissions that the Kyoto Protocol seeks.

(note: the NY TImes requires a signup to read its on-line version but it is free and painless)

The Science of Being

Saturday, June 10th, 2006

This is one of the clearer things I’ve ever read on the relationship of spirit and physical existence:

Traditional knowledge informs us that there are fundamental Laws according to which the entire Universe is made manifest.

This Universe, in turn, is composed of many ‘Worlds’ which could be said to be ‘nested’ at vastly varying levels within and among each other. In this respect an order of greater materiality develops along with the ‘descent’ toward Worlds of a ‘lower’ or ‘denser’ scale; reciprocally a ‘lightening’ occurs with the ‘ascent’ toward ‘higher’ or ‘finer’ Worlds. With this condensing of materiality that occurs as we approach Worlds of a lower order, there is a corresponding ‘condensation’ of the Laws regulating their existence. Thus it can be said that Worlds of differing levels will be subject to a correspondingly greater or lesser number of Laws—those of the Primary order as well as all laws corresponding to Secondary and Tertiary, etc. orders of existence inclusively.

The Purpose Driven Life Takers – Repost !!!

Friday, June 9th, 2006

I originally posted this story, which first appeared on the Talk To Action blog, and then took it down after I received a Comment from Layman of the Christian Cadre that the story was inaccurate.

Now, Talk To Action has responded to Layman’s points and I find that the original story was credible so I’m going to put the entire four part series from Talk To Action up here for you to read and decide.

To my way of thinking, this sort of stuff is exactly what’s wrong with folks who take their religious beliefs to extremes – regardless of what faith they are. Personally, I think the historical Jesus would have judged this stuff ‘pretty stinky’.

The series:

The Purpose Drive Life Takers (Part 1)

Violent Video Marketed Through Mega-Churches (Part 2)

Revelation and Resignations (Part 3)

Christian Cadre’s Layman: ‘A Whopper of Being Wrong’ (Part 4)

Big crater seen beneath ice sheet

Sunday, June 4th, 2006

What appears to be a 480km-wide (300 miles) crater has been detected under the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. The scientists behind the discovery say it could have been made by a massive meteorite strike 250 million years ago.

The feature at Wilkes Land was found by Nasa satellites that are mapping subtle differences in the Earth’s gravity.

Steep dive in albatross numbers

Sunday, June 4th, 2006

Albatrosses on islands in the South Atlantic are being pushed to the brink of extinction, according to research.

Book – Rare Earth

Sunday, June 4th, 2006

We may be rarer than we think 

An assumption drilled into most of us by popular science fiction is that the stars are full of planets similar to Earth and that someday, we will learn how to travel between the stars and colonize them. For us then, a new and infinitely large frontier will open up and we will be able to escape the limitations and the mistakes we’ve made here on the planet which birthed our species.

This book should be required reading for folks on all sides of the ecology debates. It indicates that our future frontier may not exist and we will have to live here forever with the consequences of our thoughtlessness.

Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe by Peter D. Ward and Donald Brownlee

A debate on this subject

A book review:

Human Flu Transfers May Exceed Reports

Sunday, June 4th, 2006

One piece in the ‘Perfect Storm’ puzzle currently assembling itself is the Pandemic Piece. As human populations become denser, the probability that an extremely virulent bug will decimate us grows. Normally, bugs with such virulence kill their hosts before they can propagate to their next host and, in effect, their own virulence limits their ability to spread. But, as our populations grow denser, the probability also grows that such bugs will be able to spread from host to host quickly enough to survive.

In the wake of a cluster of avian flu cases that killed seven members of a rural Indonesian family, it appears likely that there have been many more human-to-human infections than the authorities have previously acknowledged.

The numbers are still relatively small, and they do not mean that the virus has mutated to pass easily between people a change that could touch off a worldwide epidemic. All the clusters of cases have been among relatives or in nurses who were in long, close contact with patients.

Full article:

An Inconvient Truth – Movie Review

Saturday, June 3rd, 2006

The part of the review, below, that I’ve highlighted is, to me, the strangest part of all of this; that so much hard science exists and people still don’t know due to obfuscation from the oil and coal industries.  Ross Gelbspan called this a ‘Crime against humanity’ in his book, Boiling Point.  I agree.

The environment has not resonated much with voters or politicians in the past, though the increasing popularity of hybrid cars and eco-friendly products and services might indicate a shift in attitudes. That something so important could be largely ignored for so long is almost inconceivable, and among the things the film does well is an analysis as to why that is. A 2004 Science magazine survey of more than 900 peer-reviewed academic papers on the subject of global warming found that all supported the reality while none contested it. However, a like sampling of mainstream media found that 53% of the stories portrayed global warming as something that was in doubt in the scientific community. The mixed message has kept the automobile and oil industries in the driver’s seat and the issue out of political debates.

Full review from the Los Angeles Times:

Portrait of a Perfect Economic Storm

Friday, June 2nd, 2006

Climate change, financial meltdown, and peak oil will devastate those segments of the economy dependent on oil subsidies and stable global supply lines.  These are no longer future issues.  A dramatic restructuring of the way we live, including a return to local food and energy self-reliance, has become an imperative.

More 

Will they speak in anger and frustration of the time of the Great Unraveling, when profligate consumption exceeded Earth’s capacity to sustain and led to an accelerating wave of collapsing environmental systems, violent competition for what remained of the planet’s resources, and a dramatic dieback of the human population? Or will they look back in joyful celebration on the time of the Great Turning, when their forebears embraced the higher-order potential of their human nature, turned crisis into opportunity, and learned to live in creative partnership with one another and Earth?

More  

Book – Americans and Climate Change

Wednesday, May 31st, 2006

From the opening of this book’s Executive Summary:

Why has the robust and compelling body of climate change science not had greater impact on action, especially in the United States?

From a policy-making level down to personal voting and purchasing decisions, our actions have not been commensurate with the threat as characterized by mainstream science.

This book, published by the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, is a concise and detailed exploration of why there is such a disjoint between what the science tells us about climate change and what Americans think about it and are doing about it.

The full Executive Summary can be found here:

The best news is that this book is available for free download as a PDF file:

If you are frustrated with America’s response to impending climate change, read this book. Understanding clearly why things are the way they are is a necessary first step towards changing them.