Earth and Science
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Oil sands will pollute Great Lakes, report warns
The environmental impacts of Alberta's oil sands will not be restricted to Western Canada, researchers say, but will extend thousands of kilometres away to the Great Lakes, threatening water and air quality around the world's largest body of fresh water.
In a new report, the University of Toronto's Munk Centre says the massive refinery expansions needed to process tar sands crude, and the new pipeline networks for transporting the fuel, amount to a "pollution delivery system" connecting Alberta to the Great Lakes region of Canada and the U.S.
It warns that the refineries will be using the Great Lakes "as a cheap supply" source for their copious water needs and the area's air "as a pollution dump."
The report, which is being released today at a conference at the university, says that as many as 17 major refinery expansions around the lakes are being considered for turning the tar-like Alberta bitumen into gasoline and other petroleum products. While not all will be undertaken, enough of them will be to have a regional environmental impact.
Proposed pipeline and refinery projects around the lakes are expected to lead to total investments of more than $31-billion (U.S.) by 2015, spending similar in scale to expenditures at many oil sands projects. For this reason, the report says the various projects, when taken together, threaten to "wipe out many of the pollution control gains" achieved around the lakes since the 1970s.
The massive expenditures are needed because typical refineries can't process heavy crude derived from tar sands without costly upgrades.
"This expansion promises to bring with it an exponential increase in pollution, discharges into waterways including the Great Lakes, destruction of wetlands, toxic air emissions, acid rain, and huge increases in greenhouse gas emissions," it says.
Most of the projected spending is on the U.S. side of the lakes. Only one major refinery project has been announced for the Canadian side, but that expansion, at a Shell refinery in Sarnia, was put on hold in July because of surging costs.
However, two big Canadian companies, TransCanada Pipelines Ltd. with its Keystone project, and Enbridge Inc., with its Alberta Clipper project, are vying to build pipelines to bring crude from the tar sands to U.S. refineries around the lakes.
The report says the environmental effects in Alberta from tar sands development - from dying ducks caught in tailings ponds to massive carbon dioxide emissions - are well known, but the implications for the Great Lakes "are less well-understood and less extensively explored."
Policy makers around the lakes, in both Canada and the U.S., are largely unaware that the tar sands will lead to massive industrial development in their region, and consequently have no strategy to minimize the environmental impacts, it says.
Some of the harshest criticism is for the Ontario government, which it characterizes as "remarkably unengaged" over how tar sands oil will affect the province and "doesn't seem to even be asking the key questions, let alone contemplating the possible policy answers."
There has been one major dispute in the U.S. over a tar sands-related refinery expansion, at a British Petroleum facility at Whiting, Ind. The company proposed a $3-billion refinery modernization that would raise discharges of two pollutants by about 35 per cent and 54 per cent respectively. But it backed down and pledged not to increase the pollutants after a public outcry. The environmental impacts of Alberta's oil sands will not be restricted to Western Canada, researchers say, but will extend thous... more -
Space tourist blasts off in $30m odyssey
A British-born tycoon made history today as he became the first offspring of a NASA astronaut to go into space.
Richard Garriott, 47, will dock tomorrow at the International Space Station, 225 miles above Earth, 35 years after his father Owen flew aboard one of NASA’s last Apollo missions to Skylab, America’s first orbiting laboratory.
The multi-millionaire computer-game developer, who began his working life as a kitchen assistant at Burger King, blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan today as a private passenger aboard a Soyuz capsule, having paid the Russian space agency $30 million for the privilege and undergone a year’s training.
He will be the only the second person to wear the Union flag in space; Helen Sharman, a chemist for Mars confectioners, was the first when she flew to Russia’s Mir space station on a privately arranged trip in 1991. A British-born tycoon made history today as he became the first offspring of a NASA astronaut to go into space. ... more -
Energy Independence: Harnessing the Awesome Power of the High Five
This ground breaking technology from Cunning Labs could be the most promising alternative energy innovation yet. The system taps into the vast energy potential of the “High Five” to generate electrical energy.
Also known as “Up High” to those in the field, the High Five is a celebratory hand gesture made by two people, each raising one hand to slap the raised hand of the other. In most cultures it is meant to communicate mutual satisfaction or to extend congratulations from one person to another.
Although this design only harnesses the power of the “Up High”, future models may extend to include the “Down Low,” that is assuming they can over come the substantial energy loss of the “Too Slow” factor... This ground breaking technology from Cunning Labs could be the most promising alternative energy innovation yet. The system taps into... more -
John McCain: The Nuclear Option
Building 45 new nuclear plants in this country is insanity and will doom the waterways of this country and put our national security at risk. For a candidate who also talks about fighting the 'war on terror' as well, how could this thought even be entertained in the world we live in? Nuclear energy is not safe, it is not CO2 free, and I am truly getting tired of John McCain talking about what he really knows nothing about. He was on a nuclear submarine that didn't get blown up so that is how he assessed nuclear power is safe? Does he even understand the process of how the uranium is extracted and the toxic pollution it causes to our waterways and land? Does he understand how the toxic waste causes cancer? Does he understand the radioactivity of the waste? The immense amount of water nuclear uses? (Not good in a country now experiencing droughts, especially in the US Southwest) The cost in dollars and in potential lives?
My one message to him and yes, Obama as well who has now flip flopped to say he too engages nuclear is: STOP LYING TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. The strides being made in solar, wind, and geothermal are here and now. We could take the money their congressional subsidies give out for their nuclear pipedreams and repower this country! I will make a pledge that should John McCain be corronated I will call the White House every day regarding this issue and 'clean coal.' And I will do the same if it is Obama.
It is unconscienable to me that they could ever want to foist this antiquated unsafe energy source on us just to appease backers and the lobbyists who get the subisidies from Washington Dc. The nuclear option must be out of the question. It is antiquated. It is unsafe. It is toxic. It wastes water. It is expensive. It puts our national security at risk, and will take too much time in light of the reports coming from peer reviewed scientists regarding the current state of our world. Why don't these candidates ever pick up a report instead of a poll to craft their policies? Building 45 new nuclear plants in this country is insanity and will doom the waterways of this country and put our national security a... more -
Kenya's elephants send text messages to rangers
The text message from the elephant flashed across Richard Lesowapir's screen: Kimani was heading for neighboring farms.
The huge bull elephant had a long history of raiding villagers' crops during the harvest, sometimes wiping out six months of income at a time. But this time a mobile phone card inserted in his collar sent rangers a text message. Lesowapir, an armed guard and a driver arrived in a jeep bristling with spotlights to frighten Kimani back into the Ol Pejeta conservancy.
Kenya is the first country to try elephant texting as a way to protect both a growing human population and the wild animals that now have less room to roam. Elephants are ranked as "near threatened" in the Red List, an index of vulnerable species published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The race to save Kimani began two years ago. The Kenya Wildlife Service had already reluctantly shot five elephants from the conservancy who refused to stop crop-raiding, and Kimani was the last of the regular raiders. The Save the Elephants group wanted to see if he could break the habit.
So they placed a mobile phone SIM card in Kimani's collar, then set up a virtual "geofence" using a global positioning system that mirrored the conservatory's boundaries. Whenever Kimani approaches the virtual fence, his collar texts rangers.
They have intercepted Kimani 15 times since the project began. Once almost a nightly raider, he last went near a farmer's field four months ago.
It's a huge relief to the small farmers who rely on their crops for food and cash for school fees. Basila Mwasu, a 31-year-old mother of two, lives a stone's throw from the conservancy fence. She and her neighbors used to drum through the night on pots and pans in front of flaming bonfires to try to frighten the elephants away. The text message from the elephant flashed across Richard Lesowapir's screen: Kimani was heading for neighboring farms. ... more -
Mexican marijuana cartels sully US forests, parks
National forests and parks — long popular with Mexican marijuana-growing cartels — have become home to some of the most polluted pockets of wilderness in America because of the toxic chemicals needed to eke lucrative harvests from rocky mountainsides, federal officials said.
The grow sites have taken hold from the West Coast's Cascade Mountains, as well as on federal lands in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia.
Seven hundred grow sites were discovered on U.S. Forest Service land in California alone in 2007 and 2008 — and authorities say the 1,800-square-mile Sequoia National Forest is the hardest hit.
Weed and bug sprays, some long banned in the U.S., have been smuggled to the marijuana farms. Plant growth hormones have been dumped into streams, and the water has then been diverted for miles in PVC pipes.
Rat poison has been sprinkled over the landscape to keep animals away from tender plants. And many sites are strewn with the carcasses of deer and bears poached by workers during the five-month growing season that is now ending.
"What's going on on public lands is a crisis at every level," said Forest Service agent Ron Pugh. "These are America's most precious resources, and they are being devastated by an unprecedented commercial enterprise conducted by armed foreign nationals. It is a huge mess." National forests and parks — long popular with Mexican marijuana-growing cartels — have become home to some of the most polluted pocke... more -
Why the West should put money in the trees
In 2006, Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo outlined an offer to place almost the entirety of Guyana's rainforest under international supervision as part of the world's battle against climate change. In the Green Room this week, President Jagdeo sets out his views on how to reduce the 18% of greenhouse gas emissions caused by tropical deforestation. In 2006, Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo outlined an offer to place almost the entirety of Guyana's rainforest under inter... more
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Science Saturday (Top Three!)
Hi Currentaholics.
For my first weekly Saturday Top Three, I decided to go with the theme of science!
So here are tele's top three science articles for Saturday:
# 1 - 2008 ozone hole larger than last year http://current.com/items/89397455_2008_ozone_hole_large... from WorldPeaceTV.
-- Anyone remember this being a big problem in the 80's? I guess we need to hold off on using hairspray again...hehe just kidding. Seriously though, that hole is getting larger, bigger than 2007 but smaller than 2006. The article also says that this could be a natural occurance, so check it out!
#2 - Robogirl - the 'most human-like robot ever created' http://current.com/items/89397269_robogirl_the_most_hum... from bmltv.
-- Check out that video! That is just WEIRD! This article is about a Life-like, Life-size, robot based on a 5 year old girl. All I can think of are: Commander Data, The Terminator, and CARPOOL!
#3 - Electronic cigarettes! http://current.com/items/89396363_electronic_cigarettes... from DeliaTheArtist.
-- Yea, thats exactly what it sounds like, metal pipes! This article is about a new kind of cigarettes that are allowed legally to be smoked indoors, in restaurants. I don't even smoke, never tried -- only 2nd hand, but involuntarily -- but I am finally a little tempted ... I think. Hi Currentaholics. For my first weekly Saturday Top Three, I decided to go with the theme of science! ... more -
World’s fastest eco-boat arrives in Tortola
The Ferry Dock at Road Town Tortola was a buzz of activities this morning when the world’s fastest eco-boat, Earthrace arrived for a day’s visit.
Earthrace, which runs on 100% biodiesel, is the first boat in the world to use hemp composite. This is visible on the floor of the helm. Hemp is renewable, unlike carbon and Kevlar, and is strong and versatile enough for medium impact protection.
Earthrace has smashed the world speed record for a powerboat to circumnavigate the globe, completing the journey in 60 days, 23 hours 49 mins, and knocking almost 14 days off the previous record.
"Awesome! " The Ferry Dock at Road Town Tortola was a buzz of activities this morning when the world’s fastest eco-boat, Earthrace arrived for a d... more -
The Path by AVISION
The song in the video is called ''The Path'', it was written produced and performed by me. The song is an esoteric reference to the Fibonacci Sequence. The Fibonacci sequence is a hyper dimensional geometric formula that can be found in almost every area of nature including the human physique. This video is purely inspirational. We need to start awakening the latent powers within......
For more of my music please visit
Myspace.com/avision67 The song in the video is called ''The Path'', it was written produced and performed by me. The song is an esoteric... more -
Venus Express searching for life – on Earth
Scientists using ESA’s Venus Express are trying to observe whether Earth is habitable. Silly, you might think, when we know that Earth is richly stocked with life. In fact, far from being a pointless exercise, Venus Express is paving the way for an exciting new era in astronomy.
Venus Express took its first image of Earth with its Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) soon after its launch in November 2005. About a year after the spacecraft established itself in Venus’s orbit, David Grinspoon, a Venus Express Interdisciplinary Scientist from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Colorado, suggested a programme of sustained Earth observation.
“When the Earth is in a good position, we observe it two or three times per month,” says Giuseppe Piccioni, Venus Express VIRTIS Co-Principal Investigator, at IASF-INAF, Rome, Italy. The instrument has now amassed approximately 40 images of Earth over the last two years.
The images of Earth cover both visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum and can be split into spectra, in order to search for the signature of molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Earth’s oxygen and water as detected by Venus Express
The value of the images lies in the fact that Earth spans less than a pixel in Venus Express’s cameras. In other words, it appears as a single dot with no visible surface details. This situation is something that astronomers expect to soon face in their quest for Earth-sized worlds around other stars.
“We want to know what can we discern about the Earth’s habitability based on such observations. Whatever we learn about Earth, we can then apply to the study of other worlds,” says Grinspoon.
Since 1995, astronomers have been discovering these extrasolar planets and now know of more than three hundred. As observational techniques have been refined and the data continuously taken, so smaller and smaller planets have been discovered.
Now, with CNES–ESA’s COROT and NASA’s Kepler missions, the prospect of discovering Earth-sized worlds in Earth-like orbits around other stars is better than ever. “We are now on the verge of finding Earth-like planets,” says Grinspoon.
As has been proved with the discovery of gas giant planets, as soon as astronomers know that they are there, they invent all sorts of innovative methods to separate the planet’s feeble light from the overwhelming glare of the star.
One thing has become obvious from the study of Earth using Venus Express: determining whether a planet is habitable is not going to be easy. “We see water and molecular oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere, but Venus also shows these signatures. So looking at these molecules is not enough,” says Piccioni.
Instead, astronomers are going to have to search for more subtle signals, perhaps the so-called red edge caused by photosynthetic life. “Green plants are bright in the near infrared,” says Grinspoon. The analysis to see whether this red edge is visible is just beginning.
The team will also compare spectra of the Earth’s oceans with those taken when the continents are facing Venus Express. “We have initiated the first sustained programme of Earth observation from a distant platform,” says Grinspoon. Although the observations may not tell us anything new about the Earth, they will allow us to unveil far-off worlds, making them seem more real than simply dots of light.
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I'm beginning to wonder if there really is intelligent life on Earth. Who's running this show anyway? The most powerful nation in the world has some of the worlds biggest idiots running it, and that nation is blessed with an upcoming election that pits the idiots against the intellectuals. As a life intelligence outside of this earth, I would assume they would think the planet has had it up to their necks with insanity. But the real question is is whether or not the insane idiots are going to rig it so they retain power. We shall see. Scientists using ESA’s Venus Express are trying to observe whether Earth is habitable. Silly, you might think, when we know that Earth... more -
12-year-old McDonald's hamburger, still looking good
The McDonald's hamburger on the right is from 2008; the one on the left is from 1996. And they both look fairly edible.
Wellness educator and nutrition consultant Karen Hanrahan has kept a McDonald's hamburger since 1996 to illustrate its nonexistent ability to decay. Aside from drying out and bit and having "the oddest smell," it apparently hasn't changed much in the past 12 years.
This isn't the first time someone kept an uneaten McDonald's hamburger for an extended period of time for the sake of science. Or in the case of the Bionic Burger Museum, multiple burgers for over 19 years. There are even instructions on how to start your own collection of old, self-preserving burgers.
Anyone else have experience with fast food that just won't rot? The McDonald's hamburger on the right is from 2008; the one on the left is from 1996. And they both look fairly edible. ... more -
I see great dangers for the human race: Hawking
Professor Stephen Hawking is an unlikely celebrity. He achieved international fame with the publication of the scientific bestseller A Brief History of Time. He is disabled by a condition that has left him almost completely paralyzed.
CNN's Becky Anderson has a rare interview with Professor Stephen Hawking.
Stephen Hawking: I see great dangers for the human race. There have been a number of times in the past when its survival has been a question of touch and go. The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1963 was one of these. The frequency of such occasions is likely to increase in the future. We shall need great care and judgment to negotiate them all successfully. But I'm an optimist.
Becky Anderson: Do humans have a moral obligation to learn about space?
Stephen Hawking: I don't think the human race has a moral obligation to learn about space, but it would be foolish and shortsighted not to do so. It may hold the key to our survival."
Becky Anderson: What expectations do you have of the space flight you hope to be on next year?
Stephen Hawking: The Zero G flight last year was wonderful. After 40 years in a wheelchair, it was so good to be floating free. But the flight was just a warm up for space. The real thing should be much better, and last much longer. Professor Stephen Hawking is an unlikely celebrity. He achieved international fame with the publication of the scientific bestseller A... more -
2008 ozone hole larger than last year
The 2008 ozone hole – a thinning in the ozone layer over Antarctica – is larger both in size and ozone loss than 2007 but is not as large as 2006.
Ozone is a protective atmospheric layer found in about 25 kilometres altitude that acts as a sunlight filter shielding life on Earth from harmful ultraviolet rays, which can increase the risk of skin cancer and cataracts and harm marine life.
This year the area of the thinned ozone layer over the South Pole reached about 27 million square kilometres, compared to 25 million square kilometres in 2007 and a record ozone hole extension of 29 million square kilometres in 2006, which is about the size of the North American continent.
The depletion of ozone is caused by extreme cold temperatures at high altitude and the presence of ozone-destructing gases in the atmosphere such as chlorine and bromine, originating from man-made products like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which were phased out under the 1987 Montreal Protocol but continue to linger in the atmosphere.
Ozone hole extension during the last 10 years
Depending on the weather conditions, the size the Antarctic ozone hole varies every year. During the southern hemisphere winter, the atmosphere above the Antarctic continent is kept cut off from exchanges with mid-latitude air by prevailing winds known as the polar vortex – the area in which the main chemical ozone destruction occurs. The polar vortex is characterized by very low temperatures leading to the presence of so-called stratospheric clouds (PSCs).
As the polar spring arrives in September or October, the combination of returning sunlight and the presence of PSCs leads to a release of highly ozone-reactive chlorine radicals that break ozone down into individual oxygen molecules. A single molecule of chlorine has the potential to break down thousands of molecules of ozone.
Julian Meyer-Arnek of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), which monitors the hole annually, explained the impact of regional meteorological conditions on the time and range of the ozone hole by comparing 2007 with 2008.
"In 2007 a less concentric and larger polar vortex led to an early onset of the ozone destruction in the sunlit parts of the polar vortex," Meyer-Arnek said. "Therefore, we saw an ozone hole formation in the beginning of September 2007 which corresponded to the average behaviour of the years 1995-2006."
"In 2008 a more concentric polar vortex led to a delay of the onset of the ozone destruction of about one week. The preconditioning of the polar chemistry was about the same for both years, although in 2008 the temperatures were slightly below the 2007 temperatures leading to slightly improved formation of PSCs," he continued.
-------------------more at link---------------I'm wondering if this is a natural progression....something that the earth needs to do every 1000 years or so. Earth is a 'living organism' and can need to do some drastic things in order to survive. Like make certain species extinct that are harming it. Oh wait a minute...aren't humans doing this? The 2008 ozone hole – a thinning in the ozone layer over Antarctica – is larger both in size and ozone loss than 2007 but is not as la... more -
We are the treatment
XDRTB.org is an extraordinary effort to tell the story of extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) and TB through powerful photographs taken by James Nachtwey.
XDR-TB, or extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis, is a new and deadly mutation of tuberculosis. This is a vital story that the world needs to know about, if we are to stop this disease in its tracks.
Watch this video, share it with your friends, and learn 3 quick ways to take action to stop XDR-TB: http://www.xdrtb.org XDRTB.org is an extraordinary effort to tell the story of extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) and TB through powerful photo... more -
ABC deems Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection advert too 'controve...
Tell me now who really runs these networks. Controversial is merely a replacement for TRUTHFUL. It is a KNOWN FACT that oil lobbyists buy policy in Washington DC. The Iraq invasion is about OIL. Exxon can pull in billions of dollars in profits on the backs of working Americans all the while denying that global warming is manmade and that isn't controversial? Coal, which kills is not controversial? So, what is to be done about this BS? We can't even get a good enough boycott going in this country anymore to make these networks feel it where they should feel it: in their ratings and in their wallets. Well, I am boycotting ABC, all of their affiliates, and Disney and their products. Anyone who wants to join in please feel free because unless we do something networks will continue to get away with this blatant bias. This is not a political issue it is a moral issue. This is not about some ridiculous political grudge against Al Gore. This even goes beyond Al Gore. THIS IS ABOUT THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THIS PLANET! This is about truth. ABC has now shown it has no morals and should be treated as such. And yes, I'm angry. Outrageous so many others aren't.
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From the article:
The ABC network has refused to air an advert produced by Al Gore's environmental group, ruling that its charge of US government favouritism to the oil industry is too "controversial" for television.
The TV commercial, part of the WE campaign run by Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection, was submitted for airing after this week's presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain - both of whom have vowed to limit greenhouse gas emissions if elected.
But ABC concluded that the advert violated its internal policy against "controversial" content during network-sponsored programmes, network spokeswoman Julie Hoover told the Guardian.
"All of our advertising is reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and the context of this particular ad was determined not to be acceptable per our policy on controversial issue advertising," Hoover said.
The WE campaign has since attracted more than 170,000 supporters to an online petition drive asking ABC to reconsider its decision.
The script of the advert is similar in tone to political speeches made by Obama and McCain during the election season. An unseen narrator states that climate change can be combated through wind and solar power as well as "end[ing] our dependence on foreign oil".
Over an image of a young child playing with blocks, the narrator continues: "So why are we still stuck with dirty and expensive energy? Because big oil spends hundreds of millions of dollars to block clean energy. Lobbyists, ads, even scandals. All to increase their profits, while America suffers."
An ABC email published on the blog of Grist magazine stated that the advert was rejected due to its split-second shot of the US Capitol building.
"Per our guidelines, national buildings may be used in advertising provided the depictions are incidental to the advertiser's promotion of the product or service," the email stated. "Given the messages and themes of this commercial, the image of the Capital [sic] building is not incidental to this advertising."
Cathy Zoi, chief executive of the WE campaign, called ABC's decision "outrageous" in light of US networks' frequent airing of adverts from Chevron, Exxon Mobil and other oil companies.
"As our country faces deep economic problems, we need to be able to have an honest debate about the root causes of our problem," Zoi wrote in an email to supporters of Gore's group on Wednesday. Tell me now who really runs these networks. Controversial is merely a replacement for TRUTHFUL. It is a KNOWN FACT that oil lobbyists ... more -
'Bailout the hungry,' activists tell World Bank
In my opinion the World Bank has precipitated much of this crisis.They have been giving loans to countries in the third world at exhorbitant rates that they cannot pay back. This only perpetuates the cycle of poverty and hunger and keeps them enslaved to the system. There must be a way to provide assistance to small rural farmers in developing countries to be able to have the tools necessary to grow natural food for their people without the intererence of all of these foreign markets and speculators causing the prices to also be out of the range of affordability for the people who need them the most.
Any conference regarding food or any crisis surrounding it must also include discussion of the global water crisis. You cannot grow food without water, and in many areas of the developing world especially in Asia and Africa water is a resource that is becoming harder and harder to come by due to mismanagement, waste, pollution, climate change, privitization, and population increases.There is also too much power concentrated with organizations like the World Bank and the corporations they are in collusion with. When you have a central bank controlling everything, it appears more people have nothing.
This food crisis could be addressed much more effectively if there was more regulation regarding loaning these countries money in regards to the rates they are charged on top of the loan along with other stipulations that make their contracts hard to fulfill ( such as agreeing to loan money to lay water pipes on the stipulation that their water will be privitized.) How about forgiving all third world debt for a start? That in and of itself would free up funds that could then be used for sustainable development (solar and wind etc.) in these countries and allow people to gain access to small loans such as those provided by the Grameen Bank to start people in their own businesses. Making their own income not accountable to some World Bank that seeks to run their lives and tell them they must plant genetically modified foods to make their benefactors like Monsanto more profit would also ease much poverty in these areas and start people on the road not only to sustainability but life. Isn't that freedom?
I don't claim to be an expert on any of this nor to have the answers. I do know however, that the food and water crises we now find ourselves in the midst of is the most important thing in concert with the climate crisis that all ties in together that we now face in this century, and we need new answers as the old ways do not appear to be working any longer. It is simply unconscienable to me that with the billions upon billions of dollars we have in this world to spend on bailing out greedy bankers, wage illegal wars, and continue to support corrupted systems that actually perpetuate these crises, that we can't find some of those funds along with some compassion and political will to for once do the right thing. No child in any country should have to die because some pencil pusher in a government organization or a world leader a world away is holding back the food that child needs because of political or economic expedience.
Feed the people, and give them water. There is more than enough. What we need to do now is find that moral and political strength to do it and do it equitably. It shouldn't be hard if you have a heart and a conscience.
OK, getting down off my soap box now. ;-) In my opinion the World Bank has precipitated much of this crisis.They have been giving loans to countries in the third world at exhor... more -
Jordan Pictures: Awesome Photos of Petra the World Wonder!
As Petra is one of the greatest sites in Jordan and in the whole World, as one of the World Seven Wonders, and as a must see site for everyone and for all tourists traveling to Jordan!
I would like to share these awesome photos of Petra Jordan, with a brief history of this great World Wonder! As Petra is one of the greatest sites in Jordan and in the whole World, as one of the World Seven Wonders, and as a must see site for ... more -
Palin does not even know basics of Alaska energy
John McCain famously said of his VP pick, “She knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America.” Almost as famously, Palin turns out to know almost nothing about energy, and what she does know is mostly wrong (see “Sarah Palin is the fungible candidate“).
The AP reported Thursday that Palin doesn’t even know “whether the government bans oil exports — especially from her state’s North Slope fields”:
A questioner at a town hall-style meeting in Wisconsin said he had heard that at least 75 percent of the oil drilled in Alaska was being sold to China and said, if true, he would like to know why.
“No. It’s not 75 percent of our oil being exported,” Palin said, suggesting some of Alaska’s oil, in fact, may be going abroad but not that much.
“In fact,” she added, “Congress is pretty strict on, um, export bans of oil and gas especially.”
Uhh, no. As the AP explains:
No Alaska oil has been exported since 2004, and little if any since 2000, according to the Energy Information Administration and the Congressional Research Service.
And Congress has never imposed outright bans on oil exports. Congress prohibited exports of Alaska oil in 1973 when the Alaska oil pipeline was built. But that ban was lifted in 1996 when there were large volumes of Alaska oil coming down from the North Slope and U.S. demand was soft.
The Alaska ban has never been reinstated.
D’oh! John McCain famously said of his VP pick, “She knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America.” Alm... more -
Drought in southern Australia declared ‘worst on record’
If you want to know what the U.S. southwest faces in the coming decades if we don’t reverse greenhouse gas emissions trends quickly, just look to Australia:
David Jones, the head of climate analysis at the Bureau of Meteorology, said the drought affecting south-west Western Australia, south-east South Australia, Victoria and northern Tasmania “is now very severe and without historical precedent”.
Dr Jones said Victoria had had “the driest multi-year period on record, but also by far the hottest….”
He said temperatures were running at about one degree “above any previous comparable drought. That is substantially hotter, and that one degree is a global warming signal.”
He said the data suggests that for every one degree of warming, there is a 15 per cent decline in run-off, or river flow, in the Murray Darling Basin….
He said a similar drying pattern had been observed in Europe’s Mediterranean, and the south-west in the USA….
The highlighted point is key. Previously, droughts around the world were either cold-whether droughts or warm-weather droughts. In the future, virtually all droughts will be hot weather droughts, which are obviously the worst kind.
He said the current dry was at the extreme end of what the climate models had predicted.
Most of the major predicted climate impacts the planet is now experiencing are at the extreme end of what the models had predicted (see “Are Scientists Overestimating — or Underestimating — Climate Change, Part I“).
Here is more on Australia’s astonishing drought:
He said the rainfall deficiencies were the largest on record.
“If you look at Victoria, where the effect has been particularly severe, in the last 12 years we have now missed out on two years of rainfall, which is an extraordinary result,” he said.
“Across Victoria as a whole, if you add up how much rainfall has been missed in 12 years, it is now up around 1300mm or four feet of rainfall, a very, very large rainfall deficit….”
The most dramatic effects have been felt by Melbourne.
Melbourne recorded its driest September on record.
“If one looks at the history of data we have for Melbourne, we have rainfall records going 150 years. We simply have not seen anything like what we currently have, not even close,” he said.
The previous longest dry for Melbourne was the six years from 1979 to 1984.
“Starting in 1997 we have had 11 years, nearly 12 years” of dry conditions.
The shape of things to come for us. The time to act is yesterday. If you want to know what the U.S. southwest faces in the coming decades if we don’t reverse greenhouse gas emissions trends quickly, j... more
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Earth and Science
