The Terror of Constant Growth

Well known Canadian environmental scientist, David Suzuki  takes just over two minutes to present the very sobering future of planet Earth overwhelmed by humanity's inability to shake off constant growth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x98KFcMJeo

Porcupine Christmas

How about this. A lady treated a young porcupine to a holiday meal.  Fun.

Here is the link to this prickly little critter chowing down.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDG2cwsndhk

Finding Richard III

Richard III was the last  King of England from the House of York. He began his reign in July, 1483.  He was killed just two years later in the Battle of Bosworth Field, ending the Wars of the Roses.  Richard was buried unceremoniously and was lost for five centuries.

Fast forward to 2012.  Though there was no clear information on the monarch's final resting place, some historical records indicated that Richard III might have been buried in the Cathedral in Leicester. But the cathedral was long gone. The place where it once stood was covered by a city parking lot and some municipal buildings.   Ground penetrating radar was used to identify a possible burial site beneath the parking lot. Incredibly, it was just below a parking spot identified with the letter 'R'.   The area was excavated. Human remains were found.  Moreover, the skeleton had a pronounced abnormal curvature of the spine.  Richard III allegedly suffered from this condition, which is called scoliosis.

King Richard III  (1453-1485)

Researchers extracted the remains, which clearly had evidence of death by violent trauma. Carbon dating showed that the bones could have come from the time of Richard III's death.  Genetic markers were used to link the remains with a high degree of probability to a living relative of Richard III. 

Finally, a replica of the skull was used to reconstruct a model  of how Richard III looked when he was King of England.  Remarkably, the modeled replica looks exactly like a painting the deposed King sat for shortly before his demise.  

The way Richard III became reconnected with the world is amazing, a triumph of dumb luck, coincidence, and dedicated forensic professionals using cutting edge scientific technology.

Here is a link to the Smithsonian Channel's excellent documentary on the return of Richard III.   http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/sc/web/series/1003102/secrets/3382633/richard-iii-revealed

Here is a link to a website run by the Richard III Society...  http://www.richardiii.net/2_4_0_riii_appearance.php

The Mercenary Class

In this brief video essay, Bill Moyers speaks eloquently about the corruption that has taken over American governance. 

Bill Moyers

Here is the remarkable video essay by legendary journalist,  Bill Moyers...  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFYb4gKEFl4

Climate Change Visualized

This remarkable video was created by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme.  It translates some very unsettling climate change data into a short video that presents the ugly reality of our dilemma very effectively.

Here is the link... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EWOrZQ3L-c

Carl Sagan's Warning

Carl Sagan passed away in 1996. He was a truly exceptional human being: one of the great scientific minds of all time.  By trade, he was an astronomer, and he made many important contributions in that arena. But his greatest gift was his ability to communicate and educate the masses about science. His Cosmos TV series was extraordinary. I had the opportunity to meet Sagan one time in  Los Angeles. It was during the time that the NASA Viking Lander first began sending pictures and data back from Mars.  Sagan was brilliant, but he was also warm and caring. I read his books and watched when he was on TV.  I won't deny that I revered the guy.

Dr. Carl Sagan

It's hard to believe that 17 years have gone by since Sagan left us.  These days,  young people are mostly unfamiliar with this great man.  They would surely benefit from his wisdom and inspiration, as I did.

"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe."

                                                                                                               Carl Sagan
                      

In the video clip that follows, Sagan expresses deep concern over the fact that too many of the people we elect to represent us in government are ignorant, even hostile to scientific reason and understanding.

Here is the link to a brief 'You Tube' clip of Carl Sagan in his last TV interview talking to Charlie Rose... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iyFw8UF85A

Ecotricty

Clean energy is definitely a growth industry.  One company in Britain has found a way to sell clean, wind energy at lower cost than conventional fossil fuel power plants.  Their TV commercials show that they are making money and having fun.

Here is a very engaging  ECOTRCITY commercial for clean energy...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYGoukR2UtI

The Fair Use Doctrine.

These days, there are millions, maybe even billions of digital images, personal quotes, artworks, and other forms of digitized intellectual property circulating freely on the internet.  Much of this material is easily accessible with a keystroke or two.

When I write entries for this blog,  I generally look for photo images, charts, illustrations, quotes from notable authorities, anything that will make my message more compelling. There is a copyright doctrine called' Fair Use' that offers legal guidelines for the public use of this freely available intellectual property.

Here is the Fair Use Doctrine as written in U.S. law...

17 U.S.C. § 107

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 17 U.S.C. § 106 and 17 U.S.C. § 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include:

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.^[4]


As written in the law, this doctrine is open to relatively broad interpretation. The law seems to boil down to two things. You can't use somebody else's intellectual property to make money for yourself. You cannot use it in a way that casts any kind of negative or unflattering light on the originator of the copy written material.

In my case, when I repost articles of interest that I find on the net, I give credit to the originator of the material. 

Not long ago, I posted a blog entry about a live cam of an eagle's nest on the grounds of the Naval Observatory on the Potomac River in Washington, D.C.  The article was entirely about this live video feed.  To make the piece more accessible, I selected two quality images of bald eagles  I found when I googled 'bald eagle images'.   The images I selected were beautiful,  but did not include the name of the copyright holder. Not long after that blog entry was posted, a person who says he was the owner of one of the images posted a comment on that entry accusing me of stealing his image. I certainly had no intention of improperly using his image. I put it there only to illustrate what the blog was actually about.  That seems to fit very easily within the exceptions allowed under 'fair use'.  Still, since this person was upset with  my use of his copy written image, I immediately removed it from that blog entry.  I then responded to that accuser, telling him that I had removed the image, even though 'fair use' did not require me to do so.

There are nearly 500 entries in this blog. Only that one time has somebody made an issue of my usage of material freely available on the net.  I believe the approach I have taken to this issue is readily defensible under the fair use doctrine.   My advice to anyone who uses copy written material is to err on the side of caution.  If you think the owners of that material might be offended, the best course is not to use it.

Cookiness - The Hungry Games

Here is  a tease for the Sesame Street Cookie Monster's latest foray into the movies. When I look at this, I'm smiling and thinking about how much fun the folks behind this silliness are having.  What's not to love about the Muppets. 

Here is a link to Sesame Street's, The Hungry Games...  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT7nD02Im5E

Rhymes With Smoky Joe

Here is a remarkable short video that focuses on a Texas Republican congressman named 'Smoky' Joe Barton.

In 1996, Barton was a central figure in the tobacco industry's effort to push back against clear evidence linking cigarette smoking with lung cancer and other health maladies.  Though the science was and is irrefutable, Barton was one of the chief deniers resisting pressure for the government to put warning labels on cigarette packages. Barton was clearly linked to big tobacco through large contributions to his congressional election campaign.  In this video, Barton can be seen swearing on a bible that his ties to big tobacco had no influence on his position defending that industry against further regulation. Of course, the evidence shows that Barton was lying through his teeth.

Congressman Joe Barton

More recently, Barton has been a leader of the climate deniers in Congress, resisting every effort to enact legislation to regulate atmospheric carbon emissions.  This man, who wears his religion on his sleeve, is a splendid example of why our government doesn't work. Here is a guy, who has shamelessly sold his soul to the highest bidder.   Barton is not unusual. In Washington, legalized bribery rules.  Both political parties are egregiously corrupted by big money from corporations and special interests. Our system of government has been perverted and rigged to favor sociopathic sellouts like Barton.  These days, that's why so very little that's truly useful and worthwhile gets done.  Enough said. Check out this video.

Here is the link to Rhymes with Smoky Joe...  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj0PYdl99tI

Since I first posted this blog, Joe Barton has added another chapter to his litany of moral bankruptcy.  Now he is the congressional poster boy for abolishing the minimum wage. 

Joe Barton. The best congressman money can buy.

Biotopia

In the interest of full disclosure, the author of Biotopia, Michael Charles Tobias, is a much valued friend and mentor.  For that reason, I wanted to like this book,  In fact, I did like it, a lot. I wrote the review pasted in below for Amazon.
 

One caveat: Michael Tobias is the smartest person I have ever known. He is an intellectual gymnast extraordinaire and his writing reflects that.  It requires the full engagement of the reader. For those willing to make that mental investment, the reward is very much worth the effort.  Take a moment to acquaint yourself with Biotopia and its author, Michael Tobias.

A Splendid Elixir

When I started reading Biotopia, by Michael Charles Tobias, I wasn't sure what to expect. The title implies something like a living world fully realized. In fact, Tobias is a wordsmith of the highest order. Much of this book reflects on the beauty and wonders the author has experienced in his travels.  Tobias is truly a citizen of the planet.  His knowledge of history; anthropology; plants and animals, taxonomically and otherwise; literature, music and the arts, is remarkable and on full display in Biotopia.   But, while this book is in part a celebration of the sublime in nature and the human culture, it is even more a pained lament; a lament over the human squandering of the planet's biological blessings,  and of  our mindless, historically rooted penchant for destruction. We are experts at soiling our own nest and at killing our own kind,  and even more so at willfully rolling over the other creatures with whom we share this Earth.  As an example, annually, we humans reduce about 50 billion living creatures to drumsticks and cuts of meat, with nary a thought.   Michael Tobias has experienced a lot in his life. He is clearly haunted and very weary of the suffering he has seen firsthand, much of it caused by our own hubris.  Yet, in the end, Tobias  makes the case that the awareness of both the beauty and the suffering demands compassion and a commitment to be a champion; to be a force for nature, pushing back against indifference and corrosive human inertia.  Tobias himself is a wonderful example of just that kind of unswerving courage. 

The work of a remarkable intellect, Biotopia evokes both awe and inspiration. Ultimately, it is a splendid elixir; balm for those who are dispirited by the troubled world we know.

Here is a link top the Amazon listing for the book... http://www.amazon.com/Biotopia-Michael-Charles-Tobias/dp/0927379228/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386115511&sr=8-1&keywords=Biotopia



 

Ron Burgundy Hosts Canadian Curling

Will Farrell is a hoot. My favorite thing he does is  'Dubya' Bush. Nobody does dufus better than Farrell.

He's got another movie coming out built around his iconic, puffed-up, mindless news anchor, Ron Burgundy. Part of the promotion involves Farrell going around the country, doing Burgundy on local newscasts and at public events.

Here is a video of Ron Burgundy doing commentary at the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials in Winnipeg... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIkiTrcKZMA

Hydrogen is Happening in Europe

I am a staunch advocate of hydrogen as a clean, inexhaustible, non-toxic energy carrier replacement for fossil fuels like oil and natural gas.   I wrote a book about it. I've made several documentaries and educational videos about hydrogen and renewable energy.  I'm not saying hydrogen is a panacea. But it is an important part of any well considered vision of a clean, sustainable energy future.

For Europe, the future is now. They are allocating 20 percent of the European Union budget to clean energy, climate mitigating technologies over the next few years.  Hydrogen is a big part of the Europe's plan, because it offers a relatively easy pathway to storing clean energy for use on demand. Ultimately, it would involve using surplus electricity generate with wind turbines, solar PV, or some other renewable technology to split water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen, which can then be stored for conversion back to electricity when needed.  

The European Union organization behind the development of hydrogen as an energy carrier is HyER. 

Here is a link to the HyER website....   http://www.hyer.eu/

The War on Thanksgiving

In recent years, the arrival of the holiday season has brought with it a chorus of right-wing lunacy about a so-called 'war on Christmas'.  Their proof for this vacuous bloat of blarney: people these days are ever more prone to greet each other with a 'Happy Holidays' instead of 'Merry Christmas'.  Well, jeeze, what a terrible thing.  Conservative extremists take this as an affront to Christianity.  In reality, this change of greeting seems to be much more about acknowledging that there are other religious traditions celebrating at this time of year - Chanukah for instance.  'Happy Holidays' also seems more appropriate for people who appreciate the celebratory nature of the season,  without the religious connotation. I count myself in that group.

While the war on Christmas may be a sham, the assault on Thanksgiving is very real.  You see it in the expansion of 'Black Friday', the 'Holy Grail' of retail sales. 

Here is a chart that shows just how insane the competition among retailers has become for holiday sales revenue.

I found this chart with an article that just appeared on the 'Mother Jones' webpage.  Stores are expanding their business hours ever more to capture a bigger slice of the 'Black Friday' fever. Thanksgiving is about quiet celebration and good wishes with family ad friends. That's how it's supposed to be and still is for many of us. But there is no denying the intrusiveness of commerce and consumption. Retail chains are now opening for business on Thanksgiving Day as a way of gaining an edge on the competition.

The consumer merchandising engine depends on sales during the holidays. That's how the economy is shaped. Retailers need it to survive. They need to sell stuff to an American public that has less and less to spend. There's something wrong with that equation. 

If Wall Street and big business want to improve the economy, instead of expanding business hours on Thanksgiving, they might want to stop squeezing the life out of the jobs market and start playing living wages to the working poor.  In other words, what we really need is a war on greed.

Dumb Luck

Here's a crazy video.  This guy walks to his car, takes his time getting in, starting up, and driving away. An instant later, a tree falls exactly in the place from which the guy and his car had just departed.  It's the ultimate definition of dumb luck.

Check out this amazing video...  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzH-9qmmuZ0

Stephen Lyman - Artist in Nature

Steve Lyman was only 34 years old when he died tragically in a climbing accident in Yosemite National Park in 1996.  Prior to his untimely death, he had already established himself as a world class painter and illustrator of  wildlife and the natural world.

Lyman's work reflects a remarkable skill in capturing the nuanced light in the evening or twilight.  He did many paintings that feature lanterns or campfires.  Even as a young man, Lyman had developed a substantial following in the art world.  Though he was moderately prolific, Lyman's passing sent the value of his original works into the stratosphere.

I started collecting wildlife art prints when I was a young man. I love Lyman's work and have long wanted to have a print of his for my collection.  Here are a few other works by  the late great, Stephen Lyman.

 

Here is a link to an art gallery that continues to features works by Stephen Lyman.  http://www.riverwindgalleryart.com/stephen-lyman.html

The Central African Republic - Disaster Fatigue, Take Two

Here is a story that is getting no attention at all in the western news media.   The public is almost entirely unaware of the human tragedy in the Central African Republic.   The media fails to report it. It's out of sight, out of mind. Unspeakable cruelty and suffering swept under the rug; an inconvenient truth we prefer to ignore. Just another example of disaster fatigue.  

Truthfully, as painful as this kind of thing is to consider,  indifference is the easiest way to cope for those of us observing from a distance.  The plight of the Central African Republic is just one of a burgeoning number of places in the world that have been overwhelmed.  They are real time, contemporary examples of the many faces of disaster fatigue that beg for a global response that is comprehensive and life affirming rather than the limited response we offer, which is reactionary at best.

It is shameful that the world places no real value on these people that are suffering and dying, and the parts of the natural world that they occupy.  Quite simply, the scale of disaster these days, the number of people caught up in it, the cost of corrective action, is overwhelming.   It is overwhelming.

I like to think that, as humans, we can do better;  I think to think we can reshape our values and our world to treat every person, every creature, every stretch of our biosphere as though they have value. Humanity needs a reboot, before it's too late.


_________________________ 


Published on Tuesday, November 26, 2013 by Common Dreams

With Scant Media Attention, 'Human Catastrophe of Epic Proportions' Unfolding

UN, humanitarian groups warn of spiraling crisis in the Central African Republic

- Andrea Germanos, staff writer

People fleeing conflict in the Central African Republic. (Photo: UNHCR/ B. Heger)A situation described as a "human catastrophe of epic proportions" is underway in the Central African Republic (CAR), yet has failed to garner widespread media attention.


On Monday, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson warned that the impoverished nation was "descending into complete chaos before our eyes.”

Describing the current turmoil in the country, the New York Times reports:

The situation has deteriorated dramatically since a coup in late March overthrew the president, François Bozizé, and installed a new president, Michel Djotodia, who was supported by an alliance of guerrilla fighters known as the Seleka, drawn from neighboring nations and the Central African Republic. Since then, the new government’s formal and informal forces have wreaked havoc or stood by while militia groups destroyed homes and carried out extrajudicial killings, torture and rape, according to human rights groups. [...]
Both the former government of Mr. Bozizé and the current one of Mr. Djotodia, which is backed by the Seleka, are accused of serious human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings and torture, according to a report released in September by Human Rights Watch.
However, since the beginning of 2013, many of the abuses of civilians have been carried out in Seleka-dominated territory, according to the report. Tensions are heightened by religious differences between members of the Seleka, who are Muslims, and the predominantly Christian populace, which is increasingly defended by armed Christian groups.

In response to the increasing violence, France’s Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian confirmed on Tuesday his country was preparing to send "about 1,000" troops to the former colony. Those troops are in addition to approximately 2,600 troops deployed by the African Union, ostensibly to protect civilains.

Doctors Without Borders/MSF has warned of "horrific violence" gripping the country plagued by a chronic humanitarian and health emergency.

“We are extremely concerned about the living conditions of the displaced, whether overcrowded in churches, mosques or schools or invisible, living in the bush with no access to healthcare, food or water and threatened by epidemics. Much more needs to be done and it needs to be done now," stated Sylvain Groulx, MSF Head of Mission in CAR.

Amnesty International sounded alarm as well, stating that a "human catastrophe of epic proportions" was underway in the central African country.

“The crisis is spinning out of control, despite the fact that it has been ignored by the international community for far too long,” said Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International.
"There was a time when a humanitarian disaster on this scale would have had the world’s press swarming all over it, or at least received a due amount of attention," wrote Martin Bell in the UK's Independent.  "Sadly, not here and not now."

Meanwhile, on Monday, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, a thousand women staged a protest in the CAR's capital city of Bangui. The women, whose mouths were taped over in protest of violence against women, held placards reading, “Stop violence against women. I am not an object,” and “No to murders, torture, rape.”



 

A Great Quantity of Wind

I recently posted a blog that featured a video of the Dalai Lana of Tibet expounding on 'happiness' and, among others things, the very human habit of 'breaking wind'.

Just came across another truly exceptional human being with something to say abut the inglorious biological compunction to pass gas.  Ben Franklin, is one of history's most curious and consequential characters. In the year 1781, on learning that the Belgian Royal Academy of Science was soliciting ideas for new and practical avenues for scientific inquiry, Franklin responded with irreverent whimsy in the following letter...

Benjamin Franklin

____________________________

Benjamin Franklin

to The Royal Academy of Brussels  -  1781

 

GENTLEMEN,

I have perused your late mathematical Prize Question, proposed in lieu of one in Natural Philosophy, for the ensuing year, viz. “Une figure quelconque donnee, on demande d’y inscrire le plus grand nombre de fois possible une autre figure plus-petite quelconque, qui est aussi donnee”. I was glad to find by these following Words, “l’Acadeemie a jugee que cette deecouverte, en eetendant les bornes de nos connoissances, ne seroit pas sans UTILITE”, that you esteem Utility an essential Point in your Enquiries, which has not always been the case with all Academies; and I conclude therefore that you have given this Question instead of a philosophical, or as the Learned express it, a physical one, because you could not at the time think of a physical one that promis’d greater Utility.
Permit me then humbly to propose one of that sort for your consideration, and through you, if you approve it, for the serious Enquiry of learned Physicians, Chemists, &c. of this enlightened Age.
It is universally well known, That in digesting our common Food, there is created or produced in the Bowels of human Creatures, a great Quantity of Wind.

That the permitting this Air to escape and mix with the Atmosphere, is usually offensive to the Company, from the fetid Smell that accompanies it. 

That all well-bred People therefore, to avoid giving such Offence, forcibly restrain the Efforts of Nature to discharge that Wind.

That so retain’d contrary to Nature, it not only gives frequently great present Pain, but occasions future Diseases, such as habitual Cholics, Ruptures, Tympanies, &c. often destructive of  the Constitution, & sometimes of Life itself.

Were it not for the odiously offensive Smell accompanying such Escapes, polite People would probably be under no more Restraint in discharging such Wind in Company, than they are in spitting, or in blowing their Noses.

My Prize Question therefore should be, To discover some Drug wholesome & not disagreable, to be mix’d with our common Food, or Sauces, that shall render the natural Discharges of Wind from our Bodies, not only inoffensive, but agreable as Perfumes.

That this is not a chimerical Project, and altogether impossible, may appear from these Considerations. That we already have some Knowledge of Means capable of Varying that Smell. He that dines on stale Flesh, especially with much Addition of Onions, shall be able to afford a Stink that no Company can tolerate; while he that has lived for some Time on Vegetables only, shall have that Breath so pure as to be insensible to the most delicate Noses; and if he can manage so as to avoid the Report, he may any where give Vent to his Griefs, unnoticed. But as there are many to whom an entire Vegetable Diet would be inconvenient, and as a little Quick-Lime thrown into a Jakes will correct the amazing Quantity of fetid Air arising from the vast Mass of putrid Matter contain’d in such Places, and render it rather pleasing to the Smell, who knows but that a little Powder of Lime (or some other thing equivalent) taken in our Food, or perhaps a Glass of Limewater drank at Dinner, may have the same Effect on the Air produc’d in and issuing from our Bowels? This is worth the Experiment. Certain it is also that we have the Power of changing by slight Means the Smell of another Discharge, that of our Water. A few Stems of Asparagus eaten, shall give our Urine a disagreable Odour; and a Pill of Turpentine no bigger than a Pea, shall bestow on it the pleasing Smell of Violets. And why should it be thought more impossible in Nature, to find Means of making a Perfume of our Wind than of our Water?

For the Encouragement of this Enquiry, (from the immortal Honour to be reasonably expected by the Inventor) let it be considered of how small Importance to Mankind, or to how small a Part of Mankind have been useful those Discoveries in Science that have heretofore made Philosophers famous. Are there twenty Men in Europe at this Day, the happier, or even the easier, for any Knowledge they have pick’d out of Aristotle? What Comfort can the Vortices of Descartes give to a Man who has Whirlwinds in his Bowels! The Knowledge of Newton’s mutual Attraction of the Particles of Matter, can it afford Ease to him who is rack’d by their mutual Repulsion, and the cruel Distensions it occasions? The Pleasure arising to a few Philosophers, from seeing, a few Times in their Life, the Threads of Light untwisted, and separated by the Newtonian Prism into seven Colours, can it be compared with the Ease and Comfort every Man living might feel seven times a Day, by discharging freely the Wind from his Bowels? Especially if it be converted into a Perfume: For the Pleasures of one Sense being little inferior to those of another, instead of pleasing the Sight he might delight the Smell of those about him, & make Numbers happy, which to a benevolent Mind must afford infinite Satisfaction. The generous Soul, who now endeavours to find out whether the Friends he entertains like best Claret or Burgundy, Champagne or Madeira, would then enquire also whether they chose Musk or Lilly, Rose or Bergamot, and provide accordingly. And surely such a Liberty of Expressing one’s Scent-iments, and pleasing one another, is of infinitely more Importance to human Happiness than that Liberty of the Press, or of abusing one another, which the English are so ready to fight & die for. — In short, this Invention, if compleated, would be, as Bacon expresses it, bringing Philosophy home to Mens Business and Bosoms. And I cannot but conclude, that in Comparison therewith, for universal and continual UTILITY, the Science of the Philosophers above-mentioned, even with the Addition, Gentlemen, of your “Figure quelconque” and the Figures inscrib’d in it, are, all together, scarcely worth a

FART-HING.

Europe's Big Climate Commitment

Wow. The Europeans are getting it done where climate change is concerned. Twenty percent of the entire union's budget to cutting fossil fuel use is a serious commitment. In Europe, coal, oil, and nuclear are slated to be replaced by clean, sustainable sources of energy like wind, solar, geothermal, and hydropower.

Why don't we have the same commitment in the North America?  Ask Exxon Mobil, and the other corporate giants in the business of selling coal and oil.  They control America's energy policy.  Until their money and influence are neutralized, where climate change is concerned, America will be a reluctant follower, not a leader.


__________________________

Europe Devotes 20 Percent of Budget to Climate Spending

ens-newswire.com/2013/11/20/europe-devotes-20-percent-of-budget-to-climate-spending/

 STRASBOURG, France, November 20, 2013 (ENS) – At least 20 percent of the entire European Union budget for 2014-2020 will be spent on climate-related projects and policies, after the European Parliament Tuesday approved the budget for that seven-year period.

The 20 percent commitment triples the current share and could yield as much as €180 billion in climate spending in all major EU policy areas over the seven-year period. (One euro equals US$1.34 at today’s rate of exchange.)

The EU’s development policy will contribute to achieving the 20 percent overall commitment, with an estimated €1.7 billion for climate spending in developing countries in 2014-2015 alone.

Alain Lamassoure, chair of the European Parliament’s Budget Committee, speaks to media after the seven-year budget was approved, Nov. 19, 2013 (Photo courtesy European Parliament)

 

This is in addition to climate financing from the 28 individual EU member states.
After months of complex negotiations, agreement on this long-term financial framework marks a major step towards transforming Europe into a clean and competitive low carbon economy and helping developing countries adapt to the impacts of climate change, legislators said.
“We managed to get the priorities right,” said Alain Lamassoure of France, the current chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgets.

Speaking from the UN climate negotiations in Warsaw, Poland, EU Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard said, “Today is an incredibly important day for Europe and for the fight against climate change. At least 20 percent of the entire EU budget for 2014-2020 will be climate-related spending. This is a major step forward for our efforts to handle the climate crisis.

“Rather than being parked in a corner of the EU budget, climate action will now be integrated into all the main spending areas,” said Hedegaard.

“This underscores yet again Europe’s leadership in the fight against this crucial challenge,” she said. “I believe the EU is the first region in the world to mainstream climate action into its whole budget.”
The budget for 2014-2020 allows the EU to invest up to €960 billion up to 2020.

Other instruments for unforeseen circumstances outside the budget represent an additional €36.8 billion, bringing the total commitments to €996.8 billion.

With this budget in place, climate action will be integrated into all the major EU policies.
Climate-relevant assistance to developing countries will have a renewed focus on low-carbon energy, food security, resilience and adaptation, with €1.7bn estimated in the next two years alone. This is on top of climate finance from individual EU member states.

Under the EU’s new Common Agricultural Policy, approved in Parliament on Wednesday, at least 30 percent of the rural development funds must be used for climate-related projects, creating opportunities for investments in climate-smart agriculture.

Farms near Umbertide, Italy (Photo by Randy Brophy)

Under the new CAP, 30 percent of member states’ budgets for direct payments may be spent only if mandatory greening measures, such as crop diversification, maintaining permanent grassland and creating “ecologically-focused areas,” are carried out.

“The new CAP will strike a better balance between food security and environmental protection, better prepare farmers to face future challenges and be fairer and more legitimate,” said Agriculture Committee chair and lead negotiator Paolo De Castro of Italy, who represents the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats.

In the EU’s regional cohesion policy, earmarking for energy efficiency of 20 percent in the most developed regions and six percent for the less developed regions as well as for sustainable urban development is intended to ensure a strong focus on climate change action.

The research and innovation program, Horizon 2020, with an envelope of €63bn has a goal of 35 percent spending on research and innovation in energy, climate and clean technologies.
The new infrastructure instrument, called Connecting Europe Facility, will be climate friendly. It will fund transport infrastructure of €23bn and energy infrastructure of €5bn, mainly transmission grids for renewable energy.

Finally, the budget for the LIFE program, known as the EU’s Programme for the Environment and Climate Action, increases to over €3 billion, and a new subprogram for climate action receives a budget allocation of €760 million.

Year on year, the EU is building a pathway towards the US$100 billion goal in climate finance assistance to developing countries by 2020 agreed by governments under the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Accord.

As the world’s biggest provider of Official Development Assistance, the EU and Member States committed to provide €7.2 billion in ‘fast start’ finance for developing countries over 2010-2012 and exceeded this pledge by delivering a total of €7.34 billion, including €2.67 billion in 2012.

Last year, at the UN climate negotiations in Doha, Qatar, the EU and member states announced voluntary contributions for developing countries of €5.5 billion, and the latest assessment shows they are on track to deliver this amount in 2013.

 

The European Commission channels EU adaptation funding via the EU Global Climate Change Alliance. From funding four pilot projects in 2008, the Alliance has grown to support more than 45 national and regional programs across 35 countries.

In 2013 the Commission committed €47 million for financing nine new projects in Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Myanmar, Haiti, Malawi, Mauritania, Sao Tome e Principe and Tanzania.

The European Investment Bank, owned by the EU Member States, is one of the largest multilateral providers of climate finance among the international financial institutions. The EIB currently provides between €1.5bn and €2bn per year of climate finance for investments outside the EU.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2013. All rights reserve

 

 

 

 

ESA Video Map of Our Galaxy

This video is amazing.  It is built on a star survey done by satellites launched by the European Space Agency.   What this animated rendering shows is that we earthlings reside on a speck, dwarfed and unremarkable when viewed on a galactic scale.  It is humbling and awe inspiring. How lucky we are to have this place we call Earth.

Milky Way Galaxy

Here is a link to ESA' s very impressive video map of the Milky Way,  our galactic home... http://spaceinvideos.esa.int/Videos/2013/11/Guide_to_our_Galaxy

The Dalai Lama Talks about Happiness and Farting

I am a spiritual person but do not follow any organized religion.  There is one religious leader that I particularly admire. That would be the Dalai Lama of Tibet.  He is a globally recognized and respected religious leader who seems genuine; a human being who exudes humility and non-violent compassion. Thanks to my friend and inspiring mentor, Michael Tobias, I once had the opportunity to  attend an event in which the Dalai Lama was the guest of honor.  He dresses simply and projects a wonderful kind of charisma and kindness. He was warm and laughed easily. I found him very likeable.

You have to like a person of the Dalai Lama's influence and stature, who is able to express himself candidly and laugh about something as mundane as farting.

The Dalai Lama and a young friend

Here is a link to the wonderful video that features the Dalai Lama imparting his wisdom on the nature of happiness and also on the very human predilection to pass gas... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUEkDc_LfKQ

Edge - A Web Presence that is Worthy

Imagine a website that serves mostly as an outlet for good ideas from the minds of some of the world's best thinkers. Edge is the name of the site. It's the brainchild of a New York based innovator named John Brockman. I confess, Brockman is new to me. All indications are that he is an impressive thinker himself.  

Edge is shaped to inspire, but it's not  for lightweights.  It's not dumbed down. The visitor is assumed to have a scientifically open mind and the ability to thoughtfully  process information.

There are more than a few forward thinking, scientifically focused presences on the net that seek to engage and influence in a positive way.  Edge stands out. It is shaped for an intelligent audience; the kind of visitor that favors compelling ideas over mindless hype and promotion.

This site is  built on good science and nuanced insight.  It's a bunch of really smart people expressing themselves on a variety of subjects, with  ideas that contribute to a sustainable world view.

Edge appears to be gender equal.  Smart women with good ideas are showcased as often as men.   I  like that,  because women have every right to be treated equally.  Also, it does seem that most women are genetically selected to nurture. How wonderful is that?  A huge dose of caring and compassion is very much what the world needs.

One thing I wish for is that the mentally engaged crowd that subscribes to Edge join with the caring people who  champion  the natural world, and those good folks  who fight for women's rights, and  Indigenous rights, and gay rights, and animal rights. To some extent, it's already happening. It needs to happen a whole lot more.  These noble constituencies that represent different causes  need to  get on the same page and work together.  They need to come together and  focus on reshaping our seriously corrupted form of governance.  What we have now is a corporate plutocracy, driven to a substantial degree  by legalized bribery.  That must change. Those of us who want to be progressive game changers - I have to assume that includes the exceptional men and women who interface at the  Edge  website -  need to engage at the grass roots with all the other good people who want to build an equitable, life-affirming future.  We need to work together for a common solution to the political dysfunction that diminishes everything we care about.

I have joined the Edge  online community. Take a look yourself. If smart thinking works for you, check Edge out for yourself. Here is a link to the website... http://www.edge.org

 

 

 

 

Disaster Fatigue

Disaster fatigue is a concept as ugly as the mega-scale human tragedies that cause it.  It's not a difficult idea to grasp. Mega-scale hurricanes, typhoons, floods, droughts, and wildfire are becoming more deadly and  more common.

A few days ago, a tropical storm known as Haiyan struck the Philippines.  It was by some accounts the most powerful storm in recorded history.  Sustained winds of 195 mph, gusting to nearly 250 mph; a storm surge of 20 feet.  The death toll is estimated at 10,000 at this point and likely to go much higher.

You watch the TV news reports and your heart goes out to the masses of people caught up in the suffering.  Huge numbers of people still have no food, no potable water, and little or no medical care.  The world is trying to help. The U.S. Navy and other relief agencies are there providing as much aid as they can, but the scale of the devastation is overwhelming. 

The sobering reality about such weather events is that they are becoming more common, far more costly, and more consequential and lasting in their impact. 

We have mostly ourselves to blame.  Storms like Haiyan become monsters in scale in large part because of the physics of climate change. Warmer ocean surface temperatures breed more powerful weather systems.  In the Philippines, the impact is exacerbated by the crowded conditions in mostly poor coastal communities.   The human population in the Philippines is nearly 100 million, increasing at  nearly 2% annually.  There is no safety net in poor countries like the Philippines.

In 2010, an earthquake devastated Haiti.  The world's initial response was intense, but now, three years later, much of the rubble remains and the economy is moribund. Haiti continues to be defined by dysfunction and human suffering.   Add now, the Philippines to a growing list of places that cannot take care of its people.

In the U.S., we are still dealing with the consequences of Hurricane Sandy on the Northeastern seaboard, and Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans and the deep South.

If trends continue, what looms ominously is the possibility that our compassion and our support when devastating weather events strike will be increasingly limited by the overwhelming demand.   To a significant  extent, disaster fatigue is already an unsettling reality.   At the very least, we should demand that our elected representatives in government wake up and take action to moderate climate change.  That is surely an imperative part of any plan to deal with disaster fatigue.


Here is a link to a video that makes the connection between human induced climate change and colossal disasters like Typhoon Haiyan... http://acronymtv.wordpress.com/2013/11/12/super-typhoon-haiyan-and-the-climate-change-link/

Everyone Gets Paid

This is a pretty radical idea,  but could it be where America is headed?  Economics, as currently practiced,  are only working for people who are shamelessly wealthy and maybe also for the sycophants who serve the wealthy.

Here are a couple of hard to refute facts...

• There is not enough work to keep everyone employed. Not even close.  Efficiency, automation, and cheap labor overseas are sucking the life out of the American workforce.
• An economy works best when its people have money to pay for goods and services. 
•  Sweden, Norway, and Denmark are nations where public policy is a close reflection of 'Everyone gets paid'.  Those three countries are also consistently revealed to have the highest quality of life found anywhere in the world. 

Right now, about 40% of all children attending public schools in the U.S. are living in poverty.  That is a shocking fact. Where is the mortality in an economic paradigm that allows that to happen?

What we currently have is a system in which a few people get obscenely wealthy while the masses starve. Giving everyone a monthly check might sound extreme, but it makes sense when compared to the way things work now.  Of course, if we did that, a couple of things would have to change.  We'd have to stop letting big corporations and the rich get away without paying taxes, and we'd have to substantially trim our nearly trillion dollar annual military budget. Right now, we spend more than all the rest of the world combined on our war fighting capability.  Where is the sense in that?

____________________

November 12, 2013 - N.Y. Times

Switzerland’s Proposal to Pay People for Being Alive

By ANNIE LOWREY

 

This fall, a truck dumped eight million coins outside the Parliament building in Bern, one for every Swiss citizen. It was a publicity stunt for advocates of an audacious social policy that just might become reality in the tiny, rich country. Along with the coins, activists delivered 125,000 signatures — enough to trigger a Swiss public referendum, this time on providing a monthly income to every citizen, no strings attached. Every month, every Swiss person would receive a check from the government, no matter how rich or poor, how hardworking or lazy, how old or young. Poverty would disappear. Economists, needless to say, are sharply divided on what would reappear in its place — and whether such a basic-income scheme might have some appeal for other, less socialist countries too.

      

The proposal is, in part, the brainchild of a German-born artist named Enno Schmidt, a leader in the basic-income movement. He knows it sounds a bit crazy. He thought the same when someone first described the policy to him, too. “I tell people not to think about it for others, but think about it for themselves,” Schmidt told me. “What would you do if you had that income? What if you were taking care of a child or an elderly person?” Schmidt said that the basic income would provide some dignity and security to the poor, especially Europe’s underemployed and unemployed. It would also, he said, help unleash creativity and entrepreneurialism: Switzerland’s workers would feel empowered to work the way they wanted to, rather than the way they had to just to get by. He even went so far as to compare it to a civil rights movement, like women’s suffrage or ending slavery.

      

When we spoke, Schmidt repeatedly described the policy as “stimmig.” Like many German words, it has no English equivalent, but it means something like “coherent and harmonious,” with a dash of “beauty” thrown in. It is an idea whose time has come, he was saying. And basic-income schemes are having something of a moment, even if they are hardly new. (Thomas Paine was an advocate.) But their renewed popularity says something troubling about the state of rich-world economies.

      

Go to a cocktail party in Berlin, and there is always someone spouting off about the benefits of a basic income, just as you might hear someone talking up Robin Hood taxes in New York or single-payer health care in Washington. And it’s not only in vogue in wealthy Switzerland. Beleaguered and debt-wracked Cyprus is weighing the implementation of basic incomes, too. They even are whispered about in the United States, where certain wonks on the libertarian right and liberal left have come to a strange convergence around the idea — some prefer an unconditional “basic” income that would go out to everyone, no strings attached; others a means-tested “minimum” income to supplement the earnings of the poor up to a given level.

      

The case from the right is one of expediency and efficacy. Let’s say that Congress decided to provide a basic income through the tax code or by expanding the Social Security program. Such a system might work better and be fairer than the current patchwork of programs, including welfare, food stamps and housing vouchers. A single father with two jobs and two children would no longer have to worry about the hassle of visiting a bunch of offices to receive benefits. And giving him a single lump sum might help him use his federal dollars better. Housing vouchers have to be spent on housing, food stamps on food. Those dollars would be more valuable — both to the recipient and the economy at large — if they were fungible.

      

Even better, conservatives think, such a program could significantly reduce the size of our federal bureaucracy. It could take the place of welfare, food stamps, housing vouchers and hundreds of other programs, all at once: Hello, basic income; goodbye, H.U.D. Charles Murray of the conservative American Enterprise Institute has proposed a minimum income for just that reason — feed the poor, and starve the beast. “Give the money to the people,” Murray wrote in his book “In Our Hands: A Plan to Replace the Welfare State.” He suggested guaranteeing $10,000 a year to anyone meeting the following conditions: be American, be over 21, stay out of jail and — as he once quipped — “have a pulse.”

      

The left is more concerned with the power of a minimum or basic income as an anti-poverty and pro-mobility tool. There happens to be some hard evidence to bolster the policy’s case. In the mid-1970s, the tiny Canadian town of Dauphin ( the “garden capital of Manitoba” ) acted as guinea pig for a grand experiment in social policy called “Mincome.” For a short period of time, all the residents of the town received a guaranteed minimum income. About 1,000 poor families got monthly checks to supplement their earnings.

      

Evelyn Forget, a health economist at the University of Manitoba, has done some of the best research on the results. Some of her findings were obvious: Poverty disappeared. But others were more surprising: High-school completion rates went up; hospitalization rates went down. “If you have a social program like this, community values themselves start to change,” Forget said.

      

There are strong arguments against minimum or basic incomes, too. Cost is one. Creating a massive disincentive to work is another. But some experts said the effect might be smaller than you would think. A basic income might be enough to live on, but not enough to live very well on. Such a program would be designed to end poverty without creating a nation of layabouts. The Mincome experiment offers some backup for that argument, too.“For a lot of economists, the issue was that you would disincentivize work,” said Wayne Simpson, a Canadian economist who has studied Mincome. “The evidence showed that it was not nearly as bad as some of the literature had suggested.”

There’s a deeper, scarier reason that arguments for guaranteed incomes have resurfaced of late. Wages are stagnant, unemployment is high and tens of millions of families are struggling in Europe and here at home. Despite record corporate earnings and skyrocketing fortunes for the college-educated and already well-off, the job market is simply not rewarding many fully employed workers with a decent way of life. Millions of households have had no real increase in earnings since the late 1980s. Consider the current debate over fast-food workers’ wages.

      

The advocacy group Low Pay Is Not OK posted a phone call, recorded by a 10-year McDonald’s veteran, Nancy Salgado, when she contacted the company’s “McResource” help line. The operator told Salgado that she could qualify for food stamps and home heating assistance, while also suggesting some area food banks — impressively, she knew to recommend these services without even asking about Salgado’s wage ($8.25 an hour), though she was aware Salgado worked full time. The company earned $5.5 billion in net profits last year, and appears to take for granted that many of its employees will be on the dole.

      

Absurd as a minimum income might seem to bootstrapping Americans, one already exists in a way — McDonald’s knows it. If our economy is no longer able to improve the lives of the working poor and low-income families, why not tweak our policies to do what we’re already doing, but better — more harmoniously? It’s hardly uplifting news, but minimum incomes just might be stimmig for the United States too.

 

___________

      

Annie Lowrey is an economics reporter for The Times. 

 

 

 

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Dancing Like Nobody's Watching

Here's a guy that is seriously lit up. He's having a blast; the dancing man, getting loose in a crowd,  infecting everyone with his zany antics.   In my whole life, I think I've been out on that kind of wowwwzer limb maybe once or twice. I hope I have  reason to get crazy like that again...soon, very soon.


Here's the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_xIoJzZtKg

Pale Blue Dot - Take Two

On August 14th, I posted a blog entry titled, a Pale Blue Dot, narrated by Carl Sagan and produced by Michael Marantz. 

A Pale Blue Dot is a term used by Sagan to put some perspective on our Earth's place in the vastness of the solar system and the universe.

Here is another short video. This one is also called 'A Pale Blue Dot'  It is from something called The Sagan Series and includes Carl Sagan's wonderful perspective on humanity's place on the Earth and the greater universe...  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=923jxZY2NPI

Animal Pix

I have been working to improve my photo processing for a couple of years. I shoot with a Canon 7D  DSLR, mostly with a Canon 24-105 lens.   I process in Lightroom and in PhotoShop CS6.    I like the work I'm doing these days, not that it couldn't be a whole lot better. I love trying new processing techniques.

It's fun to turn a nice photo image into something that approximates art.  Here are some of my animal images taken over the past few years, and processed with my own brand of artistry.   I find inspiration everywhere I turn. My approach is to do what I like and hope that others appreciate the effort.

I like photographing animals, especially when I can present them in a graceful or majestic way. 

Blue Heron - 'Vigil'

'Love'

'Safe and Secure'

Curious George





'Alert and Ready'