from Ataraxia: 2013-07-21

Saturday, July 27, 2013

A good article to show the severity of the problem but too pessimistic

He is not thinking local enough. Rain barrels, community power, neighborhood geothermal and solar, local trash to energy fuel-cell plants with multiple energy outputs and zero pollution, recycled cans replaced by local glass and pottery, cloth not paper, resource sharing, co-housing. I could go on and on. I am going to build one such community right here in Coventry. There will be a lot of pain involved but as a species we have suffered it before. There is no alternative.

To all the skeptics out there. Do we need to hit you with a brick?

The Difference Between Global Warming Skeptics And Normal People

Where is the burden of proof in the climate change issue? Well, let's ask every reputable group of scientists in the world AND my favorite British know-it-all.

“The ultimate result will be to take the raw data and spread it as wide as we can,” said Allyson Sosa, who moved to the UAE in January. “I find a lot of people who are in disbelief. They cannot believe it has come to this and no one has done enough about it.”

UAE ambassadors for the environment

For Mr Paul, one of the strongest indicators of the need for action is the melting of the Arctic ice cap, which has shrunk in size from six million square kilometres in 1979 to 3.5 million square kilometres in 2012.

The Inexplicable Universe: Unsolved Mysteries

The Inexplicable Universe: Unsolved Mysteries Course No. 1816 Neil deGrasse Tyson Professor Neil deGrasse Tyson Hayden PlanetariumPh.D., Columbia University

Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition

Conservative's mental functions illustrate why the world is still flat

Analyzing political conservatism as motivated social cognition integrates theories of personality (authoritarianism, dogmatism–intolerance of ambiguity), epistemic and existential needs (for closure,

regulatory focus, terror management), and ideological rationalization (social dominance, system justification). A meta-analysis (88 samples, 12 countries, 22,818 cases) confirms that several psychological

variables predict political conservatism: death anxiety (weighted mean r .50); system instability (.47);

dogmatism–intolerance of ambiguity (.34); openness to experience (–.32); uncertainty tolerance (–.27);

needs for order, structure, and closure (.26); integrative complexity (–.20); fear of threat and loss (.18);

and self-esteem (–.09). The core ideology of conservatism stresses resistance to change and justification

of inequality and is motivated by needs that vary situationally and dispositionally to manage uncertainty

and threat

Friday, July 26, 2013

The anti-GMO movement in the U.S. has achieved some preliminary victories in GMO food labeling but that's not all that needs to be done.

How Monsanto Can Be Defeated

It is no exaggeration to say that Monsanto has now become the most hated corporation in the world.

The United States Is Awash in Public Stupidity, and Critical Thought Is Under Assault

From celebrity culture to phony public intellectuals to shallow politicians -- there's an assault on rational thinking in this country.

The United States has degenerated into a social order that is awash in public stupidity and views critical thought as both a liability and a threat.

Riding the coattails of the fiscal cliff bargain, the 2008 Farm Bill—three months past its “renew by” date—got a nine-month extension shortly after New Year’s Day. The extension could have included funds to preserve programs that help rural America and rebuild a food and farming system around the challenges of the 21st century. Instead, the policy—concocted in backdoor fashion without any public input—might as well have been written by lobbyists from the crop insurance, finance and agrochemical industries.

Clueless about Food and Agriculture? Why Everyone has a Stake in the Farm Bill Fight

If this sounds disgusting to you then you have no idea how important water is to much of the world.

UNICEF wants to draw attention to the fact that 780 million people around the world don’t have access to clean drinking water. Around 125 million of them are children under the age of five.

Extracting drinking water from sweaty shirts

PNAS - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

There is a treasure trove of information here. The raw data. Some of you can understand it.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

More and more children are being diagnosed with chronic diseases that have previously been only seen in middle age adults.

Kids Already Have Middle Age Ilnesses: What Can We Do?

Methane release is accelerating

Methane meltdown: The Arctic timebomb that could cost us $60trn

Release of gas trapped for thousands of years beneath frozen permafrost of Arctic is one of the most dangerous 'feedback' consequences of rapid warming

the Global Water System Project

Participants from all continents and dealing with various water-related problems are expected to attend this conference.

Effects of Arctic Amplification on Climate Change and your weather.

Climate Change - If we Fail to Fix This, we Fail on Everything

Pesticides were designed to kill things. I don't want to eat them

Scientists discover what’s killing the bees and it’s worse than you thought

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

It's About The Carbon In The Atmosphere! Let's Get Our Priorities Straight!

Guest Blog by: John Strohl (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/john-strohl/10/149/962)

When we put everything in the balance, the bottom line on climate change, global warming, sea level rise, ice sheet melting, literally everything, is carbon in the atmosphere. There is literally no value to arguing about what caused it, or who. We're still getting our arms around the fine details of that, but the science is in and thousands of scientists around the world agree that there is significant anthropogenic impact in the global warming scenario.

The basic story goes like this: We live in a closed loop environment with the singular exception of energy being injected into our system 24/7 by our Sun. That closed loop has X amount of Carbon in it. For purposes of our discussion, this doesn't change (Conservation of Mass - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_mass). What does change is where the carbon is at any given time. When it's "out of the way" meaning someplace where it isn't a problem we say it's "sequestered". Sequestration can take the form of plant life, animal life, hydrocarbons (coal, oil, gas), and non-organic carbon compounds in the earth, carbon dissolved in water, and so on. Usually it refers to anyplace other than in the air. When it is in the air, primarily in the form of gaseous compounds such as carbon dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, or any other gaseous hydrocarbon, it acts to reflect and absorb heat radiated back out toward space by the earth's surface, to varying degrees, depending upon the specific compound (Green House Gas effect). Methane for instance is about 25 times as potent at this function as carbon dioxide. This whole process that defines where the carbon is at any given moment is called the carbon cycle. We have seriously disturbed the "balance" of the carbon cycle, and the carbon cycle is what regulates the "just right" conditions of the Earth's atmosphere, supporting life on Earth.

An excellent illustration of the anthropogenic (human originated) activities that impact the carbon cycle and are at the heart of global warming and climate change is presented in this diagram from the World Resource Institute (http://www.wri.org/chart/world-greenhouse-gas-emissions-flow-chart)

The essence of the situation is that we are approaching a super saturated carbon condition in the atmosphere, with serious environmental tipping points. This will maximize the trapping of converted solar energy, that would otherwise escape into space. Passing the tipping points will mean we have gone so far in a particular direction that we can't go back in a functional time scale (many human life times) - if at all! The science is in, the situation is real. There is no point in arguing it because we have very little time to do something about it, and arguing will just waste more precious time. The question NOW is, what can we do about it?

The linked article gives a very coherent view of the issue with regard to certain aspects and increasing carbon dioxide (http://www.earth-policy.org/indicators/C52/carbon_emissions_2013) The article, in turn provides a link to Lester Brown's Plan B summary (http://www.earth-policy.org/press_room/C68/80by2020) with a free downloadable PDF of the summary for you consideration. This is NOT the only thinking going on but if you have not considered a focused plan for attacking this problem comprehensively, this is a good place to start. First and last - it's about the carbon, folks! If you want to know more about potential tipping points and their significance, read http://fromataraxia.blogspot.com/2013/07/that-was-then-and-this-is-now-paleocene_24.html

If not us, who? If not now, when? Thanks for being there and being you!

It's time to clean the muscle heads out of all police departments.

Many police departments have officers on their payroll who are unfit to serve. They are the muscle heads, the (mainly) male officers on an ego power trip. These people get in the way of real police work and cause the community to fear the police instead of respecting them. The vast majority of police officers do their difficult job well and could to it much better if these ego heads were removed of their weapons and their jobs. I wouldn't hire one for warehouse security.

Mark Kessler, Pennsylvania Police Chief, Says 'F*ck All You Libtards,' Apologizes With Assault Rifle

I will follow this up with a personal incident. I am bipolar. Recently, I called 911 when I thought my son was in danger. When the dispatcher continued to ask me questions after I gave all the pertinent information, I went high-manic. All the dispatcher had to say was "a car is on the way to his apartment" but instead the questions continued. I went ballistic (it's what I do). When two police officers from Coventry, CT 06238 arrived they took more verbal abuse at loud volumes and close quarters (nose to nose) as I explained that in this instance I was in charge, not them. During that time my therapist was called and I had to listen to "Yes Mr. Salters, we believe you but we are not talking to you, we are talking to the mania that has taken control of your mouth." It was funny at first (Monty Python - "I'm not dead yet.") but it continued in an endless loop. The Coventry police never touched me. They treated me with respect during the entire incident and when I had had enough I demanded (and not politely) that they leave my property, which they did. Kudos to the well trained professional officers of the Coventry police department.

At this time I still didn't know if my son was OK so I headed to Willimantic, CT 06226. Actually I flew to Willimantic in my Yaris, sliding sideways up the door of the secure complex with the memory of how the Willimantic police department had taken away my son's license after he was pulled over for having his parking lights on instead of his headlights. My son is mentally handicapped and was headed out on a date with his girlfriend, a woman of color. No ticket was issued. His license was taken under the claim that he was medically unfit to drive. It sure looked like a case of double discrimination to me. It took months to get before a judge and have his license reinstated without a blemish on his driving record (no ticket? very little recourse).

So there I was, trapped in the complex's "man trap" when multiple muscular officers arrived. I surrendered without resisting after throwing my cell phone in my car and telling the officers that they could get a warrant or have my car towed. I was handcuffed and locked in a cruiser. Unfortunately, for the first time in my life I did become delusional. Perhaps they were just looking through the windows but I imagined that they were trying to gain access to my car so I started to try to get their attention by kicking the window. I did later look for any evidence that my car had been tampered with and found none. They opened the door to the cruiser and pepper sprayed me multiple times. I asked them to make a call to confirm my identity which they did not do. Instead they laughed at me, calling me retard, old man and laughing at the results of their work (I was drooling and my nose was running). Finally, I demanded to be taken to the hospital as I only trusted a medical professional to undo their work. I was never arrested as I never touched or even threatened any of the muscle heads. My only "crime" was being mentally ill. And this at a time when laws are being passed that allow the police to shoot your dog because you took their photo.

What did I get out of this? I got a t-shirt (kind of like that muscle headed police chief in PA) that I wear proudly whenever I go to Willimantic:

Front

Back

That Was Then, And This Is Now : The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum and What It Means To Us

Guest Blog by : John Strohl

The Paleocene Epoch was the first epoch in the Cenozoic Era, which is the period including everything from the end of the Cretacious (extinction of the dinosaurs) to the present. As a point of note, this period includes the Tertiary and Quaternary. These two sub-periods of the Cenozoic are distinguished in time by the sequences of fossils present in rocks from these periods. There is further subdivision of the Tertiary into the Paleocene, the Eocene, the Oligocene, the Miocene, and the Pliocene, which were distinguished by an even finer grading of the fossils present. The first epoch coming at the end of the Cretaceous Era was the Paleocene Epoch, followed by the Eocene, and then the Oligocene. These three make up the Paleogene, or the “old” period of the Cenozoic. ⁽¹⁾ The subject of this post is that period transitioning from the Paleocene to the Eocene during which an event referred to as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum occurred (sometime referred to by its acronym, PETM – also known in some literature as the LPTM for Late Paleocene Thermal Maximum).

The PETM event is significant because it was the last significant instance of serious global warming before what we are now experiencing. During this period the mean temperature of Earth’s oceans are estimated to have risen as much as 41 degrees Fahrenheit over a 20,000 year period. ⁽²⁾ As noted by the researchers in this study, pinpointing the cause of the PETM requires extremely accurate dating of the event so that it can be correlated or disassociated from other precisely calculated events of Earth’s past such as the peak of a Milankovitch Cycle or other known events. Based on their research, the most exact date span to date has been generated - between 55.728 and 55.964 million years ago. The significance of this is that it places the event outside the timing of a Milankovitch cycle and reinforces the notion that what we know as greenhouse gases were probably the root cause.

We all know about CO² and its effect as a greenhouse gas (GHG). People frequently overlook, or are simply unaware, of the significance of methane as a GHG. Methane is estimated to be 20 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO² and there are huge quantities of it naturally sequestered on the ocean floor and the continental shelves facing the North Pole in the form of methane hydrate (note the red dots not on land in the Arctic region - basically ALL of the Arctic).⁽³⁾

The map shown above indicates where known deep sea and continental shelf deposits are located. Red dots indicate areas where it is considered highly likely that methane hydrate will be found in large quantities, yellow dots indicate areas that have proven to have large quantities. Note a number of locations in the Arctic continental shelf areas, with more having been discovered since this map was generated. Virtually every red dot on this map has been proven to have large methane hydrate reserves in the period since 2005, when the data for this map was published.

Methane hydrate is basically a pentagonal ice crystal with a methane molecule trapped in the middle. It is stable as a result of pressure and/or temperature – high pressure and/or low temperature. It would take a serious change in the processes that we are familiar with today in terms of ocean cycles, and the hydrologic cycle in general, to disturb most of those methane hydrate deposits… except for the methane hydrate on the Arctic continental shelves.⁽⁴⁾The methane trapped there (900+ gigatons) is not in deep ocean so the only thing that keeps it stable as methane hydrate is temperature.⁽⁵⁾ The cold necessary for hydrate stability was routinely a function of a thick covering of arctic sea ice, which is now gone. Original predictions associated with global warming had complete disappearance of summer Arctic sea ice occurring by mid century. The latest estimates have it occurring by the summer of 2015.^(6,9)The MOST recent reporting indicates a massive melt off has occurred early this year. ⁽⁷⁾

The significance of all this is relatively straight forward. Based on careful work done by scientists studying the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum they have been able to model an effective cause for the PETM event – the abrupt release of methane into the atmosphere, probably from methane hydrate in the ocean, due to a sudden shift in ocean warming. ⁽⁸⁾ Any number of things could cause a sudden shift in ocean warming, but their notions of the time frame for the PETM event are around ten thousand years, and the abrupt release could have been over tens of years.

We have a scenario where we are on the doorstep of several significant factors in oceanic warming in the Arctic colliding in space and time – loss of sea ice in the summer, significantly increased absorption of sunlight by the Arctic ocean, general conditions of global warming and significant increases of methane release already documented in the Arctic. Is there any reason to think that these combined conditions won’t change any number of other things related to global warming and climate change? No. Is there any reason to think that the aggregate set of conditions won’t create sudden and serious changes in lower depth water temperatures? No.

Welcome to the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum - Take 2… only this time it won’t take thousands of years to peak because we face the probability of the abrupt release of 900+ gigatons of methane hydrate into the atmosphere of the Arctic over a matter of months and years, not decades and centuries… which (if you’ll pardon the pun) has, quite literally, explosive potential for harm. Imagine something that gets out of control in a few years and takes a hundred thousand years to rebalance, something that is SO sudden that nothing has time to adapt...

Bibliography

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/cenozoic/cenozoic.php The Cenozoic Era
Charles, A. J., Condon, D. J., Harding, I. C., PÃ¤like, H., Marshall, J. E. A., Cui, Y. & Kump, L. Constraints on the Numerical Age of the Paleocene-Eocene Boundary. Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 12, Q0AA17, doi:10.1029/2010GC003426
Hester, K.C. Brewer, P.G., Clathrate Hydrates In Nature, 2009, Annual Review Of Marine Science
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathan-currier/methane-emissions-urgency-now_b_1069646.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runaway_climate_change
http://www.ameg.me/index.php/sea-ice
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/07/18/snow-and-arctic-ice-extent-plummet-suddenly-as-globe-bakes/
Gerald R. Dickens, Maria M. Castillo and James C. G. Walker, A Blast of Gas in the Late Paleocene: Simulating First Order effects of Massive Dissociation of Oceanic Methane Hydrate; Geology 1997;25;259-262
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=iSsPHytEnJM Arctic Methane: Why The Sea Ice Matters

Will the Korean War Turn into a Food Fight? - Rick Salters

Would you stay in a country whose neighbor was hurling threats warning of an imminent "moment of explosion"?

North Korean famine

North Korea, with it's belligerent government, and suffering with famine, practices a "military first" policy. As the climate changes and poverty and starvation increase, what will their reaction be? We should be very worried about the North Korean reaction. I would imagine that the governments of South Korea, China, Japan and the United States stay up nights thinking about this issue. South Korea and China are worried about being overrun by South Korean refugees. The rest of the world must worry that the North Korean government could use their large military to take what they need?

It scares the hell out of me!

Rick Salters

CNBC airs accurate climate coverage, but only at 4am

What is eGallon? It is the cost of fueling a vehicle with electricity compared to a similar vehicle that runs on gasoline.

Compare the costs of driving with electricity

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

U.S. vulnerability to climate change

U.S. ENERGY SECTOR VULNERABILITIES TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND EXTREME WEATHER

Austerity is Failing

The Complete Failure Of Austerity, In 1 Chart

"Although all governments like to give the impression that they can have a big impact on people’s prosperity, few actually do," Wren-Lewis writes. "These numbers suggest that the current U.K. government has managed to do so, but unfortunately by making us all poorer."

Getting tired of this same old song?

John Boehner: No Debt Ceiling Hike Without Spending Cuts

A Whole Foods Market employee has launched an hilarious attack on the firm with an extraordinary letter of resignation.

'You're a faux hippy Wal-Mart': Whole Foods Market worker quits in 'epic' resignation email

In response to this the Institute of Medicine's (IOM's) Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine held a workshop to inform the policies that are discussed at the 2012

Public Health Linkages with Sustainability: Workshop Summary (2013)

In 1992 world leaders met at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro to reaffirm the Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment that was established on June 16, 1972 in Stockholm. The meeting resulted in the adoption of Agenda 21 by the member states which is a framework for the transition to a more sustainable world. In 2012 the members gathered to assess and reaffirm the importance of progress towards the efforts of Agenda 21.

In response to this the Institute of Medicine's (IOM's) Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine held a workshop to inform the policies that are discussed at the 2012 Earth Summit. The workshop, held in Woods Hole, Massachusetts on July 25-26, 2011, focused on the issue of sustainability and health as well as the linkages that are currently present between the two.

The workshop included presentations and discussions which are summarized in Public Health Linkages with Sustainability: Workshop Summary. The report presents how different areas of public health, such as food and water resources, link to sustainability and opportunities or venues that can be examined.

Thanks to Global Warming, Arctic Shipping Has Quadrupled in the Past Year

There are benefits in the melting of the Arctic, but the risks are much greater

As Climate Central’s Andrew Freedman recently pointed out, the United States is essentially helpless in the Arctic, with zero Navy surface ships capable of navigating the icy waters and the Senate unwilling to ratify the UN convention that facilitates diplomacy in the region. That’s a big concern, given that the new shipping routes come with dangers ranging from lost lives to environmentally disastrous spills to territorial disputes

Solar cooking

The Wilson Solar Cooker started as an idea to help African women who die from smoke inhalation at wood fires. Credit: Wilson Solar Cooker

A group of MIT students have been working on a solar grill that uses a Fresnel lens and solar energy to melt down a container of Lithium Nitrate, which is like a battery storing thermal energy for 25 hours. The heat created at temperatures above 450 degrees Fahrenheit is used for convection cooking outdoors.

There is a model for yuppies too!

Help Willits Valley in Mendocino County, CA by signing this petition

Cancel the Caltrans Willits Bypass Project

The Little Lake Valley — aka the Willits Valley in Mendocino County, CA — is threatened by an environmentally disastrous Caltrans (California Department of Transportation) highway construction project called “The Willits Bypass.”

When faced with the challenge of sharing the latest climate change discoveries, scientists often rely on data graphics and technical illustrations. University of Minnesota undergrad Daniel Crawford came up with a completely different approach. He’s using his cello to communicate the latest climate science through music.

Thermometer measurements show the average global temperature has risen about 1.4 °F (0.8 °C) since 1880. Typically, this warming is illustrated visually with line plots or maps showing year-by-year changes in annual temperatures. As an alternative, Crawford used an approach called data sonification to convert global temperature records into a series of musical notes.

The final result, “A Song of Our Warming Planet,” came about following a conversation Crawford had with geography professor Scott St. George during an internship. St. George asked Crawford about the possibility of turning a set of data into music.

The video ends with a stark message: Scientists predict the planet will warm by another 1.8 degrees Celsius (3.2 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of this century. This additional warming would produce a series of notes beyond the range of human hearing.

United Natures

United Natures – a United Nations of all species!

The Curious Case of Fracking: Questions from the Road

GoGetFunding for Justin

Justin's Climate Reality Leadership Training

My name is Justin D Whitehead. I live on beautiful Vancouver Island in the province of British Columbia in Canada. I am currently studying in the fields of Biology, Sociology, Psychology, Philosophy, and English. I intend on focusing my studies on Positive Psychology/Mindfulness later on. I am a board member for the North Island Students Union, and I am also an Education Council member at North Island College in Courtenay, British Columbia. In addition to that, I am a blogger/writer of sorts writing about political, environmental, technological, theological, and human rights issues. I have over 600,000 online subscribers/followers, and I intend to use this training to further inform said audience regarding the importance of our part in climate change.

By Sue King

Hi everyone
I have held back posting as I have been in awe of everyone else. I then realised, you know, it's ok to be the ordinary amongst the extra-ordinary. I am ordinary, I come from a working class family in Manchester. I was always told that I always wanted something bigger and better and that I was better off just knowing my place. I was supposed not to want adventure and to be content with what I had as my parents said this was the true way to happiness. I remember in the coal miners strikes in the 1970's when we went weeks without electricity as being my happiest times. We still had gas for our stoves but we talked for hours in candlelight. I have seen the happiest faces amongst subsistence farmers in Greece and in Spain, I have heard the joy of children's voices carrying over mountains in Nepal and I grieve every tree which is sliced down.

Having an internal struggle to do the best, do the right job, buy the right meat, manage with one car, build a frog pond, buy solar, sell solar, buy organic, eat less, don't use the treadmill, walk the dog....compost the dog....should my dog be vegetarian? how many kids one or two? do I get buried in pine and be composted or do I turn to ashes in a furnace, which is the least carbon intense? and of course so it goes on

Seeing an inconvenient truth was my call to act, for so long I had been wanting someone else to make the changes, stop what they were doing...A group of six of us set up a community action group called lighterfootprints in 2006, not build on a committee, but a community group running education forums with politicians, campaigning and educating ourselves and others. People have gone on to do all sorts of interesting climate related things, some needing a spell of impoverishment for them. Bee keeping, carbon accounting training, health climate action, education in Vietnam etc. Others stay join in the action and the group is fluid, come, go, move on, share....whatever, its all good.

One simple fact remains, five people cutting 20% is as good as one cutting 100% so I set off my track of self flagellation and did a home sustainability course, to get more people to stop that 20% getting wasted in their house.I then did a course on carbon accounting so I could put this in maths. I bought a $1200 LED TV using 30% of the electricity. My son sprayed water on it, rusted the pins and it had to be thrown away, thrown away....noone even wants the parts. the carbon emissions in Nitrogen Trifluoride are 17,200 times that of carbon dioxide and it does not even feature in Kyoto - so guess want, unless its expensive its getting piffed into the atmosphere.

I still come back to, use it, use it less, look after it, resell it, stop it escaping, share it, protect it, work round it not through it.

I'm ordinary, I just take an interest in what moves, what smiles, what lives, whats sad, and take the view that everyone and everything as as precious as everyone else.

I am here to find more ways of motivating people to feel they can make a difference at home here in Australia.