This is so unspeakably creepy and wrong.
"Chinese scientists said they have succeeded in an experiment to remotely control the flight of a pigeon with electronic technology.
Scientists with the Robot Engineering Technology Research Center of east China's Shandong University of Science and Technology say they implanted micro electrodes in the brain of a pigeon so they can command it to fly right or left or up or down.
The implants stimulated different areas of the pigeon's brain according to signals sent by the scientists via computer, and forced the bird to comply with their commands. " LINK
Wonderful, sad, furious article. Read this.
"...Reality takes time to sink in, but it is happening. Comments such as "in the years to come this issue will dwarf all the others combined. It will become the only issue" and "40 years from now George Bush will not be remembered for Iraq, but will be remembered in near apocalyptic terms. He'll be the denier-in-chief who failed to acknowledge, much less confront, the coming ecological catastrophe" are no longer considered outlandish...
...It is dawning gradually on the Northern countries that anything less than equal rights to the atmosphere will not take the negotiations anywhere. There is a realisation that time is running out fast...
...A 2003 report commissioned by the Pentagon warned that nuclear arms will proliferate as people fight for resources as a result of global warming. "Every time there is a choice between starving and raiding, humans raid." Pointing out that "disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life", it cautioned the Bush administration that climate change could "challenge United States national security in ways that should be considered immediately". "
LINK
...It is dawning gradually on the Northern countries that anything less than equal rights to the atmosphere will not take the negotiations anywhere. There is a realisation that time is running out fast...
...A 2003 report commissioned by the Pentagon warned that nuclear arms will proliferate as people fight for resources as a result of global warming. "Every time there is a choice between starving and raiding, humans raid." Pointing out that "disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life", it cautioned the Bush administration that climate change could "challenge United States national security in ways that should be considered immediately". "
LINK
Great Lakes warming faster than expected. Ta-daa!
"DULUTH, Minn. — For Jay Austin, who has made a career of studying the Great Lakes, the warming climate around Lake Superior is no mystery. But he was surprised to find the waters of the lake itself warming even more rapidly.
Austin, a Duluth professor and a researcher with the University of Minnesota-Duluth's Large Lakes Observatory, has studied decades of data. What he found was water temperatures rising almost twice as fast as air temperatures — more than 4 degrees for the average surface temperature." LINK
Austin, a Duluth professor and a researcher with the University of Minnesota-Duluth's Large Lakes Observatory, has studied decades of data. What he found was water temperatures rising almost twice as fast as air temperatures — more than 4 degrees for the average surface temperature." LINK
Rule Britannia
"LONDON (Reuters) - The British capital set out on Tuesday to become the greenest city in the world with a radical climate action plan to cut carbon emissions by 60 percent within 20 years in the battle against global warming.
The plan aims to slash carbon output by reducing demand and wastage across the whole spectrum from individuals to households, businesses and local governments.
"This will make London the first city in the world to have a really comprehensive plan to cut its carbon emissions," Mark Watts, climate change adviser to London Mayor Ken Livingstone, told Reuters in an interview."LINK
The plan aims to slash carbon output by reducing demand and wastage across the whole spectrum from individuals to households, businesses and local governments.
"This will make London the first city in the world to have a really comprehensive plan to cut its carbon emissions," Mark Watts, climate change adviser to London Mayor Ken Livingstone, told Reuters in an interview."LINK
4 dead, 30 injured in hurricane-force sandstorm/train encounter
"BEIJING, China (AP) -- A sandstorm with hurricane-strength wind gusts has derailed a train in China's far west, killing at least four people and injuring another 30, state media says.
The 11-car train had just left a station in Turpan, in the Xinjiang region's east, when it was hit by wind at 2 a.m. Wednesday, the Xinhua News Agency said.
"A strong sandstorm cracked window panes soon after the train left Turpan, and blew some of the cars off the rail when we were trying to plug up the windows," Xinhua quoted passenger Su Chuanyi as saying."
LINK
The 11-car train had just left a station in Turpan, in the Xinjiang region's east, when it was hit by wind at 2 a.m. Wednesday, the Xinhua News Agency said.
"A strong sandstorm cracked window panes soon after the train left Turpan, and blew some of the cars off the rail when we were trying to plug up the windows," Xinhua quoted passenger Su Chuanyi as saying."
LINK
Boom! One man's attempt to control the weather.
Personal hail cannons. Yup. You know this will lead to trouble.
"I believe in WWI or WWII they were seeing them in the war when the Howitzers were shooting up at each other. And when they were shooting there was no hail,” he says.
These days, China's using howitzer-like artillery shells filled with chemicals to seed clouds and make it rain. But John wants to turn destructive hail into a gentle rain with a hail cannon.
"What comes out of the top of this thing? It's a vibrational sonic boom,” he says. "When it hits the clouds it's a little bit of vibration doesn't allow the ice to form.”
John and about four other area farmers have spent over a $1 million on 18 of these cannons collectively when hail insurance got too expensive. " LINK
"I believe in WWI or WWII they were seeing them in the war when the Howitzers were shooting up at each other. And when they were shooting there was no hail,” he says.
These days, China's using howitzer-like artillery shells filled with chemicals to seed clouds and make it rain. But John wants to turn destructive hail into a gentle rain with a hail cannon.
"What comes out of the top of this thing? It's a vibrational sonic boom,” he says. "When it hits the clouds it's a little bit of vibration doesn't allow the ice to form.”
John and about four other area farmers have spent over a $1 million on 18 of these cannons collectively when hail insurance got too expensive. " LINK
1.5 million in China threatened by drought.
"BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- Drought in southwestern China is threatening the drinking water supplies of 1.5 million people and authorities are considering seeding clouds to make it rain, state media said on Tuesday.
The problem has been compounded by last summer's heat wave in the densely populated municipality of Chongqing, as water supplies have still not recovered, the Beijing News said.
More than 10 ships that ply the Yangtze River have been stranded by the low water levels, it added." LINK
The problem has been compounded by last summer's heat wave in the densely populated municipality of Chongqing, as water supplies have still not recovered, the Beijing News said.
More than 10 ships that ply the Yangtze River have been stranded by the low water levels, it added." LINK
bees- headed out?
"Colonies are going down. The bees aren't dead in the box or aren't out front," says Jerry Bromenshenk, a bee researcher at the University of Montana. "They've just disappeared. Just vanished."
Bromenshenk is leading a team of bee researchers looking for a cause. He's even listening to hives for signs of distress. Beekeepers in 22 states have reported bees dying in huge numbers. Jeff Pettis of the U.S. Department of Agriculture says parasites and disease have killed bees in the past, but never anything like this." LINK
Busy hurricane season ahead?
""I personally think the chance of a La Nina is uncomfortably high. If El Nino does make a fade we could be in for a very busy year," said Chris Landsea, National Hurricane Center science and operations officer.
On top of that, Atlantic tropical sea-surface temperatures continue to be warmer than the average - another big factor in hurricane formation - and African rainfall patterns are suggesting a busy year. Hurricanes form from monsoon storms spinning off the western African coast.
"I think most people in this business are thinking it's going to be a more active than normal hurricane season, and I think there's a legitimacy to that," said Greg Carbone, a geography associate professor at University of South Carolina who studies climate impacts.
Hurricane season is a span from June through November when tropical cyclones are likely to form in the Atlantic. They are massive, powerful land-falling ocean storms that can threaten people and property for hundreds of miles inland. The storms have formed as early as April and as late as December. " LINK
On top of that, Atlantic tropical sea-surface temperatures continue to be warmer than the average - another big factor in hurricane formation - and African rainfall patterns are suggesting a busy year. Hurricanes form from monsoon storms spinning off the western African coast.
"I think most people in this business are thinking it's going to be a more active than normal hurricane season, and I think there's a legitimacy to that," said Greg Carbone, a geography associate professor at University of South Carolina who studies climate impacts.
Hurricane season is a span from June through November when tropical cyclones are likely to form in the Atlantic. They are massive, powerful land-falling ocean storms that can threaten people and property for hundreds of miles inland. The storms have formed as early as April and as late as December. " LINK
It's enough to make you sick. I mean, seriously.
"The spread of human disease has become one of the most worrisome subplots in the story of global warming. Incremental temperature changes have begun to redraw the distribution of bacteria, insects and plants, exposing new populations to diseases that they have never seen before.
A report from the World Health Organization estimated that in 2000 about 154,000 deaths around the world could be attributed to disease outbreaks and other conditions sparked by climate change." LINK
A report from the World Health Organization estimated that in 2000 about 154,000 deaths around the world could be attributed to disease outbreaks and other conditions sparked by climate change." LINK
Cymru am byth
"This is erosion like we've never seen before. It's very alarming and is causing serious concern in the town.
"Something serious is happening. It's unbelievable." LINK
"The award-winning Millennium Coastal Park in Carmarthenshire, which cost some £30m, is losing huge chunks to the ocean.
A combination of high tides and storms have now seen a major section of the park, about a quarter of a mile long, slip into the Burry Estuary, which is notorious for its strong tides.
The latest incident at the park, which has been a huge tourism success with some 500,000 visitors per year, took place last Monday, when a 400-metre stretch of cycle path near Burry Port was destroyed by waves.
A "freak" 8.4 metre-high tide was blamed, as well as violent waves caused by Atlantic storms."
Fashion continues to face climate change, in very strange ways.
I can't tell you the frisson of wierd joy that tingles up my spine when I run into these fashion/climate change things. It's like tiny lizards.
Fashion writers are on the whole, I believe, out of their pretty minds- it takes a very special person to come up with a sentence like "The glinting metal teeth of an open zip, with connotations of aggression and sex, is the motif of this new age of power dressing."
But even these idiot-sauvants are catching on to the feeling that something, somewhere is just not right.
"Fashion designers are not, on the whole, overtly political. However, they naturally pick up on and channel the mood around them. It may or may not be reading too much into a few frocks to wonder whether it is a coincidence that, at the very moment when the people of Europe and America are rapidly waking up to the momentousness of the crisis facing the planet, fashion is making a decisive switch from pastoral prettiness to a bleak urban-warrior stance. If New York, where fashion week featured several high-profile ethical and environmental events, represented the fashion industry trying to work out how to do something about the potential end of the planet, then Milan, perhaps, represented the industry trying to work out how to dress for it. Which I guess must be a good thing. After all, if we're going to save the planet, we really don't have time for a wardrobe crisis every time a polar ice cap melts, do we? " LINK
Well, I certainly don't. I'll just wear the melting dress. Although, the melting dress was quite pretty- maybe not so chic anymore?
Fashion writers are on the whole, I believe, out of their pretty minds- it takes a very special person to come up with a sentence like "The glinting metal teeth of an open zip, with connotations of aggression and sex, is the motif of this new age of power dressing."
But even these idiot-sauvants are catching on to the feeling that something, somewhere is just not right.
"Fashion designers are not, on the whole, overtly political. However, they naturally pick up on and channel the mood around them. It may or may not be reading too much into a few frocks to wonder whether it is a coincidence that, at the very moment when the people of Europe and America are rapidly waking up to the momentousness of the crisis facing the planet, fashion is making a decisive switch from pastoral prettiness to a bleak urban-warrior stance. If New York, where fashion week featured several high-profile ethical and environmental events, represented the fashion industry trying to work out how to do something about the potential end of the planet, then Milan, perhaps, represented the industry trying to work out how to dress for it. Which I guess must be a good thing. After all, if we're going to save the planet, we really don't have time for a wardrobe crisis every time a polar ice cap melts, do we? " LINK
Well, I certainly don't. I'll just wear the melting dress. Although, the melting dress was quite pretty- maybe not so chic anymore?
Crumbling Infrastructure! Even crumblier and more deadly!
"GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala - A 330-foot-deep sinkhole killed two teenage siblings when it swallowed about a dozen homes early Friday and forced the evacuation of nearly 1,000 people in a crowded Guatemala City neighborhood.
The pit emitted foul odors, loud noises and tremors, shaking the surrounding ground. A rush of water could be heard from its depths.
Authorities have warned that the sounds coming from the sinkhole augured further possible collapses, and possibly the destruction of more homes. The dwellings around the crater have been evacuated, and police cordoned off a 500-yard security perimeter around the hole."LINK
The pit emitted foul odors, loud noises and tremors, shaking the surrounding ground. A rush of water could be heard from its depths.
Authorities have warned that the sounds coming from the sinkhole augured further possible collapses, and possibly the destruction of more homes. The dwellings around the crater have been evacuated, and police cordoned off a 500-yard security perimeter around the hole."LINK
Maybe it's not a drought. Maybe the recent weather pattern in the Southwest is normal.
In that case, oooops! All the fools out there building golf courses made a big, big mistake.
"The Colorado River Basin is more prone to drought than had been thought, a panel of experts reported yesterday, and as the climate warms and the population in the region grows, pressure on water supplies will become greater." LINK
And that is seriously bad news for the millions of people who have moved out to the Las Vegas area. Now, I'm seriously tempted to just let loose and rip on people who move somewhere so obviously unsuited to habitation- somewhere where you need air conditioning to live, somewhere that cannot sustain unirrigated agriculture (the rule of thumb is 21" of rain a year). But then I think of all the articles I've read about the people who have moved out there or bought homes out there and they're (obviously) not ok people. It's a place for second chances, it's a place where people who have no where else to try because somehow they managed to screw up living in Florida or something. They're ill educated and socioeconomically marginalized, so it would be totally cruel to point out that they've just moved from the frying pan of their previous messed up life to the fire of living in what seems likely to become America's biggest folly- a false mirage in the desert. Who the hell moves to Las Vegas. Jesus.
Well, apparently a lot of people move to freaking Las Vegas. "Nevada's Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, saw water use double from 1985 to 2000."
"The 25 million Americans who rely on the Colorado River for water should expect continued — and even worsening — drought spells and water shortages as rising temperatures and growing populations create a double whammy, experts warned in a new report." LINK
"The Colorado River Basin is more prone to drought than had been thought, a panel of experts reported yesterday, and as the climate warms and the population in the region grows, pressure on water supplies will become greater." LINK
And that is seriously bad news for the millions of people who have moved out to the Las Vegas area. Now, I'm seriously tempted to just let loose and rip on people who move somewhere so obviously unsuited to habitation- somewhere where you need air conditioning to live, somewhere that cannot sustain unirrigated agriculture (the rule of thumb is 21" of rain a year). But then I think of all the articles I've read about the people who have moved out there or bought homes out there and they're (obviously) not ok people. It's a place for second chances, it's a place where people who have no where else to try because somehow they managed to screw up living in Florida or something. They're ill educated and socioeconomically marginalized, so it would be totally cruel to point out that they've just moved from the frying pan of their previous messed up life to the fire of living in what seems likely to become America's biggest folly- a false mirage in the desert. Who the hell moves to Las Vegas. Jesus.
Well, apparently a lot of people move to freaking Las Vegas. "Nevada's Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, saw water use double from 1985 to 2000."
"The 25 million Americans who rely on the Colorado River for water should expect continued — and even worsening — drought spells and water shortages as rising temperatures and growing populations create a double whammy, experts warned in a new report." LINK
Great Barrier Reef being polluted, too.
"The Great Barrier Reef, already under threat from global warming, is also being affected by pollutants and pesticides from the land carried into the sea by flooded rivers, satellite images show.
Pictures taken this month by Nasa and US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellites indicate that coral is being affected by the run-off at a greater rate than previously thought.
According to Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), they show sediment creating a hazy cloud in the water over the reef, blocking out sunlight and preventing photosynthesis, the process which keeps coral alive.
Arnold Dekker of the CSIRO said: "The run-off from torrential rainfall goes into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon and straight into the ocean at speeds which were not thought to occur before we saw the images."LINK
Pictures taken this month by Nasa and US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellites indicate that coral is being affected by the run-off at a greater rate than previously thought.
According to Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), they show sediment creating a hazy cloud in the water over the reef, blocking out sunlight and preventing photosynthesis, the process which keeps coral alive.
Arnold Dekker of the CSIRO said: "The run-off from torrential rainfall goes into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon and straight into the ocean at speeds which were not thought to occur before we saw the images."LINK
Where fish live fast and die young
Yup, actual phrase from article. So you know it's a good one.
No, really the article is about government subsidies in the UK going to fishermen/women/people who are plundering the last of the fish in the world.
" "The unregulated catches of these roving bandits are utterly unsustainable.
"The solution is not going into the deep sea but better managing the shallow waters where fish live fast and die young, and ecosystems have a greater potential for resilience," he said."
LINK
No, really the article is about government subsidies in the UK going to fishermen/women/people who are plundering the last of the fish in the world.
" "The unregulated catches of these roving bandits are utterly unsustainable.
"The solution is not going into the deep sea but better managing the shallow waters where fish live fast and die young, and ecosystems have a greater potential for resilience," he said."
LINK
Brilliant!
Great story out of Australia-
"SYDNEY, Australia - Australia will be the world’s first country to ban incandescent lightbulbs in a bid to curb greenhouse gas emissions, with the government saying on Tuesday they would be phased out within three years and replaced by compact fluorescent lighting." LINK
Thanks to the tip from the Amazing B!
"SYDNEY, Australia - Australia will be the world’s first country to ban incandescent lightbulbs in a bid to curb greenhouse gas emissions, with the government saying on Tuesday they would be phased out within three years and replaced by compact fluorescent lighting." LINK
Thanks to the tip from the Amazing B!
Mode pour l'extrémité du monde. (Everything sounds better in French.)
Well, honestly. Someone had to do it.
Alors, ces filles charment très! Casually strolling through the Piazza San Marco, now colorfully filled with Scarlet Macaws- such an improvement on those dull dreary pigeons! Mais, quels dommages ! quelle horreur ! Malheureusement, the Piazza San Marco is underwater about half the time already. 
LINK
I mean, do you really want to spend the apocalypse looking like these dudes?
No, no indeed.
No, no indeed.
Diesel has come to our aid, at least fashionwise, with a lovely new line of global warming wear, tastefully presented in a new advertising campaign. Smart shorts, loose trousers, and cute little safari jackets seem to be the way to go.
Alors, ces filles charment très! Casually strolling through the Piazza San Marco, now colorfully filled with Scarlet Macaws- such an improvement on those dull dreary pigeons! Mais, quels dommages ! quelle horreur ! Malheureusement, the Piazza San Marco is underwater about half the time already. 
Other ads from the campaign show a handsome fellow walking his lizard through the jungle park surrounding the Eiffel tower, a pretty missie driving her sleek speedboat away from the island of London, and a thoughtful scholarly fellow reading a book about glaciers (oh, how very), while lounging on the tropical beach by th
e Rushmore Sea.
LINK
But, sir, every plant in town will die. Owls will deafen us with incessant hooting. The town sun dial will be useless!
Yeah, more ideas to block the sun. I love these, you know. The scary thing is that these are actual proposals from serious people. This batch, for example, come to you courtesy of the Technology Review at MIT. Not your usual tinfoil hatters, not some stoners having a eureka moment, but from people who will probably be in positions to implement some of these ideas. So let's see what these mad scientists are dreaming of.
And for fun, I'll toss in a ringer. You guess which one of these suggestions is NOT an actual proposal being looked at to save the world.
A. a really big mirror between the Sun and Earth, manufactured on the moon
B. clouds of trillions of wafer-thin, butterfly-light lenses
C. reflective films laid over the planet's deserts
D. fertilizing the seas with iron to create vast blooms of plants that would then consume tons of carbon dioxide and, as the plants died, drag the carbon into the sea
E. suspension of tiny, harmless particles of diatomaceous earth about 80,000 feet up in the stratosphere
F. wind powered unmanned cloud seeding vessels spraying sea-water droplets continuously over a significant fraction of the world's oceanic surface
G. creating vast cooling systems to preserve glaciers to maintain reflective (albedo) effects
Oh ok, ok. I know that was too easy. You all guessed G. You're right. The vast cooling systems to preserve glaciers are just to keep ski resorts in the Alps going- not to save the world, ha ha ha.
Yeah, I feel a little sick now too.
LINK to MIT Technology review article
LINK to BBC article about the cloud seeding ships
LINK to article mentioning air conditioning glaciers for skiiers.
ps. I use diatomaceous earth as an organic pesticide- never thought NASA would want to pump the skies full of it.
And for fun, I'll toss in a ringer. You guess which one of these suggestions is NOT an actual proposal being looked at to save the world.
A. a really big mirror between the Sun and Earth, manufactured on the moon
B. clouds of trillions of wafer-thin, butterfly-light lenses
C. reflective films laid over the planet's deserts
D. fertilizing the seas with iron to create vast blooms of plants that would then consume tons of carbon dioxide and, as the plants died, drag the carbon into the sea
E. suspension of tiny, harmless particles of diatomaceous earth about 80,000 feet up in the stratosphere
F. wind powered unmanned cloud seeding vessels spraying sea-water droplets continuously over a significant fraction of the world's oceanic surface
G. creating vast cooling systems to preserve glaciers to maintain reflective (albedo) effects
Oh ok, ok. I know that was too easy. You all guessed G. You're right. The vast cooling systems to preserve glaciers are just to keep ski resorts in the Alps going- not to save the world, ha ha ha.
Yeah, I feel a little sick now too.
LINK to MIT Technology review article
LINK to BBC article about the cloud seeding ships
LINK to article mentioning air conditioning glaciers for skiiers.
ps. I use diatomaceous earth as an organic pesticide- never thought NASA would want to pump the skies full of it.
Peak oil, bay-bee. It's only downhill from here.
Well, it looks like we're here. Take a good look around. This is how it feels at the top. Pretty good, eh? Yeah. Well, buckle in, because, sugar, we're going down.
The exceptionally non-alarmist, non-envrionmentally focused, non-entertaining FT has a hell of an interesting article.
They seem to be saying, in startlingly poetic language, that we're at peak oil.
"All the world’s extra oil supply is likely to come from expensive and environmentally damaging unconventional sources within 15 years, according to a detailed study.
“Worse, it takes vast quantities of scarce and valuable potable water and natural gas to turn unusable oil into heavy low-quality oil.”
“In a sense, this exercise is like turning gold into lead,” Mr Simmons said." LINK
The exceptionally non-alarmist, non-envrionmentally focused, non-entertaining FT has a hell of an interesting article.
They seem to be saying, in startlingly poetic language, that we're at peak oil.
"All the world’s extra oil supply is likely to come from expensive and environmentally damaging unconventional sources within 15 years, according to a detailed study.
“Worse, it takes vast quantities of scarce and valuable potable water and natural gas to turn unusable oil into heavy low-quality oil.”
“In a sense, this exercise is like turning gold into lead,” Mr Simmons said." LINK
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