CLIMATE MORALITY? July 10, 2009
Posted by wmmbb in Environment, Humankind/Planet Earth.add a comment
Global warming is either a fact or it isn’t. There is no room for negotiation or politics. First there is the question of truth.
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UNDERESTIMATING GLOBAL WARMING February 15, 2009
Posted by wmmbb in Environment, Humankind/Planet Earth.2 comments
Climate change is likely to be worst than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)report expected. Professor Christopher B Field, one of the authors of the report, says that Greenhouse Gas Emissions increased more than anticipated from 2000 to 2007.
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AFTER THE BUSHFIRES February 11, 2009
Posted by wmmbb in Australian Politics, Environment.6 comments
I am one of those people, who every year become concerned about the possibility of bushfires.
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A WORLD REBORN? December 18, 2008
Posted by wmmbb in Australian Politics, Environment, Growth.add a comment
Climate change, or global warming, has taken on a political color, because those with special interests have striven to discredit the findings and interpretations.
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WALKING TO TOMORROW September 23, 2008
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The challenge before the world is whether there is a collective ability to walk and chew gum, as Lyndon Johnson memorably said (or was reinterpreted as saying). The problem is not so much juggling as setting priorities.
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CAN WIN/LOSE WORK? September 21, 2008
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Rabbi Michael Lerner reaches a conclusion that has relevance to people outside the USA as well.
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HECTOR OR ACHILLES? September 10, 2008
Posted by wmmbb in Australian Politics, Environment, US Politics.add a comment
When elections devolve into cultural wars, they demand cultural warriors. That is now the test for Obama’s, and to a lesser extent Biden’s, mettle.
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MOMENT OF TRANSFORMATION August 22, 2008
Posted by wmmbb in Environment, Humankind/Planet Earth, Life Experience.add a comment
Millions of people across the globe are now, or so I imagine, will be watching the Olympics, and this will truly be a shared experience. Whether that experience is summarized by the positioning statement is another matter. One World, One Dream indeed. Cynicism, as distinct from questioning, is corrosive. There are times when global consciousness can be changed.
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UNDERLYING UNITY February 5, 2008
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Wikipedia provides the description, if not the definition as:
Consciousness is regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and one’s environment.
The notion of consciousness has, at least for me, always presented some difficulty of understanding, and for that reason the explanation of its etymology in the Wikipedia article is revealing. The Latin word conscientia emphasized a shared understanding. Its’ modern meaning was, so we are told, philosophically defined by John Locke.
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ICECAPS MELT January 9, 2008
Posted by wmmbb in Environment.2 comments
The icecaps continue to melt. As The New York Times reports they represent huge sources of water, enough on the current trend to raise the sea level in this century by two feet – some will get their toes wet. One question might then be, since the process seems now to be irreversible, is how do we as human beings purpose to change: do we weigh for the full implications, or do we anticipate and forestall the worst case outcomes, or do we believe, as some have proposed that since it will affect others, it does not matter?
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REFLECTION ON VOCATION January 7, 2008
Posted by wmmbb in Australian Politics, Environment, Life Experience, Philosophy.2 comments
Reviewing medical problems, and the response of doctors, puts me in mind of our purpose, potentials and education. More specifically it puts me in mind of the notions of vocation and swadhrama, from the Bhagavad Gita. I will try and explain.
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CAPITAL OF THE WORLD? December 23, 2007
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According to The Independent, New York is not the capital of the globalized world, even though it is the headquarters of the most international businesses. London is. London has the advantage of more sites of significance as judged by UNESCO than any other city. So it all depends on the criteria.
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COURT ACCEPTS CLIMATE CHANGE November 28, 2007
Posted by wmmbb in Australian Politics, Environment.2 comments
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that a local resident has won a case before a judge of NSW Land and Environment Court that overturns the decision of the State Planning Minister to approve a residential development at Sandon Point.
GOVERNMENTS will be forced to consider how climate change and rising sea levels will affect all future urban developments after a ruling in the Land and Environment Court yesterday.
Justice Peter Biscoe overturned a decision by the Planning Minister, Frank Sartor, to allow the property developer Stockland to build up to 285 homes and an aged-care facility at beachside Sandon Point, 14 kilometres north of Wollongong.
Justice Biscoe found Mr Sartor had failed to consider “whether changed weather patterns would lead to an increased flood risk in connection with the proposed development in circumstances where flooding was identified as a major constraint on development of the site”.
BELGIAN IMPASSE September 12, 2007
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Three months after a national election, Belgium still can only muster a caretaker government. To my knowledge this development has not been widely commented upon. The country is divided into the Flemish north and the Francophone south, with a small German speaking on the eastern border, and then bilingual Brussels, one of the headquarters of the EU is located just inside the Flemish area. For the past decades Belgium has been undergoing a linguistic fragmentation reflected not just in areas of government authority but including linguistically distinguished political parties representing different regions, which is compounded by having a loose federation of seven governments for 10 million people.
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FASTER IS BETTER September 6, 2007
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Since 2000, Eurostar has been running a weekly rail service between London and Paris, and London and Brussels. There was up to now a problem when the Eurostar got caught up with the commuter rail traffic outside of London causing frustrating delays, after wheezing across the northern plains of France and down under the Channel. Now with the expenditure of billions of pounds and engineering wizardry, including dipping under the Medway River, weaving through motorway pylons, and tunneling underground to St Pancras station in London there is a direct route from the Gard du Nord in Paris. In the demonstration run from Paris to London the journey was achieved in 2 hours 3 minutes, making it highly likely that when the service begins in November it will consistently achieve its goal of 2 hours 15 minutes travel time.
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CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS June 22, 2007
Posted by wmmbb in Environment.4 comments
China is now emitting more CO2 than the United States. In 2005 China’s emissions were 2% below the US, and in 2006 they were greater by 8%. Kyoto did not hold the Chinese to any targets. They argue that did not cause the problem of global warming, so they should not be held to account for it.
Shuozhou, China: Morning commuters pass under the cooling towers of the Shengtou Power Plant , Shanxi Province. The Shengtou plant is one of the country’s largest coal burning power plants.
Photograph: Qilai Shen/EPA via The Guardian.
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BUT WHERE IS BRISBANE? May 30, 2007
Posted by wmmbb in Environment.3 comments
BBC News Online reports that Vancouver is the best city in the world to live. The top ten cities according to this survey were:
Vancouver
Melbourne
Vienna
Geneva
Perth
Adelaide
Sydney
Zurich
Toronto
Calgary
FLYING TRAINS April 4, 2007
Posted by wmmbb in Environment.2 comments
The French trains are moving these days somewhat faster than in the days of coal and steam while staying on the rails. The high speeds were achieved between Paris and Strasbourg. The BBC reports:
A French high-speed train (TGV) has smashed the world record for a train on conventional rails by a big margin, reaching 574.8km/h (356mph).
The previous TGV record was 515km/h (320mph), set in 1990. The record attempt by a modified TGV took place on a track between Paris and the eastern city of Strasbourg. The absolute train speed record was set by a Japanese magnetic levitation train – Maglev – in 2003. It reached a top speed of 581km/h (361mph).
Too fast for me. I would prefer to travel from Paris to London.
FRIDAY NIGHT DOG BLOG – MARCH INTO AUTUMN March 3, 2007
Posted by wmmbb in DOG BLOG -, Environment.add a comment
For North Americans, I believe, Autumn is Fall. The leaves of the deciduous trees, such as those of my neighbours do not even look as if they are about to fall. For some reason, in this part of the world, the seasons begin from the first day of the month, and not for example the twenty-first, the soltice. We seem to be applying a European calendar in an arbitrary ways. We are out of synch with our environment.
Anyway it has been raining lately, most of it falling as downpours in thunderstorms, which is typical. So the upshot is that taking the dogs out, which I try not to miss, is patchy. Sometimes the rain does not amount to much.
The photos are somewhat patchy as well. I suppose I have to realize that I can only drop it so many times before the camera starts packing up on me.
Heads and Tails. 24 February 2007.
Caught in the moment. 24 February 2007.
In the scenery. 24 February 2007.
Sasha steps up. 28 February 2007.
In the spin. 28 february 2007.
Diverting interests. 01 Marche 2007.
Steady Climb. 02 March 2007.
Dexter staying the course. 02 March 2007.
Sasha resting in the sun. 02 March 2007.
Dexter and Sasha are intending to join the Carnival of the Dogs again this week at Mickey’s Musings, and of course they hope to catch Friday Ark #128 at Modulator.
