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BEST of the BLOG
PLANETARY OBSERVATIONS..
From Mudd, Stiles & The Heath Monitor Files
Not enough babies? in CHINA???
One
White Lab Coat guy suggests that the West is helping to create the
“perfect storm,” whereby “developing” nations are looking at a bleak
future due to
“For
years, China curbed its once-explosive population growth with a widely
hated one-child limit that at its peak led to forced abortions,
sterilizations and even infanticide. Now the long-sacrosanct policy
may be on its way out, as some demographers warn that China is facing
the opposite problem: not enough babies.”
water shortages.
“Forecasts
suggest that when the world’s population soars beyond 8bn in 20 years
time, the global demand for food and energy will jump by 50%, with the
need for fresh water rising by 30%.”
The
problem appears to come from what is called “embedded” water. This is
the aqua used to make goods (such as T-shirts and beer) that is hidden
from the consumer.
“Ten
times as much is embedded in the British-made goods bought by the
average UK consumer; but that represents only about one-third of the
total water embedded in all the average consumer’s food and
Guess Al Gore fgures the sea ain’t gonna rise that fast after all.
goods, with the remainder coming from imports.”
The same holds true for other highly industrial consumer nations.
As
usual, many urge for immediate water conservation, which comes with its
own merits. But, as most anthropologists understand, primates rarely
conserve for the hell of it, which includes ethical considerations.
Other wonks suggest that nations high on the food chain should consider
banning the import of certain items in order to assist developing
countries meet basic caloric needs.
Consider this – Starbucks having to grow its own coffee beans in Mississippi.
Fat chance.
The saga continues, with scant mention of the magic formula – IPAT.
Former
Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, have added a
Monte-cito-area property to their real estate holdings, reports the
Montecito Jour-nal.The couple spent $8,875,000 on an ocean-view villa
on 1.5 acres with a swimming pool, spa and fountains, a real estate
source familiar with the deal confrms. The Italian-style house
has six freplaces, fve bedrooms and nine bathrooms.
Saving the planet, one cigarette at a time
Hayduke goes to Brazil
Good
news for amphibians, jaguars, chimpanzees, toucans, elephants, whales,
chipmunks, orchids, and assorted other critters; bad news for Homo
erectus asphaltus – “As many as one in fve healthy young men between
the ages of 18 and 25 produce abnormal sperm counts. Even the sperm
they do produce is often of poor quality.”
What’s
going on here? Are we to believe that the “family jewels” have lost
their luster? Could the human species be on the fast track to
extinction?
According
to The Independent [UK], one possible clue is that a “man who smokes
typically reduces his sperm count by a modest 15 per cent or so, which
is probably reversible if he quits. However, a man whose mother smoked
during pregnancy has a fairly dramatic decrease in sperm counts of up
to 40 per cent – which also tends to be irreversible.”
The
New York Times reports that Brazil has seen the light (no pun) and has
decided to move away from “dirty” energy sources, ostensibly in an
effort to be somewhat greener than not. Yet, like all “developing”
countries (what exactly
does that mean?), Brazil needs what appears to be a never ending supply of juice.
The solution? More dams, of course.
“Brazil
uses hydroelectric power for more than 80 percent of its energy, and
President Luiz Iná-cio Lula da Silva has said that more dams are
needed. Dilma Rousseff, the presidential candidate that Mr. da Silva
is backing as his successor, has also pushed for more dams, including
Belo Monte, which would represent about 10 percent of Brazil’s total
power generation.” [NYT]
But, as usual, the local folks have other ideas about the Brazilian government inundating their land.
Good ole mom.
Another,
perhaps more fun, reason for our sudden loss of viable squigglies is
indicated by the results of a study, which found that “women who ate
large amounts of beef during pregnancy, a diet rich in potentially
damaging chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), had
sons with relatively low sperm counts. But eating beef as an adult man
shows no similar impact.”
Now
the writing is clearly on the proverbial wall: If you seriously want to
“save the planet” and see the Earth achieve that ever illusive quality
we casually refer to as “sustainable,” there’s a simple path towards
those lofty goals – smoke lots of cigarettes and eat more beef. Lots
more.
The irony overwhelms – Marlboros and Big Macs to the rescue!
“To
build Belo Monte, builders would have to excavate two huge channels
larger than the Panama Canal to divert water from the main dam to the
power plant. The reservoir would food more than 160 square miles of
forest while drying up a 60-mile stretch of the Xingu River,
displacing more than 20,000 people, many from indigenous communities,
according to non-governmental groups citing government fgures.”
So, after apparently reading Edward Abbey’s “The Monkey Wrench Gang,” the locals decided to take matters into their own hands.
“For
indigenous groups, the drying out of the Xingu would change life as
they know it. So at their meeting last month, leaders from 13 tribes
made an unusual decision: They decided to create a new tribe of about
2,500, and then station it directly on the construction site, occupying
it for years, if need be.”
Hayduke would be proud!
Trust?
“Nearly
80 percent of Americans say they do not trust the U.S. government to do
what is right, expressing the highest level of distrust in Washington
in half a century, according to a public opinion survey.”
Blinded by science – geoengineering
The perfect storm – water?
The topic de jour is “Can We ‘Cool The Planet’ Through Geoengineering?” Let’s hope not.
Some
skewed thinkers out yonder, apparently blinded by science, are
seriously pondering cooling the planet vial geoengineering. Of course,
as any clear headed American (oxymoron?) can clearly see, such an idea
is little more than
The
BBC News reports that a new study fnds an interesting trend in water
usage amongst the “developed” nations. “The amount of water used to
produce food and goods imported by developed countries is worsening
water shortages in the developing world, a report says.”
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