November 1, 2008 by mike.

Courtesy of Reuters:

Climate-warming methane levels rose fast in 2007 | Environment | Reuters

Methane is a serious green-house gas.  It has 25 times more impact in terms of global warming than carbon dioxide.  If we were burning fuels that sent clouds of methane out the tailpipe instead of clouds of carbon dioxide we would be cooked already, but methane is not a by-product of combustion generally.

Methane is the primary component of natural gas.  It is essentially a vaporous fuel.  Methane levels in the atmosphere have risen since pre-industrial times.  The level has more than doubled, but the methane levels had been essentially stable until 2007.

In 2007, methane levels in the atmosphere, measures around the small blue planet, took a significant jump.  The mechanism of the jump is currently unknown and the increase does not pose an immediate risk, but if the increase is indicative of a trend for increasing atmospheric methane levels, it is worrisome.

There are at least two ideas currently under study with regard to the methane increase.  The first, that I have posted about before, is that as global warming advances, tundra and permafrost thawing release methane.  This methane release is also occuring from the floor of the Arctic Ocean as the polar ice cap diminishes.   The second potential cause of atmospheric methane increase is the possibility of a change in the atmosphere’s capacity to scrub methane through the hydroxy free radical (like Williams Ayers, I guess,  free radical, get it?  stay with me) known as OH.

Too soon to tell how the methane story will play out, but I am following it here and I will post again as more information develops.

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October 6, 2008 by mike.

Earth Aboil - washingtonpost.com

Carbon emissions in 2007 were much higher than expected.  The article from the Washington Post extrapolates that emissions and increase of emissions in this range would lead to an 11 degree increase in the planet’s temperature by the end of this century.  We have every reason to expect that carbon emissions will not continue to increase at the rate of 2007, but the question is when are we are going to make the necessary changes?  Every day, every week, every month and year we wait increases the impact and cost of dealing with the problem.

Scientists:  1 in 4 mammals faces extinction

This article from AP goes into the impact that homo industrialus is having on the planet. 1 in 4 mammals faces extinction and 1 in 2 is in decline.  Folks, this is not good news for human beings.  We are mammals, we are a thread in the weave of life.  When we tear the fabric of life, many threads are destroyed.

I don’t know what we can do that is sufficient to fix this problem, but the solution begins when we acknowledge the problem and its gravity.

Time for change folks.

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October 5, 2008 by mike.

AP Investigation: Ike environmental toll apparent - Yahoo! News

34 people known to have died withHurrican Ike.  This article reports 9 million gallons of crude oil known to have spilled so far.

Conservative commentators have spread the story that Katrina caused no oil spill.  This article says Katrina spilled 12 million gallons.

Don’t let them kid you, global warming has made much of the Gulf Coast a death zone.  The insurance companies will spot this and raise their rates or refuse to insure in this death zone.  

There is a certain irony in the fact that global warming is creating monster hurricanes that are destroying oil industry infrastructure, but the important question is when are we going to understand the totality of the situation and work hard to create an energy system that does not cause great destruction.  Any day now will work for me.

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December 27, 2007 by mike.

Benazir Bhutto was the secular and democratically elected leader of Pakistan a couple of decades ago. The Pakistani military staged a coup and forced Ms. Bhutto out of the country. General Musharraf has been in charge of Pakistan and their nuclear weapons since that time. Ms. Bhutto had returned to Pakistan recently because it seems apparent that the country is ready to be done with General Musharraf as leader, either as a military strong man or as a leader elected through rigged elections. She is now dead.

Ms. Bhutto was hated by the fundamentalists in Pakistan in much the same way that Hillary is hated by the fundamentalists in the US. The hatred directed at a secular woman who has the temerity to try to wield power is frightening in its irrationality and deadly in its intensity.

Ms. Bhutto was also a target of the military juntas types in Pakistan. The generals in Pakistan believe they know best in much the same way that Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney believe they know best in our country. Democratic processes are belittled by this type of autocrat and the essential corruption of the autocratic system appears to be invisible to the autocratic eye.

Part of Ms. Bhutto’s legacy relates to her ability to succeed against the patriarchy. She could succeed, but not survive. I think our world is a potentially better place if women have the opportunity to lead as women, to manifest the nurturing female world view in world politics. The world is probably a better place even if women can simply have the opportunity to lead, to distance themselves from the kinder gentler world that might exist in the presence of an ascendancy of a matriarchy, but that’s a tougher sell to me.

The folks who really believe in the use of force, whether it is in the guise of self-defense, or the cold rationality of world economics, or the political application of fundamentalist politics, or the law and order of a strictly monitored and controlled society can kill us. Ms. Bhutto’s passing illustrates that fact. It remains to be seen if the politics of caring, the nurturing politics of a leader like Benazir can be driven to extinction.

I am feeling a little low today about the death of Benazir Bhutto.

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December 22, 2007 by mike.

Dr. Wayne Dyer wrote a book a decade or two ago titled How to Get What You Really, Really, Really Want.

I recommend the book. You can also get the DVD from Netflix and elsewhere if you want to be entertained by Dyer’s charm and style as you work on your inner and outer life.

Part of Dyer’s teaching is that what you pay attention to you will get more of in your life.

For instance, if I pay a lot of attention to the fear mongering about personal safety, terrorism, the need to be armed to protect myself and my family, I start thinking maybe I should buy a firearm. Then I remind myself that firearms are so dangerous to children, I try to weight the safety/risk factors of dangerous intruders to my home versus a dangerous device that lives with me and the next thing I know I am reading news stories about children dying through firearm accidents. Holy smoke! I could have been reading Gandhi, or Martin Luther King Jr. or Holiness, the Dalai Lama.

Is that guy laughing at me?

A corollary wisdom in Dyer’s book is just like you can get more of what you want in your life by attending to it, you can also get more of what you don’t like in your life by attending to it.

Here is great recovery poem that reflects some of that wisdom:

Life in Five Short Chapters

CHAPTER 1

I walk down the street.
There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk.
And I fall in.
I am lost. I am helpless. It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

CHAPTER 2

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in the same place.
But it isn’t my fault.
It takes a long time to get out.

CHAPTER 3

I walk down the same street and there is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it there, and still I fall in.
It’s a habit.
But my eyes are open and I know where I am.
It is my fault and I get out immediately.

CHAPTER 4

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

CHAPTER 5

I walk down a different street.

By Portia Nelson

So I walk down a different street.

I want to pack the kind of heat that these guys packed, Satyagraha, Soul Force.

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December 4, 2007 by mike.

Quite a lot of water went over I5 around mile post 78.  You can see that the lane dividers have rearranged themselves a bit and they are a little heavy.

another look at same area

There were a few vehicles in motion in this stretch, but most of us were on foot.  

Looking to the west at mile post 78 you are usually looking at the airport:

That is the airport building, pretty high, but kind of stranded.  The hangers to the right do not look as high and dry.  The planes have been moved to a little patch of high ground on Louisiana Street:

In the foreground is the airport pumping station.  In the background are the planes and all around is the Chehalis River.

Looking north from mile post 78 at Exit 79 you see that Washington State Patrol is dry, but parking lot has disappeared:

To the east side of I5 the businesses did not do as well:

Read the rest of this entry »

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December 4, 2007 by mike.

We have a little bit of water piling up on us. Here is the proof. These pictures from Dec 4th at about 9:00 am at mile post 76 on I5.

I like the composition of this one: 

That is Dillenbaugh Creek and the Chehalis River merging southwest of I5 at milepost 76.  There are a few folks living out there on Rice Road.  Keep a good thought for them as they try to ride out the weather.

Here is the area just southwest of Greenhill School, Department of Corrections.

    Looking north at I5, water over the road in the distance. Pavement reported to be gone in some areas.

Looking west at Stan Hedwall Park at I5, milepost 76

Ballfields and buildings are underwater.

Pictures from the Lewis County Courthouse Law & Justice Center from Dec 4th about 9:00 am, more rain is arriving after a few hours of little or no precipitation.

Sandbags around the doors, but I don’t the water got quite this high, east side of the courthouse buildings.

Here is look down the same street to the south from the same location: Jail is on the right.  Prisoner relocation vehicle on the left side of the street.  Water in the neighborhood south and slightly east of the courthouse did not smell good.  The old Cross Arm mill was over in this area.

Here’s a picture on the west side of the Law and Justice Center.  Note the debris in the road that shows the highwater mark as of Tuesday 9:00 am.  Water has receded a bit, but the rains are starting again. 

County command center is operating from the Law and Justice Center.  Thank you, folks:

I guess we have nothing to worry about, FEMA has arrived:  

More to follow later.

I am stuck, can’t get north to Olympia to work today, so am doing a little citizen journalism and taking care of a few loose ends around the homestead.  Stay high and dry everybody.  We have space, beds, electricity, heat and the amenities as we know them (no cable television) if you need a space to dry off.

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September 27, 2007 by mike.

Our Moral Footprint

By VACLAV HAVEL

Published: September 27, 2007 in the NY Times

Joseph Hart

OVER the past few years the questions have been asked ever more forcefully whether global climate changes occur in natural cycles or not, to what degree we humans contribute to them, what threats stem from them and what can be done to prevent them. Scientific studies demonstrate that any changes in temperature and energy cycles on a planetary scale could mean danger for all people on all continents.

It is also obvious from published research that human activity is a cause of change; we just don’t know how big its contribution is. Is it necessary to know that to the last percentage point, though? By waiting for incontrovertible precision, aren’t we simply wasting time when we could be taking measures that are relatively painless compared to those we would have to adopt after further delays?

Maybe we should start considering our sojourn on earth as a loan. There can be no doubt that for the past hundred years at least, Europe and the United States have been running up a debt, and now other parts of the world are following their example. Nature is issuing warnings that we must not only stop the debt from growing but start to pay it back. There is little point in asking whether we have borrowed too much or what would happen if we postponed the repayments. Anyone with a mortgage or a bank loan can easily imagine the answer.

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November 10, 2006 by mike.

Well, my first foray into hosting a blog.  And we are up and running.  Lots to learn about Word Press software.  I guess I could also be interested in learning how to get linked up with other progressive websites, individuals, and groups, but I am kind of thinking that has to happen on the fly, I am not interested in some kind of IPO blitz to attract traffic.

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