Posts tagged Ecology

Pondering the Future 12:13 pm / 14 November 2012 by denny, at Our Tomorrow

Specifically my personal future and also thinking a bit about this blog. I've obviously not been very consistent with updates. Honestly, I put some of the blame for that on Facebook. I'm sure I am not the only one who spends too much time there. While it is great for sharing I thing the downside is that much of that sharing is just reposting. I am also leery of so much content being under one roof so to speak.

So, still here. With the crazy heat and drought of this past summer my garden suffered as did the many trees and bushes I put in over the past four years. That said, almost all of my perennials survived even if they didn't thrive. Luckily the veggie garden was, by chance, smaller. The climate future looks increasingly scary for those of us that want to eat food, wink wink.

As for my project here, it will continue for the time being though I struggle to remain enthusiastic with the annual veggies. Something about three months of intense drought and heat seems to make my garden time outside a bit less enjoyable. Our well is shallow which means I either need to haul water from the lake or invest several thousand into a new well. Climate change is ugly.

So, I'm thinking that it is time to add in a new element of activity which reflects a new interest (actually a childhood/life interest that has been sitting in a corner of my mind): astronomy! Well, science in general, but astronomy especially. While I have no intention of abandoning the permaculture work I think having another primary activity is a good thing and in the winter when growing is out I'll have something very interesting to explore, namely, our universe.

Which brings me back to one my thoughts on the blog. I've not been consistent in writing about my permaculture/homestead efforts but do think I might be more consistent in reporting on my astronomical explorations as it is the sort of interest that lends itself to data collection and reporting. Should I do that here as a supplement to my other interests or do I start an astronomy based blog? Actually, I think I just sorted it out as I write. I'll keep it here but will not just add in my astronomical observations but will also add in other science related material.

Actually, and don't laugh, but I have this vision of humanity (or myself?) that connects to a few episodes/films from Star Trek that have always stuck with me. In particular, those which seem to showcase small, egalitarian villages in which science seems to not only co-exist with daily life, but informs a deeper and greater understanding of the relationship between humans and nature and the larger universe. Contrast this to our modern manifestation which seems to have largely become a tool for corporate profit with little regard to ethics. A great example would be GMOs and modern industrial agriculture as it might compare to a decentralized permaculture-based system informed by local and thoughtful observation.

One outlook, the modern corporate/capitalist/industrial, uses science primarily as a tool for the accumulation of wealth. The other uses science as a method for deepening our understanding of the natural world around us not just for technological development, but for the sake of understanding. In this second outlook the ethics of use would be an important part of the overall process and would include all sorts of new questions and concerns in any sort of possible application of scientific knowledge. In fact, one might say that the second view represents a kind of democratization of applied science.

Wow. I didn't expect to take this post in this direction but it is interesting and it is something I've thought about off and on over the years so, yeah, I'll be back to this at some point. Another area that I'd like to explore is science literacy and critical thought. There has been a long trend in the U.S. which seems to be gaining a bit of steam when, in fact, it should be losing steam and that is the movement against science. Such a movement can only happen when there is a lack of communication of knowledge. When people are ignorant of established scientific knowledge and the basic method which serves as its foundation there is room for manipulation.

So, you can expect that I'll be spending some time discussing not just science but specifically science literacy. I'm not a trained scientist but I think I know enough to discuss some issues as a citizen. Specifically I'm likely to dig into the entwined relationship of politics, religion and global capitalism have been used to undermine science literacy to further their capacity as control agents: social, political, economic, ecological... everything from the genetics of corn to humans, from crowd control to the "entertainment" that comes out of the glowing screens in living rooms. Science and technology can be used in many ways for many different and often opposing agendas. I think that will be some interesting exploration.

There is also some real life stuff I'm hoping to make happen that reflects all of this, specifically a few ideas for how I might further science literacy here in rural Missouri where it is greatly needed. I'll share that as well.

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Molly’sBlog 2012-07-16 16:07:00 4:07 pm / 16 July 2012 by mollymew, at Molly'sBlog

ENVIRONMENT:

A TASTE OF SHELL GAMES TO COME IN THE ARTIC:

 

Shell Loses Control Of Arctic Drilling Rig In Alaskan Harbor

By Climate Guest Blogger on Jul 16, 2012 at 12:23 pm
Photo: Teresa Derrick-Laxfoss
by Kiley Kroh
Royal Dutch Shell’s preparedness to drill offshore in the harsh and remote Arctic Ocean this summer has been called into question by a series of recent events.
Over the weekend, the company’s drilling rig, the Noble Discoverer, appears to have come dangerously close to running aground near Dutch Harbor, where Shell’s fleet has been assembled. The Noble Discoverer is one of two dozen ships Shell plans to send into some of the most challenging conditions on the planet. According to the US Coast Guard, the vessel slipped anchor and drifted within 100 yards off shore before being pulled back into deeper water by a Shell tugboat.
The Los Angeles Times reports:
The vessel‘s anchor failed to hold and the 514-foot ship began drifting, but its movement was halted when tug boats were called in to assist, Coast Guard spokeswoman Sara Francis told the Los Angeles Times.
“We don’t know exactly what happened yet. We do know that the vessel’s anchor didn’t hold, they began to drift, they let out more anchor chain to slow that drift and called for immediate tug assistance,” Francis said.
Although Shell and the Coast Guard asserted there was no evidence of grounding, onlookers — including longshoreman David Howard and Dutch Harbor captain Kristjan Laxfoss — contradicted this account, saying the vessel was not moving and appeared grounded: “There’s no question it hit the beach. That ship was not coming any closer. It was on the beach.”
Petty Officer Sarah Francis said winds of 27-35 miles per hour likely led to the ship drifting — conditions that are benign compared with the hurricane-force gales, 20-foot swells, and dynamic sea ice the Discoverer could encounter off the North Slope where the company plans to drill offshore.
Pete Slaiby, vice president of Shell Oil in Alaska, noted both the Discoverer and Kulluk drilling ships will be secured by an 8-point anchor system when operating in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas.
The incident immediately follows the Coast Guard’s refusal to certify Shell’s oil spill response barge, the Arctic Challenger, because of concerns about the fire protection system, wiring, and piping on the 37 year-old vessel. The Coast Guard also expressed doubts about the barge’s ability to withstand harsh Arctic storms. The containment barge is essential to the fleet as it is designed to deliver oil spill response equipment to the five drilling sites. Without it, Shell would not have access to the equipment necessary to contain an oil spill in the Arctic Ocean.
In addition to the extreme and unpredictable weather, there is an alarming dearth of infrastructure necessary to mount a large-scale response effort off the North Slope. As detailed in the Center for American Progress report, Putting a Freeze on Arctic Ocean Drilling: America’s Inability to Respond to an Oil Spill in the Arctic, the area lacks roads, railroads, a permanent Coast Guard facility, a major port, or sufficient infrastructure to house and feed a large influx of people. As a result, Shell has said that its oil spill response efforts will be largely self-contained. The fact that the company is experiencing problems with this equipment before even reaching the drill sites raises serious concerns about their contingency plan.
Shell’s flotilla will continue to wait in Dutch Harbor – 1,000 miles south of the proposed drilling sites; the closest major port to the North Slope – while unexpectedly heavy sea ice prevents them from making the voyage to the Beaufort and Chukchi seas.
Slaiby, Shell’s VP in Alaska, recently told CNN that the company’s proposed exploration in the Arctic will be the “most complex, most difficult wells we’ve drilled in company history.”
Kiley Kroh is the Associate Director of Ocean Communications at the Center for American Progress.
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THE FUCK IT POINT!! 3:23 am / 17 May 2012 by ann arky, at annarky's blog.


          Have we reached the "Fuck it" point? If not when, can it be now or is it too late? Or will we blindly carry on as if everything is just fine and science will sort things out as the problems arrive? As poverty increases across the planet day by day, it becomes clearer and clearer that something is drastically wrong. Our wonderful economic and science orientated system is seen to be a complete  and utter failure. Seeking answers within a system that is so obviously destroying the planet we live on, is nothing short of insanity. We have to think outside the present system, put the blame where it belongs, on the system we live under and not the individuals trapped within that system. It can't be modified, altered slightly, or turned into a manageable environmental friendly system, it is unmanageable and environmentally destructive. The system has to be destroyed one way or another, and a new consciousness has to take its place. One that neither desires to exploit the planet nor seeks dominance over it and all its inhabitants.  




ann arky's home.
Categories: Anarchism
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GLASGOW, EARTH FIRST. 12:57 am / 07 May 2012 by annarky1, at Annarky1's Blog

A chance to hear how the ecology movement and anti-globalisation movement functions in America. We can all learn from one and other, Panagioti Tsolkas has been active in the Earth First movement in America for most of his adult life and has a wealth of experience to discuss. This is a free event but it would help if you let ann arky know if you intend coming along, so that we can assess numbers. We need to get enough cups for the tea.

DATE:May 14 2012.

VENUE:Unitarian Church 72 Berkeley Street Charing Cross, Glasgow.

TIME:6:30pm. to 9-ish.

   A History and Future of the International Earth First! Movement, from ecological resistance to revolutionary struggle.

       In this talk, Panagioti Tsolkas, an Earth First! agitator and editor of the movement’s publication, Earth First! Journal, from the US, will briefly introduce the movement’s history and explore the possible future of Earth First!, and other radical ecological efforts, in contributing to the re)emergence of a global resistance to state and capital.     The presentation includes a slide show of images from Earth First! actions and other ecological resistance efforts.

A short intro to talk:

        The Earth First! movement, which began in 1980, has had a presence in several countries around the world. While the movement has been relatively small in numbers, it has had a significant impact both in influencing other social movements and the society at large. Earth First! has challenged people to take the human species down off of the industry-constructed hierarchy of the planet’s wild nature. It has succeeded and survived so long precisely because the style of anarchistic organizing and decentralized direct action which it uses. By reflecting an organic, spontaneous wildness we see in the Earth, we have endured through the state repression and spirit-crushing misery of industrial domination…

       Followed by a short period for discussion and questions. There will be tea and biscuits to help to smooth things along.

More on Earth First! can be found online at EarthFirstJournal.org


Categories: Anarchism
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GLASGOW, EARTH FIRST 12:36 am / 07 May 2012 by ann arky, at annarky's blog.



           A chance to hear how the ecology movement and anti-globalisation movement functions in America. We can all learn from one and other, Panagioti Tsolkas has been active in the Earth First movement in America for most of his adult life and has a wealth of experience to discuss. This is a free event but it would help if you let ann arky know if you intend coming along, so that we can assess numbers. We need to get enough cups for the tea.
DATE: May 14 2012.
VENUE: Unitarian Church 72 Berkeley Street Charing Cross, Glasgow.
TIME: 6:30pm. to 9-ish.

           A History and Future of the International Earth First! Movement, from ecological resistance to revolutionary struggle.

          In this talk, Panagioti Tsolkas, an Earth First! agitator and editor of the movement's publication, Earth First! Journal, from the US, will briefly introduce the movement's history and explore the possible future of Earth First!, and other radical ecological efforts, in contributing to the re)emergence of a global resistance to state and capital.

          The presentation includes a slide show of images from Earth First! actions and other ecological resistance efforts.

A short intro to talk:

       The Earth First! movement, which began in 1980, has had a presence in several countries around the world. While the movement has been relatively small in numbers, it has had a significant impact both in influencing other social movements and the society at large. Earth First! has challenged people to take the human species down off of the industry-constructed hierarchy of the planet's wild nature. It has succeeded and survived so long precisely because the style of anarchistic organizing and decentralized direct action which it uses. By reflecting an organic, spontaneous wildness we see in the Earth, we have endured through the state repression and spirit-crushing misery of industrial domination...
        Followed by a short period for discussion and questions. There will be tea and biscuits to help to smooth things along.
        More on Earth First! can be found onlineEarthFirstJournal.org


ann arky's home.
Categories: Anarchism
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EARTH DAY — ANTI-CAPITALISM DAY!! 1:25 am / 20 April 2012 by ann arky, at annarky's blog.



Sunday April 22nd
the 42nd celebration of Earth Day.


Wikipedia,
         Earth Day is a day early each year on which events are held worldwide to increase awareness and appreciation of the Earth's natural environment. Earth Day is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network,[1] and is celebrated in more than 175 countries every year.[2] In 2009, the United Nations designated April 22 International Mother Earth Day.[3] Earth Day is planned for April 22 in all years at least through 2015.[4]
         The name and concept of Earth Day was allegedly pioneered by John McConnell in 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco. The first Proclamation of Earth Day was by San Francisco, the City of Saint Francis, patron saint of ecology. Earth Day was first observed in San Francisco and other cities on March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. This day of nature's equipoise was later sanctioned in a Proclamation signed by Secretary General U Thant at the United Nations where it is observed each year. About the same time a separate Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in first held on April 22, 1970. While this April 22 Earth Day was focused on the United States, an organization launched by Denis Hayes, who was the original national coordinator in 1970, took it international in 1990 and organized events in 141 nations.[5][6] Numerous communities celebrate Earth Week, an entire week of activities focused on environmental issues.

        Well we all know thatif we want to do something to preserve the earth on which we all liveand depend, then we have to think of getting rid of corporatecapitalism. We can celebrate Earth Day by doing something simple,like forget the car and/or public transport when possible and walk ortake the bike. Plant a tree, don't buy anything, decide wherepossible to grow your own veggies. There are a million small ways wecan all do something to protect the environment, but the damage willstill go on as long as we don't change the system under which must ofthe damage occurs, capitalism. It is the continual drive to controlworld markets by large multi-national corporations that is rippingthe heart out of the planet. Everything must be done on a massivescale, whole swaths of land are turned into a colossal chemicaldriven agricultural factory, mountains are ripped apart and pollutedfor their minerals, the sea is vacuum cleaned of its fish. Everythinghas to be on a gigantic scale to feed the greed of the corporateworld. Until we address that problem all the little efforts ofturning the heating down one degree, taking less time in the shower,only boiling enough water for the amount of tea you require, etc.will be of no avail. The planet can support the human race and allits other diverse species, but it can't support the greed ofcorporate capitalism.


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Categories: Anarchism
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Are GM crops necessary? Are they even practical? 6:50 pm / 04 November 2011 by sitakali

A common argument used in support of genetically modified crops is the possibly unfounded assumption that GM crops are needed to mitigate global hunger. In some of the literature that supports this supposition, no effort is made to evaluate whether or not farmers can continue to produce enough food to feed the world without this [...]

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A Civilization Starter Kit on One CD 1:30 pm / 15 August 2011 by George Donnelly, at Arm your Mind for Liberty

This is simply amazing. Should I get some land someday, I hope to build a lot of Marcin’s tools and put them to good use. More information at Open Source Ecology.

The political aspect of this is also fascinating. As he mentions, the means of production are now in the hands of the people. There are no serious intellectual property impediments to using these designs. Once made, people can use them to produce wealth. It’s a socialist goal, implemented using liberty and open source ideas.

I wonder what right libertarians think about it?

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TEAPOT COLLECTIVE INTRODUCTION TO ANARCHY PAGE 10. 1:23 pm / 11 May 2011 by ann arky, at annarky's blog.


       Here we go with the next exciting page from The Teapot Collective Introduction to Anarchy. Enjoy page 10, page 9 can be found  HERE.
       Women were conditioned and beaten into the roles of dedicated mothers, housewives and general carers. We were (and still are) there to make everyone happy but not to demand anything in return. Feminists broke out of this, challenging the way women are brought up, sexually used, denied our own thoughts and judgements. And they fought for this, bring about many changes we take for granted today. Feminist also created their own structures to deal with life and to practise mutual aid. One example was "consciousness raising groups", where women came together without leaders to talk about their lives, support each other and organise.

      One large anarchist current today consists of those influenced by ecology which seeks to understand the living earth as a whole, including us. This is one of the most critical periods in the history of life on earth - by the end of next year another 10%  of the world's species will be extinct. Industrialisation is a tool created by elites to shackle humanity and control nature,---
ann arky's home.

Categories: Anarchism
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Molly’sBlog 2011-03-05 17:59:00 5:59 pm / 05 March 2011 by mollymew, at Molly'sBlog


HUMOUR:
THE MODERN WAY OF LIFE:
Yet another item from the pen of Stephanie McMillan.
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