Monday, April 30, 2012

Jupiter and Saturn up close

This remarkable video was made using NASA video footage taken during flybys by the Voyager and Cassini space missions. The video was produced by Sander van den Berg. It includes a simple but affecting  music track.

Jupiter


Saturn



Jupiter is the fifih planet from the Sun. It's distance from Earth varies between 392 and 576 million miles.   Saturn is the sixth planet, and is hundreds of millions of miles beyond Jupiter.

Here is a link to van den Berg's remarkable video...

http://vimeo.com/40234826


NASA Cassini spacecraft

NASA Voyager Spacecraft

When you look at van den Berg's video of Jupiter and Saturn, and think about the technology it took to go there and deliver this amazing video imagery, it is truly jaw dropping.  You have to wonder, when humans prove capable of such stupendous technical feats, why can't  we find the committment and the means to take better care of the Earth, the one little planet we all depend on for life.



Sunday, April 29, 2012

Net Neutrality and Open Access

This is one of the most important issues of our time.  It is also perhaps the most under reported.  Net neutrality is about open and unimpeaded access to all resources on the internet.  Providers like AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast are pressing Congress to pass regulations that give them the right to control  access to and flow of information on the internet. 

Net neutrality is the way the First Amendment of the Constitution is manifested on line.  Access should remain free and open,  without undue manipulation by those guided only by profit or those interested in limiting access.

Free and unencumbered access to information on the internet is fundimental to democratic expression.  We all have a stake in this. We all need to engage in the dialogue about net neutrality and open access.

Here is a link to a non-profit that is focused on this very important human rights issue...

http://www.savetheinternet.com/


Saturday, April 28, 2012

The View From Earth Orbit

This NASA video Is a compilation of clips from orbiting satellites. It is remarkable and beautiful to watch.  The lights on Earth's surface beneath the night sky; the Aurora Borealis lighting up the atmosphere at the poles, Amazing stuff.    We are very fortunate to have a place like the Earth to call home. We need to stop abusing it. 

Here is a link to this marvelous video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWz5ltE_I4c&feature=player_embedded#!



Friday, April 27, 2012

Ten People Who Have Inspired Me

Over my lifetime, I have crossed paths, through my reading or through personal encounter,  with a some amazing human beings. They are my heros and a source of ongoing inspiration.   They have helped shape the person that I am.  I list them below alphabetically.  I can't say enough about them. These are just personal choices. Everybody's list is going to be different. I will be doing blog entries on each of them individually as time goes on..  

My Heros

Lester Brown
Riane Eisler
Eve Ensler
Thom Hartmann
Paul Hawken
Naomi Klein
Amory Lovins
George Bernard Shaw
Michael Charles Tobias
E.O. Wilson


Here are a few more inspiring individuals, who are in the same league...

Deganwidah, the Great Iroquois Peacemaker
Dr. Paul Farmer
Richard Feynman
Leonardo DaVinci
Galileo
Mohandas Gandhi
Johannes Kepler
Nicolaus Kopernicus
Teddy Roosevelt
Carl Sagan
Elisabet Sahtouris
Margaret Sanger
Elisabeth Cady Stanton
Alexander Von Humboldt
Colonel Jirayr H. Zorthian

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Target Ain't People

This video is amazing. These people get it, and they're doing something about it.

I love this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FhMMmqzbD8&feature=player_embedded#!

Educating Solutionaries

Just read a splendid interview on the Forbes magazine webpage. Zoe Weil is an educator, and the co-founder of the Institute for Humane Education, IHE.

The focus of  IHE is educating educators about how to teach caring and compassion.  Here is how Ms. Weil puts it...

 Humane education has four elements that are keys to its power and success, and these include: 1) providing accurate information about the pressing issues of our time so people have the knowledge they need to address global challenges; 2) fostering the 3 Cs of curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking so people have the skills they need to address challenges; 3) instilling the 3 Rs of reverence, respect, and responsibility, so people have the will to address challenges, and 4) providing positive choices and the tools for problem-solving, so people can solve challenges

The quote above was taken from an interview conducted by Forbes contributor, Michael Tobias. The link to the Forbes piece on Zoe Weil is...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltobias/2012/04/25/the-heart-of-education-a-discussion-with-zoe-weil/

The term 'solitionary'  goes with the concept of humane education and reflects the hope of what a humanely educated child will become.  It's a noble idea that is very much needed to prepare kids for the unpprecidented social, economic, and environmental challenges they will have to deal with as adults.  

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Toxic Sludge is Good for You

'The PR industry seeks to manipulate public opinion and government policy, but can only manipulate while it remains invisible'  - page20, Toxic Sludge is Good for You: Lies, Damn Lies, and the Public Relations Industry  by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton.








I read this book some time ago, and it really opened my eyes about the ways public relations professionals use the media to control the public discourse.  The scary thing is, the best and brightest of these folks go to work for big money, serving rich and powerful corporations.

Exxon has an ad campaign with ethnically diverse employees talking about how gratified they are by their work, obtaining natural gas to meet the public's burgeoning energy needs. That's just a smoke screen to coverup the destructive fracking practices they use to get at underground gas deposits that require the pumping of toxic chemicals into the ground.  Ever seen somebody's kitchen water tap catch fire? That's the kind of thing that can happen when fracking contaminates water supplies.

Too often, PR people become bottom feeders, heaping dishonesty on top of dishonesty to sell the company line.

Climate denial is a cottage industry for PR flacks. They stuff their own pockets, while pushing every kind of misinformation to deceive the public about something that should not be in question..

Stauber and Rampton started a group called PR WATCH to shine a glaring spotlight on the shenanigans of the PR business, See the link below...

http://www.prwatch.org/







Monday, April 23, 2012

Connect the Dots - Climate Change

Climate change aka global warming is real. The physics is not complicated.  It's a  global problem of  emmense scale, whose disruptive impact cannot be understated.   It is disheartening to see so little  being done to address the problem.  In the US, polls suggest that nearly half the people think the whole idea is a hoax. Really? The only ones that stand to gain from that kind of misconception are the people enjoying the massive, unprecidented profits being reaped by the the fossil fuel industry.  Their selfish indifference does a great disserivce to all of humanity.

The longer public policy remains mired in the past, the less chance we have of avoiding the catastrophic consequences of climate change.   This is very serious business. For the sake of future generations, we all need to get on the same page and work for meaningful corrective action.

Here is a link to a brief video that makes a very compelling case...

http://www.climatedots.org/thingshappen/








Sunday, April 22, 2012

The Long Boom


About ten years ago, I read a  book titled, The Long Boom.  It presented a very appealing vision for a future that would be marked by prosperity.  I was so taken with its message, I contacted one of the authors, Peter Leyden, and asked him to participate in a documentary titled, The Hydrogen Age, that I was working on at the time. I traveled to the Bay area to the offices of The Global Business Network, of which Pete was a fellow at that time. 

Pete Leyden gave us a great interview. It was also fun talking with him about The Long Boom.

Here is a link to the original Wired magazine article that prompted me to read the book.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/5.07/longboom.html

The Long Boom vision was that an extended period of economic prosperity was ahead for the world, built on three technological pillars; clean energy technology, bio-technology, and  nano technology. The long boom meme  was supposed to deliver decades of prosperity as the world transitioned to a new kind of economy that was compatiable with nature and sustainable over the long term.

Unfortunately, reality interviened.  I quote from page six in the book.

'Politics can either make or break this long boom. We can do the right things and sustain it, or we can do the wrong things - or  do nothing - and cause it to peter out.'







The ideas put forth in The Long Boom were noble and reassuring. Huge strides have been made in clean energy technology, bio-technology, and nano-technology in the ten plus years since the book was first published. Despite that, the world is caught up in what could best be described as a nauseating myasma, brought on by the corrosive politics of self-interest. We are not doing the things we need to be doing to make the long boom fully blossom. Why? Because public policy is in the hands of those who have become rich and powerful serving the status quo. Change to them is an anathema. Their intransigence is a big part of the struggle between the 99ers and the one percenters, who are happy with things just as they are.

Pete Leyden is now heading up a group called Next Agenda, that specializes in taking big progressive ideas from inspiration to reality.  Here is a link to that organization...

http://nextagenda.com/offerings/speaking/bio








Saturday, April 21, 2012

Feminists for Free Expression

I've spent a lot of time thinking about sex.  It's a subject of endless fascination.  There are people who like to heap scorn on those of us who admit to an interest in this subject. Here's my message to them.  It's biology, people. Humans are sexual beings.  It's normal to be interested.

Feminists for Free Expression is a group I admre. Their outlook on issues related to sexual expression fits very much with my own. They champion privacy rights and free expression.  They take  pragmatic and sensible positions on issues like arts censorship, internet freedom, pornography and prostitution. 

Thirty percent of all traffic on the internet is sexually related. It dwarfs all other categories of cyber-traffic.  Oklahoma and Utah, bastions of religious conservatism, have the highest per capita levels of internet porn consumption in the nation. In the bible belt, they love it when they say they hate it.

When it comes to right and wrong, where free expression and sexuality are concerned, I'm happy to take my cues from Feminists for Free Expression.

Here is a link to their webpage...

http://www.ffeusa.org/




Friday, April 20, 2012

Inside a Samadhi Tank


Back in the early eighties, the samadhi experience was a minor fad, mostly in Southern California, where I was living. The whole trend was started by Dr. John C.Lilly, a physician and neuroscientist, who was well-known for his LSD research and his experimentation with other mind-bending phenomenon. 

Lilly came up with the idea for the samadhi tank as another way to experiment with human consciousness. As the image below shows, a samadhi tank is slightly larger than a bathtub. It is soundproof and completely enclosed.



Inside there is a foot of water maintained at body temperature. The 800 pounds of epsom salts dessolved in the water allows one to float effortlessly, with one's face comfortably above the waterline.  




Another term for the samadhi tank is sensory depriviation tank. That was the whole idea...to isolate a person's mind as much as possible from the other senses...sight, sound, and touch.   The door of a tank is unhinged, a concession to the claustrophobia that sometimes goes with extreme isolation.



Anyway, I was eager to give the samadhi experience a try.  There was a place on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles that gave the venturesome an hour in a tank for about $25. I went for it.

So, you go there, and they assign you to a tank, which sits by itself in a room the size of a bathroom.  After stripping off and showering, you climb into the tank naked, stretch out on your back, and close the door. 

I don't remember my early time in the womb, but I'm guessing there's a bit of kinship with the tank. You float effortlesssly. No sound. No light; just the sense of being enveloped in body temeperature water.  At first, it does seem a bit claustrophobic, but after a short time the mind - at least in my experience - calms. I wouldn't call it hallucinating, but having one's consciousness isolated like that is seriously strange. It's also quite exhilerating. After an hour of floating in isolation, gentle music - Pachelbel's Canon, as I recollect - tells you its time to return to reality.   After showering to get the salt off your body, and dressing, it was time to go back to my mostly mundane everyday life.  

One thing did stay with me for hours after a samadhi experience. Floating in a tank causes all of the body to relax in the most profound way. At the same time, it's also invigorating. I've never experienced that wonderful combination of being relaxed and energized in any other circumstance....not before, not since.

As for the isolation tank inducing mind-altering trips, I have to say, I did experience something like that on at least one ocassion.  I distinctly remember a time when I saw myself leaving my body. I felt like I was one with the infinite universe.  Really. I did. It was bizarre, but very cool.

I did the tank a couple of times a month for about eighteen months, then other priorities took over.   Would I do it again? Hell yes. You can still buy a samadhi tank and set it up in your home. Prices start at $8300.00. If I had the money and the space in our home, I would get a tank and trip in it regularly.  Nothing beats it for relaxation, and there's always that potential for visiting other parts of the universe.


Here is a link to some 'tanker' testimonials 

http://floatforhealth.net/customer.htm


Turns out, there is a place in Portland, East of Downtown called Common Ground Everett House, where you go go and rent a tank for an hour.  Here is the link...

http://www.commongroundpdx.com/Floating.html


Here is a link to a company that sells samadhi tanks...

http://www.samadhitank.com/index.html



Thursday, April 19, 2012

The Shock Doctrine


In 2007, Canadian social activist, Naomi Klein published a very important book titled, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. In a nutshell, Klein writes about the destructive brand of predatory capitalism that has taken over the United States, and has been exported to many other countries around the world.  Klein brilliantly sites example after example of this kind of greedy exploitation disgused thinly as capitalism.

A particularly vile bit of shock doctrine is now at work in the state of Michigan, where a republican controlled government has put a law in place that allows the governor to displace the properly elected government of a local community with an appointed overseer, who has free reign to do pretty much whatever he wants. This happened in the city of Benton Harbor, where the elected mayor and city council were thrown out by the governor's non-elected henchman.  The city of Benton Harbor had one very valuable asset; a public park set on the shore of Lake Michigan.  Shortly after the governor's man took over, he sold that priceless parkland to a developer, who is turning it into a gated golf comunity for rich folks.

Here is a link to a story on the plight of Benton Harbor

http://michiganmessenger.com/48333/benton-harbor-takeover-sparks-furious-reaction


The Benton Harbor story is not in Naomi Klein's book, but it is certainly an egregious example of what she does write about.  The Shock Doctrine is the dynamic behind the unprecidented divide between the 99ers and the 1% that has gained control of public policy in  America. The Shock Doctrine is a wake-up call for all of us, who want to live in a country that puts the welfare of its people ahead of narrow self-interest.







Here is a link to a short video made by Naomi Klein that presents the shock doctrine concept.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSF0e6oO_tw

Naomi Klein is one of the world's most important voices. Here is a link to her webpage...

http://www.naomiklein.org/main







Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Dog Plays with Otter

It's always fun to watch animals at play, especially when it's two very different species enjoying eachother's company.

Here's a link featuring a dog being tormented by a river otter.  Fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2jnEBrMkTA


Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Encyclopedia of Earth

Here is a tremendous, open source, immanently accessible, peer reviewed information resource on all subjects related to the Earth sciences.

http://www.eoearth.org/


The Compass of Pleasure

The expression of one's sexuality is a very basic part of being human. Many of us are taught from a very young age to view our sexual yearnings as something that we should suppress, and  feel guilty about.  We are expected to condemn those that are free and open with their bodies and with their sexual expression.

Neuro-scientist David Linden blows that kind of repressive thinking apart in his book, The Compass of Pleasure.   The secrets of brain science have revealed that sexual behavior is not just about conscious compulsion.   In fact, it is perhaps even more attributable to the subtleties of brain chemistry.  There are parts of our brains that are specifically associated with pleasureable feelings. Sex is one way we experience pleasure. It's natural. It's part of our biology.






Our sexual identity is largely shaped by our individual biology. What we appreciate; what we value; what we enjoy as sexual beings is in our DNA.  It's biology, and as such, as long as it's not destructive to ourselves and to others, it should be tolerated and not be subject to any kind of culturally misguided scorn.

Here is a link to David Linden's webpage...

http://www.compassofpleasure.org/reviews.html




Monday, April 16, 2012

Collapse


Humans have a history of overreaching. In his book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Jared Diamond offers up several examples.   As the Rapanui culture on Easter Island in the Pacific expanded its population, it exploited its critical resource base to the point of exhaustion.  Once forested, Easter Island was stripped of its trees by the people who lived there.  When they reached the point where they no longer had trees to make the canoes needed for sustenance fishing the ocean, the Rapanui civilization collapsed, and has never recovered.



The same ignominous fate brought down the Anasazi in the American Southwest and Viking settlements on Greenland. Too many people, too few resources.

The human population on earth has nearly tripled just in my lifetime. There are now more than seven billion of us, each needing food, water, and shelter, at a minimum.   Everywhere one turns, one can see serious resource overreach. Deforestation, water depletion, soil depletion,  exhaustion of commercial fisheries;  the biological fabric of our planet is unraveling, and we are totally responsible.

Jared Diamond's book is a very serious wake-up call.
 




Here is a link to a TED video with Jared Diamond talking about his book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed...

http://www.ted.com/talks/jared_diamond_on_why_societies_collapse.html






Sunday, April 15, 2012

Requiem for the BlueFin

In Japan, a single bluefin tuna sold at auction for $736,000.  That's for one fish!  That particualr tuna weighed almost 600 pounds, which translates into a lot of sushi.  But still, we have to ask, why would one fish cost that kind of money?  Simple answer; supply and demand. Bluefin tuna stocks in the world's oceans are estimated to have plummeted 90% in the last few decades due to overfishing.  

The bluefin is an apex predator; large, and lightning fast in pursuit of prey. They are like olympic athletes; sleek, magnificiently muscled, and genetically perfected to their niche at the top of the ocean food chain.




Because bluefin numbers have declined so precipitiously, regulations are now in place that limit when, where, and how bluefin tuna can be taken by humans.  Despite those restrictions, the exploitation continues, and the market price for bluefin has gone through the roof, making fisherman even more determined to hunt the big tuna that are left.




As long as humans see these majestic fish only in economic terms, their future is bleak.  In fact, at current demand, ocean bluefin stocks could be commercially extinct in just three years.

Greenpeace characterizes eating bluefin to be akin to eating rhino or tiger.   Greenpeace Oceans campaign director John Hocevar pointedly says, "Don't sell it. Don't buy it. Don't eat it. Critically endangered species are not food." 

Here is a video that shows the bluefin at work in its own element...

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/animals/fish-animals/spiny-rayed-fish/tuna_eat_bait_ball/
 





Saturday, April 14, 2012

The Log of the Moira


Richard and Frederique Chesher live a very interesting life. For about the last forty years, they have been tooling around the South Pacific ocean aboard Moira, their 44 foot motorsailer/research vessel. They were once chased by pirates and their smarts combined with a bit of luck allowed them to escape. At sea, when pirates call, the victims generally disappear with their plundered vessel to the bottom of the sea, never to be heard from again. That is the constantly looming, deadly downside of travel at sea in a small vessel.






The upside makes the risk worthwhile, and it's on full display in The Log of the Moira, an online chronicle of the Cheshers research expedition in the South Pacific in search of the invisible threads that shape evolution. They spent extended time in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Micronesia, Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Palau, New Guinea, Samoa, and a bunch of obscure places, about which us Westerners know virtually nothing.



I have had the good fortune of visiting the Cheshers aboard Moira in Vava'u, a group of outer islands in the Kingdom of Tonga and, a few years later, in Port Vila, the capitol of the island nation of Vanuatu.

I have already written about one of Rick Chesher's exciting initiatives in the March 'Giant Clam' entry to this blog. The Log of the Moira chronicles their adventures, their work with conservation of marine biology of the South Pacific, and their interaction with some of the most unusual human cultures found anywhere on Earth. The log is also packed with the wisdom gleaned from the very unique life experiences they've known, and the people they've met along their journey.

I had the privilege of reading much of the Moira logs twenty years ago, when they existed only in manuscript form. As currently constituted on line, the logs are offered in a visual format that makes them even more engaging. The log is not presented as a journal driven by time, but rather as a collection of experiences and observations, linked by what Rick calls, 'Threads of Awareness in Chaos'. As such, the log is exciting to read and also life affirming in its conclusions.

 Here is a link to the beautifully presented, Log of the Moira...

 http://www.log-of-the-moira.com/

 Here is a link to a sphere image of the Moira in New Caledonia....

 http://www.360cities.net/image/new-caledonia-cruising




Friday, April 13, 2012

Snow Monkeys

These guys have got a life. When the weather is good, they are out foraging for food. When it's cold and gray, they often retreat to the spa and hang out together.

Snow Monkey is a common name for the Japanese macaque.  They are found on three of the four main Japanese islands. The total population exceeds 115,000, and in some parts of the country they are considered pests by farmers.

The Snow Monkeys that appear to relish a nice warm bath are found on the Northern island of Honshu in  Jigokudani Monkey Park.   It's nice to see animals enjoying themselves.




Here is a link to a video that showcases Japanese snow monkeys having a nice, relaxing soak.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=590_mhAuZhc



Thursday, April 12, 2012

Squirrel vs. Cat

Squirrels know when they've got the upper hand. This one seemed to take pleasure in taunting this feckless house cat.  Fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_onrMQCD64



Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Carl Sagan

When I was a kid, one of my heros was the great astronomer and science educator, Carl Sagan. I met him once. He was warm and bursting with charismatic intelligence.  I learned so much from reading his books and watching him on television.  He was a very serious scientist, but one of his greatest gifts was his ability to present complex scientific concepts as readily digestible bits of understanding.




Carl Sagan passed away in 1996. Others have stepped forward to pick up his mantle as science educator.  The shoes are difficult to fill. Carl Sagan set a very high standard for communIication about life and the sciences.  Without question, he was one of the greatest influences on my life.



Here is a link to a website maintained by his wife, Ann Druyan.  

http://www.carlsagan.com/



Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Gross National Happiness

In most of the world, the economic bottom line is GDP, aka, gross domestic product. This is the total amount of economic activity that takes place in a country over a given time.  The trouble with using GDP as the way we define ourselves economically is that it includes unproductive and negative line items like the cost of running our prison systems, the cost of cleaning up toxic waste sites, and the cost of maintaining a military force that's way out of proportion to need.

In the kingdom of Bhutan, a small country in the Himalayas adjacent to Nepal, they have evolved a different, more positive way to reflect their economic success. it is called, Gross National Happiness, aka, GNH.  The bottom line in Bhutan is the happiness and quality of life of its people.

This idea was spawned in 1972 by the leader of Bhutan at that time, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck. The idea was to focus the energy of the nation's economy on serving it's people.  Snice then, GNH has been formalized into a central theme for public policy and Bhutan's economic development plan.

What can the Bhutanese be thinking?  A central economic principle that puts it's people, and it's environment, and it's culture ahead of mindless market forces?    Who's going to pay for it's prisons, it's toxic waste cleanup, and it's bloated military?  Oh, I forgot...there is very little crime, almost no toxic waste, and virtually no military in Bhutan. 

There is a group here in the US that's focused on GNH. Here is the link...

http://www.gnhusa.org/


Monday, April 9, 2012

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Talking to Bonobos

The bonobo, Pan paniscus, looks like a smaller version of the chimpazee. In fact, they are close relatives to chimps, but are a separate species.




Bonobos live in a small area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Size is not the only thing that makes them different from chimps.  Bonobo culture is considered matriarcal, with male status tied to the mother's status in the group.  Bonobos are significantly less aggressive than chimps, very likely because they are highly sexual.  Relationships and social status are reinforced with frequent sexual activity, both heterosexual and homosexual, among both sexes.  Perhaps one of the reasons bonobos are not often found on display in zoos is because they are are prone to sexual behavior, all day, every day.  As a way of maintaining relationships and keeping the peace, it appears to work very well for them.

Given that bonobos are such close relatives to humans, could it be that our cultural morays are causing us to stifle our own natural sexual instincts?   I think that case could be made, just on the anecdotal evidence.  Bonobos benefit socially from the frequent expression of their sexuality.  I don't guess we're going to see humans emulating them any time soon, but we might benefit from being a bit more tolerant of the many ways that people do express that part of their lives.

In Iowa, there is a research center, where a family group of bonobos resides.  They are clearly very intelligent. The whole group has learned 400 symbols that relate to ideas or words. They are able to communciate with researchers using these symbols.

Now, there is an effort underway to create an electronic interface that will translate bonobo symbolic communciation into words spoken by a robotic bonobo.  A clever way to foster interspecies communications. 

Here is the link to the robotic bonobo development project...

http://www.gizmag.com/bonobo-chat-ape-communication-app/22002/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers&utm_campaign=5156a9d703-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email

There are only about 40,000 bonobos left in the wild. Their numbers have dropped significantly in recent years, mostly because of poaching.  The Congo is a place where a large portion of the growing human population relies on bushmeat from wild animals for food.  They hunt bonobos and kill them for food.

In fact, human population growth is the chief threat to bonobo survival. The Congo is a place larger than all of Europe combined. It is also the center of an ongoing human genocide. More than ten million people have died violent deaths over the last two decades.  Despite that fact, the human population has been growing at a rate of 3% annually. The current population of nearly 70 million is expected to swell to 180 million by 2050. What does that mean for the Congo's wild animal species? It's deeply depressing to think that bonobos, chimps, and gorillas, the closest relatives to humans, could be wiped out by humans consuming them for food.  That very likely will happen before the end of this century. We humans should find a way to prevent it. We shoud encourage a sustainable future for the Congo that celebrates and protects that nation's unique biological heritage. Unfortunately, very little like that is happening,  and time is running out.


Saturday, April 7, 2012

Moose and Squirrel

I grew up with Boris Badenov, and his ghoulish moll, Natasha Fatale. They reported to 'Fearless Leader' of Spottsylvania, the arch enemy of the Untied States.


Boris's cartoon antics were always aimed at Rocky, a kind-hearted,  heroic flying squirrel,  who wore a leather helmet and goggles, and Bullwinkle, a dizzy, talking moose.



Boris Badenov was my favorite character in those cartoons.  I loved hearing him illuminate his latest demented plot against 'Moose and Squirrel'.   In one story line, Fearless Leader sent Boris and Natasha to steal the formula to a secret rocket fuel that would destroy television in America. The villains had to go through Rocky and Bullwinkle to get their dastardly prize.  Of course they were foiled in the end, after a very funny series of close calls and zany plot twists.  The cartoons were for kids, but the writers found ways to weave a lot of sophisticated silliness into the stories. Oh, and by the way, the networks have already done a pretty good job of destroying television without Fearless Leader's help.

Rocky and Bullwinkle was produced by Jay Ward Productions in Southern California, right around the corner from where I lived for many years. I can only imagine how much fun the writers had concocting the plots and dialogue, particularly for Boris and Natasha. 

About ten years ago, a Rocky and Bullwinkle theatrical movie was made that mixed digital animation with live characters. Boris Badenov was played by Jason Alexander. Rene Russo was Natasha, and Robert DeNiro was 'Fearless Leader'.   Though not a critical success, the movie was fun...especially, no doubt,  for the list of well-known actors who played the over-the-top characters.



Here is a link to the trailer for the movie...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQXEny-BzKc

The crazy writers at Jay Ward Production later debuted another cartoon melodrammer, The Adventures of Dudley Do-Right, who was always pitted against arch-villain, Snidely Whiplash.



My continuing affection for Boris Badenov and Snidely Whiplash probably stems from my college days, when, in my only foray into acting, I played a goofy melodrammer villain named Rottenly J. Hawk. My brief stint in black cape, twirling a sinister moustache, was one of the most fun things I've ever done.





Friday, April 6, 2012

The Hydrogen Age

In 2007, I was the lead author on a non-fiction book titled, The Hydrogen Age.  At that point, I had invested about fifteen years of my life in efforts to expand public awareness of hydrogen as a critical part of any transition to clean, renewably produced energy.





The book was a critical success, especially with people in the clean energy business.  

 Technically, hydrogen is not a source of renewable energy, but instead is an energy carrier.  By taking electricity generated from wind turbines, solar panels, tidal and wave action, river currents, and geothermal steam and running it through an electrolyser, you can split water molecules into their constituent elements, hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen can then by stored for use on demand. It can be used to power internal combustion engines likes those in most cars or turbines like those in jet aircraft.  It can also be used in a device called a fuel cell to produce useful electrical energy.

The transition to a 'Hydrogen Economy' is moving ahead, particularly on the other side of the Atlantic, where the European Union and Germany in particular, are directing billions of Euros in a transition away from fossil fuel dependence to a sustainable economy, whose foundation is clean, renewably produced energy with hydrogen as its principle storage medium.[more on the European transition in my earlier blog entry - The Third Industrial Revolution]

In the US,  the move to clean, renewably produced energy is proceeding, but at a much slower pace. This is almost entirely because energy policy in the US is controlled by 'big oil' and other entrenched energy lobbies.  

By the year 2015, many of the world's leading automakers are expected to offer their first hydrogen fueled vehicles for sale in their retail showrooms. Things appear on very much on track for that to happen in Europe and Japan, and perhaps China, where efforts are underway to put the fueling infrastructure in place to support hydrogen powered vehicles.  Unfortunately, public policy in the US is badly corrupted. It favors old school energy interests over the common good. I very much hiope that will change.


Thursday, April 5, 2012

My Close Encounter with a Spirit Bear

In late September of 1999, I found myself on the Canadian raincoast, 400 miles north of Vancouver, B.C.  I was there to produce a documentary on the destructive impact of clear cut logging on that remote, incredibly beautiful stretch of coastal wilderness.



Traveling aboard, Maple Leaf, a restored 19th century schooner, the production team we put together followed the documentary project's host, James Cromwell and Ian McAllister, former leader of the Raincoast Conservation Society, as they talked about salmon, bears,  whales, and the lush forests that dominate the landscape, except where loggers have stripped the land clear of trees.

It happens that one of the rarest bears in the world can be found only in one small area of the raincoast. The Haisla, the Canadian First Nations people, native to that area, call this bear,  Kermode or Spirit Bear.  It's actually a genetically distinct, common black bear that happens to have white or blond fur.  There are only about 400 known to exist.



During this trip, I had one the most thrilling experiences of my life. It happened  on a day we spent sitting next to a rocky waterfall, watching and filming wild bears catching and eating one salmon after another. The bears would come around to the falls, one at a time - a territorial thing, we were told. After hanging around long enough to catch and eat a couple of fish, the bear would move on, making away for another bear looking for a meal. This went on, hour after hour. The biggest thrill was the arrival of a Spirit Bear. There was a special kind of magic to this encounter, and not just because this white bear was considererd a spirit by the locals. He was big as bears go; and very healthy looking; probably well over 400 pounds. It's no wonder the way he dined. During the 75 minutes he was with us,  that white bear caught and ate one salmon after another; eight total. The weight of the fish consumed; at least 40 pounds. He knew we were there. He didn't care. He'd catch his fish, then amble across a log into the forest, where he would settle back on his butt against a tree (really, he did that; eight times!), and  eat his catch.  At one point, Marc Griffith,  our cameraguy,  set up just three feet below the log that bear walked over, each time with a fish flapping in its jaws. I was right behind Marc. We were assured we would not be in danger, unless we tried to take the bear's fish.  No chance of that happening. The whole experience was amazing. The most exhilerating animal encounter of my life.

Years later,  the B.C government changed its raincoast policy away from unbridled exploitation to the point that much of the Great Bear Rainforest is now protected.  Where logging continues, it is  subject to closely monitored regulation. I like to think my colleagues and I made a modest but useful contribution to that very encouraging outcome.

The link below is a short video shot by Ian McAllister that features the Spirit Bear and images of the Canadian raincoast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IRxdk6m17s



Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Plan B 4.0

I am a huge fan of Lester Brown. He founded the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, DC. Years before he did that, he launched The Worldwatch Institute.

An agronomist by training, Lester Brown is an advocate for nature and the environment, with a broad view across all the science, technology, and governance policy that impacts life on Earth.

For a number of years, Brown and his colleagues at EPI have been publsihing the Plan B. series, a book that explains the  alarming status of global climate change, water resoure depletion, deforestation, food security, militarization;  all the mactro-scale issues and factors that are shaping life on Earth.  Brown and his team deliver a thoughtful, and most important, achieveable pathway to restoration and sustainability.  They call it,, Plan B. The most recent update is Plan B 4.0.







For those who want to educate themselves about the issues: for those looking for a reason to feel optimistic about the future, get a hold of Lester Brown's Plan B 4.0.   You'll find everything you need to know presented very effectively in this one volume. Highest Recommendation.

Here is the link to Plan B. 4.0

http://www.earth-policy.org/books/



Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Ultimate Squirrel Gauntlet

Squirrels are always entertaining to watch. When it comes to finding food, they are relentless.

Years ago, I bought a small plexiglass bird feeder for my parents. I mounted it outside on a kitchen window  about seven feet off the ground. It appeared to be immune from the kind of rodent larceny that squirrels practice regularly.   I filled it with sunflower seeds so my Mom could enjoy watching birds feeding up close and personal.  It didn't take more than a few hours before we discovered a squirrel in that feeder,  packing its cheeks with seeds.

The very entertaining video link below follows a determined squirrel making its way through an impossible gauntlet of obstacles to collect its reward.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TwJrau4Yrg&feature=related



Monday, April 2, 2012

Partners in Health

Paul Farmer and Jim Yong Kim, two medical students from Harvard, wanted to help people desparately in need. They chose to do it first in Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, when they launched the globally acclaimed, non-profit, Partners in Health.

Dr. Paul Farmer

Tracey Kidder, one of my favorite authors, wrote a splendid book about Paul Farmer. The title is Mountains Beyond Mountains.  The book is a paean to goodness and decency, and it inspired me to put Paul Farmer at the top of my list of contemporary heroic figures. Jim Yong Kim is no slouch either. In fact, President Obama just nominated him to lead the World Bank.  That's very encouragnig news for the world's developing nations and their struggling populations.






Here is a link to Tracey Kidder's, Mountains Beyond Mountains...

http://www.tracykidder.com/books/mountains/



Sunday, April 1, 2012

Pelada

It's a term that means 'naked' in Portuguese. It's also the title of a new documentary abiout a young man and a young woman, who traveled the world, connecting with people at the most basic level, playing street soccer with them.  It's wonderful.

This kind of thing is not new. It's just another appealing variation on a theme.  Spencer Tunnick goes around the world orchestrating naked people in small groups and gigantic crowds into photographic art.  Matt Harding travels to nation after nation,  engaging locals in his joyful little dance.  New York Theater group, Improv Everywhere, launches a silly 'No Pants on the Subway ' stunt in New York City; a few years later, it's an annual event with tens of thousands sharing the fun in 28 countries around the world.

We are able to celebrate our common humanity in  ways that were never possible until recently.  An 'occupy' movement begins with people rallying in the streets of Tunisia. It spreads across the Middle East, toppling long entrenched dictators in Egypt and Libya.  In Summer, 2011, it breaks out in the US, in the form of the 'Occupy' movement,  and spreads in a matter of weeks to cities around the world.

The Chinese have a saying, 'May you live in interesting times.'  Well, I have to believe our time qualifies. If interesting is code for consequential, our times are unprecidented.... Too many people, too few resources;  an egregiously corrupt economic system that is taking us over a cliff;  politics that are rotten to the core. Our times are marked by destructive forces that are at work in every direction one turns.

Thank the stars, or whatever etherial fores that are at work in our lives, that a countering force is emerging against the ugly, entrenched sociopathy that is pushing our societies toward ruin.

Pelada is more than a game. It is a reflection; a beautiful, bursting reflection of one simple way we are connecting globally.  It gives me hope.

Here is a link to Pelada.  Take a moment... Guaranteed to elevate your spirits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVfzhINwH0w&feature=player_embedded#!