Source: Spiegel Online (German)

The volume of the Arctic ice has shrunk a whopping 57% from 2004 till 2008. This is incredible and defies almost all forecasts how fast climate change will impact our lives.

Click image to learn about the full horror of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

I heard many times that our oceans are badly polluted – but this THING really is as impressive as it is a HUGE shame for us humans.

Compared to garbage on land it’s much harder to get rid off. But most of all: nobody feels responsible, because every small piece of land belongs to a country. But the Oceans belong to everybody and nobody – so we give a shit about it’s decline and pollution …

Business Week: The Great Ethanol Scam

Turn food and greenery into fuel seems to be a loosing idea. Food prices have risen thanks to biofuels and too much other important resources are used to produce it (water and fertilizer – also made from oil):

Not only is ethanol proving to be a dud as a fuel substitute but there is increasing evidence that it is destroying engines in large numbers.

Ouch!

Cars used to be much smaller and used a lot less petrol. Compared to SUVs these old Autos look like toys, but they were much less thirsty.

Today’s cars spend most fuel on moving themselves forward – the passengers weight make hardly a difference.

The 1967 VW Beetle weight a mere 840 kg and a Toyota Prius NHW20 Hybrid 1,317 kg. Just for fun: the Hummer H2 weighs an amazing 2903 kg.

Each kg saved makes a difference and especially today we have so many tough , but amazingly light materials. So lighter cars should be no problem at all.

Click image for a larger version.

China is loosing arable land and clean drinking water at an alarming rate. Their pollution is adding huge amounts of dirt and green house gases to the global community. China must act – as well as the US and the Europeans.

But most of all it should start treating it’s citizens not like dirt anymore.

BBC News: Fisheries waste ‘costs billions’

The Oceans are the last frontier on this planet. They basically are unprotected – and therefore nobody really cares what’s happening there.

If you fish inside a nations maritime border you can run into serious trouble for over-fishing, but on the wide Oceans nobody cares.

So over-fishing is slowly killing one species after another and creating so called deadzones, where there is nothing in the water, because the circle of life has been eaten by us.

It is almost to late to establish better rules and technologies for industrial fishing. And recognize that the vast oceans are not so vast and plentiful they once were.

Movie / 97 minutes / English

“Soylent Green is people!” 

A great movie!

Since we are becoming the massively dominant species on this planet we should consider not just killing each other – but eating each other as well. Consider the rise in food prices and all these fat people around. They would serve other people as excellent meals!

More? Soylent Green @ Wikipedia

I am really curious how the citizens of Beijing feel now that the 2008 Olympic Games and the Paralympics have ended – and the smog will be coming back.

All environmental actions have only been temporary – just for the games. That means all factories will be working again and the pollution is coming back.

Animals should invade our habitat and eat away our resources – just like what we do to them.

I think that would raise a lot of awareness.

Bears occasionally do that by accident – and then we humans panic a lot. Apes are notorious food thieves in Africa and India – we should let them loose in the US and Europe. Especially fat westerners will appreciate less food on their table and the extra exercise fighting off large crowds of Baboons.

Sounds like an idea of a 12 year old scientist, but it’s actually true. Argentina like to know how much gas their 55 million cows produce and science wouldn’t be science if you wouldn’t measure it correctly.

In my mind I only see floating cows over Argentina, causing a panic when they cross over to the Falklands and capture the islands once and for all …

More? Telegraph – Cow farts collected in plastic tank for global warming study

1:13 / Channel 4 / documentary

Excellent documentary how much we consume and leave behind in one human life span. Most brilliant!

Highly recommended!

New Scientist: The world’s most successful bug hits dolphins

How does a parasite found in kitty litter get into whales and dolphins? By hitching a ride down the sewage pipe and into anchovy guts, say researchers.

Gloeta Massie and Michael Black of California Polytechnic State University say this could explain why one of the most prevalent parasites in humans is now popping up in marine mammals. They presented their findings at the annual meeting of the American Microbiology Society on Monday.

"Toxoplasma gondii is the most successful protozoan pathogen on the planet," says Michael Grigg of the US National Institutes of Health. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that nearly one in four people aged 12 or older in the US have been infected with the parasite.

This is another great example how little we often about the consequences about our actions. Nature is a complex system and even small & stupid acts can have serious consequences.

A lot of science is "wasted" by finding out these often destructive connections and their consequences.

BBC News: WWF urges Brazil biofuel projects

Brazil has been on the forefront of the biofuel revolution. But once again it shows that industrial production of anything we humans need always causes some problems.

Overall the Brazilian’s experience with sugar cane has been VERY good. But they have to watch out to keep nature’s balance, water supply and bio diversity to make this a long term success.

But in that respect I have more confidence in Brazil that I have for example in the US obsession with Corn and making Ethanol from it. What a stupid idea – since corn produces a LOT LESS fuel than sugar cane.

Many nations have one important water life line. India has the Ganges and China has the Yangtze.

Thanks to overpopulation and rampant industrialization the Yangtze is heavily polluted and has the lowest water level in about a 100 years. The building of the Three Gorges Damn didn’t help either.

Many different species of fish have disappeared and the beloved River Dolphins are also almost gone.

But the Chinese Government has hardly done anything to reverse the effect – but the people have started to protest in recent years. In many areas there were public demonstrations against new factories that would pollute the river and the surrounding areas.

But it will take many decades to repair the damage – if it can be repaired at all.

MSNBC has a nice feature highlighting the “debate” Paper vs Plastic. Pretty idiotic: let’s get rid of these stupid plastic bags. Paper is the way to go – or simply use a reusable bag made out of cotton …

Smart campaign to visualize how we plunder the (green) resources of our planet. I wonder if we really still need to raise awareness of the situation – I would rather see a paper spender that limits waste in some way …

Each year we waste billions of plastic bags for shopping and waste disposal. They are made out of oil – a valuable resource – so it’s a huge waste of a precious material. But worst of all: it takes nature almost forever to dissolve plastic bags. Plus many animals get trapped in thrown away bags.

Like the light bulb the plastic bag has to go and replaced by something renewable and more practical. It’s a shame that it takes us so long to get rid of it … can we please start a war on plastic bags? Some people have started campaigns to get rid of it – and some government simply make the consumer pay for it. (Thanks for the link Xtine)

What’s Chinese for “fucking too much snow, because we wrecked the environment with our dirty factories”?

The lunar new year is a huge festival in most Asian countries – it’s really like western Christmas and new years eve in one big celebration.

For China’s millions of migrating workers it’s often the ONLY chance to see their family ONCE a year altogether. This year around 200 million are on the road trying to get to their loved ones – this is a huge number. That’s bigger then the whole population of Russia or half of Europe traveling. And because China is such a big country many people spend days getting home and back to work again.

That is why the snow catastrophe arouses such fierce response from many Chinese stuck at train stations and airports. They only vacation is currently fucked up and China experiences how fragile it’s transport and energy system really is. Many power lines have been knocked out – and the military is desperately trying to help people stuck in the cold to survive. So far 50 people have died.

More? BBC images & article

Adam Curtis / documentary / ca 44 minutes

From Wikipedia:

A modern fable about science and society, focusing on our attitude to nature. Should we let scientists be the prime movers of social or political change when, for instance, DDT made post-war heroes of American scientists only to be put on trial by other scientists in 1968? What kind of in-fighting goes on between rival camps before one scientific truth emerges, and when it does emerge, just how true is it?

More? Pandora’s Box Series

For sentimental values we accept almost any waste of energy or resources. For the kids, for relationships and feel good moments we are willing to waste, waste and waste …

The way we produce food is simply stupid. We ship our calories back and forth across the globe – often several times, because one industrial food processing service might be cheaper at the other end of the world. But all this shipping costs huge amounts of energy and causes lots of pollution.

Produce locally, ship locally, eat locally. That would be sustainable. Today be can grow almost all exotic foods even in cold countries – and off season.

BBC article: UK ‘landfill dustbin of Europe’

According a EU study there is a huge difference between the recycling rates in Europe and how much trash is thrown onto landfills per person.

As one can expect the Nordic countries are the cleanest while nations like Ireland, Britain and Spain have a long way to go to reduce their dirty lifestyles.

Don’t forget to read this article (also BBC) how some nations approach recycling and handling trash.

Weather always used to bad this time of the year – but in recent years one nasty storm seems to come after another. And it was the first time since the installation of the Dutch artificial water barriers that they were actually used. Overall costal defenses have been challenged since Friday, but the weather was not as bad as feared.

The weather is getting more extreme here – climate change is happening. I am curious what kind of winter we gonna have in Europe this year? Super mild like last year or an extremely cold, long and tons of snow like two years ago. A ‘normal’ winter seems out of the question these days.

We are still in the stoneage of green technology and I hope it’s not too late yet. But how long will it take to make people aware how to save themselves? Science is only as effective as it is accepted by us and supported by laws and the industry.

Overpopulation is still one of our biggest problems. Humanities growth is unsustainable for our own good and the rest of nature. This becomes especially clear in the case of the global water crises. Here some insights from the ‘old’ (2004) BBC special report Planet under pressure. Check part 2 ‘running dry’ for some gruel news.

But I am afraid nothing has changed in the last two years – the poor are still thirsty:

* One billion people without access to clean drinking water
* 2.6 billion without adequate sanitation
* Rapid urbanization increasing pressure on water resources
* 30-40% of water ‘lost’ through illegal tapping and leaks

(Source: UN World Water Report)

If you are really interested you should also read the recent BBCs comment page regarding the water crises. We need conserve water, stop overpopulation and the total commercialization of water supply. Water is a common good, it needs to be protected, but not overpriced so it becomes unaffordable for the poor.

BBC News: Cement makers come clean 

Cement is one of our oldest building materials – it was already known and used by the Romans. By cement releases a lot of heat and CO2 while hardening. Cement makers hope to reduce the emissions and create a greener cement.

Excellent!

Who killed the electric car? Please go and visit the website of this upcoming documentation. What an amazing site and what a chilling insight into the workings of car manufacturers and oil magnates. The go and buy a big gun and shot the bastards!

Make also sure to watch the trailer first to get into the story.

Although we have used wind for a long time, I don’t think it will play a huge role in our future. Windfarms are hard to build and work only in certain areas. Solar collectors are much easier to install and work even in less sunny areas.

Swords into Plough-Shares, Aircraft Carriers into Reefs. Watch this amazing photo documentation of the sinking of the USS Oriskany. Wow!

Americas addiction to oil? Sure! After the OPEC oil shocks in the 1970’s people already thought about a more sustainable energy policy. Jimmy Carter tried to break new ground by installing a solar panel on the White House 1979. Smart move. Ronald Reagan had it removed a few years later. Neither Clinton, nor the Bush’s were seriously interested in alternative energy sources. Almost 30 years and hardly anyone has learned any lessons from the first oil shocks.

Overpopulation is still one of our biggest problems. Humanities growth is unsustainable for our own good and the rest of nature. This becomes especially clear in the case of the global water crises. Here some insights from the ‘old’ (2004) BBC special report Planet under pressure. Check part 2 ‘running dry’ for some gruel news.

But I am afraid nothing has changed in the last two years – the poor are still thirsty:

* One billion people without access to clean drinking water
* 2.6 billion without adequate sanitation
* Rapid urbanization increasing pressure on water resources
* 30-40% of water ‘lost’ through illegal tapping and leaks

(Source: UN World Water Report)

If you are really interested you should also read the recent BBCs comment page regarding the water crises. We need conserve water, stop overpopulation and the total commercialization of water supply. Water is a common good, it needs to be protected, but not overpriced so it becomes unaffordable for the poor.

Energy efficient light bulbs have been around for many years now. Have you replaced all of the old energy wasting bulbs in your home?

Those beautiful silent travelers of the oceans, they are adorable and graceful. It just pains me to realize they are hunted for their eggs and flesh.

Let’s save them!

Brother Comrade where have all the trees gone?

China has chopped down 80% of it’s trees. No surprise they have gigantic sandstorms and extreme pollution. Trees would save the people – even without hugging them.

Ed sent me this great link: BBC Global Dimming (from 2005). A great documentation about the complexity and effects of climate change. This one concentrates less on CO2 and Methane (the usual suspects) but simply on dirt & dust in the atmosphere.

Here is a more scientific Wikipedia link for some more background information. As usual with BBC stuff: highly recommended.

Thanks Ed!

While Britain and Germany drowned, Greece and other southern Nations literally burned out this summer. Yes, climate change is real, thank you so much Mr. Shrub. Is there still such a thing as a moderate and stable climate on this planet? If so send me a ticket to go move there …