Polar Bear Politics

 

 by Nick St Clair for Earthtimes.org

       

      More disturbing news for environmentalists, with the announcement that the US Department of the Interior has granted Shell tentative approval to begin drilling exploratory wells in the Arctic Ocean starting next year.

     

      The move represents a major step forward in the oil giant's efforts to exploit the vast oil and gas resources under the Arctic Ocean which it claims holds 27 billion barrels of oil; sufficient to power 25 million cars for 35 years. It also confirms a willingness by the Obama administration to restart oil and gas exploration, a move which many claim has been fuelled by high petrol prices and high levels of unemployment. Not surprisingly, environmental groups have been dismayed by the announcement, especially as they have long warned the government that because the freezing waters of the Arctic are dark and inaccessible, a spill in the Arctic would be even more catastrophic than the Gulf of Mexico accident.

      To make matters worse there are worrying reports of political interference with the work of a leading government scientist. The scientist in question is one Dr Monnett who rose to prominence with his 2006 report on sightings of dead polar bears in Arctic waters which became a cause celebre for campaigners seeking to highlight the effects of climate change and the alarming retreat of sea ice.

      The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement placed Dr Monnett on "administrative leave", simply citing "integrity issues", but the documents posted by the watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility suggests that the inquiry concentrates solely on the 2006 report.

Dr. Monnett's supporters suggest that a witch hunt is underway, especially as the government sent criminal investigators with absolutely no scientific credentials to grill him. After the reports of the drowned bears circulated, Dr. Monnett himself is quoted as saying that "we got blasted, you know, really hard, by the agency". At another point, he said of his superiors, "They don't want any impediment to, you know, what they view as their mission, which is to, you know, drill wells up there" and "put areas into production." 

 

      Support for Dr. Monnett has come in the shape of The Centre for Biological Diversity which has submitted a formal request for an independent investigation of Interior and a Freedom of Information Act request in order to get to the bottom of the story...

To read the rest of this article please go to:

http://www.earthtimes.org/politics/polar-bear-politics/1622/

Hey! why can't I read the full text here?

Duplication of a site’s content has a negative effect on its popularity with Search Engines. So in the drive to provide my clients with unique, original (and entertaining) content, even though I wrote this I don't even reproduce it fully myself.

HAPPINESS?

In the pursuit of happiness, drop your iPhone
By Nick St Clair for Tree.com

      Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness one of the most famous phrases, not just in the Declaration of Independence, but in the whole of American history.

 

       This is every US citizen’s “inalienable right.” But what defines happiness? After all if you can’t define it, how can you pursue the indefinable?

      For many people, happiness means the acquisition of money and possessions. But if that were the case then surely Bill Gates would have a grin so wide that in order to get through a doorway he would have to enter a room sideways.

      It’s true, money does provide a degree of happiness. But all too often it is short lived. When we buy a new car we first spend weeks browsing through catalogs and admiring other cars. Then when we eventually buy it, we love our new car so much that we wash it every day. Heaven forbid anyone leave any trash in it! Then slowly, but surely, the novelty begins to wear off. Your once prized possession is washed just once a month. Trash begins to pile up.

      If not a new car, think of a pair of shoes, a new house, the latest model iPhone or whatever. To prove the point you only have to look at lottery winners who instantly win access to their material dreams. More often than not it all ends in tears. In fact, research has long since proven that once you are above the poverty line, there is no correlation between money and happiness whatsoever...

To read the rest of this article please go to:

http://www.tree.com/health/blog-blog/archive-2011-06-28-in-the-pursuit-of-happiness-drop-your-iphone.aspx

Hey! why can't I read the full text here?

Duplication of a site’s content has a negative effect on its popularity with Search Engines. So in the drive to provide my clients with unique, original (and entertaining) content, even though I wrote this I don't even reproduce it fully myself.

SNAKE BITE!

Post Courier, Papua New Guinea, 20/03/2011.

      Orit Fox is famous in Israel for having the biggest breasts in the Middle East. She agreed to perform a stunt with a live snake, which she fondled and licked as it writhed in and out of her cleavage.
      Unfortunately the snake unexpectedly bit Orit deeply in the left breast and refused to let go, to the astonishment of the snake's coach who was supervising the stunt. Orit was bleeding profusely and had to be transported to Hospital, where she was treated by a team specialising in snake attacked, given a tetanus shot and kept under observation.
      The snake, however, did not fare so well. The silicon in Orit's breast was toxic and despite the efforts of a veterinarian, the snake died of silicone poisoning a few hours after inflicting its bite.

HOPE

Seeds of hope for the world's rainforests

  
by Nick St Clair for earthtimes.org

      Horror stories about the deforestation that is destroying the world's rainforests on a massive scale are sadly old news. Every year enormous tracts of land the size of Cuba are lost, and at the current rate it is estimated that the world's rainforests will have completely disappeared by the end of this century.

      The madness is that this 'ecocide' not only poses a direct threat to millions of species of plants, animals and insects that inhabit the forests, but also the earth's fundamental ability to regulate rainfall and temperatures.


      But despite this bleak outlook, there is a glimmer of hope...

To read the rest of this article please go to:

http://www.earthtimes.org/conservation/seeds-hope-worlds-rainforests/385/

Hey! why can't I read the full text here?

Duplication of a site’s content has a negative effect on its popularity with Search Engines. So in the drive to provide my clients with unique, original (and entertaining) content, even though I wrote this I don't even reproduce it fully myself.

EARTHQUAKE!!!

      Had another earthquake a few days ago.

      It was fairly mild and lasted less than ten seconds. It's not the first earthquake we have experienced and it wouldn't normally have much of an effect, as the epicentre was about 200 kms away and we are on top of a mountain, so by the time it reached us it had already lost most of its power.

      Except the strangest thing happened.

      Our cabina is perched on thin, wooden stilts about 5 metres above the ground and the force of the quake must have matched the natural frequency of the cabina's supports. As a result the physics of resonance made it rock from side-to-side quite violently and for some time after the quake has subsided.

I said, "I think we'll sleep outside tonight...

      I nearly spilled my beer.

      Coincidentally, at the exact same moment, a workman was cementing the foundations, primarily in preparation for the monsoon that is coming. (When the rains come, and we're talking serious rain of between 3-5 metres per year, they unleash a torrent that creates a river that flows directly under our home.)

      He looked a bit shaken himself, as he was directly underneath when the earthquake hit.

Like that's going to hold 
when the big one hits.

     Earthquakes should come as no surprise, as Costa Rica sits on one of the most dynamic fault lines on the earth.

       It lies at a point where the Carribean tectonic plate is being forced under the Pacific's Cocus plate. As a result some ocean trench quakes just off the coast of Costa Rica have been recorded at 9.0 on the Richter scale and are among the most awesome on the planet, lifting the sea floor by tens of metres in one single, dramatic movement and raising the high probability of a massive tsunami.

      Mind you, if the earth shifts with enough force to create a tsunami powerful enough to travel 300kms inland and knock the supports out from underneath a cabina, in a cloudforest, a mile up a mountain in Costa Rica...

     ... then there's gonna be a lot of spilt beer.

SWEDISH MOSQUITOS

 

The children that saved a rainforest

  By Nick St Clair for the earthtimes.org

'If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.'' 

The Dalai Lama

 

      It was just over a year ago the Copenhagen climate talks opened to fervent hopes that the world would finally come together and address the planet's most pressing environmental problems. After a great deal of posturing and rhetoric, it sadly failed to deliver even a fraction of its promises.
      Our collective shame is deepened, when you see small groups of people taking direct action, sometimes with astonishing and long lasting results. None more so than the example of the Swedish school children who were so moved by the plight of an endangered rainforest, that without further debate they made the decision to save it.
      This small group of children cut through the arguments, ignored any negativity and instead reached directly into their (and their parents' pockets) in order to raise the money necessary to keep the loggers at bay and preserve the forest...

To read the rest of this article please go to:

http://www.earthtimes.org/conservation/school-children-saved-rainforest/457/

Hey! why can't I read the full text here?

Duplication of a site’s content has a negative effect on its popularity with Search Engines. So in the drive to provide my clients with unique, original (and entertaining) content, even though I wrote this I don't even reproduce it fully myself.