An Arid West No Longer Waits for Rain
An Arid West No Longer Waits for Rain
Categories: Geography, Ecology, 49 wordsSend feedback •This article in the NY Times provides a good summary of the current drought situation in the western states. It has a pro-growth bias and suggests that the solution is for farmers to let fields go fallow, rather than irrigate, and get paid by the government for crop loss.
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US Fish and Wildlife Scientists Prohibited from talking about climate
Categories: Geography, Ecology, 118 wordsSend feedback •The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is sending two scientists to international meetings dealing with conditions in the Arctic, according to this article from the New York Times. One is going to Norway to attend a meeting on conserving Arctic plants and animals. Another is going to the Siberian coast to discuss the increasing frequency of villager encounters with polar bears. The reason given for this apparent gag order is that climate is not expressly mentioned on any agenda(s). It seems they can talk about What but not about Why.
Distributions of plants and animals are influenced by climatic conditions and if their frequency and distributions are changing then climatic conditions must at least be examined.
Southwest Drought
Categories: Geography, Ecology, 70 wordsSend feedback •Both the New York Times and the LA Times, 2/22/07, report that the Colorado River basin and indeed the entire American Southwest, does not have enough water to support planned growth. They report this as if it were news. The fact is that John Wesley Powell recognized this more than a century ago. Aridness is a feature of this region with or without global warming. Global warming only exacerbates the situation.
The BIG Picture - an essay by John Young
Categories: Astronomy, 57 wordsSend feedback •Astronaut John W. Young, Associate Director (Technical) NASA Johnson Space Center, delineates a number of reasons for developing extra terrestrial technologies and provides a list of priorities. These include development of uninterrupted power supplies, heavy lifting rocketry, and advanced pressure suits. Another area discussed is the need for enclosed biosystems, 100 percent recycling of food, water, and wastes.
Survival of the Elitist: Bioterrorism May Spur Space Colonies
Categories: Astronomy, 60 wordsSend feedback •By Robert Roy Britt, 30 October 2001.
This is a discussion of the effectiveness of fear as a factor in promoting extra terrestrial colonization. The upshot is that fear would be essentially unproductive for long-term motivation for getting off the planet. Potential disasters can, however, serve to get people thinking about it: asteroid collisions; intentional (or even unintentional) viral outbreaks; and, pollution.
