Earthtribe-Gather: Planet Oceanus    
 Planet Oceanus24 comments
29 May 2005 @ 20:44, by John Ashbaugh

[Oceans cover more than 70% of the Earth's surface. In fact, as author Brad Matsen and artist Ray Troll have pointed out (Matsen and Troll, 1994), an appropriate name for our planet is Planet Ocean. (The term Planet Oceanus has also been used: Pinet, 1992.)] [link]

following is the Preface to Killer in Our Midst
by Dan Dorritie
[link]
PREFACE
This book is about methane catastrophe. Methane catastrophes have occurred several times in Earth's history, and when they have occurred, they have sometimes caused abrupt changes in the history of life, and at least one significant extinction. That extinction, at the end of the Permian Period 250 million years ago, is the greatest in the history of life. More than 90% of the then-existing species perished, and the course of life on Earth was altered forever.
If a methane catastrophe were to happen in the near future, it is likely that not only would a considerable percentage of existing plants and animals be killed off, but a large percentage of the human population as well, as a result of the climate change and significantly more hostile environmental conditions. Yet we are heading toward such a catastrophe. It will happen because we continue to warm the planet by our burning of carbon fuels, and particularly fossil fuels. It is against the background of global warming that a methane catastrophe will take place.
A methane catastrophe consists of a sudden and massive release of methane from ocean bottom muds within a short period of time. At present, most of this methane is trapped in ice in seafloor sediments; the rest is free methane gas trapped below the methane ice. (Some additional methane in ice may be found in permanently frozen ground, called permafrost, in polar regions.) As we continue to warm the planet by dumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, this methane will inevitably be released. It will be released just as surely as global warming is now releasing great quantities of melt water from glaciers, pack ice, and ice caps.
A methane catastrophe is abrupt because it can be initiated by a major submarine landslide, which can happen in a matter of days or even hours, or by the venting of vast quantities of seafloor methane over a period of decades. These events can take place in a geological eyeblink. Additional slumping and/or venting can continue for centuries to millennia.
The amount of methane that can be released is massive. Based upon a seafloor temperature increase of 5°C (9°F), it is estimated that about 2000 billion metric tons of methane could be released. (A 5°C increase is within the predicted range of global warming for the end of this century, according to the IPCC, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Warming the seafloor sediments to that temperature would take longer, but such sediment warming is probably not necessary for a major methane release.) With continued global warming, all seafloor methane (as much as 10,000 billion metric tons) will eventually be released.
There is a simple way to put 2000 billion metric tons of methane into perspective: it contains more than two and a half times the amount of carbon (largely in the form of carbon dioxide) as does the entire atmosphere. In addition, methane is more than twenty times more powerful a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Though this methane would quickly be oxidized -- to carbon dioxide -- in the atmosphere, even its short-term presence would deliver a sudden and stunning jolt of heat to the planet. The derivative carbon dioxide would maintain much of that heat for several centuries, or even millennia.
A methane catastrophe, therefore, is an abrupt surge of greenhouse gas that could rival or exceed the carbon dioxide warming of the planet. It can potentially overwhelm the natural heat regulatory system of the Earth, which operates in a much more gradual way, and on a much more protracted time scale. The quantity of methane that could be released is so massive there is no remedial action that people will be able to take to mitigate it except in the most superficial way. Once a methane catastrophe begins, there will be major consequences for the planet and its inhabitants, human and other, and we will be able to do little except wait it out. Methane, in a very real sense, is the joker in the deck of global warming.
A methane catastrophe, at its worst, can have other major consequences in addition to sudden global warming. It can accelerate the slow but deadly acidification of the surface ocean (down to about 100 meters, or about 300 feet), which is occurring as a result of the higher carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and ocean. The methane can combine with dissolved oceanic oxygen, causing the deeper part of the ocean (that is, the ocean below about 100 meters) to become depleted in oxygen, and killing off the oxygen-using (aerobic) organisms at those depths. Moreover, it can change the chemical balance and biological composition of the oceans, making deeper waters not only anoxic but toxic.
A methane catastrophe, like the current increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide, will undoubtedly contribute to an increase in acid rain, and, through its impact on global warming, a further rise of sea level, increased desertification, increased heavy precipitation, and extreme weather events. The slowing of ocean circulation or its actual stagnation are also possibilities. Such a slowing would produce a decreased transport of warm water to the coasts of northeastern North America and northernmost Europe, making for much colder winters. Finally, the destabilization of methane within seafloor sediments can send 20 meter (60 foot) high tsunamis crashing into nearby coastlines.

We are the brink of a methane catastrophe. By our own actions -- by our continuing and increasing use of carbon fuels -- we are slowly but inexorably creating the conditions during which a methane catastrophe will occur. We probably have time to prevent such a catastrophe, but there is a certain possibility that we have already crossed -- or will shortly cross -- an invisible threshold that will render a methane catastrophe inevitable and unstoppable.
Anthropogenic global warming and methane catastrophe will be events more cataclysmic than any that can befall Earth, except for an impact with a giant asteroid or comet, or a stellar explosion in our neighborhood of the Milky Way. These other events, however, are quite rare and unlikely in our immediate future.
Anthropogenic global warming and methane catastrophe, by contrast, are highly likely and much more immediate. More importantly, unlike those other possible cataclysms, both are preventable -- probably -- if we take them seriously, begin to understand them, and -- most difficult of all -- begin to take steps to avert them.

It has become fashionable to dismiss predictions of catastrophe, partly because they have become so common. People have become jaded, what with one such prediction after another. We used to hear a good deal about nuclear holocaust, or nuclear winter, but as those threats seem to have dimmed in the public consciousness, there are others which have replaced it. We now hear of doomsday asteroids, the ozone hole, SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), bird flu, global warming, and the obliteration of species. The number of threats seems to be increasing.
And, actually, that number is increasing.
Prior to this epoch in human history, people simply did not have the ability to impact our planet in potentially catastrophic ways. Unfortunately, we now do have that ability. The ozone hole is a simple example. Never before was humanity on the verge of destroying this gaseous umbrella which protects us (and all other organisms that live at or near the surface of the Earth) from deadly ultraviolet light. Humanity simply didn't have that kind of power. But the advent of chloro-flouro-carbon (CFC) refrigerants gave us that ability, and the ozone layer sustained significant damage before the problem began to be addressed. Luckily, this is a problem for which there is a ready solution, and by banning the production of ozone-harming chemicals, we have begun to bring the problem under control.
The problem of carbon-dioxide emissions, consequent global warming, and the prospect of methane catastrophe, however, will not be addressed so easily. We currently have no technology to trap and hold large quantities of carbon dioxide, and we are not likely to have such a technology for many decades in the future -- if indeed we ever do. Some of that carbon dioxide is in fact currently slipping beyond our potential grasp, entering the oceans at the astonishing rate of about a million metric tons (a metric ton = 1.1 standard ton) per hour, and increasing the acidity of seawater. There is, in addition, a great disincentive in a world economy driven and dominated by fossil fuels, particularly petroleum and natural gas, to shifting the energy base of that economy. Enormous corporate profits and personal fortunes, and the success of political efforts on their behalf, are also at stake. Slowing the stampede to catastrophically higher global temperatures and ocean destruction will require substantial international effort. Even so, should we today stop spewing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, global temperatures will continue to increase for some time into the future.
Despite our aversion to warnings of imminent catastrophe, our problem may be that we are not alarmed enough. Because of the delayed consequences of our dumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the major effects of global warming will only be starting just as the world supply of oil is well on its way to depletion (about 2050). But already startling environmental changes -- the early, "minor" effects of global warming -- are occurring on Earth:

·With the exception of 1996, the years from 1995 to 2004 constitute 9 of the 10 warmest years since systematic record keeping began in 1861.
·Globally, glaciers have retreated, on average, almost some 15% since 1850. Glacial retreat has been recorded in Tibet, Alaska, Peru, the Alps, Kenya.
·Alaskan temperatures have risen about 2.8°C (5°F) in the past few decades.
·In the past several decades, about 40% of Arctic Ocean sea ice has disappeared. (Some researchers now believe, however, that at least part of this sea ice loss may be due to changing wind patterns over the North Pole, but these changes, also, may be due to warming climate.)
·Between 1965 and 1995, the amount of melt water from the Arctic region going into the North Atlantic was about 20,000 cubic kilometers (about 4800 cubic miles), the equivalent of the fresh water in all of the Great Lakes combined (Superior, Huron, Erie, and Ontario) with the exception of Lake Michigan. Preliminary calculations indicate that an additional 18,000 cubic kilometers (4300 cubic miles) or so could shut down ocean circulation in the North Atlantic, chilling the eastern United States by several degrees. That shutdown could occur in two decades or less.
·Upper ocean temperatures have risen between 0.5 and 1.0°C (0.9 to 1.8°F) since 1960. Deeper water has also warmed, but not by as much. The total amount of energy that has gone into the oceans as a consequence of global warming, however, is staggering: enough to run the state of California for 200,000 years.
·The deep waters of the Southern Ocean (that which encircles Antarctica) have become significantly colder and less salty than they were just ten years ago. This is presumably due to the melting of Southern Ocean sea ice and parts of the Antarctic ice cap. Deep ocean waters have been presumed to be fairly isolated from climate warmingbut the data obtained from depths of four to five kilometers (more than two to three miles) suggests otherwise. Such changes could significantly impact global ocean circulation.
·Huge expanses of floating ice around Antarctica have collapsed into fragments in just weeks, after existing for tens of thousands of years. In addition, the ice that currently covers West Antarctica, known as the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), which was quite recently (as of 2001) judged by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as unlikely to collapse before the end of this century, or even for the next millennium, may now be starting to disintegrate, according to the head of the British Antarctic Survey. If this ice sheet does collapse, global sea level will rise by about 5 meters (16 feet).

·While global daytime temperatures, on average, increased only about 0.33°C (0.6°F) between 1979 and 2003, nighttime temperatures have risen more than 1°C (about 2°F).
These environmental changes have had significant biological effects:
·In the eastern North Atlantic, warm-water phytoplankton has moved north 1000 km (600 miles) over the past 40 years.
·In 2004, almost a quarter of a million breeding pairs of seabirds in islands north of Scotland failed to produce more than a few dozen offspring. Their reproductive failure is most likely due to the phytoplankton changes, and the consequent breakdown of the marine food chain. Many of the affected birds migrate back and forth between the Scottish islands and areas around the Southern Ocean (off Antarctica) over the course of the year. Starved in the north, they will never make it back to the south.
·Krill, small (about 5 cm/2 inches in length), shrimplike creatures which are a main food source for seals, whales, and penguins in the Southern Ocean, have declined in places to just 20% of their previous number in just 30 years.

·Grass now survives the winter in places on the Antarctic Peninsula, the warmest part of that frigid continent. When grass last was able to survive Antarctic winters is unknown.
·The small increase in global nighttime temperatures indicated above, is sufficient to have reduced the biomass (the total mass of roots, stems, leaves, and grain) of rice, humankind's most important crop, by 10%.
These are only the early effects, ripples from the storm which is to come. Remedial action is still possible, but the likelihood of catastrophe becomes more certain with each passing year.

I discovered the possibility of methane catastrophe as a student of paleontology. Paleontologists study fossils in order to reconstruct the history of life on Earth. Inevitably, many students of paleontology are interested in those episodes of biological cataclysm and change known as mass extinctions. Our interest has certainly been stimulated, in part, by the determination in 1980 of the cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago. (There is still some dispute about that cause, but most scientists accept that it was an extraterrestrial impact.)
My particular interest was in finding the cause of the end-Permian extinction, the greatest extinction event of them all. (The event that killed off the dinosaurs was only the second greatest.) As I worked on that problem, however, I quickly realized that what I presumed to be the cause of that extinction was still around in today's world, and, with global warming, will become a significant threat.
This book is the result of that recognition. I have here traced the history of our understanding of mass extinction, our discovery of the vast quantities of methane that lie just off the shores of our continents, the various theories of the Permian extinction, the evidence for methane catastrophe at that time, the reasons why we must be concerned about the possibility of methane catastrophe today. I have attempted to write so that the general, educated reader can understand, and I have tried to do so without compromising the science. I hope to leave the reader with a sense of what we are doing to our environment, and the appalling consequences that can ensue if we fail to act to mitigate our activities. Such an understanding is essential if we as citizens are to be able to control our destinies.

This is a tale filled with superlatives. The reader will encounter the greatest extinction event of all time, the longest ice age, the greatest oceanic current, the longest period of stability in the Earth's magnetic field, the greatest volcanic eruption, the largest exchangeable carbon reservoir, the largest continent (a "megacontinent"), the biggest ocean, the longest mountain range in the world, and, of course, methane catastrophe. The tale is full of superlatives because there is no other way to tell it.

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30 May 2005 @ 14:56 by koravya : The Other Way
Half of the American government's "budget"
is allocated to the military. The international
concept is defined militarily. Borders conveniettly fragment populations
into warring factions of terrorists while others search for a peaceful solution to the military problem. There needs to be a collective vision of alternative possibilities to the current paradigm. Resources which could abuntandly provide for the Earth's population absolutely need to be reallocated from their present sinkholes. Instead of cutting down rainforests, let us be making them flourish with all of their possibilities. There has to be a vision for these possibilites in the first place. Are we the caretakers of this planet, or its vermin?
*-/*-/
This web-site is about The Sahara Desert and a $200-300 Billion ecology supposition that we could Terraform it and make it into something most valuable for this planet Earth and the Global Environment. However, it may not be just useful, it might be imperative for all water-drinking creatures, and this Third Rock.
It maybe said that $2-300B is too much but we will soon discover within the decade that the most destructive, dreadful, negative World Trade Center atrocity will cost at least $1,000,000,000,000. And Why?
That is 1,000 Billion dollars. How stupid is the human animal to waste so much for so little return. Waste so much to have only more suffering entrenched on the human soul as their only reward.
Our part in the aid of Africa and the planet Earth, will be to create a new Ocean of Fresh water and a Rainforest to be new lungs for Mother Earth, to replace all that has been destroyed in the Natural World in the last 50 years. Create custom built cities, that are super energy efficient; models for the rest of the world to follow. Create New Age industries, for a New Africa to at last develop for itself in a way that many have hoped it would, for the last hundred years.
Africa is the most blessed continent on Earth in terms of minerals, resources and hope. This continent and its people should be leading the world, not just accepting that that they are the victims.
Moreover, many supporters of the Sahara Supposition from all around the globe, have said that there are many arid, barren patches that could be reclaimed. Australia and the USA are classic examples of this.
[link]
Santo Bains, a young innovative professor of Oxford University and his now famous revelations have been quoted in the House of Lords on this matter:
Lord Avebury: " My Lords, have the Government had an opportunity of evaluating the evidence made public in the 'Equinox' programme on Channel 4 last week, (June 2001) based on the research of Dr Santo Bains at the University of Oxford? It revealed that at two points in the world's history there have been catastrophic releases of methane hydrates from the ocean floors which came at a certain point in the warming of the oceans, raising the temperature of the Earth by some 8 degrees. Does the Minister take this seriously? If so, should there be a far more drastic programme for the reduction in carbon emissions than we have seen so far? "  

31 May 2005 @ 01:30 by koravya : Sunlight and Air
Monday evening in the twilight, May thirtieth. Having returned to the campground from a year ago, for an afternoon visit on the slopes of Mt. Turquoise some hundred miles west. Sitting out there all by itself, not a part of any particular range, always there in the distant horizon from the city. The snows are melted. The Rio Grande is full. The rocks of the old fireplaces are cold. Each old fireplace, a place where something happened. Walk a new trail, an old trail, a not often used trail, to some rocky barriers. Lots of places on this unused trail. White prayer flags, four wide ribbons of torn lace tied with a firm knot to the lowest part of the trunk where stubs of old branches protrud. A depression in the earth with a heavy rock in the middle. A burial? There are several places to camp in this area of the forest. Perhaps get to know the rocks around here a little better. Meanwhile, its old route 66 for much of the way, the old two lane that slows down for towns, with the old abandoned or somehow hanging on with the locals along the way, settlements, the road winds away from the city into the forest. Where is everybody? They are not up here.
Just time enough to connect with the rare and delicate flowers reaching for sunlight and air.
*-_/_-*  

31 May 2005 @ 01:55 by jmarc : mining methane
from the ocean floor...some think it's feasable.
. [link]  

1 Jun 2005 @ 10:56 by koravya : Uggianaqtuq
Uggianaqtuq – “is a North Baffin Inuktitut word that means to behave unexpectedly, or in an unfamiliar way. From the perspective of many hunters and elders in the Arctic, the weather has become – uggianaqtuq – a stranger, in recent years.” [link]
Yes, the possibilities for deep-sea mining of undersea methane hydrates or methane gas as a possible energy source for the planet’s human population for thousands of years to come sounds wonderful. However, and for example, yesterday morning’s Albuquerque Journal, the daily propaganda organ in this section of the river valley, ran a major special story, continued on inside pages and complete with pictures, about the oil boom times getting underway in the southeastern New Mexico oilfields. Prices are at an all time high and those happy drillers are going to be getting those holes sunk into the ground as fast as they can get the machinery out there. Those folks are just tickled pink, and everyone throughout the world who is in any way associated with the oil industry is looking to a future of unabated commerce in this black gold. Those folks are going to drill and industrial civilization is going to burn those petrocarbons until the wells run dry. The prospects for actually creating alternative means and methods, however well-intentioned by those of us who care, are rather slim when considered vis-à-vis the control systems exercised by the military-industrial-banking cartel. The Kyoto agreements were supposed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by five percent in one hundred years. That is a joke, right? And the American government will not even sign that. A flock of 250,000 migrating birds in their seasonal home in the islands north of Scotland had a complete reproductive failure quite recently. Only a couple of dozen chicks are reported to have survived. The food chain in these areas has been disturbed, and now the flock itself is in danger of malnourishment in preparation for its flight to the Southern hemisphere. That particular news item did not make it into the final cut for yesterday’s Journal. The ocean is warming, one degree at a time, and it’s not going to take very many. The ice caps are melting, and the early stages of the extinction are beginning to gather momentum. We are reaping now the fruits of carbon dioxide emissions which have accumulated from decades past, and the dominant economic system is enthusiastically pumping more of these warming gasses into our air. Let us say If, of course, If indeed, and following If, When? If and When the methane hydrates warm sufficiently to begin releasing into the great waters, from there to dissolve into our atmosphere, the chemical chain reaction of accelerated warming will proceed until the planet finds a new equilibrium temperature, which is not likely to be favorable or conducive to many currently existing species. Humans as well as animals may die in great numbers. The ice is melting faster than previously expected. All of this, much of this, a lot of this, could happen within this coming hundred years. The teenagers of today are walking into a world of extreme challenges and the survival rate rather unpredictable. For those of us who carry the spirit of compassion and empathy for Life on this planet, it is hoped that some of our message will be carried on, and that the emerging life forms, including the ever adaptable humans, will care for what they have left. Uggianaqtuq.
*/-_/-*  

2 Jun 2005 @ 23:51 by koravya : Earth Viewer
Here is something fun to play with.
The Earth and Moon viewer.
"You can view either a map of the Earth showing the day and night regions at this moment, or view the Earth from the Sun, the Moon, the night side of the Earth, above any location on the planet specified by latitude, longitude and altitude, from a satellite in Earth orbit, or above various cities around the globe."
[link]
Try the satellite in earth orbit option.
There's a couple of hundred satellites listed.
Just choose one and see where it's at.
Lots of views you might not otherwise have thought of.
*-_//_-*  

3 Jun 2005 @ 17:32 by koravya : A story
Here is reference to a work of fiction.
“I cannot excuse inactivity on climate change when the chances are so high our progeny will suffer from a rabid environment. The trend, to me, seems clear: Larger, more active damaging weather systems--killing at an increased tempo. I cannot prove this to you. However, as a result of reading this book you will, hopefully, feel the climate changing and our deep ties to that change.I am not a crusader--I am an author--but the planet, and our children, demand our attention.”
D. H. Gottlieb
[link]
"We must all be educated about global warming;
it races towards us. . . . On January 25, 2005 many reputable news sources including CBS, Reuters, AP, The Toronto Star, among others, reported that within a decade we may reach the point of no return in global warming. Whether you believe that or not does not matter. All you need to note is once we were told global warming was a century off. Now we are told by the media we have a decade or so. The time frame matters; the rate of change matters more, because it tells us the trend. Armed with that knowledge, if we accept the lassitude of our leadership to address the issue now, we have sealed our burdon. Or, we can see the future and our place in it." D.H. Gottlieb, January 26, 2005 "The United States' National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado reports in the journal 'Science' that even if the countries of the world stop emitting carbon dioxide and other GHG's, today, global warming's effects will worsen. This means sea level rise, heat waves, droughts, highly energetic storms, and societal disruption will get worse. Given there is no chance of elimination, or even immediate global reduction of GHG output, it must be obvious the window for benign adaption to global warming is closing. World carbon output is now in the seven plus gigaton range. In my opinion, rational risk assessment will soon overcome the myopic adherence to outmoded economic models and foolish attempts to hide from facts. It must." D.H. Gottlieb, March 18, 2005
[link]
Right now we need to plan for the effects of climate change economics, while paying strict attention to the nonlinear consequences of climate change: The climatic phase shift, or its current name "The Climate Tipping Point". The Tipping Point is a way of saying the climate has a very high likelihood of becoming foreign to our experience. If the climate tips 15 years down the line and our plans are for a linear set of climate events, the changed problem set may put us permanently behind the curve.. . .
A workable system for energy use and carbon dioxide output that does not cripple us economically is paramount. The problem is: the feared consequences of savage weather may appear no matter what we do now. We must bear that awareness with dignity and calm. Once we have events stabilized we can then proceed to deal with the numerous effects of our new climate.
[link]
***---___*  

3 Jun 2005 @ 20:45 by astrid : Petroleum vs Methane vs Solar vs....???
Yeahh. to dig Methane from the bottom of the Oceans seems like another Really Good Solution! Isn't it just like the Germans tend to say: Warum sollen Wir Etwas einfach machen, wenn Wir es so schoen complezieren könnte! ( why should make it easy-simple, when we could complicate it so easily/nicely!?!....) like crossing the river to get some water!...

Is there no such guy, who is willing to do their part in turning The Weel around by getting a place big enough, safe enough to start buying USED cars, good for being converted to 'BIO- Diesel-Vehicles' and SELL them!!!... ( who cares if we do this with FRN! USE them to destroy the DESTROYERS, eeehh, why not! That's what MONEY WAS/IS MADE FOR to begin with; to slowly, with persistence and tenaciousness of a Bulldog, destroy someone = ALL the ones who do not MAKE the money --as in PRINT and MAKE UP THE RULES for the M-Game... Soooo...*!*))No more NEW cars of ANY kind!... No more vehicles running on Gasoline/ Diesel Oil but more and more and soon ONLY (running) on VEGGIE OIL, bought with the TRAITORS' MONEY!!!!... Beautiful!
Hey, come and pick me up and my kids, and I'll be there, doing whatever I can to support that Life-Mission/style! So there!
Truth is; most of us would say, "no way...I can't do that!I have....." fill in the Blanc. I would most likely say that myself!... Point being: DESPITE the OBVIOUS Good in Something, we are not very readily persuaded to jump on it!.... BUT ONE OF THESE DAYS WE HAVE TO! Yet, I do believe it can be done - by some very Adventureous people!... I think this New Trend WILL be done /started by some very adventureous guy. The ones out there today, who are working with conversions don't buy used, convert AND sell; they only convert your vehicle.

A nice surpize here: [link]
and here is a shortcut route to some FAQs about BioDiesel vs the "Other Stuff" [link]
But for instance girls, who would like to move from Gasoline to Bio Diesel are pretty much in the Dark, what kind of vehicle to buy to be converted... And that is just the first obstacle one runs into! Trust me; I HAVE checked these things out in order to get myself a Biodiesel... NOT EASY!

BTW; ANY "Good" has to be done from Outside the BigBoys' Box; the euphemism for all the rules; 180 degrees opposite to the COSMIC Laws.'The Box' being THEIR RULES; the ones that has kept the GAME going for some FEW THOUSAND YEARS!!!.... So.... IF we want to beat that Game and IF we want to support LIFE returning to us/ Planet Earth,then we MUST use the 180 degrees OPPOSITE Rules!... for achieving what we know to be ALL Life- INCLUDING. Theirs are the ALL Life DESTROYING ones! So, how in the world is one supposed to do "Good Things with BAD RULES??? Somebody tell me! My Logic tells me it is impossible!
But if ONE guy starts, then soon other guys in other areas will start doing this same thing and soon someone finds another field to work, where Petroleum could easily be made desolete!!!.... And certainly more and more people could make lucrative buisness with Solar Kits and Wind Power kits.
Help people to get them installed not just bought, but installed!.... Find out what the objections are to change from One Thing to Another; help people over that hurdle. There must be millions of people like me out there, who only need a little help to get the Ball rolling!

We should all work to put the Traitor's Money to work for the HIHGEST GOOD of ALL, even if it just via "one step at the time" - method.
IT IS --AFTER ALL-- A JOURNEY, that WE ALL WALK STEP BY STEP BY STEP! Heaven On Earth ain't going to drop from the sky one night while we're sleeping!...
This IS 'a Way' to eliminate one Big Business/Corp at the time -with the Bad Guys "own" means!...
This IS 'a Thing', that will fast and easy reach the Hundreth Monkey Phenomenon, I am convinced!

I believe, there is POWER in this. A lot of TRANSFORMATIVE Power in this New Way of Doing Business and caring for Mother earth by reducing the Carbon Dioxide emissions car by car by car, House by House, by House, by House.
Hey, this is to 'taking out the BIG GUNS': STOP buiyng any NEW produced items!!!....at least as often as possible, find good used things. That's a REAL KILLER of ANY NEW- PRODUCTION Business!... isn't it???
Spread this Word to ALL corners of the Planet. People everywhere will start catching on, I am absolutely convinced!
Nothing can take this Vision away from me saiyng it is not doable! It IS doable - and I bet it would be a lot of FUN too!
THE ONLY THING WE CANNOT AFFORD ANY MORE IS TO LIVE LIFE INSIDE THE ESTABLISHMENT's BOX/RULES!What possibly can happen to us Humankind, if we continue our chosen route, well, who cares!... we'll pay our part one day in one way or the other, but what about all the Animals, Plants and the Water, Air, Soil; Mother Earth Herself, who are all forced to pay for our selfishness, stupidity, ignorance, arrogance ALSO!!!... Of course; one day we'll have to pay THAT bill too!... It ain't easier if it is to be paid "on the other side". WHAT MAKES US THINK IT WILL???
When is the Right Moment to JUMP OUT from the train heading for its own TRAIN-WRECK, eh?... \*!*? ... that was my guess too!... /// : ) ///Astrid  

13 Jun 2005 @ 17:21 by koravya : Thank You
Astrid, for your enthusiastic contribution about what could happen if large segments of the planetary population could become enlightened. Maybe in 2012,
or maybe the intergalactic turning point will generate more subtle variations not immediately understood by many. We need to keep ourselves alert for the possibilities. This is Our world Astrid, and a lot of folks just don't want to be a part of this world, and so they destroy it, but We need to keep Ours together. . . .
We Who Live are speaking together through RoseViolet Dawn. If there is anyone out there who thinks that he or she is going to convince somebody of something that is not is accord with what that somebody already believes, I wish you success in your endeavor. Those are tough nuts to crack. The world emerging may be a wasteland of desolation and infertility. We Who Live have been randomly selected to continue the experiment in Life’s evolutionary possibilities. The supremely idiotic civilization of the early twenty-first century has poisoned the planet forever, and initiated an Arctic and Antarctic meltdown which could trigger an undersea methane release which could cook our gooses. Those who are blissfully unaware or do not believe these things are happening will arrive at the dawning of consciousness when the indicators become more emphatic.
*/_-*  

14 Jun 2005 @ 15:56 by koravya : Dust
The Gathering of the Tribes of the Earth is about getting the heads together of We Who Live. There are a great number of people living in contemporary global urban culture who are more or less oblivious, if not completely so, to the Gathering Together of the Mind of the Caretakers of the human genome. Perspectives of ten, or fifty, or a hundred thousand years or more are convenient stepping stones, forms we can identify with as having have been like. Now as many of us as there are who wish to continue the path to the day when our heads are together as a functioning whole greater than the sum of its parts, there needs to be a focusing of attention on our least common denominators. Many of the artifacts of contemporary urban culture will settle in the dust.
*-/-/*  

15 Jun 2005 @ 03:13 by astrid : You know, John,
isn't it great with guys like Willie Nelson; guys, with all the Right Tools,so to speak, and they actually use it FOR Life, instead of just obliviously self-aggrandisment!
Mother Nature has a way to recover, that we don't really grasp... the important thing though, is, that there will be enough of us Humans to help Her and to rebuild The Society of The Galctic/Universal Human!

The QUALITY of the Energy we use in greatest quantity to run our Daliy Life, tells exactly "where" we are in consciousness = co-creativity! Not an easy Truth to face!...  

15 Jun 2005 @ 16:09 by koravya : Co-creating a dream
Astrid, I like the way you said what you said there.
Here's my note to myself for today.
Wednesday morning, June fifteenth, after last night’s first Globalization class with Regan, Travis, Pablita, Larry, Tina, Kevin, Scott, and Kelly. This looks like this is going to be a good class; these people are receptive and participating. In tonight’s dream, some idiot is stealing a city bus, and driving it recklessly through traffic with me and all of my extended family, running stop signs and so forth, all the way on to a wide sandy beach, and he keeps on driving it right into the ocean, to the point where it just sinks and turns completely over, but somehow, miraculously all of my family members including the children bob up to the surface of the water, and we proceed to a huge bright and shiny resort building on the shore of this body of water with its own horizon. The idiot driver is no longer with us. We fall into lines of throngs of people going to this huge Crystal Palace, and we go through the bustling crowds through the interior grand ballroom to a door which heads to the rocks by the sea, a pile of boulders that one can climb down over to where I and those with me could take off our footwear and dip our toes into the water of the great lake, the same one the city bus had turned over in. Then from deep within the interior of the building behind us, we heard the screams of fire, and the throngs of people in the palace headed for the only way out, and me and my family were going with them, for the door to the rocks did not seem to be the way out. There was only one way out of this building about to be consumed by flames, and that was towards the gates the crowds were busying themselves to, not in panic, but determinedly and respectfully of one another. And so I came to something like a turnstile, and I was presented with a ledger and was told to write down information concerning my outstanding debt to the government in the form of an outstanding student loan, together with contact information about where I was going, such as address and phone number. I was going along with this request in one set of spaces on the right page of the large open book, and some stranger was filling out his information on the left page, and as I was doing this, I proceeded to dig more deeply and deeply into the paper with my pencil as I wrote that I began tearing up the paper with the blanks for my information in frustrated anger that this was necessary when this building was about to burn down, while many other people including my family had passed on through, and were on their way, and I needed to be catching up with them instead of filling out this idiotic form for no other reason than that someone I didn’t want to have anything to do with wanted to keep track of me. /./  

15 Jun 2005 @ 23:00 by astrid : Ohh, wow!.... talk about...
... a COSMIC Dream!!! ohhh, boy!... Wasn't that like having The TRUTH "thrown in 'your' face, so to speak, by the Providence?!?!?!? ... and there's so much for the collective "us" in that dream, so I will print it and read and re-read it every so often, so that I can remember what Universe wants us/me to remember from this your dream! THANK YOU, John, for sharing it!
w/ L & L /Astrid  

16 Jun 2005 @ 16:13 by koravya : Rocks in the street
Thanks for the response Astrid. There does seem to be something of an Us in there, what with the extended family motif, and the other large crowds, and I'm sure a professional dream interpreter might see all kinds of things in there about me as a person and whatever other larger sense it might portray. I just like to keep clear images like this in thought during my days and let the meaning unfold. .>.
Thursday morning, June sixteenth. Yesterday was the third day of the new quarter with an afternoon Economics class with Zobie, Stephanie, Athena and Alfredo in the front row, although it’s safe to say that Athena’s attention span is in the back row and halfway out the door. Then I’ve got five other new faces to get to know, and they are paying attention. Quiet morning in the LRC when Beth comes in to sharpen her pencil, and we figure out how to make it work so she gets a good point, and she tells me that she’s given her notice and will be going back to her old Kentucky home with her sixteen year old daughter. Remember those rows of old two story houses on Franklin street in Madison. Boulders in the street strewn all over the place and the sense for the tumbling movement through which they all got there and the mischievous pranksters who initiated the tumbling. A very dangerous stream of events, lucky no one got hurt, and definitely blocking any kind of traffic that might want to go through there. Then I walk up towards the other end of the block and turn around to walk back, and all of those big rocks and boulders are gone, vanished, disappeared, de-materialized, as if they had never been there and as if that entire scene with the tumbling boulders had never occurred. Except that I know I was there and what I saw, and now what was there is no longer there, and I am simply astonished.
*///_*  

19 Jun 2005 @ 17:51 by koravya : Watershade
Very early morning, Sunday, June nineteenth. Slow moving Saturday morning, after Friday afternoon portfolio class and Friday evening Economics class with Teosha, Melcor, Joachim, Randy, and Jason , with two others missing. Afterrnoon visit to the Corrales library park, the Corrales shore of the Great River flowing full through the valley, and the sunflower market. Getting started into a story about Manet, Morisot, Degas, and Cassatt. Like visiting some old friends I have gotten to know over the past couple of decades. Five baby ducklets with their mama in the shaded water channel, and a smattering of hummingbirds.
*-\^*  

1 Jul 2005 @ 03:15 by koravya : Three for the Show
Thursday evening, June twenty-ninth. One for the money. Two for the climate. Have to admit, I had a little fun with my Economics class this afternoon. They have just been through comparative advantage, supply and demand, and elasticity. This is all really new to everyone here, and today I hit them with Fractional Reserve Banking and the Federal Reserve. I am introducing the chapter before they have even read it, walking them through the step-by-step explanation, throwing in some historical perspective not provided by the text. Only nine in this class, from the money in their pockets, and where it comes from, to who decides what. Kinda poured it on, more than what they really need to know as far as the text goes. Had some listeners and something I was trying to get across and that was the fun part, that combination. Last night’s globalization class was also good. We started at six with the half hour presentation by our president, and had a little follow up discussion of our own for a half-hour-forty-five. Nine of us all together in a round table configuration. Followed by a viewing of Control Room, made about Al-Jazeera during the days before and the weeks after the American invasion of Iraq. [link]
All of this is clearly in context of what this course is about and this is a roomful of interested parties. There’s going to be another small economics class on Friday, and that is also a good group, so that should be fun. When is the last time you ever heard something or had something explained to you that you had never heard of or imagined or thought about before? (Happens to me rather frequently here at NCN.) Matt is two years out of the marines finishing his degree in CAD. There are some veterans of the Iraq war walking these halls. Most of the talk around school is about schoolwork. I’ve got some stuff I gotta teach and all they gotta do is learn it, and it is nice to see that look in interest coming all the way back from the second last row.
[link]
There is a little snippet of news in the early introductory pages of the June, 2005 issue of National Geographic, one paragraph.
“Climate: Global warming is almost at the tipping point, according to a study by an international climate change task force. Unless industrialized nations immediately reduce carbon dioxide emissions and increase ‘green’ technology, irreversible environmental harm – including large-scale polar ice melting and the shutdown of the Gulf Stream current – may follow.”
Love that word: Immediately.
Here are some pictures of the planet as it might appear when the ice has done melted, and there are some other interesting scenarios portrayed here. Hypothetical versions of our Gaia.
[link]
*-_-_//*
Thursday evening, June thirtieth. There is no global economy, for that which has been shall disappear into regional and local economies. There is no reform of the global economy. There is only its demise. As new regional associations begin to develop after the disintegration of existing global structures, they will have the opportunity to develop humane configurations. It’s a hot one here in River City today. Early morning drive to the Frontier for breakfast with Rod, and Barbara, and Kelsey, followed by a walk through of the old Spanish art at the Albuquerque Art Museum. We didn’t actually count the number of Marys on those walls, but there were quite a few, usually either as Madonnas or ascending into heaven. Kelsey has her portfolio, and the running red horse is vibrant. Today is catch-up day at school, getting ready for tomorrow. There is Beth’s last day, and she’s on her way to Kentucky in five days. The ice caps are melting, the depleted uranium is blowin’ in the wind, and one wonders how the global economic and political scenario is going to unfold, and here is Rod’s thought. Take all those people in the military, take all their guns away from them, and put paint brushes in those hands.
*--*_*  

1 Jul 2005 @ 05:00 by astrid : Lovely
koravya, quite lovely!  

7 Jul 2005 @ 05:00 by koravya : Dawn
Thank you, Astrid.
Additional notes:
The rovers are taking pictures of the rocks on Mars, and an American missile has shot a comet. Something always falls into place, even when things fall out of place. There is something that can be done to straighten up and clean up the mess this world is in. There are a sufficient number of us who can arrive at a critical mass of awareness and determination to create a significant impact upon the prevailing structures. On one side of the spectrum are the exterminators while on the other are the guardians of life. How can those who have so little regard for the animal and plant kingdoms be expected to have any regard for half to three-quarters or more of humanity?
It’s one thing to know that one needs to get out of a particular situation, and quite another to envision a destination. Objective and process flow together in the concept of disconnect, first from the media in all of its mind-numbing forms, then and ultimately from the electrical grid altogether. Who on earth thinks for a New York minute that the umbrella of electrical light sparkling in the night is such a durable construct?
*/-*-/_*  

7 Jul 2005 @ 20:15 by astrid : Yeahhhh, koravya,
This is my 'Next Step': to do this class: "Women's Solar Electric Intensive: Uniquely taught by and for women, this two-day workshop covers the basics of solar electricity in a positive learning atmosphere. Come learn the basics of electricity and on and off-the- grid residential solar electric power, conservation and efficiency, renewable energy system design, equipment selection, site analysis, safety and tool use.
Additionally we will briefly explore different ways to use the sun’s energy including solar thermal (hot water and air heating), solar cooking and passive solar home design; and survey other renewable resources (wind and micro-hydro - electric) and their uses. Includes a hands-on portion.
Take this workshop with our Women’s Survey of Renewable Resources workshop for a comprehensive introduction to renewable energy and its uses." at www.solarliving.org  

8 Jul 2005 @ 20:12 by scotty : Great Log !!
Fantastic John - thankyou !!

You said
awareness and determination
envision a destination

how about adding creative intention !! *smile*





(Astrid - once you get all the know how's - and once we're over in France - maybe you'll come over and install some renewable energy thingies in our house eh !!)  

13 Jul 2005 @ 06:53 by koravya : Creative Intention
July twelfth into the thirteenth. Tuesday into Wednesday. The Economics teacher on globalization with Kelly, Scott, Tina, Larry, and Kevin, and three absentees, Regan, Pablita, and Travis. A little discussion about dying languages. Tina says that she herself doesn’t know her native Navaho all that very well. And then there is our takeoff from last weeks viewing of The Corporation. What various roles are being played out between the corporations, the governments of the various national entities, and the multitude of the population. Yes, there was I, thirty-five years ago and some protesting our government’s policy of war in Vietnam. How does that compare with today’s world? Not long after coming in early this afternoon, I gave a greeting and sat down with my Lab partner Bill in Lab one next to Theory one, and we had a nice little spontaneous conversation about where the world is going, and the kind of world these young people whom we are teaching have to look forward to. For that matter, what do he and I have to look forward to, and what kind of adaptations are we going to be going through during the next decade or so? Time enough yet for plans. For now, there are some classes that need to be prepared for and taught. After globalization’s discussion on The Corporation, we view the first hour of The Moneymasters, the history and practice of banking, especially as it has been since the inauguration of the Bank of England. We follow it through to the beginning of the Second Bank of the U.S., to be continued next week, and hopefully, there will be a full class. Especially would like Regan to see this, our business major in this class of technicians. Glad to say that all in this class essentially like and are responding to what is going on here. Tomorrow afternoon, it’s back to basic Economics.
**/-/_*  

14 Jul 2005 @ 03:55 by koravya : Window to the sky
Window to the sky. Wednesday evening. Flora is our new Librarian. Wherever she is from, my first thought was from Guatemala. She’s got a new job to learn, Temp to Hire, if she likes it and if she can make the place work, which it looks like she can. I have some vaguely defined oversight over what she is supposed to be learning how to do, which is not all that complex. It’s mostly a matter of how long she will want to continue doing this. So I give her a quick tour, showing her the coffee room and introducing her to Patti and Lolly on the way around the office halls. The rest is in her hands and Don’s, as he guides her through the details of what needs to be thought about, while I go off to this afternoon’s Economics. Review all of that business about marginal cost and marginal revenue, and proceed into market structures and oligopolies and cartels and price fixing and the prisoner’s dilemma. Guess what folks! Everybody cheats; it’s embedded in the system! Gotta wonder sometimes where Athena’s mind might be, sitting right there in the front row right under me, seemingly oblivious to anything I am saying most of the time, looking up every once in a rare while confirming understanding, then returning to her mental preoccupations. Her quiz grades are the worst in this class of eight at her borderline F to D. Always in a hurry to leave at the end. The way they have seated themselves, there is a progression of lowest to highest grades from front to back, not what you’d expect. Mark and Joe in the back row are neck in neck for closest to a ninety-nine average. Sherry and Dennis are holding up the middle with their C’s, while all of the D’s and F’s are clustered in the first row. Of course the four towards the rear are more likely to be here on time all the time, while the front row crowd can be rather sporadic. They’ve all got a little research project due next week, so this will be our first encounter on that level. So far, it’s only been quizzes. Time for my weekly one-hour with John-Paul for our one-on-one on globalization. He’s got a lot of ties to family in the villages of Mexico, and he likes to watch all the news channels and keep up with all of the things that are going on out there, and he was angry enough all ready at NAFTA before I showed him Trading Democracy. Now I’m giving him Control Room, so I’ll bet he finds that interesting. He writes in response to these viewings and readings we walk through. His grammar and spelling are a little bit erratic, but his own true voice comes through clearly in the expression of his spontaneous thought. If you think an essay is opening, body, and closing, this is not it. This is a potentially endless linking of one thought to another around the thought at the beginning, with occasional touchbacks along the way to confirm the focus. So reading John-Paul is a treat; if only he would want to write more. So the afternoon is drawing to a close, and Zobie has managed to dig herself into a real deep pit again, what with all of her absences and how far behind she is getting. Her family concerns are very demanding, and her enthusiasm, attention, and contribution are always welcome. She’s carrying too many bricks, and this side of the scale is slipping. Leanna for a private consultation for her portfolio project. She is graduating in a few weeks and what kind of a job can she look for while she is a single mom of a one-and-a-half year old? Kind of a dilemma there. It’s amazing that she could even figure out how to go through school these last two years. So tell me about tomorrow.
*//-^*  

14 Jul 2005 @ 07:00 by astrid : That's a deal, Scotty! : )
I'll visit you! as for .... hmmm are you sure u want me to? hehehhehe...  

15 Jul 2005 @ 05:46 by koravya : Lights across the Ocean
Begin with the beginning when the sun comes up this morning, casting a beam of sunlight across the floor, with a few open hours to water the soil. Couple of hours preparing my sense for tomorrow’s portfolio class, helping all of the soon-to-be graduates prepare themselves for the job market. Jim H. is alight with fulfillment in the hall this week, for he has just accepted an offer from Boeing, after an intense interviewing process that spanned a couple of weeks. This man has worked his way out of a dismal, enduring relationship with the trucking industry. Always overworked by his company, bearing it all with good humor and a positive attitude, always rational, and affirmative in his determination and sincerity. He has given his all to this two year education and now he is moving to a place he only dreamt about two years ago. There’s a lot of stories in this portfolio class. Two portfolio classes, Friday and Monday. This is where I find out where all of these people are coming from as I read the history and self-concept written into their resumes. Back in the kids’ teachers’ room, where our coalition can get our individual and collective heads together behind closed doors, Bill refers back to that conversation he and I had a couple of days ago, with the thought that hey, like, yeah, maybe there will be time for more in such a vein. Of course, I say in our secret language, methane hydrates. Frances was nearby, our Environmental Studies teacher. I wonder if that overhead phrase registered with her. I’ll have to ask her what or if she knows about methane hydrates, the ice that burns. Judy wants to know what business courses I can teach with my thirty–seven year old degree in Economics and Business. Interesting concept. We will have to see.
Sit with Flora and Don and Kris in the library, with a focus on introducing Flora to what I think is important about running this place. There are various records that need to be kept, and that will be largely in her hands to organize and implement a system of her own creation as long as it generates the required information. Right now, she’s just getting around to looking through the file drawers full of the idiosyncratic arrangements of the previous tenant. Meanwhile, there are certain things that need to be taken care of right away, one of them being our library’s annual report for the headquarters librarian.
Surely a very good time for Flora to begin, during this time of finalization and new beginning. Her beginning is at the transition. Finally, the weekly one-hour session with Matthew and Joe L. for their portfolio independent study. It’s really a lot easier to talk to small groups of people about their goals and aspirations than to larger groups. Especially when given the pace with which certain individuals proceed and the lag and even resistance which surfaces in larger groups. Some of ‘em are two chapters ahead while others are two chapters behind. It’s like trying to conduct an improvisational orchestra.
*^/-_/*  

16 Jul 2005 @ 07:15 by koravya : West Wing
Somewhere between late evening and early morning between Friday and Saturday, completing the fifth week of this twelve week quarter. Little morning drive down Carlisle to Alphaville to return a DVD. Final preparation for the afternoon portfolio class, overall a good group of nineteen, several of whom I’ve had before for up to four quarters, and several with whom this is our first class together. Had Beth once before about three quarters ago in Comp 2, so this is our second time around. Blind from birth, mother of an eleven-year-old daughter, degree in Journalism, and now completing her Associate’s in Computer Networking Systems. No way to be thought of as isolated, she is right there in the general discourse with her intelligent insight and observations. She reads the text and handouts through digital transcript into speech. She is listening her way through school, through Life. She doesn’t demand any special attention, and can mind her own business, her thoughtful, constructive motivated business, and each of our occasional personal conversations, usually at the end of class, after all or most of the others have filtered out, bridge the space between us through pure sound. Get a little less than half-an-hour with Flora before class time, and make it as clear as possible with her that she has as much of a free rein as she chooses to redesign and restructure our inventory and check-in-check-out system, and all of it’s, truly, overly complex arrangements designed by the corporate requirements and agreements made with software manufacturers. I suppose this is all understandable in some sense, like patenting genes. Too many control freaks out there. Really creates an inconvenience to those of us who are not so inclined. Bill has brought in a homemade pineapple upside down cake, and sets it out on Peggy’s desk for anyone to enjoy, which goes well with my five o’clock coffee. Tonight is Economics, down at the end of the hall. I like these classes out there at the end-of-the-west-wing hall. The hall is quieter down there, not that the halls are especially noisy in any particular part of the building. There’s just less traffic through the west wing, and the air has a little more of a stillness about it, and a quieting effect on whoever’s there. Communication is a little more interesting in quieter environments. This is a real good group of eight. They are all paying attention, and they are always there. Gotta keep ‘em busy, not make it too hard, and not make it too easy, and keep ‘em busy, and give ‘em a necessary break.
*_-/*  

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