Recently I came across this guy named Chris Martenson. I did his "Crash Course" in Economics, Energy and Environment (The 3 E's). I highly recommend checking it out. Everything is spelled out clearly for you regarding important things to think about for our collective future: our economy, monetary system, resource depletion, population growth, peak oil, our environment. It's very well done. It's basically set up as a bunch of power point lectures narrarated and animated by Dr. Martenson. There's a lot of information, but over a few sessions you can take in a lot. I may even watch it again.
The truth about future resource depletion, the current global monetary crisis, and how we humans will fare in a future of less, can be a little shocking to say the least. But, it is a fact. One of my strongest convictions about the future is that it's not going to be like the recent past. The near future will be one of societal complexity contraction. This contraction will bring about disruptions in the way we organize our ways of life, the way we farm, transport our food and ourselves, the way we manage the 10,000+ year old project of civilization.
The more you know...
Peace,
Grant
40 years ago, on Christmas Eve, 1968, NASA released a photo that was both stunning and inspiring in its beauty. The photo, called Earth Rise, in many ways launched the modern environmental movement. It solidified in our collective mindset what had been known for centuries, but was not popularly appreciated... our place in the solar system. This image was truly conscious-raising, and further ensconced the need to protect the only planet we have.
I would assert that a great deal of environmental abuses are exacerbated by our belief that the earth is "too big" for us to possibly have any lasting affect. So, now some statistics...
The radius of the Earth is about 6,400km, about the distance across the surface of the Earth between Barcelona and Toronto, Lahore or Lubumbashi. But, the earth is not a perfect sphere. It is in fact, slightly oblate, varying in diameter through the equator or along its axis of rotation by about 22 km. This is due to the fact that it is rotating and therefore becoming squished a bit. This spin, as you most certainly know is what turns day into night. Night, being thus, in the shadow of the Earth.
The Earth is tilted slightly with respect to its orbit, this giving rise to variations in the angle of sun rays hitting the surface and resulting in the seasons, as the northern/southern hemispheres either tilt toward or away from the Sun.
The Earth is mostly solid rock, from the centre to the surface. But, most of the interior of the Earth (the Mantle) actually "flows", though it remains solid. For the purpose of instruction, this is analogous to the physical properties of silly putty. For instance, if you put it on the edge of a desk, it will eventually flow off the edge under it's own weight. However, if you pull it apart quickly it will snap and break apart cleanly. The incomprehensibly slow fluid motion of the interior of the Earth driven by temperature variations (caused heating by radioactive elements) is what moves the continents, which are part of "tectonic plates". This motion can be actually observed in fact, using highly sensitive GPS receivers and satellite measurements to track movements, and for example, it has been found that North America and Europe are moving apart at about the rate that your fingernail grows! You can look up more facts about the Earth here
So, why do I mention all this? Maybe it seems that I am getting away from the message of Dan's contemporary pilgrimage through the centre of North America. Check out his Road Videos and his blog. Dan is now somewhere in New Mexico, since starting in northern Canada about three years ago. But, I really just mention it to emphasize the part of the Earth in which we live, the biosphere.
If you took a basketball and covered it with plastic food wrap, this would represent the relative thicknesses of the atmosphere compared to the solid Earth. With this in mind it is much easier to appreciate the influence we have on it. Everything we do, all of human and prehistoric history, all of our memories and experiences, took place in this thin envelope of gas and water and soil substrate.
I know social change won't happen overnight, but I believe that education is its key. So, here are a couple of things that you can do on your computer that will help you visualize and appreciate the Earth and how it works. One is Google Earth, and the other is a program called Stellarium.
You may already be familiar with Google Earth, as it is a very popular program for zooming in on a mosaic of satellite photos. But, it is also impressive for its ability to simulate the Earth as a whole, as a planet. You can, for example, turn on and off the Sun, creating the passage of night and day, you can even turn the atmosphere on and off and fly in a simple flight simulator.
But, Stellarium, literally turns Google Earth on its head by looking up! It is your personal planetarium. But it is more than just a map of the constellations. It is a simulator of the motions of planets, of seasons, of the passage of time. You can change the rate of the passage of time, set the view from any place on the planet, turn the atmosphere on and off, adjust the amount of 'light pollution', see what Earth looks like from Mars, even make the ground disappear to see exactly where the sun goes when it sets. One thing very neat about Stellarium is the ability to turn on/off the constellations, their associated art, and interestingly, change the constellation culture, from the well-known Western constellations, to Polynesian, Egyptian, Chinese and Inuit. See how our ancestors saw the Universe! Both these programs as totally free, so I encourage you download them and just play!
Peace,
Grant
The Earth is tilted slightly with respect to its orbit, this giving rise to variations in the angle of sun rays hitting the surface and resulting in the seasons, as the northern/southern hemispheres either tilt toward or away from the Sun.
The Earth is mostly solid rock, from the centre to the surface. But, most of the interior of the Earth (the Mantle) actually "flows", though it remains solid. For the purpose of instruction, this is analogous to the physical properties of silly putty. For instance, if you put it on the edge of a desk, it will eventually flow off the edge under it's own weight. However, if you pull it apart quickly it will snap and break apart cleanly. The incomprehensibly slow fluid motion of the interior of the Earth driven by temperature variations (caused heating by radioactive elements) is what moves the continents, which are part of "tectonic plates". This motion can be actually observed in fact, using highly sensitive GPS receivers and satellite measurements to track movements, and for example, it has been found that North America and Europe are moving apart at about the rate that your fingernail grows! You can look up more facts about the Earth here
So, why do I mention all this? Maybe it seems that I am getting away from the message of Dan's contemporary pilgrimage through the centre of North America. Check out his Road Videos and his blog. Dan is now somewhere in New Mexico, since starting in northern Canada about three years ago. But, I really just mention it to emphasize the part of the Earth in which we live, the biosphere.
If you took a basketball and covered it with plastic food wrap, this would represent the relative thicknesses of the atmosphere compared to the solid Earth. With this in mind it is much easier to appreciate the influence we have on it. Everything we do, all of human and prehistoric history, all of our memories and experiences, took place in this thin envelope of gas and water and soil substrate.
I know social change won't happen overnight, but I believe that education is its key. So, here are a couple of things that you can do on your computer that will help you visualize and appreciate the Earth and how it works. One is Google Earth, and the other is a program called Stellarium.
You may already be familiar with Google Earth, as it is a very popular program for zooming in on a mosaic of satellite photos. But, it is also impressive for its ability to simulate the Earth as a whole, as a planet. You can, for example, turn on and off the Sun, creating the passage of night and day, you can even turn the atmosphere on and off and fly in a simple flight simulator.
But, Stellarium, literally turns Google Earth on its head by looking up! It is your personal planetarium. But it is more than just a map of the constellations. It is a simulator of the motions of planets, of seasons, of the passage of time. You can change the rate of the passage of time, set the view from any place on the planet, turn the atmosphere on and off, adjust the amount of 'light pollution', see what Earth looks like from Mars, even make the ground disappear to see exactly where the sun goes when it sets. One thing very neat about Stellarium is the ability to turn on/off the constellations, their associated art, and interestingly, change the constellation culture, from the well-known Western constellations, to Polynesian, Egyptian, Chinese and Inuit. See how our ancestors saw the Universe! Both these programs as totally free, so I encourage you download them and just play!
Peace,
Grant
We started this Sunday with a visit to the village square, where once a week a man comes and sells various vegetables suitable for planting as well as tree seedlings. Over the past month or so, Julio and I have been preparing the Earth for tree planting. Today we bought a cherry tree, an olive tree and a lemon tree. Two days ago we also planted a Loquat, something I had never heard of until I moved here. Loquat fruits are very juicy and flavorful, with a hint of tartness. We also planted a little fir tree and some raspberries.
The fir tree will suffice as our annual Christmas tree. Spain doesn't really have the forest/human ratio to allow everyone to cut Christmas trees every year. Having said that, the Christmas tree tradition is rather new, more or less following the increase in popularity of Hollywood movies, and Santa Claus, so most people don't have one. But, that's a story for another time.
It's about 10°C in the sun and today, so a nice winter day for planting. We planted 4 trees and are well on the way to making a long term investment in the garden. Next week we will plant the last of the trees, a Fig tree. It should take a few years for the trees to bear any serious quantity of fruit, but it feels good just to touch the Earth.
Peace,
Grant
I get most of my news from "Democracy Now!", a free, independent new organization that cuts through the normal media spin, hype and sensationalism to provide the facts, from a broader point of view than a few media moguls in the US.
The most recent podcast that I downloaded features an hour long speech by eminient historian and social activist, Howard Zinn. Howard Zinn has written many books, his most well-known being, "A People's History of the United States". The following talk was his first since the historic win of Barack Obama as President of the United States of America. You can't help but listen to him and be inspired. He offers a passionate review of the history of empires, the wall street bailout, wars, patriotism and the so called "American exceptionalism" as well as a different (egalitarian) way forward; peace and social justice.
Please take a look. You won't regret it.
Peace,
Grant
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Check out the KunstlerCast, below