Udongo Weekly Digest

Voices are Co-Locating has posted a new item, ''

Zimbabwe
http://udongo.org/zimbabwe/
There is  a need to install a legitimate government in Zimbabwe -- and bring
to an end the campaign of terror that Robert Mugabe has unleashed.

Equally, the MDC is calling for:

       Violence must stop immediately - so-called war veterans and youth militias
should return home and checkpoints be removed
       Humanitarian assistance must be allowed into the country
       All [...]

Florida Everglades, as important as the creation of the first American national
park
http://udongo.org/2008/06/25/florida-everglades-as-important-a-the-creation-of-first-american-national-park/
Everglades National Park is the largest subtropical wilderness in the United
States. The area boasts rare and endangered species, such as the American
crocodile, Florida panther, and West Indian manatee. The swampy Everglades is
one of America's most unusual ecosystems.

U.S.                [...]

Trees, forests and sequestration

From Lou Gould

I'd like to try to help clarify some possible confusion around the relationship of trees, forests and carbon sequestration.

While it is technically accurate to say that trees do not sequester carbon permanently, it is much more accurate to place trees in a context of forests or farms -- and the type of forest or farm. 

Generally, mature forests hold an enormous amount of carbon in the tree boles and the soils. Disruptions caused by deforestation release enormous amounts of stored carbon and today changes in land use from forest to farm or pasture are recognized as a major GW problem. This is why the IPCC is presently trying to refine a REDD system to provide payments for avoided or reduced deforestation.

Yes, forests are not permanent. Yes, once they reach maturity and equilibrium, they no longer remove more carbon than they release. Yes, they are vulnerable to catastrophic forces. But the stored carbon is held within the equilibrium and that can be for a long time. Forests are quite a carbon sink.

Thus, the question about planting trees must be placed in context. A fast growing tree plantation designed for paper pulp holds little advantage for reducing CO2 in the atmosphere. On the other hand, planting trees with the intention of creating forests that provide a wide range of ecosystem services can make a very real contribution.

__

Voices Digest

Voices are Co-Locating has posted a new item, ''

Zimbabwe
http://udongo.org/zimbabwe/




Zimbabwe Votes in One-Man Race



Zimbabwe's runoff presidential election opened under a cloud of police
intimidation, as many who cast ballots in the uncontested race said they were
being forced to do so.



Washington Post Foreign Service  Sunday, June 29, 2008;

HARARE, Zimbabwe, July 28 -- President Robert Mugabe has emerged from the most
tumultuous election in [...]

The carbon cycle
http://udongo.org/climate/the-carbon-cycle/
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and acts as a blanket around theearth,
allowing the sun's rays in, but trapping heat that would otherwise go back
out to space. This is making the earth warmer.

Methane is another greenhouse gas which is even more potent than carbon dioxide
(i.e. you need a smaller amount of methane [...]

Florida Everglades, as important as the creation of the first American national
park
http://udongo.org/2008/06/25/florida-everglades-as-important-a-the-creation-of-first-american-national-park/
Everglades National Park is the largest subtropical wilderness in the United
States. The area boasts rare and endangered species, such as the American
crocodile, Florida panther, and West Indian manatee. The swampy Everglades is
one of America's most unusual ecosystems.

U.S.                [...]

Global Warming
http://udongo.org/2008/06/26/global-warming/


—Photograph by Maria Stenzel, copyright National Geographic Society

Throughout the Earth's geological history the atmosphere has gone through
cycles of warming and cooling driven by factors including solar radiation and
volcanic eruptions.  The planet is rapidly warming today, but this time the
cause is human activities.

By burning fossil fuels – coal, oil and natural gas [...]

Understanding Peak Oil
http://udongo.org/2008/06/28/understanding-peak-oil/
From Postcarbon:
If we ever stop to think that there will be a time when those resources will
run out, we probably think it is far in the future, and when it happens we'll
just think of something else as a substitute.

But that time is coming sooner rather than later. The good news is that our
[...]

Complete ice melt at North Pole this Summer 2008
http://udongo.org/2008/06/28/complete-ice-melt-at-north-pole-this-summer-2008/
A picture taken 2007 shows a glacier seen from the Ice Fjord on the Norwegian
Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. There could be a brief time this summer when
there is no ice on the North Pole, a US scientist said Friday, blaming global
warming that has melted the Arctic ice sheet over decades.



By SETH BORENSTEIN, [...]

Climate Change, a global problem or a localised problem?
http://udongo.org/2008/06/29/climate-change-a-global-problem-or-a-localised-problem/
The question of climate change is becoming quite a puzzle to most citizens
globally.  The issues that are being discussed range from offering solutions
to cynicism.

Those who have been working on the science are split between how the climate
scenario will evolve within the next decade.  One camp is convinced that there
will be a [...]

Terra Preta Nova

Terra Preta Nova is the 21st century renewed use of charcoal investments into soil.  We do this for the agricultural benefits that charcoal can impart to soil (Classical TP) and to mitigate a new and very pressing problem that we have created for ourselves.  The formation of Terra Preta soils anew (Terra Preta Nova) can remove troublesome CO2 from the atmosphere.

 

Classical Terra Preta was made by indigenous people in the Amazon rainforest as a means to improve soil fertility.  How they discovered this?, how they did this?, and the true "fertility" enhancing properties of carbon rich and anthropogenic Terra Preta de Indio soil are largely unknown, but this is being fairly widely researched.  Today, large swathes of these soils still exist in the Amazon.  This is a testament to the resilience of the soil and the carbon that is in the charcoal that was put into it.

 

Beyond charcoal amendments into the soil there were perhaps many other waste management, composting, terracing, flood control, and irrigation, practices done to soil by the Amazon native people.  There has been and still is natural fall-in of dying flora onto the TPdI soil (this might be the answer to the regenerative properties of TP).  The populations of soil microbial life are very different than the surrounding native soils (in size and diversity of microorganisms vs paucity), along with the nutrient holding and delivering capacities of the soil that the charcoal is in.  This appears to be an "interaction" of the charcoal in the soil with microorganisms, rather than an "action" of the charcoal alone.

 

The world needs better and more food production in an environment where fertilizers are getting more expensive and arable land is disappearing at an ever advancing rate, falling to desertification.  The world needs to rebalance Carbon in our environment.  We must reduce the load of CO2 in the atmosphere.  We must stop adding to the increase in atmospheric CO2 with GIGTAONS of CO2 emissions every year.

 

The renewed formation of Terra Preta soils (TPN) can help us achieve solutions to both of these problems simultaneously.  The biochar.climatechange@yahoogroups.com list is dedicated to the advancement of the formation of Terra Preta soils.  This work may take some time in order to rediscover the soil recipe that has all of the qualities of the original TP soils.  The agricultural benefits may only be observable when charcoal is amended to very poor soils.  However,  soil organic carbon losses are occurring in soils all over the world, in tropical and in temperate zones.

 

The study of charcoal use in soil is just beginning, the possibilities are numerous, and the research work yet to be done is enormous.  All discussions of the intentional use of charcoal-in-soil for whatever reason are welcome here.

 

Orwell oli optimisti

Muistuipa taas mieleeni, että Orwell oli nero. Olen ihastellut Orwellin newspeakkia. Kuinka lähellä se on tämän päivän kielenkäyttöä esimerkiksi Euroopan Unionin päätöksenteossa. Perustuslaki ei mene läpi? Kierrätetään sama paketti uudella nimellä. Eikö vieläkään mene läpi? Pistetään sama juttu kiertoon kolmannen kerran eri nimellä, mieluiten ilman kansanäänestystä tällä kertaa.

Asiaa ei tietenkään tee vähemmän orwellilaiseksi se, että kukaan ei ilmeisesti tunne sopimusten sisältöä. Suomessahan media vain tiedotti yllättäen eduskunnan hyväksyneen koko pakkauksen. Asiasta ei ollut tarvetta keskustella, mutta kansalaisethan ovat tunnetusti etääntyneet päättäjistä. Johtajat eivät siis ole etääntyneet hallintoalamaisistaan, vaan toisin päin. Tästä voitaisiin siis päätellä, että orjat ovat vajonneet alemmas sen sijaan, että herrat olisivat kohonneet ylemmäs.

Orwellin newspeak tuntuu kuitenkin armottoman vanhanaikaiselle. Tarvittaisiin jotain ambivalenssia. Päätöksenteossa pitäisi kyetä tekemään päätöksiä, jotka ovat monimielisiä. Tulkintavastuun tulee olla alamaisella. Newspeakiksi pitäisi voida sanoa esimerkiksi: "Demokraattinen/byrokraattinen äänestys/päätös on vapauttanut/velvoittanut kansan/orjat rakastumaan/alistumaan tiukkaan/ihanaan yhteisöllisyyteen/diktatuuriin."

Tällöin lause voitaisiin tulkita, että "demokraattinen äänestys on vapauttanut kansan rakastumaan ihanaan yhteisöllisyyteen", tai vaihtoehtoisesti "byrokraattinen päätös on velvoittanut orjat alustumaan tiukkaan diktatuuriin." Kaksoispuhe pitäisi siis kehittää pidemmälle, koska päätöksenteon kielessä pitäisi olla kaikenlaisia hyödyllisiä ja hedelmällisiä kaksois- ja kolmoismerkityksiä. Voihan päätöksenteon linjakin muuttua.

Kirjoittelin aiemmin blogaajan saamasta 28 kuukauden vankilatuomiosta. Nyt Euroopan Unioni tahtoo myös jakaa blogaajat sisempään puoluejäseniin, ulkoisiin puoluejäseniin ja proleihin. Uusi ennakkosensuuri jakaa blogaajat etukäteen hyviin, pahoihin ja rumiin. Neuvostoliitossa ideoita levitettiin samizdatin avulla, luonnollisesti internet on suuressa ja mahtavassa Eurostoliitossa byrokraattien kannalta pelottava työkalu mahdollistaessaan kaiken maailman ajatusrikollisen kirjoittelun leviämisen paljon nopeammin.

Eikä siinä kaikki. Ruotsi päätti sallia netin salakuuntelun, mikä merkitsee sitä, että ruotsalaiset voivat nyt laillisesti kuunnella myös lähes kaikkea suomalaisten tietoliikennettä. Ei se mitään, joku on ehkä kuullut Echelonista, salakuuntelujärjestelmästä, jonka avulla NSA voi salakuunnella lähes kaikkea maailman tietoliikennettä. Seuraavaksi salakirjoitus epäilemättä julistetaan laittomaksi.

Muista, että rehellisen kansalaisen ei tarvitse pelätä mitään, paitsi 28 kuukauden vankilatuomioita vääristä mielipiteistä.

Mielestäni internet on vaarallinen, koska se aiheuttaa kaikenlaista kontrolloimatonta kommunikaatiota. Nykyisin kaikenlaiset virallisesti hyväksymättömät tahot voivat ilmaista netissä kelvottomia mielipiteitään. Internet tulisi korvata järjestelmällä, johon tietoa tuottavat vain julkiset ja kaupalliset toimijat. Viestinnän vuorovaikutus tulisi suurimmaksi osaksi poistaa, lukuun ottamatta erilaisia ostotilanteita ja gallup-tyyppistä asiakaspalautetta. Ehkä internet pitäisi itse asiassa muuttaa kokonaan vanhan television kaltaiseksi yksisuuntaiseksi joukkomediaksi. Muutenhan joku hörhö voi kirjoittaa vääriä mielipiteitä. Tai levittää ajatusrikoksia. Tulevaisuudessa blogeja tulisi antaa vain Paavo Lipposen listan intellektuelleille. Lipposen listan epäintellektuelleja pitäisi kokonaan kieltää ajattelemasta, koska niiden ajattelu on muutenkin ihan rikollista.

Orwell oli optimisti.

Trees not cows

COWS, yes 2000 liters of water for 1 liter of milk, to those

24/7 'ers in the limited IQ zone who know all about the environment
are adamant that this is unacceptable and that herbivores must be
eradicated to save the environment.
The humans who work the land and waters of the planet only understand
about nature and are aware of every creature and its purpose. The
environment is a figment of an academic's imagination and is Dollar
powered, nature on the other hand does not understand money as it is
solar powered. The main purpose of herbivores is to recycle microbes
and minerals in a way that trees cannot do.
Trees, some of the educated try to tell me they store carbon and I
ask them which species of tree can I plant that will be around for a
billion or so years because if that plant dies before that time you
are back to start, unless you plan to harvest it roots and all and
turn it into activated charcoal and incorporating it below the
surface of the soil. When a tree dies the carbon in the portion above
the soil returns to the atmosphere, the portion below the surface is
processed by termites and returned to the atmosphere as methane, and
it would be proportional to that released by herbivores. The
atmosphere like the waters and soil are all living entities and all
need feeding maybe you can enlighten me just what the atmosphere's
requirements are on an hourly, daily and yearly basis.
Trees being planted in monoculture deserts, a concept of academia may
be great for the environment but are highly detrimental to nature are
the greatest waste of space I could imagine, it would be equivalent
to you only eating onions and nothing else for the rest of your life.
Healthy vibrant woodland/forests require greater than forty species
to the hectare.
Grasses in managed meadows and pastures with the assistance of
herbivores and microbes will keep and build carbon in the soil if you
keep fire, chemicals and the plough out.
The growing of cereals can be disastrous in retaining carbon in the
soil unless the land manager understands nature and uses knowledge
rather than education to harvest what nature can offer for that
season.

--
SHALIN Suomi ry
Asemamiehenkatu 4B
00520
Helsinki

pgkuria@shalinry.org
www.shalinry.org
www.rescueweb.org
http://www.udongo.org
Tel: +358 40 768 3440

Climate Change, a global problem or a localised problem?

The question of climate change is becoming quite a puzzle to most citizens globally. The issues that are being discussed range from offering solutions to cynicism.

Those who have been working on the science are split between how the climate scenario will evolve within the next decade. One camp is convinced that there will be a warming with devastating impact to the global ecosystems. The other are convinced there will be a cooling. The third force is looking at a period of cooling followed by a rapid warming.

While projections show that there are huge losses to be encountered by industry, the same losses could be translated to tidy profit especially within the renewable energy technology sector. Already, companies listed in the stock market in this sector are working against gravity based on the trend of their share prices.

In terms of the differences in impact between the North South, climate change is projected to be very severe to communities who have limited adaptive capacity, which has been argued to be those living in the South. This poor picture is being painted by those who choose to ignore certain facts. Those living within mainstream economies are the most exposed to the immediate climate change impacts as witnessed by the “looping feedback mechanism” fueled by the global fuel prices. Those outside the mainstream economies are very well “protected” and cushioned from these petrol shocks. However, those engaged in modernised agriculture and export oriented subsistence are exposed to this emerging crisis just like those in the North. Majority of these “other world dwellers” do not need to adjust to the world market prices as determined by the global market cartels, but the mainstream media would like us to believe that when one third of the world population is sick, the whole of the world is at risk.