Clipmarks | JICWyllie's Comments

Making and using a solar cooker

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:01:38 GMT

clipped by: kmcolo

Solar cooking is a delightful alternative to conventional cooking methods. The solar cookers available today really work and they deserve serious evaluation by a much larger audience. For 40 years, small groups of people have been using and refining some very good designs. But these designs have, for the most part, gone unnoticed even by those involved with alternative energy.

The people who have taken the time to integrate solar cooking into their lives find the motivation to keep refining the designs comes from the tools themselves: solar-cooked foods taste delicious and the ovens are fun and easy to use.

Tags: alternative energy, energy, food, cooking, solar

The Consumer Spending Mirage

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:05:56 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.businessweek.com

Stocks riding high on illusions of consumers continuing to spend may be in for a nasty surprise

there are grounds to believe there's another drop in the market yet to come. The reason: a broad decline in consumer spending, which so far has been masked by a quirk in the government's statistics. Combine that with a rapidly unraveling job market, high energy prices, and the continuing credit crunch, and you have the recipe for a drop in consumer stocks. A big decline there could take the rest of the market down with it.

Right now it's looking like the recession started in November, 2007. That's when private-sector employment peaked

Clip Source: www.businessweek.com

once medical outlays and those two imputed categories are set aside, it turns out that the rest of personal spending has actually fallen since November, adjusted for inflation. The decline is pretty much across the board: inflation-adjusted purchases of food, clothing, furniture, and motor vehicles are all down. T

Spending on vices is also dropping.

Tags: economy, consumers, i-spending, i-decrease, i-forecast

I and Thou

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 10:10:11 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Ich und Du, usually translated as I and Thou, is a book by Martin Buber, published in 1923, and first translated to English in 1937. Buber's main proposition is that we may address existence in two ways: that of the "I" towards an "IT", towards an object that is separate in itself, which we either use or experience; and that of the 'I' towards 'THOU', in which we move into existence in a relationship without bounds. One of the major themes of the book is that human life finds its meaningfulness in relationships.

For "I-It" relationships, the "It" refers to entities as discrete objects drawn from a defined set (e.g. he, she or any other objective entity defined by what makes it measurably different from other living entities). It can be said that "I" have as many distinct and different relationships with each "It" as there are "Its" in my life.

By contrast, the "I" in the "I-Thou" is a separate concept.

Tags: biber, i-thou

China to build 97 new airports by 2020

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:51:30 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie
clipper's remarks: That puts the Kybosh on the future of the earth - hundreds of millions of Chinese and Indians taking to the air. My question is who gave humans the right to fly and to destroy the earth? Surely no God would grant such a right. Ergo, for those who believe in a God, don't fly. Somebody has to take the lead, here.

Clip Source: www.spacemart.com

China announced plans Saturday to build nearly 100 new airports by 2020 to cater for soaring demand.

The proposals will mean eight out of every ten residents will live within 100 kilometres (60 miles) of an airport within 12 years, the General Administration of Civil Aviation said.

It put the cost of building the 97 new airports at 450 billion yuan (61.6 billion dollars).

Air traffic volume rose 16 percent to 185 million passengers in 2007, according to official figures.

Tags: energy, oil, i-demand, i-increase, i-forecast, environment, i-climate change, i-risks, i-policy

Increase In Creeping Vines Signals Major Shift In Southern US Forests

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 10:44:53 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie
clipper's remarks: While vines e.g. ivy in this country (the UK) may not have much of a damaging effect on trees that have "got away" into the canopy, they are liable to shade out the natural (or planted) regeneration necessary to the next generation of high forest.

Clip Source: www.terradaily.com

A new study of bottomland hardwood forests in the southeastern United States suggests that the increased growth of vines may change the landscape of these forests.

"Collectively, we're talking about an increase of more than 500 vine stems in 27 acres of forest area that we studied,

And all of the growth is within the last 10 to 20 years. Old photographs from the sites indicate there may have been fewer vines historically.

It appears that as the number of vines increase, the density of small trees decreases at a fairly uniform rate."

said Bruce Allen,

of Ohio State University's School of Environment and Natural Resources.

"Many vines thrive on elevated levels of carbon dioxide," he said. "Several studies suggest that vines like poison ivy benefit more than other plants from higher CO2 levels."

Vine density in the old-growth

nearly doubled within 12 years

suggests that second-growth forests may be at more risk to threatening vine growth

second-growth

forest

researchers calculated a 10-fold increase

Tags: environment, forests, i-climate change, i-consequences, i-solutions

The Story of Stuff

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 11:41:36 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: movie unclipable, go to site, take a minute and watch

Clip Source: www.storyofstuff.com

What is the Story of Stuff?

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

Tags: stuff, production, consumption, must see

Veggie Squirrel Diet

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 20:36:13 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.the7thfire.com

Want to get the fuzz off the brains? The answer is to snack exclusively on squirrel food. Cuz look at those guys, WIRED! If they had typewriters they'd make Shakespeare look dumb! If they were sports stars, move over Joe Montana! Rocket scientists, strictly Von Braun levels of high energy! We can adapt SQUIRREL cookery to our own limited kitchens, abilities and uses with the slightest amount of kitchen preparation. Also, if we're concerned about being more vital, getting moving during a recession to make some extra cash, well the addition of SQUIRREL SNACKS, many times a day will light your wick. You are going to eat your way LIVELY!

SOAKED ALMONDS

ANY NUT done as CANDY- Throw all the fresh, raw, cold nuts into blender with a few dried figs, dried cherries, dried cranberries, some coconut and whirrrrrr. make balls, store in glass in fridge.

SUNFLOWER SEEDS

SESAME SEASONING

Tags: squirrel diet, veggies recipes

The End of America?

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 11:30:42 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie
clipper's remarks: Fascism has always portrayed itself as the antidote to economic collapse.

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

Naomi Wolf's newest book, The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot

lays out the 10 steps that dictators (or aspiring dictators) take in order to shut down an open society. "Each of those ten steps is now under way in the United States today,"

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

I could tell last fall when a law was passed expanding the definition of terrorists to include animal rights activists, that people who look more like you and me would start to be called terrorists, which is a classic tactic in what I call a fascist expansion.

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

In the book you say that fascists have great skills at changing public opinion.

NW: That's correct. That's exactly right. They've been very skillful at creating extremely terrifying narratives. And this is why looking at Goebbels is so instructive. Our leaders have been busy creating footage and sound bites that can be petrifying, and as a result, some of us live in a state of existential fear.

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

We really don't read history in America, so we don't notice warning signals.

Tags: government, i-democracy, i-risks, i-increase

How Bad Will the Next Recession Be?

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 22:18:39 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

Paul Saffo, fellow for the World Economic Forum and Institute for the Future, professor at Stanford University, and consultant to companies like Samsung as well as Silicon Valley venture capitalists.

predicting an end to the American economic model altogether. But he takes his thesis a frightening step beyond economic dissolution into the total dissolution of the country itself: "My forecast is that there's less than a 50 percent chance that the United States will exist as a nation by the middle of the century. And that is actually good news."

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

"The credit bubble has burst and the entire U.S. economy will deflate with it," promises Peter Schiff, founder of Euro Pacific Capital fund

Tags: economy, i-depression, i-consequences, i-anarchy, i-localism, i-increase

The North Pole Is Melting

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 10:52:23 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

"The sea ice cover this year has reached a new record low," says Mark Serreze, senior research scientist at the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo. "It's not just that we beat the old record, we annihilated it."

As a result of atmospheric patterns that both warmed the air and reduced cloud cover as well as increased residual heat in newly exposed ocean waters,

Such precipitous loss of ice cover far outpaces anything climate models or scientists have predicted.

a German expedition on the icebreaker Polarstern has revealed that existing Arctic sea ice in the center of the ice cap is only about three feet (one meter) thick, 50 percent thinner than it was just six years ago.

North Pole is undergoing rapid change not seen in at least 6,000 years and perhaps as much as 125,000 years, and which may spread to lower latitudes.

"The observed rates of change have far outstripped what we projected."

Tags: environment, sea ice, i-melting, i-acceleration, i-forecast

How the Earth will look in 250 million years

Sun, 23 Sep 2007 14:30:33 GMT

clipped by: abstrict

Clip Source: antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov

Tags: astronomy

Tar Sands: The Oil Junkie's Last Fix,

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 16:13:56 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie
clipper's remarks: Shame! What gives humans the right to commit ecocide?

Clip Source: www.theoildrum.com

Tar sands plants typically use two to four barrels of water to extract a barrel of oil. Currently, the water consumption is enough to sustain a city of two million people every year. And after it's been through the process, the water is toxic with contaminants, so it cannot be released into the environment. Some of it is reused, but vast amounts of it are pumped into enormous settlement ponds to be retained as toxic waste.

These "ponds" are actually the largest bodies of water in the region--big enough to be seen from space--and some of the world's largest man-made ponds overall, with miles of surface area. It may take 200 years for the smallest particles to settle down to the bottom of this toxic brew, which also contains very high levels of heavy metals and other health-threatening elements.

the projected expansion of the tar sands projects will kill the Athabasca River, the only abundant source of water in the area.

threaten the water supply of

300,000 aboriginal people

Tags: energy, oil, i-extraction, i-consequences, environment, i-water, i-pollution, i-ecocide

Climate Change Goes Underground

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 12:08:40 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.terradaily.com

Climate change, a recent "hot topic" when studying the atmosphere, oceans, and Earth's surface; however, the study of another important factor to this global phenomenon is still very much "underground." Few scientists are looking deep enough to see the possible effects of climate change on groundwater systems. Little is known about how soil, subsurface waters, and groundwater are responding to climate change.

In some areas, the vegetation response to climate change would cause the average recharge to decrease, but in other areas, recharge to groundwater would more than double.

When the likely scenario of the Earth's atmosphere doubling its concentration of carbon dioxide becomes a reality, this study indicates that groundwater recharge may increase dramatically in some areas as the changes in rainfall are amplified by the soil-water-plant systems that control groundwater recharge.

Tags: environment, soil, i-climate change, i-consequences

Pharmaceuticals in Our Water Supply Are Causing Bizarre Mutations to Wildlife

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 09:22:28 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

From inter-sex fish in the Potomac River to frog mutations in Wisconsin, federal officials are spending this summer studying the effects of pharmaceuticals such as pain killers and depression medicine on the environment, because the drugs have turned up in America's drinking water.

Americans are taking more drugs than ever -- especially the aging baby boomer generation. Pharmaceuticals were found in 80 percent of the samples taken during a U.S. Geological Survey and EPA study of 139 streams in 30 states.

Officials are investigating whether there is a link between the increased cancer rates, river water and altered fish including the possible connection to wastewater discharges containing trace pharmaceuticals. This is disconcerting to residents of metro Washington, D.C., because the Potomac River is the main source (75 percent) of drinking water for 3.6 million residents, including the Maryland and Virginia suburbs.

Tags: environment, water, i-pollution, i-disease, i-risks

Pharmaceuticals in Our Water Supply Are Causing Bizarre Mutations to Wildlife

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 09:22:28 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

Tags: environment, water, i-pollution, i-disease, i-risks