Clipmarks | JICWyllie's clips

Native American Code of Ethics

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 04:25:22 GMT

clipped by: Geshizar
clipper's remarks: 20 in all. One of my Favorite, 11. Nature is not FOR us, it is a PART of us. They are part of your worldly family.
An Oldie But Goodie
Good Wisdoms We All Need To Live By, Remember And Honor.
Blessings

Clip Source: www.nativevillage.org

1. Rise with the sun to pray. Pray alone. Pray often. The Great Spirit will listen, if you only speak.

2. Be tolerant of those who are lost on their path. Ignorance, conceit, anger, jealousy and greed stem from a lost soul. Pray that they will find guidance.

3. Search for yourself, by yourself. Do not allow others to make your path for you. It is your road, and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.

4. Treat the guests in your home with much consideration. Serve them the best food, give them the best bed and treat them with respect and honor.

5. Do not take what is not yours whether from a person, a community, the wilderness or from a culture. It was not earned nor given. It is not yours.

6. Respect all things that are placed upon this earth - whether it be people or plant.

7. Honor other people's thoughts, wishes and words. Never interrupt another or mock or rudely mimic them. Allow each person the right to personal expression.

Tags: native american, ethics, environment, ghia, philosophy

One in four mammals risks extinction

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:55:56 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

A quarter of the world's mammals are threatened with extinction,

nd the destruction of habitats and hunting are the major causes.

The report, the most comprehensive to date by 1,700 researchers, showed populations of half of all 5,487 species of mammals were in decline.

"Mammals are declining faster than we thought -

Of the 4,651 mammals for which scientists have data, 1,139 species were under threat of extinction. Schipper said the data was far broader than the previous review of mammals in 1996.

"Within our lifetime hundreds of species could be lost as a result of our own actions,"

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

Five percent of species were recovering because of conservation efforts,

The report focused on mammals but the situation for some other types of animals and plants is even worse, according to the IUCN,

An updated "Red List" said that 16,928 species, or 38 percent, were threatened out of a total of 44,838.

Tags: environment, i-extinction, i-increase, i-record, i-reported, i-forecast

Deflation Threat Returns as Asset Markets Decline

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:11:45 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.bloomberg.com

As Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and his global colleagues fight the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, one danger is looming larger by the day: deflation.

With asset markets tumbling, commodity prices plunging the most in 50 years and banks keeping a tighter grip on credit, the ingredients for a sustained period of falling prices are coalescing.

The deflation scenario might go like this: Banks worldwide, stung by $588 billion in writedowns related to toxic assets -- especially mortgage-related securities -- will further reduce the flow of credit, strangling growth. That will push house prices lower, forcing additional losses and making banks even more reluctant to lend. As the credit crisis worsens, businesses will find it almost impossible to raise prices.

Oil, copper and corn drove commodities toward their biggest weekly decline since at least 1956 on Oct. 3, with the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 raw materials tumbling 10.4 percent. T

Tags: economy, currencies, i-deflation, i-risks, i-increase

Meltdown: A global warming travelogue

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:25:46 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

For a long time -- the first 15 years that we knew about global warming and did nothing -- there were no pictures. That was one of the reasons for inaction.

Climate change was still "theoretical," the word that people in power use to dismiss anything for which pictures do not exist. It is the reason we don't see shots of coffins coming back from Iraq; it's the reason the only prison abuse we really know about was at Abu Ghraib. Without pictures, no uproar; not in a visual age.

But now the pictures have started to come, and they will not cease.

Hear Braasch describe his photos in an audio slideshow »

Post card from the tipping point

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:23:33 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie
clipper's remarks: Did I just say, global mass action made possible by a change of attitude. Here is the attitude changer.

Clip Source: www.architectureweek.com

[Video]

Please take a moment to look at this great short animation

"Most striking is that, despite years of effort, carbon dioxide emissions are increasing at an alarming rate of 3.5% a year — faster than the 2.7% predicted by the IPCC in their worst case scenario, and miles ahead of the 0.9% annual rise in the 1990s. Worst still, current measures have been based on a middle-ground IPCC scenario. Pep Candell from the Global Carbon Budget told me that this was 'astonishing'."

The animation and the latest annual carbon report both highlight this essential truth: climate change is now everyone's problem.

Tags: environment, i-climate change, i-extinction, i-increase, i-record, i-consequences

Finding Main Street good in the Wall Street crash

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:24:51 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: energybulletin.net

Every penny invested in the speculative bond, mutual fund, and stock markets is money that isn’t available to invest in the local economy. When people shift their money from trans-continental banks to local banks and credit unions, their money goes to work in their own neighborhood and strengthens the real, local economy where they live and work.

Retirement plans invested in stock market mutual funds and money market accounts benefit Wall Street by beggaring Main Street. If workers demand new retirement plans, invested in insured CDs at local banks and credit unions, then their retirement money goes to work immediately in the real, local economy.

Money invested in the speculative stock, mutual fund, and bond markets goes to other speculators, and doesn’t necessarily furnish even one dime to the real economy.

Going forward into the peak oil decline years, strong local economies are all that stand between us and collapse.

Tags: economy, financial markets, i-strategy, i-localisation

Met Office warns of need for drastic cuts in greenhouse gases from 2010

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:01:29 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie
clipper's remarks: There is no time for hope, only global mass action over the next two years. A change of attitude from "If you don't do it, we won't do it" to "If we can't do it, you can too" is all that is necessary. Attitude drives behaviour.

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

The world will have to take drastic action within two years to reduce greenhouse gas pollution if it is to avoid the worst effects of climate change, a new study warns.

The study shows that cutting global emissions by 3% a year from 2010 offers the only possible hope of avoiding a global temperature rise of more than 2C - widely recognised as the threshold beyond which the worst impacts of sea level rise and drought become a significant risk.

The warning from the Hadley Centre is likely to cause widespread concern, especially as the Met Office has a reputation for taking a cautious approach.

Tags: environment, i-climate change, i-risks

Exclusive: The Methane Timebomb

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:17:51 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie
clipper's remarks: In climate change terms, these releases are 'The Big One'. And it is happening, now.

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

The Independent has been passed details of preliminary findings suggesting that massive deposits of sub-sea methane are bubbling to the surface as the Arctic region becomes warmer and its ice retreats.

Scientists aboard a research ship that has sailed the entire length of Russia's northern coast have discovered intense concentrations of methane – sometimes at up to 100 times background levels – over several areas covering thousands of square miles of the Siberian continental shelf.

In the past few days, the researchers have seen areas of sea foaming with gas bubbling up through "methane chimneys" rising from the sea floor. They believe that the sub-sea layer of permafrost, which has acted like a "lid" to prevent the gas from escaping, has melted away to allow methane to rise from underground deposits formed before the last ice age.

The Arctic region as a whole has seen a 4C rise in average temperatures over recent decades

Tags: environment, methane, i-climate change, i-risks, i-increase

Credit Card Debt: This Popping Bubble Is Really Going to Hurt

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:26:13 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

While many eyes are focusing on the housing meltdown and its hugely negative effect on an economy clearly moving into recession, few are paying attention to the next bubble expected to burst: credit cards.

Combined with the subprime losses, such a credit card nightmare has the potential, experts say, of bringing down the entire financial system and global economy.

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

Also, let us not forget that our credit card companies have been colonizing markets throughout the world. As the New York Times explained in a series on debt, "As the American blessing of credit cards became widespread, so did the American curse of debt."

Tags: economy, consumers, financial markets, i-debt, i-crisis, i-forecast

SIMMONS SPELLS IT OUT - BUT WHEN WILL THE OSTRICHES GET THEIR HEADS OUT OF THE SAND?

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 18:14:03 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.thisisnorthscotland.co.uk

In A private meeting with Matt Simmons, president of the energy bank, Simmons & Co International, Energy has been told that the petroleum game is up. And even if it proves possible to raise global oil output further, it will be for only a short time.

Simmons said he regretted not making his predictions for the future of Big Oil much more dire than had been portrayed in his controversial book, Twilight in the Desert, published two years ago.

"If I was redoing Twilight in the Desert today, I'd sharpen the severity of the warning quite significantly.

Simmons reiterated his tough stance on drilling, which is the key to unlocking new resources. Given the criticality of a sustained offshore effort in that regard, he said the level of understanding of the current rig crisis and the need for renewal, let alone growing the global fleet was woeful.

Tags: energy, oil, i-peak oil, i-risks, i-increase

What will we eat as the oil runs out?

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:19:52 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.energybulletin.net

Cuban authorities responded to the crisis by giving these ecological agronomists carte blanche to redesign the nation's food system. Officials broke up large state-owned farms, offered land to farming families, and encouraged the formation of small agricultural co-ops. Cuban farmers began employing oxen as a replacement for the tractors they could no longer afford to fuel. Cuban scientists began investigating biological methods of pest control and soil fertility enhancement. The government sponsored widespread education in organic food production, and the Cuban people adopted a mostly vegetarian diet out of necessity. Salaries for agricultural workers were raised, in many cases to above the levels of urban office workers. Urban gardens were encouraged in parking lots and on public lands, and thousands of rooftop gardens appeared. Small food animals such as chickens and rabbits began to be raised on rooftops as well.

Tags: energy, agriculture i-peak oil, i-policy, i-opportunity

The Gospel According to Matthew Simmons

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 18:45:40 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.texasmonthly.com

“The best we can hope for is a ten-year plateau,”

Simmons and Company International, closed 35 transactions worth $8.7 billion and co-managed 19 offerings worth $6.7 billion.

So can anything be done?

I’m a lot more concerned than I was three years ago,” he says.

Simmons believes that the worldwide peak was reached in 2005. He estimates the rate of decline for all oil production at somewhere north of 5 percent a year.

Clip Source: www.texasmonthly.com

he believes the workforce should be liberated from the nine-to-five grind, because 70 percent of our oil is used for transporting people and goods. “The biggest inefficiencies are long-distance commuting and traffic congestion,” he says. “People shuffle into work and get on the Internet. You can have staff meetings by webcam.”

We should also harness the power of the oceans and move more goods over water, a proposition that isn’t as quaint as it sounds.

Tags: energy, oil, i-peak oil, i-risks, i-increase

After 'peak oil', world now faces 'peak water'

Tue, 27 May 2008 15:32:21 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.euractiv.com

The challenge posed by current high oil prices is nothing compared to what lies ahead amid dwindling supply and growing demand for a far more basic commodity - water, warns a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor.

Slaughter argues that as awareness of the vulnerability of water systems increases together with concerns over climate change, "public utilities are discussing how to restructure water rates to better reflect true costs without causing public harm". Meanwhile, the price of water is increasing.

The solution to the looming water crisis could, according to her, be provided by innovative companies who seize water as "the next opportunity for smart innovation". She cited a particular ultraviolet treatment technology already being used to deliver clean drinking water to various communities.

As for the EU, water crept up the bloc's political agenda last summer following the serious drought that swept across Europe.

Tags: environment, fresh water, i-supply, i-decrease, i-forecast

Catastrophic fall in numbers reveals bird populations in crisis throughout the world

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:06:59 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

The birds of the world are in serious trouble, and common species are in now decline all over the globe, a comprehensive new review suggests today.

From the turtle doves of Europe to the vultures of India, from the bobwhite quails of the US to the yellow cardinals of Argentina, from the eagles of Africa to the albatrosses of the Southern Ocean, the numbers of once-familiar birds are tumbling everywhere, according to the study from the conservation partnership BirdLife International.

Their falling populations are compelling evidence of a rapid deterioration in the global environment that is affecting all life on earth – including human life, BirdLife says in its report, State of The World's Birds.

The report

identifies many key global threats, including the intensification of industrial-scale agriculture and fishing, the spread of invasive species, logging, and the replacement of natural forest with monocultural plantations.

Tags: environment, birds, i-extinction, i-risks, i-record, i-crisis

Wall St. Goliath Teeters Amid Fear of Wider Crisis

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 09:17:39 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Adding urgency to the meeting were growing concerns that other big financial institutions like the insurance giant American International Group and the nation’s largest brokerage firm, Merrill Lynch, might face a similar crisis and also need billions of dollars in capital to strengthen their businesses. The group discussed the financial condition of other firms beyond Lehman and the overall state of the markets.

The spreading troubles were the latest sign that even the government’s extraordinary interventions into private enterprise during the last year have not been enough to halt the unraveling of storied companies that were widely viewed as unassailable until recently.

Whatever the outcome, there is a growing consensus on Wall Street that the government may not be able to save every big firm whose failure would pose a risk to the system.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

“Investors are like hyperactive first graders playing musical chairs,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at Standard & Poor

Tags: economy, financial markets, i-crisis, i-risks, i-increase