Every Day Should Be World Water Day!! (But officially it was yesterday :( )

Water, it's that's stuff you're living in!

Yep, if you're reading this, odds are you already know that a huge amount of your body is made up of water. The overwhelming majority of our planet is covered in water. Every beverage we drink has at least some amount of water in it.

But what happens if that water isn't clean?

People get sick, that's what.

Now, in way-cool "hip" countries like the US, UK, and other "in" places we've got stuff like cholera and typhoid taken care of but this is not the case in countries that couldn't care less about Brangelina or reality TV. Last fall, over in America's 51st state (Iraq), they suffered an outbreak of cholera that killed quite a few Iraqis, sadly. Via a post on WWD at LeslieBradshaw.com, here's a nice illustration demonstrating where cholera is hitting Earth the most.

So, clean drinking water is clearly a problem and it's something we can all help raise awareness about. How can you help more folks know about issues regarding clean drinking water? For starters, you can blog about it yourself. You can tell your friends and family about it. Or you could do something as simple as joining the World Water Day Facebook group. You can follow WorldH2O and Chlorine on Twitter. For each person who joins the Facebook group, follows WorldH2O and Chlorine, the American Chemistry Council will contribute five chlorine tablets designed to disinfect 100 liters of water to areas of the world that are struggling to find clean drinking water.

Easy!!

So, just do it and help! As of two days ago, people who have joined the FB group, and followed both WorldH2O and Chlorine on Twitter have helped donate enough chlorine tablets to clean over 180,000 liters of water--that's over 47,000 gallons of water.

YEAH.

In case you're curious, cholera causes diarrhea. Diarrhea can cause massive dehydration pretty quickly (sometimes within hours). Dehydration means your body is losing water. Remember your body is mostly made of water. Lose that and most of what keeps you alive is gone--and so are you.

Don't believe me? Watch this awesome vid from good.is:



Special thanks to TheLeslie at LeslieBradshaw.com for informing me about Word Water Day. I wish I knew how she hears about these things!! :) Sorry this is a day late, but hey, shouldn't every day be a day we think about clean water?

My Earth Hour Commercial on 12seconds.tv

At 8:30pm on March 28, 2009, Earth Hour will be held. What's Earth Hour? Well, it's when people around the world, for one hour, turn off all of their lights to help draw attention to just how much we rely on light and the energy that creates it. Though, let me let EarthHour.org explain it:

For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote – Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming. WWF are urging the world to VOTE EARTH and reach the target of 1 billion votes, which will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009.

This meeting will determine official government policies to take action against global warming, which will replace the Kyoto Protocol. It is the chance for the people of the world to make their voice heard.

So, over at http://12seconds.tv they're helping with the cause by encouraging folks to do 12 second clips promoting the whole Earth Hour thing. Check out what folks have been shooting here: http://12seconds.tv/tag/EarthHour09

Though first, watch the one I shot with Siskita:


12seconds Earth Hour Commercial on 12seconds.tv

And here's Jay ThePal's:


12seconds Earth Hour Commercial on 12seconds.tv

I think both are pretty good. :)

So, there ya have it! At 8:30pm, your local time, THIS SATURDAY please turn out every light in your home for one hour!! Make sure to tell people you're doing it, too! Post a Tweet, a 12second video, blog about it, send an email, or just post a comment right here!

The Earth will thank you for it!

All right, not really, but future humans should be thankful!

Edges of American Civilization Breaking Down

Seems like a heavy headline, but it's true.

What else can you call it when folks in a rural Alaskan village can no longer afford basic foodstuffs or the fuel to go where they can afford basic foodstuffs OR revert to living off of the land because climate change and pollution?

Don't all of those things fall under the domain of government to provide?

Seriously, things are messed up for Emmonak, Alaska, a rural town on the west coast of Alaska. In a piece of surprisingly good journalism (capped above, read the original February 9, 2009 article), CNN's Mallory Simon does a thorough job explaining the harrowing situation these people are in.

One family usually takes two snowmobiles when they go for supplies. Now they can only afford to take one--that cuts the amount of food they can take back with them and if one snowmobile breaks down, they're stuck. But assuming their machines run properly, they're still more challenges for them to deal with.

$15 cheese, $10 milk, $22 eggs, make basic survival for these people an even bigger challenge than they are used to living on the edge of civilization. Emmonak, Alaska is a village where Native Americans have lived for hundreds of years, yet the civilization that has made their lives easier has melted away like an Antarctic ice shelf.

If you're like me, you probably are wondering why these people can't just go back to their traditional ways of living. Well, the article covers this, explaining that "a brutal early winter brought the longest cold snap in five years. In September the temperature in many villages dropped as low as 20 degrees, a record low for many, according to the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy."

Thanks, Climate Change!

But that's not all--the article also reports that "Commercial fishermen couldn't make money from the seasonal king salmon harvest this year, because there was barely enough fish for subsistence."

See, back in May of 2008, SFGate.com

Yep, it's a 100% legitimate reason for Palin to be back in the news.

The problem seems to be that they can't declare an emergency to get federal aid because of a stupid state law that says financial emergencies can't be declared until, according to Mallory Simon's CNN.com article, "average income levels in the villages to drop below $26,500 -- regardless of the cost of living."

So, until Palin can change the state law (no fast feat), they're kind of stuck.

In the meantime, I'm happy to be living in one of the biggest cities on Earth. Basic laws of supply and demand will keep the city of New York in food and fuel for as long as those basic laws of supply and demand hold up. In other words, with millions of people living here, there will be millions of dollars to be made here--of course, if capitalism itself breaks down, well, then we're all in trouble. Just my ¥2, of course. Though the folks up in Emmonak are going to need more than ¥2 if they are going to make it.

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Climate Change Cartoon Explains the Really Really Bad Stuff

Yeah, yeah, I know--it's ANOTHER explanation of global warming/climate change and you've heard it all before, right? Well, no, I don't think you've heard everything this 'toon has to tell you. Basically, up to this point, the message is that CC and GW are just going to effect the weather patterns. Maybe a few people have talked about how it'll make finding water harder, but this goes far beyond--it talks about the tipping point--the point at which everything will get exponentially worse regardless of what we do. The changes that occur may very well be a much faster change than most folks have been predicting. This cartoon also goes into the socio-economic issues that would result from CC and GW. As in: what people will do in order to survive (like kill each other for drinkable water). Finally, this film also goes into the role corporations and government have in causing all of this. The drive for money is what is holding us back, according to the filmmaker and I agree with him.

But enough of my blabbing, check out the cartoon and make up your own mind. Just don't stop watching because you know everything in the beginning--give it a few minutes to get to the new stuff. Trust me!


Wake Up, Freak Out - then Get a Grip from Leo Murray on Vimeo.

Please share this video. You never know, it just might make a difference!

OH forgot to link back to where I found it: http://reflectionof.me/catastrophic-climate-change

Climate Change at the American Museum of Natural History

The Climate Change exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History is open now and runs until August 16, 2009. Tickets are $24 for adults (cheaper for kids, students and seniors). Check out the ANMH website for more info: http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/climatechange
Read on to find out whether I think it's an exhibit worth checking out!

Recently, I got invited to a thing last night at the American Museum of Natural History--they opened up the Climate Change exhibit and their Butterfly Sanctuary for families and media (like me!) to come check it out sans crowds. They fed us and let us have at both exhibits.


In the shadow of a dinosaur skeleton they fed us. :)

Now, if you're wondering if it's worth it to check out an exhibit on Climate Change, don't doubt it--it's worth it. Especially Climate Change which is now open at the American Museum of Natural History until August 16, 2009. Now you may be wondering how I can fairly say that since I didn't have to pay to get in--well, just keep readin' tough guy!

It's easy to assume that you know everything there is to know about Global Warming and Climate Change, but have you seen what a fricken' 1 ton piece of coal looks like in person?

Have you ever seen a timeline, right in front of you, that chronicles the temperature of the Earth from the dawn of man through to present day? This isn't some cinematic Powerpoint presentation (not that there's anything wrong with that)--this exhibit allows you to get up close and personal with the facts--the seemingly endless stream of facts that all point to one thing--the climate is a-changing.

Maybe you're a naysayer or know someone who doesn't "believe" in Climate Change. This is an exhibit for the naysayer, too--I'm a healthy skeptic myself and while I knew the evidence is overwhelming, I found all of the evidence in one exhibit to be pretty damn persuasive. I think if people are unsure or even think Al Gore's movie is just propaganda they should check out the Climate Change exhibit at the AMNH. The amazingly long stack of evidence that Climate Change is a real and growing threat will help those on the fence get off of it.

Check it out--one of the things they have in the exhibit is a bank of three touchscreen computers that connect to one large projection screen. Each of the touchscreens allow you to work out just how much CO2 you spew into the sky due to the car you drive or the light bulbs you use or how many trees you don't plant. As you work through your answers, they show up on the bigger projection screen in one of the three rows. The thing that I found most interesting about this part of the exhibit was, that for me, the one with the cars was useless since I don't drive (I sold my car back in 2003 and now I'm a New York City resident). So first, I told it my commute from back, before I sold my car: 45 minutes into Hollywood and 45 back to Westwood, every day.

It told me my car and I were responsible for over 22,000 metric tons of CO2 for each year I drove. Then it asked me how much I could cut back--I told it I'd cut back to zero miles driven, the reduction in CO2 was obvious--but then, on the bigger screen in front of us, it showed us how much CO2 would NOT be in the atmosphere if everyone in America cut back to the same level:



Yeah, man--that's right--if everyone stopped driving we'd stop nearly 1.3 billion metric tons of CO2 from getting into the air.

See, I think it's these (not-so-)little facts that really put things into perspective.

Sure, you can sit around searching Wikipedia all night for this stuff, or you can go check these facts out in person.

There's plenty more to see there, too--videos, murals, and an actual-size model of one metric ton of coal. There are also plenty of things for kids to be entertained and educated by, as well. They can play with little wooden ice-shelves, learn about weather patterns on cool spherical video screens (I want one of these for home!!) and check out this poor polar bear:



I actually heard one little girl ask her mom why the polar bear was sad. Turns out that as Climate Change messes with the weather, the eating habits of polar bears are being changed, too. As a result they're moving further south in search of food and end up stumbling into areas where we humans live. I'm guessing that bear has just trashed an Inuit's summer home (the placard wasn't specific for what was in front of us, just saying the poor furry white guys sometimes end up in people's trash).

There's one last thing I want to point out to people about the Climate Change exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History, whether they go or not--it's this picture:



That's a chart they had on display that makes one of the most important points there is to make about Climate Change and Global Warming and oil, coal and all of this stuff.

There is not just one solution--there are several. We all need to change in many different ways. Something else to note about that great chart is that most of that stuff isn't up to you and me to do--it falls on the doorstep of big business and government. We can't make sure that nuclear power or renewable energy sources are used by our power companies. What we can do is contact businesses we deal with, like our electric companies, for instance, and ask where they get their power from. Is it coal? Nukes? Solar? Hydro? What? If they're not talking alternatives, then see if you can find another supplier for your electricity.

But there's a lot more we can all do on our own and there's a lot more we can pressure big business and even government to do to help save the world. A fact that I wish the exhibit had included was the fact that too much pollution is created by factories, refineries, plants and even just buildings. One other note, I'm against nuclear power of any kind--it's ultimately unsafe and if we spent the money on developing solar, hydro or wind technology, we wouldn't ever have to worry about meltdowns. :)

But aaanyway, so it was a pretty fun exhibit. If you're in NYC or are planning a visit sometime before August 16, 2009, and have a spare $24 per person, it's definitely worth stopping in and hey, with that price you can check out the rest of the American Museum of Natural History while you're there. For twice the price of a movie ticket you can get yourself some knowledge--which is probably a heckuva lot more than you'd get at the movies. ;P

But here's a tip--if you're not able to make it or want to get a better sense of what's at this thing, check out the AMNH website for the Climate Change exhibit: http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/climatechange

It's got a lot of great stuff right there. Of course, it's no match for being at the museum in person.

You can also check out my Flickr photoset here: http://flickr.com/photos/thepete/sets/72157609325527271/

Is it the perfect exhibit? Probably not, but pound-for-pound you really are going to get your $24 worth.

Just my ¥2, as always!

Arctic Ice Subject to Rapid Changes

Here is a pic that shows how rapidly things are changing in the Arctic (source: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/…g/PIA11086 ). Over the span of 2 days, a dramatic amount of new melting ice became visible to NASA's QuikScat satellite scatterometer. Here's what NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has to say about the above image:

"There has been considerable interest in the recent state of Arctic sea ice for scientific research and for operational applications especially along the Northern Sea Route and the Northwest Passage. This pair of sea ice maps was derived from radar data from NASA's QuikScat satellite scatterometer on September 2, 2008 (left panel) and September 5, 2008 (right panel).

QuikScat's unique features make it a powerful tool for mapping sea ice and accurately identifying sea ice conditions. It can distinguish sea ice from open water, differentiate different classes of ice, and compensate for effects of strong winds on ocean surfaces and effects of melt on ice.

In the above images, red areas denote sea ice that was undergoing active melting on the ice surface, magenta areas show sea ice with reduced melt, cyan areas are refrozen sea ice that had some residual wetness from earlier melting, and white areas represent sea ice that had been refrozen for 10 or more days. Ocean areas with less than 15 percent ice cover on the surface are blue, while land surfaces are shown in brown and missing data are depicted in black."

They go onto explain that the red areas on the right are from "Warm air transported by northward winds" that caused: "extensive areas of active melt (red) over a larger region extending from the Barents Sea across the Kara Sea to the Laptev Sea on September 5. That melt event was so large that some parts of it reached as far north as the vicinity of the North Pole."

PLEASE NOTE: The original caption for the image also explains that: "The sea routes may be opened or closed rapidly by transient weather events. Such unstable sea ice conditions in the passages can cause a significant navigation risk."

So, I post this not as "The sky is falling and it's because of Climate Change!" kind of post but rather a post that says: "Whoa, that's some serious flux! A bit of warm air and voila, instant Arctic Sea Routes--that's kinda scary that it can happen so quickly." Still a sign of Climate Change, but it's not the sign you might expect.

I almost think it's more important to note that instability is sometimes worse than stability regardless of the effect. In this case, we don't know what's going on up there. At least, that's what it seems like to me.

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Stretch Hummer in Hollywood

It's not enough to have a Hummer--a huge, obnoxious, bad-ass-of-a-vehicle, somebody has to go and stretch it out. Why???

It's this kind of thinking that is melting ice at the ends of the Earth.

Sad, really...
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