March 15, 2011 by Walter Schneider.

Do you fear serious health problems due to being exposed to radiation from the Japanese nuclear plants?

You are not alone.  There is now a run on potassium-iodate in the land of the fearful and many pharmacies have run out of it.  What is that hysteria all about?

There is little to fear.  The situation in Japan is a far cry from being as harmful as other nuclear accidents were, and the dangers from those, too, were blown out of all proportions.  Here is a very informative account of that:

From the Summer 2010 Issue
of 21st Century of Science and Technology

Observations on Chernobyl after 25 Years of Radiophobia
Zbigniew Jaworowski, M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc.

The worst possible nuclear plant accident produced no scientifically confirmed fatalities in the general population. But there was enormous political and psychological damage, mainly the result of belief in the lie that any amount of radiation is bad.

Here is another item that will do much to allay hysterics, specifically with respect to the nuclear energy plant in Fukushima, that presently and increasingly raise fears of nuclear-energy-induced radiation impacts to heights that have not been seen since the tidal wave of fear about the consequences of the Chernobyl incident was set into motion.

Why I am not worried about Japan’s nuclear reactors. | Morgsatlarge – blogorific.

There exists a copy of this post on Barry Brooks excellent blog, where you can still use the discussion function: http://bravenewclimate.com

Last but not least, see this:

MIT NSE Nuclear Information Hub

Information about the incident at the Fukushima Nuclear Plants in Japan hosted by http://web.mit.edu/nse/ :: Maintained by the students of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT

It is extremely difficult not to become influenced by the fear mongering promulgated by the media. The sad reality is that “The News” are vehicles by which to bring advertising to the people.  One must make a deliberate effort to avoid becoming influenced by the media.  After all, their primary purpose for existence is to influence people and thereby to make a profit.  The media employ professionals schooled and trained in influencing people, all for the sake of profit.

The best news of all to accomplish that with are bad news, better yet, alarming news, and, if the news are not bad enough to achieve that with, then news that have been invented or have been made alarming when they were not and should not have been presented as alarming news in the first place will do better than all others.  “Dog bites man” is not news, “Man bites dog!!” is.

Randolph Hurst was someone who had the reputation of being ruthless in inventing and presenting alarming news for boosting the circulation of his newspapers.  I believe that it was he who once said: “There is no such thing as bad News,” meaning that, for the purpose of increasing circulation, the more alarming the news are, the better, because the greater the circulation numbers, the larger the advertising revenues.

Newspapers derive the vast majority of their revenues from advertising.  The prices charged for copies of their newspapers pay for nothing more than just the paper they are printed on and perhaps putting them into circulation.  The reporting, the editorializing, the writing, the composing, the typesetting, the wages and salaries of their staff, and all of the capital and operating expenses of newspapers are paid through advertising revenues.

Of course, very similar considerations apply to other branches of the media, such as broadcasting.

Increasing the circulation (or the size of a listening or viewing audience) increases the advertising revenues.

I believe that the recognition of that reality is one of the most important things any activists should engage themselves in.

There is an enormous media bias regarding feminism and men’s issues.  I admired many of the human rights activists whom I met throughout my life for being fully aware of that.

Now get this.  That bias in the media is not driven by an evil conspiracy.  It is driven by greed for media profits.  It just so happens that some ideological opportunists exploit the greed of the media for their own purposes.

That happens not only with respect to vilifying men and fathers for the purpose of creating and enlarging a rift between the sexes and to aid the systematic deconstruction of the traditional nuclear family.  The same principle creates opportunities for other fanatical ideologists or pain alarmists such as those who wish to promote their agenda for world domination or perhaps nothing more than their greed for power and wealth by creating unfounded fears about specific environmental issues.

One little aspect of the manufacturing of fears for profit is the creation and intensification of fears regarding nuclear energy.  Accidents such as those at Three-Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima are god-sends for environmental-alarmism opportunists and carpetbaggers.

__________
Note: Dr. Jaworowski’s report on radiophobia may seem at first to be difficult reading, but get into it and become fascinated.

By understanding what Dr. Jaworowski stated about radiophobia and in reading his explanation of how it was created and exploited in connection with Chernobyl you may be making the most important contribution you could ever have imagined to becoming enlightened in your career as a human rights activist.

There is no shame in being duped once…

Posted in Alarmist Insanity, Propaganda debunked, Health issues, Alternative Energy Sources, Pollution: Health Issues, Explosions & Fires, Emission Incidents & Issues | Print | No Comments »

January 24, 2011 by Walter Schneider.

It is a few months off yet, but the annual spring-time increase in smell from our sewage lagoon is certain to occur in May or June.

The smell need not to happen.  There is a simple solution that will keep the smell down to tolerable levels and make it virtually unnoticeable.

The solution is not very expensive, much cheaper than, say, the price of a new fire hall.  It has been brought to the attention of Town Council and individual members of Town Council a few times over the years, but no reaction or response has ever come forth from any member of the Town Council or from anyone in the Town Office.

To be fair, upon being asked about the limits of our sewage lagoon, there have been statements from the Town Office that our sewage lagoon is capable of digesting the additional load that the anticipated and hoped-for growth of the Bruderheim population without ill effects on the health and quality of life for the people living in Bruderheim.  Yet,  the offensive smell given off by our sewage lagoon when the water in our sewage lagoon turns over in the spring is often so bad that it becomes noticeable, often to the point of becoming intolerable, even inside the homes of Bruderheim residents.  The smell is likely to become worse as the years go by, unless something is done about it.

Bruderheim is not the first community in the world or even in Canada plagued by smells given off by a community’s sewage lagoon.  The science of effective waste-water management and treatment is well-established.

You may wish to consider the following search results, bring them to the attention of the Town Councillors and inform them that you wish them to use a small portion of our tax dollars to solve the problem with the offensive and increasingly objectionable smell of our sewage lagoon, before it becomes a serious and possibly deadly health issue.

“hydrogen sulphide” lagoon aeration - Google Search

The first ten of 786 items on the search-return list:

1. Norway House Cree Nation - Departments

“9 Mar 2010 … Hydrogen sulphide, which has a rotten egg odour, is formed in wastewaters that become [an]aerobic. Aerated Lagoon: A holding pond usually …”
www.nhcn.ca/publicworks.html

2. Quality Pond Aeration

“Quality Pond Aeration. Windmill Aeration is a simple, natural solution to … bad due to gasses (like hydrogen sulphide) that are released into your pond. …”
www3.sympatico.ca/wind.mill/

3. Dugout or Pond Aeration

“Superior Windmill aerators are perfect for dugout or pond aeration. … aeration removes the foul smelling hydrogen sulphide gas odor and prevents anoxia …”
www.superiorwindmill.com/promo/dugout_pond_aeration.html

4. Fisheries :: Home

“Frequent exchange of water can prevent building up of hydrogen sulphide. … Aeration and increasing the pH of water by hydrated lime (calcium hydroxide) …”
agritech.tnau.ac.in/fishery/fish_water.html

5. Fisheries :: Home

“Aeration and water circulation are beneficial in improving bottom soil …”
agritech.tnau.ac.in/fishery/fish_soil.html

6. Bio-Aeration Engineering, Inc. - Anaerobic Digestion

“Bio-Aeration Engineering, Inc. is an environmental company located in Evansville, Indiana. We specialize in the treatment of wastewater in lagoons, …”
www.bioaeration.com/anaerobic_digestion.html

7. Natural Pond Aeration Facts - CLEAN-FLO

“Clean-Flo.com specializes in pond aeration systems which are a natural, … in the water including hydrogen sulphide, ammonia, carbon dioxide, and methane. …”
www.clean-flo.com/articles/natural-pond-aeration-facts/

8. Sewage treatment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“… 2) equipment corrosion due to methanogenesis and hydrogen sulphide, ….. Extended aeration package plants use separate basins for aeration and settling …. “Aerated Lagoons - Wastewater Treatment.” Maine Lagoon Systems Task Force. …”
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewage_treatment

9. Hailsham North Waste Site Odour Control - APPS

“By taking Hydrogen Sulphide measurements around the site it became apparent … short term running of the lagoon mixers allowing us to aerate these lagoons …”
www.appstechnologies.co.uk/index.php?section=case-studies&page=hailsham

10. Aeration: the Facts, Aqua info, Technical Aquaculture information …

“Western Australian Aquaculture Information on Aeration the true facts. … such as hydrogen sulphide and ammonia, cannot pass through into the water above. …”
www.fish.wa.gov.au/docs/aq/aq020/index.php?0404

The Fort Air Partnership monitoring station in Bruderheim (in the back alley, across from Night Moves) will not be of help in determining what the atmospheric H2S (hydrogen sulphide) levels are at any time in Bruderheim.  H2S is not being monitored by that station.

Here is what is being measured at that monitoring station (select “Site 49: Bruderheim” — requires Internet Explorer).

H2S levels are being measured at the following continuous monitoring stations:

Site 43: Fort Saskatchewan
Site 44: Scottford 2
Site 45: Lamont County (north of Elk Island Park)

So, all you have to go by is your nose and hope that as long as you don’t smell the H2S that it may not be because your sense of smell has been overcome by potentially harmful levels of H2S.

By the way, as discussed on this blog before (Temperature measurements for Fort Saskatchewan area, September 30, 2010), the “current” temperature shown on TV and on the website of the Town of Bruderheim is not being measured in Bruderheim.  It is being measured in Elk Island National Park and is usually a couple degrees or so off.

Another measurement of the current Bruderheim temperature can be accessed at the Fort Air Partnership web page for the Bruderheim monitoring station (select “Site 49: Bruderheim” — requires Internet Explorer).

Mind you, I would believe neither of those temperature values shown for Bruderheim.  Right now, the value shown by the Fort Air Partnership is -2°C, the one shown by The Weather Network is 3°C, while the thermometer in my backyard shows 1°C.

Posted in Town of Bruderheim, Health issues, Weather, Pollution: Health Issues, Hydrogen-Sulphide | Print | 1 Comment »

January 14, 2011 by Walter Schneider.

There have been warnings before this, but as the article identified farther down shows, Saskatchewan now, too, finds that CO2 injected underground leaks to the surface, but why should anyone be surprised?  Blowing CO2 down Mother Earth’s derriere is not a good idea.

In the case of the Shell CCS Project in Alberta, it is not even done to increase oil production.  Shell will do it for no other reason than to use up money (a billion dollars of taxpayer money) to alleviate superstitious hype and hysteria.  Shell intends to do it in Alberta so as to appease bureaucratic pressure fueled by political expediency.  Not only that, but Shell’s “solution” is a condition for receiving the operating permit for their Scottford Upgrader Project.  Shell would surely not bother with their CCS Project if they would not be pressured into it.  Still, why not?  It is the taxpayers who will be paying the lion’s share of the cost.  That is “free” money, isn’t it?

The Canadian Press - ONLINE EDITION

Land fizzing like soda pop: farmer says CO2 injected underground is leaking

By: Bob Weber and Jennifer Graham, The Canadian Press

Posted: 01/11/2011 10:22 AM

A Saskatchewan farm couple whose land lies over the world’s largest carbon capture and storage project says greenhouse gases seeping from the soil are killing animals and sending groundwater foaming to the surface like shaken soda pop.

The gases were supposed to have been injected permanently underground.

Cameron and Jane Kerr own nine quarter-sections of land above the Weyburn oilfield in eastern Saskatchewan. They released a consultant’s report Tuesday that links high concentrations of carbon dioxide in their soil to 6,000 tonnes of the gas injected underground every day by energy giant Cenovus (TSX:CVE) in an attempt to enhance oil recovery and fight climate change….(Full Story)

A couple of the comments provided by readers of the article identify that CO2 is an essential plant food and that the Earth is currently in a CO2 dearth, which is correct, as plant growth will shut down when the atmospheric CO2 level drops to 150 ppm or less.  However, the vast majority of the comments are not confidence-inspiring and indicate an astounding lack knowledge about the role of CO2 in the environment.

Lack of knowledge is of course the reason why the proponents of environmental alarmism can get away with pulling the wool over people’s eyes.

Thanks to wattsupwiththat.com for the tip on this article.  If you wish to gain a realistic understanding of what is involved, don’t bother reading the reader comments at the Winnipeg Free Press, but read instead the comments at wattsupwiththat.com.  See for instance this exchange at wattsupwiththat.com:

R. Gates says:

January 11, 2011 at 11:08 am

I’m skeptical that CO2 could kill any animals as the effect would be logarithmic and would amount to very little effect even at high concentrations. I would look toward solar or ocean influences…it’s natural variation.

REPLY: You also aren’t very good at looking beyond your nose:

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/06/27/quote-of-the-week-36-carbon-sequestrations-fatal-flaw/

CO2 is of course heavier than air, the gravel pit [in Weyburn] makes a perfect trap for small animals and unsuspecting humans.

Read up on Lake Nyos and Lake Kivu. Note the pictures of the dead animals here.

Then tell us again how CO2 in high concentrations leaking out of the ground aren’t a problem. CO2 bubbling out of the ground from any source, be it natural or sequestered, will find any low spots on the surface, and any living things in that low spot have the potential to be killed by asphyxiation. Even something as simple as making wine can kill you if you allow the CO2 to collect around you. It only takes 8% air concentration to kill you in about 10 minutes. See this hazmat source.

However, I predict you’ll try to save face and come up with some lame excuse as to why your version of “no worries” is right and we are wrong to be concerned.

-Anthony

It will without a doubt be interesting to watch for what will happen next, but it seems to me that Richard Courtney, a frequent commenter at wattsupwiththat.com, has a good idea on what to do about cheap and practical CO2 disposal if that should ever be necessary.  In the meantime, until the necessity for that arises, if it ever does, why not just release CO2 into the air? After all, it does wonders for increasing agricultural productivity, the greening of the Earth and solving world hunger. We would save a lot of money that way, and no one would have to worry about anyone getting killed by it.

Posted in Shell CCS Project, Taxes, Propaganda debunked, Community & Industry, Pollution: Health Issues | Print | No Comments »

January 9, 2011 by Walter Schneider.

Thanks to wattsupwiththat.com:

PHYSORG.com
Jan. 9, 2011

Igloo-shaped ‘Poo-Gloos’ eat sewage

January 9, 2011 Enlarge

Poo-Gloos — inexpensive devices to extend the lifespan of sewage lagoons for towns and small cities outgrowing their waste-treatment facilities — are half submerged as officials fill this sewage lagoon in Wellsville, Utah. The igloo-shaped devices are submerged when operating, and a new study shows they remove organic waste and other pollutants from sewage just as well as much more expensive mechanical sewage-treatment plants. Credit: Waste Compliance Systems Inc.

Inexpensive igloo-shaped, pollution-eating devices nicknamed “Poo-Gloos” can clean up sewage just as effectively as multimillion-dollar treatment facilities for towns outgrowing their waste-treatment lagoons, according to a new study.

“The results of this study show that it is possible to save communities with existing lagoon systems hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, by retrofitting their existing wastewater treatment facilities with Poo-Gloos,” says Fred Jaeger, chief executive officer of Wastewater Compliance Systems, Inc., which sells the Poo-Gloo under the name Bio-Dome….(Full Story)

__________
A few years ago I suggested to some members of our town council that it would be worth their while to check out a cheap system of aerating our sewage lagoon.  That would not require a large capital investment and not much more in the way of construction than to install perforated plastic hoses through which air would be discharged to keep the water in a lagoon turning over constantly.  The air could be pumped through the hoses by windmill-powered pumps.  Total costs would probably start up in the order of about $4,000 to $5,000.

Systems like that have been used successfully in lagoons to clear up and prevent odors in large hog productions and in some small towns.  For one thing, such a system of aeration would prevent the annual turn-over of the water in our sewage lagoon that regularly in the spring makes it very unpleasant to spend time outdoors in Bruderheim or any other town plagued by sewage smells from its lagoon.  However, that is not the only thing the system would do.  The research done to produce the aeration system described in the lead-in article showed that sewage water in lagoons can be treated within as short a time as 30 days instead of the year it takes now.

No one from the town council ever responded to the suggestion.  Perhaps, now that the principle of sewage-lagoon aeration has been elevated to a promising commercial level for community planning, it is time for our town council to take another look at what can be done to make life more pleasant in Bruderheim.

Posted in Town of Bruderheim, Health issues, Pollution: Health Issues, Hydrogen-Sulphide | Print | No Comments »

November 18, 2010 by Walter Schneider.

Potential Impacts of Leakage from Deep CO₂ Geosequestration on Overlying Freshwater Aquifers

Mark G. Little*^† and Robert B. Jackson^†‡

Center on Global Change, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, United States, and Nicholas School of the Environment and Biology Department, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708-0338, United States

Environ. Sci. Technol., Article ASAP

DOI: 10.1021/es102235w
Publication Date (Web): October 26, 2010

Copyright © 2010 American Chemical Society

* Corresponding author phone: (919)681-7180; fax: (919)660-7425; e-mail: 6r4h@post.harvard.edu., † Center on Global Change., ‡ Nicholas School of the Environment and Biology Department.

Quoted from the abstract:

Carbon Capture and Storage may use deep saline aquifers for CO₂ sequestration, but small CO₂ leakage could pose a risk to overlying fresh groundwater….(Full Story and links to study report and supporting information)

(Thanks to Anthony Watts at wattsupwiththat.com)

The study report is behind a pay wall.  The cost of accessing the report is $30 for 48 hours — more than I can afford to pay.

The Shell CCS Project (CCS meaning Carbon Capture and Storage or, correctly, CO2 Capture and Storage or Sequestration) in the area NE from Fort Saskatchewan, with a CO2 pipeline proposed to run north of Bruderheim, crossing the North Saskatchewan River and then running to the vicinity of Thorhild, where the CO2 is to be injected at a depth of about 2,400 m underground, will inject the CO2 into deep layers of porous rock that may border on saline aquifers into which the injected CO2 may and quite possibly will expand.

The study by Mark G. Little and Robert B. Jackson from Duke University identified that when CO2 was bubbled for more than 300 days through core samples from injection sites, “CO₂ caused concentrations of the alkali and alkaline earths and manganese, cobalt, nickel, and iron to increase by more than 2 orders of magnitude.”  That means  increases in concentrations a hundred-fold and more.

The study furthermore showed, “Potentially dangerous uranium and barium increased throughout the entire experiment in some samples.”

However, although some of that is bad news, the study also identified that “Manganese, iron, calcium, and pH could be used as geochemical markers of a CO₂ leak, as their concentrations increase within 2 weeks of exposure to CO₂.”

From reading Shell’s information that has been provided to me as of now, I neither recall that Shell’s CCS Project (also known by the creative name “Quest”) will employ such markers nor what action will be taken by Shell if a CO2 leak occurs underground at their CO2 injection sites.  That does not mean that Shell does not have contingency plans for possible CO2 leaks into overlying fresh groundwater.

Shell could well have contingency plans for possible underground CO2 leaks, but from the information provided at their Bruderheim open house (Nov. 3, 2010) it appears that Shell relies on the assumption that the CO2 they propose to inject will not move to the surface for at least a thousand years.

It is comforting to know that if nothing goes wrong with the premises of Shell’s CCS Project,  the residents who draw their drinking water out of the wells in the large area into which the injected CO2 will expand will be safe for at least for an estimated 1000 years.

Mind you, if something does go wrong, then all bets are off, and there is no telling as to what steps may  need to be taken to alleviate the impact of increases of mineral and metal concentrations in drinking water to objectionable and dangerous levels.

Have a look at what a CO2-driven water geyser looks like.  Here is more information on how the Chaffin Ranch Geyser came to be.

Posted in Health issues, Shell CCS Project, Climate Change, Community & Industry, Heavy-Metal Poisoning & Pollution, Pollution: Health Issues, Emission Incidents & Issues | Print | No Comments »

October 25, 2010 by Walter Schneider.

“Save the trees, save those bees, save the whales, save those snails, and now it’s saving the planet! C’mon!”

George Carlin:

Posted in Humour, Climate Change, Pollution: Health Issues | Print | No Comments »

September 20, 2010 by Walter Schneider.

Thompsons part 4: Every slope is a watercourse

When Matt and Janet first came to Western Australia they were told they could run a feedlot without regular licenses as long as they were not within 100m of a watercourse. It makes a big difference. If a farm is a category 68, it can run thousands of cattle (and many dairy farms do) without being licensed. This is the ongoing saga of how Big-Government can use complexity to play Kingmaker.

I didn’t think I’d ever find agricultural codes interesting, but by paying attention to the detail we can see just how powerful The Department of Environment (DEC) is, and how selective it can be. You would think it would be easy to measure off 100 m toward a waterway, but how do you define a waterway? You can I might expect that it would have banks, or that in a 100 year flood the water flowing in the gully might have a chance of reaching a body of water big enough to have a fish. Don’t apply for a job at DEC WA.

DEC has declared that Narrogin Beef Producers are a Category 1 property needing licenses because there are watercourses to the North of the feedlot, and to the South West. This picture below,  is a photo (slightly amended) of that paddock to the north in winter. Would you call this a watercourse?

A photo of the Northern “watercourse” of The Thompsons property. (Sign added).

This is the “watercourse” to the South West, a remnant waterway.

Thompsons South West “watercourse”

This is a dry gully visible in aerial shots in the south western edge of their property (see the map image below). There’s no running water in it, and there hasn’t been as long as the Thompsons have been there, and even in the event of a major flood, the gully leads to nowhere in particular. It doesn’t flow into anything. You can follow the tree line of these dry gullies in a google map and see that they eventually might meander into salt pans that are kilometers away….(Full Story)

Related and original story

Posted in Alarmist Insanity, Propaganda debunked, Fines & Penalties, Community & Industry, Pollution: Health Issues, Emission Incidents & Issues | Print | No Comments »

September 18, 2010 by Walter Schneider.

URGENT – A call to action for the WUWT community

Posted on September 18, 2010 by Anthony Watts

I need your help, they need your help. Please read this whole story and consider if you can help. WUWT readers may recall this story: Death of a Feedlot Operator

In which the anal-retentive government of West Australia has “licensed” a family farm out of operation due to some shonky science and arbitrary application of the “sniff test”. Yes that’s right, cattle farms smell, so do pig farms, as does any farm. But now it’s reason to shut one out due to baseless complaints from the local greens. And, it all started when Matt Thompson started doubting global warming and talking about it publicly.

I’ve never made a plea to the WUWT worldwide readership for help, I’m making one now to donate to these people to stave off eviction. If nothing else, do it to spite the government of Western Australia and the greens (Environmental Defender’s Office WA)  that have turned farming into a “crime”. The real crime is that government listens to these hotheads. From Jo Nova’s website:

4 days notice! The Thompsons are served notice of eviction.

Will, Abbey, Janet, Luke, Matt and Kate on their farm. April 2010

From Agmates (and many emails), news comes that The National Bank served notice today that the Thompsons have to be off their property in four days.

This is a family with four young children, who ran a profitable business; they filled in every form and ticked every box. They have broken no laws, and there are no outstanding environmental notices, but yet, they came to Western Australia with their life savings and they are losing everything. (Note: Matt and Janet are from the USA, Hugo, Oklahoma – Anthony)
Continue reading →

Posted in Corruption & Fraud, Alarmist Insanity, Censorship, Climate Change, Fines & Penalties, Pollution: Health Issues, Community & Industry, Emission Incidents & Issues | Print | 2 Comments »

August 13, 2010 by Walter Schneider.

We have made a lot of progress in cleaning up the environment.  Air quality is now a lot better, on average, than it was 50 years ago.  In London, England, for example, blue skies  are now the norm, while just a few decades ago the infamous London smog was a frequent visitor and often caused the deaths of many people.  The air quality in London is now much better than it was before at any time since the height of the industrial revolution.

Living- and health standards improved.   Average life expectancies rose, for example in the U.S.A., from about 59 years for women and 52 years for men in 1930 to 79 years for women and 73 years for men by 1996. (Source: USA Population Figures for the Years 1980 to 1996)

Yet, there is all-pervasive alarmism that the sky is falling and that we are all going to die.

A large dose of reality is required to illustrate how far we have truly come in a relatively short time and how much success we had in coping with what once, not all that long ago, were apparently insurmountable problems.

Portrait of an Unhealthy City: New York in the 1800s
From: Columbia University | By: David Rosner

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION | As New York City ascended from a small seaport to an international city in the 1800s, it underwent severe growing pains. Filth, disease and disorder ravaged the city to a degree that would horrify even the most jaded modern urban dweller. David Rosner, professor of history and co-director of the program in the History of Public Health and Medicine at the School of Public Health at Columbia University, paints a vivid portrait of a city in the throes of an ecological crisis….(Full Story)

And here is a video recording of a deservedly glowing report of the roles of human ingenuity and of exchange of skills and goods in human evolution, by Matt Ridley at TED : TED - Ideas worth spreading.  It is one of the best presentations on the subject of human ingenuity I have ever had the pleasure of watching. (Watch the video, 16 minutes)

Here is another video, this time of a presentation by Hans Rosling, Professor of International Health at Karolinska Institute, on What stops population growth? (10 minutes)

Dr. Rosling’s presentation of dynamic graphs is excellent and very informative.  He ends his presentation with, “The only way to stop population growth is to have small families.”  That is technically correct, but it seems to me, going by the information contained in his presentation, that Dr, Rosling should have added the proviso, “and that can only be brought about by ending war and creating wealth for all.”

It should not be necessary to point out that the best and perhaps only way to create wealth for all is to make cheap energy accessible by all.  It is neither humane nor practical to keep a quarter of humanity in the dark, without access to electricity and refrigeration.

________________
Thanks for some of the links in this posting are due as follows,

• Portrait of an Unhealthy City,  John F. Hultquist
• Video recording of Matt Ridley’s presentation, pointman
• What stops population growth?, chris y

Those links were provided through comments posted in a discussion thread at wattsupwiththat.com: The Three Chinas and World Energy Demand, Posted on August 13, 2010 by Anthony Watts, Guest post by Thomas Fuller.

Posted in Propaganda debunked, Pollution: Health Issues, Emission Incidents & Issues | Print | No Comments »

April 19, 2010 by Walter Schneider.

The current air flight ban in Europe is not necessarily a panic reaction of the masses, even though it is caused by “great terror without any visible ground or foundation.”  After all, although the ban affected a good portion of the masses, namely a few million of stranded passengers, the cause of that inconvenience was largely an overreaction by the European air control authorities at Eurocontrol.

The problem with central control is that the larger the number of people controlled by it, the greater will be the impact of its diktats — regardless of whether those diktats reflect right or wrong decisions.

It will be some time before things in European airspace will return to normal.  However, without a doubt, eventually common sense will prevail. The first signs of that are emerging:

• Cowardly Europe has lost its nerve over volcano ash and this absurd air travel ban
• Volcanic ash cloud restrictions ‘embarrassing’, say airlines

As those two articles indicate, some airlines conducted test flights this weekend, something that should have been done far sooner rather than relying on predictions by computer models.  The test flights showed no adverse effects on the airplanes used.

We now know what is the right thing to do.  All that remains is to do it: “Let the people go.”

________
Update 24 04 2010: Posted in Explosions & Fires, Pollution: Health Issues, Emission Incidents & Issues | Print | No Comments »