Dying in the name of Science or Dying in the name of God?

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We're Not Alone

One weekend of January 2007 was one of those weekends which we enjoyed in good company. The Non-Profit Organization I belong celebrated the workgroups annual meeting and I think it was worth.

It was one of those occasions which suppose a lifeline for the moral. The fact to know that there are more people which share the same interests than you, makes you feel more supported, less alone, you know there are more people like you trying to do their bit and make of this world a better place.

Nobody knows but thanks to the... destiny? at random?... We got on well with people from Navarra, Alicante and Huelva, how cool!! Xabier, we laugh a lot with you, it was unforgottable but the most peculiar man was Pepe Cantó who with his hat reminded me of Indiana Jones. Pepe, we were left open-mouthed, astonished by the quantity of stories you spoke about, what's more, we couldn't believe at first what you were saying besides we were and are not used to people like you, with your courage. You remind us of the story of David and Goliath. In no one moment we had thought in the quantity of rubish and polution you are suffering in Huelva (I would light to highlight this point for general information). Thanks for the details of Aznalcóllar has it been an accident or not... Below you have some links to your work. Cheer up and good luck.

Atlantic Copper, Bomba de Relojería (both in Spanish).

A Warm Autumn

Last week I went to visit my parents. From time to time they have some new newspapers at home and what I do is to check them looking for something of environmental interest. The picture that you have above is what I found. It reminded me the words of a meteorologist at the end of a stifling summer: Next autumn will be warmer than normal... and it is.

I know here there are different readers from different countries and I don't know how weather has behaved in their respective places. I've got some comments from people living in places in which snow has arrived much before than normal but here hot stayed up to some days ago. In this part of Spain I could listen to the cicades in the middle of october (thing unusual at this late on in the year), even I saw some insects which should be already "sleeping". Respect to trees, most of the leaves are still green and with the first fresh air they have begun to change colour. Is the autumn definitely here? We hope so.

Here you are the link related to the picture.

A New Order

At one time in 2004, I decided to put into practice a philosophy of life in which neither meat nor fish was alowed to be eaten or at least in its minimal quantity whenever necessary. There are several reasons, but a piece of news like Spain fleet catching underweight fish supports and supported my decission. And what's more, this post was written in 2007. The link I have just posted is dated in April this year so it seems that things haven't changed at all. I have more things to show but in Spanish, however, you can check Greenpeace's fish red list. I think politiciens and citizens have to be aware of the finite planet in which we live and that not everybody can go everywhere doing whatever they want not matter the price: money is not comestible.

Politiciens and society shouldn't think in an infinite growth when our planet and resources are completely finite. We are many, so many, that we shouldn't have overcome the figure of 3 billion people, that's the issue of exponential growth... To this problem is added a new one: uncontrolled exploitation of resources which will degenerate into something I don't want to think about if we don't put into movement just now. Maybe some people think this is an utopia, but the economic and technological market should be adapted to a new order different from a one which is based on young labor hand, which doesn't stop coming many new births with the aim to guarantee  pensions and the living standard. I know to carry out this idea will suppose deep changes in our society, perhaps so deep as they were in the industrial revolution which has degenerated into a fierce and savage capitalism.

I think there is not another way. If things don't change we will devour ourselves, and what is worst, we will destroy the rest of forms of life we find in our path and which share with us  this ship Mother Earth, forms of life which don't have nothing to do with our disagreements.

People We Love :: Peter Marshall

From time to time I like speaking about anonymous (or at least not very famous) people who are making a difference and are not as frequently as we would like in the news. Here you have and example that I found in the magazine Yes!

People We Love :: Peter Marshall by Madeline Ostrander

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Delay

As usual, I don't have enough time to post all the information I receive and from time to time it gets lost among among hundreds of emails. This time the information is about dolphins in captivity and something else... At the very beginning I didn't understand why some people were against zoos and things like. Now, I've been for several years without visiting a place in which any kind of animal is captive and more if it is for making money.

I titled this post Delay because the issue I mentione was released with a film wich now is not in the theatres but in december we'll have the opportunity to buy the DVD and help the cause at the same time. Here you have the piece of news I received and the Amazon link to pre-order the film. Now I leave you a video for you to have an idea about what I'm speaking about.

What's Up With Wind Mills?

Some times people wonder if so many windmill is something good. It seems that some of them don't like that some trees are cut down to put into place those machines or once working kill some birds hitting them with their sails.

Of course, that's not my cup of tea but now I bring up a question: People who think that about wind mills have ever thought about how the oil is extracted from the bottom of the sea? Has any one of them thought about all the dangerous situations from the point of extraction to the point of manufacturing? Oil is a big deal in relation with all the aspects in its handling. Here you are three examples: One, Two and Three. One more thing: How to find oil. I think nobody will think that oil is looked for like water diviners (people with a stick and so on). Nothing to have with that. You have to produce detonations in the bottom of the sea to find oil and... What supposes that? Everybody knows that the sound wave travels in the air at 340 m/s but in the water ir travels at 1400m/s, I think you get it... It becomes a killing wave because several hundred meters around it many animals can be seriously injured even killed (try to speak about that to divers...) . You have one example with cetaceans. Many of them are beached because the wave destroys either their ears or their entrails. And speaking on cetaceans that's not the only problem, they also have to face the sonar of the submarines but this seems to have a near solution. Any way, the ocenas are so big that... Out of sight, out of mind.

Swedish people, as nordic and good observers they are, say that birds become adopted to the wind mills. It seems that there are some reliable studies that confirm the question, thing that very, very probably won't happen with marine fauna and oil related explosions. There's no perfect system to produce energy, at least at the moment, but in general, wind power has more good thigs to offer than bad.

My point of view is that we are living in an age of transition and at the same time of destruction. I think things are not changing at the speed needed and maybe destrucition is ahead. Meanwhile, we have to deal with a mix of sources of energy and wait for what should be the solution: fusion power and hydrogen batteries.

P.S. Take into account that this post was written in January 2007. Some time later, I read that the idea of getting all the energy we need from the sun of the desert could be real but this is staff for another post, don't you think so?. Maybe nanotechnology has the key ;)