Buzillions and no two the same

Snowflakes are one of earths tiny miracles. They are formed from a clear liquid and turn into a six sided clear crystal that is light enough to fall from a great height without breaking. When enough of them arrive on the ground they collectively form a white blanket. This blanket is an essential part of the system that regulates the earths temperature. So while an individual snowflake may not be very important life on earth depends on all snowflakes working together to do what they do. Like bees and many of natures other miracles we humans can learn a lot from them when it comes to working together.

Canadian arctic Dec. 11. 2009

This picture was taken by a European Space Agency satellite high over northern Canada. At the bottom of the picture you can see parts of Nunavut. The water is Fox Basin which is a sallow extension of the Atlantic ocean between Baffin Island and Nunavut. Nunavut was the former eastern portion of the North West Territories.

This area is now the subject of intensive research due to the fears that the arctic ocean ice is melting and that if this happens the global climate with be adversely effected.

The Preussen

This (second picture) was the largest cargo sailing ship ever. It traveled between Germany and Chile. This trip took between 58 and 79 days. So on the fastest trip the Preussen averaged 13.7 kts without a motor. It was launched in 1902 and destroy when it was run into by another ship in 1910.





The colored picture is of the Eugen Maersk. This ship is currently the largest and fastest cargo ship. It is 1300 feet long and can cruise at 26 kts but it never does. Due to fuel costs the ship is restricted to 10kts, considerably slower than the Preussen. Even at this speed the Eugen Maersk uses 150 tons of fuel a day and produces the amount of pollution produced by millions of cars.

So it seems to be time to return to the days of sail.

A mistake for 80 years!

The Flapper Skate was miscategorized over 80 years ago. That has meant that this fish and a similar looking fish have been caught for seafood in the North Sea for many years. Only recently have scientists discovered that there are two distinct species of fish. Unfortunately there are far fewer Flapper Skates than the other type of Skate. This problem was recognized in 2006 but it took a long time to protect the Flapper Skate and now it may be too late. It is considered entirely depleted from its natural ocean area and may become extinct. This is the worlds largest skate and it is hoped that the fish can survive although it will probably never be the common fish it once was.

Boys and Girls??

A recent study out of Denmark has shown that young children are at risk from a wide array of "gender bending" chemicals. These chemicals are found in thousands of items from rubber boots, disposable diapers, food, sunscreen, cosmetics, laundry products, household cleaners, etc. etc.

The official 326 page Danish report shows that this chemical cocktail is driving down sperm counts and "feminizing" boys in the so called 'developed world'. The researchers found that young boys could be at "critical risk" from just a few exposures to high levels from rubber clogs, food or sunscreens. Also implicated are dioxins, PVC, flame retardants and phthalates, which are widely used to soften plastics. A study of umbilical cords from British mothers found that every one tested contained hazardous chemicals.

Normally 106 boys are born for every 100 girls. Now the number of boys is dropping and in some countries more girls are born than boys. In parts of Canada, that are contaminated with higher levels of chemicals, far more girls are born than boys.

Tires, tires, tires!!!

Many of the impacts on our environment from the automobile are never included in the purchase price of a vehicle. This is the way our system works. Huge costs are incurred in many areas and they are never considered. For example gasoline is currently about $1 a liter. The actual cost is over $2 a liter and that price does not include the horrific price that will surely emerge if global heating does what it is forecast to do.

So we need to change the price of things so that we pay the real price and this could only be done by governments. A tax could be applied to make every price more realistic and that tax could be used to pay for the cost of fixing the damage that item caused. Unfortunately governments do not work to protect our environment. On the contrary they actively work to damage the environment and the basic reason for that is that the men, usually men, who run governments are greedy and shortsighted. We will continue to witness less diversity and more environmental degradation until voters choose politicians that demonstrate more wisdom.

Cars, cars, cars!!

Here we have just one car lot, this one for Volkswagen, in the United States. There are an estimated 10,000 cars here but in America there are approximately 500,000,000 vehicles for 330,000,000 people. That works out to more than 1 and 1/2 vehicles for every man woman and child. Imagine a parking lot 50,000 times as big as this one.
America imports about 12,000,000 barrels of oil a DAY to keep these vehicles going. Not so long ago America was the worlds largest oil EXporter.
Ford produced a Lincoln in 1997 that got 7 miles per gallon and all the big car companies including Toyota produce cars and trucks that are much bigger than anyone needs. However building cars is not about what people need it is about what people think they want. If the worlds most credible scientists are right people are soon going to want cars that use no oil.