![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Tennessee's high-tech future became more secure last week when the U.S. Department of Energy announced that the Oak Ridge National Laboratory would become the nation's top research facility for the future of nuclear energy. It is fitting that the laboratory that brought us into the nuclear age would be chosen to plan for its future.
( a pro-nuke editorial and a bit of history from the town historian )
( a pro-nuke editorial and a bit of history from the town historian )
They're going after the Amazon now. Here's where you can begin to get educated or follow the links to let your opinion be known to the Brazilian government.
Stop Belo Monte Dam!
Last week the Brazilian government approved the environmental license for the controversial Belo Monte Dam in the Amazon.
The dam, slated to be the world’s third largest hydroelectric project, would devastate an extensive area of the Amazon rainforest, and threaten the survival of indigenous and traditional peoples. Construction could begin this year.
The decision has caused a national and international outcry. Right now, more than 5,000 Kayapo Indians are traveling to the Big Bend of the Xingu River to set up a protest camp to prevent dam construction. They are threatening war.
Studies have shown that by investing in energy efficiency, Brazil could cut demand for electricity by 40% by 2020 and save $19 billion in the process. The amount of energy saved would be equivalent to 14 Belo Monte dams!
Stop Belo Monte Dam!
Last week the Brazilian government approved the environmental license for the controversial Belo Monte Dam in the Amazon.
The dam, slated to be the world’s third largest hydroelectric project, would devastate an extensive area of the Amazon rainforest, and threaten the survival of indigenous and traditional peoples. Construction could begin this year.
The decision has caused a national and international outcry. Right now, more than 5,000 Kayapo Indians are traveling to the Big Bend of the Xingu River to set up a protest camp to prevent dam construction. They are threatening war.
Studies have shown that by investing in energy efficiency, Brazil could cut demand for electricity by 40% by 2020 and save $19 billion in the process. The amount of energy saved would be equivalent to 14 Belo Monte dams!
Big Dams Aren't Green
Jan. 30th, 2010 08:01 amI've long been in favor as hydropower as one of many energy sources to harness in our pursuit of independent from fossil fuels. But I wasn't sure where to draw the line between huge dams like the ones on the Colombia river here in the Northwest, and mini-dams like the one used at Otter Bar to keep the batteries charged. This article from World Watch helps to clarify how big dams are destructive and unsustainable.
( thoughts )
( thoughts )
Tags:
OTEC = Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion
( on an interesting way to generate electricity from temperature stratification in the ocean )
( on an interesting way to generate electricity from temperature stratification in the ocean )
Tags:
How will 2008 be remembered?
Apr. 12th, 2009 06:44 pmHere you'll find an opinion piece by Thomas Friedman about the changes that have begun with the economic downturn of 2008. He clearly sees it as a much bigger change than just a predictable economic cycle. He asks in his title if it is the inflection point, and later calls this change The Great Disruption. I have adopted the tag "The Long Emergency" (from Kunstler) for the time period that follows this inflection point. The title of this journal (we live in INTERESTING TIMES) is also a salute to the future that I envision--a future that is drastically different from the one we've been sold, and not an easy adjustment. So for me, it is hopeful that people are beginning to talk frankly about the failure of our current system and the literal DEAD end that we will reach if we continue on the path we've taken for the last 50 years... But I go on. Friedman says it better.
Government Instructions on Hemp Growing
Mar. 30th, 2009 09:25 pmHere is a very interesting video made by the US Department of Agriculture instructing farmers on how to grow and harvest hemp. It was made in 1937 and says "now with Phillipine and East Indian sources of hemp in the hands of the Japanese, and shipments of jute from India curtailed, American hemp must meet the needs of our army and navy". So the USDA saw fit to ask American farmers to grow fiber for ropes and twine. It's ten and a half minutes long. Apparently the movie disappeared soon after being made, but was discovered and distributed thanks to Mia Farrow. Who knows how SHE got it. But anyway, check it out if you have ten minutes and an interest in a very useful crop.
Aside: Ron Paul says the best source of ethanol is from hemp, not corn or sugarcane. Saw that on youtube too.
Aside: Ron Paul says the best source of ethanol is from hemp, not corn or sugarcane. Saw that on youtube too.
Urban Global Warming
Mar. 30th, 2009 10:06 am
Painting: "Sleepy Hot City" by Fiona Nasr
Notes here from interesting article: ( Urban heat; Cities sizzle as more people move in, by Sid Perkins. )
The Herb Fest was good. I met some really cool people. I found the ND population to be more cliquish than the rest, so I wandered among the botanists and MD's, herbalists and nutritionists, asking everyone their opinions about the lectures. I got a great many opinions and came to a grasp of what people believe in these days...like for example, I would hazard a guess that maybe half of the people at the herb fest believe in past lives. Maybe more. They believe in reincarnation and that your current life is a product of what you did in past lives. Do you? If you do, I'd love to hear the story. I confess: I'm a skeptic. As I've said before I don't "believe" in reincarnation...though it is widely accepted among the alternative healing community.
( the science mind travels in energy-healing circles )
( the science mind travels in energy-healing circles )
Tags:
Kashiwazaki
My birth town of Oak Ridge, Tennessee has a special (guilty but forgiven) connection to Japan. The laboratories in Oak Ridge were where the nuclear bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were created. When I visited the front page of the hometown paper this evening, there was this news ( from Japan )
Cat Chronicle Landmark at the 11th Snow
Mar. 29th, 2007 06:29 pmThe prediction is for 2-4 inches tonight. When I got home a little while ago Shakti had manifested her huntress nature for the first time; she caught a small grey bird. There was just a little snow sticking and the bird was beside the walk, laying on its back and breathing hard from being tormented. My hands were full and I just kept walking. While it is sad for a bird to die, it is also the natural way of things for cats to hunt and to toy with their food. Shakti was looking at me as I closed the outside door, leaving her alone with her prize. Once inside I set to putting things away.
( more )
( more )
