söndag 17 maj 2009
måndag 13 april 2009
No action, no targets
I have been watching the people of Earth over the past months, and I still cannot find any logic in their actions. Some moments ago, a conference on the subject of Climate Change politics (what to do about it? Does it exist? Does it affect also politicians), and the outcomes are: none. Two weeks has past, two weeks full of negotiations, and the result of the negotiations: none.
This was also the first negotiations when the United States of America was lead by Barrack "Our Saviour" Obama. Funny enough, this man has not promised one bit of action or binding targets.
As if it would not be the very survival of the human (not race, but very well) civilisation at stake here. I am seriously disturbed by the lack of action. For every day my Betazoid, emotional side asks myself: Was it really the right decision to go back to this period of time? To leave everything behind to try to save a doomed civilisation?
This was also the first negotiations when the United States of America was lead by Barrack "Our Saviour" Obama. Funny enough, this man has not promised one bit of action or binding targets.
As if it would not be the very survival of the human (not race, but very well) civilisation at stake here. I am seriously disturbed by the lack of action. For every day my Betazoid, emotional side asks myself: Was it really the right decision to go back to this period of time? To leave everything behind to try to save a doomed civilisation?
tisdag 9 december 2008
fredag 5 december 2008
Finally some hope: 100% renewables
My days are quite hectic, and not much time is left for meditation or thought. But today I attended this very inspiring side event on 100% renewables. They showed how very possible it is to make a sustainable and resilient energy system. They presented the projects Zero Carbon Britain, and two other interesting European projects, one Danish and one Spanish. I finally got back some of my belief in the human race and their possibility to change. It was highly logical and quite nice, since the first speaker talked about their approach being the opposite of the politicians'. Instead of listeing to science and say it's impossible, they listen to science and research how the future could look like under the circumstances given by science. All these projects have shown that 100% renewables is acchievable.
And on a completely different subject: If you have knowledge of the Swedish language, or access to your universal translator, you can also read things I write on the new Climate Blog of Sweden, Coolaner.nu.
And on a completely different subject: If you have knowledge of the Swedish language, or access to your universal translator, you can also read things I write on the new Climate Blog of Sweden, Coolaner.nu.
torsdag 4 december 2008
Top three inventions I miss from the 24th Century
3. Replicators
The United Federation of Planets is supposed to be a post scarcity-society, where poverty is no more. Partly that is also true, some planets, like Vulcan and Betazed, have virtually no poverty, all thanks to the replicators being more or less equally shared over the planets. And in this way we can have eternal economic growth... almost... they say...
2. Universal Translator
I have noticed that a lot of human conflicts come from people having problem communicating. Either because of different cultures, symbols meaning different things for different people or because of language barriers, people fight irrationally much. With the universal translator, all those problems would be lost, and people could really start talking. And besides, the native English speakers'dominance would decline.
1. Warp drive
Since there obviously are people in this world that realize the need for change, it would not be an entirely bad idea to run off and start anew on a new M-class planet. That is obviously something that the policy makers here provoke, as they certainly seem to think there are other worlds than this in range, to colonize. Otherwise they would treat it with more care.
I am actually kind of homesick. The 21th century human is quite different from the 24th Century Mutant Humans I met in my timeline, so much more bad emotions, short sightedness and illogic. maybe I'll send out a subspace signal to Vulcan, admit my mission failure and do some Court Martial for breaking the Prime Directive by trying to change the time line. But what I have read on Vulcan 21th Century history is not very flattering either...
The United Federation of Planets is supposed to be a post scarcity-society, where poverty is no more. Partly that is also true, some planets, like Vulcan and Betazed, have virtually no poverty, all thanks to the replicators being more or less equally shared over the planets. And in this way we can have eternal economic growth... almost... they say...
2. Universal Translator
I have noticed that a lot of human conflicts come from people having problem communicating. Either because of different cultures, symbols meaning different things for different people or because of language barriers, people fight irrationally much. With the universal translator, all those problems would be lost, and people could really start talking. And besides, the native English speakers'dominance would decline.
1. Warp drive
Since there obviously are people in this world that realize the need for change, it would not be an entirely bad idea to run off and start anew on a new M-class planet. That is obviously something that the policy makers here provoke, as they certainly seem to think there are other worlds than this in range, to colonize. Otherwise they would treat it with more care.
I am actually kind of homesick. The 21th century human is quite different from the 24th Century Mutant Humans I met in my timeline, so much more bad emotions, short sightedness and illogic. maybe I'll send out a subspace signal to Vulcan, admit my mission failure and do some Court Martial for breaking the Prime Directive by trying to change the time line. But what I have read on Vulcan 21th Century history is not very flattering either...
The pieces are falling into place or the place is falling into pieces?
I was at a meeting with the non-governmental people of the European Union today. Yes, I am not citizen of the European Union, but of the United Federation of Planets, but since the Federation doesn't exist yet, I suppose it doesn't matter. And sometimes I have to pretend I am human. Those times I go under my inkognito name Emma, and am citizen of the Royal Kingdom of Sweden, living in the Federation State of Germany. In that way I will not raise suspicion because of my Vulcan accent, since, funny enough, it approximates Swedish accent.
I just wanted to report one thing someone said: accidentally, instead of saying 'the pieces falling into place', one person said 'the place falling into pieces'. And I suppose that shows what is actually going on around here. Nothing is going forwards, and everything is just a big struggle for the Good Guys, to use an American word, to prevent this place from falling into pieces.
I just wanted to report one thing someone said: accidentally, instead of saying 'the pieces falling into place', one person said 'the place falling into pieces'. And I suppose that shows what is actually going on around here. Nothing is going forwards, and everything is just a big struggle for the Good Guys, to use an American word, to prevent this place from falling into pieces.
Strange languages and empathy for the children
The climate negotiations in Poznan has been on for a while now. In the beginning all the acronyms, procedures and everything was extremely confusing. It still is. I have been trying to follow some of the meetings, but since my universal translator still does not work, the way people speaks is extremely confusing. And if I understand the words, I never see the logic. What are they saying here? Why are they so inactive? Don't they understand what is at stake.
As I have understood it, humans are very fond of their children. Or, at least they say they are. Since I inherited my betazoid mother's empathic abilities, I also can feel a lot for these people's children. Because they will not have any future, if things will continue like this. The inaction is extremely illogical. People's frustration is growing for every day.
One example of extreme illogical actions is the goal of not letting the temperature rise more than 2 degrees. for different people, this means different things. For the organisation 350.org, supported by a lot of scientists, we need a CO2-concentration less than 350 ppm. For the moment we have 387, ten percent more, equalling the concentration of 1990 or so.
problem is, politicians agree on the goal, but ignore science in what has to be done. You would just laugh at them, if it wasn't so serious the whole thing. Because it's actually all about your children.
As I have understood it, humans are very fond of their children. Or, at least they say they are. Since I inherited my betazoid mother's empathic abilities, I also can feel a lot for these people's children. Because they will not have any future, if things will continue like this. The inaction is extremely illogical. People's frustration is growing for every day.
One example of extreme illogical actions is the goal of not letting the temperature rise more than 2 degrees. for different people, this means different things. For the organisation 350.org, supported by a lot of scientists, we need a CO2-concentration less than 350 ppm. For the moment we have 387, ten percent more, equalling the concentration of 1990 or so.
problem is, politicians agree on the goal, but ignore science in what has to be done. You would just laugh at them, if it wasn't so serious the whole thing. Because it's actually all about your children.
onsdag 3 december 2008
Cost efficiency
After attending the climate negotations in Poznan for some says, I am quite amazed by the illogic of the whole human UN system. So much currency is put into making all these people come together, but what do they do? Eat meat together? Drink alcoholics at their hotels?
Surely, since humans tend to listen to economical arguments, there must be more cost efficient ways to cooporate. Mainly, if you are going to meet so many people together, it would absolutely be more efficient to actually do something. Agree on something, anything! Things are not really progressing in warp speed, as humans would satirically state.
What I think they do the most is actually to try to change their world view. Since science is saying uncomfortable things, it is obviously logical for human politicians to ignore it. Clearly, every proposal here is not enough to hit the 2 degree target.
Surely, since humans tend to listen to economical arguments, there must be more cost efficient ways to cooporate. Mainly, if you are going to meet so many people together, it would absolutely be more efficient to actually do something. Agree on something, anything! Things are not really progressing in warp speed, as humans would satirically state.
What I think they do the most is actually to try to change their world view. Since science is saying uncomfortable things, it is obviously logical for human politicians to ignore it. Clearly, every proposal here is not enough to hit the 2 degree target.
tisdag 2 december 2008
Eating for the climate
Polish cuisine is not always of the kind that my Vulcan stomach appreciates. As you may now, Vulcans are vegetarians, since we find it barbaric to eat other living beings. You can also feed a much bigger population from vegetarian food, and is a lot less environmentally hazardous. It is purely ilological to, on a conference on climate change, only serve the foods that are the very worst for the nature.
I have seen human scientific reports, stating that a balanced vegetarian diet is about 3 times more energy efficient than a balanced omnivore diet, and a vegan one about 4 times. And since, according to IPCC4, food is a bigger climate villain than the whole transport section, it is purely scandalous, to use a news paper word, that you do not offer the alternative on such a conference like this. On the reception yesterday, the only thing I could eat was fruit or potatoes. The whole spread was full with different kinds of fish and whole pig, of course very fancy looking.
In Poland, you do not have much choise of meals. And it seems it is even worse in the conference centre where we spend all day. Salad is the only thing you can get inside, and although it is not unhealthy, the nutricional value is not satisfying.
For breakfast we also get very strange foods. Vulcans do not touch food with their hands, and that is obviously a problem with the human bread eating habits. And the only sources of protein I can get my hands on, is eggs and cheese. But the logical course of action is of course to eat what I can find, and hope this will not permanently injure my intestral systems. But since I'm not fully Vulcan, but also half Betazoid, I think my resilience against foreign foods is big enough. After all, most Betazoids have a strange fascination for chocolate!
I have seen human scientific reports, stating that a balanced vegetarian diet is about 3 times more energy efficient than a balanced omnivore diet, and a vegan one about 4 times. And since, according to IPCC4, food is a bigger climate villain than the whole transport section, it is purely scandalous, to use a news paper word, that you do not offer the alternative on such a conference like this. On the reception yesterday, the only thing I could eat was fruit or potatoes. The whole spread was full with different kinds of fish and whole pig, of course very fancy looking.
In Poland, you do not have much choise of meals. And it seems it is even worse in the conference centre where we spend all day. Salad is the only thing you can get inside, and although it is not unhealthy, the nutricional value is not satisfying.
For breakfast we also get very strange foods. Vulcans do not touch food with their hands, and that is obviously a problem with the human bread eating habits. And the only sources of protein I can get my hands on, is eggs and cheese. But the logical course of action is of course to eat what I can find, and hope this will not permanently injure my intestral systems. But since I'm not fully Vulcan, but also half Betazoid, I think my resilience against foreign foods is big enough. After all, most Betazoids have a strange fascination for chocolate!
söndag 30 november 2008
Youth vs Policy makers
Live long and prosper,
the past couple of days I have spent in meetings with the Non govermental International Youth attending the climate negotiations in Poznan, Poland. You cannot really count me as youth, since I was several decades old as I left my time line to join you. And in a matter of speaking, I am actually not even born, or minus 300 years old, how you prefer it.
The Youth actually has something to say to the policy makers of the meeting. Since they are the ones who are going to cope with the consequences of anthropogenic Greenhouse Effect, they are not as short sighted as the elderer. A human has a very short life span, not more than 80 years at best, but still the ones being 20 years old now, will live to see the world in 2070. If they do not get killed in the climate conflicts, hunger catastrophes and general anarchy of the 2050's, that is.
Most youth seem to realize the urgency of the problem, and that is of course very good. I just wish that the older people also would do so, and recognise science; environmental, long term economic and social in particular, as a foundation for their politics.
the past couple of days I have spent in meetings with the Non govermental International Youth attending the climate negotiations in Poznan, Poland. You cannot really count me as youth, since I was several decades old as I left my time line to join you. And in a matter of speaking, I am actually not even born, or minus 300 years old, how you prefer it.
The Youth actually has something to say to the policy makers of the meeting. Since they are the ones who are going to cope with the consequences of anthropogenic Greenhouse Effect, they are not as short sighted as the elderer. A human has a very short life span, not more than 80 years at best, but still the ones being 20 years old now, will live to see the world in 2070. If they do not get killed in the climate conflicts, hunger catastrophes and general anarchy of the 2050's, that is.
Most youth seem to realize the urgency of the problem, and that is of course very good. I just wish that the older people also would do so, and recognise science; environmental, long term economic and social in particular, as a foundation for their politics.
onsdag 26 november 2008
News fashion threat to the global warming threat
These past few days have been very interesting to say the least. Back in the 24th Century, I got myself a cybernetic interface device, making it possible for me to take in 900% more data than normal for Vulcans or Betazoids. With this device I have studied your archives of "weblogs", "news papers" and other kind of "media", and found an astonishing short-sightness in the subjects being dealt with. A couple of decades ago, the nuclear threat was very big, but strangely enough, although many countries have made decisions to stop having nuclear power, due to the climate threat, they stay with the ancient and dangerous techniques.
I have also noticed a decline in the number of climate-related articles past few months. Now everything is about some kind of "finance crisis". What finance is, I do not know, but it's logical to conclude that it is some kind of ancient system for exchanging of currency.
I see a big danger in this kind of "news fashion". The nuclear threat is not less than it was decades ago, and the climate change will not stop being potentially fatal for human kind.
I have also noticed a decline in the number of climate-related articles past few months. Now everything is about some kind of "finance crisis". What finance is, I do not know, but it's logical to conclude that it is some kind of ancient system for exchanging of currency.
I see a big danger in this kind of "news fashion". The nuclear threat is not less than it was decades ago, and the climate change will not stop being potentially fatal for human kind.
tisdag 25 november 2008
The difference between weather and climate
I have been observing the people around me these past days that I have been part of the 21st century. At the moment, it is quite cold, people are complaining about it being so cold already in the end of November. With global warming this weather shouldn't be happening.
I have also overheard one conversation between people of considerable age, talking about that just some decades ago, this weather would cause people to say, "Oh yes, we are going towards a new Ice Age".
What people miss here is that climate and weather are two completely different things. Weather is something very concrete, you feel it every day. Climate is the general tendencies in the weather. In the temperate zone a temperature of -50 degrees Celsius is highly unusual, but one single appearance wouldn't tell everything. One swallow don't make a Summer, like the mutant humans of the 24th century used to say.
So, just because it is cold right now, it does not mean that global warming doesn't happen. On the contrary, the temperature has already gone up 0,7 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times. Over´2 degrees more will have extensive consequenses. Believe me, I have seen your planet 300 years from now with my own eyes. You cannot believe that it is the same place.
I have also overheard one conversation between people of considerable age, talking about that just some decades ago, this weather would cause people to say, "Oh yes, we are going towards a new Ice Age".
What people miss here is that climate and weather are two completely different things. Weather is something very concrete, you feel it every day. Climate is the general tendencies in the weather. In the temperate zone a temperature of -50 degrees Celsius is highly unusual, but one single appearance wouldn't tell everything. One swallow don't make a Summer, like the mutant humans of the 24th century used to say.
So, just because it is cold right now, it does not mean that global warming doesn't happen. On the contrary, the temperature has already gone up 0,7 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times. Over´2 degrees more will have extensive consequenses. Believe me, I have seen your planet 300 years from now with my own eyes. You cannot believe that it is the same place.
söndag 23 november 2008
Climate is changing - but how much?
You may wonder: how come that although people have been researching about the anthropogenic greenhouse effect for over a century, you still do not know anything about how worse it's going to be? There is of course a very simple logical expanation for this, apart from humans not having starship technology and so forth. It is actually all about water: one of the very corner stones of humanoid life. As you may know, water vapour is a greenhouse gas. Its warming potential is decided out of a number of variables, of which you don't fully know which ones are the most important. I, for that matter, do not know either, since that part of the human records was erased during one of the climate conflicts in the 2050's.
So how much warming does a certain level of carbon dioxide cause? Hard to say. Warming triggers the permafrost to unfreeze, causing more warming, causing more water vapour, causing more clouds. Maybe the biggest question is? Are clouds cooling or warming? Problem is: they can be both.
See here, a warm Summer's day in the temperate zone. The sun shines down on us, and since there are no clouds, loads of solar energy comes down and it gets very hot.
But here, a cold winter's dat in the temperate zone. Just as on the last picture there are no clouds, but the sunlight doesn't contain that much energy. Heat energy from the earth is leaving the earth for space, and since there are no clouds, the energy can leave without problem. It is a clear and very cold Winter's day.
So, as you see, clouds can either create more heat or more cold. The scientists can therefore not extrapolate how much the climate will change. Just that it is happening, and that a lot of awful things will follow in its way.
So how much warming does a certain level of carbon dioxide cause? Hard to say. Warming triggers the permafrost to unfreeze, causing more warming, causing more water vapour, causing more clouds. Maybe the biggest question is? Are clouds cooling or warming? Problem is: they can be both.
See here, a warm Summer's day in the temperate zone. The sun shines down on us, and since there are no clouds, loads of solar energy comes down and it gets very hot.
But here, a cold winter's dat in the temperate zone. Just as on the last picture there are no clouds, but the sunlight doesn't contain that much energy. Heat energy from the earth is leaving the earth for space, and since there are no clouds, the energy can leave without problem. It is a clear and very cold Winter's day.
So, as you see, clouds can either create more heat or more cold. The scientists can therefore not extrapolate how much the climate will change. Just that it is happening, and that a lot of awful things will follow in its way.
lördag 22 november 2008
Agenda
Live long and prosper.
My name is Commander Spoff, and I'm an alien. And as if that wouldn't be enough, I'm also from the future. I was sent here from the 24th Century by an underground movements of mutant humans, your children's children.
You see, having studied your images of the future, things didn't really turn out the way you planned. A few thousand mutant humans, isolated in small groups all over the planet, is the only thing left of your species in my timeline. The phenomenon you call "global warming" or "the anthropogenic green house effect" turned out worse than anyone of your time could ever imagine. The natural catastrophes, drought, diseases wars, terrorism and other conflicts that followed whiped more than half the population out. And since everyone had to see to their own survival, the various other environmental problems grew. Eutrophication killed the fish from which people got their nutricional needs served. Nuclear waste leaked, hazardous levels of radioactivity can be measured all around the globe. Metals like mercury and lead killed most of the remaining population.
But this wasn't supposed to happen. I volunteered on going back in time to prevent all this from happening. It was logical to conclude that I was an adequat choise for this mission. My inner qualities, being logical but still an empath able to sense other people's feelings, have proven to be very appreciated by mutant humans. My apperance, having the eyes of a Vulcan and the ears of a betazoid, will make me pass as fully human.
Unfortunately, time travelling is not an art which my generation fully master, and here I am, a couple of decades later than expected. Also, my universal translator broke as I just got here. My backup Human language will probably be good enough, but some strange Vulcan wordings may still show up.
I will do the best I can to save humanity. I know this is a one way trip. There's no way for me to get back to my time. I have devoted my life to save yours.
My name is Commander Spoff, and I'm an alien. And as if that wouldn't be enough, I'm also from the future. I was sent here from the 24th Century by an underground movements of mutant humans, your children's children.
You see, having studied your images of the future, things didn't really turn out the way you planned. A few thousand mutant humans, isolated in small groups all over the planet, is the only thing left of your species in my timeline. The phenomenon you call "global warming" or "the anthropogenic green house effect" turned out worse than anyone of your time could ever imagine. The natural catastrophes, drought, diseases wars, terrorism and other conflicts that followed whiped more than half the population out. And since everyone had to see to their own survival, the various other environmental problems grew. Eutrophication killed the fish from which people got their nutricional needs served. Nuclear waste leaked, hazardous levels of radioactivity can be measured all around the globe. Metals like mercury and lead killed most of the remaining population.
But this wasn't supposed to happen. I volunteered on going back in time to prevent all this from happening. It was logical to conclude that I was an adequat choise for this mission. My inner qualities, being logical but still an empath able to sense other people's feelings, have proven to be very appreciated by mutant humans. My apperance, having the eyes of a Vulcan and the ears of a betazoid, will make me pass as fully human.
Unfortunately, time travelling is not an art which my generation fully master, and here I am, a couple of decades later than expected. Also, my universal translator broke as I just got here. My backup Human language will probably be good enough, but some strange Vulcan wordings may still show up.
I will do the best I can to save humanity. I know this is a one way trip. There's no way for me to get back to my time. I have devoted my life to save yours.
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