Tag Archives: world

Friday Cat Blogging – 19 August 2016

by DortheaSwope99 Posted on August 19, 2016

Mother Jones

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Here is Hopper posing for a glamor shot on a gray-and-white blanket that matches her coloring. We call this look “Blue Squeal.” She’s not the most cooperative model in the world.

Hilbert deserves the same treatment, of course, but that will have to wait until I get hold of a Shamu-colored blanket.

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Friday Cat Blogging – 19 August 2016

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It’ll be hard to toast to the end of the world without champagne

by JenniferMcQuist Posted on August 17, 2016

c’est la vie

It’ll be hard to toast to the end of the world without champagne

By on Aug 17, 2016Share

No. No. No. No. No. No. No.  

Wildfires, we can extinguish. Floods, we can flee. Sea levels, we can rise with. But this, this, is one downside of climate change there is just no recovering from.

That’s right: Climate change is coming for our champagne.

Vice reports that dramatic changes in France’s climate are wrecking havoc on the country’s champagne-makers. This season has been particularly unstable, according to Eric Rodez of the winery Champagne Rodez, who told Decanter that late spring frosts killed up to 70 percent of some winemakers’ grape harvests.

It’s an ongoing problem. “The early budding of the plant due to climate change makes them vulnerable to spring freezes,” Eric Fournel, director of the Duval-Leroy Vineyard, told PRI in 2014 — the same year Duval-Leroy lost over half their grape harvest to a freeze in May.

There is, however, a silver-lining to this otherwise horrid news: While climate change might make champagne harder to come by, it could make it tastier. Fournel said that climate change has actually improved the quality of the grapes as high temperatures lead to richer sugars, more alcohol, and less acidity.

Finally, there’s one reason to pop a cork.

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It’ll be hard to toast to the end of the world without champagne

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Here Is My Clever Plan to Save the Olympics

by qdyedut Posted on August 15, 2016

Mother Jones

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Clay Dillow reports that hosting the Olympics is really expensive:

When Rio de Janeiro won its bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics back in 2009, the Brazilian government estimated that costs directly related to hosting the games would run just shy of $3 billion. But by the time Vanderlei de Lima lit the Olympic torch at last week’s opening ceremonies, the country had already spent some $4.6 billion on venues, administration, transportation and the like, putting the games roughly 50 percent over budget. By the time the games close on Aug. 21, the tally for the games will likely be higher still.

What can we do to cut down on the cost of staging the Olympics? My idea to host the summer games permanently in Los Angeles sank like a shot put, so here’s another one: keep moving them from city to city, but break up the events.

Hear me out. This year, for example, maybe Rio would host track and field—which would be designated the lead venue, responsible for opening and closing ceremonies. Paris would host swimming. Denver would host gymnastics. Beijing would host wrestling, judo, and boxing. Perth would host all the sailing events. And so forth.

Basically, you could break up the summer games into a dozen components and let cities bid for each one. Ditto for the winter games. This would allow even small cities to bid on some of the smaller packages. And it would allow the IOC to gamble on letting developing countries play host without fearing that the entire games might be bollixed up.

Every couple of years, the entire world would be involved in the Olympics. Every continent would be represented. And no one would have to commit to spending billions and billions of dollars on a huge new Olympic venue. The television audience would barely see a difference, and the difference they did see might make the games even better. Some people would miss being able to visit the entire Olympics in person, but hell, that’s an expensive proposition. There aren’t many people who truly do this. And under my plan, it would be a lot easier and less crowded to visit just one venue that you’re truly interested in.

So how about it? This is the kind of out-of-the-box thinking the stodgy old IOC needs. Let’s blanket the world with the Olympic Games.

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Here Is My Clever Plan to Save the Olympics

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Donald Trump Made a Chart, and It’s Totally Wrong

by KatriceDickey Posted on August 15, 2016

Mother Jones

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The world is getting really hot. The first six months of 2016 was the warmest January-to-June on record, according to NASA. Last year was the hottest year on record. This year will almost certainly be hotter. Eighteen of the 20 warmest years on record have occurred in the past two decades. “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia,” writes the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—a UN-affiliated body that includes the world’s leading climate scientists. These scientists are 95 percent certain that humans are the “dominant” cause of the warming.

Here’s a NASA chart showing what all of this looks like:

But Donald Trump has a chart of his own (sort of). The real estate mogul was in South Florida last week, and a Miami Herald reporter asked him about one of the greatest threats facing the region: sea level rise. “I’m not a big believer in man-made climate change,” Trump responded. “There could be some impact, but I don’t believe it’s devastating impact.”

The world’s temperature, Trump insisted, isn’t doing anything unusual. “No, I would say that it goes up, it goes down,” he said, moving his hand up and down like a wave. “I think it’s very much like this over the years.”

It’s worth taking a moment to watch him do this in the video above. Think of Trump’s hand-waving as an attempt to chart historical temperature data. Now compare that to NASA’s chart, which shows what the climate is actually doing.

Trump, of course, is fully aware of the scientific consensus on global warming. He just thinks it’s all part of a grand conspiracy of lying scientists:

Trump returned to his completely wrong argument moments later. “You’ve had a change in weather patterns, and you’ve had it for many years,” he said. “You know, many years ago—I believe it was in the 1920s—they talked about the phenomenon of global cooling. They thought the planet was getting cooler. Now they think the planet is getting warmer.”

“I have a feeling, it’s sort of this,” added Trump, making the wave motion with his hand once more. “But nobody knows for sure.”

You can watch the full Miami Herald interview with Trump below:

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Donald Trump Made a Chart, and It’s Totally Wrong

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What’s the Best Way to Purify Water When Camping?

by FletaSWTvba Posted on August 12, 2016

If you’re going camping or backpacking, you’re going to need water. How much? Plan onaround a gallon a day for drinking, especially if you’re doing a lot of hiking or climbing, plus as much as 1/2 gallon for cooking, and another quart or so for some personal hygiene, like washing your hands and face and brushing your teeth.

If you’re not at a campsite that offers purified water, you’ll have to treat whatever the available water source is yourself. As delightful as a fresh mountain stream or lake might look, it’s never a good idea to drink the water you find in the wild without taking precautions. Rivers, streams and lakes in all likelihood contain microscopic pathogens that could cause severe diarrhea, cramps, vomiting and fever.

These pathogens could include parasites and viruses from human or animal feces, and bacteria like E.coli. They could make you sick during your trip, and hang on long after.

To stay safe, here are some ways to filter or purify your water.

Boiling

Boiling is probably the tried and true method for purifying water. However, boiling requires a heat source, which means either a camp stove or fire, and it doesn’t necessarily filter out any particles in the water. If you’re hiking along and run out of water, it’s tedious to boil and cool water on the trail. Plus, whatever fuel you use for boiling water you won’t be able to use for cooking food. Given the many alternatives there are for purifying water, boiling shouldn’t be on the top of your list. But if you do need to boil water, pour it through a coffee filter or cheese cloth to strain out mud, stones and other particles before you boil and drink it.

Chemicals

Iodine or chlorine dioxide tablets or solution will kill harmful bacteria, though again, they don’t filter gunk out of the water. The upside is that they’re inexpensive and effective. The downside is that you need to wait 30 minutes for the chemicalsto work, and iodine in particular leaves the water with a terrible taste. I trekked 150 miles through the Himalayas and past the Mt. Everest base camp drinking water I purified using only iodine tablets and never got sick once. But I’d probably try chlorine dioxide if I went again. NOTE: Iodine is not effective against Cryptosporidium; chlorine dioxide is. Also, do not use iodine tablets if you’re pregnant or have a thyroid condition.

Filters

Filters strain water through an internal element that captures protozoa and bacteria as well as fine particles. They’re not effective at isolating viruses, but that’s less a problem in North America than in developing countries. A filter may operate either by pumping, squeezing the bottle or sipping water through a filter component in a bottle, or via gravity. The GravityWorks filter won high marks from Outdoor Gear lab because it is fast, light, can filter a lot of water at one time and requires very little maintenance. The much smaller Sawyer Miniis anotherexcellent option, but is less efficient. LifeStraw offers an actual straw filter that the company says you can use to suck water directly out of its source. The company also sells the LifeStraw mission, a water bag you fill and then connect to the straw purifier to remove all contaminants.

Purifiers

Purifiers function very much like filters, though some purifiers add a chemical component to their system. The water purifier that seems to get the best reviews across the board is the MSR Guardian Purifier. Though it’s also the most expensive purifier, the MSR rates particularly highly because it doesn’t clog up the way some other filters and purifiers do. Reports Backpacker.com, if you needto clean “bottle after bottle of the world’s gunkiest water, this is your filter.”

UV Purifiers

These purifiers expose water to ultraviolet light and can tackle protozoa, bacteria and viruses. They can work as quickly as 90 seconds to purify 32 fl. oz. of water. One big downside is that they’re not as effective in dirty or murky water, so you’ll have to filter the water before you treat it with UV.

REI offers and excellent overview of various water filter options here.

Gear Finder by Backpacker reviews specific products here.

Related:

Drink From Your Book With This New Water Purifier
Why Tap Water is Best

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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What’s the Best Way to Purify Water When Camping?

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The Olympics Should Be Permanently Hosted In….Los Angeles

by RichelleButterf Posted on August 10, 2016

Mother Jones

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Grecophile Paul Glastris thinks we should stop moving the Olympics around and hold them permanently in Athens:

Part the reason for Greece’s debt crisis—and the continuing Depression-level economic hardships Greece is suffering under the jackboot of its European lenders, especially Germany—is the billions it borrowed to host the 2004 Olympics….Shifting the games every four years is also a colossal waste of human capital, as Christina Larson noted in the Washington Monthly back in 2004.

….In her article, Larson argued for going back to the original idea: pick a permanent place to host the Olympics. Greece, she said, was the obvious choice. (The first modern Olympics, in 1896, were in fact held in Athens, but in 1900, the founder of the modern games, Pierre de Coubertin, moved them in his native Paris, inaugurating the tradition of travelling games.)

Larson is right: there is an obvious choice. But it’s not Athens, which, as Paul concedes, couldn’t truly afford the games in 2004 and didn’t exactly electrify the world with its hosting. The truly obvious choice is the city that has twice demonstrated it can host the Olympics both competently and on a reasonable budget: Los Angeles. It’s a multicultural kind of place. It’s midway between Asia and Europe. It has great weather. It’s both a sports mecca and a show biz mecca. It has lots of great venues already available. And Angelenos are proud of their ability to put on a great Olympics spectacle without breaking the bank.

So LA it is. Now then: what city should permanently host the Winter Olympics?

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The Olympics Should Be Permanently Hosted In….Los Angeles

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Humans are gobbling up natural resources at a terrifying rate

by FranklyR14 Posted on August 3, 2016

Eat the rich

Humans are gobbling up natural resources at a terrifying rate

By on Aug 3, 2016Share

Humans are using too much crap.

That’s the official word from a new U.N. report on the use of natural resources. It found that, from the food we eat to the homes we live in to the fuels we burn, our rates of consumption are just unsustainable. That’s not too surprising, but the real shock is that our extraction of the primary materials used to make all of our stuff has more than tripled in the past 40 years.

United Nations Environment Programme

“We urgently need to address this problem before we have irreversibly depleted the resources that power our economies and lift people out of poverty,” said the U.N.’s Alicia Bárcena Ibarra.

Unfortunately, it’s a trend that’s likely to continue. Unless we drastically change our systems of production, according to the U.N., the world’s population will require almost three times the amount of resources we currently use by 2050. Rich nations, especially, are overusing materials, sucking up 10 times more than the world’s poorest nations and twice the global average.

So put down those diggers, humans! It’s time to save some stuff for the future.

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Humans are gobbling up natural resources at a terrifying rate

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A Tantalizing Offering From a Meal Kit Service: The Box

by Myrna Posted on August 3, 2016

The reusable box that FreshRealm created to reduce packaging waste is a selling point of its delivery service — and a product it sells to competitors. Source:   A Tantalizing Offering From a Meal Kit Service: The Box ; ; ;

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A Tantalizing Offering From a Meal Kit Service: The Box

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Olympians prepare for a “petri dish of pathogens”

by lbxmtg Posted on July 28, 2016

there’s something in the water

Olympians prepare for a “petri dish of pathogens”

By on Jul 28, 2016Share

The world’s greatest athletes head to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this week for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Those competing in Rio’s waters, though, will have more than just medals on the mind.

That’s because the waterways of Rio, as any resident of the embattled city probably could have told you, are dumping grounds for toxic chemicals, untreated sewage, garbage, and dead bodies. The contamination of Rio’s waters — including Guanabara Bay, where the sailing teams are practicing — is undeniable. And, as the New York Times reported yesterday, recent tests showed a “petri dish of pathogens,” including rotaviruses and drug-resistant super bacteria.

But this is the Olympics and the show must go on, despite public health concerns, a presidential impeachment scandal, and a host city that’s under a declared state of financial emergency. When it comes to water, the International Olympic Committee insists areas where athletes are to compete will meet World Health Organization standards. Still, to be on the safe side, as a 24-year-old Dutch sailing team member explained to the Times, “We just have to keep our mouths closed when the water sprays up.”

The water has been making Rio’s poor sick for decades. Hepatitis A, a waterborne disease, is widespread among residents of the city’s sprawling favelas. Lack of sanitation has also exacerbated the spread of the Zika virus. The Times reports that Brazil pledged to spend $4 billion to stem the flow of untreated sewage into its waters back in 2009, when it was angling for its Olympic bid. In fact, only about $170 million has been spent, a discrepancy that state officials blame on a budget crisis.

Meanwhile, at least 77,000 people faced forced, violent evictions from their homes leading up to the Olympic Games, despite having legal titles to their homes.

The Olympics are often, and controversially, hailed as an opportunity for development and improved infrastructure in the host country. But development, as David Zirin writes in an excellent article for the Nation, is most likely to benefit Brazilian elites, who view the Olympics as “a neoliberal Trojan horse allowing powerful construction and real-estate industries to build wasteful projects and displace the poor from coveted land.”

As for improved infrastructure, the fact that some of the world’s top athletes will have to compete in a “petri dish of pathogens” is pretty disheartening. If Rio’s waters weren’t cleaned up for some of the most highly valued bodies in the world, how much hope is there that they’ll be brought down to safe levels for the city’s actual residents, once the international media has packed up and gone home?

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Olympians prepare for a “petri dish of pathogens”

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Bill O’Reilly and Donald Trump chat about the end of the world

by ReubenWerner Posted on July 27, 2016

Faux News

Bill O’Reilly and Donald Trump chat about the end of the world

By on Jul 27, 2016Share

Presidential hopeful Donald Trump appeared on Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor Tuesday night to clarify his stance on a few issues. On the list: Bernie Sanders? Liar! Federal minimum wage? Get rid of it! NATO? Who needs it! Job recovery? Never heard of it!

On climate change, the Republican nominee was especially verbose. Here’s his full exchange with Bill O’Reilly (emphasis our own):

O’Reilly: They said that you called climate change a hoax. Is that true?

Trump: I want clean air and I want clean water and if you look at what’s going on in China and all these other countries that talk but they laugh behind our back at what we are doing. We want clean air, we want clean water, I’ve got many environmental awards, believe me. I know what I’m talking about. But we’ve got to have crystal clear water and crystal clean air.

O’Reilly: But did you ever call climate change a hoax?

Trump: Wellll, I might have because when I look at some of the things that are going on — in fact, if you look at what was happening in Europe a few years ago where people were sending out emails, scientists practically calling it a hoax, and they were laughing at it, so yeah I probably did. I see what’s going on and you see what’s going on.

O’Reilly: Do you believe that manmade fossil fuels and gases have eroded the environment so that the sun is more intense on Earth? Because that’s the basic thing. Do you believe that’s happening?

Trump: Well, they’re saying manmade and I say it could have a minor impact but nothing, nothing to what they are talking about. And what it is doing is putting us at a tremendous disadvantage as a country, because other counties are not adhering to the rules, we are, and it makes it impossible for our businesses to compete.

O’Reilly: That’s true.

Rest of the world: Sigh.

Neither O’Reilly nor Trump appear to understand climate change or how it works. And despite Trump’s frequent assertion that he’s “won many, many environmental awards,” the only one on record was bestowed upon him by a golfing organization.

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Bill O’Reilly and Donald Trump chat about the end of the world

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