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The John James Newsletter 63
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The John James Newsletter 63
6 June 2015 – Provence
The destruction of the natural world is a consequence of the evolutionary success of an exceptionally rapacious primate. Throughout all of history and prehistory, human advance has coincided with ecological devastationJohn Gray, STRAW DOGS
Alert: Arctic methane levels skyrocketing
Over the past few months, reporting stations around the Arctic have shown a ramping rate of atmospheric methane accumulation. The curves in the graphs are steepening, hinting at a growing release of methane from a warming Arctic environment.
Ground level measurements of methane have been spiking upwards over the last few years.
The implications to the breakdown of climate stability, causing jet stream fracturing and weather regime change that will rapidly worsen as Arctic temperature amplification continues, leading our planet to a much warmer and unrecognizable climate over the next 5 to 10 years.
http://arctic-news.blogspot.fr/2015/05/arctic-methane-skyrocketing.html
The tipping point for the Arctic sea ice has already passed.
“Governments must get a grip on a situation which IPCC has ignored. A strategy of mitigation is doomed to fail as we can’t adapt to the worst consequences of global warming, as IPCC suggests. The Arctic must be cooled to prevent the sea ice disappearing with disastrous global consequences. Rapid warming in the Arctic has already disrupted the jet stream. The resulting escalation in weather extremes is causing a food crisis in Asia and Africa”.
Six facts you need to know about the Arctic methane timebomb
- Current Arctic methane levels are unprecedented
- The tipping point for continuous Siberian permafrost thaw could be as low as 1.5C
- A 50 Gigatonne decadal methane pulse is possible, say Met Office scientists
- Arctic methane hydrates are becoming increasingly unstable from climate change
- Arctic conditions during the Eemian interglacial (130,000 to 115,000bp) are a terrible analogy for today’s Arctic
- Paleoclimate records will not necessarily capture a large, abrupt methane pulse
“We are looking at a catastrophic effect on global climate consequent on this extremely fast sea ice retreat”
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-23432769
Scorched earth: at the epicentre of the Queensland drought, a family sells the last of their cattle
You live on borrowed money. You live like a miser. And you wait for rain, if not this summer or the next. You wait for the grass to grow again, so you can buy back the bones of a new herd. Then you hope that in two years’ time you will have something to take to market and income will be a part of your life again. But this drought is now unprecedented in scale – affecting a record 80% of the state.
How to Keep Your Data Away From the NSA
Intercept reporter Glenn Greenwald offers advice on how to make it harder for the NSA to collect private data.
US Congress passes surveillance reform in vindication for Edward Snowden
This is the most important surveillance reform bill since 1978, and its passage is an indication that Americans are no longer willing to give the intelligence agencies a blank check.
Australia is ‘one of most aggressive’ in mass surveillance
Journalist who first reported on Edward Snowden revelations for the Guardian says Australia is ‘probably the country that has gotten away with things the most’
War is inevitable
The Global Times, an influential nationalist tabloid owned by the ruling Communist Party’s official newspaper the People’s Daily, said in an editorial that China was determined to finish its construction work, calling it the country’s “most important bottom line.”
Cuban Life Expectancy Among the Highest in World at 78.45 Years :
Life expectancy for women was slightly higher at 80.45 years, with the life span for men at 76.50 years. Cuba is in the top 25 countries in the world for life expectancy, which is considered an important indicator of human development and quality of healthcare.
List of countries by life expectancy:
The life expectancy is shown separately for males and females, as well as a combined figure.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy
Ageing population: Asia braces for grey future
ASIA is undergoing one of the most profound demographic shifts the world has ever seen. By the middle of this century, the number of people aged over 65 is expected to rise from 300 million to around 1 billion.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Ageing-population-Asia-braces-for-grey-future-30261267.html
Is There A Multibillion Dollar Conspiracy To Make Sure we Stay Overweight?
One of the primary reasons why most of us are overweight is due to how our food is made. Our diet is highly processed and it is packed with obesity-causing ingredients such as sugar and high fructose corn syrup. And some of the additives are highly addictive and make you want to eat more – some are about as addictive as “opiates“, “heroin” and “cocaine“.
Consumption and Consumerism
A solid report on this key issue including children as consumers; sugar; beef; bananas; pineapples.
http://www.globalissues.org/issue/235/consumption-and-consumerism
Solar grid parity?
The basic question is whether, when, and where solar might reasonably be expected to improve enough to reach general grid parity— depending on better efficiency and lower cost. Why do the media claim parity has been achieved?
http://judithcurry.com/2015/05/31/solar-grid-parity/#more-18938
Economy and Hockey on a Slippery Slope
Economist, Professor Bill Mitchel, is convinced we are heading for a recession. “Now that we have more data, the reality is starting to look like recession if the Government does not radically alter its fiscal settings from austerity to stimulus.”
http://theaimn.com/economy-and-hockey-on-a-slippery-slope/
Isaac Newton Figured Out How Trees Work 200 Years Before the Botanists
http://www.businessinsider.com/isaac-newtons-explanation-of-how-trees-defy-gravity-2015-2
Syria: A Country Divided
Weakened by years of war, Assad’s government now controls only a sliver of Syrian territory.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2015/05/syria-country-divided-150529144229467.html
UN General Assembly Demands Israel Mothball its Nuclear Arsenal
Tel Aviv’s stockpile of nuclear bombs has been a deeply destabilizing factor in the Middle East. it is not too much to conclude that Israel’s nuclear weapons are indirectly what mired the US in a fruitless 8-year war in the Middle East.
http://www.juancole.com/2014/12/general-assembly-mothball.html
What if US & UN Sanctioned Israel over its Nukes as they did Iran over Enrichment?
It was Israel’s bomb that, in part, impelled Iraq’s nuclear weapons program of the 1980s in turn convinced some in Iran that Iran needed at least a nuclear break-out capacity if two of its enemies were going to have bombs.
http://www.juancole.com/2015/04/sanctioned-israel-nukes.html
Israel’s Alliance with al-Qaeda
Almost unnoticed by the mainstream media, Israel’s occupation forces in the Golan Heights have been in alliance with the Nusra Front, al-Qaeda’s official franchise in Syria.
Rare Earth Elements and their Uses
This chart clearly shows the US entry in the mid-1960s when colour television exploded the demand. When China began selling rare earths at very low prices in the late-1980s, mines in the US cut production. When China cut exports in 2010, rare earth prices skyrocketed. That motivated new production elsewhere.
http://geology.com/articles/rare-earth-elements/
Modeling Lindzen’s adaptive infrared iris
In 2001 Prof. Richard Lindzen and colleagues published a controversial paper “Does the Earth have an Adaptive Infrared Iris?” If there were a tropical adaptive infrared iris, then Earth’s sensitivity to GHGs would be much less than the IPCC had supposed.
http://judithcurry.com/2015/05/26/modeling-lindzens-adaptive-infrared-iris/#respond
Processes that may change the balance in favour of dry and clear regions in warmer climates have been proposed to constitute a possible negative feedback not represented by climate models.
http://judithcurry.com/2015/05/26/observational-support-for-lindzens-iris-hypothesis/#more-18748
Hungary Destroys All Monsanto GMO Corn Fields
Unlike many European Union countries, Hungary is a nation where genetically modified (GM) seeds are banned. In a similar stance against GM ingredients, Peru has also passed a 10 year ban on GM foods.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/hungary-destroys-all-monsanto-gmo-corn-fields/5342913
A Prehistory of Violence
Climate change was the commonest cause of mass extinction in prehistory. Mass extinction is caused by three impacts, occurring simultaneously: global warming, the acidification of the oceans and the loss of oxygen from seawater. All caused by large amounts of C02 entering the atmosphere.
http://www.monbiot.com/2015/05/27/a-prehistory-of-violence/
France to force big supermarkets to give unsold food to charities
French supermarkets will be banned from throwing away or destroying unsold food and must donate it to charities or for animal feed.
Tombs Filled with Dozens of Mummies Discovered in Peru
Archaeologists have excavated seven tombs containing at least 171 mummies. “Before rigor mortis set in, the mummies had their knees put up to the level of their shoulders and their arms folded along their chest”. The corpses were then bound with rope and wrapped in layers of textiles.
http://www.livescience.com/50415-dozens-of-mummies-discovered-in-peru.html
SE Asia: Home to Ethnic Cleansing, Slavery, and Hazardous Work
Until his resignation from the House of Representatives of the Republic of the Philippines two months ago owing to differences with the Aquino administration, Telesur columnist Walden Bello chaired the House Committee on Overseas Workers’ Affairs.
Finnegans Wake becomes a hit book in China
Following billboard ads, James Joyce’s nigh-incomprehensible book leaps over language barrier to reach surprising readership.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/feb/05/finnegans-wake-china-james-joyce-hit?CMP=ema_565
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