This morning I woke to one newspaper article reporting that our NSW State Government is getting ready to appeal against the recent landmark ruling that it must consider the greenhouse impacts of burning coal to make electricity.

And, another article about a New Zealand-led scientific drilling team in Antarctica that has recently recovered three million years of climate history. Their conclusion — the Ross Ice Shelf, a raft of ice the size of France, may collapse as quickly as Larsen B did in 2002, triggering a dramatic rise in sea level.

The Larsen Ice Shelf which is on the Antarctic Peninsula had been stable for 10 thousand years or so but in 2002 proved that when these things decide to go, they go extremely quickly. A total of about 3,250 km2 of shelf area disappeared in a 35-day period. The Larsen Ice Shelf is now about 40 percent of the size of its previous stable minimum. You can view the speed and the extent of the Larsen B break up at the British Antarctic Survey. Link

The scientific consensus is clear: global warming is real, it’s happening now and it is the result of our use of oil and other fossil fuels. There is a lot you and I can do. Learn more here!

The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty on climate change, assigning mandatory targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to signatory nations. It has been signed and ratified by upward of 160 countries.

The USA and Australia continue to be the only countries that refuse to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

It seems to me that if we create genetically identical animals, it’s going to have repercussions we don’t yet know about (because they haven’t been around long enough) — isn’t it genetic diversity that provides the resilience and strength of a species against illness and adverse conditions?

This is just one more reason to read the label and make sure were your food is coming from — you won’t get me eating these frankenfoods intentionally.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: there’s nothing more dangerous than a scientist! Well, one thing maybe: a corporation that gets the scent of a profit making possibility.

Three years after the Food and Drug Administration first hinted that it might permit the sale of milk and meat from cloned animals, prompting public reactions that ranged from curiosity to disgust, the agency is poised to endorse marketing of the mass-produced animals for public consumption.

The decision, expected by the end of this year, is based largely on new data indicating that milk and meat from cloned livestock and their offspring pose no unique risks to consumers. | Link

Since the whaling season started on April 1, fishermen have caught about half the number of animals allowed by the Norwegian government – around 500 minke whales out of 1,052, the highest quota ever allowed. Norway is the only country in the world to conduct commercial whaling. Link

I checked the site out last week and it showed big waves predicted to move from the Great Australian Bite up the east coast.

Yesterday, the sea was huge and it was reported by the mainstream media that some Sydney beaches had their largest waves in 30 years. Link

Bob wrote:
…the story was interesting, and like the Scientific American article says, the 112 ft wave is the largest OBSERVED — I have no doubt they can get much larger, and in time I suppose that someone will see larger waves – they most certainly exist — in time we will learn a lot more.

Here is an interesting link to a US Navy web site that predicts wave activity around the world for several days. Link

Thanks Bob!

As I watched the waves break I realised there are people who look at the sea and actually see stuff that I don’t. They see currents, understand how the waves are breaking, they see rips and tides and where fish are swimming and heaps of other things that I haven’t got a clue about.

In other words, they not only see the forest, they see the trees and the leaves on the trees and the tiny little insects that crawl on the ground.

Me, I often fail to see the whole bloody forest — think I need to get some new glasses.

Downunder it’s summer. Outside our front door the temperature hit 29 degrees C (84F) with 80+ percent humidity yesterday. That’s flower power!

I found the story and the quote below on Boing Boing and immediately thought that since my better-half is from that great whale-eating nation that I’d better post a happy Norway story so she’d stop thinking I was totally anti Norwegian.

“Norway is a country with huge differences between the seasons. It’s kind of cool to start the new year with this little run through of 2005.”

eirekso | Link

Norwegian whalers will be allowed to kill a total of 1,052 minke whales in 2006, an increase of 30%.

The quota was raised from 797 – already a record – after a unanimous vote in parliament, the government said.

BBC | Link