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Sunday, October 29, 2006

Living planet in decline

The WWF has released a new report detailing the decline in living species since 1970. The news is that marine species have declined by more than 25%. The report highlights how the destruction of mangrove forests (by 1/3 between 1990 and 2006) is a major contributor to the decline of marine biodiversity, and, of course, commercial fishing. Speaking of which, even the US Government has now realised the insanity of current practice, go here for a new report, which shows how over-fishing affects fish populations. Here's a quote from that report:

"We found that the variability of the targeted populations was much higher, meaning that fishing tends to amplify both the peaks and the valleys of population numbers," said George Sugihara, a co-author of the paper and an oceanographer at Scripps. "Fishing can potentially not only lead to declining stock levels, but cause populations to fluctuate more through time, which could put them at greater risk of collapse than previously thought."

The scientists believe that the reason fished populations become more variable is because fishing selectively culls the larger, older individuals, thereby removing the fish that are more able to buffer random environmental variation. These individuals also tend to be the most reproductively active.

As fishing proceeds, there is a tendency for the size and age of individuals in the population to decline, potentially leaving a stock of near-juveniles that are less able to cope with environmental events such as El Niño.

And, here's a graph from the WWF report showing the decline of species:

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Speaking of reports, there's also a new one out on the cost of climate change. If the suffering of humans and untold other creatures doesn't move you, then the 7 trillion dollar price tag might.

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Thursday, October 26, 2006

What is to be done in Iceland?

Since my recent posts on the bastards in Iceland resuming commercial whaling, this site has received a relative flood of visitors from Iceland. So, now that they are here, what is to be done? Basically, you, the citizens of Iceland, must force your government to ban whaling. Time for a revolution.

I'm serious. You need to pressure on the government to not only withdraw its financial support for whaling (which is, after all, your taxes at work) but to abolish the backwards, short-sighted policy of killing whales for no good reason.

How, you ask? To the streets, to the barricades. Block the whaling ships from leaving or entering the harbour, march on the headquarters of the whaling company, use your imagination and all sorts of avenues will open up. If you were to do oppose this slaughter, over a long enough period of time, you would force the government to abandon its madness. Imagine the press, the world doesn't want whaling, the whales aren't so keen on it, the people of Iceland (that's you) don't want it, but the government does?

Do not sit idly by, do not expect others to do the dirty work for you. Instead, find fellow sane residents of Iceland, and then agitate, educate and organise.

If you do not rise up, then the shame & scorn of not only this generation but all the ones to follow, will be on your head. You can save the whales, you have the means and the opportunity. So, to the barricades...

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Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Something is seriously wrong with my go

To be blunt, I'm playing utter crap each time I play. Go has become a serious of losses, with very little hope in sight. All of a sudden, I can't "see" the board anymore. It has become a mosaic of random shapes, and my next move is often a complete mystery, both before and after the event. Give me a won position and I will contrive to screw it up. And, I'm not even talking about strong opponents. These days, anyone can beat me.

In compensation, I've become aggressive on the board, cutting for the sake of cutting without any other regard. Give me a live group and I will attack it. Strange and not very successful.

Dan is not what I thought it would be.

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Tuesday, October 24, 2006

US elite moving to Mars

A while ago, I mentioned that the US elite did have a backup plan for when the climate goes south; move to Mars and leave the rest of us to face the consequences of their ecological rape. This week, Bush put the beginnings of that plan into official policy. No joke, go here, here, and here

The policy seems to be that the US reserves the right to do what it pleases in space, including attacking those that get it its way. Here are the "new" official US Space Policy Goals:

3. United States Space Policy Goals

The fundamental goals of this policy are to:
  • Strengthen the nation’s space leadership and ensure that space capabilities are available in time to further U.S. national security, homeland security, and foreign policy objectives;
  • Enable unhindered U.S. operations in and through space to defend our interests there;
  • Implement and sustain an innovative human and robotic exploration program with the objective of extending human presence across the solar system;
And, note that this will be a business friendly migration plan (essentially US capital and political elites, essentially the same people, have decided that space is for them and them alone):

It is in the interest of the United States to foster the use of U.S. commercial space capabilities around the globe and to enable a dynamic, domestic commercial space sector. To this end, departments and agencies shall:

  • Use U.S. commercial space capabilities and services to the maximum practical extent; purchase commercial capabilities and services when they are available in the commercial marketplace and meet United States Government requirements; and modify commercially available capabilities and services to meet those United States Government requirements when the modification is cost effective;
  • Develop systems when it is in the national interest and there is no suitable, cost effective U.S. commercial or, as appropriate, foreign commercial service or system that is or will be available when required
  • Continue to include and increase U.S. private sector participation in the design and development of United States Government space systems and infrastructures;
  • Refrain from conducting activities that preclude, deter, or compete with U.S. commercial space activities, unless required by national security or public safety;
If you're American, I hope you realise that this plan will be financed by you. The Rover, beloved of all, is actually a real estate scout:

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Say goodbye to the snow leopard

To be honest, I thought these guys were already gone, so, maybe there is hope. I'd like to believe that, I really would, but...

An estimated 6000 snow leopards remain in the wild and their numbers are falling rapidly. China's black bears are also threatened, but tigers are most at risk from the rising demand. Their skins are mostly brought into Tibet from India and sold to smugglers eyeing the lucrative trade in Beijing.
Link

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Monday, October 23, 2006

How do you say goobye in Iceland?

With a harpoon. The slaughter has begun.

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Friday, October 20, 2006

World's Worst Polluted Places

Go here for a list of the world's most polluted places. Scary stuff. Given the number of Chinese cities that make into the list, people might want to rethink the so-called glories of Chinese economic development.

Environmental Confusion over Whales

Whilst trawling through the web, looking at environmental blogs, I ran across a post entitled "Is caring about whales frivolous?" at gristmill. Here's an extract:

Earlier this summer Japan, Norway, and Iceland announced that they planned to dramatically increase the scope of whaling, extending it to species that currently aren't hunted. (They were eventually rebuffed by a small margin.) Upon learning this, I remember experiencing a strong sense of anger and frustration. Part of this was due no doubt to my recent trip to Hawaii and the opportunity I had to get up close to humpback whales, which were slated for slaughter by the Japanese. These magnificent creatures pose no threat to humans, are highly sentient (their famous songs are as complex as symphonies), and every year take part in the longest migration on the entire planet.

After I called the Japanese, Icelandic, and Norwegian embassies, and sent out emails to my friends urging them to do the same, I took a moment to examine my strong reaction to this news. At a time of genocide in the Sudan, the ongoing carnage in Iraq, and the continuing AIDS epidemic, was the intensity of my feelings misplaced? Was I falling prey to the charge often leveled against environmentalists, that they care more about animals than about people?


After reading through the site, I've noticed a fair amount of confusion, often coming out of the fact that people seem to what to divorce caring for the environment from wider political theory and action. Let's face it, we are in a mess. Not just from an environmental point of view but from economic and political points of view. Essentially, the vast majority of us have no political power or access and are just marks in a global system that is the playground of robber-barons. We are merely consumers. And, in this system of continuous consumption and exploitation, the environment is taking all the hard knocks. Of course, when the global temperature heats up, ice melts, cities drown, and deserts expand, we will take our turn in the suffering (although not what Michael Albert calls the "controlling class", which will have the resources to avoid the worst effects and even migrate to Mars while we all boil). To keep our nice planet, we need to change the fundamentals of our political, economic, and social systems.

So, why whales? Apart from preserving them as species in there own right, saving the whales was one of the great victories (perhaps the only one) of the environmental/progressive movements. They have to be saved, for if we cannot save them, how will we ever be able to save ourselves?

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Black Looks

Black Looks is a really good blog, written by a Nigerian activist. This is her on the Madonna adoption:

Madonna “adopts an African Child” - Some time ago Mad Kenyan Woman (Interesting that I find myself constantly referring to this post!) wrote

CLEARANCE SALE!!!! EVERY AFRICAN COUNTRY MUST GO!!!! PRICES SLASHED !!! BUY ONE, GET THE GOVERNMENT FREE!!! (POPULATION OPTIONAL)

Too disgusted to say anything more on this……


She also in South Africa now, blogging about her perceptions, which is always interesting.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Say Goodbye to North Sea Cod

This has been on the cards for decades, everyone has known about, and now the end for the North Sea Cod is nigh.

DOWN in the depths of the North Sea, changes are afoot. One hundred metres below the surface, you can still find haddock and plaice, and even the odd squid floating by. But search as you may down to the sandy ocean floor, there is one species you will be lucky to catch a glimpse of: the cod.

That most familiar of fish, whose flaky white flesh is a key ingredient of the traditional fish supper and whose liver oil has been revered by the health-conscious for generations, is, according to European researchers, close to extinction in the North Sea.

And, they say, the only way to prevent it dying out in our waters is to implement a complete ban on cod fishing off our shores.


Of course, the fishing industry has another reason, seals. Yup, seals are in a frenzy, herding cod into marine concentration camps in an effort to purify the marine racial mix and provide living space. Please...

Link (Note: Link suggests some alternative fish to eat, which is short-sighted at best. We'll just consume all of those fish instead, widening the gill nets of destruction.)

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Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Say Goodbye to the Whales, Once More

Xenocide is catching, the new craze, from Japan to Iceland. Iceland has just tossed aside the 20 year-old moratorium on international whaling, Norway and Japan expected to follow soon. The reason of Iceland's reinvigorated assault on whales?

Starvation? Unlikely as Iceland has a Human Development Index of .956 (2nd in the world), life expectancy of 80.6 years, and a per capita income of USD31,243 (Source).

Whales set to invade Iceland? Self-defence from whale jihadis. No, the war on the environment has already been won (making one victory, two losses in the wars against nouns).

Maybe, these rich, pampered Northern Europeans like to eat whales? Maybe they like the taste. Apparently not...

...there is barely a market for the catch. In 2004, just a quarter of the whale meat taken by the Icelandic whaling fleet was actually sold. The country's industrial freezers are full of unsold whale from previous seasons. A recent poll of Icelanders by anti-whalers found that only 1% of Icelanders eat whale meat once a week or more, while 82.4% of 16- to 24-year-olds never eat whale meat. Meanwhile, the international market is saturated. The Norwegians, who maintain whaling to keep their remote northern coastal communities politically sweet, failed to meet their quota of whales last year, yet still had to turn some of the catch into pet food. Meanwhile, the Japanese are reportedly handing it out to schoolchildren.


Maybe the Icelandic economy is dependent on whale hunting. Nope, also doesn't cut ice...

Polls have repeatedly shown that 70-80% of Icelanders support commercial whaling and the government has long threatened to play the nationalist card. It also claims that the industry is economically essential to the country. This, though, is nonsense. All of Iceland's whaling is done by one company, owned by one powerful family in Reykjavik who are subsidised by the Icelandic government. While the government says it is economically essential to continue whaling, there is little evidence that it supports more than a few seasonal jobs. Indeed, whale watching is far more important to the country.


So why? Because they want to, stuff the rest of us, and bring on the blubber. Japan, Norway, and Iceland are the true rogue states, they are a real, present and imminent threat to the biodiversity of this planet. What they are doing now will have effects for the rest of the planet's history, for once the whales are gone, they're not coming back.

Link

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Monday, October 16, 2006

New Job: Saving the Environment Part II

A year and a half ago, I joined Jubilee South Africa to work on the total cancellation of Third World Debt, including the Apartheid Debt, and the payment of reparations for human rights abuses during Apartheid and environmental damage & pillage. For a while, that worked out. Took on Barclays Bank for its role in funding the SA Defence Force in 1976 (they gave 20 million rand to the army during the year of the Soweto Uprising and called in corporate social responsibility), made waves and got the message out about how Apartheid was propped up by multinational corporations, and, in particular, finance capital. This was achieved through a campaign of mass mobilisation of poor communities (including a large march through Africa's Wall Street, Sandton), based on the theory of direct action. It worked so well, that it forced organisational changes and readjusted the internal power structure of Jubilee; essentially moving from a NGO bravely scaling the heights of the next international conference into a the beginnings of a true social movement.

Unfortunately, this lead to a counter-revolution by elements within Jubilee (namely the Board) and a long, protracted, fairly public and nasty internal struggle. The first half of this year was consumed in this dispute, which led, amongst other low points, to myself, other staff members, and grassroots activists being hauled to the High Court by the board for occupying Jubilee's offices (yes, it got that bad, the offices were occupied for a month and a half by individual members of the organisation protesting the Board's undemocratic nature, it's refusal be held to account, and the ongoing attempted purge of staff). Anyway, Jubilee fell apart, with the donors walking away, the staff not being paid as a tactic to force submission, the entire staff resigning in protest (and I mean the whole staff, an amazing display of worker solidarity), and charges laid against some staff members (myself included) and activists. Hillbrow police station was not a fun place to spend some time.

Despite the occasional long-winded missive from reactionary elements, the Jubilee saga is over, and I can move on. For the past couple of months, I have been engaged in the ultra-exciting task of writing funding proposals for a Danish organisation, whom I won't name because they'll probably sue the hell out of me. That, thankfully, is drawing to a rapid close.

On the 15th of November, I'll be working for Earthlife Africa, running the Energy Policy Unit and trying to get South Africa to stop using coal for power generation and start using solar, wind and tidal methods. All of which sounds like a blast, and a tremendous challenge. So, back to saving the environment.

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Say Goodbye to the Sea

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It appears that land-based rubbish, agricultural pollution and industrial muck are creating dead zones in costal waters, areas devoid of oxygen and thus life. On top of the preferred vaccum cleaner method of industrial fishing, we might as well say goodbye to the sea, despite what this industry lobby group would have us believe. Anyway, here's to the dead zones:

The number of ocean "dead zones" has grown from 150 in 2004 to about 200 today, said Nick Nuttall, a UNEP spokesperson.

"These are becoming more common in developing countries," Nuttall told IPS from Nairobi, Kenya.

Dead zones can encompass areas of ocean 100,000 square kms in size where little can live because there is no oxygen left in the water. Nitrogen pollution, mainly from farm fertilisers and sewage, produces blooms of algae that absorb all of the oxygen in the water.

Growing global populations, mainly concentrated along coastlines, and the resulting increase in untreated sewage are endangering human health and wildlife, as well as livelihoods from fisheries to tourism, according to the "State of the Marine Environment" report.

"An estimated 80 percent of marine pollution originates from the land," said Achim Steiner, United Nations undersecretary-general and UNEP's executive director.

"And this could rise significantly by 2050 if, as expected, coastal populations double in just over 40 years time and action to combat pollution is not accelerated," Steiner said in a statement...

In many developing countries, between 80 percent and nearly 90 percent of sewage entering the coastal zones is estimated to be raw and untreated. These wastes contain bacteria and viruses that can contaminate marine species such as shellfish that are consumed by people, Nuttall said.

Studies in the Caribbean Sea have also shown that sewage encourages the spread of disease in corals, ultimately destroying them. Around 80 percent of Caribbean coral has been lost to disease in the past 20 years, report researchers at the University of North Carolina in the United States.

Link

(thanks to Dale for the link and tag)

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Thursday, October 05, 2006

Say Goodbye to the Hawaiian Monk Seal

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Cute, huh? Like to show your kids?

Tough luck, the Hawaiian monk seals are at 1,200 and going fast, from starvation mostly. However, the good news is that the Hawaiian monk seal may last longer than its Mediterranean counterpart.

Monk seals broke off from the main evolutionary branch of seals about 12 million years ago and are believed to have since remained unchanged. Already the Hawaiian monk seal's counterpart in the Caribbean is extinct. And the Mediterranean monk seal is estimated to number 500 at most.

Link

The link above also shows the result of fishing lines on seals. Clubbing looks less painful.

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Say Goodbye to the Grey Nurse Shark

Australia's Grey Nurse Shark seems to be on the way out. Reason, recreational fishing. Xenocide sure is fun, the hobby of hobbies...

NICOLA BEYNON: Divers who regularly dive at those sites will tell you that up to 70 per cent of the sharks there are trailing hooks from line fishing.

ANNIE GUEST: Australia's grey nurse shark population has dwindled to about 500. It's considered extinct off Victoria and most of its population lives off New South Wales.

Conservationists believe the whole population could be extinct in a decade.

Link

In fact, you might want to say goodbye to shark's in general. If trends continue--and there are no reasons, social, political, economics, or otherwise to suggest the contrary--sharks species across the board will be wiped out, this after 400 million years of evolution. Already, the IUCN Red List indicates that the following species are close to the end: ganges shark, borneo shark, basking shark, speartooth shark, whitefin tope shark, angular angel shark, smoothback angel shark, spinner shark, pondicherry shark, smoothtooth blacktip shark, blacktip shark, dusky shark, grey nurse or sand tiger shark, great white shark, gulper shark, basking shark, school or tope shark, bluegray carpetshark, porbeagle shark, whale shark, thresher shark, java or pigeye shark, kitefin shark, salmon shark, megamouth shark, broadnose sevengill shark, bigeye sand tiger shark, narrowmouth catshark, great hammerhead shark, and the argentine angel shark.

This isn't some abstract, at some future point, if we don act now, let's have a conference and implement recommendations in 10 years kind of a situation. This is now. This slaughter goes on as we speak, 100 million sharks will be killed this year. We are living in the middle of an ongoing and entirely pointless mass extinction, and I can feel the heat of future generations' judgement and scorn. Our generation will be blamed as the generation that destroyed the planet (mostly through inaction), and rightly so.

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Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Navbar gone, template basic

I've got some work ahead of me on the design front. Time for a change anyway.

Blogger Beta

Moved to Blogger Beta and having teething problems. Anyone know how to get rid of the navbar?

On Plato's Republic

A friend of mine once said, "You should read the Republic the same way you should read Mein Kampf."

I concur.

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Sunday, October 01, 2006

Baduk update

I haven't blogged about go for a while, primarily because it no longer has the high priority it used to have when I was gunning for 1-dan. I haven't cracked a book or done some problems in months. I still play regularly (mostly on scratch), and have taken to playing a lot of games on KGS. Since getting dan, I've tended to be far more relaxed about winning and losing (more of the latter, I'm afraid) and have been experimenting with a Takamiya-style strategy. All that said, I'm spending more time on politics, the thesis, mechanics and other related pursuits, with go being an amusement.

After years of playing, my main conclusion about go is that my life has been much the richer for knowing the game.

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