A great charity with a different approach to helping 3rd world countries ...
http://www.validnutrition.org/
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Gaia
I'm currently reading the latest installment from James Lovelock; The Vanishing face of Gaia. Lovelock is an independent scientist and inventor who first put forward his Gaia theory in the 60's. Broadly speaking, Gaia theory purports that both the living and non-living parts of the earth work in a complex system to regulate the planet's climate.
Lovelock crticises exisiting climate theory and the International Planet on Climate Change in the first instance by suggesting that by their very nature, scientists should find it difficult to come to a consensus. He further criticises exisiting attempts to model and predict climate change on the basis that the approaches are too singular in their focus; that atmospheric physics or other single-disciplines are too restrictive in their application.
He argues for his theory that acknowledges the role of the biosphere in regulating the Earth - and in particular the role of the oceans, describing them as akin to the mercury in a thermometer that rises according to what he refers to as 'global heating'.
What is so refreshing about Lovelock's approach is that he is an Environmentalist but is intuitive and creative in his approach. He is not afraid to challenge the green consensus; which, as he points out, has now become part of a much bigger machine motivated by commercial gain.
He shuns the modern day approach of modelling and laments the lack of experiment, measured analysis and observation - in short, it seems, he believes that the approach to climate change has come to mirror modern life in a way; the dominance and desire for a 'quick fix' and the inevitable political aspect to it - the emergence of a hegemony around climate change.
He is an advocate for nuclear energy, the small scale use of biofuels and a future with genetically modified food sources -and he makes some compelling arguments in favour of these controversial energy sources. Perhaps even more controversially, he dismisses as folly attempts by the UK, Ireland and others to supplement the national grid with power derived from renewable sources and wind energy in particular.
And the figures are shocking - a windfarm of twenty 1MW turbines requires over 10,000 tonnes of concrete; and it would require 200 of those farms to equal the power output of a nuclear power station while remembering that 75% of the time winds are either too high or too low to produce an output.
Lovelock is of the view that we are too far gone and the planet has become over-occupied and over-consuming to reverse the effects of global warming. He argues in favouring of preparing so called safe-havens in a manner to provide food and energy in a sustainable manner.
The Vanishing Face of Gaia some times reads like a conspiracy theory - but Lovelock writes with passion, intelligence and erudition - his suggestions for geo-engineering solutions to aid the planet in its self-regualtion are logical, intuitive and perhaps most importantly non-politically motivated.
Unfortunately I've started with the last of his series but I'm already looking forward to getting stuck into his earlier works.
Lovelock crticises exisiting climate theory and the International Planet on Climate Change in the first instance by suggesting that by their very nature, scientists should find it difficult to come to a consensus. He further criticises exisiting attempts to model and predict climate change on the basis that the approaches are too singular in their focus; that atmospheric physics or other single-disciplines are too restrictive in their application.
He argues for his theory that acknowledges the role of the biosphere in regulating the Earth - and in particular the role of the oceans, describing them as akin to the mercury in a thermometer that rises according to what he refers to as 'global heating'.
What is so refreshing about Lovelock's approach is that he is an Environmentalist but is intuitive and creative in his approach. He is not afraid to challenge the green consensus; which, as he points out, has now become part of a much bigger machine motivated by commercial gain.
He shuns the modern day approach of modelling and laments the lack of experiment, measured analysis and observation - in short, it seems, he believes that the approach to climate change has come to mirror modern life in a way; the dominance and desire for a 'quick fix' and the inevitable political aspect to it - the emergence of a hegemony around climate change.
He is an advocate for nuclear energy, the small scale use of biofuels and a future with genetically modified food sources -and he makes some compelling arguments in favour of these controversial energy sources. Perhaps even more controversially, he dismisses as folly attempts by the UK, Ireland and others to supplement the national grid with power derived from renewable sources and wind energy in particular.
And the figures are shocking - a windfarm of twenty 1MW turbines requires over 10,000 tonnes of concrete; and it would require 200 of those farms to equal the power output of a nuclear power station while remembering that 75% of the time winds are either too high or too low to produce an output.
Lovelock is of the view that we are too far gone and the planet has become over-occupied and over-consuming to reverse the effects of global warming. He argues in favouring of preparing so called safe-havens in a manner to provide food and energy in a sustainable manner.
The Vanishing Face of Gaia some times reads like a conspiracy theory - but Lovelock writes with passion, intelligence and erudition - his suggestions for geo-engineering solutions to aid the planet in its self-regualtion are logical, intuitive and perhaps most importantly non-politically motivated.
Unfortunately I've started with the last of his series but I'm already looking forward to getting stuck into his earlier works.
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