From Livescience.com: "Chinese researchers say they have genetically engineered dairy cows to produce milk akin to human breast milk. The key is a particular protein... called lysozyme... that is abundant in human breast milk". What are we to do with that information?
So once again the theme: Why is life so confusing? Is it just me? Or we all a bit confounded by the world as it hurtles past us?
Not confusing, I admit, was yesterday. A really wonderful day here in Corvallis (mostly, that means it didn't rain). First, our daughter and her kids came for breakfast. Fun and more fun! Both kids were at their best... energetic, hungry for Grandpa's French toast, playful and fun to be with. We had a ball, and everyone seemed very relaxed and happy and healthy (well, there are a couple of runny noses... but what's new?). Then we attended a Blessing Ceremony at our son-in-law's church... a blessing of a beautiful new 42-panel array of photovoltaic panels on the roof of the church! What a totally positive thing for a progressive church to do! Brian, the son-in-law, provided much of the energy needed to convince his church community that this was a good investment. As the preacher said, it gives the entire congregation, and the community, an example of what can be done with very limited resources, and an incentive for each of us to do more to reduce the potential effects of climate change. Yea for the church! Good job! Yea, Brian! Then Susan and I hiked for an hour and a half... west on a system of trails, then up Bald Hill for a very pleasant picnic. We sat on a bench facing south and could see virtually the entire Willamette Valley and much of the Coast Range and the Cascades (still lots of snow on both sides of the valley). A really fine Sunday!
And then... Donald Trump is considering a run for the presidency of the United States Of America. "I'm very very serious. I'm thinking very, very hard and long about it." He has released a copy of his birth certificate as a first step toward the coveted office.
The State of Palestine is seeking UN membership. A vote is expected in September. Go, Palestine!
The French Chess Federation has accused 3 of its members of using computers to cheat during tournaments. Is nothing sacred?
John Boner, our House Speaker, cried a little bit during a press conference about budget cuts. Think about that for a moment.
A quote from the New York Times Sunday wedding announcements: "The bride is a grandfather, on her father's side, of Charles Lanier Lawrance, who designed the engine for the Spirit of St. Louis in 1927". She is 32 years old. Two comments: First, isn't it incredible what some of these kids accomplish in their short lives? Second: I think the Times has reached the point where a further reduction in gross numbers of editors will be counter-productive.
A note on the state of ecotourism: It is reported that several of the remaining African gorillas in the wild (there are 786) have died of respiratory diseases contracted from ecotourists.
And the Travel Section of the Times yesterday featured an article by Paul Theroux: "Why we travel". So I'll suggest the counter-point: Why we have an obligation, in the Age of Climate Change, to stay home. And be happy with what we have.
I mentioned a book in an earlier posting: The Weather of the Future, by Heidi Cullen. Dr. Cullen is a climatologist. She devotes her professional time to connecting the dots... the relationships between extreme weather events and our climate-changed Earth. The whole book is a powerful statement about entitlements and how our wealth (relative to the other human inhabitants) has allowed us to ignore the age of 'climate refugees' now beginning. The most powerful chapter is 10, about the situation in Bangladesh. Holy Cow! She talks most persuasively about the factors which are causing so many of the world's most humble people... the farmers of Bangladesh... to lose their lands to a combination of extreme flooding from the major rivers of the region (a result of more powerful monsoons and repidly melting glaciers in the Himalaya) and salt-water incursion from the rising sea. The results are the 'climate refugees'... millions of people fleeing to the city (Dhaka, in this case), living lives of misery we cannot imagine. One result: India is building a fence along the 2500-mile border it shares with Bangladesh. India is dealing with an estimated 5 million refugees from Bangladesh.
To add perspective, I'll give you a couple of quotes from the chapter:
"The most widely used estimate of how many people around the world could become 'climate refugees', a term heavy with political and moral overtones, is 200,000,000 by 2050. To put that into perspective, about one million Irish immigrants came to the United States because of the potato famine during the late 1840s."
"Most of the migration in Bangladesh right now is internal. People are moving from coastal and rural areas to cities such as Dhaka."
"By 2050, the population of Bangladesh will have grown from about 162 million to more than 220 million. Dhaka will go from 13 million today to 40 million".
So... we humans have a problem. Our activities that increase the carbon content of the oceans and the atmosphere are causing climate change (a general warming, more pronounced in some regions than others) need to be changed. Can we do this? Can we accept the fact that our 'entitlements' are harming others, and that we have an ethical and moral obligation to change to a lower-impact lifestyle? Better question: We know how our choices (driving, travel, big warm houses) are ruining the lives of marginal farmers in Bangladesh. Will we have the strength to change, to lower our impact on Earth and the Bangladeshi farmers? Stay tuned... and think good thoughts about Brian's church!
Namaste.
Kirk
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