Eight

1.     How is information about urgent environmental issues facing humanity being communicated to the public from the private sector?  What about between scientists from different fields?  Public/Private sector collaborations have proven to be successful since the unveiling of Nylon at the World Fair in Chicago in 1939.  Who will make money?  Who will lose money? How is information and protocol communicated along vertical and horizontal organizational levels of local, state, national, international, non-profit, and corporate environmental groups/agencies/supports/etc.?

Seven

1.     Within a few Google searches of environmental graduate programs and scholarship sources, I found that there are several hundred environmental causes, organizations, and institutes.  What are the 15 most important and powerful?  Is it wise to spread out our responses to environmental issues in this manner as we have in the past or would it be beneficial for the groups to cluster into nodes and then nodes into hubs and hubs into a centralized task force?  What are the responsibilities and capabilities of an organization such as the IPCC?  Are there political, social, economic, and/or ideological outcomes that can be attributed directly to the efforts of this massive project?  What will it take to convince them that they need a team of young, creative, and talented people maintaining their image, appeal, and selling power?  

Six

1.     In terms of environmentalism, what are the important differences and similarities between the words in this list of possible response to many environmental issues: preservation, conservation, restoration, prevention, preparation, adaptation, and mitigation?  In what circumstances would one be more appropriate than another?  How would one determine that?  Who would be responsible for that on a local, state, national, and international level?  Do we have a set of criteria or a knowledge base that can be used in determining which response would be the most effective and efficient action to take. How we determine importance of the response in order to properly and fairly allocate our time, money, and resources? 

Five

Are the environmental issues that we face today going to force us into a global transitional state of social, political, psychological, economic, and religious upheaval and change?  Are there certain issues that are more volatile than others?  What factors are important in determine this? Which social memes (beliefs, customs, stigmas, mantras, doctrines) did we allow to override the respect that our human ancestors held for the Planet?  Are we capable of discarding whichever we decide did not work for us or will human survival of environmental change require an entirely new way of thinking as some have suggested?

 

Four

How does the concept of “systems thinking” help to unify the various and often-disparate cause/effect relationships brought on by human activity?  How is this different from how most people think about the planet?  Will changing the way people think slow or reverse cumulative damages being caused by current thinking? 

Three

What is being done to prevent disastrous and irreversible damages to the natural world?  Are we too late?  How would we know?  Is it better to use our resources to prepare for the challenges we will face if that happens? 

Two

Is there a central theme, overriding current, or anchoring idea that can be harnessed by people around the world as a rallying force to drive positive progress in all of the other areas addressed in question 1?

We make our decisions, and then our decisions turn around and make us.
F.W. Boreham (via heartbloodspirit)

wildcat2030:

Printable A3-sized solar cells hit a new milestone in green energy

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Imagine a future where solar panels speed off the presses, like newspaper. Australian scientists have brought us one step closer to that reality.

Researchers from the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium (VICOSC) have developed a printer that can print 10 meters of flexible solar cells a minute. Unlike traditional silicon solar cells, printed solar cells are made using organic semi-conducting polymers, which can be dissolved in a solvent and used like an ink, allowing solar cells to be printed.

Not only can the VICOSC machine print flexible A3 solar cells, the machine can print directly on to steel, opening up the possibility for solar cells to be embedded directly into building materials.

“Eventually we see these being laminated to windows that line skyscrapers,” said David Jones, a researcher at University of Melbourne who is involved with the work. “By printing directly to materials like steel, we’ll also be able to embed cells onto roofing materials.”

Printing 10 meters of solar cells in a minute means good things for solar.

(via Printable A3-sized solar cells hit a new milestone in green energy | Ars Technica)

They had a map of the brain, a model of the body, and a pretty good idea of how to build the environment. Their artificial intelligence might not be embodied, but it would be “situated.” The brain would direct the body and the body would interact with the environment, and all three pieces would be connected by the intricate feedback loops that permeate biology. Their goal became clear: they should build, as they put it on the website, “a fully digital lifeform — a virtual nematode — in a completely open source manner.
Is This Virtual Worm the First Sign of the Singularity? - Alexis C. Madrigal - The Atlantic (via wildcat2030)

One - The Parts

What are our most pressing environmental problems/issues?  How is such a judgment made?  Who makes it?  What criteria are used?  Where and when will they manifest?  Will we have had the foresight to prepare for them?  

mothernaturenetwork: ‘Crazy ants’ invade southeastern U.S. The invading ants are wiping out native species, but scientists say their spread can be contained.

mothernaturenetwork:

‘Crazy ants’ invade southeastern U.S.

The invading ants are wiping out native species, but scientists say their spread can be contained.

Climate Change        Genetically Modified Foods      Natural and Manmade Disasters       Economic Growth and Progress     Global Warming      Species Extinctions     Flooding    Habitat Fragmentation       Rising Sea Levels       Ethical Dilemmas       Invasive Species          International Conferences and Treaties        Political Instability        Droughts      Disruption of Food Supply      Fresh Water Availability and Quality      Fragile Ecosystem            Fossil Fuels     Alternative Energy       Cost Analysis     Degradation  Pollution       Carbon Sequestration        Mitigation    Adaptation      Trash Gyres        Oil Spills     Natural Gas Fracking    Global Markets      Wind Power  Solar Energy       Bioaccumulation        Environmental Toxins    Habitat Management   Sustainability                    Conservation      Biodiversity       Indigenous Species        Organic Foods      Plastic vs. Paper    EPA    Emissions   Viable Population Sizes     Facts vs. Theories     Consensus of the Scientific Community    Aquaculture      Clean         Dirty    Me Freshly conjured, the words buzz and hum in the darkness.  They make themselves known to direct me deeper into the darkness where I find questions floating on a matrix images, feelings, and words.  Exactly eleven of them seem so essential to me that they give me an unshakable resolve to search for answers.  They are revealed in the next eleven posts.    There are questions that need to be answered. 

Climate Change        Genetically Modified Foods      Natural and Manmade Disasters       Economic Growth and Progress     Global Warming      Species Extinctions     Flooding    Habitat Fragmentation       Rising Sea Levels       Ethical Dilemmas       Invasive Species          International Conferences and Treaties        Political Instability        Droughts      Disruption of Food Supply      Fresh Water Availability and Quality      Fragile Ecosystem            Fossil Fuels     Alternative Energy       Cost Analysis     Degradation  Pollution       Carbon Sequestration        Mitigation    Adaptation      Trash Gyres        Oil Spills     Natural Gas Fracking    Global Markets      Wind Power  Solar Energy       Bioaccumulation        Environmental Toxins    Habitat Management   Sustainability                    Conservation      Biodiversity       Indigenous Species        Organic Foods      Plastic vs. Paper    EPA    Emissions   Viable Population Sizes     Facts vs. Theories     Consensus of the Scientific Community    Aquaculture      Clean         Dirty    Me

Freshly conjured, the words buzz and hum in the darkness.  They make themselves known to direct me deeper into the darkness where I find questions floating on a matrix images, feelings, and words.  Exactly eleven of them seem so essential to me that they give me an unshakable resolve to search for answers.  They are revealed in the next eleven posts.   

There are questions that need to be answered. 

Just before 1:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 16, 2013 I created a post titled “Content-Based Reading.”  The body of the post was comprised of a list of vocabulary that one would most likely find on a specific topic in a report, book, or article.  This particular topic connects the various aspects of our human relationship to the physical world.  It is like a cardiovascular system pumping blood and life into all that we perceive in existence that is creating out of collective being-ness.  Of all the laws running the known universe, “emergent properties” is at the top of my list of favorites (“Natural selection” is a hairline away at second place).   Emergent Properties:  “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”  Example: The heart is made of cells only, but if you just have heart cells (sum of its parts) it won’t do anything but if the whole heart is there, it will perform the function of pumping blood (the whole is greater).  If one desires to know something completely and wholly, then my recommendation is to start their journey in the most basic realms of information and observations comprising it.   Foundations are poured one dusty bucket at a time.  Webs are strung one silken rope at a time.  It can be hard work but progresses quickly.  As you progress in your creation and focus, time lets go of its grip on your consciousness.  Therefore, at some point in your trip to understand, you will look up and find creation of true beauty.   My personal writing is sometimes hard to follow and my frequent use of run-on sentences can imply an ignorance of sentence structure. I am most pleased with what I see on the screen after I type when I try to honestly document my thoughts and not hold back.  I guess this is called ‘stream of consciousness’ writing.  The self-aware, rationalizing part of my brain receives signals from millions of stimuli constantly, just like everyone else.  I see everything and everyone shrouded in a dark storm cloud of smoky mystery.  I do not know if this is normal.  Perhaps this is the thick yet elusive goo emanating from one of the veils between ultimate truths and realities.   If I am right about this (and I live my life as if I am), then it is more knowledge that I must seek, must constantly be vigilant in trying to satiate an infinite hunger. We work in the dark — we do what we can — we give what we have.  Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art. — Joyce Carol Oates There are questions that must be answered.  

Just before 1:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 16, 2013 I created a post titled “Content-Based Reading.”  The body of the post was comprised of a list of vocabulary that one would most likely find on a specific topic in a report, book, or article.  This particular topic connects the various aspects of our human relationship to the physical world.  It is like a cardiovascular system pumping blood and life into all that we perceive in existence that is creating out of collective being-ness.  Of all the laws running the known universe, “emergent properties” is at the top of my list of favorites (“Natural selection” is a hairline away at second place).  

Emergent Properties:  “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” 

Example: The heart is made of cells only, but if you just have heart cells (sum of its parts) it won’t do anything but if the whole heart is there, it will perform the function of pumping blood (the whole is greater). 

If one desires to know something completely and wholly, then my recommendation is to start their journey in the most basic realms of information and observations comprising it.   Foundations are poured one dusty bucket at a time.  Webs are strung one silken rope at a time.  It can be hard work but progresses quickly.  As you progress in your creation and focus, time lets go of its grip on your consciousness.  Therefore, at some point in your trip to understand, you will look up and find creation of true beauty.  

My personal writing is sometimes hard to follow and my frequent use of run-on sentences can imply an ignorance of sentence structure. I am most pleased with what I see on the screen after I type when I try to honestly document my thoughts and not hold back.  I guess this is called ‘stream of consciousness’ writing.  The self-aware, rationalizing part of my brain receives signals from millions of stimuli constantly, just like everyone else.  I see everything and everyone shrouded in a dark storm cloud of smoky mystery.  I do not know if this is normal.  Perhaps this is the thick yet elusive goo emanating from one of the veils between ultimate truths and realities.   If I am right about this (and I live my life as if I am), then it is more knowledge that I must seek, must constantly be vigilant in trying to satiate an infinite hunger.

We work in the dark — we do what we can — we give what we have.  Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.

— Joyce Carol Oates

There are questions that must be answered.  

Laboratory Equipment: Three Billion-Year-Old Water Holds Clues to Life

laboratoryequipment:

A UK-Canadian team of scientists has discovered ancient pockets of water, which have been isolated deep underground for billions of years and contain abundant chemicals known to support life. This water could be some of the oldest on the planet and may even contain life. Not just that, but the…