First nation reaches historic pact with province on future land use

 

Posted 20 July 2011, by Kim Pemberton, Vancouver Sun (Postmedia Network Inc.), vancouversun.com

 

After years of conflict, including a Supreme Court of Canada battle, the Taku River Tlingit First Nation of northwest British Columbia signed a land and resource management and shared decision-making agreement Tuesday with the provincial government – the first of its kind in B.C.

Premier Christy Clark said the agreement creates 13 new protected areas and provides resource development opportunities and investment certainty in more than three million hectares in the Atlin Taku region. The total area is the size of Vancouver Island, she said.

“This will bring investment and jobs for families. One of the most important things families need is to have a job,” said Clark.

“Today’s celebration is about balance and partnership, and making and forging a better future for all our families.”

The Land and Resource Management and Shared Decision-Making Agreement gives formal effect to the Atlin Taku Land Use Plan and establishes government-to-government decision-making structures and processes to guide future land and resource management. While other first nations have signed land use agreements, this is the first time the province and a first nation also signed a government-to-government agreement at the same time, setting down how they will consult with each other in the future.

“We are emerging from a dark period in our history with hope and promise,” said Taku River Tlingit First Nation spokesman John Ward.

“It’s so great to come out of the darkness and silence we’ve experienced for so many years and be acknowledged.” Ward said the land use agreement gives aboriginals a say on how industry “can access and conduct themselves in our traditional territory.”

The Taku River Tlingit people have already begun to work with mining developers in the area on potential resource projects that could support 350 jobs during construction and 280 operations jobs.

The Taku River Tlingit are still in the formal treaty process with both the provincial and federal governments.

However, this agreement with the province will provide them with $650,000 over three years to implement the pact.

Of that, $300,000 will go toward providing them with the capacity to engage in land and resource discussions; $150,000 to support a Taku River Tlingit fish and wildlife management program; $150,000 to support their participation in a review of major projects in their territory; and up to $50,000 to support their participation in collaborative projects with B.C. agencies.

The traditional territory in northwestern B.C. includes the Taku River watershed, one of B.C.’s most significant salmon watersheds which supports the largest commercial salmon run in southeastern Alaska. Also included in their territory is the area surrounding Tagish, Atlin and Teslin Lakes. The main Taku River Tlingit community of about 375 members is located in Atlin.

From 2000 to 2004, the Taku River Tlingit and the provincial government were involved in litigation, which resulted in the Supreme Court of Canada telling the two sides they needed to sit down and negotiate an agreement.

Clark added, “What we’ve discovered is conflict doesn’t serve anyone well.” She said following the court decision “the bulk of the hard work got started,” which resulted in Tuesday’s agreement.

kpemberton@vancouversun.com

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

 http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/First+nation+reaches+historic+pact+with+province+future+land/5129494/story.html

Blogging to save a language

Using technology and the Internet to learn, teach Navajo

Posted 21 July 2011, by Carmenlita Chief, Navajo Times, navajotimes.com

Krystal Seschillie

Sometimes, it takes a great book or documentary film to motivate an individual to create something meaningful for the benefit of their family, their people, or the world at large.

For Krystal Seschillie, 29, of Crownpoint, it simply took a single Navajo word and a sprinkle of frustration to spark a personal endeavor to help other Navajos learn their language utilizing available tools of technology and the Internet.

In 2005, Seschillie was close to completing her undergraduate studies at Brigham Young University, where she was studying public health and health science.

One day, one of Seschillie’s close friends informed her that her sister, Carmen, would be relocating to BYU from Mexico to study English as a second language at the school’s English Language Center.

With more time on her hands that year, Seschillie decided she could serve as Carmen’s English tutor. During one study session, a conversation ensued between the two about Seschillie being Navajo.

“We talked about the culture, and about clans,” she said.

The conversation eventually meandered onto the subject of simple English words, and how to say their equivalent in the Navajo language.

One particular word waited around the corner like a mischievous foot waiting to trip the unsuspecting ‘at’ééd.

“She asked me how to say ‘friend’ in Navajo,” Seschillie recalled.

The BYU graduate remembered combing through her mind in search of the word. When she finally opened her mouth to respond, she was bewildered when nothing emerged, and thought to herself in shock, “Oh my gosh! I don’t know how to say ‘friend’ in Navajo!”

As someone who was raised in a Navajo-speaking community and in a home where she sometimes heard her parents use simple Navajo words and phrases, Seschillie knew the word had to be rolling around somewhere in her brain.

“All I could remember was that it was two-syllable word,” she said. “It was scary!”

Afterward she thought, “I have to do something, or I lose what very little [Navajo] I know already.”

She eventually asked a Navajo friend, who said the word she was seeking is “shik’is.”

For Seschillie, who is Tl’ááshchíí (Red Bottom Clan), born for Kinyaa’áanii (Towering House Clan), this scary moment turned out to be pivotal.

Power of the Internet

Like many young Navajos, Seschillie fully embraces the Internet as a tool for learning and teaching. It can help those living far from the reservation maintain a connection to the Navajo culture, people, and language.

“We are in an amazing technological age where there are limitless possibilities for what we can share and learn online. The young Navajo population has access to the Internet. Why don’t we use this to our advantage?” she said.

And she that’s exactly what she set out to achieve.

In 2010, Seschillie created a blog – a place on the Internet where other Navajos, anywhere in the world, could visit if they, like her, needed a reliable source for free or inexpensive, up-to-date aids in honing their Navajo language skills.

Named “Navajo Now,” it emphasizes resources for vocabulary expansion, reading and listening comprehension, and verb and sentence structures. Navajo Now can be found at www.navajonow.wordpress.com.

Seschillie chose the name because it reminded her “I need to get on the ball right now, not later when it might be busier.”

Navajo Now

So what exactly is a blog?

The word is a contraction of the words “web” and “log.” It is similar to a journal where a person can write and post daily entries on a Web site with content of their choosing.

Seschillie designed the Navajo Now blog to be a repository of information and learning materials for those who seek to speak Navajo but can’t afford more expensive language learning resources.

Navajo Now is also a place for Seschillie to record her own Navajo learning progress. It is her goal to post and update the blog on a weekly basis.

If you visit Navajo Now, you can read about her experience testing out Navajo learning apps for her iPhone, and whether they are worth purchasing, and how she used her iPod to study Navajo vocabulary by uploading word flash cards onto the device.

“It is a fun way to do a progress report. It provides for accountability,” she said about documenting her learning in a public forum.

While Seschillie offers readers learning materials she has developed on her own, much of the content on Navajo Now is information she has uncovered through countless hours of Internet searching. She often accompanies mention of the resource with a written analysis and her own perspective on it.

Seschillie recently reposted YouTube videos of a few of last year’s Navajo Nation presidential candidates talking about their campaign platforms in Navajo.

She explained that they were simple, but helpful, resources for listening to spoken Navajo.

“Navajo is very auditory. I want to be listening more. Reading won’t do it alone,” she said.

Seschillie also discovered quite a few Navajo books online with expired copyrights, meaning they are free. One interesting title she found was “A Vocabulary of the Navaho Language,” published in 1912 by the Franciscan Fathers of Saint Michaels, Ariz.

Readers can follow a link from her blog site to download a copy for their own personal library.

When Seschillie first began searching online for free Navajo language learning resources two year ago, she found there was not much available. The resources that did seem promising often required a purchase.

She says this is the other reason for starting Navajo Now.

“There are materials to learn Navajo at a price. I don’t have a lot of expendable income so where does that leave me and others in that same situation who want to learn the language?” she said.

One such resource is the Navajo Rosetta Stone software.

The software, which can be also purchased on DVD for $200 at places like the Navajo Nation Museum, Ellis Tanner Trading Company, and Salina Bookshelf in Flagstaff, was a bit steep for Seschillie’s wallet.

“If an individual wants to learn Navajo, has a computer, and the money to purchase a copy of the software … they can. My concern is that the software won’t reach its intended audience because of the price tag,” Seschillie said.

“I am sure [the manufacturers] would like to provide the software at a cheaper price, but funds need to be acquired for future installments of the software,” she reasoned.

Other problems Seschillie encountered frequently on her initial searches were broken links and unmaintained Web sites. “There were dead Web links, one after another,” she said. “Some had not been updated in years. It was kind of frustrating.”

Asked whether she has seen an increase in the number of resources available online within the past two years, she replied, “Not really.”

With help from other Navajo language contributors, perhaps this will change.

Looking forward

Seschillie hopes her blog will also inspire others to create their own projects locally, and contribute to the online community of Navajo language learners.

“Start blogging in Navajo. Keep video logs in Navajo. I think [Navajo] is difficult because we don’t have enough resources. If we had more resources available to us, then it wouldn’t be,” she said.

Seschillie has several Navajo language learning projects in line for the future, including the launch of an audio podcast on her blog.

She encourages people who can donate their time or their Navajo language skills to contact her if they would be willing to assist her with future projects, which she will publicize on Navajo Now.

Above all, Seschillie urges everyone with access to fluent Navajo speakers in their family or community to take advantage of those opportunities to practice using the language.

“As long as you have them around, use them,” she implores.

Seschillie can be contacted by email at navajonowblog@gmail.com.

Information: www.navajonow.wordpress.com.

http://www.navajotimes.com/entertainment/culture/2011/0711/072111blog.php

Recovering the Feminine

Recovering the Feminine

Posted 24 July 2011, by Duane Champagne, Indian Country Today Media Network, indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com

The significant role that women played in many Native American communities is often forgotten. While recovering culture includes seeking to restore songs, ceremonies, stories, and traditional knowledge, women should play a central role in future community and national relations. Many nations like the Iroquois were matrilineal and some say matriarchal, meaning that for many issues women ruled. Scholars often debate whether one tribe or another was matrilineal or patrilineal. There are some Indian nations, like the Southern California Takic speaking nations, that were patrilineal. Nevertheless, even among the Takic nations, a women’s birth clan ensured that she was respected and honored by her patrilineal in-laws.

In some cultures, like the Muskogee speakers of the southeast, the world is divided into upper-lower, sky-earth, white-red, or male-female cosmic powers. The world of people was influenced by both male and female spiritual powers. Balance between the two cosmic powers was the desired state that helped ensure balance, harmony, well-being, good crops, good hunting, and victory over enemies. The role and social-cultural position of women varied among tribal communities in as many ways as each indigenous nation had its own creation teachings, ceremonies, and relation to the sacred. Each nation needs to understand its specific feminist history.

In the contemporary world, male and female relations are much more ambiguous within many Indian communities. The frequent reports of family abuse visited upon children and spouses does not conform with the understandings we have about the past relations of respect and honor held between men and women.

In many Indian communities, women were held to be in more direct contact with the sacred, since women brought new spirit beings, children, into the world. Men do not have such power, and men engaged in ceremonies, sought spirit helpers, and engaged in sacrifice to communicate with the spirit world. Women and men often are understood as different, but complementary spirit beings that need to maintain harmony and order for the well-being of children, family, and community. Male and female relations embody cosmic order, and if they are out of order, so are cosmic relations.

How did we lose the sacredness of women and the complimentary cooperation of men?  This is perhaps a different story for each community. Certainly during the colonial period, Europeans did not value women politically, economically, socially or spiritually. Young men were preferred as trappers, warriors, and economic partners to the Europeans. Women and elders tended to lose control over economic relations and were politically and spiritually pushed to the margins. Conditions on reservations emphasized male dominance over females, and curbed the power of women by discouraging clans and extended family relations and obligations. Creation teachings began to change under direct and indirect influence of European and Christian ways. While the evidence is difficult to interpret now, it appears that the creation teachings of many Indian communities started to incorporate male creators that supplanted past female creator figures. For example, Ojibway and Shawnee creation stories focus on “Our Grandmother” or Nikomis, and the female creator Sky Woman. According to some accounts already by the 1800s, the female characters in the creation teachings start to be replaced by male creator figures. In some cases, Adam and Eve themes emerge where female subordination and marginalization are justified by disorderly acts, similar to Eve’s offering of the apple of knowledge to Adam in Genesis.

Recovery of culture, community, and sacred order requires respectful and spiritual relations within the family, between husband and wife, mother and child, and grandparent and grandchild. Women have always been complimentary partners with the men in upholding the community and nation, if not cosmic order.  Recovering the meaning and spiritual character of the feminine should be a central concern for tribal communities. Carrying on indigenous ways of respect for women is a lasting gift to future generations and a positive example for all peoples.

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/07/recovering-the-feminine/

My work is larger than any female-centred ideology – Prof Onwueme

Posted 24 July 2011, by Mcphilips Nwachukwu & chris mba (WORKSHOP), Vanguard, vanguardngr.com

Professor Tess Onwueme is one of Africa’s  foremost female playwrights and a Distinguished Professor of Cultural Diversity and English at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, USA.

Tess Onwueme

The playwright, who has not only published severally, but is so globally studied was recently honoured with a named chair by the University of Wisconsin as the institution’s University Professor of Global Letters.

An honour reserved for the most accomplished academics, the full-time tenured appointment was recently given to her in recognition of her “increasing prominence in the field of contemporary playwrights,” and comes with “a new contract and new duties” consistent with the high profile of the appointment.

In appointing Professor Tess Onwueme to this exalted platform, Dr. Patricia Kleine, Vice-Chancellor and Provost of the University of Wisconsin noted in a letter to the author of over a dozen award-winning plays: “You bring honor to the University of Wisconsin. It is only fitting that the university recognizes your extraordinary talent.”

Onwueme has received many international awards, including the prestigious Fonlon-Nichols award in literature in 2009. The award is given annually to a black writer whose works have demonstrated a commitment to democratic ideals, humanistic values and literary excellence in writing. She was also in 2007, appointed to the US State Department Public Diplomacy Specialist/Speaker Program for North, West, and East India.

In this interview with Vanguard arts, the Delta State-born and American- based playwright-cum-scholar ushers the reader into the theatrical spirit of her art.

But before we go on Professor Onwueme, would you explain to us the implication of your new position as the “ University Professor of Global Letters” by the University of Wisconsin?

It means that I now exclusively occupy an Endowed or Named Position in the university. It is a professorial position of prestige and honor bigger than all academic professors in the academic field.

Only one professor can occupy that position of Special Honor and prestige. It means that the appointee has become a ‘ bigger’ name and symbol in the academic field, institution, or department. Other full Professors look upon the recipient with awe, dignity, and respect because he/she has become a PROFESSOR OF PROFESSORS among them.

In other words, the occupant of the meritorious post is like a ‘Super Professor’ in the university, which has placed him/her on a pedestal as their PRIMUS INTER PARIS, “First Among Equals.”

In my own special case now, it means that I am in a very exclusive club by myself. I’ve gone beyond being a Distinguished Professor in the University, to becoming an iconic mark of honor, pride, and excellence, reaching far beyond the local to the (inter)national community as the institution’s UNIVERSITY OF PROFESSOR OF GLOBAL LETTERS.

It is a very uncommon position. Only extremely distinguished African writers and Professors like Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, occupy such special named positions/chairs in American universities. From now on, I will not teach like my fellow professors.

I will teach much less, and the position is permanent. On a much lighter note, therefore, being ‘crowned’ a UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR OF GLOBAL LETTERS is like being declared an ‘NZE’ or KING, or OBA, or EMIR, or ‘MUALIMU’, as it were, in the academic field.

Given your creative writing efforts as a known female dramatist in Nigeria, who propagates female centered ideology, would you say that women centered drama is achieving the purpose of creating identity for the women?

Let me say right away that I am partial to the experiences, concerns, struggles, and challenges of women, along with the teeming powerless youths who are daily challenged by the “poly-tricks” of oil, globalization, unemployment and poverty.

I’m equally passionate about the nagging matters of (dis)connections between Africa and her Diaspora, as well as those of the grossly (ab)used Earth––our Environment and (Mother)land––like our own Nigerian Niger-Delta! All these concerns color and temper the texture of my work.

And so who’s afraid of ideology, if I may I ask?

For I must say that I’m quite tickled by your curious caption of “Ideology”: specifically your branding of the “female centered ideology.” Is it a demonic disease? Because it’s rooted in the female? Frankly, on the one hand, that impassioned framing of it makes it sound like some form of influenza, rabid pestilence, or even a WMD (Weapon of Mass Destruction), which terrorizes healthy people (male, I suppose!), and therefore must be exterminated.

On the other hand, it also sounds much like putting on a “designer suit” by someone in a binge to make a fashion statement, because it is a fad or vogue. And I’m not so sure that I fit into that chic designer suit or straight jacket: as is.

For I’m larger and my writing is even more complex and larger than me. What with the shifts in tone and contours, from the award-winning Then She Said it (2003) and What Mama Said (2003), Shakara: Dance-Hall Queen (2001),

The Missing Face (1996/2006) and Legacies (1989), Riot in Heaven (1997/2006), No Vacancy (2005), Tell it to Women (1995/2003), The Reign of Wazobia (1988), The Desert Encroaches (1985), Ban Empty Barn and other Plays (1986), Mirror for Campus (1987), and Acada Boys (2002), The Broken Calabash (1984), through the allegorical Why the Elephant Has No Butt (2000), etc.

The rich textual evidence is there in the evolving topographies of my work to defy any such labeling and pigeonholing and boxing in(to) one corner as simply “female centered ideology.”

Since the seventies when I adopted the pen as a most reliable friend that can help me interrogate and discover truths as I took to writing, what has evolved is a thick tapestry of knowledge and ideas/ideologies woven with the variegated yarns and patterns of interpreting contemporary life’s experiences that are marked by the growing challenges of gender, ethnicity, class inequality and poverty impacting the (global) underclass women and youths, especially.

Today these are aggravated by the (un)holy wars and the “poly-tricks” of religion, faith, and ideology that’s fast polluting and corrupting our land and environment.

All these colorings and strands of my work were woven into a representative thematic fabric in: “Staging Women, Youth, Globalization, and Eco-Literature in  Onwueme’s Work” by the respected scholars who convened the 2009 Tess International Conference, which was exclusively devoted to my work, following the award of the Fonlon-Nichols award to me in that year.

And that leads me now to what we mean by Ideology: what is it, really? Ideology stems from Ideas. The basic ingredient of an ideology is an idea, a value, a principle, the essential nectar of knowledge for coding, informing and shaping a cause of action. Ideas/Ideologies do vary: some are healthy and nurturing; others are malignant and toxic.

As a promising student of life, and one writing and teaching life, I’ve since committed to deploying my own creative talent and scholarship in awakening and producing consciousness, textured and tempered my own unique experiences as a Nigerian woman, mother of five children, and a growing global citizen.

As a woman, I can see life, better, and more focused, from the vantage point as a woman; and not a man.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/07/my-work-is-larger-than-any-female-centred-ideology-prof-onwueme-3/

Biomimicry and Innovation: A Conversation with Zeynep Arhon

Posted 20 July 2011, by Gaurav Bhalla, Gaurav Bhalla, gauravbhalla.com

Zeynep Arhon

Analogies are a powerful way of stimulating creativity.  What better reservoir to draw it from than nature? I met Zeynep Arhon in October last year at the Future Trends 2010 conference in Miami.  Zeynep is a biomimicry specialist from Turkey.  It was our mutual interest in innovation and collaboration that helped us connect.  Since sustainability is such a hot topic, and since biomimicry’s key goal is to promote sustainability, I thought a conversation with Zeynep would benefit our readers.  So here we are.

Zeynep, can you give us a brief introduction to Biomimicry?

Sure.  The term “Biomimicry” is a combination of two words. “Bios” means life and “mimicry” means to imitate. Biomimicry is therefore the conscious emulation of life’s genius.

And your belief is that innovation can benefit from this conscious emulation of life’s genius?

Absolutely. Understanding how nature and its many organisms solve their specific challenges can greatly help us solve life’s challenges in our own world.  What we don’t realize on a day-to-day basis is that we live in an R&D lab 3.8 billion years young! In this marvellous lab millions of species have already solved and continue to solve many of the problems that we grapple with – energy, food production, temperature control, transportation, packaging, business management and more. So, it makes much sense to look at nature for innovation. Mimicking these time-tested solutions can help us leapfrog to more effective futures, with significantly less failure.

Let’s dig a little deeper.  When I hear “innovation inspired by nature” Leonardo da Vinci comes to mind. Several hundred years ago he studied nature to come up with breakthrough designs.  Is Biomimicry really new?

You are spot on.  Leonardo was a genius, and yes his observation of birds in flight led him to think of planes. It is well known that polar bear digging and hibernating habits significantly influenced igloo designs. More recently, Swiss engineer George de Maestral studied burr seeds to invent Velcro. Learning from nature is not new.  What is new is the going beyond a few brilliant minds, what is new is the birth of a systematic discipline of learning and application that involves hundreds of designers, engineers, educators, biologists, entrepreneurs, chemists and architects from around the world. One indicator will help set the global interest and relevance of biomimicry in perspective.  The number of global patents containing the term “biomimetic” or “bio-inspired” in their title has increased by a factor of 93, from 1985 to 2005, compared to a factor 2.7 increase for non-biomimetic patents.

Let’s get specific – please share a few examples of innovative solutions inspired by nature? 

Since you are from India, you may like this.  HOK Architects and Biomimicry Guild, the consulting firm that incorporates nature’s designs into a variety of applications, are building a new city in India, 8,000 acres large.  The source of inspiration for this revolutionary city is moist, deciduous forests.

BioPower Systems, an Australian company, creates technologies to convert ocean power into a renewable source of energy.  BioPower’s wave power system, bioWAVE™, is based on the swaying motion of kelp in the presence of ocean waves. Another new development is The VIVACE hydro energy device that mimics the swimming strategies of schools of fish. VIVACE can harness power from slow moving ocean and river currents to provide new, reliable, and affordable alternative energy sources

Another application that comes to mind which is sure to appeal to urban commuters is Volvo’s accident avoidance project; a goal they hope to achieve by the year 2020.  Volvo’s “Locust Collision Avoidance Detector” project led to the development of a sophisticated, yet affordable, collision avoidance sensor based on the study of locust behavior.

There is an interesting saying this side of the Atlantic – there is no such thing as a free lunch.  What are some key roadblocks in developing and implementing biomimicry inspired innovations?

All the big roadblocks have to do with us – human beings; how we think and what we value.  As I see it, the biggest challenge is our ability to be humble and learn from even the smallest organisms on this planet.  We human beings live with a built-in mindset that we are superior to all other life forms.  With that kind of attitude there is slim or little chance for us to learn from other organisms, especially those that we label “insignificant.”

Another has to do with our willingness to true risk takers.  Most business leaders hanker after breakthrough ideas, but without breakthrough risks.  Biomimicry can’t guarantee success, what it does have to offer is an abundance of opportunities, waiting to reward those that are willing to be frontier thinkers and doers.

Now you personally operate at the intersection of biomimicry and business innovation.  Share a little of your passion and working philosophy with us?  

Happy to, but you have to forgive me if I come across as evangelical.  I am a biased protagonist!  You are very right.  I do operate at the intersection of bomimicry and business innovation.

• First, I do believe that business has the power to shape the future.
• Second, I also believe that biomimicry has the power to change business into a more human, and graceful activity, which it is not at the moment.
• Third, I believe in collaboration and co-creation, which is how I got interested in your work.  In my opinion, we overvalue competition, but undervalue collaboration.

It is these ingredients that I combine to help my clients develop effective survival and growth strategies.

One for the road – what if someone is looking for good reference sources, what would you recommend?   

“Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature” by Janine Benyus is the iconic book, for those interested in reading more on the subject. The Biomimicry Group provides consulting and educational services. Its sister organizations, Biomimicry Institute and Biomimicry Guild bring together scientists, engineers, architects and innovators for creating sustainable technologies. Finally, the website www.asknature.org is an excellent and free resource developed by The Biomimicry Institute in collaboration with the well-known biologist E.O. Wilson.

Thanks Zeynep, for sharing your ideas and passion; enjoyed the conversation.    

Thank you!  Enjoyed it.  Look forward to continuing our conversation.

http://www.gauravbhalla.com/2011/07/biomimicry-and-innovation-a-conversation-with-zeynep-arhon.htm

Climate Change Investing in Rare Earth Metals, Energy and Fertilizers

 

 

Posted 23 July 2011, by: Richard_Mills, The Market Oracle, marketoracle.co.uk

 

The Earth’s climate has been continuously changing throughout its history. From ice covering large amounts of the globe to interglacial periods where there was ice only at the poles – our climate and biosphere have been in flux for millennia.

geocraft.com

This temporary reprieve from the ice we are now experiencing is called an interglacial period – the respite from the cold locker began 18,000 years ago as the earth started heating up and warming its way out of the Pleistocene Ice Age.

geocraft.com

Approximately every 100,000 years or so our climate warms up temporarily.

These interglacial periods usually last somewhere between 15,000 to 20,000 years before another ice age starts. Presently we’re at year 18,000 of the current warm spell.

Serbian astrophysicist Milutin Milankovitch is best known for developing one of the most significant theories relating to Earths motions and long term climate change.

Milankovitch developed a mathematical theory of climate change based on the seasonal and latitudinal variations in the solar radiation received by the Earth from our Sun – it was the first truly plausible theory for how minor shifts of sunlight could make the entire planet’s temperature swing back and forth from cold to warm.

Milankovitch’s Theory states that as the Earth travels through space around the sun, cyclical variations in three elements of Earth/sun/geometry combine to produce variations in the amount of solar energy that reaches us. These three elements are:

• Variations in the Earth’s orbital eccentricity – the shape of the orbit around the sun, a 100,000 year cycle
• Changes in obliquity or tilt of the earth’s axis – changes in the angle that Earth’s axis makes with the plane of Earth’s orbit, a 41,000 year cycle
• Precession – the change in the direction of the Earth’s axis of rotation, a 19,000 to 23,000 year cycle

These orbital processes are thought to be the most significant drivers of ice ages and, when combined, are known as Milankovitch Cycles.

Other Climate Change Drivers:

• Changes occurring within the sun affects the intensity of sunlight that reaches the Earth’s surface. These changes in intensity can cause either warming – stronger solar intensity – or cooling when solar intensity is weaker.
• Volcanoes often affect our climate by emitting aerosols and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Aerosols block sunlight and contribute to short term cooling, but do not stay in the atmosphere long enough to produce long term change. Carbon dioxide (CO2) has a warming effect. For about two-thirds of the last 400 million years, geologic evidence suggests CO2 levels and temperatures were considerably higher than present. Each year 186 billion tons of carbon from CO2 enters the earth’s atmosphere – six billion tons are from human activity, approximately 90 billion tons come from biologic activity in earth’s oceans and another 90 billion tons from such sources as volcanoes and decaying land plants

These climate change “drivers” often trigger additional changes or “feedbacks” within the climate system that can amplify or dampen the climate’s initial response to them:

• The heating or cooling of the Earth’s surface can cause changes in greenhouse gas concentrations – when global temperatures become warmer, CO2 is released from the oceans and when temperatures become cooler, CO2 enters the ocean and contributes to additional cooling.

During at least the last 650,000 years, CO2 levels have tracked the glacial cycles – during warm interglacial periods, CO2 levels have been high and during cool glacial periods, CO2 levels have been low

• The heating or cooling of the Earth’s surface can cause changes in ocean currents. Ocean currents play a significant role in distributing heat around the Earth so changes in these currents can bring about significant changes in climate from region to region

In 1985 the Russian Vostok Antarctic drill team pulled up cores of ice that stretched  through a complete glacial cycle. During the cold period of the cycle CO2 levels were much lower than during the warm periods before and after. When plotted on a chart the curves of CO2 levels and temperature tracked one another very closely – methane, an even more potent greenhouse gas, showed a similar rise and fall to that of CO2.

Small rises or falls in temperature  – more, or less sunlight – seemed to cause a rise, or fall, in gas levels. Changing atmospheric CO2 and methane levels physically link the Northern and Southern hemispheres, warming or cooling the planet as a whole. In the 1980s the consensus was that  Milankovitch’s Cycles would bring a steady cooling over the next few thousand years.

As studies of past ice ages continued and climate models were improved worries about a near term re-entry into the cold locker died away – the models now say the next ice age would not come within the next 10,000 years.

It’s obvious that the orbital changes, as explained by Milankovitch’s Theory, initiate a powerful feedback loop. The close of a glacial era comes when a shift in sunlight causes a slight rise in temperature – this raises gas levels over the next few hundred years and the resultant greenhouse effect drives the planet’s temperature higher, which drives a further rise in the gas levels and so on.

The exact opposite happens when sunlight weakens, we get a shift from emission to absorption of gases which causes a further fall in temperature… and so forth.

How Higher Temperatures effect Food Production

The study Climate Trends and Global Crop Production Since 1980 compared yield figures from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with average temperatures and precipitation in major growing regions.

Results indicated average global yields for several of the crops studied responded negatively to warmer temperatures. From 1981 – 2002, warming reduced the combined production of wheat, corn, and barley – cereal grains that form the foundation of much of the world’s diet – by 40 million metric tons per year.

The authors said the main value of their study was that it demonstrated a clear and simple correlation between temperature increases and decreased crop yields at the global scale.

“Though the impacts are relatively small compared to the technological yield gains over the same period, the results demonstrate that negative impacts are already occurring.” David Lobell, lead researcher

Other researchers who focused on wheat, rice, corn, soybeans, barley and sorghum (these crops account for 55 percent of non-meat calories consumed by humans and contribute more than 70 percent of the world’s animal feed) reported that each had a critical temperature threshold above which yields started plummeting, for example: 29°C for corn and 30°C for soybeans. At the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines scientists have found that the fertilization of rice seeds falls from 100 per cent at 34 degrees to near zero at 40 degrees.

By 2050, the world’s population is expected to reach around nine billion – minimum and maximum projections range from 7.4 billion to 10.6 billion.

“Future food-production increases will have to come from higher yields. And though I have no doubt yields will keep going up, whether they can go up enough to feed the population monster is another matter. Unless progress with agricultural yields remains very strong, the next century will experience sheer human misery that, on a numerical scale, will exceed the worst of everything that has come before”. Norman Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution

Unfortunately the Green Revolutions high yield growth is tapering off and in some cases declining. So far this is mostly because of an increase in the price of fertilizers, other chemicals and fossil fuels, but also because the overuse of chemicals has exhausted the soil and irrigation has depleted water aquifers.

If we are to stay in this current inter-glacial period for up to another 10,000 years, as current climate models predict, are we going to see regular occurrences of temperatures rising above plants critical flowering thresholds?

Considering population growth, draining of fresh water aquifers and declining plant yields it seems as if the supplies for drinking water/irrigation, and food,  are going to come under increasing pressure while at the same time demand is going to increase.

Nuclear power (while reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere) where used for desalination of seawater would supply fresh water for the most parched areas of the globe while reliving strain on area aquifers. Farmers are going to have to grow more food on less acreage which means increased use of fertilizers.

Rare Earth Elements (REE) applications are highly specific and substitutes are inferior or unknown. REE are environmentally friendly, reducing CO2 levels, and are going to continually come under greater  supply pressure as demand increases, for example:

• Rechargeable batteries
• Automotive pollution control catalysts
• Neodymium is key to the permanent magnets used to make high-efficiency electric motors. Two other REE minerals – terbium and dysprosium – are added to neodymium to allow it to remain magnetic at high temperatures
• Y, La, Ce, Eu, Gd, and Tb are used in the new energy-efficient fluorescent lamps. These energy-efficient light bulbs are 70% cooler in terms of the heat they generate and are 70% more efficient in their use of electricity
• Rare-earth elements are used in the nuclear industry in control rods, as dilutants, and in shielding, detectors and counters
• Rare metals lower the friction on power lines, thus cutting electricity leakage

The rechargeable power needs of our modern society has made lithium a serious player in the commodity markets, and no segment is more important than electric vehicles (EVs). EVs have far fewer moving parts than Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) gasoline-powered cars – they don’t have mufflers, gas tanks, catalytic converters or ignition systems, there’s also never an oil change or tune-up to worry about getting done. Plug and go, pretty convenient and very green!

But the clean and green doesn’t end there – electric drives are more efficient then the drives on ICE powered cars. They are able to convert more of the available energy to propel the car therefore using less energy to go the same distance. And applying the brakes converts what was simply wasted energy in the form of heat to useful energy in the form of electricity to help recharge the car’s batteries.

Are nuclear energy, fertilizers, lithium and rare earths on your radar screen?

If not, maybe it should be.

By Richard (Rick) Mills

www.aheadoftheherd.com

rick@aheadoftheherd.com

If you’re interested in learning more about specific lithium juniors and the junior resource market in general please come and visit us at http://www.aheadoftheherd.com. Membership is free, no credit card or personal information is asked for.

Copyright © 2011 Richard (Rick) Mills – All Rights Reserved

Legal Notice / Disclaimer: This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment. Richard Mills has based this document on information obtained from sources he believes to be reliable but which has not been independently verified; Richard Mills makes no guarantee, representation or warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness. Expressions of opinion are those of Richard Mills only and are subject to change without notice. Richard Mills assumes no warranty, liability or guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or completeness of any information provided within this Report and will not be held liable for the consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained herein or any omission. Furthermore, I, Richard Mills, assume no liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage or, in particular, for lost profit, which you may incur as a result of the use and existence of the information provided within this Report.

© 2005-2011 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk – The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article29447.html

Firefighters battle 26 wildfires in Russian Far East

Firefighters battle 26 wildfires in Russian Far East

Firefighters battle 26 wildfires in Russian Far East

Posted 17 July 2011, by Staff, Ria Novosti, en.rian.ru

VLADIVOSTOK: Firefighters have extinguished ten wildfires in the Russian Far East in the past twenty-four hours and are still battling 26 forest fires in the area, Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said on Sunday.

“Satellite monitoring and aircraft surveillance have registered a total of 36 forest fires in the Far East on an area of over 5,700 hectares. Ten fires have been extinguished over the past twenty-four hours on an area of 228 hectares. Firefighters are currently battling 26 forest and tundra fires on an area of over 5,500 hectares,” the ministry said.

Over 700 people and 74 pieces of equipment, including 15 aircraft, are involved in the firefighting effort, the ministry said.

Russia is trying to prevent the developments of last summer, when an enormous heat wave in the country’s European part caused massive wildfires, which killed 62 people and left thousands homeless.

Wildfires in forested regions of Russia are common during the dry and hot summer season. Most of the time, the fires start because of the careless behavior of local residents in the woods.

Related News

• Firefighters put out six wildfires in Russia’s Far East
• Six wildfires extinguished in Russia’s Far East
• Wildfires in Russian Far East extinguished – Rosleskhoz
• Wildfires more rampant in Russia in 2011, spread over east

 

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20110717/165242995.html

Heat wave likely to continue through summer, Oklahoma officials say

Heat wave likely to continue through summer, Oklahoma officials say

 

Posted 22 July 2011, by Bryan Dean, NewsOK, newsok.com

 

 

If you think it’s hot, wait until August.

That’s the message from state forecasters, who said no end to the heat wave is in sight as Oklahoma prepares to enter what is traditionally the hottest month of the year.

Oklahoma City‘s high temperature hit 100 degrees Thursday, the 29th time it’s been in triple digits this year. The record for most 100-degree days in a year is 50, set in 1980.

Highs in the 100s are forecast through the next week. The sustained heat has taxed local water systems and claimed at least five lives, with another eight deaths possibly being caused by the heat, authorities said.

The latest heat-related death was announced Thursday by the state medical examiner’s office. A 25-year-old man in Tulsa died in June of hyperthermia, or excessive body temperature. He was working at a construction site when he was overcome by the heat, officials said.

The medical examiner has ruled heat was responsible for four other deaths this year. Official causes of death have not been determined in eight other cases, where heat is suspected to be a contributing factor.

Those hoping for an August reprieve from the heat will likely be disappointed, said Ken Gallant, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Norman.

“As we look at the more long-range probabilities out into August, it still looks like better than 50-50 chances of above-normal temperatures,” Gallant said. “There doesn’t look like any break on the horizon.”

It isn’t unusual for high-pressure systems to camp over the southern United States and cause prolonged summer heat, Gallant said, but often cold fronts will offer brief reprieves where highs fall at least into the low 90s. Part of what has made this heat wave and drought so severe is that it started early.

“We just started out with a hot, dry spring and it heated up into June,” Gallant said. “It just kind of built on what we had early in the year. It’s really kind of kept us in a pattern where the cold fronts haven’t pushed this far south.”

Water rationing

Beyond the public health risks associated with the heat wave, one of the biggest problems has been water. Demand for water always goes up when it’s hot. The combination of the heat wave with one of the worst droughts the state has seen in years has prompted dozens of water districts to call for voluntary or mandatory water rationing.

More than 70 communities across the state have instituted some form of rationing, with most restricting outdoor watering.

Patrick Rosch, engineering manager in the state Department of Environmental Quality’s water quality division, said geography is the biggest factor in determining which water systems are struggling.

“The western part of Oklahoma has been much dryer,” Rosch said. “But the extreme drought conditions are pushing further and further east, so a lot of the systems in central Oklahoma are having it just as bad.”

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor report shows the entire state under at least moderate drought conditions.

The report has five conditions, from abnormally dry on the low end to exceptional drought on the high end. More than 42 percent of the state is listed in the exceptional drought category, mostly in the western part of Oklahoma.

The bulk of central Oklahoma falls in the second-highest extreme drought category, while the severe and moderate drought conditions prevail in eastern parts of the state.

Oklahoma City has called for mandatory odd-even watering restrictions this week. It’s the first time in a decade the city has done so. Oklahoma City rarely needs to ration water because unlike many major cities in the region, elected leaders long ago secured ample water supplies.

Thirteen other metro communities also have to abide by Oklahoma City’s water restrictions because they buy some or all of their water from Oklahoma City. Debbie Regan, spokeswoman for Oklahoma City’s Utilities Department, said the mandatory rationing which went into effect Wednesday has decreased water use in the last couple of days.

“If we can continue and get everyone to participate in this program and just be mindful in the amount of water they are using, we expect to maintain the system as we have it now through the rest of the summer,” Ragan said.

The city’s problem isn’t supply. There is plenty of water in the city’s lakes. The issue is the city’s ability to treat enough water to maintain good water pressure in everyone’s faucets. As people try harder and harder to keep their grass green in the face of scorching heat and no rain, more of that treated water ends up in sprinkler systems.

Ragan said the city doesn’t expect to put more stringent rationing measures in place, even if the heat wave continues for the rest of the summer.

“I think we will see more and more people backing off and letting the Bermuda grass go,” Ragan said. “It’s water they pay for. I know several people who have already given up.”

http://newsok.com/heat-wave-likely-to-continue-through-summer-oklahoma-officials-say/article/3587709#ixzz1T1IktAGj

Flash Flood Warning for Chicago area continues

Flash Flood Warning for Chicago area continues

 

Posted 23 July 2011, by Staff, Chicago Weather Center, blog.chicagoweathercenter.com

Strong storms have moved east and south of the Chicago area, but a band of lighter showers and thunderstorms continues to approach northeast Illinois from the west. So the rainfall in the Chicago area will probably pick up again between 9:30AM and 10:30AM this morning, if that rain area holds together.

 

Most of the major roadways with the exception of the Dan Ryan are back in business as of 9AM, but many streets and roads susceptible to flooding – primarily north of Interstate-90 – are still in trouble.

 

The core of the overnight rains appears to have centered over O’Hare International Airport, where a record 6.91 inches of rain fell since midnight with more on the way. The 24-hour rainfall total at O’Hare was 8.20 inches. Right next door in Elk Grove Village, the west side of town had 4.73 inches since midnight, while the east side measured 5.95 inches. Twenty-four hour totals at those two locations were 5.86 inches and 7.17 inches respectively.

Location                  Since midnight    24-hour

Arlington Heights            5.52            6.67

O'Hare Airport               6.91            8.20

Elk Grove Village (W)        4.73            5.86

Elk Grove Village (E)        5.95            7.17

Inverness                    5.18            6.50

Wheeling (Ex Airport)        3.63            6.06

Lyons                        2.30            2.95

Oak Brook                    2.02            2.86

Midway Airport               1.90            2.70

Chicago Ridge                2.21            2.86

SE Central Chicago           3.35            4.09

Westmont                     2.29            2.79

West Chicago                 1.89            2.64

St. Charles                  1.77            2.46

Countryside                                  4.30

Long Grove                                   4.61

Riverwoods                                   4.71

Carpentersville                              3.20

Beach Park                                   3.27

Oak Park                                     4.81

Glencoe                                      4.85

Glenview                                     6.50

Island Lake (McHenry)                        3.71

Melrose Park                                 4.60

http://blog.chicagoweathercenter.com/