YAY Jonathan!!!

Well done!!! Passed the last big examn. Now only one little test left and you are done with this phase of your study.

The huge sigh of relief was felt for miles around :-)

CO2 emissions up, up, UP !!

I wish everyone would watch this little movie


Wake Up, Freak Out - then Get a Grip from Leo Murray on Vimeo.

Why?

The CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and cement increased by 2.9% from the previous year – which is faster than the 2.7% predicted by the IPCC in their worst case scenario.
China is now the top emitter (well, since most stuff we buy here is now made in China, it's not surprising). India is heading up to the number three spot, displacing Russia.

The Global Carbon Project just published the 2007 figures.

I cannot say I'm surprised, so far I've seen a lot of greenwashing and talk and very little action.

I hope people will sit up and take notice but I'm not expecting it.

Professor Barry Brook, director of the Research Institute for Climate Change and Sustainability at the University of Adelaide in Australia said the rise in CO2 emissions would speed up global warming.

He said CO2 concentrations could hit 450 ppm by 2030 instead of 2040 as currently predicted. They are currently just above 380 ppm.

"But whatever the specific date, 450 ppm CO2 commits us to 2ºC global warming and all the disastrous consequences this sets in train," he said.

Source

Paulson/Bernake FAIL

EPIC fail!

Thanks, Polly!


read more | digg story

Hee! Bos wordt wakker?

En nu zien of hij hier ook iets mee doet, of dat dit weer zo'n algemene headline kreet is.

De kredietcrisis dwingt de Amerikanen afscheid te nemen van een financieel systeem dat is gebouwd op hebzucht. "Deze vorm van kapitalisme is voorbij", voorziet minister Wouter Bos van Financiën.
ANP

"De hele crisis betekent de definitieve teloorgang van een systeem dat is gebaseerd op hebzucht, onverantwoorde risico's en perverse beloningen", zei de bewindsman vrijdag na afloop van de ministerraad.

bron

Bos had gewoon moeten gaan voor een linkse coalitie.
In plaats van nu en dan een vaag links geluid te laten horen.

Waarom gaan wij hierin mee??!!

Wij volgen slaafs de Amerikanen die door een ware propaganda-oorlog ervoor hebben gezorgd dat de meeste mensen in Amerika EN in Europa nu geloven dat de Russen Georgië zijn binnen gevallen terwijl het juist Georgië was die Zuid-Ossetië had aangevallen...

Nu gedragen we ons of Georgië de slachtoffer is, en alsof dit land lid zou zijn van de EU en NATO. Niets is minder waar... dit is doelbewust Rusland provoceren, en wij spelen hier stroman voor de Amerikanen. Ik ben het hier niet mee eens!

EU-ministers van Buitenlandse Zaken hebben maandag tijdens overleg in Brussel definitief besloten ongeveer tweehonderd waarnemers naar Georgië te sturen.
ANP

Vanaf 1 oktober zullen ze in beginsel gedurende een jaar toezien op vrede in de bufferzones rond Zuid-Ossetië en Abchazië. De EU wil de waarnemers ook in de twee afvallige regio's laten werken, maar daarover is nog meer overleg met Rusland nodig, dat de onafhankelijkheid van de twee gebieden heeft erkend.

Nederland is net als een tiental andere EU-landen bereid waarnemers te sturen. De Europese Commissie wil 500 miljoen euro geven aan Georgië voor de wederopbouw van het land. De Commissie hoopt dat de EU-lidstaten eenzelfde bedrag op tafel leggen.

bron

Ik mis Jan

:-(
http://www.janmarijnissen.nl/

... and one law to bind them all?

no no NO.

(for British, read any other EU nationality)

British citizens could be convicted in their absence by foreign courts for traffic, credit card or other criminal offences under plans approved in principle by the European Parliament.

The proposals would allow citizens to be extradited automatically under fast-track procedures at the request of another European Union country on the basis of a decision by the foreign court.

The overwhelming adoption by the Parliament of the proposals, which now go to the Council of Ministers, was condemned yesterday as “throwing habeas corpus out of the window”.

Philip Bradbourn, the Conservative justice and home affairs spokesman in the European Parliament, said: “This initiative would enable courts to pass judgments in absentia. It goes against one of the most fundamental corner-stones of British justice – that the accused has a right to defend himself at trial. If other EU countries want to go ahead with this proposal that’s their choice, but the British Government should have no part [of it].”

The proposal has been put forward by seven EU countries, including Britain, to strengthen procedural safeguards in the European Union and mutual recognition of processes in criminal proceedings. Countries can opt out from the proposals even if they are adopted by the Council of Ministers.

The European Criminal Bar Association opposed the plans, saying that they were “by their very nature a violation of the fundamental procedural rights of the accused”.

In an open letter to all MEPs it says: “The rights of European citizens will be further undermined because in absentia judgments will result in the surrender of European citizens on the basis of a judgment given at a trial in which they never had the chance to participate.

“One member state could issue a European arrest warrant on the basis of an in absentia judgment, although the accused never had the chance to be heard – for example, after a traffic accident or the use of a credit card in that country.”

The seven countries that proposed the new system were Slovenia, France, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Slovakia, Germany and Britain, according to the Conservatives in Brussels.

The scheme would allow courts to make judgments without defendants being present where they were imposing fines or confiscation orders; when dealing with criminal offences carrying a custodial sentence; and when issuing the European arrest warrant. It could cover offences such as traffic trangressions, theft, shoplifting or fraud, up to assault or murder. People who have been accused in their absence have the right to a retrial or the right of appeal when extradited.

Countries will not be able to enforce judgments where a person was not properly summoned or informed of the trial procedures, but the campaigning group Fair Trials International says that this appeal safeguard is in adequate. It says: “Retrials can raise serious issues such as the disappearance of evidence, difficulty in locating witnesses, and difficulty in witnesses accurately recalling facts due to elapse of time.”

The group adds that it “remains deeply concerned that the right to a retrial following judgments in absentia can be meaningless or ineffectual while the EU lacks harmonisation of basic procedural rights. The system of mutual recognition can only work if it is built on a solid foundation of mutual trust – and this must include assurances that minimum standards of basic defence rights will be applied in every case in every member state.”

A spokesman for Conservative MEPs said: “Once extradited, [defendants] would have to serve the sentence in that country. The individual can appeal in the country they have been extradited to but would be held in custody and not have the safeguards which are in place in the UK. We have no idea why the UK Government has chosen to sponsor this proposal – it is still a mystery.”

The Council of Ministers put forward the document for consultation with the European Parliament. The amended document was presented yesterday to the full Parliament and was adopted with 609 votes in favour and 60 against, with 14 abstentions.

The Parliament said in a statement: “The EU wants to create a common area for justice, which requires the mutual recognition of criminal law judgments by member states.”

The document will be presented to the Council of Ministers within the next three months for a decision on which points will be incorporated. Once a unanimous agreement is reached, the document will start the process of becoming national law.

Source

So, explain again why no referendum?

The Limits to Growth - so how did it work out so far?

Actually, pretty damn accurate.
Scientists took the models and predictions that were made 30 years ago and fitted it to what happened. When you strip away all the bullshit and hype and misrepresentations, the Club of Rome authors were right on the money.

20:20 hindsight.

ABSTRACT

In 1972, the Club of Rome's infamous report "The Limits to Growth" (Meadows et al., 1972) presented some challenging scenarios for global sustainability, based on a system dynamics computer model to simulate the interactions of five global economic subsystems, namely: population, food production, industrial production, pollution, and consumption of non-renewable natural resources. Contrary to popular belief, The Limits to Growth scenarios by the team of analysts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology did not predict world collapse by the end of the 20th Century. This paper focuses on a comparison of recently collated historical data for 1970 - 2000 with scenarios presented in the Limits to Growth. The analysis shows that 30 years of historical data compares favorably with key features of a business-as-usual scenario called the "standard run" scenario, which results in collapse of the global system midway through the 21st Century. The data does not compare well with other scenarios involving comprehensive use of technology or stabilizing behaviour and policies. The results indicate the particular importance of understanding and controlling global pollution.

Source (pdf)

The recommendations of the Limits to Growth report were not followed, because of a sustained, very aggressive campaign of hype and hysteria followed it's publication to discredit it.
As long as we have people like Bjørn Lomborg and Michael Crichton who are willing to distort the facts and issues to suit their own world views and (political) agendas, and as long as there are enough people willing to put their heads in the sand, and there are enough politicians willing to think short-term gain only and play along with the denial, this will go on.

The last paragraph of the study conclusion reads:

In addition to the data-based corroboration presented here, contemporary issues such as peak oil, climate change, and food and water security resonate strongly with the feedback dynamics of "overshoot and collapse" displayed in the LtG "standard run" scenario (and similar scenarios). Unless the LtG is invalidated by other scientific research, the data comparison presented here lends support to the conclusion from the LtG that the global system is on an unsustainable trajectory unless there is substantial and rapid reduction in consumptive behaviour, in combination with technological progress.

Well, there you have it.
What do you think of the odds?
Think we'll act in time?
Al Gore and Dr. James Hansen of NASA think so. Hope so.
I'm less optimistic.

Opluchting

Onbeschrijfelijke opluchting!!!

Het kabinet wil snel werk maken van het advies van de Deltacommissie voor een veiliger Nederland tegen het wassende water.
bron

Het zal nog zwaar tegenvallen en waarschijlijk wordt een zooi uitgehold waar je niet goed van word, maar een begin is er en de politieke wil is er, uiteindelijk!


Het rapport is hier te downloaden.
Ook een film op de site die het toelicht:
http://www.deltacommissie.com/film

How to cool a planet

NOT!!!

Oh holy fuck.

We are too lame to cut down the Carbon, so instead we are going to pull some stunts that could really backfire on the planet in a biblical way.
These geo-engineering sci-fi plans are at best haphazard band-aids, which we are unable to test beforehand and which could have very unintended consequences (as these well meant efforts usually have: think cane toads in Australia...)

None of these are structural solutions.

We are not even going to make the effort, are we.