Yay 2021! The syllabus, schedule, and project information is mostly updated for the Spring semester! Link to those pages using the menu above.
Author: jbkrygier
Land Inequality
Land inequality is directly threatening 1.4 billion of the worldâs poorest people, according to a recent report.
New calculations have discovered that disparities in rights and access to land are more than 40 percent higher than previously thought. Just one percent of the worldâs largest farms currently operate more than 70 percent of all farmland.
A lack of access and ownership is pushing rural and Indigenous communities off of the land. It is also putting the livelihoods of an estimated 2.5 billion people at risk, the International Land Coalition (ILC) & Oxfam report found.
âGrowing inequality is the greatest obstacle to poverty eradication; in countries like Guatemala, extreme inequality costs lives,â says Ana MarĂa Mendez, Oxfamâs Guatemala director.
âIn rural Guatemala, extreme land inequality undermines the rights and livelihoods of indigenous and small-farmer communities and exacerbates the climate crisis.
Source: Euronews
The Geopolitics of Fish Flatulence
 |
 |
Source: Pacific and Atlantic Herring Produce Burst Pulse Sounds
Burst pulse sounds? Squeeking? A “so-called voice”? Cheese? A sort of sneeze?
Turns out its flatulence, but sophisticated flatulence, used by herring for communication. This ability, as it should be called, has been long understood:
Quoted from:Â Rigbyâs Encyclopaedia of the Herring
Herrings can make a noise when they are lifted from the sea. This has been known for hundreds of years. In De Harengo (1643) Paul Neucrantz devotes a whole chapter to the subject, Concerning the squeaking of herrings whilst they do not breathe, arguing:
All fish have this so-called voice, coming either from their gills, which contain little bristles, or from the innards gathered around their stomachs â because air is held in these places and, when the fish are rubbed or shaken, sounds are squeezed out.
In The Herring; Its Effect on the History of Britain (1919), AM Samuel writes:
There is a belief among fishermen that a herring when caught articulates a sound similar to the word âcheese.â This sound is caused by an escape of air from the air bladder, or a movement of the gills. Fishermen, indeed, frequently state that the herrings âsneeze,â just as Aristotle says that gurnards âgrunt.â
In 2003 the sneeze was confirmed as a high-pitched fart from the herringâs swim bladder, via its anus. It was suggested that the purpose of this little raspberry was likely to be rooted in nighttime communication within the shoal.
(source)
But on to the geopolitics (source)
In 1981, a Soviet submarine ran aground on the south coast of Sweden, just 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from a Swedish naval base. The Soviets claimed that they were forced into Swedish territory by severe distress, and later navigation errors, while Sweden saw it as proof that the then Soviet Union was infiltrating Swedish waters.
The submarine was returned to international waters, but the Swedish government remained alert, convinced that Russian subs could still be operating near their territory. Which is when they started to pick up elusive underwater signals and sounds. In 1982, several of Sweden’s subs, boats, and helicopters pursued one of these unidentified sources for a whole month, only to come up empty-handed.
This continued for over a decade. Every time they picked up an acoustic signal they would search and find nothing but for a few bubbles on the sea’s surface. Sweden was, of course, worried about the intrusions, and couldn’t think why, with the Cold War now over, Russia would continue to provoke them in this manner.
And these bubbles, so to speak, were not Soviets, but herring farts.
Moral of the story: we need to know more about the gaseous emissions of all lifeforms.
Norwegians Got Paid To Use Electricity As Prices Fall Below Zero
Market-based light socialism sucks:
Electricity prices in parts of Norway fell below zero for the second time in history early on Monday, and residents in southern Norway âgot paidâ for using electricity as power producers have to pay to sell electricity when prices are negative.
This was the second time in history that electricity prices in Norway have dropped below zero. In early July, electricity prices in Norway went negative for one hour. Back then, some of the reasons for the first-ever negative electricity prices were a lot of snow in the mountains, limited exports of electricity, and the start of the summer vacations during which Norwegian power consumption is lower than normal.
The latest negative electricity price from Monday was the result of heavy rainfall and wind in recent weeks as well as higher imports of nuclear power from Sweden, analysts told E24. Higher than normal seasonal temperatures also contributed to low power demand in southern Norway.
Electricity prices are expected to rise with the coming of the winter in the Nordic country, experts said.
Norway, Western Europeâs biggest oil and gas producer, generates most of its electricity from hydropower. According to Norwegian company Statkraft, hydropower accounts for 99 percent of all power generation in Norway. Globally, hydropower represents around one-sixth of the total generated electricity supply, Statkraft says.
Source: Oil Price (oilprice.com)
Rights of Nature Law Passes in Landslide in Orange Co., Florida
On Election Day, a breathtaking 89% of Orange County voters approved the Right to Clean Water Charter Amendment. Orange County is now the largest jurisdiction in the nation to pass this kind of legislation.
Historic in its scope and meaning, this vote ushers in the systemic change Florida needs, and it makes Florida the epicenter of the Rights of Nature movement in the United States.
This is an indisputable, bipartisan mandate from the citizens of Orange County. Approval of the amendment â also known as the Wekiva River and Econlockhatchee River Bill of Rights â shows that the rights to clean water and healthy ecosystems are not to be subordinated to the interests of polluters. The amendment gives citizens the right to sue corporate polluters in court, without having to show they have been personally harmed, as state law requires.
It shows that business should not be conducted at the expense of the environment and the public welfare, and that the so-called choice between a healthy environment and a healthy economy is a false one.
More on Florida Rights of Nature Network
Source: Sun Sentinel
Saving Appalachian Wild Ginseng with âforest farming.â
For centuries, diggers have tromped into the woods in this part of the country to pull up ginseng roots and sell them for $500 to $1,000 per pound to middleman buyers, who in turn sell them to China, where ginseng is prized as a curative.
But both this storied plant and this practice are imperiled by overharvesting, an issue that could worsen this year thanks to Covid-19. Ginseng has long been prized in folk medicine for its purported health benefits, which have been borne out by scientific studies on the plantâs antiviral and antibacterial properties, and some researchers are worried that the pandemic could heighten Chinese demand for this plant. But even before this potentially tumultuous year, stakeholders in Appalachia, like Gao, have been racing to preserve ginseng and its economic potential.
A key component of their strategy is forest farmingâintentionally planting seeds in forestland and harvesting them responsibly, instead of either growing them in cultivated plots that may require pesticides and fertilizers or randomly yanking them from the woods. There are plenty of landowners in Appalachia with forested properties, and scientists believe that encouraging those landowners to plant ginseng could create economic opportunity while reducing pressure on the overharvested wild stock.
Source: Wired
Giant Terror Wasp Hunter Couture
Some pleasant information on the suits used by entomologists hunting giant Asian wasps on the West Coast of the US
Previous outfits were found to be lacking and the wasp hunters did not have a huge budget:
Normal beekeeping outfits wonât cut it. Last year, when a Canadian team tackled an Asian giant hornet nest in Nanaimo, British Columbia, where the hornet first turned up in North America, the person tasked with the extraction wore two pairs of pants as well as a Kevlar vest under his regular apiarist attire. Despite all that, he described the seven stings he suffered as âsimilar to having red-hot thumb tacks driven into the flesh.â So whatâs an Asian giant hornet hunter to do? Head to Amazon, of course.
The agency ended up ordering about 15 of the $170 suits, which, according to the Amazon listing, are made by a company called Vevin. Theyâre advertised as professional anti-wasp, -hornet, and âyellow jacket protective apparelâthough not specifically as being protective against Asian giant hornets. The one-piece suits are constructed of three layers: a 20-millimeter-thick slab of foam sandwiched between an inner and outer coating of soft plastic mesh. Black nylon taping reinforces the seams, zipper, and the top of the attached hood, where a battery-powered fan moves air around and keeps the wearer cool.
Source: What to wear when youâre battling giant, venomous hornets
Whatever happens Tuesday – Change is headed in the right direction
 |
 |
 |
 |
Solar is now âcheapest electricity in historyâ, confirms IEA:Â
The worldâs best solar power schemes now offer the âcheapestâŚelectricity in historyâ with the technology cheaper than coal and gas in most major countries.
That is according to the International Energy Agencyâs World Energy Outlook 2020.
The Politics of Power – Renewable Energy and the Fallacy of the Red/Blue Divide
In July 2020, three Republican states (TX, OK, IA) generated more wind & solar electricity generation on a trailing-12-month basis than all 20 Democratic states, plus Washington, D.C. combined
Nearly 30% of the Democratic state power stack is generated from renewable power vs 15% for the Republican state power stack, but Red states generate more renewable power than Blue states
Republican states generate just over 50% of all renewable power in the US currently, but 2/3 of all wind and solar power
Texas dominates U.S. wind and solar renewable scene at nearly 25% of U.S. generation, an amount totaling over 70% of all wind and solar generation from Blue states
Climate Change Is Forcing the Insurance Industry to Recalculate
Insurers are at the vanguard of a movement to put a value today on the unpredictable future of a warming planet
Business Roundtable endorses market-based climate policy
The Business Roundtable, a major trade association that includes the heads of some of the largest and most influential companies in the U.S. as members, is endorsing a “market-based mechanism” as part of a plan to sharply curb greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change,
The move, which was first reported by POLITICO on Tuesday, throws the lobbying voice of those executives from companies with $7 trillion in annual revenues behind efforts to combat climate change, reflecting a stark division between the business community and the Trump administration.