| Time |
Event |
| 4:47a |
|
| 4:47a |
7,000 humpback whales
It appears that high ocean temperatures in 2014-2016 reduced the population
of humpback whales by around 1/5. It has not rebounded yet.
This sadly suggests that global heating could make them vulnerable to
extinction, or
even cause their extinction.
|
| 4:47a |
|
| 5:17a |
How our seasons are shifting
There was hardly any ice in
Lake Erie this winter.
*Gardens in England and Wales blooming four weeks early,
says National Trust.
I expect this is happening all across the temperate zones.
This flowery symptom of global heating may be pleasant, but these
sorts of changes don't affect a whole ecosystem in a uniform way. The
resulting disconnects break relationships between species, and can
cause some to go extinct. It also attracts invasive species, which
can displace or eat other species and cause their extinction.
|
| 5:17a |
Spain faces droughts
Catalonia's three-year drought has gone beyond mere inconvenience.
Agriculture
is being destroyed.
It has plans to use desalination to get drinking water.
I hope they will not be powered by fossil fuels, as that would
accelerate the increase of drought over all Spain and large parts
of the world.
|
| 5:17a |
Rick Doblin and MDMA
An interview with a leading campaigner for legalization of MDMA
and
its use for therapy.
I dislike the part that tries to validate the idea of "spirits" as something
other than a metaphor, because there is no way those can exist; it can only
be an instance of confused thinking.
That doesn't invalidate the beneficial results of the therapy, or the
arguments for legalization.
|
| 5:17a |
Biden’s $1.2tn bill
The US has for decades spent far more on roads than on public transit.
In the past that was unfair to Americans in cities. Now it's resisting
efforts to
minimize climate disaster.
|
| 6:48a |
|
| 6:48a |
Real country music not the US genre
Rhiannon Giddens rejects the idea that genres of music belong to
certain groups and that
others should be excluded
from playing them.
For music, and for everyone, we must reject the idea that
"cultural
appropriation"
is something bad. That view is wrong, regardless of which group's rights are being attacked.
|