"Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right"   George Harrison

Last night I was debating the necessary advantages of Ontario`s new renewable energy feed-in tarrif as a neccesary first step in saving ourselves from, well ourselves!? You may know my rant, "man-made global warming" solved with man-made global solutions! My debating friends were loud and skeptical and seemed to have no use for higher hydro rates as an acceptable adversary for Global Warming. I guess they`re worried that without cheap coal powered hydro that we won`t be able to afford our next 100 inch flat screen TV. But how much will that TV really cost? How much black carbon can your lungs manage and how many billions in storm damage from "climate change" can we wager on the stuff we want more than we need?

The jury is in and the credible scientific community doesn`t dispute the problem so now it`s fast time to solutions. I wrote previously about Ray Kurzweil`s predictions of 16 years to cheap and abundant solar power but now a Nobel prize winning economist, Paul Krugman, is talking cheap solar. Krugman measures everything that he predicts or recommends and the future is looking pretty clear if we can bear a short term cost for an alternative infrastructure? Here comes the Sun! X

http://climaterealityproject.org/2011/11/07/krugman-soon-solar-will-be-cheaper-than-coal/

I`m an average tax paying Canadian reading the morning news and mews on a Macbook with my sensory alarms running hot. Today I focus on the Environment and the news is not good! i.e headlines such as "Doctors Claim that Climate Change is the Greatest Threat to Public Health or We`re Beyond the Earth`s Carrying Capacity Now or Global Food prices expected to Climb and get more Volatile because of Global Warming."  But how can that be? The sky is blue, the forecast is cool and life goes on here in "neverland" Canada as it always has. This news must be shite and I`m going to talk my neighbour into idling her Hummer a little longer so that we can get the temperature up where it should be? Where is this damn Global Warming that everyone is whining about?

I`ve got to do a little research on this global warming crap and see what real Scientists are saying? I`ll start with "SkepticalScience.com" which sounds like me. Here`s some of their thoughts:

"the debate on the authenticity of global warming and the role played by human activity is largely nonexistent among those who understand the nuances and scientific basis of long-term climate processes”. (Doran 2009). In other words, more than 95% of scientists working in the disciplines contributing to studies of our climate, accept that climate change is almost certainly being caused by human activities.We should also consider official scientific bodies and what they think about climate change. There are no national or major scientific institutions anywhere in the world that dispute the theory of anthropogenic climate change. Not one.  In the field of climate science, the consensus is unequivocal: human activities are causing climate change."

Ok not good. What about Wikipedia, they usually have the answer?

National and international science academies and scientific societies have assessed the current scientific opinion, in particular on recent global warming. These assessments have largely followed or endorsed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) position of January 2001 which states:   An increasing body of observations gives a collective picture of a warming world and other changes in the climate system... There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities.^[1] No scientific body of national or international standing has maintained a dissenting opinion; the last was the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, which in 2007 updated its 1999 statement rejecting the likelihood of human influence on recent climate with its current non-committal position.^[2][3] Some other organizations, primarily those focusing on geology, also hold non-committal positions.

All right! Finally some common sense and as usual it comes the "American Association of Petroleum Geologists". I mean if you can`t trust Exxon then who the hell can you trust? They are a true Bullwort in the fight against "scientific nonsense"!

Just as I feel my Oily confidence getting real this damn "National Roundtable of Canada" comes out with their government sponsored study claiming that man-made Global Warming will cost Canada billions of dollars in damage by 2020? They`re saying we`ll have to spend $5 billion per year adaptation costs at that point and $43 billion per year by 2050!? Shite what will that cost the Americans if Canada gets dinged that hard? How did our government let these guys publish this dubious report?

Luckily our Environment Minister has this covered. He says Canada is putting $58 million away per year to cover this problem. That gives us 464 million adaptation dollars in the bank by 2020. Ok, so that`s only a tenth of the first year`s cost but I`m sure Kent and Prime Minister Harper have a plan. Probably they`ll print more dollars at 0% interest until our needs are met. Simple strategy. We`ve learned it well from the "Greatest Nation on Earth" and the deserved needs of our pampered civilization are met once again.

And if the printing press fails to satisfy our needs the Government has other obvious options. These "think tank" Science guys just don`t understand modern economics. We`ll just bring in some "Wall Street" brainiacs and put that $464 million into a government sponsored "Hedge Fund" that invests in "Oil and Gas Derivatives" that make so much money we won`t be able to understand its worth. Awesome, its like a free slot machine that you keep rolling until you get what you want. As Michael Moore might say "Capitalism is our Love Story" and Wall Street is our girl friend! You gotta love it!

Sure, you`d think the odds aren`t good with less than 5% of Scientists on my side and Roundtables or Intergovernmental Panels stacking up on the side of Scientific probability, but I`ve got help. Fox news, Rush Limbaugh, Rex Murphy at the CBC, the National Post and plenty of good sensible U.S. Senators are disputing these silly Scientific Truths more vehemently than I am. This gives me that warm and Oily confidence that Exxon will continue to make the most profit in the history of capitalism and that our Governments will print their asses off to maintain the status quo. This scientific truth nonsense doesn`t have a chance in this mighty Oil and Coal Kingdom! Praise the future of Climate Science!

"It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring. "      Carl Sagan

The theme is becoming "income inequality", the API codes are social networking and the endgame is awareness.  Whether its Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Toronto, Occupy Boston, Occupy London, Occupy Europe or Occupy the World?, awareness is on the rise.

Now comes the rub!? Democracy starts to question the wealth accumulation of the 1% and now government begins to question the value of a free internet? According to the Guardian Newspaper, he US Congress is considering a bill that could greatly restrict Internet free speech.Then Mayors try to turf protesters into the cold night and out of their prosperity.

Now awareness becomes a swell of thousands of 99% protesters moving through the streets of New York on Nov.17 as Bloomberg and his 1% may become a catalyst for change. This is getting so interesting!
This could become an historical struggle for equal opportunity and free speech? A protest that causes Bloomberg`s sphincter to tighten as the 1% circle their vaults and cry for control.

This is really about hope and opportunity. Too many people without hope equals social unrest as history shows time and again. "We learn from history that we never learn anything from history." Hegel   
Sometimes I get sucked into the thought, "this time its different and we are truly fracked ", but then I read another internet account of Occupy and the fire is relit. This really is a powerful code! Open source protest!  Keep internet free speech accessible and Occupy the Truth! And the truth is that there is not equal opportunity but that there can be whether they like it or not!

"Occupy all governments with the code of equal opportunity for you and I"

A relevant photo borrowed from Atlantic online!

Solar power is coming at an historically feverish pace that will probably even raise the investment sphinters of the likes of Exxon and Chevron etc.   It feels too slow to you and me but a genesis is planted and this fossil fuel dependence is growing old at a transendental rate of change!

These photos show the World`s largest Solar Plant in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada (as of Oct.2010 at 80+MW). Of course that status may be changing as the these plants are springing up around the world and Solar moves forward exponentially to eventual dominance in sourcing world energy needs?
But don`t take my word for it. Google "Ray Kurzweil", scientist, inventor and visionary and think about his Solar predictions? He states that (due to progress in nano-technology applied to solar) solar will replace fossil fuels as a cheap and abundant energy generator within 16 years! I hope he`s as right on this as he usually is?

So Ray predicts that cheap and abundant solar power will replace fossil fuels within 16 years!? Now that`s a future with "blue sky" potential. The future looks very bright indeed!

Whether it`s citizenship or whether it`s morality, things that you want to change in the world have to start inside yourself. You can`t just acquiesce. You can`t be at the mall with a fannypack on, scratching your nuts, buying sneakers with lights in them. You have to be thinking. You have to be resisting. You have to be talking." George Carlin

Sometimes I wonder if 'resistance is futile" but then along comes a protest that never seems to end? Sure the efforts of some of this 99% movement seems less focused than it might but the seeds are being planted and the protests could soon separate the usual economic evangelism from some truth? It could inspire enough pressure to frame a voice for "fair and just economics" that resonates on a global level so fervent that the 1% might consider more prozac and less tax breaks for their angst?

Can non-violent protest move us out of this Corporate crazy casino economy before we drown in a neo-feudalism or environmental catastrophe? Will modern liberalism finally grab the ball and champion equality before its too late? I don`t want to sound a desperate rant from Canada where we seem to believe that we are immune and that our government does it better, but I think these World Wide Occupy protests could be just in time for all of us!  Canada is sitting on a time bomb of consumer debt and growing income inequality that seems to easy to ignore? But are we not an economic model for the world?

Even the staidly conservative Conference Board of Canada is raising the alarm. The median income of middle class Canadians has risen 5.5% over a 33 year stretch through 2009. That`s less than nothing with inflation adjustments while the wealthy are doing so much better (looks like that stat is probably duplicated around the developed World). And surely these moneyed folk deserve it more than most? Hence why else would Canada`s income gap between the wealthy and poor be rising faster that it does in America?

We`ve all heard the story of CEO`s who make 400 times an average employee (which 30 years ago was 40 times the average grunt) or the extravagant bonuses paid to even those executives that fail. Hence more wealthy folk who are "to big to fail". There must be some strategic value to this that our Politicans understand and that we just don`t get!? After all they always look so competent in the veneer of Corporate suits and experience?

While our Government and Consumer debt have been rising like Wall Street bonuses (Bay Street over here), some cracks are showing in that governing Corporate veneer! The elderly poverty rate is rising steadily since the 90`s (Conference Board of Canada) , many of our Canadian Native population lives in 3rd world conditions,  1 in 7 Canadian children live in poverty (Conference Board of Canada) and that stat has risen steadily since the 90`s. Tie the cost of these problems together with the recent National Roundtable Report that predicts an adaptation cost of $5 billion per year for Global Warming and we are likely looking at a fiscal balancing act that can`t really afford the 1% perks!

That`s what I like about these Protests of frustration. It gives us a chance to openly debate and makes it difficult to ignore some truth. We are failing as "Our Brother`s Keeper`s" and we can`t afford to make the changes that will right these ships of State without some comprehensive reform to the way we do Government for the people. That`s including 99% of the people! If we truly believe in Democracy as "Government for all the People" then we need to raise tax revenue and stop unnecessary spending. Yeah, I know this is not new ground breaking rocket science but it is a bitter truth.

For example, could we all spend less on our "War Machines" and "Penal Colonies" (Canada is looking to spend Billions more on Prisons we don`t need?) and look to more cost efficient solutions in these areas. We can all guess how much we can save here? Enormous dollars! Meanwhile how about "handling the truth" that we need to raise tax revenue to fund a "good society". The rich can pay more in income tax, capital gain tax and dividend tax. Ask Warren buffet? We need a Carbon Tax to fuel our energy future and we need significant tax cuts for the poor and middle class so that equality in opportunity becomes more than empty politics. And plenty of smarter people than I have more to offer in a plan for this "Good and Just Society" that I insist is still possible?

The point of this blog was inspired by the words of one of my favourite free thinkers, George Carlin, but the heart of it is rising in the streets through the Occupy Protests of Frustration going on world wide.  Don`t pay attention to the media crap from Elitists protecting their collectives asses by calling the protests pointless and aimless. These money people are very worried and are starting to realize that they broke a trust. A trust to at least at minimum be their "brother`s keeper". They couldn`t even maintain a minimal trust while they gorged on Bonuses and Bailout money!? I just hope Canada can avoid the absolute political denial of our good neighbours who keep spending without consideration of the need to raise tax revenue to balance budgets. We can`t accept more politicians who won`t or can`t "handle the truth!" These protests are a "candle in the dark"!! A Beacon for a Just Society!

"Society is like a stew. If you don't stir it up every once in a while then a layer of scum floats to the top" Sage

"The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems." Mahatma Gandhi

Not long ago, on a slow night in a Panama City Bed and Breakfast, I was reading through a stack of old National Geographic magazines. In a 1979 edition, I happened on a full page advertisement on the future of Solar Power sponsored by the Exxon Corporation. Yeah, I know it sounds like a hallucination but this really happened, Exxon talking Solar.

Meanwhile, at that same moment in 1979, the US President Jimmy Carter, was installing Solar panels on the Whitehouse. This was shaping up as a pivotal moment in history with America leading the world into a Greener Future where even Exxon was considering the profit of alternatives. But suddenly it was 1980, a new President (Regan) was elected and the Oil industry was to become more heavily subsidized than the Planet might endure. An opportunity was wasted as we stepped back in time.

Stepping forward, circa 2011, the Sun is shining as I watch a Utube rendition of a US President`s State of the Nation. Obama speaks of America`s "Sputnik" moment as an opportunity to create Green jobs for a stronger, future economy. I`m getting a little excited after too many debates with friends regarding Canada`s need to go Green. These days Canada has become a follower, we can`t wipe our butts unless America does their`s first, and we need some help scrubbing the Oil from our eyes. Oil is going to be part of our future but does it need to be all of our future?   Is this finally a revival of Jimmy Carter`s Gaian moment 22 years late? Has America seen the light? Will Canada finally consider a future beyond the Oil Sands and Climate Change?

Now the US Energy dept is talking "Sun Shot" in the same light as John Kennedy`s inspirational "Moon Shot" talk of the 1960`s. Their "Sun Shot" goal is to reduce the cost of Solar energy by 75%. According to a noted Scientist and Visionary, Ray Kurzweil, this is not only achievable but inevitable. He sees nanotechnology applied to Solar leading to exponential growth in Solar delivery that will provide 100% of our energy needs in 16 years.

This sounds like a wake up call for the future ride of energy? If Obama can make this happen, the world had  better get on board or move to the back of the bus for this "Solar Shot" rocket. The science is coming and if America is onboard we`ll probably be landing on the Sun sooner than later!

 "I`d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don`t have to wait till coal and oil run out before we tackle that."       Thomas Edison 

My dream was inspired by a couple of books. Funny how that happens? I read James Mitchener`s "Drifters" and Jacques Cousteau`s "Silent World" and my feet hit the ground running. And this I think I`ve learned. Travel resets your mindset worldview, your self confidence and redefines your personal cultural static. It`s a little like losing your mind, deleting the cache and thumbing your nose at the daily economania. It`s pretty cathartic.  And in the end maybe it can truly help save this crazy little planet as one of the more positive forces of change?  Yeah, what a dreamer?

“The best way to observe a fish is to become a fish”   Jacques Cousteau

Cousteau helped us understand a world. A supreme karma model for anyone to appreciate. He travelled where no man had ever travelled before and connected the dots between us and creatures of the sea world. I think travel can connect the dots between all people and their environment. And "the best way to observe Bali is to become Balinese". So the journey and the dream begins.

I have seen things that I would not have believed without travel and I only wish that anyone who cares could share the wealth. Yeah, wealth is not measured in dollars alone, grasshopper. And true travel, not tourism, can be done in this day and age without a lot of cost. My journey started on a motorcycle crossing the western heartland of America. We rode through the Badlands of South Dakota , over the Continental Divide of Idaho and through the Rocky Mountains of Canada. A graceful revelation for anyone for anyone lucky enough to live a moment on this flying rock of ours. And a hell of a catalyst for adventure. My passions were lit!

 Next came Costa Rica. We stayed in a San Jose whorehouse (by chance) and met characters (fellow travellers)  too interesting to mention here. We trekked to Manuel Antonio on their Pacific coast and watched hordes of birds attacking newly hatched turtles trying to escape to the sea in a real life National Geographic moment. (My wife couldn`t accept the needs of this cosmos and fought off some birds, probably saving a few turtles and upsetting the balance of nature) And then we hiked the Monteverde Cloud Forest when it was still a Cloud Forest. Global Warming strikes again!

I climbed a Mayan Ruin in Tikal Guatemala and wondered about great civilizations lost. And then realizing how high we were I nearly cried like a baby thinking about coming back down. Vertigo sucks. Then Asia called and we headed for Buddha Land. After experiencing as many Buddhist Wats as I could stand and eating the best curries on the planet I woke up on the beach in Phuket to discover that a military Coup had taken place the night before. "Don`t worry this happens all the time" was my reassurance from the locals. So now we`re off to the Philippines before Buddha shoots our dream.

We spent a week on Surigao Island in southern Philippines and experienced culture chaos, near shipwreck, surfcamp in offseason and  learned to shower on our knees. During the day I would struggle to order breakfast through a language breakdown, but at night, in the kereoke next door, locals would sing Beatles and Neil Young tunes in near perfect English. Such is the universal power of music in any remote corner of the world? Maybe we should harness that power?

I snorkelled with a giant Eagle Ray and Barracudas as large as my wife off the San Blas islands of Panama and I`ve dived with enormous ancient Sea Turtles off the coast of Kauai. Then we hiked the Waimea Canyon of Kauai where "dazed and confused" by this cosmic beauty, we knew that the accident called "earth" might be worth saving.

Then moving from awe to angst I tour the Genocide Museum of Cambodia`s "Killing Fields" and really distress at the shite that man can do to man. Time spent in Cambodia shows how man can overcome their history. Sometimes I think history only exists to remind us how fracking stupid we can be, but maybe our future can truly value our history! Yeah, what a dreamer!

Wonder at the commitment of Kuna women of Panama as they carry very heavy weights of life giving drinking water from their docks to their village. Spend a day with the spiritually rich people of Bali and know that your stuff and "easy come shite" really isn`t worth so much.  A World Vision TV video can`t compare to watching (or helping) kids of Bali catching dragon flies for dinner or knowing the generosity of a very poor Belizean family offering me more helpings of food they can barely afford.

Finally we came to Fiji, the land of "bula". Greetings everywhere from poor people who can`t really be this friendly? And Fiji is so remote. I`m incommunicado and wondering what`s going on on planet Gaia while I`m away? This part of the Yasawa Islands seems oblivious to time.  What`s the price of oil and gold today? What`s George W (he`s gone but they`re all the same?) fracking up this week? How`s the war news and green movement? Fiji doesn`t seem to care and after a dozen bowls of Kava I settle into Fiji time. Bula baby! I need to take this spirit home with me.

So from all this I`ve come to believe that I need to be a "global citizen".  I need to live in a world that tries to appreciate it`s neighbors as partners and co-pilots on this crazy, beautiful, planetary accident of nature. A world less about greed and me, and at least a little more about sharing the wealth? And defining wealth in a whole new light? This is my delusion of a spiritual  liberation that I`ve found through my travels. I think I`ve discovered traction for a "global village".

But maybe it is all truly an illusion and a little shock therapy or modern civilized pharmaceuticals will put me right.  Then I can focus on my stock portfolio and buy some Gucci socks. I can vote Conservative and demand that I pay less tax and have homeless people arrested and moved out of sight. And I can blame Africa for its own troubles and talk about how the world is overpopulated and maybe death and mayhem is ok as long as it doesn`t affect me?

Jesus, I`d better book another trip before they convince me that life is really all about me and my stuff. Or they come to take me away, ha, ha. Yeah, I think I`ll try Koh Phi Phi. Chill by day and journey to the stars at night. And then maybe off to Myanmar. Travel till I drop!

"The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof."  Barbara Kingsolver

I just hope that the largest part of that sinking sun holds the power of Gaian potential. I`m a hope guy and my passion for the best of our "Blue Planet" is kindled every day, but sometimes I step back and wonder? I`ve just watched a movie, "The Road" (I know its just a movie but?), and it pushed some buttons like a great movie tends to do. The Road is a soulfull and emotionally brutal meditation of existence on a dying planet. They never really explain what killed the planet so I can just imagine?  It shows as a journey of hardcore survival, powered by the love of a father for his son, that only endures the horrors with a tantalizing notion of a faint hope?  But this didn`t start as a movie review. This really is about hope wrapped in the science of probability, overcoming the neglect of anti-science and Climate Dinosaurs. It is about a different ending for our movie.

So this movie made me wonder about the future. A bleak moment layered in hope. Go figure. And that inspired my lament on apathy for environmental consequences. Yeah I know here he goes with Scientists again, but they are sounding the alarm. I reason that if you need plumbing then go to a plumber; if you need surgery then go to a Doctor and I guess if we need analysis of Climate consequences then we should consider Climate Scientists? They deserve our attention?

"Every climate scientist has his or her own views on some issues that differ from the mainstream in detail. But the broad findings of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) have general support amongst scientists with relevant specialist expertise. The broad wisdom of the IPCC is strongly contested by a small number, and a small minority, of reputed climate scientists. It is not contested by the large majority of specialists, and by the leaders of the relevant learned academies in the countries of great scientific accomplishment."    Ross Garnault

I`m interested in real Climate Science but there is an anti-science story that borrows a lot of our time and spends a lot of someone`s money. These are the Climate Dinosaurs. They are usually conservative, they are Republican, they are in denial and they are very much a fringe minority in the scientific community, but they wield large Political and financial power. And unfortunately they have influenced the thinking of too many of us who don`t have the time to know or care about "hypothesis and probability" and dire possibilities. I`m interested in the Karma Dawgs who spell out "pier reviewed" Climate Science in study after study? Let`s go looking for those studies. Lets hear these Dawgs howl!

In 2007, an IPCC Study (again the truth that Climate Dinosaurs try to ignore) showed that, at the rate of rising carbon emissions projected forward, our atmospheric levels of CO2 would reach 1000 ppm by the end of this century!? Holy frack! Even the GreenLand Ice mass likely disappears before we hit 600 ppm, with rising sea level consequences that deserve more time than I have here? Where was the mainstream media when this report came out? 1000 ppm! And it takes a book from noted Climate Blogger Joe Romm to highlight this nightmare. Too much of our Media is worried about Lohan`s jail time and Charlie Sheen`s next party? Poor planet!?

This scientific body further suggests that at those levels of CO2 emissions the average global temperatures could rise 10-14 degrees C. That kind of hothouse spells catastophe.  Imagine an iceless world with crazy, lifeless high sea levels and deserts spanning the planet. Luckily you and I won`t see that but what about the kids, and their kids?  But hey, who can believe the IPCC? I need to dig deeper into this?

I find an April 2009 report by Scientists of the National Council for Atmospheric Research (verify their unique and staid credibility here NCAR) that states that the "threat of Global Warming" would deminish if this world`s nations cut emissions of "heat-trapping Green House Gases" by 70% this century. The report says that if we don`t comply then we are on track for CO2 atmospheric levels of 750 ppm. That`s a little better, just short of Apocalypse, but lets dig deeper again?

In 2008, NASA, Yale, Sheffield and other Science bodies contributed a study indicating that if we rise above 450 ppm CO2 in atmosphere, (as it is headed at the present rate of emissions), then we risk returning the planet to an ice free state with sea levels 200ft higher? More risk for the Dinosaurs? There must be profit somewhere in this?

Then I stumble on another 2009 study from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) which models a temp rise of 5.1 degrees C by 2100. Their projection is for CO2 content in atmosphere of, a slightly mind numbing, 866 ppm by 2095. Great, that spells more of that havoc on storm volatility, rising sea levels and desperate drought. The search goes on but trust me it`s more and more of the same!

It`s not rocket science to wonder how we can possibly ignore the building and alarming evidence for a future Climate Storm? Yet we (Developed Economies) continue our usual gorge at the casino-capitalist trough while China, India, Brazil, Korea and others grow at the rate that stock markets fantacize for?  Will we follow the Oil and Coal money to a carbon emission fever?  

This can`t end well without a dramatic historic effort at controlling the Political consequences of our future economies. We need to coral the "Dinosaurs" in their extinction box, let loose the reasoning of Scientists (IPCC and so many others) and consider the next wave of economists (Raj Patel and others)  who value the future social-eco consequences of our progress. There are key Political moments on the horizon, i,e, COP17 in South Africa, and there is still hope that leadership from Obama (he`s the key) can pull China into a Climate Agreement that "walks the talk", unlike Kyoto which was all talk. And now a Storm Clock is ticking!

This should lead down a different "Road" than that movie. Let those "Dawgs" out and maybe we`ll feel a crazy, "Egyptian like Freedom",  that passions Climate Change with a future. The Truth is in the Scientific details and the hope is that Obama and Friends see a  "Road" to Blue Skies and 350 ppm CO2! We can`t risk anything less.

"The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what's true"  Carl Sagan

"Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money"  Cree Indian Proverb

Don`t get me wrong I place high value on money, but maybe, just maybe, there is something "greener than money" that ought to fuel a passion for existence and our possibilities? Hence, I`m trying to understand why the Climate events of 2010 haven`t raised the sphincter alert to levels that make us want to cry like babies? That "storm photo" above is the real thing but it doesn`t show everyone hiding behind their stuff as if Climate Change is a virtual fantasy that won`t affect me, or you?

Consider this litany of 2010 Climate events? Devastating Pakistan floods, Niger`s drought, Australia`s horrible flooding after 9 years of drought, the hottest Jan-May temps ever recorded in human history says NASA, people freezing to death in Poland, New Zealand suffers its third consecutive year of drought, catastrophic floods in Venezuela, death from heavy rains in Tamil Nadu, and Atlantic Hurricance rates well above average in 2010. Add this to the food riots we are witnessing in early 2011 and I`m hearing the call of a radical "Climate change in your face" that needs our consideration yesterday? But hey that`s me, I`m the sensitive type. Maybe I need to reason this out?

Instinct says that recent Climate events are screaming "Storm Warning" but my friends are ranting "normal Climate cycles"! Wherein lies the truth? Well, my gut says approach the question from the angle of "hypothesis and probability", (hey that sounds like Science 101) so I search for some logical basis for karmic action.

Search, of course, starts with Google and ends with pier reviewed sources (thats how Science works if someone could tell Fox News or CBC`s Rex Murphy all about it?) . The information is gathered by the World`s most credible Scientific organizations, i.e. IPCC, NASA, USC (union of concerned scientists), American Association for Advancement on Climate Change, NAS (US National Academy of Sciences) etc. Their webpages are adamant in their concerns about human made "Global Warming". Check it out if you care?

Consider this statement from the IPCC. "The current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is very likely human-induced and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented in the past 1,300 years". This organization is the leading International body for assessment of Climate Change. Thousands of scientists from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC on a voluntary basis. They are beholden to zero Corporate interests and their assessments provide no financial gain. Their credibility is only questioned by the "all mighty dollar" and perhaps the "root of modern evil". Karma talk for Greedy Bastards!

A recent finding, co-sponsored by Richard Zeebe from the University of Hawaii, reports that human activities are putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere about 14,000 times as fast as natural processes do. The report suggests that nature has never seen this CO2 acceleration in 600,000 years? It can only adapt to emissions at this rate over thousands of years which reinforces the Global Warming distress of the IPCC, NASA and too many others. This kind of talk has me a little worried? Its got the smell of extinction.

I could go on with endless Climate Science references from the noted groups but I`m trying to convey a condensed version of my Climate thought, so I`ll refocus on a "recent report to the US Congress" from the NAS (the NAS has an unparalled International reputation for integrity). The NAS Report states: "Climate change is occuring and is largely caused by human activities...and in many cases is already affecting a broad range of human and natural systems". In a follow up letter, to each member of Congress, a group of their distinguished scientists wrote: "Climate Change poses unique challenges to human health...There are direct impacts from heat waves and severe storms, ailments caused and exacerbated by air pollution and air born alergens, and many climate sensitive infectious deseases".

I`m feeling  the love for some heavyweight backing to my notion that 2010 was a "Storm Warning". This planet needs help (right now!) before we (you and I) frack it up? I`m thinking that we need to get involved or bend over and get ready to ride a future storm of food riots and "Water World"! The best of our Science Community believes that there still is time to make this right, but the Gaian clock is ticking for an International ClimateFest in Durban South Africa later this year! Hopefully, the World`s developed Countries feel a karmic pressure, at this COP17 event, to do the right thing on reversing CO2 emissions asap?

Maybe we can take some time to convince a Politician, write a Blog, or talk to a friend about considering this Planet`s future? The future is now and it`s too precious to waste!

"If we go on the way we have, the fault is our greed and if we are not willing to change, we will disappear from the face of the globe, to be replaced by the insect"     Jacques Cousteau

"They who give have all things; they who withhold have nothing" Hindu Sage

There may be hundreds of ways to save this world and Bali is one of them. Yeah, I know, this is a travelogue but sometimes the road less travelled may hold the secrets of the universe, grasshopper. And Bali`s secrets run deeper than the obvious. The obvious are the lush and tropical forests, rice paddies rippling down hillsides like a painting, volcanoes touching the clouds and beaches that call the Indian Ocean paradise. It`s 8 degrees south of the equator and it is hot but the ocean breezes and mountainous inland slay the heat. You really won`t need air con at night. Tropical and beautiful but that`s not the story. The story is the people!

Wayan (first born) guides us through his country showing us all that is beautiful and all that is not.  Wayan speaks 3 languages. He is a travel guide, historian and ambassador for his Bali and worth every cent we pay for the spiritual insight he sells. You need to hire a guide like this. He takes us to his home (after covering nearly every photo worthy inch of the island) . We watch his family preparing for a soon to come wedding celebration and feel like we belong. He tells me that his community needs a schoolhouse as he dreams of the value of education. His people are poor but so so generous. Wayan is angry at the politics of Indonesia and how it fails his people, but his heart is hopeful for it`s future.

Made (second born) feeds us like kings in his humble restaurant . Made was originally Wayan (first born) but after nearly dying from a childhood illness was renamed Made by his grateful parents. He shares his family and his music (this guy plays kick ass rock when he`s not playing Balinese) while we start to sense the generosity that backs the endless "smiles" of Bali. The obvious humility and kindness of Made`s family will forever affect my life. I`m gorging on Balinese spirit and we will be Made`s best customers for now, but I hope someone picks up the slack when we`re gone?

I spent a week in Ahmed, a fishing village on Bali`s east coast. It is a vision of Bali`s nature in more ways than one. It`s coastline plays breathless views to Lombok and back to Mt. Agung while it`s beaches are lined with jukung boats of a wannabe fishing community. Meanwhile young people in Ahmed are suffering chronic unemployment (listless youth without a reason to be; we know where that leads) and Fisherman come home with less than they need. One young man dreams of owning 10 goats so that he might support his family for life. (cost $800) Another dreams of owning his own fishing boat so that he could employ himself for life. (cost $600) I met a young man so desperate for employment that he admitted he "might be a terrorist" if the price is right. "Of course I`m just kidding he said" as he endures another day without hope. Here we have an island that is physically a measure of paradise, with so much potential, but economically is a measure of need that can come at such a low cost to people like you and I. Such is the paradox of Ahmed.

This sounds like the desperate third world. You bet! And guess what, you`l always have to be ready to take the good with the bad in the developing world. That`s the thing with travel. Sometimes it demands as much as it gives and a karma experience demands that we emphasize give. And that was easier than you can believe in Ahmed. My wife nursed children and pampered old men while I tried to convince young men that the future is their`s. We watched kids catching grasshoppers for dinner and women carrying loads of bricks (and anything else) on their heads like working class ballerinas. We were part of the family and left wanting more.

Now Bali`s economy suffers the effect of the bombs of more idiot terrorists who hope to scare the tourists away? And this I think I know. Life in Bali or Cambodia or Kenya can be better with us than without us. Their economy can be smarter and we can offer so much more but if we disappear this shite might get desperate. We offer them hope (which is much less than these people offer in return) and people without hope are dangerous for planet earth. And that being said I see the heart of the Balinese spirit as a true hope for mankind. No shite! People like this who can give so much while getting so little in return are a future I think we should envy. So go visit. Suck up the vibe and spend some money! Feel good about bribing your way into paradise. They need the economy and we need their spirit. A pact made in heaven!