The New York Times reports that Brazil has seen the light (no pun) and has decided to move away from “dirty” energy sources, ostensibly in an effort to be somewhat greener than not. Yet, like all “developing” countries (what exactly does that mean?), Brazil needs what appears to be a never ending supply of juice.

The solution? More dams, of course.

“Brazil uses hydroelectric power for more than 80 percent of its energy, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has said that more dams are needed. Dilma Rousseff, the presidential candidate that Mr. da Silva is backing as his successor, has also pushed for more dams, including Belo Monte, which would represent about 10 percent of Brazil’s total power generation.” [NYT]

But, as usual, the local folks have other ideas about the Brazilian government inundating their land.

“To build Belo Monte, builders would have to excavate two huge channels larger than the Panama Canal to divert water from the main dam to the power plant. The reservoir would flood more than 160 square miles of forest while drying up a 60-mile stretch of the Xingu River, displacing more than 20,000 people, many from indigenous communities, according to non-governmental groups citing government figures.”

So, after apparently reading Edward Abbey’s “The Monkey Wrench Gang,” the locals decided to take matters into their own hands.

“For indigenous groups, the drying out of the Xingu would change life as they know it. So at their meeting last month, leaders from 13 tribes made an unusual decision: They decided to create a new tribe of about 2,500, and then station it directly on the construction site, occupying it for years, if need be.”

Hayduke would be proud!

posted by Mudd

The topic de jour is “Can We ‘Cool The Planet’ Through Geoengineering?” Let’s hope not.

Some skewed thinkers out yonder, apparently blinded by science, are seriously pondering cooling the planet vial geoengineering. Of course, as any clear headed American (oxymoron?) can clearly see, such an idea is little more than bullshit sprinkled with glitter.

Here’s a whiff of the stink from NPR – “For years, environmental and energy researchers have been working on solutions to stop or slow down the effects of global warming. One approach that has recently gained popularity is what scientists call geoengineering — the idea that Earth can essentially be retrofitted with technology to reduce global warming.”

Planet Earth needs technological retrofitting? Where’s George Carlin when you need him?

Can we geo-engineer Homo erectus asphaltus while we’re at it? How about retrofitting our species’ proclivity to eat ourselves into a diabetic stupor? Or our tendency towards blind obedience to ideological stupidity? Or our insatiable desire to reproduce?

Sound silly? Of course it does.

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind of common sense – reduce our population in accordance with ecological carrying capacity, live in some semblance of harmony with “nature,” and quit acting out every urge produced by testosterone overdose.

You don’t need a zoo keeper to tell you which way the monkey jumps. Nor do you need a techno-wonk to tell you that what ails the planet is looking in the proverbial mirror wondering if their teeth are white enough. Or, as the Old Man in the Sea told us – when the bell tolls, answer the phone.

As one pundit told NPR – “We have a lot of talk about clean energy, about green energy, people trying to do their part and change their lives in small ways, but in fact, we’re really not doing anything.”

Not true…. we’re behaving exactly like the primates that we are. And we will continue to do so until our lovely DNA dictates otherwise. Perhaps a sad commentary on the societal evolution, but what is, is.

Until then, free condoms!

posted by Mudd

From the lovely BBC News – “A study of over 47,000 Italian adults found that women alone whose diets contained a lot of bread, pizza and rice doubled their heart disease risk.”

This study confirms my suspicions that pizza is the most over-rated food on the Cosmic Menu. One can only assume that the women in said study croaked even earlier by adding cheese and pepperoni to their carbo-pies.

posted by Mudd

From NPR – “As states across the country scramble to close budget gaps, many are targeting state parks. Arizona is the first to go through with it. In February, the state closed five of its 30 parks, and a number of them contain fragile archaeological sites.”

That includes Homolovi Ruins State Park in northern Arizona.

“Homolovi stands to lose a lot if it remains closed. Home to more than 500 ancestral Hopi sites, the area has been ravaged for centuries by looters, searching for relics to sell on the black market. The worst of it was during the 1970s, about a decade before Homolovi became a state park.”

Interestingly enough, local volunteers have stepped into the picture to protect Homolovi. That includes “Karen Berggren, who has managed Homolovi since it opened 23 years ago.” Now she works with no salary.

Let’s make a prediction – in this Age of Meaningless Dribble, the odds are that local volunteers do as good a job of protecting Arizona’s parks as the State did during the fat years.

Let’s hope so.

posted by Mudd

More “news” from the Christian Science Monitor – “With world population expected to grow by nearly 50 percent to more than 9 billion people by midcentury, farmland is going to need to be much more productive. Even today, nearly 1 out of every 6 people in the world – more than 1 billion – are going hungry, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.”

What’s wrong with this picture? It begins with the premise that the answer to over-population is simply to produce more calories per person. A perfectly silly premise, but ubiquitously accepted by our media pundits. Which includes most mainstream do-gooders in the so-called “green movement.”

And after the neo-Green Revolution figures out how to feed to hordes? Wal-Marts for everybody!

What a future.

posted by Mudd