Something to Think About...

     I read the paper every morning. I read a lot of papers, in fact. I visit a lot of websites on a daily basis, looking for relevant Climate and Environmental news and facts I can use and share with all of you. I scan a lot of the sports stories (for my own personal enjoyment), all the political articles (I don't read them all for fear of having a stroke) and the seemingly endless celebrity headlines (please, I do not care about Kim Kardashian, really). From deflated footballs to what Nikki Minaj is wearing to anti-environmental chairpersons of Senate environmental committees, there's quite a bit of stupid shit that happens everyday. After seeing these things day in and day out, I have one question that keeps popping up in my head:

Happy Friday.

It's Official...Sorta

     If you rely on the political section of your newspaper for whats new in science, then you are way behind. The US Senate has voted and the results are in. The Senate the other day determined that Climate Change is real, overwhelmingly, according to the Los Angeles Times. At this rate, I'm sure the vote to determine if the Earth orbits the Sun will take place in the Fall. I suppose the vote to settle the whole "we need oxygen to breathe" debate will have to wait until next year.

     But alas, this story does not have a happy ending. While the Senate voted 98-1 that climate change is real, they failed to pass the follow up resolution, which would have acknowledged accepted that humans are having an impact on the Climate and it could prove disastrous. Senator Inhofe, who voted to accept that Climate Change was real, had this to say after the brief glimmer of hope:

     "Climate is changing. The hoax is that there are some people who are so arrogant to think they are so powerful they can change climate. Man can't change climate."

     The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.

     I know I get all preachy and climb on my soapbox, but these are the people who we chose to lead. These types of actions paint our nation's leaders as out of touch, worried more about getting re-elected and pork barrel riders than doing the jobs they were put into position to do. Thank God we don't have to rely on them to "vote" on scientific discoveries every time there is one. We still live in the Dark Ages.

      Thanks US Senate! Proving once again that you are behind the times and too busy posturing to listen to the experts. Guess what, the majority of us already know that Anthropogenic Global Warming and Climate Change are real. Now its time to acknowledge how we are affecting it and, we want to know is what are you going to do about it?

Look, Up in the Sky!

     I recently bought a pair of Orion Ultra-View 10x50 binoculars to do a little stargazing. I mean, when the stars are as clear as they are here and when you can see more with the naked eye than you ever dreamed possible, binoculars are the next step. I was spurred on by the comet Lovejoy, which i had a very small window of opportunity to see. I found it, with its faint green smudge in the sky, to right of Orion in the Southern sky, below the Pleiades. But, that was just the beginning. Within a week, I had seen so much more that I was kicking myself for not doing this sooner.

http://www.universetoday.com/106995/subaru-telescope-captures-the-fine-details-of-comet-lovejoys-tail/

     I love the stars. I love all things space. Hubble images, space shuttles, Star Wars and Star Trek. I'm all in. Except I have never been much of a star gazer. I wanted to be, but I just didn't do it. I had a telescope when I was a kid, but I grew bored quickly and then it was forgotten in a closet. Its really a shame, since now i realize that you can see the Galilean Moons and the Rings of Saturn with just a pair of binoculars. You can see the Andromeda Galaxy, the Orion Nebula, Mars, Venus, Mercury...all in much more striking detail than I ever thought was possible without a telescope with a high magnification. The awe it inspires is...awe inspiring! The more I look, the more I want to see.

http://www.mikesastrophotos.com/tag/nebula/

     I am obsessed with the moons of Jupiter. When I first look at Jupiter a few weeks ago, on a crystal clear night here in Southern Germany, I thought the little bright dots next to it were stars. It was only after a few minutes that I realized they were some combination of Io, Europa, Callisto and Ganymede. How I didn't know I could almost see them with the naked eye shows how distracted I have been with other things in my life. I have spent my life fascinated with the Solar System, space exploration, the images Hubble send back to Earth..all of it. But I never really took the time to look up myself. Call me lazy, blame it on light pollution or my obsession with television, but the very things I was awed by I never bothered to go outside and look at on my own.

http://cs.astronomy.com/asy/m/planets/453251.aspx

      I think so many of us are distracted in the same ways. We are all caught up in the machine that has us up at dawn for coffee, in the car to the office by 8am, back in time for soccer practice at 5:30pm, all the while nose-deep in our smart phones watching cats attack balls of yarn or answering Facebook messages with "smh" or "lmfao". We wander through life, focused on careers and values and our beliefs, failing to take into account the very things that make our reality so beautiful. Instead of gazing at the stars and wondering what's up there, how it got there and what will happen next, we are fixated on our laptops and Facebook memes and whether or not the Patriots are world-class cheaters (which everyone knows they are).

     Stop looking down at that glow device in your hand. Look up! Turn the TV off and take your kids outside. Take some binoculars. If you're addicted to your smartphone, put it to good use and download the Skyview app. Go to the park or wherever the light doesn't block the heavens. The Universe is more than buying things and saving for retirement. There are wonders conjure wild fantasies and humbling thoughts that put life into perspective. Next time it's clear at night, go outside. What do you see? As I found out, more than I thought possible.

He Had a Dream

Partisan Divides and Clean Water

     Take a look at the recent Forbes article that details the "end" of the partisan divide over whether Climate Change is a real thing or not. Despite the recent actions of the US Senate, that voted to determine if anthropogenic climate change indeed exists, apparently the majority of the GOP acknowledges and accepts that we are indeed having an effect on the planets climate. I was pretty shocked to read that, I have to say. But it did give me hope.

     What I don't understand is why the Senate is even wasting our tax dollars on votes to determine something that really can only be fleshed out with science and statistics. Voting on whether Climate Change is real is like voting to decide if most birds can fly or to establish whether we breath O2 or not. I'd rather they vote on steps to take to reduce the effects of AGW instead of grandstanding for a small but vocal faction of the GOP to appease them.

     Sorry this blog can be so political sometimes, but that's part of it these days. The Forbes article points out that that is changing, which is good. But we have a long way to go. So, to balance out todays post and in order to focus on the positive and the humorous for the rest of the month, here is an article with a positive spin. When I worked with the Anne Arundel County Watershed Stewards Academy, clean water was a focus. Scientists now are developing nanoparticles to clean up our water. Because clean water is important. Although, to be sure, maybe we should vote on that.