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Archive for the ‘environmental’ category: Page 14

Oct 16, 2016

An ancient drought-friendly farming process could become the next organics — By Renuka Rayasam | Quartz

Posted by in categories: environmental, food

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“Drip irrigation came to California in the 1970s, letting farmers plant more fruits, vegetables, and nuts more closely together and in desert areas not naturally suited for agriculture.”

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Oct 10, 2016

Scientists “too frightened” to tell truth on climate impacts — Climate Home

Posted by in category: environmental

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““The impact of extreme, often violent weather on crops in a world where the population continues to increase rapidly can only be disastrous,” he warns.”

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Oct 5, 2016

Food production in a world without meat — By Mbali Kgame | Design Indaba

Posted by in categories: environmental, ethics, food, futurism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cimOBpVMLxU

“Meat production is detrimental to the environment and at the high rate at which it is consumed, it can also increase the risk of colorectal cancer by 18 per cent. This is according to a review of 800 studies conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO).”

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Oct 4, 2016

Canada’s Carbon Tax Needs To Spread South of the Border — By Jamie Condliffe | MIT Technology Review

Posted by in categories: economics, energy, environmental, finance, governance, government

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“Nobody likes taxes. So it’s a brave move by Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, to announce that the entire country must pay if it continues to burn fossil fuels.”

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Oct 3, 2016

The One and Only Texas Wind Boom — By Richard Martin | MIT Technology Review

Posted by in categories: energy, environmental

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“Wind power has transformed the heart of fossil-fuel country. Can the rest of the United States follow suit?”

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Oct 1, 2016

Patagonia’s Ex-CEO Moves To Create Argentina’s Largest Nature Preserve — By Alexander C. Kaufman | The Huffington Post

Posted by in categories: environmental, government

** ADVANCE FOR SUNDAY, JUNE 10 ** FILE ** A bird rests on a deer at the Esteros del Ibera, north of Argentina, in the area owned by U.S. businessman Douglas Tompkins, in this undated file photo. Tompkins now owns well over 1 million acres (400,000 hectares)  in Chile and Argentina, a combined area larger than Belgium he says he wants to save from agribusiness and development. (AP Photo/ Daniel Merle/La Nacion)  ** BUENOS AIRES OUT **

“The donation is part of an ambitious plan to preserve Argentina’s northeastern Iberá wetlands and restore populations of six species of wildlife, including jaguars, that had gone extinct in the region. Tompkins plans to donate about 341,350 acres, a spokeswoman from her nonprofit Tompkins Foundation told The Huffington Post.”

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Sep 8, 2016

Obama on Climate Change: The Trends Are ‘Terrifying’ — By Julie Hirschfeld Davis, Mark Landler and Coral Davenport | The New York Times

Posted by in category: environmental

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“In an exclusive interview on his legacy, President Obama speaks to The Times’s Mark Landler and Coral Davenport on climate change while visiting Marine Corps Base Hawaii.”

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Sep 1, 2016

The $10 Million Race to Invent Star Trek’s Tricorder | Smithsonian

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, environmental, genetics, health, information science

“Fifty years after the show aired, Star Trek’s fictional tricorder is far from becoming a reality. But a $10 million prize from the XPRIZE Foundation is hoping to motivate inventors to create one quickly.”

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Sep 1, 2016

Cargo Cult Science

Posted by in categories: climatology, environmental, existential risks, health, information science, philosophy, rants, science, sustainability

Feynman told us clearly: “Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.” Check anything from first principles and experience, ignoring no logical holes, and that is science. Cargo Cult Science arises when the opposing arguments aren’t emphasized. Experts then form and pass down firm beliefs that are delusions. Cargo Cult science is like a perfect replica radio made all of wood: it may have all the trappings of degrees and chairs and journals, but it is missing the key ingredient and won’t function.[1][2]

Vaccine science is cargo cult science according to Feynman’s definition. There are a ton of peer reviewed papers demonstrating that vaccine aluminum is damaging, that vaccines are full of contaminants, that they can disrupt brain and immune system development, that the smallpox vaccine was ineffective, the polio vaccine is of questionable utility, other vaccines’ immunity wanes after only a few years. They never rebut as you can easily verify yourself by examining the citation list here for opposition and then searching the vaccine survey pdfs for the cites. They just ignore it.[3][4][5]

Climate science is cargo cult science. Climate “scientists” have been known to “hide” their own most interesting data, the data contradicting the prevailing theory which is what Feynman said a scientist should emphasize most prominently[6][7]. Alternative theories and methodological objections are ignored or white washed. (Search the IPCC reports for discussion of the opposition.) To say a science is cargo cult science is not to say that there are no papers published in it that are science, but it is to say one should repose zero or negative confidence in any pronouncement one has not personally verified from first principles.

http://TruthSift.com supports Feynman’s model of science applied to everything. Just as in mathematical practice, you can post proofs and refutations. But nothing is considered established unless every proposed refutation has an established counter-refutation. No proposed refutation can be ducked, and anybody who believes they have a rational objection may post it (and see the establishment statuses reflect the objection in real time). Try it out. Check out (and please contribute to) the ongoing diagrammings of the vaccine/climate science etc literatures. When they have passed through true logical review, confronting all the opposing arguments, what remains will be a genuine science.

[1] Richard P Feynman, What is Science? (1968) http://www-oc.chemie.uni-regensburg.de/diaz/img_diaz/feynman…nce_68.pdf
[2] Richard P Feynman, CARGO CULT SCIENCE (adapted from Caltech Commencement Address 1974) https://www.lhup.edu/~DSIMANEK/cargocul.htm
[3] Eric Baum The Top Ten Reasons I Believe Vaccine Safety Is an Epic Mass Delusion (2016) https://lifeboat.com/blog/2016/06/the-top-ten-reasons-i-beli…s-delusion
[4] TruthSift Topic: Are Vaccines Safe? (2016) http://truthsift.com/search_view?statement=Vaccines-are-Safe…p;nid=4083
[5] TruthSift Topic: The Evidence is Weak Vaccines Have Saved More Lives than They Have Cost (2016), http://truthsift.com/search_view?topic=The-Evidence-Is-Weak-…amp;id=520
[6] Climate data hidden both early (data showing very rapid rise before 1500) and in 20th century (showing decline): https://climateaudit.org/2011/03/21/hide-the-decline-the-other-deletion/
[7] More data contradicting theory hidden. https://climateaudit.org/2011/12/01/hide-the-decline-plus/

Aug 23, 2016

Journey to Mars in Less than Two Days Onboard this Radical Train Concept

Posted by in categories: engineering, environmental, space travel

As for the maximum distance the train could journey, “There is no limit,” Bombardier asserts. He reckons the first ship would shuttle cargo and travelers between Earth and the Moon—a trip that would take roughly seven hours to complete at the ideal speed of 15 km/s. “The Moon will serve as a launching pad for other projects, because it is easier to assemble and build this kind of train in the absence of gravity,” he says. “And Mars seems to be a good candidate for the next phase, especially if we can terraform it.”

Though intriguing, the notion begs many questions, and likely won’t be viable for eons. “Obviously there is a lot to consider,” the designer admits. “The general purpose here is to devise a system to transport minerals, materials, and humans from one place to the other in our solar system. Solar Express is a basic idea, and we would like to know how we could improve it.”

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