Oxygen Isotope Record of Deep Sea Sediments

This is a graft/chart of the episodes Earth has experienced over it's life to date regarding Glacier and Interglacier periods which lasts about 100,000 years. It doesn't have the best resolution and I apologize about that but what is important is the areas of Warming called 'warmer' on this chart. Kindly note at the end of the warming period there is a SPIKE. Starting at the one and including that one between 5 and 6, there are five 'spikes.' Right? One for every extinction. What do you suppose those spikes mean? Well. If you look besides the spike on the opposite side of the it? It drops doesn't it? Those are the SUDDEN plummets of Earth into cold climates. Those happen very quickly on an Earth time scale. Once Earth has expended it's heat resources/ice, it goes into glacier periods fairly quickly where it takes a very, very long time to rebuild it's icefields and ice ocean and continent at it's poles. Why do you suppose that is? Would you think that perhaps the 'Greenhouse Gases' have been grossly reduced very quickly because the producers of them aren't producing them anymore. Why else would the planet cool off so quickly? The point is that once Earth has gotten as hot as it can with it's ice cooling it off enough to sustain life; the biota collapses. That is no way for humans to address this crisis. There is far too much damage and a reality that humans won't survive either the hot or cold climate. We need to stop this insanity.

We have been here before!! 

The ART of subliminal racism of "Holy Roller" Cable Network News...

... when it harbors resentment for whatever reason against difference in ethnicity and skin color as CNN has this past week. For over 168 hours CNN had a caucasian face and that racism continued last night until I called them on it and they slide in a Token Black Segment during NewsNight.

The Hour began at 9:59 pm with Larry King empathising with Aaron Brown on the TOUGH and DIFFICULT life of 'Jet Lag' from Rome on the second day home. A little word of advise to Aaron who seemed to suffer the most. Been there. You sleep on the way home if traveling by plane and arriving to daylight. You don't sleep if you are arriving to night hours when you can sleep when you arrive. Easy. It works. Profound lack of SYMPATHY for a man who has been doing this for decades. Same goes for a lack of SYMPATHY for the staff with same credentials.

Now the hour, all these enteries are for the PM.

1000 Aaron states "Good to see you." He can't see anyone except the camera and there is every indication he doesn't want to.

1000
First segment is a segement about the Neocon War in Iraq and a Missing in Action soldier, Matt Maupin. It is narrated by Jason Carroll. Jason is a black journalist and like all good and obedient servants he is heard but never seen. All that is SEEN are caucasian faces.

1003
Second segment is about the Neocon War and the plight of Neocon Business men outside The Green Zone. The segment is filmed inside an armored vehicle primarily. The editing is amazing for as much as they are out and about in Baghdad there is never a person of color noted including an Iraqi face. The segment is narrated by Nic Robertson, a caucasian journalist and lucky for this caucasian man he gets to be seen on film. All other appearances are by caucasians.

1008
Third segment is about Neocon Religion and the mass conducted by Cardinal Law. Through the entire segment nothing is seen but caucasian faces and it is narrated by caucasian Jim Bitterman. Odd name. Bitterman.

1011
The fourth segment is about the same Neocon Religion and complaints about the mass by Cardinal Law. Through the entire segment all that is SEEN are caucasian faces and it is narrated by Aaron Brown.

Beginning at 1013 there are four minutes of commericals.

1017
Erica Hill the caucasian news journalist does a Neocon Promo of Rummy in Iraq. That is followed by pictures of the BLACK man in New Jersey apprehended and in CUSTODY of police. Then there is a film clip about the excessive 'tackling' force used on the CHINESE tourist at the Capital seeking to speak to the president. On the front page of CNN e-page it is noted as "Man in black sparks U.S. Capitol security scare." That was concluded by a moment with poor Martha Stewart.

1019
Fifth segment is by Red Rowlands about Michael Jackson. Jackson looks caucasian in all the film noted and the rest of the film is edited to show only caucasian faces.

This was interesting to all of us waiting to hear some details about the Crawford visit of Prime Minister Sharon.
1022
Deborah Feyerick presented a segment to defeat Assisted Suicide. This was a repeat segment from about two weeks ago that was supposed to aire on one of the days of the Rome visit. All faces notably caucasian.

1026
Three minutes of commercials.

1029
Beth Nissen narrated a TOKEN Feel good about yourself and your attitude toward Blacks, Anti-discrimination segment on the death of Viola Liuzzo, a white woman who went to Selma, Alabama to protest racism, and her black friend Sarah Evans. It had a wonderful sentiment and certainly 'saved the day' for NewsNight, as did the voice of Jason Carroll. Lengthy segment of 8 minutes according to my notes.

1037
Three minutes of commercials.

1040
The 'honor' segment of the day citing dead American military. There were five names tonight. Henderson, Luna , Johnson, Maciel and Burk. The names did not appear on the transcript.

1041
Kelli Arena the Terror expert. She is the TERROR expert not necessariy the Terrorist Expert as we still don't have any disgruntled mumbles about the unsuccessful prosecution to date of Moussaoui. This TERROR segment is about a Class on 'Readiness.' The student featured was doing an investigation of 'The Plague' over the internet as her class assignment. Only caucasian faces appear. ADDITION :: Kelli was the journalist that 'outed' the Pakistan agent when there was the 'Terror Warning' in NYCity when the president was due in town for the Statue of Liberty Re-dedication. And Bob Novak is the journalist at CNN who outed Valerie Plame hence stabbing Joe Wilson in the back for his testimony regarding 'yellow cake' in Niger or was it Nigeria? Sorry, I don't have my nations straight on that one. At any rate either these journalists are the most pathetic journalists around and lead by the nose as easy as pie or this is a continued and planned assault against the minds of Americans to maintain a chronic state of panic. You know, there are just times when this HUGE message comes screaming across that television screen stating, "We don't want Osama bin Laden caught no matter what happens to anyone else." Something tells me there is a profound lack of ethics within this organization as well as a profound lack of patriotism to the USA Constitution. My, my.

1044
Three minutes of commercials.

1047
Caucasian Erica Hill appears to tell us about the Rummy Promotion in Iraq. And, Hey, there is the Jewish guy from Israel. I'll be darn. For all of 30 seconds we get to know Prime Minister Sharon was indeed in Crawford, Texas. That was followed by a promo piece by Rummy in regard to troop deployments to Iraq not exceeding 12 months without his approval. That was supposed quell any apprehension regarding by any would be recruits. When has Rummy never approved an extension of time to service in Iraq? Never. Then there was some consumer stuff about THE RETURN under Bush of more dangerous medical device but aesthetically pleasing silicone breast implants needed to save the marriage after diagnosis and a complaint about higher at the pump gas prices.

1049
A 25th Anniversary Segment called "Then and Now" about the mountain climber and his new artifical arm that allows him to keep climbing mountains, Aron Ralston. Ain't the replacement parts the GIs are getting great. Not that Aron is a GI but certainly there is plenty support for Aron among the current military. All caucasian faces of course.

1050
Three minutes of commercials.

1053
A lengthy "Morning Papers" Segment featuring the ONLY religious rag among them The Christian Science Monitor. I guess the Anti-Bush editorial in "Haaretz" is too much of a reach into reality for this Neocon Hour. "The weather in Chicago The weather tomorrow in Chicago for the first time in a while, "a spritzer." I guess it's going to rain there."

With that the hour as far as I am concerned concluded.

Cape Town South Africa 

Millennium group nails down the financial value of ecosystems

JIM GILES

Governments need to stop taking environmental benefits for granted, report says.

[LONDON] Ecosystems will continue to decline unless policy-makers start to assess the economic benefits of our natural environment. That's the verdict of a group that has just completed the most comprehensive round-up yet of the planet's ecological health.

The four-year Millennium Ecosystem Assessment was due to issue its summary report on 30 March in London and Washington. It makes for gloomy reading, stating that damage to ecosystems is irreversible, likely to accelerate over the next 50 years, and set to frustrate efforts to eradicate poverty.

The US$24-million project brought together 1,300 biological, physical and social scientists from 95 countries. The researchers conclude that ecological threats can only be held in check if governments start to assign proper economic value to the benefits they obtain from natural systems (see commentary on pages 561–562).

Such 'ecosystem services' include products that governments already quantify — such as fishery income — and others that are taken for granted — the protection forests give against flooding, for example. The authors argue that less tangible benefits, such as aesthetic values, should also be considered.

World service: income from fisheries is an easily quantified benefit of a healthy ecosystem."The idea is to take the hand-waving out of ecosystem decisions," says Robert Scholes, a specialist in environmental policy at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Pretoria, South Africa, and a member of the project's scientific panel.

The assessment team used its ecosystem services concept to examine how Earth's environment will develop under four scenarios. In each case, ecosystem damage makes it difficult to meet a projected 70–80% increase in food demand over the next 50 years. Habitat loss always hits biodiversity, with the total number of plant species reduced by 10–15% of 1970 levels by 2050.

"It's not hopeless," says Scholes. "There is a large difference between bad and really bad." The authors suggest taking measures such as improving regulation and market incentives. Although these are not new ideas, the researchers claim they have enough backing to make a difference. "We involved members of the United Nations, the scientific community, the private sector and indigenous peoples' groups," says Thomas Rosswall, head of the International Council for Science in Paris and a member of the board that managed the project.

But critics say the authors fail to note the benefits that richer nations have derived from activities that degrade ecosystems, such as felling forests. "This is how much of the West developed," says Bjørn Lomborg, a statistician at the University of Aarhus in Denmark and a high-profile critic of the Green movement. "We grew rich in the process and only then have we been able to reforest." Lomborg says that poorer nations should exploit ecosystems, and expect to address environmental concerns only once they have dealt with problems such as malnutrition.

The data produced by the project are now being distilled into special reports for five UN bodies, including the Convention on Biological Diversity. The World Bank intends to ask countries to use the concept of ecosystem services when submitting reports.

The assessment might even persuade countries that economic indicators are not the best way of describing a nation's well-being, says Robert May, president of the Royal Society in London and another panel member. "We need more awareness that GDP can't quantify quality of life and sustainability.

The Potential of Ionicly Charged Low Pressure Systems

Confronting the human dilemma

Confronting the human dilemma

HAROLD MOONEY1, ANGELA CROPPER2 & WALTER REID3

1 Harold Mooney is in the Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, California 94305, USA.2 Angela Cropper is at the Cropper Foundation, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.3 Walter Reid is the Director of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 4225 Glen Ave., California 94611, USA.

How can ecosystems provide sustainable services to benefit society?

Four years in the making, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (see Nature 417, 112–113; 2002) is released this week (starting 30 March). This gigantic endeavour explores the link between human well-being, the status of ecosystems and their sustainable use.

What has this assessment taught us about developing our planet, and will it, or should it, be continued? To answer the first part of this question, the assessment is an invaluable record of where we stand now, and why. But for it to be useful, the answer to the second part of the question must be 'yes'. We need to take a consistent approach to measuring the status and trends of the world's ecosystems. To take one example, the Convention on Biological Diversity has set the target of reducing the rate of global loss of biodiversity by 2010. But the data to evaluate whether this goal is being met are not readily available, as biological diversity is more than just an enumeration of species present or absent — it includes parameters such as the populations of species and the ecosystems in which they reside. In addition, biodiversity is just one of the many aspects of change in ecosystems and their related functions assessed in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Only from a periodic audit of the state of our natural resource base can we determine if we are indeed approaching sustainability.

At present, there are no formal plans to repeat the Millennium Assessment. There should be, and we hope that the informal discussions among the current sponsors will bear fruit from the seeds sown by the many smaller, ongoing sub-global assessments that were stimulated by the assessment.

Achievements and goals

Sustaining ecosystems does more than just aid conservation, it saves resources for human use.Although there has been a steady increase in many indicators of human well-being in many parts of the world — such as an increase in personal wealth, a longer lifespan and access to plentiful and inexpensive food — these benefits have not been universally distributed. There are still more than one billion people surviving on less than one dollar a day and nearly that many are undernourished. About 1.1 billion people lack access to a basic water supply and more than 2.6 billion lack access to basic sanitation. It is this disparity that has driven the United Nations to set the goals of halving the proportion of people living on less than one dollar a day, reducing the proportion of people suffering from hunger and halving the proportion of people with no sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. To achieve these goals by 2015, it is accepted that nations have to achieve sustainable development and reverse the losses of environmental resources.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment took a new pathway of evaluating the status of the Earth's human support systems. Rather than the standard environmental audit, the new assessment places audits of numbers of organisms and so on into the context of how ecosystem changes have affected human well-being, and how they may do so in the foreseeable future. It had to find a link between the status of biotic systems and the status of individuals in various societies in the world to estimate the capacity of ecosystems to provide services that benefit society. Many of these links are obvious, but others have not been appreciated, nor have all these linkages been quantified. In essence, we had to make a large leap from the current styles of evaluations of status and trends in ecosystems to an entirely different approach — an ecosystems services database related to how ecosystems and societies operate, and how they interrelate.

Current status of ecosystemsHuman societies have made marked progress in increasing provisioning services, such as crops and livestock, to meet the demand of a growing population (see Box 1). Food is more abundant and cheaper than in the past. Despite these dramatic accomplishments, there are still more than 850 million undernourished people, and some advances in production are at the cost of other services essential for human well-being, such as ocean fisheries, wood for fuel, genetic resources and — perhaps the most important — fresh water. It is the poor in many nations that are most directly dependent on services from ecosystems, and the degradation of these systems can exacerbate their poverty. Millions of people face the reality of the declining availability of cheap protein from local fisheries, inadequate water for sanitation or live on degraded landscapes.
There are a number of issues that cloud the goal of sustaining a high level of provisioning services. The use of fertilizer in agriculture has greatly increased to meet food demand, but at the cost of polluting off-site unmanaged ecosystems, such as groundwater, rivers and coastal fisheries. In many regions, water for irrigation is being pumped from groundwater and in some cases from fossil sources. Rivers are dammed and diverted for irrigation, altering ecosystems that depend on this water — causing the loss of many of the services they provided.
Further, we are diminishing crucial 'regulating' services responsible for climate, erosion, air- and water-quality control, as well as for the regulation of pests and natural hazards. We are losing these services due to massive land-surface conversion, atmosphere alteration, eutrophication, overharvesting and the impact of invasive species. The Millennium Assessment concluded that 60% of the ecosystem services evaluated were either being degraded or being used unsustainably.

As an example, cultivated systems (areas where at least 30% of the landscape is in croplands, confined livestock production or freshwater aquaculture) now cover a quarter of the Earth's surface, partly by conversion of temperate grasslands, Mediterranean-climate forests and many tropical ecosystem types. Forests have essentially disappeared from 25 countries, with 9.4 million hectares being lost annually from the Earth's surface. Historically important fisheries have collapsed or are overfished, one third of the mangrove forests for which there are historical data have been lost, as have 20% of the coral reefs, with a further 20% degraded. Nearly 40% of the rivers of the world have been fragmented. Species and populations of species are being lost at unprecedented rates, while at the same time the global biota is becoming homogenized owing to the introductions of alien species to new regions. These examples represent major losses of pieces of the biosphere machinery, which have a serious impact on the delivery of ecosystem-regulating services — impacts such as greater prevalence of infectious diseases in disrupted ecosystems, adverse effects on local climates by ecosystem modification, and the loss of flood protection (as in the recent tsunami in Indonesia).

What we can doThe drivers of change in ecosystems and their services will continue in direction and intensity. So how can these trends be reversed to achieve sustainability and to relieve the negative impacts of the loss of services to society, particularly to the disadvantaged? New pathways and approaches can and must be taken. But these are major initiatives, which will mean profound changes in the way global society operates. As learned in the Millennium Assessment, favourable responses need to take place at all levels, from the local to the global. Global mechanisms do not necessarily solve local problems, yet are an important part of the overall solution. At the same time, local players and solutions can feed into regional and global approaches. The players at these different levels address different decision-makers, who can collectively put in place the major changes that are needed for ecosystem sustainability.

The Millennium Assessment examines the merits of options for mechanisms and policies, to accomplish the goal of maintaining and enhancing the delivery of ecosystem services to society. Some of these require major reorganization in the way we do business. At present, our organizational structures address separately the issues of a single resource, such as agriculture, fisheries or the environment. There is little interaction within and between each issue, and much less again with trade and the treasury bodies. The lesson of the Millennium Assessment is that all these resource issues are interrelated: action on one issue has consequences for another. It is crucial to address how to minimize the trade-offs (biodiversity or clean water for agricultural yield), either on-site or by managing landscapes. One important example of how this process can work is the EU system of directives for nitrate accounting on landscapes.

Some institutional innovations are moving towards more integrated views of issues and responses to them. For example, Britain has a government department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. These are all closely interrelated domains, but in other countries are often handled by competing agencies. Elsewhere, interagency groups are evolving to address central issues such as climate change, but their effectiveness is hampered by competitiveness and politics. We need new kinds of institutions in better positions to achieve sustainability of ecosystems that provide for human well-being.

We must also try to improve the economics. Although provisioning services are enmeshed in the local (and increasingly global) marketplace, regulating services are not. We must accelerate our ability to value ecosystem-regulating services at the national level, as well as the ecosystem services that provide crucial cultural amenities, and ensure that these values are considered in decision-making.

Some progress is being made. Costa Rica has established a system of conservation payments, under which contracts are brokered between international and domestic 'buyers' and local 'sellers' of sequestered carbon, biodiversity, watershed services and scenic beauty. On a global scale, the Ecosystem Marketplace consortium is beginning to track transactions, pricing trends and buyers' requests on the carbon, water and biodiversity markets. It is predicted that the global carbon market will reach US$44 billion by 2010.

We need to eliminate the subsidies that promote the excessive use of ecosystem services and evaluate more carefully the trade incentives that damage ecosystem services. We must work harder to educate the public on the strong links between sustainable ecosystems and the lives of humans. The role of new technologies in more efficient use of natural resources is crucial and needs more incentives.

There is plenty that can and needs to be done to deal with the crisis that has already enveloped us. The path is open for scientists to quantify, to a much greater extent, the way in which the operation of ecosystems is directly linked to human well-being, and hence model the course of human activities on future outcomes of the delivery of these services. The Millennium Assessment is certainly providing a strong stimulus for such studies.

http://www.millenniumassessment.org/

Acknowledgements. We thank the scientists, reviewers and members of the review board who provided input to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, and the sponsors of this work.