Mar 31

Meanwhile, on the downside…

Meanwhile, on the downside…

Originally shared by Greg Batmarx

Human destruction of nature is rapidly eroding the world’s capacity to provide food, water and security to billions of people, according to the most comprehensive biodiversity study in more than a decade.

Such is the rate of decline that the risks posed by biodiversity loss should be considered on the same scale as those of climate change, noted the authors of the UN-backed report, which was released in Medellin, Colombia on Friday.

Among the standout findings are that exploitable fisheries in the world’s most populous region, the Asia-Pacific, are on course to decline to zero by 2048; that freshwater availability in the Americas has halved since the 1950s and that 42% of land species in Europe have declined in the past decade.

Underscoring the grim trends, this report was released in the week that the decimation of French bird populations was revealed, as well as the death of the last male northern white rhinoceros, leaving the species only two females from extinction.

The time for action was yesterday or the day before said Robert Watson the chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) which compiled the research. Governments recognise we have a problem. Now we need action, but unfortunately the action we have now is not at the level we need.

We must act to halt and reverse the unsustainable use of nature or risk not only the future we want but even the lives we currently lead he added.

Divided into four regional reports, the study of studies has been written by more than 550 experts from over 100 countries and taken three years to complete. Approved by the governments of 129 members nations, the IPBES reports aim to provide a knowledge base for global action on biodiversity in much the same way that the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is used by policymakers to set carbon emission targets…

Conversion of forests to croplands and wetlands to shrimp farms has fed a human population that has more than doubled since the 1960s, but at a devastating cost to other species, such as pollinating insects and oxygen-producing plants, on which our climate, economy and well-being depend.

In the Americas, more than 95% of high-grass prairies have been transformed into farms, along with 72% of dry forests and 88% of the Atlantic forests, notes the report.

The Amazon rainforest is still mostly intact, but it is rapidly diminishing and degrading along with an even faster disappearing cerrado (tropical savannah). Between 2003 to 2013, the area under cultivation in Brazil’s northeast agricultural frontier more than doubled to 2.5m hectares, according to the report.

The world has lost over 130m hectares of rainforests since 1990 and we lose dozens of species every day, pushing the Earth’s ecological system to its limit said Achim Steiner administrator of the UN Development Programme. Biodiversity and the ecosystem services it supports are not only the foundation for our life on Earth, but critical to the livelihoods and well-being of people everywhere.

The rate of decline is moreover accelerating. In the Americas, which has about 40% of the world’s remaining biodiversity, the regional population is gobbling up resources at twice the rate of the global average. Despite having 13% of the people on the planet, it is using a quarter of the resources, said Jake Rice, a co-chair of the Americas assessment.

Since the start of colonisation by Europeans 500 years ago, he said 30% of biodiversity has been lost in the region. This will rise to 40% in the next 10 years unless policies and behaviours are transformed.

It will take fundamental change in how we live as individuals, communities and corporations he said. We keep making choices to borrow from the future to live well today. We need a different way of thinking about economics with a higher accountability of the costs in the future to the benefits we take today Rice said.

It’s because of us added Mark Rounsevell co-chair of the European assessment. We are responsible for all of the declines of biodiversity. We need to decouple economic growth from degradation of nature. We need to measure wealth beyond economic indicators. GDP only goes so far.

The authors stressed the close connection between climate change and biodiversity loss, which are adversely affecting each other. By 2050, they believe climate change could replace land-conversion as the main driver of extinction.

In many regions, the report says current biodiversity trends are jeopardising UN global development goals to provide food, water, clothing and housing. They also weaken natural defences against extreme weather events, which will become more common due to climate change.

Although the number of conservation areas has increased, most governments are failing to achieve the biodiversity targets set at the 2010 UN conference in Aichi, Japan. In the Americas, only 20% of key biodiversity areas are protected.

The authors urged an end to subsidies for agriculture and energy that are encouraging unsustainable production. The European Union’s support for fishing was among those cited for criticism. Watson also urged people to switch to a more sustainable diet (less beef, more chicken and vegetables) and to waste less food, water and energy.

There are glimmers of hope. In northern Asia, forest cover has increased by more than 22% as a result of tree-planting programs, mostly in China. But this was from a very low base and with far fewer species than in the past. In Africa, there has been a partial recovery of some species, though there is still a long way to go.

Watson, a former chair of the IPCC and a leading figure in the largely successful campaign to reduce the gases that were causing a hole in the ozone layer, said the biodiversity report was the most comprehensive since 2005 and the first of its type that involved not just scientists, but governments and other stakeholders.

Despite the grim outlook, he said there was cause for hope. The report outlines several different future paths, depending on the policies adopted by governments and the choices made by consumers. None completely halt biodiversity loss, but the worst-case scenarios can be avoided with greater conservation efforts. The missing link is to involve policymakers across government and to accept that biodiversity affects every area of the economy.

Currently, these concerns are widely accepted by foreign and environment ministries; the challenge is to move the debate to incorporate this in other areas of government, such as agriculture, energy and water. Businesses and individual consumers also need to play a more responsible role, said Watson.

We don’t make recommendations because governments don’t like being told what to do. So, instead, we give them options he said.

The IPBES report will be used to inform decision-makers at a major UN conference later this year. Signatories to the Convention for Biodiversity will meet in Sharm El-Sheikh in November to discuss ways to raise targets and strengthen compliance. But there have been more than 140 scientific reports since 1977, almost all of which have warned of deterioration of the climate or natural world. Without more pressure from civil society, media and voters, governments have been reluctant to sacrifice short-term economic goals to meet the longer-term environmental challenge to human wellbeing.

Biodiversity is under serious threat in many regions of the world and it is time for policymakers to take action at national, regional and global levels said José Graziano da Silva director general of the Food and Agriculture Organization…

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/23/destruction-of-nature-as-dangerous-as-climate-change-scientists-warn

Mar 31

Ambitious, but it sounds credible.

Ambitious, but it sounds credible.

Originally shared by Greg Batmarx

Can you imagine being able to produce enough water in the Sahara to grow crops there? Can you imagine harnessing sufficient quantities of solar power to supply electricity to cities in Africa and cities in Europe? Can you imagine producing a sustainable bio-fuel that doesn’t impact on world food supplies?

Charlie Paton Michael Pawlyn and Bill Watts can and what’s more they can imagine all these happening in the same place at the same time.

This week this trio of visionaries launched the Sahara Forest Project: their proposal to combine two innovative technologies, Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) and Seawater Greenhouses, to produce renewable energy, water and food in an area of desert known to be one of the hottest places on earth.

Multitasking renewable solutions

It has often been said that there will be no one solution to solving the climate crisis and all those issues that surround it, such as energy sources, food prices and water supply. We need a portfolio of technologies to help us to combat these advancing problems.

The Sahara Forest Project is one of the first projects we’ve seen that proposes not only to combine technologies to optimise performance and production, but also aims to tackle all of the serious challenges mentioned above. It is a bold and ambitious plan that, if realised, could have a powerful positive impact not only for the Sahara region, but also for Europe and the rest of the world.

Positive Collaboration

The most exciting aspect of the Sahara Forest Project is not specifically the use of these technologies. We’ve read about Seawater Greenhouses and Concentrated Solar Power and how they’re being used to great effect. It is the fact that they are being used together in the same place, to support each other and optimize their operating capacities to produce energy and water and by proxy vegetation.

This sense of collaboration is echoed in the team of people behind the proposal: an inventor, Charlie Paton, creator of the Seawater Greenhouse; an architect, Michael Pawlyn of Exploration Architecture, previously of Grimshaw and the lead architect on the iconic Eden Project; an engineer, Bill Watts of Max Fordham & Partners, an engineering firm that focuses on energy efficient systems for the built environment. These three men have brought their considerable expertise together to create a truly innovative proposal.

Illustration of greenhouses having a similar effect on the climate as a region of forest, yet providing a net input of water vapour from the sea.

What does a Seawater Greenhouse do?

The Seawater Greenhouse was designed to address the problem of irrigating crops in arid coastal regions by evaporating seawater and condensing it into fresh water. This helps to reverse the trend of desertification created by normal industrial greenhouses, which can use up to five times more water to irrigate crops than the respective region’s average annual rainfall.

The system works by mimicking the natural hydrological cycle where seawater heated by the sun, evaporates, cools down to form clouds and returns to the earth as rain, fog or dew.

What does Concentrated Solar Power do?

CSP is currently seen as one of the most exciting and powerful ways of harnessing the sun’s energy to create power. Like the Seawater Greenhouse, CSP works well in hot arid areas where the sun is at its most powerful. The sun’s rays, collected through reflecting mirrors, are used to heat water which then produces steam to power turbines.

Examples currently working are Nevada Solar 1 near Las Vegas, and the solar tower in Barstow California. It has been proposed that the energy created by CSP in the Sahara could be transported to Europe with minimal loss via high voltage DC power lines.

How will the Sahara Forest Project work?

These CSP / Seawater Greenhouse technologies will work together at a location some distance from the north coast of Africa, hopefully at a point below sea level which will reduce or potentially eliminate the costs of pumping seawater.

The scheme has been designed as a ‘hedge’ of greenhouses providing a windbreak and shelter for the outdoor planting. CSP arrays will be placed at intervals along the greenhouse ‘hedge’. The greenhouses produce five time more fresh water than needed for the plants inside. This surplus will be used to irrigate the planted orchards and the Jatrophra crop, which can be turned into bio-fuel for transportation and other needs.

Commercial Synergies

The Sahara Forest Project team tell us that the innovative interaction between the two technologies helps each to function more efficiently:

*1.*CSP systems need water for cleaning the mirrors and for the generation of steam to drive the turbines which the greenhouses can provide.

*2.*The Greenhouse evaporators make very efficient dust traps (as do plants that are growing outside) which benefits the CSP since the mirrors stay cleaner and therefore operate more efficiently.

3. In solar thermal power plants, only about 25% of the collected solar energy is converted into electricity. If combined with sea water another 50% of the collected energy, normally released as heat, can be used for desalination. This way, up to 85% of the collected solar energy can be used.

In conclusion the Sahara Forest Project works on many levels. By combining the benefits of Concentrated Solar Power and Seawater Greenhouses the design team has vastly scaled up the positive outputs of renewable energy, food production and fresh water supply.

Furthermore they tell us that the scheme would also have the restorative effect of returning areas of desert to forested land and sequestering substantial quantities of atmospheric carbon in new plant growth and reactivated soils. Surely this is a perfect example of the potential power of human and technological collaboration.

http://www.impactlab.net/2018/03/30/incredible-sahara-forest-project-to-generate-fresh-water-solar-power-and-crops-in-african-desert/

Mar 31

Via a private share: a consensus study report on the science, ethics, and governance of human genome editing from…

Via a private share: a consensus study report on the science, ethics, and governance of human genome editing from the National Academy of Science. There’s a free version as well as the ridiculously priced $55 ebook. Not sure what the full version has that’s different, but apparently the free one has plenty of story fodder for dystopias or just near-future SF.

https://www.nap.edu/catalog/24623/human-genome-editing-science-ethics-and-governance

Mar 30

Better still, be someone who doesn’t require an explanation for “no”.

Better still, be someone who doesn’t require an explanation for “no”.

Originally shared by Dave Higgins

“sometimes it’s easier to just kiss the guy than explain to him why you don’t want to.”

Anyone out there looking for what men can do to make the world a better place, there it is: be someone to whom it’s easier to explain than submit.

https://medium.com/@natalieportman/that-obscure-subject-of-desire-f2e2bd09db8c
Mar 30

As usual, ignore the headline.

As usual, ignore the headline. The article is about the current work being done in synthetic biology, and the aim is to rewrite parts of the human genome to, for example, be virus-resistant. It’s further along than you might think, though nowhere near ready for real-world applications yet.

Via Daniel Lemire.

https://www.wired.com/story/live-forever-synthetic-human-genome/

Mar 29

Some good discussion in the comments to the original post about both the physics of this and how to design the UI.

Some good discussion in the comments to the original post about both the physics of this and how to design the UI.

Originally shared by Winchell Chung

Most of the laser info in this page on my website is from Luke Campbell

He has the valuable insight that the secret to making a laser pistol do bullet levels of damage is pulsing the beam. (see link for details)

To penetrate soft tissue (i.e., an evil asteroid pirate), a good optimization is 1 kilojoule total energy in the laser bolt (i.e., what the weapon emits when you pull the trigger), divided into 1 joule pulses at 5 microsecond intervals, focused down to a spot size of a millimeter or less. This will bore a hole in the asteroid pirate about 30 centimeters long and 2 centimeters in diameter in about 0.005 seconds.

Then he caught my attention by mentioning the above pulse train was optimal for soft tissue, other values would be better suited for boring through metal or other materials.

So a professional laser pistol, instead of having the pulse values pre-set, would have some kind of controls to vary the pulse train. But what? And in the interests of verisimilitude, what are the scientific names of the variables to be written next to the controls?

So far I figure something like three controls:

[1] Total energy in the bolt (pulse train emitted with each trigger pull) in joules or something.

[2] Energy per pulse in the pulse train OR number of pulses in the bolt (energy per pulse is obviously total energy divided by number of pulses)

[3] Pulse delay interval

Does this sound like I’ve covered all the bases? What names to use? Later I’ll try and figure the user interface on the weapon, probably along the lines of a Phaser 1 (or even the iPhaser gag: https://www.martinhajek.com/apple-vs-star-trek-iphaser/ )

http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/sidearmenergy.php#blaster

Mar 28

As in other industries, rising profits are not being passed on to the people who are doing productive work.

As in other industries, rising profits are not being passed on to the people who are doing productive work.

Originally shared by Steve Turnbull

Some of us have been well-aware that the big five trad publishers have been screwing authors but that knowledge was perhaps based on anecdotal evidence, well the figures are in and it’s the book trade itself that’s saying it.

http://www.thepassivevoice.com/2018/03/the-profits-from-publishing-authors-perspective/

Trouble is they haven’t realised they are no longer the only game in town.

(Although I can just imagine one of their execs whining: “It’s all the fault of Amazon and its self-publishing, if people didn’t self-publish we wouldn’t have to do this to our authors.”)

http://www.thepassivevoice.com/2018/03/the-profits-from-publishing-authors-perspective/