Is Tomorrow Today?

I really hate it when I repeat myself. But sometimes I just can't help it. I know I have posted about this before, but I felt this deserved some attention. Just recently Dr. James Hansen, and a number of other scientists, published a paper regarding sea level rise. He has written about it at the Huffington  Post blog.

Disastrous Sea Level Rise

Here is a nice compact video of a UCLA study on ice sheet melt.

And here is a link to the paper.  I will warn you that it is rather long.

Research paper by Dr. Hansen et al

What they are saying is that “2°C global warming above the preindustrial level, which would spur more ice shelf melt, is highly dangerous”. Highly dangerous as in the human life on earth altering type of dangerous. I know it's something that is hard to even imagine. After all life goes on, right? And all of this is sometime way off in the future. But it may be best to try to look at this a little more in depth, because it is our future and our children's future we are gambling with.

So I'm here again to bring this to your attention.

The Land of 10,000 Lakes

I just had to do at least one summer vacation post...

If you are a Minnesotan and it is summer there is a good chance that you may make your way up north to a cabin. It is a ritual that many of us play out every weekend. Some states have oceans, some have mountains, some have deserts, we have lakes. And at some point in time you will spend time at someone's cabin, or a resort.

For me it was my uncle's cabin and it was near Mille Lacs lake, although not on Mille Lacs itself. Every weekend in the summer, and I do mean every weekend, my mom would pack up the food, my dad would check out the camper and my sister and I would gather our bathing suits, fishing rods and any other forms of entertainment we might want to bring and pile into the truck. Our parents would ride up front and my sister and I would ride in the back on homemade couches that made out into a bed that my dad had made. The truck was just a pickup with a homemade camper top on the back. Of course, now you wouldn't be allowed to ride that way, but back then it wasn't a big deal.

The cabin at that time was fairly rustic, no electricity or indoor bathroom, which meant we had to use an outhouse. Oh I well remember the joys of making my way up a rather steep slope and fumbling my way into a tiny, rather smelly, little cubicle of a room. I made quite sure that I used the facilities before I went to bed as making that trek in the middle of the night might cause a close encounter of a bear like kind. :) Seriously.

The lake wasn't very big but it had its fair share of fish, which most of the adults were always intent on catching. While I liked fishing I was one of those kids that got bored quickly if they weren't biting. I did however really enjoy going out in the boat. The best thing about this whole excursion was I got to hang out with my cousins. My uncle had a daughter who was just my age and we would always manage to find something to entertain ourselves with. Anything to do with the lake ranked right up there. So one day we decided to take out the small fishing boat that my uncle had. I think we were about 13 at the time. My cousin, being the generous hostess that she was, gave me a turn at running the motor and steering the boat.  Probably not a wise move on her part, since I had never operated a boat motor before. I was actually doing not too badly until we arrived at the dock and prepared to dock the boat. For some reason, I will never know why, I turned the boat the wrong way and headed into the dock. My cousin seeing what was happening put out her hand to try to stop the boat from crashing into the dock. Bad move. But by then I had seen the error of my way and turned the boat and slowed the engine just enough so that there wasn't any major damage or injury to my cousin's hand. My uncle wasn't too pleased with us though. I give him credit for not scolding too harshly.

While we always stayed at that uncle's cabin I also had another uncle with a cabin on a nearby lake. So we would occasionally stop in and see them while we were up. Their lake was interesting in that on the opposite side from where my uncle's cabin was there was an area that had been left wild. Nothing was built there. On one occasion we were visiting in the evening and sitting around the campfire down on the lake shore. It was dark, the only light that of the campfire, and you couldn't see far beyond its glow. Out across the lake there was a cry, loud and wild. It raised hairs on the back of the neck. You could tell whatever it was wasn't just a dog or cat. Well, actually it did sound like a cat, but more along the lines of cougar or mountain lion. But I don't think either are common to Minnesota. That was the one time, up too close and personal, that I was reminded that we were still in a part of the state where wild things still roamed. I was rather relieved to go back up to the cabin that night.

Scrambling about the woods and building forts was always a must. Roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire were a routine we couldn't miss. Floating around the lake on air mattresses and sitting at the end of the dock watching the rain move across the lake were things to laze away the day.

In our now more fast paced world the memories of those vacations as a child where days passed slowly are a relaxing place to wander off to. We didn't have the constant structured time that is so common now. We made our own entertainment. Sure maybe some of it wasn't the wisest, but we learned from our mistakes. And mistakes are part of growing up.

So if you get a chance this summer, maybe find a lake, or a river, or just a quiet woods and do a little fishing, or swimming, or hiking, or maybe just have a picnic lunch. Because there's something really special about the outdoors. :)

Will it be a Grexit?

Are we seeing a tipping point for the European Union or at the least for the integrity of the euro zone? The European Union was created with such high hopes of bringing peace to a region that had known the strife of two world wars.

Greece, which has been a member of the EU since 1981, has been slowly unraveling economically. We are now at a point where leaders in the EU are faced with a choice.

Euro zone argues into the night with Greece on bailout terms

It's not an easy choice, billions of euros are at stake. But is that all? Or is there something else at stake?

Sometimes the past has lessons to teach.

The Treaty of Versailles

While it is understandable that no one wants to act as a continual source of funds for an entity that does not show any real positive change, humiliating them is not a productive measure.   It can lead to unexpected consequences.  

This Ragged Old Flag

It is America's birthday this month and as I have been reading the news I have been contemplating the meaning of this holiday.  I have seen riots in Baltimore, and shootings in a church down south by a man with an unholy quest to start a race war. We have questioned the flying of the Confederate flag that Robert E. Lee flew in the American Civil War.  I have listened to derogatory remarks directed at Mexican immigrants by Donald Trump (“The Donald”), who is running for President.

On July 4th or 2nd, depending on which school of thought you ascribe to,  America will be 239 years old.  A young country compared to some others.  During that time we have had our struggles to overcome inequality, to survive economic crisis and war, and to hold true to the beliefs that are written in our constitution.   

We are a nation of contradictions. 

The riots in Baltimore left people wondering about our system of justice and the behavior of police towards black people, as well as the economic health of many of our cities.  Yet we have elected, twice, to the highest office, a black man.  We have seen an economy rocked by a recession that could easily have slid into a depression, yet we are seeing a return to a healthier financial picture for many.  Not all, it’s true, but we are at least heading in a better direction. 

I read an Opinion Piece in my newspaper written by a man whose father was from the south.  Every year his father would fly the Confederate flag on Robert E. Lee’s birthday.  Yet he refused to sign a petition floated around his neighborhood to request that a mixed race couple, whom he had befriended, be asked to move.  So while that flag might be seen as a racist symbol for some, for him it meant something else.  

And then we have “The Donald”.  A very successful man in business, but a little short of the mark in understanding his country.  For at heart we are a nation of immigrants.  I was talking to someone the other day whose daughter had just graduated.  At the ceremony was the American flag, but along with our nation’s banner there were 24 others.  These were the flags of the countries of origin of some of the graduates.  There is a reason people come here despite the difficulty of starting over.  

  

To write of all of the hardships endured, the triumphs celebrated, and the struggles of ordinary people to make America a nation that we can be proud of would take far more space than this blog or your time to read would allow. 

We are a nation of contradictions because people are imperfect.  But if we choose carefully the ideals that are worth striving for, worth fighting for, and worth creating a country for, then whatever challenges we face now or in the future will be surmountable. 

Happy Birthday, America!