Climate Tipping Point

Nature, the highly regarded magazine in the scientific community recently reported that we are close to, or have passed a tipping point in climate change making it next to impossible to reverse course  (Climate tipping points — too risky to bet against). Saying, 

Politicians, economists and even some natural scientists have tended to assume that tipping points1 in the Earth system — such as the loss of the Amazon rainforest or the West Antarctic ice sheet — are of low probability and little understood. Yet evidence is mounting that these events could be more likely than was thought, have high impacts and are interconnected across different biophysical systems, potentially committing the world to long-term irreversible changes.

They noted as others have that projections for rising temperature have kept increasing with each successive analysis over time as the graph below shows.

Global Cascade

The article notes that there will be a cascading effect between interconnected systems as they feed on each other. In other words, a reduced Amazon forest (the earth's lungs) will exacerbate melting of the Arctic ice, which will..... It will be like when you replace a hose on the radiator system of an old car and the new hose puts pressure on other hoses that leads to another failed hose, which...

Thanksgiving Circle, 10AM Onondaga Lake

November 28, (Thanksgiving Day), 10 am - 11 am 

NOON's Thanksgiving Circle of Peace, 

Willow Bay, Onondaga Lake Park, Syracuse, NY. 

All are welcome for a brief gathering to appreciate the environment and our friendships working together. Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation, Onondaga people, and allies will gather to express thanks for the goodness of the Earth and to each other for our ongoing friendship, as we work side-by-side in peace and hope for healing, justice and environmental restoration. Everyone welcome, dress for the weather, light refreshments.

Dress Warmly, bundle up with layers.

See you there.

Willow Bay is located on Long Branch Road in Onondaga Lake Park.

NOON is the Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation

Life in the Finger Lakes--A Thanksgiving Tradition

Stone Structures--Hudson Valley/ Catskills Part 1 Overview

A few weeks back I had a chance to survey some areas in the Catskills/Hudson Valley Region of NY. We found a variety of stone structures,; particularly lots of Manitou Stones.

Stone Chamber-- I found what appeared to be a  very small  and primitve Stone Chamber. Nothing like the Whangtown, or the King's Chamber in Putnam County NY.

Because there was no indication that the chamber was used for spiritual purposes I did not investigate further. Also I wanted to spend more time exploring.

There were lots and lots of Manitou Stones.

Here are the sections that follow:

Stone Structures--Hudson Valley/ Catskills Part 2 Dragon Lines

Stone Structures--Hudson Valley/ Catskills Part 3 Manitous

Stone Structures--Hudson Valley/ Catskills Part 4 Stone Piles/Columns

Stone Structures--Hudson Valley/ Catskills Part 5 Miscellaneous Stones, Conclusion

Click on the word "Survey" below, or on the right to see other surveys of sacred sites and stone structures.

Next, Stone Structures--Hudson Valley/ Catskills Part 2 Dragon Lines 

Stone Structures--Hudson Valley/ Catskills Part 2 Dragon Lines

Feng Shui speaks of dragon lines--lines of energy that curve and twist. In contrast to most energy lines that are straight.  The wall below  curved and twisted over the landscape for some length.

Although the picture above does not clearly depict it, you are looking at a hairpin turn in the wall. Not a right angle turn, but one like the end of a hairpin. Notice how thick the wall is. Also notice the stone wall in the background.

 Look how the wall above curves.

 Interesting another pile of large stones next to the wall. Why not make the stones part of the wall?

 Notice the curve in wall.

The stone wall in the distance appeared to be 5-6 feet tall.

What gave credence to  my belief that the stone wall was not built by famers and was old and built for sacred purposes was the fact that there were Manitou stones embedded in the stone wall.

The above Manitou was located in a break in the stone wall.

Next Stone Structures--Hudson Valley/ Catskills Part 3 Manitous

Stone Structures--Hudson Valley/ Catskills Part 3 Manitous

We found lots of Manitou Stones. Here are pictures of a few of them:

I saw this late in the afternoon as I was heading out and the sun was beginning to set.

 The Manitou Stone below was by far the largest we found. Each segment of my staff is 1 foot long.

The picture below is from my friend and fellow surveyor Janice Carr.

Great Light Janice.  It looks like beam of light is shining on the Manitou Stone. Well Done.

Next,Stone Structures--Hudson Valley/ Catskills Part 4 Stone Piles/Columns

Stone Structures--Hudson Valley/ Catskills Part 4 Stone Piles/Columns

We found lots of stone piles, many several were stacked in columns. Many appeared to be  located on earth formations, or in a line, or grouped together for some reason. 

The column of stones below was over 7 feet tall, the tallest by far.

The tall stone column appeared to be aligned with others.

In the picture above my staff is next to the tall column. Notice the stone column behind the tree.

The picture above is the most distant stone pile that seems to be aligned with the tall stone column. 

It looks like there is almost a small entryway for the stone pile above. Its form shows that the stones were stacked with intent to give it its form. 

Here is a thought about the stone pile below.
Were they placed there to serve a specific purpose, or highlight something?
Or were they a pile created from single standing stones, or amalgams of other stone structures?

Next,Stone Structures--Hudson Valley/ Catskills Part 5 Miscellaneous Stones, Conclusion

Stone Structures--Hudson Valley/ Catskills Part 5 Miscellaneous Stones, Conclusion

Janice found what she thought was an engraved stone. You decide. See below

People get all excited about prayer seats. Most have a bad vibe because of all sorts curiosity seekers and the like sit on and fondle them. Any sacredness they may have had is overwhelmed by their carnival voyeur like intention, leaving a bad vibe.

The seat below was most likely created by a hunter and had a horrific vibe.

Another great day in Nature exploring ancient stone structures.

Click on the word "Survey" below, or on the right to see other surveys of sacred sites and stone structures.

Back to the Beginning
Stone Structures--Hudson Valley/ Catskills Part 1 Overview

Climate News--More Negative Surprises

Two articles came out today that  paint a increasingly negative outlook. One by the NY Times about how scientists have grossly underestimated climate change and the other a CBS report on the Federal Reserve report on how the mortgage market could implode because of climate change.

How Scientists Got Climate Change So Wrong

Tells how scientists grossly underestimated climate change and what would have been considered fringe science is now the norm. Here are some quotes:

Had a scientist in the early 1990s suggested that within 25 years a single heat wave would measurably raise sea levels, at an estimated two one-hundredths of an inch, bake the Arctic and produce Sahara-like temperatures in Paris and Berlin, the prediction would have been dismissed as alarmist. But many worst-case scenarios from that time are now realities.

Were the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica to melt, sea levels would rise by an estimated 225 feet worldwide. Few expect that to happen anytime soon. But those ice sheets now look a lot more fragile than they did to the climate change panel in 1995, when it said that little change was expected over the next hundred years.In the years since, data has shown that both Greenland and Antarctica have been shedding ice far more rapidly than anticipated. Ice shelves, which are floating extensions of land ice, hold back glaciers from sliding into the sea and eventually melting. In the early 2000s, ice shelves began disintegrating in several parts of Antarctica, and scientists realized that process could greatly accelerate the demise of the vastly larger ice sheets themselves. And some major glaciers are dumping ice directly into the ocean.

Even if scientists end up having lowballed their latest assessments of the consequences of the greenhouse gases we continue to emit into the atmosphere, their predictions are dire enough. But the Trump administration has made its posture toward climate change abundantly clear: Bring it on!
It’s already here. And it is going to get worse. A lot worse.

Climate change could end mortgages as we know them

Reporting on the Federal Reserve recent report on climate change's effect on the mortgage   market CBS said:

Climate change could punch a hole through the financial system by making 30-year home mortgages — the lifeblood of the American housing market — effectively unobtainable in entire regions across parts of the U.S.  That's what the future could look like without policy to address climate change, according to the latest research from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. The bank is considering these and other risks on Friday in an unprecedented conference on the economics of climate change.

Once lenders and housing investors do start pricing in such risks, "There may be a threat to the availability of the 30-year mortgage in various vulnerable and highly exposed areas," Berman wrote in a recent San Francisco Fed report. He predicts lenders could "blue-line" entire regions where flood risks are high — a reference to redlining, the practice of refusing mortgages to minorities. The result: Entire neighborhoods would empty out, leaving cities unable to shore up their crumbling roads and bridges just as severe weather events become more extreme and more frequent. Home values would fall, potentially depleting the budgets of counties and states. 

Lower real estate prices also drag down counties and cities. Because local budgets are reliant on property taxes, even a small drop in home prices can make it harder for a locality to provide basic services, like fixing roads and paying for public education."There is a real possibility that real estate values will be decreasing… just as the real estate tax base is being relied on for funding of new flood mitigation infrastructure," Berman wrote.
That's why many who study this issue are calling for governments to plan for what they call the inevitable retreat.Said Cleetus: "My biggest fear, honestly, is that the markets will get out ahead of our policies, and we see a situation where property values do start to decline, and small communities that rely on a lot of property tax revenue won't be able to deal with it."

in other words, the same way inner cities where hollowed out and made ghetto's because of redlining the same could be done to large swaths of America close to the coast, in hot zones and the like.

The conclusion is clears. The news for climate change will continue to get worse, that even the more dire forecasts. Secondly, impact of climate change will continue to morph and affects us in ways previously unimagined.

11,000 scientists from 153 countries signed a declaration of climate emergency published in the journal BioScience.

Technology Kills--Too Much Screen Time for Pre-Schoolers Compromises Brain Structure

A new study found that increased screen time among preschoolers resulted in structural differences in the brains of preschool-age children. From Science Daily:

The study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, shows that children who have more screen time have lower structural integrity of white matter tracts in parts of the brain that support language and other emergent literacy skills. These skills include imagery and executive function -- the process involving mental control and self-regulation. These children also have lower scores on language and literacy measures.

The Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center study assessed screen time in terms of American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendations. The AAP recommendations not only take into account time spent in front of screens but also access to screens, including portable devices; content; and who children are with and how they interact when they are looking at screens. Science Daily

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE AFFECTS OF INCREASED SCREEN TIME RESULTED IN LESS CONTROL FOR PRE-SCHOOLERS--"THE LOSS OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTION, THE PROCESS OF MENTAL CONTROL AND SELF-REGULATION."

IN OTHER WORDS, KIDS ARE LOSING CONTROL OVER THEMSELVES BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT EXERCISING THEIR CONTROL; JUST LIKE IF WE NEVER WALKED AND USED A MECHANICAL WHEELCHAIR WE WOULD BE CHALLENGED TO WALK.

TECHNOLOGY KILLS

Everything Has Karma Video

I uploaded the first in a series of YouTube videos about my book  Everything Has Karma: Learning to Embrace Our Interconnectedness. Below is the Intro video: