[Leica] Luggers in Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee

[henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff)]

Unfortunately I am in full agreement. The most wealthy and successful 
make most of the decisions, and they decide in their own best short 
term interest because that's how they got there.

We just had a federal election here yesterday, and the party that got 
the majority and therefore can rule pretty much as it pleases for the 
next 4 years is massively funded by corporations and the very 
wealthy, has subsidized the oilsands oil extraction in northern 
Alberta, which is a general environmental disaster as well as a huge 
contributor to Canada's carbon output. The royalties which are fed 
into the public coffers are minute in comparison to the costs of a 
true cleanup. Meanwhile oil companies make gigantic profits, the oil 
will mostly be burnt and on top of that the oil companies receive 
federal subsidies. Taxes are cut, but in a minute amount for the 
average wage earner, and massively for the very wealthy. To fund 
this, cuts have to be made to services across the board, which affect 
the poor much more as they don't have the resources to step around 
these cutbacks. Strangely, large numbers of lower wage earners voted 
for this party because they are told that they have the possibility 
of also becoming very wealthy. That's like the large number of people 
who include future lottery winnings in their retirement plans. In any 
case, this government has an extremely poor record on dealing with 
environmental and climate issues and it won't get any better now they 
they are fully unleashed, and can pay back their sponsors.

More severe weather and greater swings in local climates are exactly 
one of the main early effects predicted by the science of climate 
change. The arctic will warm, the tropics will get hotter and the dry 
areas will get drier. In the temperate zones the changes will vary by 
region, but greater storms and severe weather is predicted for all of 
us. It makes eminent sense, as additional heat introduced into the 
oceans, the engines of weather, will provide more energy for that 
weather. The rate of change of our climate is greater than any we 
have discovered in the geologic record, barring massive volcanic 
eruptions or meteorite strikes.




At 9:59 AM +0100 4/30/11, Frank Dernie wrote:
>I am a cynic and pessimist on this issue.
>Money, particularly lots of it, corrupts. Universities have 
>available massive government grants to do climate research.
>Older information (pre-massive funding) still makes me believe 
>climate change has been influenced by mankind's activities since the 
>1970s or so but I am not sure whether research and government 
>decisions will not be more influenced by where the money comes from 
>than science at present and in the future.
>Anyway, it seems to me sensible to do something about it in any 
>case. Being less wasteful of energy is sensible overall whatever the 
>situation.
>As far as doing anything about it is concerned I am pessimistic. 
>People who are "successful" in the normal use of the word tend to be 
>amongst the most ruthless, greedy and selfish members of our 
>species. They need to be to fight -their- way to the "top" either in 
>politics or commerce. The idea that many people like this would take 
>a long term view which may diminish their short term 
>power/wealth/comfort is almost laughable yet they are the ones who 
>will be making the decisions.
>To quote Roger Waters - This species has amused itself to death.
>Frank
>
>
>On 29 Apr, 2011, at 17:46, Jayanand Govindaraj wrote:
>
>>  Ted,
>>  I am not worried for myself, but my great grandchildren. I can see that 
>> here
>>  at least, the weather - heat/cold/rain - is getting more and more
>>  unpredictable and weird every year. The world heating up wont be a pretty
>>  sight, and it can happen in a blink of an eye in geological time (a 
>> century
>>  or two). The rising oceans, from mountain/ice shelf melt off, will 
>> inundate
>>  what we now think as coastal cities (including Chennai, where I live). 
>> The
>>  next major war will not be over oil, it will be over drinking water - 
>> most
>>  of the fresh water is held in the mountains and the ice shelves, as the
>>  earth heats up , it will just melt and flow into the saline sea. There is
>>  more than enough evidence that this is happening right now. I could go on
>>  and on, but whats the point? Every person has to assess the scientific
>>  evidence for themselves, or close their eyes and ears. Every individuals
>>  choice.
>>  Cheers
>
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-- 

       Henning J. Wulff
  Wulff Photography & Design
mailto:henningw at archiphoto.com
   http://www.archiphoto.com