The Fishbowl Earth Project

  In addition to the horrific loss of life and property, human and animal displacement, and obvious impacts to the environment caused by the massive wildfires up and down the West Coast, there are many untold costs that pale in comparison.  One of those inconveniences is being forced to stay inside the house, not just because of COVID-19, but because the air has been rated as hazardous to breathe. In the last several years, this has become an end-of-summer event; dreaded, but expected.  This year, however, was the worst. The Inlander reported that Spokane, WA and the vicinity experienced record hazardous air quality in September, maxing out the top of the AQI (Air Quality Index) range for the better part of a day, which shattered the previous record.  Alaska Airlines suspended all of its flights from Portland and Spokane on September 15, due to the massive amount of smoke from the wildfires, according to USA Today.  Large numbers of schools in Oregon announced...

UFOs have hit the mainstream recently, partly due to the accidental release of UAP activity (the military prefers Unidentified Ariel Phenomenon, according to the article).  Increasing evidence seems to point to something we don't understand, but (as yet) hasn't seemed to have overtly harmed us. Is it a "them" from another world (or worlds)? If there are crafts as large and maneuverable as have been reported, why haven't they attacked? What do they want?? Assume for a moment that Hollywood's doom and gloom of global visitation isn't correct - it's more Steven Spielberg's E.T. , and less Independence Day .  What if the short squashy guys have a stake in our future?  What if they were here to help?  Could we ask them somehow?? This out there as an idea, but if you think that Earth is being visited by aliens, it's reasonable to assume they have the technology to help us with our little CO2 problem.  Is it as simple as putting the sy...

Back in the old-timey days, near the beginning of the industrial revolution that is apparently doing us all in, cars didn't have computers yet.  In fact, that's been a fairly recent addition in the driving experience.  Most of the cars we've driven had lights on the dashboard to tell the driver what was going on with the engine.  Too hot?  Not all cars had one, but an overheat lamp was standard on many.  Low oil?  You got a big red light for that one.  Low voltage?  Yep, another light.  Out of gas?  That was when the needle pointed to "E" and you got to walk to the gas station and borrow the petrol tank of shame. But that last one was an indicator, not an "idiot light."   The term itself comes from frustration with the motor industry for replacing indicators that could tell the driver what was happening as it happened (for example, my car is gradually over-heating) with "fault signals" that just turned on when the car reached th...

With all the news stories lately about global warming, and damage to infrastructure as a result of the hottest temperatures ever recorded , it's easy to get desensitized.  Right?  The Independent's story reports that parts of Germany's Autobahn were reduced to (the equivalent of) 60 mph, due to deteriorating road surfaces. Ooo, shivers.  One more time. Deteriorating road surfaces. And cue R.E.M. Unless you're a certain Doc Brown and you "don't need roads," this could already hint at a time where moving goods about the country (like oh say, food) may become impossible overnight.  Make that over day . And, as hot as the current heat wave is, scientists are saying it's going to get hotter.  Infrastructure that is already breaking down will break down more, faster.  Fixing it will become almost as important as trying to protect the new (and existing) roads, bridges, and especially, das Autobahn . I say break out the gold foil. ...

The Fishbowl Earth Project is a social media campaign to raise awareness about global warming, and what we can do to mitigate this threat to our environment.  It was started in June, 2019.  Although we don't have "financing," or "a budget," we have persisted nonetheless. Let's see where we're at. This blog Got several blog posts up, and spent some money from the nonexistent budget on some stock photos.  So far, absolutely zero activity on cross-linking to other blogs/sites, or doing anything to promote it.  One cool feature of the blog is the the RSS feed for "global warming" news stories, which finds stories we often post to Facebook. Facebook:  Fishbowl Earth Page This page has had regular updates with news articles about global warming, and also stories about scientific efforts to stop it.  Stats on hits, likes, and follows have steadily increased over time.  So far, all the interactions have been with immediate family, w...

As I sit in my climate-controlled home and contemplate the future, while sipping a delicious cup of coffee, the idea of human extinction doesn't seem very real.  I have full protection from the elements, including high winds, torrential downpours, frigid temperatures, and extreme heat.  In fact, if it gets too hot, I can turn my air conditioner. Until the power goes out. According to Wikipedia, scientists estimate that 99% of all the species of life that have existed on Earth have gone extinct.   That's over 5 billion species!  That means a whole lot of life has come and gone before we humans ever made a mark on the planet.  Scientists are concerned, however, about the current high rate of extinction, and some estimate that 50% of the existing plants and animals on the Earth right now may become extinct by the year 2100. Why is this happening?  Why are plants and animals going extinct so quickly?  It's because we humans are cutting down fore...

Back in 2012, I read this article  by John Rennie at ZDNet which literally changed my life.  It describes scientific research that proves (in laboratory research) that mining olivine (a green mineral that is abundant on Earth), crushing it and distributing it in shallow tidal basins in the oceans where there is significant wave action will have two effects: pull carbon dioxide right out of the air, and also de-acidify the oceans at the same time. The authors of the paper claim that if we were to do this at scale, humans would be able to remove the amount of C02 produced in a year.  In other words, it would be like humans just didn't produce any carbon dioxide that year.  If that were to happen, the C02 level would stop rising, and the oceans would stop becoming more acidic.  That, combined with lower carbon dioxide emissions in general, could halt our current climate change trend.  This "enhanced weathering" technique doesn't require olivine ...