Behold the Crown Jewel of the Internet

So I’m not sure that an adequate introduction is even possible here. I found this, and I think it’s important for everybody to know it exists.

I don’t feel that this needs justification, but it does occur to me that an enterprising congressperson could enter this into the congressional record as part of a discussion on climate change. I’m almost tempted to make a transcript for a senator to use as a filibuster on the issue.

Partial description below for the hearing-impaired, or those who want to see my attempt at describing the sounds I’m hearing.

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American Government Dragged, Kicking and Screaming, a Little Closer to Realty

“The question of the last few years has not been do we have a case, but rather how far will the federal government go to prevent justice?”
-Kirnan Ooman

In 2015 a group of kids and young adults, with the support of Our Children’s Trust, filed a lawsuit accusing the American government of dereliction of its duty to safeguard the rights of the 21 plaintiffs, and by extension the generations they represent:

The federal government has known for decades that carbon dioxide pollution was causing catastrophic climate change and that massive emission reductions and a nation-wide transition away from fossil fuels was needed to protect plaintiffs’ constitutional rights.

The lawsuit has been progressing since then, going through the pre-trial discovery process, and resolving a number of issues between the two parties without input from the courts. Despite this progress, the government has been trying, without success, to get the whole thing dismissed. The latest attempt, now by the Trump administration, was to try for a “writ of mandamus”. Basically, their claim was that because the lawsuit was about policy and lack thereof, the plaintiffs’ attempt to seek justice through the courts actually threatened the separation of powers.

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Food’s Future of Sun and Sea

The picture shows an areal view of the greenhouse farm and its power source. The greenhouses are farthest from the camera, large, flat, white buildings. They form a sort of diamond shape on the ground, with the "bottom" point towards the camera, and the "top" farther back in the distance. In the foreground and to the right a couple rectangular holding ponds of some kind. Running up the other side of the diamond is the solar array. It's a field of mirrors, all computer-positioned to reflect sunlight onto a central tower, where a medium like molten salt is super-heated to generate power with conventional steam turbines.

The next few decades are going to see some significant changes in global agriculture. Not only will current breadbaskets get worse and worse for farming, but growing water shortages will force significant changes in how we irrigate, and what crops we can grow. Fortunately, I think that agricultural problems will be some of the easier ones to solve, and I’m expecting that we’re going to see a lot more food grown in places like the Sundrop Farm in Port Augusta, AU. [Read more…]