csxdb's blog
Bury your biomass here
Sun, 12/07/2008 - 23:26 — csxdb
"There is a lot of interest in the possibility of sequestering CO2 in disused gas and oil wells or porous rocks, or even in ocean beds. Trouble is, finding viable sites for this kind of project is tricky and the technology needed is far from ready. Burying biomass, say enthusiasts, has none of these problems.""Wood burial is perhaps the simplest of the ideas. Zeng's proposal is to thin forests regularly, and to bury excess wood, forestry waste and even trees that have been grown specifically to be buried in trenches between the remaining trees. To prevent the wood decomposing and the carbon being released, it would need to be buried deep enough to avoid being broken down by soil fauna and fungi, or stored above ground in watertight shelters. Zeng gives an example of a plot of 1 square kilometre (100 hectares), with the excess wood from 1 hectare of woodland buried deeper than 5 metres and down to 20 metres. He calculates that this could sequester 1 tonne of carbon per hectare - using that land to grow trees would sequester 1 to 5 tonnes, depending on the age of the forest and the type of tree. Burying wood sounds like a lot of trouble for a small gain, but Zeng insists that, unlike simple growing, this is a long-lasting and perhaps permanent carbon sink. He estimates that offsetting all of the world's current emissions would be achievable with a workforce of one million people - substantially fewer than those already employed in the forestry industry in the US alone. Even so, to offset all our emissions, most of the world's forests would have to run a wood burial scheme."
Rich Man's Table
Tue, 04/29/2008 - 10:23 — csxdb"Have you noticed food costing more when you shop? Here's why -- we're plunging headlong into a world food crisis. Rocketing prices are squeezing billions and triggering food riots from Bangladesh to South Africa. Aid agencies say 100 million more people are at risk of starvation right now[1]. In Sierra Leone alone the price of a bag of rice has doubled, becoming unaffordable for 90% of citizens[2]. Fears of inflation stalk the whole world, and the worst could be yet to come. "
The Green Pages
Mon, 04/28/2008 - 10:05 — csxdbThe symptoms of environmental crisis are many - climate change, peak oil, water scarcity & poisoning, soil degradation to mention but a few. We are the root problem, and we need to change our ways, fast. The only answer is massive reform and restructuring to achieve sustainable living.
I'm beginning to look around to see what's happening in my own back-yard (Ireland) and I'm keeping my own personal notes in The Green Pages. Not much to see at the moment, but more as time goes by.
Pangea Day
Mon, 03/24/2008 - 20:30 — csxdbPangea Day, 10 May 2008
Since June 2007, Pangea Day has been asking people around the world to create short, powerful films that deal with universal themes, such as food, home, water, laughter, sorrow, hope, landscape, despair and joy. (Deadline for submission was February 15, 2008, now passed)
YouTube Awards 2007
Sun, 03/23/2008 - 00:46 — csxdbYoutube Video Awards
The YouTube Video Awards are done and dusted, and r
Bible studies, anyone?
Sun, 02/24/2008 - 22:58 — csxdbI was sifting through my text documents tonight in an attempt to declutter my life when I came across a cryptic entry "Judges 15:19". Obviously, this meant something to me at some stage or I wouldn't have typed it, so I decided to investigate before deleting. Where to look? I search-typed "bible" and "judges 15:19" and the most attractive returning entry led me to:
God loves ALL yo's children
Fri, 02/08/2008 - 23:39 — csxdb"There's been a flurry of news articles and weblog posts over the past few days about the development of a new gender-neutral pronoun in Baltimore."
So begins an entry posted in the University of Pennsylvania Language Log by Mark Liberman on January 7, 2008.
OH my GOOD God!
Tue, 02/05/2008 - 13:04 — csxdbMy daughter sent me a link to an article in today's Independent (25 February 2008) with the title:
The world's rubbish dump: a garbage tip that stretches from Hawaii to Japan
Her only comment was "OH my GOOD God!". The article starts off:
Feet under water, tornado overhead, landslide
Sun, 01/20/2008 - 23:48 — csxdb
"With the water rising we are fortunate not to have hurricanes [...] There are only small local tornados, such as the two tornados that hit the Thua Thien districts, killing two infants and injuring 22 elementary school students."
The above is an extract from a letter I came across on the Plum Village website from a Sister Chan Khong (dated 14 November 2007) describing natural disasters sweeping across her homeland of Vietnam. She also writes:
