Check List

CROSS CULTURAL OUTLINE congratulates
Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for winning the
2007 Nobel Peace Prize


How about taking some time to pay attention to even just one or two of the global issues on the list that are due to the effects of human activity on the natural environment.

How about finding and defining your own personal strategy to help preserve our planet?

: Climate change - Global warming; Greenhouse gas emissions; Sea level rise

: Conservation - Invasive species; Species extinction; Habitat destruction

: Energy - Energy conservation; Petroleum dependence

: Genetic engineering - Genetic Pollution; Genetic Erosion

: Agriculture - Intensive farming; Overgrazing; Irrigation; Monoculture

: Soil - Soil conservation; Soil erosion; Soil contamination; Herbicides; Pesticides; Soil salination

: Land degradation - Desertification; Crop decimation; Famine

: Overpopulation - Urban sprawl; Increased longevity

: Air Pollution - Acid rain; Air Quality Index; Atmospheric dispersion modeling; Chlorofluorocarbon; Global dimming; Haze; Ozone depletion; Particulates; Smog

: Water Pollution - Marine pollution; Ocean acidification; Oil spill; Surface runoff; Thermal pollution; Wastewater; Waterborne diseases; Drinking water quality

: Depletion of natural resources and non-renewables - Overfishing; Deforestation; Depletion of fossil fuels; Over-consumption

: Waste - Waste types; Waste management; Waste collection; Toxicity; Contamination; Waste treatment technologies

It is easy for us to forget about how much garbage we produce because once a week the truck comes along, sweeps up that trash and whisks it away to a landfill out of sight and smell.

_______________________________________________

UPDATE: A Message from human rights activist and poet Ana Elsner on March 12, 2012:

It is now 5 years later. The year 2012. German Filmmaker Valentin Thurn has made his documentary TASTE THE WASTE calling attention to the issue of worldwide food waste and the problem with its disposal. Precisely one of the issues that Al Gore raised these many years ago...
HAVE WE LEARNED ANYTHING in these five years? Have we taken any steps to protect the environment and the billions of people that share this planet? The sad answer is: Clearly NOT! The same old problems still persist, have even escalated and gotten worse on a global level.
How stinging an indictment this is for our so called 'civilized society' that acts as irresponsibly as ever. When will we wake up and rally to the rescue of our abused planet earth? Perhaps not until it is too late...

->CLICK HERE AND WEEP<-
_______________________________________________

::

At the Supermarket Checkout:


Commenting on winning the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Gore said,

"We face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity."

Gore plans to donate his share of the $1.5 million that accompanies the prize to the non-profit Alliance for Climate Protection.


[See also An Indictment]

[Pass on the plastic]

[Try out a different product]

.

Navy vs Whales: Navy one - Whales zero

:

The U.S. Navy has long been pushing to conduct training exercises off the coast of Southern California using high-powered sonar. This particular stretch of coastline is an important habitat for orca and humpback whales and other marine mammals. Applying this invasive military technology in the waters of this coastal region poses a significant threat to the resident marine life.

[Caption: A disoriented and injured humpback whale mother and her calf at the Port of Sacramento, where they hit a dead-end after traveling 90 miles through the San Francisco Bay and up the Sacramento River in May 2007.]

The Natural Resources Defense Council, the plaintiff, alleges that the Navy's sonar causes whales to beach themselves. It may interfere with their sense of orientation.

"There is evidence that very loud noise from anti-submarine warfare sonar may hurt whales and lead to their beaching. On numerous occasions whales have been stranded shortly after military sonar was active in the area, suggesting a link."

(Found on Wikipedia)

On Friday, August 31, 2007, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled for the Navy and against the welfare of the whales.

The justification for the panel's decision was written by Judge Andrew Kleinfeld and reads:

"The public does indeed have a very considerable interest in preserving our natural environment and especially relatively scarce whales. But it also has an interest in national defense. We are currently engaged in war, in two countries."

This ruling allows the Navy to use high-powered sonar in 11 planned training exercises.

This ruling is also a demonstration of the harmful tentacles of a dubious war reaching as far as our Pacific backyard, all under the guise of 'national security interests'.

Why is this not surprising?

Because, sadly, environmental and humanitarian concerns have always been subjugated by militaristic ones. This, however, is fast becoming an unsustainable rationale.

Some folks take a dim view of "tree-huggers", "whale-lovers" and "the Birkenstock crowd". But the fact is that we can no longer afford to tolerate this kind of self-righteous cynicism as the issues of preservation and rehabilitation of our eco-system become more pressing with each passing day.

Wake up and smell the scorched land
and the plundered oceans!
::

.

How to pick and choose

:

It's that time again in American politics: The candidates are atwitter, the campaigns are abuzz and the debates abound. Even if you are a diligent voter and make an effort to follow all the hype, you will soon find yourself buried under an avalanche of (mis)information.




It is a common strategy, employed by campaign managers everywhere, to comingle political issues with popular culture in order to attract even the most a-political of citizens.

Many like to think that our personal lives, our family concerns, our health issues, our financial matters, our social contacts, our recreational activities, our private pursuits, our religious affiliations, our choice of entertainment exist in a separate sphere from our town halls, our state houses, our courts, our Congress and our president.

This widespread misconception is being exploited by skilled campaign strategists who wrap their message inside more popular and innocuous slogans and images so it will penetrate down to "where we live".

The question: - How do we separate fact from fabrication?
The answer: - Focus on the issues that matter to you, and examine each candidate's stand on them.

Here are some examples of what might, or should, be of importance to you, your future and the future of your children and grandchildren:

* Assault Weapons Ban
* Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Drilling
* Iraq War
* US Patriot Act
* Universal Healthcare
* Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change

.


[Picture THIS]


(Sidebar: 'Democracy' by Leonard Cohen)



:: Was this article helpful to you? Please leave a comment ::

.

Human Body Plastination - Science or Exploitation

Thanks to a technology called plastination, the general public now has a chance to physically view what only doctors and scientists could once see: the very real and intricate architecture of human anatomy and individual organs, unaffected by decomposition.


Actual human bodies are preserved by a process called polymer impregnation,whereby water and lipids in biological tissues are replaced by curable polymers,silicon rubber, epoxy resin or polyester (all commonly known as plastic).

The plastic is initially pliable, enabling the bodies to be placed in different life-like positions.Depending on the plastic used, it can be hardened by heat, light or gas (see image right) so to retain their shape.

It takes from two to six months to transform a cadaver into a full-body plastinate. Organs are identical to their pre-preservation state down to the microscopic level, providing durable specimens invaluable for study and analysis.

Properly plastinated specimens are completely dry and odorless.

Before plastination, the only method for preserving human cadavers was by storing them in formaldehyde.


[Further reading: Body Worlds]

.


The 'Universe Within' is a travelling public exhibit of plastinated human bodies that has been shown in Europe, the US and Japan, presented by the Chinese Society for Anatomical Sciences and the Museum of Life Sciences in Beijing.

It is allegedly supported by Beijing University and the University of Vienna.

The human bodies in this display were said to have been donated to the Museum. Nobody knows who they are.


The assertion by the exhibitor is that these corpses were unclaimed and unidentified at the time of death. Non of these claims can be verified.

One may question whether the cadavers had been properly obtained in a nation where individual rights are not always respected.

With ticket prices ranging from $15 to $20, with a discount for children (!!!), to view the preserved remains of real people, this exhibit of flayed and dissected human corpses artfully exploits the technique of plastination:

One male body stands holding his entire skin draped over a hanger like a coat, his mustache and beard still on the flayed face.

Another, muscles exposed, is poised to throw a baseball.

Down the hall, a man sliced down the middle, so that his internal organs will be displayed, is in an odd minuet with himself, one half reaching out to the other.

What was once a 5-foot-10-inch woman is cut in pork-chop-thick wafers from skull to toes and stretched out to 20 feet in what is essentially a CAT scan made real.

This exhibit and others like it, where bodies of dubious provenance are used for commercial exploitation purposes, have met with huge regional and international outcries of protest on moral and ethical grounds.


[See also: Gunther von Hagens' website with online store]

.