Are you a Depletist?

I'm a depletist
You're a depletist
Wouldn't you like to be a depletist too?

No, not really, but I like the word and the short video is strange, yet oddly entertaining..

[Depletist: An individual or group showing apparent, negligent, or reckless disregard for the environmental consequences of their actions]

Random Thought

Random thought while listening to Rachel's Systems/Layers: if all life is connected, how can we truly say that there exist individuals distinct from the rest? To define such an individual would necessitate references to all other existence to which said individuals are connected. The definition becomes one of relations and soon we are left not with distinct individuals but the fiber of life spread out over all that exists.

300 Million and Counting . . .

According to the United States Census Bureau, the population of the United States will hit 300 million people this month. Just in case you are wondering how the population of the US is increasing (along with the entire world), click over to the US Census Bureau Population Clock.

Visualizing Air Traffic

A designer at UCLA took a period of air traffic control images and combined images from various moments to form a movie. The overall effect is a very psychedelic, time-lapse view of all the flights watched by air traffic control. What emerges is interesting patterns of flight activity. During different times of the day you see a flood of flights coming in from Europe. And at another part of the "movie" you see the Eastern sea-board of the US wake up, and then plane activity quickly spreads out across the country.

It gets back to what I was writing about earlier: I am often torn by the value and impact of technology. But I am most wowed by the impact of information technology. It allows me to see things, aggregate data and information, in ways that wouldn't be possible with our normal perceptory capacities.

Would you like some Prozac with your Water?

Credit to the the Urban Ecologist for bringing this article to my attention: an article in the Washington Post describes how pharmaceuticals (hormones, anti-depressants, etc.) are showing up in our water supply and water systems. And scientists are trying to gauge the affect on fish and other water-life (some evidence points to decreased reproductive rates of water species).

It is a reminder that it is not just important HOW we despose of the stuff we are finished using, but limited the amount we use and what we use in order to keep it out of the environment in the first place.

Technology and Insight: Clear-cutting in British Columbia

I am frequently torn by the role of technology when viewed in the context of the environment and ecology. On the one hand, technology and technological innovations are often the source of environmental degradation (pollutions, toxic chemcials, destruction of eco-systems). And on the other hand, technology and technological innovations (often the same ones!) are keys to improving efficiency, increasing productivity, and restoring, repairing, and repairing ecosytems and the environment. I also don't buy into the often repeated dichotomy of Man vs. Nature. To draw the distinction between us and the rest of the world is a false distinction and doesn't do anything to bring clarity to the argument.

Which brings me to the point of this post: clarity. One thing I think that technology can do is to bring us insight and clarity to our understanding of our world and our place in it. An example. When Google maps first came out people starting making innovative combinations of the maps and their particular concerns and interest. Take this website from someone up in British Columbia, concerned about the effects of the timber industry's intense lumbering. The author used Google maps and satellite imagery to focus in on areas used for lumber. Something so "simple" such as a piece of paper is brought into clear focus as you can see the patchwork of clearcutting as we are reminded of the destruction that goes into making that piece of paper.