Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Musings: Two Worlds

The sky was patchy, gray upon gray, with an increase in light offering proof that the sun was about to rise, though not necessarily shine, when Koko and I went walking this morning.

Strong gusts carrying an occasional sprinkle of rain blasted through the ironwoods, sounding like a train on a track, surf on the shore, big wind in big trees.

It’s albatross weather, and I spent some time in their world yesterday afternoon as chilly squalls blew in off the ocean, prompting parents to fold their wings into windbreaks for their chicks, gather them up into their soft, warm breasts. Some even got the smoosh treatment, though they didn’t seem to mind.


And then I came back to the human world, and thought about writing about the destruction we’re wreaking on civilians and others in Afghanistan, what with our effort to “take Marjah,” just as we’ve sacrificed children and troops in countless other assaults on cities and strongholds across the globe over past decades and centuries, for reasons that tend to blur, or even be exposed as craven or false, through the lens of time.

I thought about writing about how President Obama has turned into a shill for the nuke industry, earmarking some $50 billion in federal loan guarantees for the most toxic of energy sources, which is now, Orwellian-like, being billed as “clean” because it is “carbon-free,” and making chilling comments like:

"On an issue that affects our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, we can't continue to be mired in the same old stale debates between left and right, between environmentalists and entrepreneurs," Obama said in a stop at a job training centre in Lanham, Maryland, a Washington suburb. "Our competitors are racing to create jobs and command growing energy industries. And nuclear energy is no exception," he said.

I thought about writing about the wasteful, $6 billion spectacle of the winter Olympics, which took one man’s life and had Canada ridiculously flying and trucking in snow, and the protests launched by the indigenous people there who raised a cry that is achingly familiar:

We are not a defeated people. This land was never surrendered. Our nations and our people still exist and will continue to exist.

I thought about writing about those topics, and then I thought about the albatross, tending their chicks so lovingly and carefully.


I thought about the teenagers that stop by to check out the nests, perhaps performing a bit of impromptu grooming before joining the other pre-breeders in their crooning, mooing, clacking flirtations, and the chick that, as my friend described it, had already flown, though the parent hasn’t yet given up hope.


I thought about the weeks-old chicks already practicing flight with stumpy wings that, in just a few months time, will span 7 to 8 feet.

And I decided to let my thoughts linger in that world for just a little longer.

Photos by Hob Osterlund

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Joan disapproves of the Olympics.

Surprise!

Anonymous said...

Is anybody else having a problem seeing nuclear energy as the "new green"? Regarding security it seems like we are building a dirty bomb and leaving it up to the imagination of our enemies to figure out a way to set it off. Meet the new boss just like the old boss. Perhaps he should change his name to Obomba.

Anonymous said...

Joan said "I thought about the teenagers that stop by to check out the nests, perhaps performing a bit of impromptu grooming before joining the other pre-breeders in their crooning, mooing, clacking flirtations,"

Nice to hear our teens are expressing an interest in nature, but calling them pre-breeders seems a bit clinical!

Anonymous said...

"Joan disapproves of the Olympics.

Surprise!"


-- that was pretty funny :)


and to February 17, 2010 10:18 AM, if i may, w/ the nuke plants (and, from recollection, i think im right on this), the groups owning / managing them had / have (historically?) "captured" in substantial part the regulatory agencies charged with oversight (w/ nuk plants being of course pretty different than some coal-fired or hydro plant). might be old news to you tho


dwps

Dr Freddy said...

The protests in Canada against the Olympics are based in the fact that the land areas where the Olympics are occurring was at one time the "first people's or first nation's" (Native Americans)land which was taken away when British/Canada broke treaties regarding those lands.

Sound familiar?

Also, in reading William T. Vollman's book "Imperial" we can see that history continually repeats itself. Most of Southern California land was at one time the Indigenous people land taken away and bargained with by the Mexican government with the US government. Money paid but not to benefit the "indians" which became the first slave laborers on the large orange orchards and grape vineyards (until they died of small pox and syphilis)... (now the "illegal" (?) Mexicans are taking their place in feeding the hungry of California and the world. Of course water rights were bought and sold too, for without water the Imperial Valley CA would still be a desert.

Dr Freddy said...

The protests in Canada against the Olympics are based in the fact that the land areas where the Olympics are occurring was at one time the "first people's or first nation's" (Native Americans)land which was taken away when British/Canada broke treaties regarding those lands.

Sound familiar?

Also, in reading William T. Vollman's book "Imperial" we can see that history continually repeats itself. Most of Southern California land was at one time the Indigenous people land taken away and bargained with by the Mexican government with the US government. Money paid but not to benefit the "indians" which became the first slave laborers on the large orange orchards and grape vineyards (until they died of small pox and syphilis)... (now the "illegal" (?) Mexicans are taking their place in feeding the hungry of California and the world. Of course water rights were bought and sold too, for without water the Imperial Valley CA would still be a desert.

Anonymous said...

"might be old news to you tho"

Prehistoric in fact, and irrelevant as well.

Edward coll said...

Great pics Joan!

Dawson said...

Joan disapproves of the Olympics.

Surprise!


No surprise. Two weeks of money-making, media-hyping, sponsor-aggrandizing, First Nation-dissing, uber-nationalistic bread and circuses... a flag-waver's wet dream that co-opts the hopes and heartaches of athletes in a mass pandering to governments and corporations... hey, what's not to dislike?

Anonymous said...

pls note how industry capture as to nuk power plants is "irrelevant." thanks


dwps

Joan Conrow said...

Dawson, I like the way you think!

Anonymous said...

"pls note how industry capture as to nuk power plants is "irrelevant." thanks"

Why is this even noteworthy? Quit wasting peoples time with the obvious.

Anonymous said...

"history continually repeats itself."

When you are on a 500,000 year march to god knows where there is no history, only evoultion through changing conditions!

Anonymous said...

All the true comments get deleted.

Anonymous said...

"... hey, what's not to dislike?"

Not a damn thing!

You guys are weird!

Anonymous said...

"Why is this even noteworthy? Quit wasting peoples time with the obvious."


-- refining nuclear power generation technology is plenty noteworthy, obviously...and obstacles to same (regulatory capture or otherwise) are similarly relevant

was thinking you had something to offer, but it seems you are just a complainer. my bad


dwps

Anonymous said...

dwps "-- refining nuclear power generation technology is plenty noteworthy, obviously...and obstacles to same (regulatory capture or otherwise) are similarly relevant

was thinking you had something to offer, but it seems you are just a complainer. my bad"

Obviously? How so? The reason nuclear power IS BEING REFINED is that IT HAS BEEN CAPTURED! What you see as the "obstacle" is in fact the reason this centrally controlled doomsday technology even exists. I suppose you think it is OK (if in the hands of some "responsible" party like the USA) but not other "irresponsible" parties (N Korea, Iraq) and other "unstable" actors.

Sorry pal this is one mess you can't control nor flush down the toilet. The Daughters of Radon will kill us all sooner rather than later if "refining" nuclear power increases, but hey I have nothing to offer. Perhaps dwps can figure out why cancer rates are raising worldwide? Could it be depleted uranium distributed in jet stream world wide starting on July 16, 1945 and continuing as I write? Hmmmm....

Anonymous said...

well look. thanks for responding. and i like the "daughters of radon" thing, kinda catchy

as to increasing cancer rates, my some what educated guess on it is: (1) in part more and better screenings, (2) yes, sure, more mutagenic stuff out there...more exposures (despite better regulations vs, say, 30 yrs ago)

so ~ "i bet not" ("Could it be depleted uranium distributed in jet stream world wide starting on July 16, 1945 and continuing as I write?)

as to nuc plant tech, i guess all i'll ask is to at least note there are many people -- exactly like you -- who look at that tech as the best, fastest, most effective, and most realistic way of helping china and india stop relying so much on coal fired power plants (which is hard to do at $0.05 kW). pretty important actually

and yes obama & co are buddy buddy with nuk plants via illinois. not disputing that at all


dwps

Anonymous said...

dwps said - "all i'll ask is to at least note there are many people -- exactly like you --"

"exactly" you don't know me so the statement is presumptuous at worst and there is no best. BTW I have noted that people disagree with me, but thanks for the "wake-up" call. Let me file that under the news flash of "others disagree".

Anonymous said...

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction."

- Schumacher quoted in The Book of Positive Quotations

Dawson said...

"It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction."

Two qualities conspicuously absent from today's politicians.

Anonymous said...

I'm a sarcastic cynic at heart.

It leaves me rarely disappointed but always laughing.

Anonymous said...

"exactly" you don't know me so the statement is presumptuous at worst and there is no best"

-- oh id bet there are people just like you that hold that view, just as there are people like me that hold the views you have been expressing here. big world. lots of people. lots of views. news flash - there is overlap


"Two qualities conspicuously absent from today's politicians"

-- and/or they just dont share your world view


dwps

Dawson said...

-- and/or they just dont share your world view

"And/or?" Try "neither." That political leaders do or do not share my world view is enormously less relevant than their ability to govern from the center.

See http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/krauthammer021910.php3

Anonymous said...

you know, ya, you dont see elected officials on the national you like. fine. hard to say if there are more or less bright and brave folks in office now vs 50 or 100 yr ago or whatever. i'll give you 2 tho - house rep tom lantos from CA (who i think died a bit ago) and sen lugar from IN. they are out there

dont care much for krauthammer, thanks tho. i think his disability makes him bitter. but i like links, so thanks for the thought


dwps

Anonymous said...

dwps "-- oh id bet there are people just like you that hold that view"

Hate to be specific but you said "exactly." I thought Darwin was a scientist not a gambler so all "bets" are off. People that believe in "creation science" are people so they must be "exactly" like Darwin. Do ya "get it" yet? Or do you just enjoy throwing flak that repeats the obvious with just a dash of arrogance tossed in?

Anonymous said...

easier to feign a problem with "exactly" vs "just like you" than to offer a substantive response to February 19, 2010 8:34 AM, huh?

so what would i hope for here, best case, is a cite showing that the proposed nuk plant investment is, on some rational level, disproportionate to recent / current investments in other energy generation technologies. so at this point - if you got that, pls offer it. if not, my bad, i asked the wrong person


dwps

Anonymous said...

"so what would i hope for here, best case, is a cite showing that the proposed nuk plant investment is, on some rational level, disproportionate to recent / current investments in other energy generation technologies."

what has that got to do with the discussion? The issue is whether the govt should be investing in that technology at all. btw, I've noticed that you often request cites from other people, but where are yours?

Anonymous said...

"issue is whether the govt should be investing in that technology at all"

-- fine. and i would say the dirty bomb threat noted in February 17, 2010 10:18 AM should be a minor consideration as to funding, relative to whether current proposed funding is driven by ~ "industry regulatory capture" (or white house relationships) in lieu of being driven by the technical merits and other considerations used to evaluate hydro, wave, solar, etc (and that is just the domestic analysis, good solar or nuk plant tech etc can help in foreign policy too)

otherwise, as you brought it up, i offered the lugar and lantos examples above. you want a china coal kW cite, or cites to obama white house links to IL nuk companies? not hard to find such cites, but i had thought it was common knowledge (or, "obvious," as some might say)


dwps

Anonymous said...

"i would say the dirty bomb threat noted in February 17, 2010 10:18 AM should be a minor consideration as to funding"

"as to funding"? Nice compartmentalization. Minor consideration? Yeah a few hundred thousand deaths is no beeg ting! Other than that nuclear option really has merit.