She’s 16 and very cute, though she has a temper. In fact, she is correct. The adults of the world are ruining the environment, and her generation and beyond will need to repair it. While the outcomes are irrefutable the contributing issues are complex. While there is no excuse for wrecking the environment, there are reasons why adults are not more proactive.
People need jobs or they cannot live. Many of these jobs involve natural resources. Canada, for example, has oil in the ground that has been traditionally extracted and sold to customers around the world. If we stop the burning of oil completely, these jobs will disappear and people’s lives and families will be destroyed. While this can change, in the long run, we have no mechanism to do this yet.
Sometimes you need to recognize that a system is broken and not as helpful as our expectations. The Western medical system is one such system. Yes, we are living longer, with viruses and bacteria largely at bay. As we progress to better health, chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, heart failure, diabetes and obesity have become much more prevalent. These chronic diseases show little abatement with current guidelines. “Lose weight, reduce salt intake, exercise more” may be medically valid advice, but the words are much easier to say and harder to implement.
Yet again, some of China’s air quality PM 2.5 readings are off the chart. Literally, and this is really terrible for people’s health. PM 2.5 measures air pollution particles smaller than 2.5 microns, which when inhaled are too small for the body to remove, so they stay there forever.
China needs to do much better to protect the health of citizens. Pollution report
Air Quality PM2.5 2018 Dec 02 10:00 Toronto time, readings for China: Xi’an 592, Beijing 268 vs Toronto at 17. Terrible for your health.
Usually Toronto is moderately warm in June and hot in July and August. By the time September rolls around the weather cools down considerably. This was untrue this summer, where we have had a very hot June through to August. And today, on 2018 September 05 we are experiencing yet another super hot day. Wow. At least our PM2.5 air quality, at 55 moderate is not too terrible.
Hot Toronto 34C weather 2018 Sept 05. Very unusual
Toronto Air Quality is 55, still at Moderate. This is good.
Using the Hoover Dam as a battery by pumping water upstream during the day, thus reducing electricity generation.
I had heard about this idea before, and think it requires further study. The problem is that we cannot easily store electricity. Any electricity generated needs to be used immediately, or we risk blackouts.
California has a lot of wind and solar power generation, but also has hydroelectric power generation from the colossal Hoover Dam. If operated at the same time there might be too much power during the day, when wind and solar contribute, and not enough power at night, when wind and solar do not generate electricity. Excess generated electricity cannot be stored.
Just when you think that some newfangled device is the best thing since sliced bread, you then find out that the awesome convenience you now rely on is actually making you less intelligent. This is called “Convenient Technology”. It turns out that human physiology is more complex than simply making some tool extremely convenient.
Just what is a demanding technology? Three elements are defining: it is technology that takes time to master, whose usage is highly occupying, and whose operation includes some real risk of failure. By this measure, a piano is a demanding technology, as is a frying pan, a programming language, or a paintbrush. So-called convenience technologies, in contrast—like instant mashed potatoes or automatic transmissions—usually require little concentrated effort and yield predictable results.
It is very unusual for Toronto to exceed 35C temperatures. Anything above 30C and we simply stay indoors until the weather cools down. Today it hit 36C, with a low of 25C. That is really hot for us.
Unusually hot 36C weather for Toronto that came up from the US. We are melting…
Unusually hot 36C weather for Toronto that came up from the US but the air quality is surprisingly smog free.
Toronto Weather 2018 Jul 05, 33C, humidex 43C. So hot, we are all melting.
Air quality index PM2.5, Toronto vs Beijing, Shanghai, Changzhi, 2018 May 27 15:00 Toronto time
Toronto issues its first air quality advisory of the year 2018. Toronto AQI 2.5 is 50. In contrast Beijing is 442, Shanghai at 147, and Changzhi at 137. The scale was to go up to only 100.
Alerts for: City of Toronto
Statements
12:33 PM EDT Sunday 27 May 2018
Special air quality statement in effect for:
City of Toronto
Possible high levels of air pollution are expected today in the southwestern Ontario and Greater Toronto Area.
Little Giant 554405 VCMA-15 non-submersible condensate pump, removed from black base. Output tube, pump intake and impeller (large round part). You can see the impeller shaft through the intake windows.
Even the most elementary animals do not defecate where they live. Even so, their scat is biodegradable and is quickly transformed to base organic waste by microbes. This is natural. Man, on the other hand, has created a remarkable material: plastic. Remarkable, yes, but it is inorganic and as it does not break down to an organic waste, it is polluting the earth and mankind. Ironically, we are eating our own waste.
Bumble bee, Toronto, Canada, 2 cm long, in cup. Photo by Don Tai
I heard this loud buzzing and thought my furnace had some issue, but the furnace wsa not on. It was a large bumble bee, buzzing inside my house, trying to break free. My front window was tricking it. He was beautiful.
I heard it yesterday in my house. How it found its way inside I do not know. By the time I thought of a plant to capture and release it outside, he had stopped buzzing and could not be found. Today near my front window he buzzed for a couple of seconds, then landed on the ground. I used a cup and captured it, and used a piece of stiff paper underneath to right the cup. With a transparent Pyrex plate on top I shot this macro at 3.5x.
