Another Response to Global Warming
In the current rush to deal with the consequences of Global Warming, much attention has been paid to the role of carbon dioxide and the control of emitting this and other greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. The tremendous increase in carbon dioxide has been attributed to the clearing of the forests of the planet and […]
A way out of Carbon maze – ‘Towards a commonsense understanding of Carbon’.
Carbon (C), the fourth most abundant element in the Universe, after hydrogen (H), helium (He), and oxygen (O), is the building block of life. It’s the basic element that anchors all organic substances, from fossil fuels to DNA. On Earth, carbon cycles through the land, ocean, atmosphere, and the Earth’s interior in a major biogeochemical cycle (the […]
The Development Trap
Today is the 90th birthday of Fidel Castro who “gave leadership to “a small country which has for almost fifty years refused to relinquish its national sovereignty to the greatest superpower on the planet” (Ramonet). Sri Lanka is the opposite,” a small country which has for almost fifty years worked to relinquish its national sovereignty […]
Sitting In The hotseat
Sri Lanka’s position paper on Climate Change given at the COP21 in Paris stated : “We are aware that the optimum operating temperature of chlorophyll is at 37 deg C. In a warming world where temperatures will soar well above that, food production will be severely impacted. We would request the IPCC to address responses to this phenomenon”. This […]
Those Killer Robots
The word ‘Robot’ to signify a self-aware machine with the capacity to destroy humans was first coined in 1920 by the Czech playwright Karel Capek in his play Rossum’s Universal Robots (RUR) where these non human entities destroy humans and take over the world. These artificial constructs not only had intelligence but also could outlive […]
Towards an Informed Water Vision
The three basic substances of our biosphere, Air, Water and Soil share the characteristic that they are all dynamic and vary in quality and quantity from place to place on this planet. However there is what is generally recognized as the ‘optimal range’ of values for each one of these substances, to render the environment […]
A Global Fraud
We are being made victims of a global fraud, one that ignores the scientific and economic reality of the Carbon cycle. The fossil fuel industry, be it, coal, oil or gas would have us believe that all Carbon is equal. The recent arguments of the CEBEU (Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers Union) suggesting that carbon dioxide emanated […]
Blue Sky Mining
“We are aware of the great difference in carbon dioxide that is emitted from biological sources and carbon dioxide emitted from fossil sources. One has sequestered rates measured in thousands of years while the other in millions of years. Yet the cost is still the same. We would request the IPCC to address the relative costs […]
The Satanic Formula fCH4 + bO2 -> nCO2 + nH2O + e
Self-interest becomes a very strong force when your life is threatened. Collectively, we enforce laws that protect the lives of all members of a community, individually we act with defensive force to protect ones own life. But what happens when life itself is threatened? All of a sudden both the individual and society become disinterested […]
Appreciating Soil.
The international day of soil came and went hardly anyone took notice. Soil, is one of the most important components of any land, yet its value has been overlooked by most modern approaches to land development, agriculture and forestry. To most of us, soil is the stuff that holds trees up. We see it as a solid […]
