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Kris Haamer Mayday Demonstrations in Lisbon
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Kris Haamer Madeira
I’d be glad to talk to anyone with kick-ass post-processing skills to fix the edges on my panoramas.
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Kris Haamer A Day in the Life of Antonio
I followed this writer around Lisbon for a couple of days observing what he did and who he talked to. If you understand Portuguese he has some insights on the difficulties of being a writer.
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Kris Haamer Los Danzares Poster
Reused some old pictures for this fictional poster. Schoolwork.
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Kris Haamer Social Media: Why Broadcasting Is Obsolete
Broadcast media have in recent years increasingly been criticized for a perceived decrease in the quality of information they provide, broadcast tabloidization, irrelevance, and more generally for the concentration of ownership (Bromley, 2001, p. 2). However there are more optimistic alternative models (Goh & Foo, 2007, p. 137) with implications towards better quality information and an increasingly meaningful discourse accessible to more and more people. These views could be broadly described as being in the realm of social media, and generally advocate using technical innovations such as the Internet to engage people in a more transparent conversation. As a superior model of communication, social media will increase mediation quality and lead to benefits in several areas over the traditional broadcasting model.
Failures of the Broadcast Media
Concerns about the media, and media criticism is not new in the literature. As early as 1920, Lippmann, writing about the powers and failures of the press in his book Liberty and the News, delivered the notion that “the news columns are common carriers. When those who control them [...] determine by their own consciences what shall be reported and for what purpose, democracy is unworkable. Public opinion is blockaded” (pp. 5-6). More recently, Baudrillard, one of the most fervent media critics of the century, with more eloquence described the prevalent media model as “speech without response” (1981, p. 172).
Contemporary media cannot be viewed separately from technology; to a great degree it is and has been dependent on technological advances. Because broadcasting media models by the nature of their technology are dependent on some form of one-to-many or few-to-many communication, Baudrillard is right to criticize the media on the grounds that “they fabricate noncommunication” (p. 210) as this is indeed a technical given. However, when working with MacLean, in his later works in 1985, Baudrillard further expanded his critique on the lack of conversation in which he perhaps better described the downfalls of the contemporary media by stating that the “present architecture of the media is founded on this […] definition: they are what finally forbids response, what renders impossible any process of exchange” (1985, p. 577). This lack of possibility for conversation is why the broadcast model is obsolete.
Social media models on the other hand are less determined and allow for more flexibility. In 2008, for the most part they include highly technological implementations of mediation on the Internet platform with considerable participatory aspects. These are sites on the Internet where essentially every person becomes the media. The discussion over broadcast media seems to follow from the types of questions Baudrillard poses “what else do the media dream of besides creating the event simply by their presence?” (1994, p. 38), in which the media are seen as something large and unusual that by the sole virtue of its presents creates illusions that fool the public. The discussion in the realm of social media however, is more progressive. In essence, where everyone becomes the media, being mediated is very commonplace for each person, and the effects of being mediated could be anticipated to be less pronounced.
While according to some authors, for example Rheingold, the contemporary institutions of the “mass media [...] have “commoditized” the public sphere, substituting slick public relations for genuine debate” (2000, p. 29), social media implementations can be expected to have intrinsically a greater degree of transparency. Because they are created by the people their existence depends on people actively participating. Effectively, the social media version of the public sphere is controlled by the people to a much greater degree, than the broadcasting version of the sphere. Therefore the scope for access anywhere and for anyone for any need across devices and platforms, and even independent of location, is that much greater for social media than for broadcasting media.
The virtue of giving more power to the people is why from a political perspective social media is more democratic. Following from the premise that media set the political agenda, more accurate information, transparency and participation in this process of every conversation benefits everyone. Moreover, from a psychological viewpoint, research suggests that it is more natural for people to discuss information socially on the Internet, rather than to passively consume media created by broadcasters; according to a recent Morgan Stanley report more than half of the top 10 Internet sites by usage are social, and the usage of television is declining (Morgan Stanley, 2008, pp. 8-12).
Broadcast or Socialize?
Some of the benefits of social media are self-evident. One recent example was the Chinese earthquake in the Sichuan province on May 12, 2008. The news was broken not on mainstream media but reportedly (Bradshaw) by local Chinese in the earthquake zone, on Twitter, a social networking site that lets people post short messages. In the Twitter realm everyone is a broadcaster. Because the social nature of Twitter and with the help of machine translation, the news reached people around the world before global broadcast media was able to take up the story, and much before Estonian broadcast media was able to copy the story from the global media.
By referring to such examples (as there have been other similar cases that have taken place around the world), one can think of the social media model as a combination of media and social relations. Because news creators are accessible through email, chat applications, and their social networking profiles, it becomes easier to ask any questions and get instant feedback. While this was possible in newspapers trough mail-in letters, the barriers of entry are greatly reduced trough the speed of communication, and high visibility of the news creator. People can interact directly with the news broadcaster on the ground trough services such as Skype and Facebook; the latter also provides a profile for the person so what one is saying can be qualified against previous experience and commentary.
Social media is possible because the communication platform used – the Internet – is technologically superior to broadcasting in the area of communication. But furthermore, in the areas of media economy, while the broadcast media economics rely on imprecise evaluations to provide the audience numbers to the advertisers, social media implementations can make use of their high technological base and the virtues of the Internet to produce detailed and accurate information for the use of the advertisers. The nature of the conversation and actions of the participants allow advertisers to offer their goods and services at the right time, and take into account personal preferences. This degree of precision creates trust for the advertisers to place more money into the media. Moreover, as the Twitter example illustrates, the bulk of the job of producing journalism can be done by usual people, cutting down on production costs.
In addition to economical benefits, the speedy and precise analysis of media content made possible by computer technology can be utilized for other benefits as important, but perhaps less apparent at the first glance. Having precise statistics helps people visualize their communication streams, and as a part of those information streams news can be increasingly accurate. To take one example, the News Station website which is a trend leader in the social media space in Estonia produces streams of analytical data for each news item it indexes from broadcast news providers as well as independent producers such as blogs. The site provides statistics about many measurable aspects of news such as locations, organizations and people mentioned in the news content, and their popularity in media.
As in News Station, other websites in the social media realm will be able to analyze the media and produce story timelines which provide a live visualization of how the story is being created. For example, one could see a press release being released, the coverage being written by a certain person at Postimees, and the coverage being written by a certain person at Äripäev, charted in order of appearance; one could contact those people. One could see live the other stories being spawned in response, as well as opinions being created in the blogosphere.
There are clear benefits to such and open approach. Clear visibility of connections between newsmakers, news creators, and other players in the story would make it increasingly difficult for partial interests and public relations to control the environment and pass constructed news. Clearly identified personalities would increase public recognition of newsmakers. Easy access to newsmakers’ personal opinion in media such as blogs, and other news involving that person, and commentary would allow people to understand “the story behind the story”.
Furthermore, clearly identified locations would emphasize the aspects particular to the place of the news, while still retaining global availability. While News Station is already providing geographic visualizations, taking this technology to mainstream would create emotional connections and involve people in the news to a higher degree than plain text publications. One would understand how specific regions in the country are covered. For example, the statistics of whether news stories conglomerate more often around bigger center such as Tallinn and Tartu, and to what extent smaller places are covered – would become clearly visible. Combined with location aware devices such as the iPhone, social media would allow people to access news relevant to their location. Whether this is information about a traffic jam on the next intersection or a notice of the party that will take place in the club one is driving past, will depend on one’s personal preferences.
By using all these technologies in an open manner, social media can in effect provide the type of information that used to be the domain of government or media statistics bureaus. Combined with speed and ease of access, social media at the disposal of every consumer at every moment to make decision about the content of their communications might have considerable impacts. By that token, it is the ability of media to create open spaces for people to discuss, and the ability to provide the tools for discussion, that qualify the quality of media in the social media realm.
Such open spaces for conversation and computer technologies help people to increase the quality of the media they themselves produce and consume. People put news into context by tagging the information with keywords and by such actions make that piece of information more complete for other people. Moreover, to an extent at the current state of development, but increasingly in the future, the technique allows computers to have a better programmatic understanding of the content. The ideas of the Semantic Web (W3) that tie in with the social media model explore how information in these open spaces can be queried and mashed up in different complex ways to produce added value .
For example, emerging Silicon Valley technology startups such as Freebase and Powerset use a combination of social participation by the people and computer algorithms to allow users to ask complex questions the like of “What were the names of Karl Marx’s children?” and allow the user to get a clear listing with names “Laura Marx, Eleanor Marx, Jenny Longuet” (Powerset) and pictures. Powerset can be accessed over an iPhone, which in essence makes the information portable.
Because of the idea of information portability the social media model has no prerequisites for prominent television channels such as the BBC or prominent newspapers such as the New York Times to be the premiere destination because they have the means to broadcast content; on the contrary, conversation can take place across different channels independent of their size and wealth. In simple terms this means that conversation is not restricted to Postimees, Äripäev, TV3, or any other channel; the comments one makes at Postimees become accessible trough Äripäev, TV3, and vice versa. The conversation does not necessarily have to be fragmented and discontinuous with each camp claiming its territory.
Conclusions
Today people around the world are increasingly likely to be actively participating in the conversation on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter; instead of passively consuming the news. In 2008, Facebook passed the 100 million user mark (Morgan Stanley, p. 10); if it were a country, it would be the 12th by population size. Trough sites like these, and trough social media in general people become part of the conversation because they are not secluded; the conversation is portable and accessible by everyone and everywhere. “The ability of anyone to make the news will give new voice to people who’ve felt voiceless—and whose words we need to hear. They are showing all of us—citizen, journalist, newsmaker—new ways of talking, of learning” (Gillmor, p. 12).
Social media technologies create possibilities for increased public understanding what is happening in their societies. Around the world services such as Twitter allow faster communication of news content and commentary. Some institutions have taken note of these possibilities; the UK government uses Twitter to have a conversation with citizens. In Estonia, the News Station website is revolutionizing how media can be contextualized and analyzed. And the Estonian Foreign Ministry uses Second Life to communicate with its virtual tenants. In all examples social media models bring benefits over their broadcast counterparts, and the expectation is that they increase media literacy by providing a better understanding of the connections between players on the media landscape.
While the ideas around social media models may be immature and in development, they are actively being experimented with, and as the various services mentioned demonstrate, there are several measurable qualitative benefits that the social media model brings to the forefront of the discussion. While there may be criticisms, one can remember what the media visionary Marshall McLuhan once said “the student of media soon comes to expect the new media of any period whatever to be classed as pseudo by those who have acquired the patterns of earlier media, whatever they may happen to be” (McLuhan, p. 216)
Works Cited
Baudrillard, J. (1994). Simulacra and Simulation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.
Baudrillard, J., & Levin, C. (1981). For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign. New York: Telos Press Publishing.
Baudrillard, J., & Maclean, M. (1985). The Masses: The Implosion of the Social in the Media. New Literary History , 577-589.
Bradshaw, P. (n.d.). OJB. Retrieved June 12, 2008, from http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2008/05/12/twitter-and-the-chinese-earthquake/
Bromley, M. (2001). No News is Bad News: Radio, Television, and the Public. New York: Pearson Education.
Gillmor, D. (2004). We The Media. New York: O’Reilly .
Goh, D., & Foo, S. (2007). Social Information Retrieval Systems: Emerging Technologies and Applications. Philadelphia: Idea Group Inc.
Lipmann, W. (2007). Liberty and the News. New York: Princeton University Press.
McLuhan, M. (2001). Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. New York: Routledge Press.
Morgan Stanley. (2008). Internet Trends. New York: Morgan Stanley.
Powerset. (n.d.). Retrieved June 13, 2008, from http://www.powerset.com/explore/go/What-were-the-names-of-Karl-Marx’s-children%3F
Rheingold, H. (2000). The Virtual Community. Cambridge: MIT Press.
W3. (2008, June 10). W3C Semantic Web Activity. Retrieved June 14, 2008, from http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/
For an explanation about services provided by Freebase and Powerset, see freebase.com/help and powerset.com/about respectively
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Kris Haamer Preventing “Shattered Glass”
The New Republic, the respectable American magazine in Billy Ray’s film Shattered Glass has a few problems. Journalistic fraud and deception are rife when the uncontrolled and uncontrollable Stephen Glass invents journalism in his own head. Unfounded facts and misleading stories reach the audiences while errors go unnoticed by the editors. The journal that is advertised as the ‘in-flight magazine of Air Force One’ (Ray) publishes content that is often poorly checked, and in many cases – simply untrue. Eleven years later there are new ideas on of how such things might be prevented from taking place. New technologies and open communication hold the promise of preventing journalistic fraud and facilitating the creation of good journalism.
The integrity of journalism depends on truthful and accurate information. In many cases, and in particular in The New Republic information acquisition involved independent investigative journalists such as Stephen Glass practicing fieldwork, and fact-checkers checking facts against the journalists own notebook. Because every element of information produced by Glass was in essence proprietary – that is to say his findings could not be verified trough third parties – it was difficult to determine that his work in fact was truthful or accurate.
Perhaps in the most basic of terms one could suggest a number of practical policies which would have been likely to work towards decreasing the prevalence of journalistic fraud and form something of a baseline that many contemporary media creators already have or would be likely accept. In addition to such practical considerations there is a philosophical movement that is on the route of changing the established paradigms of journalism.
Firstly, on the practical side, a story with a picture is better than the one without a picture. Photographs have numerous functions in providing a comprehensive journalistic unit from illustration to commentary. At the very least pictures provide a proof duplicate of the events and action taking place before the journalist. At a higher level they can add structure to the story underlining key elements and putting emphasis on the main points. If taken by the very best of photographers pictures allow the journalist to accurately convey the kind of complexity that is only presentable by a visual device narrating the atmosphere of the story. Photography was a readily available tool at the time of The New Republic but was only used after the Glass scandal.
Secondly, elements such as video and sound add new dimensions of proof and accuracy, as do the maps, charts and other elements that complement stories in many magazines, for example in the National Geographic. Television stations were the first to learn that without video there is no story. News outfits such as CNN were the first to innovate in the new media space; they learned that they can create trust by presenting relevant information from third party sources (such as respectable blogs) on the side of the story. Later that trend of collaboration caught on with other types of journalism. Because a range of these today known and understood features of journalism were not as widely implemented as today in smaller media because of cost or other reasons at the time of the Glass’s controversy in 1997 it was far simpler to deceive the public.
From the philosophical side of the matter there are three features of contemporary journalism that innovate on what was possible at the time of the Glass scandal. They compound to what could be called the pillars of open journalism. With the goal of creating maximum transparency and by bringing together different media and multiple sources contemporary journalists create a package of journalism that puts emphasis on being open, comprehensive, and accurate. For people living in a network society and for those whose principal medium is the Internet such journalistic ideals are realized by tools of collaboration. One might argue that it is because of the virtues of collaboration that movements such as Wikipedia and Wikinews have been successful despite of rational criticism and reservations by many people. Although this is already a controversial point, the American writer Dan Gillmor would go even further:
“An open source philosophy may produce better journalism at the outset, but that’s just the start of a wider phenomenon. In the conversational mode of journalism [...] the first article may be only the beginning of the conversation in which we all enlighten each other.”
One could also imagine that by using the paradigm of these three pillars the editors and journalists of The New Republic could have fulfilled these idealistic dreams to a greater extent than was demonstrated by the actions of peers of Philip Glass. Today’s new media journalists have taken note of these three ideas inspired not by their peers from the history of journalism but rather by the success of the open source movement in the software developer communities and by ramifications of the ground-breaking technology that was created is such open communities .
Indeed online publication is by nature more open and participatory than its preceding offline cousin. When mistakes are made online there is a high likelihood that someone notices and reports any such error encouraging thoroughness and fairness in content creation. Judged by that token one might argue that the paradigm of open journalism in which all content is created in a participatory fashion would have entailed better journalism even at The New Republic.
The ideas of open journalism and the use of innovative new technologies hold the promise of bringing a degree of comprehensiveness and accuracy to journalism unknown to Stephen Glass. In a philosophical sense the three pillars of open journalism have ramifications which make truthfulness and accuracy more possible than previously. It is in essence a paradigmatic shift in the realm of investigative journalism that Stephen Glass missed just by a margin.
Works Cited
Gillmor, Dan. We the Media. New York: O’Reilly, 2004.
Shattered Glass. Dir. Billy Ray. 2003.
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Kris Haamer What is the Function of the Chorus in Greek Drama?
Although the historical origins of Greek drama are unclear it may be said it had relevance to religion, art and to the love of expression and perceptive storytelling in general. The origins of the chorus in particular may have stemmed out of ancient rites and rituals with elements of song and dance, and most importantly – the gathering of people.
In order to understand the function of the chorus one must remember that at the origins of Greek drama there was only one actor; and even at later dates no more than three actors occupied the stage, each of whom may have played several roles. As there was this clear need to distract the audience while the actors went off-stage to change clothes and costumes, and perhaps prepare for their next role, the function of the chorus may have had more to do with practicality, than with artistic or philosophical considerations.
Aside from the practical the chorus would have had numerous functions in providing a comprehensive and continuous artistic unit. Firstly, according to a view accepted by many scholars, the chorus would provide commentary on actions and events that were taking place before the audience. By doing this the chorus would create a deeper and more meaningful connection between the characters and the audience. Secondly, the chorus would allow the playwright to create a kind of literary complexity only achievable by a literary device controlling the atmosphere and expectations of the audience. Thirdly, the chorus would allow the playwright to prepare the audience for certain key moments in the storyline, build up momentum or slow down the tempo; he could underline certain elements and downplay others. Such usage of the choral structure-making functions may be observed throughout many classical plays but may be more obvious in some than in others.
In Aeschylus’ “Prometheus Bound”, the chorus is composed of Oceanids (nymphs from the ocean, the children of the sea god Oceanus and his wife Tethys). Aeschylus changed the role of the chorus which brought criticisms from Aristotle who his Poetics suggested that “he diminished the importance of the Chorus” (Aristotle 5), and by more modern writers such as H. D. F. Kitto who in his Greek Tragedy: A Literary Study writes “Aeschylus arranges things differently. He makes the chorus do what Greek choruses are supposed never to do: to take a part in the action.” (Kitto 85) Nonetheless such rearrangements might have made the chorus more convincing because it could remain on the stage with Prometheus for the entire play as witness and commentator. Here the chorus could express it’s sympathy for the lead character:
“I mourn for thee, Prometheus, minished and brought low,
Watering my virgin cheeks with these sad drops, that flow
From sorrow’s rainy fount, to fill soft-lidded eyes
With pure libations for thy fortune’s obsequies.” (Aeschylus)In the works of Nietzsche the chorus takes on a completely new and profound philosophical meaning. In his The Birth of Tragedy Nietzsche presents a view of a distinct dissonance between what he calls the Apollonian and the Dionysian paradigms, referencing to the dramatic and choral qualities of Greek drama respectively. In a metaphysical framework the chorus is the essence of the play and embodies a certain Dionysian consciousness which deals with the primal realms of the human condition. Nietzsche goes to the extreme of suggesting that the “tragic myth can only be understood as a symbolic picture of Dionysian wisdom by means of Apollonian art.” (Nietzsche 261)
These primal forces would be at the command of the playwright through the choice of character and composition of the chorus. It might well consist of sea nymphs, as in Prometheus Bound, or 15 Theban elders as in Oedipus Rex, or of any other sort of people who would represent the unison of people. It could be argued that the thing that unified the chorus was their mode of communication – more often than not the chorus would elevate its meaning in song. Moreover, and perhaps partly for practical reasons (for it may have been difficult to see the characters from afar because of the relatively large size of the theatre) the chorus would emphasize certain elements of the story through the use of attributes such as masks and weapons.
The chorus may have distinguished itself by an elaborate use of language or style, varying the voice of reason or that of emotion depending on occasion and the intention of the playwright. More importantly though, the chorus could have represented the prevalent views of the contemporary society holding up certain moral and cultural standards – much like the media does for modern people throughout their daily lives
In case of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex the audience may have already been familiar – and in many cases probably was – with the outcome of the play. This made the task of engaging the viewer ever more difficult. Hence the chorus would create interest by presenting an alternative or additional viewpoint. It may have negotiated sympathies for one or another character, or perhaps depending on the sophistication of the particular character, it may have even guided the characters through problematic situations. This is exemplified by how Oedipus’ (who is all but blind to his fate) and Teiresias’ conversation is affected by the chorus.
“To us it sounds as if Teiresias
has spoken in anger, and, Oedipus,
you have done so, too. That’s not what we need.
Instead we should be looking into this:
How can we best carry out the god’s decree?” (Sophocles 485)Both in the works of Aeschylus and Sophocles and in Ancient Greek drama in general, the role of the chorus may have been important because of structural and practical reasons. At the same one may praise primarily as an enhancer and amplifier of impression, and sometimes the voice of a moderator, or the moral voice of the people. Certainly it also had a similar role to music in modern drama underlining important events and downplaying the less important ones. Perhaps most generally though, the chorus would give the ancient playwright a multifunctional literary device for the creation of an award-winning play on the Dionysian festival.
Bibliography
Aeschylus. The Dramas of Aeschylus. New York: Forgotten Books, 2007.
Aristotle. Poetics. New York: Forgotten Books, 2007.
Kitto, H. D. F. Greek Tragedy: A Literary Study. New York: Routledge Press, 1990.
Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Birth of Tragedy. New York: Plain Label Books, 2000.
Sophocles. The Dramas of Sophocles. New York: Forgotten Books, 2007.
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Kris Haamer Problem and Solution: Global Warming
Earth’s temperature is controlled by the balance of the incoming solar energy from the Sun and the terrestrial energy radiated back into space. This balance is controlled by the composition of the planet’s surface and more importantly, the composition of the atmosphere. Scientific study has demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that human influence is changing both the composition of the planet’s surface and the atmosphere, and in effect is warming the climate on Earth.
Processes in the climate system which decrease warming (by increasing terrestrial radiation) are called negative feedbacks. They are few but powerful and can broadly be described as processes helping energy radiation escape Earth. For example clouds reflect large amounts of solar energy back into space. Positive feedbacks increase warming (by decreasing terrestrial radiation) and they can be divided into four distinct categories, relating to aerosols, gases, oceans and forests.
Aerosols are any type of dust or liquid or solid particles floating in the atmosphere. In the polar areas aerosols absorb large amounts of energy (the distinct characteristics of each type are modified by its distribution and properties) and create a positive feedback. At lower latitudes (closer to the equator) the absorption of aerosols generates a low negative feedback.
Gases are matter in a state in which atoms and molecules are diffused and move freely. Water vapor is the most significant gaseous absorber of terrestrial radiation and thus creates the largest positive feedback. Carbon dioxide comes in second in terms of feedback. Methane is more potent than CO2 but there is less of it in the atmosphere. Most of the other gases in the atmosphere are more potent absorbers of energy than CO2, but contribute less because of their relative scarcity.
Oceans are the principal component of Earths hydrosphere and make up 71% of its surface area (NOAA). As bodies with a low albedo absorb more energy than high albedo bodies, higher latitude sea-ice, also known as polar ice, starts to absorb more energy when it melts into liquid water. The increase in energy absorption creates a positive feedback.
Forests are a significant part of the Earth’s biosphere and form approximately 30.3% of total land area or 9.4% of the entire planet’s surface (FAO). By capturing CO2 from the atmosphere, forests storage the gas and prevent it from absorbing energy. At higher latitudes though, because of their low albedo foliage, forest tend to absorb more energy than they prevent the CO2 from absorbing – in effect creating a positive feedback.
According to many reports the growing human pressure on the positive feedbacks of the climate system may overpower the negative feedbacks, causing a warmer climate. Scientific study has shown the global increase of aerosols (air pollution), the increase of gas in the atmosphere (CO2), the increase of water over ice (melting polar ice), and the decrease of low latitude forests. A warmer climate is characterized by a range of problematical effects concerned with rising sea levels, receding glaciers and polar ice, extending tropical areas, and desertification as well as loss of biodiversity and health-related issues.
The sea level rise between 18 to 59 centimeters by the year 2100 predicted as “likely” by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 11) may lead to negative outcomes for many nations. Pacific islands such as Nauru the Marshall Islands may experience extensive loss of territory (Watson, Marufu and Moss 15). Coastal areas in cities like New York may become under water, with Manhattan entirely submerged. Some low-lying countries, for example the Netherlands and Pakistan may lose extensive parts of their territory, or be entirely inundated. According to the OECD, nations with lower income rates will experience the strongest effects (OECD 7).
Measurements of glaciers (large bodies of land ice and permafrost found in all climate zones, including the tropics, but most common in the Polar Regions) have shown that as of 2006 all glaciers around the world are receding and losing mass (WGMS). In the Alpine mountains of Europe, the receding ice and snow may put pressure on the resort industry to move skiing areas higher up the slopes, which may lead to a loss of revenue. In Switzerland, Austria, France, Germany and Italy resorts and villages may come under threat from an increasing number of landslides. According to a European study, reported in the New Scientist, the temperatures in rock and mud in the Swiss Alps increased by 0.5°C to 1.0°C from 1987-2001 (New Scientist). In mountainous areas of South America, Africa and Asia, the receding glaciers may introduce water shortages possibly complicating irrigation and water usage for agriculture in mountain communities. Effects on agriculture may be linked with increases in economic poverty. In all parts of the world national parks may experience a decline in the quality of services relating to their aesthetical beauty, and access to recreational activities.
The degradation of land, destruction of soil structure and loss of organic matter, also known as desertification may complicate food production, increase prices, and decrease the farmer’s competitiveness in the marketplace. As such, in addition to being an environmental concern, desertification may also contribute to poverty and social problems.
The impact of climate change on biodiversity depends on the degree of susceptibility of the particular system, also known as ecosystem sensitivity. As biodiversity is measured by the range of species in an ecosystem, the loss of species recorded around the world may be an indicator of the effects of a changing climate on the whole ecosystem. Ecosystems that are close to equator, and to the polar areas, may be especially fragile.
A warmer climate may create serious health effects, complicating the physical and mental well being of populations in different areas, including Europe and North America. New vectors of Malaria and other viruses may compromise the health of an increasing number of people. Accompanied by desertification and decreasing accessibility of water resources, areas in poorer regions may be especially strongly affected.
In order to mitigate such effects of global warming on sea levels, glaciers, polar ice, tropical areas, land, biodiversity and health the increasing in positive feedbacks needs to be slowed down. According to the 2007 Bali Climate Declaration, “based on current scientific understanding, [the limiting of global warming to no more than 2 ºC above the pre-industrial temperature] requires that global greenhouse gas emissions need to be reduced by at least 50% below their 1990 levels by the year 2050. “
One comprehensive solution which holds the promise of limiting global temperatures to the extent proposed by the IPCC as well as corresponding with the interests of both the economical and environmental perspectives is the hydrogen economy. For the adoption of the hydrogen economy, and to meet the rising energy consumption throughout the world, the involvement and cooperation of business, government and the third sector would be required. In a market environment the strong market incentives for such restructuration would be the popular demand and government subsidies matching or exceeding current subsidies for non-renewables. The hydrogen economy can best be described in two distinct parts by creating a differentiation between energy production (from renewable solar, wind or other sources) and the energy currency –hydrogen.
Energy produced from resources replenished in a practical timescale by natural phenomena is called renewable energy; non-renewables resources are not naturally replenished. As of 2006, approximately 88% of the total world energy consumption was produced from the non-renewable resources – oil, coal and gas (BP). With a comparatively low median price per kilowatt hour, ready availability and simple distribution, non-renewables remain the most economical option in many parts of the world. Nonetheless, the price of non-renewables has been steadily increasing over the past 15 years (BP), while the price of renewable energy is experiencing a gradual decrease (U.S. Department of State 22). One report expects “a rise in the cost of power generation based upon fossil fuel combustion and a relative improvement in the competitive position of an increasing range of renewable energy technologies.”, also adding that “over the next two decades, the cost of renewable technologies (particularly those that are ‘directly’ solar-based) is likely to decline markedly as technical progress and economies of scale combine to reduce unit generating costs.” (Hanley and Owen 306)
Largely due to scientific breakthroughs in nanotechnology, the efficiency of renewables, especially that of solar power has increased while the price has become more economical. As of January 2008, the latest generation solar power has reached a nominal wholesale price of 21.34 US cents per kilowatt hour based on prices in California (SolarBuzz) which may only be twice as expensive as ‘normal’ power. It is also worth noting that the price of solar energy depends on the cost of the installation; the cost of fuel is free. When comparing with nuclear energy, a concentrating solar thermal tower which is relatively easily constructed may produce 200 megawatt-hours of power depending on the size while a typical nuclear power station (which is time and resource consuming to construct) outputs anywhere from 1000-4000 megawatt-hours worth, also depending on the size.
In addition to a power generation technology, a second part is needed in a comprehensive energy system. In order to make the electricity generated from renewable resources run cars and planes, it needs to be transported using some sort of a currency. Traditional electricity cannot be stored for later usage and does not offer the flexibility offered by gaseous currencies such as natural gas and hydrogen. Hydrogen delivers the ease of use that consumers may have come to expect while being environmentally friendly. According to one report the price of hydrogen delivered to consumers would be no more than 50% more expensive than natural gas (Monbiot 137).
In a hydrogen economy the currency can be transported using pipelines and transformed back into electricity by a fuel cell in the consuming vehicle or other appliance. Fuel cells work by capturing electrons from hydrogen and oxygen to create an electrical current. As electrons become electricity the elements themselves are bound together becoming hot water, and then evaporate. Water vapor may also be recaptured and used for various applications (in the case of NASA spacecrafts which use hydrogen fuel for spaceflight, it becomes drinking water for the astronauts (NASA)).
Although the range of problems introduced by climate change is large and varied around the globe, they may be resolved through a limited set of renewable energy solutions. Both the hydrogen production and the hydrogen currency form an integral part of the carbon emission free economy. Economists report that “[renewables] bring significant additional advantages that are not generally quantified.” (Hanley and Owen 307) The water vapor produced when converting hydrogen to electricity is a benign emission and is easily captured. As a pollutant free system the hydrogen economy contributes to clearer skies and better health for the people, a richer nature and a more varied biological diversity in the biomes around the world. With the economics of scale the mass production of renewable energy may bring the price of renewables to rates which are not only cheap enough for the environmentally conscious but economical enough for widespread adoption.
Bibliography
BP. Statistical Review of World Energy. New York: BP Amoco, 2007.
FAO. Global Forest Resources Assessment. New York: FAO, 2005.
Hanley, Nick and Anthony David Owen. The Economics Of Climate Change. New York: Routledge Press, 2004.
IPCC. Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Monbiot, George. Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning. New York: South End Press, 2007.
NASA. Closing the Loop: Recycling Water and Air in Space. 2003. 16 January 2008 <www.nasa.gov/pdf/146558main_RecyclingEDA(final)%204_10_06.pdf>.
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SolarBuzz. Solar Electricity Prices. 2008. 16 January 2008 <http://www.solarbuzz.com/SolarPrices.htm>.
U.S. Department of State. “Clean Energy Solutions.” Economic Perspectives (2006).
Watson, Robert Tony, Zinyowera C. Marufu and Richard H. Moss. The Regional Impacts of Climate Change: An Assessment of Vulnerability. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
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Kris Haamer Rights of Great Apes
Throughout Western history, from the abolition of slavery, to the universal right to vote, to desegregation of ethnic groups, there has been a steady increase in the legalized moral capacity of societies. In another words – rights have been afforded to a growing number of interest groups. Each of such rights has been controversial at the time. Today, great apes have become the latest group to go through such a development. A legal declaration submitted to the United Nations, known as the Declaration of the Rights of Great Apes, defends the interests of great apes. The moral minimums of human rights – right to life, individual liberty, and prohibition of torture – also apply, and should be extended to great apes. In the following paragraphs it will become clear why.
Firstly, great apes bare greater biological similarity to humans than does each to any other animal. They are similar to the extent that human blood can be successfully transfused to a chimpanzee or a bonobo with a compatible blood group. Genetically this translates to a difference of less than one percent (the difference between humans is around 0, 5 percent). To that end great apes hold up to the biological requirements of attaining rights.
Secondly, great apes are capable of culture-like representation. Their cultural similarity to humans is qualitative, not quantitative. By their behavioural and emotional engagements in societal and cultural activities they bare great resemblance to humans. According to Savage-Rumbaugh and others, “apes are capable of forming such complex concepts and expressing them to one another trough bodily positions and facial expressions.” (Savage-Rumbaugh, Shanker and Talbot) Bonobos experience a full range of emotions from love and fear to anxiety and jealousy in addition to other emotions. Chimpanzees are able to learn human sign languages and communicate. Both species, as well as other great apes, have developed communication among their own groups. To that end great apes hold up to the cultural requirements of attaining rights.
Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly from the human perspective, giving rights to great apes is economically feasible. Great apes do not form part of the food production industry. Neither are they an important source material for the clothing industry. Moreover, the number of great apes in the world is counted in the thousands, not millions. Great apes are a relatively small group of animals. To that end the Declaration of the Rights of Great Apes holds up to the requirements of prudent economics.
Great apes hold up to every requirement of being a member of the legal community. Great apes are fundamentally similar to humans in biological terms. More importantly, they are capable of a culture-like representation. Most importantly, perhaps, their special protection would is economically feasible. Consequently, the Declaration of the Rights of Great Apes would extend the right to life, individual liberty, and prohibition of torture to animals who are similar to us in all the ways that matter. Rights for the great apes would be a profound affirmation of the capacity for comprehension in the human species; its moral implications would dignify our kind.
Works Cited
Savage-Rumbaugh, Sue, Stuart G. Shanker and Taylor J. Talbot. Apes, Language, and the Human Mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
