Building the World

March 18, 2024
by Building The World
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SPACE: Methane EYE in the SKY

MethaneSAT: New Eye in the Sky. Image: “Eye in the Sky” book cover design circa 1957 by Ed Valigursky. This image is in the public domain,CC0 1.0, and included with appreciation.

It’s odorless, colorless, but not harmless. Methane, found in land and under the seabed (where the Earth’s largest reservoir is located in the form of methane clathrates), can severely damage the planet when it escapes into the air. Atmospheric methane increased 170% since the Industrial Revolution. Methane is powerful: it causes 30% of global warming, and is more potent than carbon dioxide (one ton of methane = 82.5 tons of carbon dioxide).

More than 155 countries signed the Global Methane Pledge to reduce methane emissions. Now we have the technology to take action. Image: “Global Methane Initiative logo.” Creative Commons Fair Use with appreciation.

Methane may be both the greatest danger and the greatest hope to save the Earth. That’s why those at COP26 in Glasgow cheered when 155 countries pledged to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030, signing the Global Methane Pledge.

MethaneSAT will circle the Earth 15 times per day, spotting methane emitters and then making the data public. Image: “Animation of GPS Satellite 2015-2018, based on JPL/NASA data.” by Phoenix7777. Creative commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Look through the eyes, and instruments, of Steven Wofsy, Harvard Professor of Atmospheric and Environmental Science, principal investigator, and Steven Hamburg, Environmental Defense Fund chief scientist, who along with Harvard’s Kelly Chance, Daniel Jacob, and Xiong Liu, designed an innovative technology with an academic, commercial,  scientific, and philanthropic communal effort that takes a cue from COMSAT. Partners include BAE, Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Canyon Technologies, Google, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Center for Astrophysics IO Aerospace, New Zealand Space Agency (NZSA), Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and SpaceX. MethaneSAT will circle the planet 15 times each day, pinpointing methane emitters so exactly that the actual facility leaking or venting the gas can be identified and revealed: data will be public. Liu commented: “MethaneSAT is not simply collecting data; we’re putting data into action.” (Powell 2023) MethaneSAT will be not only an eye in the sky but a finger pointing to specific polluters.

Coal and methane wells – turning a problem into an opportunity. Image: “CBM Well” by U.S. Department of Energy, 2013. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Once called on the celestial carpet, polluters will have a chance to mitigate methane emissions, perhaps even finding a profit in doing so.  Here’s an example: coal mining releases methane that is hidden in the micropores of coal and the seams of a mine. If MethaneSAT detects strong emissions in a mining operation, that gas can be captured before it is released. But it not just an expense: methane can be used as an energy source. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed a Coal Mine Methane Project Cash Flow Model tool to coach mine operators on turning a problem into a profit center. Captured methane can be used as Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) or Liquified Natural Gas (LNG). Natural gas, still a fossil fuel but less polluting than coal, is 97% methane. When gas is burned for energy generation, it releases carbon dioxide, still a problem but better than releasing more potent methane as waste.

Oil and gas industry: major methane emitter. Image: “Gas from Oselvar moduke on Ula Platform 2012” by photographer Varodrig. CC3.0. Included with appreciation.

The gas and oil sector produced 40% of the world’s methane emissions in 2021. All together, methane leaks contribute 24% of global methane emissions. Capturing methane and then burning it turns methane into carbon dioxide and water: not ideal but less polluting. Coal, gas, and oil are not the only sources of methane emissions: the gas leaks from cut peatlands, landfills and wastewater treatment plants, farming, especially rice, and also animal agriculture. Biofuels that use crop or forest waste to produce electricity use methane. Some of these methods may qualify for carbon credits. It is true that turning methane from an atmospheric emission to a carbon-dioxide-emitting fuel is not exactly a climate solution, but it is better than just releasing atmospheric methane, accelerating the crisis.

“Cesium CM1 Satellites” by CesiumAstro1. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

MethaneSAT is not the first satellite to monitor the greenhouse gas. It was preceded by, and still linked to, MethaneAIR: both are part of a progression developing from the realization that addressing methane must be the first step in phasing out fossil fuels. Other methane-tracking satellites include:

Carbon Mapper  –  https://carbonmapper.org

EMIThttps://earth.jpl.nasa.gov/data/data-portal/Greenhouse-Gases

FENGYUNhttps://satellite.nsmc.org.cn

Gaofenhttps://eoportal.org

GHGSat  –  https://www.ghgsat.com

Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT)https://www.satnav.jaxa.jp

Tropomihttps://www.tropomi.eu

Limiting methane emissions can reduce global warming, change the course of the climate crisis, prevent 255,00 early deaths and 775,000 hospitalizations due to air pollution. and give us time to figure out the next challenge of limiting the damage by carbon dioxide that lasts longer. Methane is a low-hanging fruit. Now we have the right tools to identify (and fix) methane leaks and emissions, slowing acceleration of climate change.

Acting now on methane could be the first big leap to saving the Earth from accelerating climate change. Image: “Rotating Earth” by Goddard/NASA. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). “This is the Methane Moment.” VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQiwTPDkKaE

Global Methane Pledge. https://www.globalmethanepledge.org/resources/global-methane-pledge

International Energy Agency (IEA), UNEP, and Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC). “The Imperative of Cutting Methane from Fossil Fuels.” 23 November 2023. https://www.globalmethanepledge.org/sites/default/files/documents/2023-11/The%20Imperative%20of%20cutting%20methane%20from%20fossil%20fuels.pdf

Jacob, Daniel and Steven Wofsy with Jim Stock. “Satellite Detection of Methane Emissions.” Harvard Speaks on Climate Change, Salata Institute. VIDEO: https://youtu.be/rkRarcKgMmQ?si=3rsqyxVy86a-FrB_

Maguire, Yael. “How satellites, algorithms and AI can help map and trace methane sources.” 14 February 2024. Google Blog. AUDIO option. https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/sustainability/how-satellites-algorithms-and-ai-can-help-map-and-trace-methane-sources/

Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 (OGMP 2.o). https:/ogmpartnership.com

MethaneSAT. “In Orbit.” 4 March 2024. https://www.methanesat.org/project-updates/methanesat-is-launching-today-on-groundbreaking-mission-to-protect-the-climate/

Powell, Alvin. “Buying crucial time in climate change flight.” The Harvard Gazette. 24 March 2023. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2023/03/methane-tracking-satellite-may-be-fastest-way-to-slow-climate-change

United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “CMM Cash Flow Model.” https://www.epa.gov/cmop/cmm-cash-flow-model

Werner, Debra. “Not Invisible Anymore: Satellites reveal sources of atmospheric methane.” Space News. 25 January 2024. https://spacenews.com/satellites-reveal-sources-of-atmospheric-methane/

Wofsy, Steven C. “HIAPER Pole-to-Pole Observations (HIPPO): fine-grained, global-scale measurements of climatically important atmospheric gases and aerosols.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Volume 369, Issue 1943, 2011. https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1//30761051/21300274.pdf?sequence=1

Wofsy, Steven C. with Matt Goisman. “Steven Wofsy: Recently launched MethaneSAT emissions satellite.” 5 March 2024. Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. VIDEO. https://seas.harvard.edu/news/2024/03/cutting-edge-methane-monitor

World Bank. “Global Flaring and Methane Reduction Partnership (GFMR). 2024. https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/gasflaringreduction/methane-explained

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

 

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March 8, 2024
by Building The World
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ENERGY: Would you give 3% to get 30%?

Peatlands occupy just 3% of Earth yet contain 30% of land-based carbon – more than all the world’s forests combined. Image: “North Liscups, Firth above old peat banks” by photographer John Comloquoy, 2005. CC2.0. Included with appreciation.

Just 3% of global land but holding 30% of its carbon, peatlands sequester more than all the world’s forests. Yet peatlands don’t often make news, and can go by many local names: bogs, fens, marshes, moors, swamps. By any name, they are part of our climate future.

Peat is home to microorganisms that help to generate more peat, and to sequester even more carbon. Image: “Testate amoebae common in peat bogs” by Katarzyna Marcisz, et al., in doi.10.3389/fevo.2020.575966. CC4.0. Included with appreciation.

Peat grows in wetlands. When plants wither, the watery environment prevents them from decomposing completely. They become home to microorganisms that produce – more peat. Peat is very valuable to our future because it can regenerate, retain increasingly scarce water, serve as wildlife habitat, and hold carbon.

Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney wrote about Ireland’s peat bogs. Listen to the poet read “Bogland.” Image: Seamus Heaney in 1982 by photographer Goffryd Bernard. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Seamus Heaney, Nobel Laureate in Poetry, wrote: “They’ll never dig coal here/Only the waterlogged trunks of great firs, soft as pulp.” (Heaney, “Bog,” 1969.) There are two hemispheric types of peat: northern and tropical. In northern climes, especially in lands without coal or oil, like Ireland or Finland, peat was cut for use as fuel. All that carbon flames cheerily in a hearth. But peat burns less efficiently than coal while releasing higher carbon dioxide emissions. In tropical locations like Indonesia and Malaysia, peatlands may be cut to clear land for agriculture, especially palm oil, or to meet food shortages by growing rice.

GLOBAL PEATMAP by Jiren Xu, et al., https://doi.org/10.5518/252. Creative commons 4.0 Included with appreciation

But harvesting peat does more than reduce peatlands. Cut peat leaves holes in connected peatlands, triggering a process in which peat dries and becomes vulnerable to wildfires that pollute the atmosphere, devastate habitat (in some locations, as many as 900 species call peat bogs home), and release greenhouse gases that drive climate change.

When cut, peat dries out the surrounding bog that is then vulnerable to fire. Image: “Borneo fires and smoke from burning peatland, 2002.” by Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team of NASA/GSFC. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Peatlands are only 3% of the landmass on Earth yet hold 30% of land-based carbon. Can we find ways to keep these climate-essential treasures undisturbed, and restore those that have been damaged? Irelands’s Bord na Móna, owner of vast expanses of peatlands, began a transition strategy in 2020 called “Brown to Green” to move from a peat-based business to a climate solutions enterprise with a strategy to store 100 million tons of carbon in perpetuity. England’s Paludiculture (term for wetland agriculture) Exploration Fund) launched CANAPE (Creating a New Approach to Peatland Ecosystems) in the North Sea region. Cumbrian Bogs LIFE aims to regenerate peat bogs in a short time frame.

Scotland’s estate manor houses may host eco-tourism that preserves peatlands. “Taymouth Castle” by James Norie, 1733. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

In Scotland, Anders Holch Polvsen bought up 200,000 acres of peatlands near noble estates to welcome eco-tourists who will sip tea in the manor house while watching the fields of peat bloom undisturbed. The program is part of Polvsen’s company Wildland; one of the  grand hotel homes is Glenfeshie, familiar to Netflix viewers as site of “The Crown.” Japan’s Suntory whiskey brand acquired Jim Beam and set up peat restoration projects as part of a strategic plan to use peat sustainably to flavor spirits while regrowing the same amount to achieve a modern-day equivalent to the Biblical “ever-normal” granary.

Peatlands can yield carbon credits. Image: “Euro coins and backnotes” by Avij, 2023. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Peatlands hold carbon; they can provide carbon credits. That’s why some countries like Scotland and the Netherlands are offering carbon credits. 80% of the cost of rewetting and regenerating peat may be reimbursed. When the regeneration process is verified, carbon credits are issued. Germany’s Moor Futures was the first carbon credit exchange for peatland rewetting. CarePeat and CarbonConnects are other trading systems. While some worry that carbon credits will slow progress on climate response, peatlands may benefit.

Fenway Park reminds us that Boston was built on fens. Image: Fenway by photographer Kelly , 2013. CC2.0. Included with appreciation.

Fenway Park reminds us that Boston’s heralded fens, preserved by Frederick Law Olmsted whose “Emerald Necklace” surrounds the city with parks now extended by the Central Artery’s Greenway, may be part of a trend. While usually rural, peatlands can be restored in some cities, too. Peatlands may help us reach our climate goals: that is a home run.

Born na Móna. “Bord na Móna announce formal end to all peat harvesting on its lands.” https://www.bordnamona.ie

Creating a New Approach to Peatland Ecosystems (CANAPE). “Intereg North Sea Region.” European Regional Development Fund. https://northsearegion.eu/canape/

Cumbrian Bogs LIFE. https://youtube.com/watch?v=m45HYe_cxkM&feature=shared

Global Peatlands Initiative. “COP28 Virtual Peatlands Pavillion.” 2023 https://storage.net-fs.com/hosting/61470bb/18/

Heaney, Seamus. “Bogland.” Listen to audio while reading the poem at https://www.ibiblio.org/ipa/poems/heaney/bogland.php

In Defense of Plants.com “Saving Bornean Peatlands is a Must for Conservation.” 5 February 2018. https://www.indefenseofplants.com/blog/2018/1/29/saving-bornean-peatlands-is-a-must-for-conservation-1

International Peatland Society (IPS) https://peatlands.org

O’Grady Cathleen. “Scotland’s billionaires are turning climate change into a trophy game.” 20 May 2022. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2022/o5/scotland-climate-change-land-use/629835/

Segal, David. “The Climate Profit Buried in Scotland’s Bogs.” 5 May 2022. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/05/05/headway/scotland-peatlands-climate-change.html

United Nations. “Convention on wetlands of international importance.” 2 February 1971. https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20996/volume-996-I-14583-English.pdf

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “Global Peatlands Assessment: The State of the World’s Peatlands.” 12 November 2022. https://www.unep.org/resources/global-peatlands-assessment-2022

WildLand Limited. https://wildland.scot

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

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February 29, 2024
by Building The World
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WATER: Clocks, Time, and Leap Day

Ancient clocks used water to measure time. Image: “Escapement animation” uploaded by Jacopo Werther, 2004. Creative commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.

Prometheus may have stolen fire, but ancient Greeks also believed that water stole time. Early clocks used water, acquiring the technical term, clepsydra, from ancient Greek  “klepto or steal” and “hydor or water.” Water clocks measure time by regulating and measuring the drip rate into a vessel.

Clepsyrda or water clock, circa 1753. Donated to wikimedia by Käyttäjä Oh1qt for public domain. Included with appreciation.

Popular across the world from China, Egypt, and Persia, the clepsydra was one of the first ways in which humans measured time in exact increments. Water clocks became so sophisticated and complex that they were able to adjust rates of water flow for solar and lunar orbits.

Al-Jazari’s water clock, 12th century is consider by some to be the first analog computer. Image courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, acquisition 14.533. Public domain and included with appreciation.

Water clocks could adjust and measure seasonal length of daylight to regulate agricultural cycles. Al-Jazari’s castle clock is said by some to be the world’s first programmable analog computer.

Water clocks were prized in Madinat as-Salam, City of Peace, now known as Baghdad. Here, water clock from Zibad, Gonabad Province, Iran, by photographer Maahmaah, 2012, dedicated to the public domain. Included with appreciation.

Water clocks were technological possessions prized by those who ruled and managed. When Caliph al-Mansur founded a new capital of Persia, Madinat as-Salam, “City of Peace” in the Islamic calendar year 145 (ce 762). The city, now known as Baghdad, flourished. When fifth Caliph Harun al-Rashid (ruler from 786 to 809 ce) of The Arabian Nights came to power, the city was reputed to be the wealthiest of the world. It was known for a balance of commerce and agriculture, the latter advanced by use of the water clock regulating drawing of water by farmers. The device was entrusted to and managed by an appointed elder who kept irrigation timetables. Caliph Harun al-Rashid visited Roman Emperor Charlemagne, bringing gifts including a water clock so delicate that it had to be conveyed in parts and assembled on site, prior to a live demonstration of this new technology of time.

Charlemagne received by Pope Adrian. Image from art by Antoine Vérard, 1493. Public domain: included with appreciation.

For Charlemagne, who surrounded his court with scholars and teachers including Alcuin, and who is often credited with founding the earliest universities, the water clock was a revelation so important it was recorded in the Royal Frankish Annals.

Charlemagne, as king of the Franks and emperor of Rome, was part of a lineage that valued precise measurements of time. But these measurements were of the year. It was Julius Caesar who, on 1 January 45 (bce) refined the Roman calendar to be more consistent with the solar cycle. The Julian Calendar had three years of 365 days, followed by a fourth with a leap day as the final in February. The succeeding Gregorian calendar fine-tuned the system that much of the world follows today.

Stamp from Germany celebrating 400 years of Gregorian calendar that codified Leap Day.400 Jahre Gregorianischer Kalendar, 1982.” Image scanned by NobbiP, public domain. Included with appreciation.

Since then, leap day has inspired traditions. Brigid of Kildare commented to  Patrick of Ireland (both canonized and now addressed as Saints), in the 5th century ce, that women’s rights were not equal to men’s, as evidenced by the tradition that men propose marriage yet the union required true partnership. Patrick agreed that women could and should propose, but limited that freedom to one day per year, on leap year.

St. Brigid of Kildare conferred with St. Patrick of Ireland concerning women’s equal rights including proposing marriage – on Leap Day. Image: “St. Patrick and St. Brigid” by Catherine O’Brien, 2023. Posted by Spideoglasper, Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

France, home of the Eiffel Tower where many marriage proposals are initiated and photographed, took another direction. In 1980, Jacques Debuisson and Christian Bailly launched a tradition of publishing a satirical newspaper La Bougie du Sapeur just once a year, on Leap Day. Only 200,000 copies are printed: there is no digital edition.

La Bougie du Sapeur is published in France on Leap Day. Image: Logo, 2016. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

How do you celebrate Leap Day? What leap of faith – or frolic – will you take?

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

 

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February 20, 2024
by Building The World
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ENERGY: Does Life Blush?

 

Does life blush? Pink may be the color of nascent energy. Image: “Storm in Tuscon,” by photographer Emascandam, 2018. Creative commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Does life blush? Pink may be the color of nascent energy.

Stanley Miller, in 1951, came to the University of Chicago to study with nuclear physicist Edward Teller who had worked on the Manhattan Project, and later established Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (where recent success in fusion energy was achieved). While Teller’s student, Miller attended a lecture by Harold Urey, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, on the Oparin-Haldane hypothesis, on the possible origin of organic life from inorganic compounds. After the lecture, Miller approached Urey with an idea for an experiment to test the hypothesis. Urey was skeptical – no one had ever proven the mystery of how life began – but intrigued. The professor granted Miller one year of funding.

Stanley Miller in 1999. Image courtesy of NASA. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Using water (H2O), methane (CH4), ammonia (NH2), and hydrogen (H2) in a mixture – and stimulating them with an electric arc that acted like lightning to produce fast intense heat and then applying a condenser to cool – Miller repeated alternation of heat and cold to see what might happen. The mix of components has the acronym WHAM (water, hydrogen, ammonia, methane).

“Miller-Urey Experiment” by NASA. ImageP public domain. Included with appreciation.

Soon, water droplets began to form and then a watery solution dripped into what started to look like a tiny pond. Miller left the lab for the night. The next day, he awakened with curiosity and dashed to the lab. The pond was now turning color – a pale pink. Encouraged, he ran to tell Urey. The two watched and waited. In a week, the pink pond turned a reddish brownish black. What was happening?

Miller’s experiment turned pink. Examination revealed the presence of amino acids, building blocks of organic life. Image: TBurnArts, 2016. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Miller identified five amino acids that had formed: aspartic acid, glycine, a-aminobutyric acid and two forms of analine (Australian Earth Science Foundation, 2024). This was significant because previous to that moment, all of science avowed that amino acids, molecules of life, could only be built inside living bodies. That belief was traditionally expressed in the phrase Omne vivum ex vivo (All life comes from living things). But now living energy had appeared from inorganic compounds in Miller’s lab.  “Primordial soup” – the parlance given to Oparin/Haldane’s hypothesis and picked up by Miller/Urey – was now served. And it was pink.

Nobel Prize Laureate Harold Urey in 1934. Later, a crater on the Moon was named for him: Urey Crater. Image: Nobel Foundation, public domain. Included with appreciation.

Professor Harold Urey urged Miler to publish the findings but refused to put his name on the paper for two reasons. First, the idea and experiment was totally Miller’s and the professor was just the verifier. And, Urey worried – with reason – that the journal editors would give him all the credit because of his Nobel status. As predicted, the journal turned down the paper. But Urey wrote them a very clear note about Miller, attached his name as verifier, and they immediately published the findings. Eventually, the experiment became known as Miller-Urey. Harold Urey is also known from discovering deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen, and the process of enriching uranium. Later in life, Urey became interested in space, participating in examination of lunar rocks brought back by Apollo NASA astronauts. A crater on the moon is now named Urey Crater.

Last Chance Lake in British Columbia, Canada, has been noted as a candidate for conditions similar to those described by Miller-Urey. Image: ‘British Columbian Lundbom Lake Rogaine” by photographer Murray Foubister, 2011. Creative Commons 2.0. Included with appreciation.

Miller-Urey’s demonstration that organic life can spring from inorganic, under certain conditions, recently made news when scientists noted that Last Chance Lake – a shallow body of water in British Columbia – has the highest concentration of phosphate ever found in any natural pond or body of water on Earth.  Why is this interesting? Phosphate contains phosphorus, a life-related molecule found in DNA, RNA, and, well, life. Last Chance Lake also has dolomite that triggers reactions among calcium, magnesium, and carbonate. In the geology of the volcanic soil around the lake, phosphate may have been part of how life originated. In geological circles, it’s called a “soda lake;” some say it is just the kind that Darwin envisioned when he wrote to his colleague in February 1871 about a hypothetical “warm little pond.” But as Miller-Urey proved, it is the stimulus and alternation of heat energy that sparked those components to organic life in that pond and in the lab.

Alternation of intense heat energy proved to be the spark of organic life, in the Miller-Urey experiment. Image: “Animated lightning” by Kunal Sen and TIsha Pillai, Wikimedia Foundation, 2021. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Tesla also placed importance on alternating current. But the idea is not new. Tantra, a philosophy arising around 500 ce in India, proposed that “Spanda” (from Sankrit Spadi “to move back and forth, to vibrate”) was the original energetic force that gave forth life.

Image: “Yantra with Om symbol” said to be the vibratory sound of the universe in Tantric philoophy. From photographer Tomoaki Inaba, 2011. Creative Commons 2.0. Included with appreciation.

The world’s future depends upon energy in clean, renewable, sustainable forms. Solar, wave and wind (caused by thermal alternation), and advances in fusion energy, may lead the way. Interestingly, plasma fusion energy from hydrogen radiates a series of colors from red to aqua, but when they combine, they often produce pink. (Eurofusion 2024).  What is it about pink?

“Hydrogen spectrum” graphic by OrangeDog. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Australian Earth Science Foundation. “Origin of Life: Miller-Urey.” https://ausearthed.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Origin-of-Life-Miller-Urey-Reading.pdf

Brooke, K. Lusk. “Energy: Darwin’s Big IF and the Oparin-Haldane Hypothesis.” 1 February 2024. https://blogs.umb.edu/buildingtheworld/2024/02/01/energy-darwins-big-if/

Center for Chemical Evolution (CCE). https://centerforchemicalevolution.com

Darling, David. “Oparin-Haldane Theory: Chart on Differences in Theories of Oparin and Haldane” https://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/O/OparinHaldane.html

Eurofusion. “Where does the plasma colour come from?” 2024. https://euro-fusion.org/faq/where-does-the-plasma-colour-come-from/

Forsythe, Jay G., et al., “Ester-Mediated Amide Bond Formation Driven by Wet-Dry Cycles: A Possible Path to Polypeptides on the Prebiotic Earth.” 15 July 2015. Angewandte Chemie, Volume 127, Issue 34, pages 10009-10013. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ange.201503792

Gronstal, Aaron. “Origins of life in a drying puddle.” 10 August 2015. National Science Foundation and NASA. https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/news/origins-of-life-in-a-drying-puddle/

Horn-Muller, Ayurella. “A shallow lake in Canada could point to the origin of life on Earth.” 17 February 2024. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/17/world/last-chance-lake-origin-of-life-phosphate-scn?cid=ios_app

Mitnick, Michael. “The Current War.” Film starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Thomas Edison, Nicholas Hoult as Nikola Tesla, and Michael Shannon at George Westinghouse. Premiered 2017. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2140507

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). “Atomic Spectra Database.” Version 5.11, December 2023. https://www.nist.gov/pml/atomic-spectra-database

Stated Clearly. Narrated by Jon Perry. “What was the Miller-Urey Experiment?” Center for Chemical Evolution, National Science Foundation, and NASA.  https://youtu.be/NNijmxsKGbc?si=iHSgQ0wK5ZoHP_g

Thomas, Jeremy. “Igniting the Future.” 15 May 2023. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). https://www.llnl.gov/article/49786/igniting-future-hundreds-gather-celebrate-historic-fusion-achievement

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

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February 14, 2024
by Building The World
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WATER: Valentine from Genghis Khan

Happy Valentine’s Day from Genghis Khan! Image: “Beating Heart” animation by Mraid123. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Valentine’s Day celebrates love in all its many wonderful forms and cultural traditions. But the greatest lover of record, according to DNA, might be Genghis Khan. According to DNA tracing, over 16 million people are related to the legendary Mogul emperor whose dynasty helped to renovate, repair, and advance China’s Grand Canal.

“Ghengis Khan” from 14th century painting, public domain.

Kublai Khan, Genghis’ nephew, when he became emperor, directed grain be moved northward to the new capital the dynasty had established: Dadu. Khan commanded that 816,000 tons of grain annually, with the major share – 537,000 tones – coming from the south, be delivered to the new capital. But when the supply arrived from the Yangtze region by the canal, it still had to be transported 20 miles (32 kilometers) further to reach Dadu. To accomplish this task, draft animals were conscripted, leaving farmers without adequate help: agriculture suffered. Kublai Khan saw the problem and ordered the Grand Canal’s seventh section to be completed, straightening and improving the entire route during construction of the final leg. Once the water highway was complete, communications between and among all parts of the empire could reach the capital, as well as the grain. Some say the Grand Canal transformed a region into a nation. Today, we know Dadu as Beijing.

“Wanning Bridge on China’s Grand Canal” by EditQ, 2023. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Kublai Khan’s uncle Genghis fathered five daughters and four sons with his primary wife Börte, and as many as 500 secondary spouses. Known as a master of conquest, Genghis Khan, 13h century warrior and ruler, left his mark on civilization, and with his DNA apparently well distributed, he may have personally caused a substantial increase in civilization. In 2003, evolutionary geneticist Professor Chris Tyler-Smith of Oxford University analyzed the DNA of males across 16 Asian ethnic populations. Many shared the same Y-chromosome array. Dating the pattern back, Tyler-Smith found the origin appears to be Genghis Khan who ruled at the time the particular DNA array first emerged and then proliferated. Today, if you are a male reading this post, you may be part of 0.5% of the world’s population descending from Genghis Khan, who was born in 1162, died in 1227, and very busy in between.

“Kublai Khan” by photographer A. Omer Karamollaoglu, 2012. Creative Commons 2.0. Included with appreciation.

Dynasties are continuations  – traditions and genetics. Kublai Khan, Genghis’ nephew, inspired the mysterious poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It begins:

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

A stately pleasure-dome decree:

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran

Through caverns measureless to man

Down to a sunless sea…

But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted

Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!

A savage place! as holy and enchanted

As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted

By woman wailing for her demon-lover!

  • For the whole poem, click here. To hear it read by Sir Ian McKellen, click here.

Davidson, Frank P. and K. Lusk Brooke, “The Grand Canal of China.” Building the World, Volume 1, Chapter 4, pages 35-46. Greenwood: 2006. ISBN: 0313333734

Mayell, Hillary. “Genghis Khan, a prolific lover, DNA shows.” 14 February 2017, National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/mongolia-genghis-khan-dna#:~:text=An%20international%20group%20of%20geneticists,16%20million%20descendants%20living%20today.

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

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February 10, 2024
by Building The World
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TRANSPORT: Super Bowl Sustainability

“Taylor Swift at 2023 MTV Video Music Awards,” image by iHeartRadioCa. Creative Commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.

Taylor Swift hopes to attend the Super Bowl in Las Vegas but must take a private jet from Japan where she is on tour. Her fans, “Swifties,” quip that the superstar’s flight finally forced a certain news network to actually mention the words: “climate change.” Swift’s previous attendance at the AFC championship game in January resulted in three tons of carbon emissions – and that flight was just from New Jersey to Maryland. Flying over 5,000 miles will require a lot more jet fuel, and result in even more emissions. Joining her plane circling Las Vegas will be an estimated 1000 private jets. Swift is flying to see her boyfriend Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs play versus the San Francisco 49ers in the football contest.

“Cole Hollcomb and Travis Kelce football in action” All-Pro Reels 2021. https://www.flickr.com/photos/joeglo/51616124289/

Sports fans with private planes are not the only winged emitters. World Economic Forum attendees jetted into Davos, Switzerland in over 1,000 private jets. That’s the same emissions that would be generated by 350,000 cars driving for seven days. Worldwide, in 2022, private jets emitted carbon dioxide totaling 573,000 metric tons.

Can we improve aviation emissions? Image: NASA, 2013. Public Domain. Creative commons. Included with appreciation.

Commercial aircraft emit carbon dioxide reaching levels of 1 billion tons every year. That is more that the entire country of Germany. If aviation were a country, it would come just after China, USA, India, Russia, and Japan in emissions levels.

“Dutch Roll” animation graphic by Pacascho, 2021. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Is there a solution? How about flying on leftover sugar, fat, and corn waste? Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) made from biofuels produced from renewable crops or collected waste offers advantages. SAF produces 85% less emissions over its lifecycle. And, importantly, SAF can use the same delivery infrastructure and personnel systems as traditional kerosene-based jet fuel. In 2021, United Airlines flew from Chicago to Washington, DC, using 100% SAF in one of its jet engines. In 2023, Emirates claimed the honor of being the first aircraft to fly an Airbus A380 using 100% SAFs in one of the plane’s engines. Virgin Atlantic’s Boeing 787 flew from London to New York. Gulfstream led private aviation in a flight from Savannah, George to Farnborough Airport in England using 100% SAF.

“Types and Generation of Biofuels,” by Muhammad Rizwan Javed, et al., 2019. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Leading innovators producing Sustainable Aviation Fuel include Engine Alliance, Neste, Pratt & Whitney, and Virent. Investors are interested. But it should be noted that growing enough crops for biofuels in the UK would consume one half of all available agricultural land.

Logo: Brightline West Logo, 2023. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

In 2028, stars attending Las Vegas festivities might change the game by riding the coming high-speed electric train Brightline West that will run from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in two hours with almost zero emissions.

Las Vegas – bright lights, bright future. Image: “Fremont Street, Las Vegas, 2010,” by User: Jean-Cristophe Benoit, 2010. Creative Commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.

Brooke, K. Lusk. “TRANSPORT: New ‘Wingprint’ for Aviation.” 29 November 2023. Building the World Blog.

Department of Energy (DOE), United States. “Sustainable Aviation Fuel.” https://afdc.energy.gov/fuels/sustainable_aviation_fuel.html

Narciso, Gerald. “It’s a big weekend for football. And for fancy jets.” 7 February 2024. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/07/climate/super-bowl-private-jets.html

One Monroe Aerospace. “Why airplanes use kerosene rather than plain gasoline for fuel.” 29 April 2023. https://monroeaerospace.com/blog/why-airplanes-use-kerosene-rather-than-plain-gasoline-for-fuel/

 

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February 1, 2024
by Building The World
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ENERGY: Darwin’s Big IF

“The Tree of Life” animated by Nina Paley, creative commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

February 1 opens, for many cultures, that time when, from cold and snow, ice and chill, dark and still, springs life.

“Charles Darwin” by John Duncan, 1926. Creative Commons 1.0, Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Charles Darwin wrote, on 1 February 1871:

It is often said that all the conditions for the first production of a living organism are now present, which could ever have been present. But if (and oh what a big if) we could conceive in some warm little pond with all sorts of ammonia and phosphoric salts – light, heat, electricity &c. present, that a protein compound was chemically formed, ready to undergo still more complex changes, at the present day such matter wd be instantly devoured, or absorbed, which would not have been the case before living creatures formed.”

  • Letter of Charles Darwin to Joseph D. Hooker, 1 February 1871.

It was an idea whose time had come: spring –  and the springing of life – was in the air. In the 1920’s, two scientists – not yet knowing the other’s work because they published in different languages not immediately translated – came up with a theory of the origin of life energy.

Oparin was inspired by learning that methane had been detected on Jupiter. Image: “Jupiter” by NASA, 1979. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Alexander Ivanovich Oparin heard from scientific colleagues that methane had been detected in the atmosphere of Jupiter. That set Oparin to musing: did ancient Earth have an atmosphere that also contained methane, probably along with hydrogen maybe in the form of water vapor, and also ammonia. If so, these components could have formed what we think of as life. Oparin’s hypothesis was published in 1924 in Russian, in a little pamphlet “Proiskhozhdenie Zhizny” or “The Origin of Life” but not translated into English until 1936 or some say 1939, in either case years after Haldane had the same idea.

J.B.S. Haldane at Oxford in 1934. Photograph, public domain. Included with appreciation.

Meanwhile, John Burdon Sanderson Haldane (usually referred to as J.B. S. and who called himself Jack as a nickname) came up with the same, or very similar, idea. Haldane’s article of eight pages entitled “The Origin of Life” appeared in 1929 in The Rationalist Annual. Haldane suggested that the ancient atmosphere of Earth contained ammonia, water, and carbon dioxide, and would have been bombarded with ultraviolet rays from the sun that would alternate, day and night, inducing reactions through the constant alternation. When Haldane learned of Oparin’s hypothesis, he graciously commented that of course Oparin came first.

While very similar – hypothesizing a number of chemicals that would be impacted a repeating mechanism – Oparin and Haldane had slight differences in both of those parts: chemicals and mechanism. Their chemicals were referred to as “The Primordial Soup.”

Oparin and Haldane hypothesized life energy springing from the “primordial soup.” Image: “Vegetable Soup” by photographer Tila Monto, 2016. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Chemicals – the primordial soup. Oparin’s chemicals were ammonia, methane, hydrogen, and water vapor. Haldane’s chemicals were ammonia, carbon dioxide, and water vapor. Therefore, each had a carbon source: methane (Oparin) and carbon dioxide (Haldane). These chemicals formed a “primordial soup.” But what stirred the soup to life?

Oparin hypothisized lightning stirred the chemicals into life energy; Haldane thought perhaps ultraviolet light. Image: “Animated Lightning” by Kunal Sen and Tisha Pillai, Wikimedia Foundation, 2021. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Mechanism -But something had to stir the primordial soup. Oparin hypothesized lightning. Haldane hypothesized ultraviolet light.

Result?

“Thermally Agitated Molecule” graphic by Greg L., 2006. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

When the mechanism stirred the soup, over and over again, molecules bumped into each other and eventually that friction formed them into combinations or building blocks  – like amino acids. From there, complexity continued to increase. In scientific circles, the theory became known as “Oparin-Haldane” hypothesis, so despite Haldane’s graciousness, they both went into history as simultaneous discoverers and formulators of an intriguing hypothesis.

Still, it remained just a hypothesis – intriguing but yet unproven. In the next episode, we’ll see if Oparin, Haldane, and Darwin were right about the Big IF.

Darling, David. “Oparin-Haldane Theory: Chart on Differences in Theories of Oparin and Haldane” https://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/O/OparinHaldane.html

Forsythe, Jay G., et al., “Ester-Mediated Amide Bond Formation Driven by Wet-Dry Cycles: A Possible Path to Polypeptides on the Prebiotic Earth.” 15 July 2015. Angewandte Chemie, Volume 127, Issue 34, pages 10009-10013. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ange.201503792

Gronstal, Aaron. “Origins of life in a drying puddle.” 10 August 2015. National Science Foundation and NASA. https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/news/origins-of-life-in-a-drying-puddle/

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

 

 

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January 24, 2024
by Building The World
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TRANSPORT: Suez Canal – Infrastructure as Path to Peace

Can macro infrastructure links like the Suez Canal offer a path to peace? Image: “Peace” by Yaw Kuma Ansu-Kyeremech, 2021. Creative commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Can macro infrastructure links offer a path to peace? Diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps had long dreamed of “piercing” the isthmus, and sought the concession from Mohammed Pasha al-Said, a childhood friend whom de Lesseps first met when living in Egypt with his father, French consul in Cairo. Accounts reveal the future pasha very much liked the breakfast cereal served in Ferdinand’s house, and the two became fast friends who both enjoyed horse riding. In fact, later as adults, they shared a dare to exhibit horse riding skills to jump a particularly high fence: the prize would be permission to build the Suez Canal. Land rights were spelled out, construction began: the route would link two entrances – one from the Mediterranean, the other from the Red Sea.

Ferdinand de Lesseps built the Suez Canal, and tried to later build the Panama Canal. “Caricature of Ferdinand de Lesseps by André Gil, 1867. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Ten years later, on 16 November, 1869, the Suez Canal opened with a marine parade of 65 ships from nations worldwide. Giuseppe Verdi composed Aida to honor the Suez Canal’s opening. In a quirk of irony, the costumes being prepared in Europe were delayed in shipping so the opera debuted the following year.

Giuseppe Verdi composed the opera Aida in honor of the opening of the Suez Canal. Image: “Poster for Aida, 1908, Hippodrome Opera.” U.S. Library of Congress, public domain. Included with appreciation.

Friendship and international understanding graced the project – in spirit and in letter of the law. Khedive Mohammed Pasha al-Said and Ferdinand de Lesseps wrote and signed the founding agreement that called, in article VI, for “tariffs of dues for passage …(which) shall be always equal for all nations, no particular advantage can ever be stipulated for the exclusive benefit of any one country.” That principle of open access to all was legalized in the international Convention of Constantinople of 1888 in article I “in time of war as in time of peace, the canal shall never be subjected to the exercise of the right of blockade.”

“Suez Canal as seen from International Space Station” – two examples of infrastructure as peace. Photo shows the southern terminus of the Suez Canal at the northern area of the Red Sea. Image: NASA, 2007. Public Domain.

In December 2023, several commercial vessels bound for the Mediterranean diverted from the Suez Canal route to avoid danger. Because the 120 mile (192 km) canal is the fastest sea route between Asia and Europe, it is the preferred passage. For example, a ship from the Mideast Gulf bound for Rotterdam, Netherlands would travel 6,436 nautical miles via the Suez Canal but 11,169 nautical miles taking the longer route around Africa. Since December, more ships have diverted. Portwatch, study group of Oxford University and the International Monetary Fund, reported Suez Canal traffic is lowest since 2021. Shipping rates, during the diversions, have tripled. Tesla idled a factory in Germany because shipping delays caused supply chain problems. But, more concerning to many is the issue that the Suez Canal was – and is – specifically a path to peace.

Can the Belt and Road Initiative’s many links be inspired to form a path to peace? Image: “One belt, one road” by Lommes. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

The Suez Canal’s Firman and subsequent Convention specifically dedicate the route to be open to all nations equally in time of war as in time of peace. Major transport routes, like the Suez Canal, represent both trade passages and potential paths to peace. How will such dedications affect the future of the Suez Canal, and also developing links such as those in the Belt and Road Initiative? Can macro infrastructure links, like the Suez Canal, serve as a path to peace?

Ghaddar, Ahmad. “How attacks in the Red Sea impact shipping in the Suez Canal.” 19 December 2023. Reuters.

Suez Canal Authority. “Constantinople Convention of 1888,” 29 October 1888. https://www.suezcanal.gov/eg/English/About/CanalTreatiesAndDecrees/pages/constantinopleconvention.aspx

Davidson, F. P. and K. Lusk Brooke. “The Suez Canal,” Chapter 16, Building the World, Volume 1,  pages 187 – 204 (includes original Firman). ISBN: 0313333734.

Egan, Matt. “Insurers shun many ships carrying goods through the Red Sea as attacks continue.” 17 January 2024. CNN.com. https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/17/business/red-sea-shipping-attacks

Portwatch. “Trade disruptions in the Red Sea.” 16 December 2023: updated 20 January 2024. https://portwatch.imf.org

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

 

 

 

 

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January 10, 2024
by Building The World
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WATER: Rivers and Rights

Colorado River, Horseshoe Bend in Arizona,” by photographer Charles Wang, 2023. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Colorado River Basin states are working together to agree upon water use and rights. Source of drinking water for 40 million people (7 U.S. states, Mexico, and 30 Tribes of original Americans), the Colorado River has recently seen lower levels of water. Drought has plagued the area, with prospects for recharge by melting seasonal snowpack now questioned by warming related to climate change.

Upper and Lower Colorado River Basin states supplied by Colorado River. Mexico, and 30 Tribes are also participants in the Compact. Courtesy of U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, 2012. Public Domain: CC0. Included with appreciation.

In 2026, present agreements on water allocation among stakeholders will expire. Rather than wait for political change, Colorado River Compact states are drafting their own new regulations. Working with the Bureau of Reclamation, agency in charge of administering the Compact, states will submit their draft plan by March 2024.

Lawns may soon get a “thumbs down” as watering non-functional turf laws take effect to conserve water. Image: “Lawn Doctor” by Lawn Doctor, Inc. CC4.0. Included with appreciation.

Water use restrictions are expected. Water recycling will be important: many communities are developing systems for reuse. Southern Nevada Water Authority announced that water may not be used on “non-functional turf’ – that means lawns. It was the first permanent regulation on lawns and grass: the new law will take effect in January 2027.

Whanganui River of New Zealand was granted legal personhood rights. Will other rivers follow suit? Image: “Whanganui River” by photographer Felix Engelhardt, 2009. Creative Commons 2.0. Included with appreciation.

Another option? Legal personhood for important bodies of water. In New Zealand, the Whanganui River was granted legal personhood. In India, the Ganges, of sacred importance, and the Yamuna, River of the Taj Mahal, applied for legal personhood status. In the United States, the City of Toledo, Ohio sought legal rights status for Toledo’s Lake Erie harbor. Could the Colorado River seek such rights, protecting and securing its ability to recharge and renew?

Water laws have progressed through three stages. Image: 123 numbers gif. Public Domain, CC0. Included with appreciation.

In the past century, water laws have progressed through three stages. Early laws established rights to use water. Next, with environmental awareness, laws addressed rights of water itself to health, renewal, and sustainability. Now, with climate change, laws have begun to concern access in times of drought and water scarcity.

How will climate change affect water agreements, regulations, and treaties? Image: “Judge’s Gavel” by photographer Chris Potter, 2012. Creative Commons 2.0. Included with appreciation.

Interested in the evolution of water laws? Explore this database of global water laws.

Eckstein, Gabriel, et al., “Conferring legal personality on the world’s rivers: A brief intellectual assessment.” 2019, Water International, 44: 6-7, 804-829. DOI: 10.1080/02508060.2019.1631558

Eckstein, Gabriel. “Buried Treasure or Buried Hope?” The Status of Mexico-US Transboundary Aquifers under International Law.” International Community Law Review 13 (2011): 273-290. https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/129/

Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia. “Ley de Derechos de La Madre Tierra.” https://www.scribd.com/document/44900268/Ley-de-Derechos-de-la-Madre-Tierra-Estado-Plurinacional-de-Bolivia

Flavelle, Christoper. “Colorado River States are Racing to Agree on Cuts Before Inauguration Day.” 6 January 2024. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/06/climate/colorado-river-negotiations.html

Permanent Forum of Binational Waters/Foro Permanente de Aguas Binacionales. https://www.binationalwaters.org

Ramirez, Rachel, with Drew Kann. “First-ever water cuts declared for Colorado River in historic drought.” 16 August 2021. CNN.com. https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/16/us/lake-mead-colorado-river-water-shortage/index.html

Sankarasubramanian, A., Upmanu Lall, Naresh Devineni, and Susan Espinueva. “The role of monthly updated climate forecasts in improving intraseasonal water allocation.” Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, Volume 48, Issue 7, 1464-1482, 2009. https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/apme/48/7/2009jamc2122.1.xml

Stone, Christoper D. “Should Trees Have Standing? – Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects.” Southern California Law Review, 45 (1972): 450-501. https://iseethics.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/stone-christopher-d-should-trees-have-standing.pdf

Water Laws Global Database. Renewing the World. https://renewingtheworld.com/files/samples/Renewing-The-World-Water-Database-Laws.pdf

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December 31, 2023
by Building The World
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WATER/SPACE: New Year’s Eve Invitation

“New Year’s Eve” celebration by videographer Cemp, 2019. Creative commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.

New Year’s Eve is often celebrated by popping a cork, releasing bubbles of hope for health and happiness. This year, cork your name into a bottle, sending your greetings and wishes into the future. Who knows who might pop the cork?

Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, is a watery world that may support life. Image: European Space Agency (ESA) Hubble, 2016. Included with appreciation.

NASA‘s Europa Clipper spacecraft, traveling 1.8 billion miles (2.6 billion kilometers), will visit Europa, a moon of Jupiter. Evidence reveals a water world there that may support life. Arriving on the shore, in a very high-tech bottle, could be your name and a message.

“A bottle containing a sheet of music that has washed up on shore.” Image: snapwire, 2017. Dedicated by the photographer to the public domain. Included with appreciation.

This message will be from one water world to another. Ada Limón, U.S. Poet Laureate, whose “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa” will grace the gift, has written this poem:

In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa by Ada Limón

Arching under the night sky inky

with black expansiveness, we point

to the planets we know, we

pin quick wishes on stars. From earth,

we read the sky as if it is an unerring book

of the universe, expert and evident.

Still, there are mysteries below our sky:

the whale song, the songbird singing

its call in the bough of a wind-shaken tree.

We are creatures of constant awe,

curious at beauty, at leaf and blossom,

at grief and pleasure, sun and shadow.

And it is not darkness that unites us,

not the cold distance of space, but

the offering of water, each drop of rain,

each rivulet, each pulse, each vein,

O second moon, we, too, are made

of water, of vast and beckoning seas.

We, too, are made of wonders, of great

and ordinary loves, of small invisible worlds,

of a need to call out through the dark.

You can listen to the poem, read by Ada Limón, here.

Ada Limón, U.S. Poet Laureate. Photograph of Ada Limón by Christopher Michel, 2019. Included with appreciation.

Would you like to join Ada Limón by adding your name to NASA’s message in the bottle? Names submitted by 31 December 2023 will be etched on a microchip sent to Europa, when NASA launches the mission. To sign your name and send your greetings to the future, click here.

Sign your name on a message sent to Europa. Image: “Fountain pen” by photographer Petar Milošević, 2017. Creative Commons/wikimedia 4.0 license. Included with appreciation to Petar Milošević.

NASA. “Message in a Bottle.” 2023. https://europa.nasa.gov/message-in-a-bottle/sign-on/

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

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