Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Saturday, November 8, 2014
Friday, November 7, 2014
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
As Florida's Geology Melts Away...
Many of the symptoms of climate change can be addressed with seawalls, irrigation, reinforced construction and raising buildings above flood plains. One of these symptoms which is most difficult to respond to on site is the increasingly frequent phenomena of sink holes caused by the largely invisible erosion of soil and "bedrock" by increasingly heavy torrential rain storms.
One of the states most vulnerable to this underground disintegration Florida. I am not a geologist but it is widely known that much, if not most of the state of Florida sits above a great shelf of porous honeycombed limestone which is readily dissolved by the thousands of unknown subterranean streams and rivers running above, through and underneath it at an increasing rate as rainfall volumes increase dramatically.
Two notable tragedies caused by this undermining Floridian phenomenon were widely publicized last year. The first incident concerned a man who was sleeping in his suburban home when it was suddenly swallowed along with him by a sink hole. He was never seen again. The second was a relatively new luxury hotel several stories tall which collapsed when a sinkhole manifested beneath it.
Are you considering relocating to Florida in the new climate change paradigm? You might want to reconsider. This state is prone to roast in the southern latitudes, be eroded by rising sea levels, damaged by increasingly destructive hurricanes, tornadoes and other storms and, worst of all, unpredictable collapse from underneath as its limestone geology washes away. Increasingly, living in a home in Florida is like moving onto a shifting sandbar in the middle of a steaming tropical high volume river delta.
If your horizon is ten to fifteen years you'll probably survive Florida. If it's more than fifteen years from now you might be prudent to seriously look into moving to a home built above solid bedrock [granite, igneous rock] at an elevation well above the 100 year flood plain in Burlington, Vermont near Lake Champlain where there's plentiful fresh water, a low crime rate, cooler temperatures and nearby farmland. Better yet, if you don't mind immigrating, take a serious look at the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario for the long haul: twenty years or more.
CONTACT: You can always contact Peter Ogden at: peterogden7x7@yahoo.com or
through the end of autumn 2014 via snail mail at:
Peter Ogden, 110 Genesee St., Ste. 707, Nano Utica, New York, 13502.
One of the states most vulnerable to this underground disintegration Florida. I am not a geologist but it is widely known that much, if not most of the state of Florida sits above a great shelf of porous honeycombed limestone which is readily dissolved by the thousands of unknown subterranean streams and rivers running above, through and underneath it at an increasing rate as rainfall volumes increase dramatically.
Two notable tragedies caused by this undermining Floridian phenomenon were widely publicized last year. The first incident concerned a man who was sleeping in his suburban home when it was suddenly swallowed along with him by a sink hole. He was never seen again. The second was a relatively new luxury hotel several stories tall which collapsed when a sinkhole manifested beneath it.
Are you considering relocating to Florida in the new climate change paradigm? You might want to reconsider. This state is prone to roast in the southern latitudes, be eroded by rising sea levels, damaged by increasingly destructive hurricanes, tornadoes and other storms and, worst of all, unpredictable collapse from underneath as its limestone geology washes away. Increasingly, living in a home in Florida is like moving onto a shifting sandbar in the middle of a steaming tropical high volume river delta.
If your horizon is ten to fifteen years you'll probably survive Florida. If it's more than fifteen years from now you might be prudent to seriously look into moving to a home built above solid bedrock [granite, igneous rock] at an elevation well above the 100 year flood plain in Burlington, Vermont near Lake Champlain where there's plentiful fresh water, a low crime rate, cooler temperatures and nearby farmland. Better yet, if you don't mind immigrating, take a serious look at the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario for the long haul: twenty years or more.
CONTACT: You can always contact Peter Ogden at: peterogden7x7@yahoo.com or
through the end of autumn 2014 via snail mail at:
Peter Ogden, 110 Genesee St., Ste. 707, Nano Utica, New York, 13502.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Can't escape Just Bieber's antics unless you are "off the grid". Poor kid: Another case of too much too soon. I feel that he could be heading down the same slippery slope as James Dean. For his latest dangerous behavior perhaps he could be sent to a Buddhist monastery or placed in the custody of the Dalai Lama or Ram Dass or Roshi Joan Halifax or Sakyong Mipham for one month; this could save his life and he might enjoy it too.
Whatever is unskillful,
leading to harm or suffering for you and others,
should be recognized and abandoned.
Whatever is skillful,
leading to happiness and peace for you and others,
should be pursued.
-Larry Rosenberg; Shambhala Sun Magazine, January 2014.
Saturday, January 18, 2014
California Drought
Well, after all much of California was an arid rather inhospitable region before humans irrigated it. Dust to dust...
If the current unprecedented drought in the Golden State is a symptom of climate change, which is most likely the case, this could bode well for some of the long declining regions of the U.S. where--thus far--water is plentiful. As some industries which rely on adequate and affordable water are squeezed by a drying California climate they might begin to migrate to wetter economically struggling "rust belt" regions such as the Detroit area [ very affordable, centrally located; with plenty of room for expansion ], Ohio, western Pennsylvania and "upstate" New York.
We are already seeing Texas farmers giving up due to heat and drought and moving their operations north.
The decline of the great California agricultural regions bodes well for the income and property values of northern North American farms as produce prices rise along with their production output responding to increased prices and demand. In much of upstate New York the dairy business is operating at its highest capacity in its history and still not meeting demand for its product.
If the current unprecedented drought in the Golden State is a symptom of climate change, which is most likely the case, this could bode well for some of the long declining regions of the U.S. where--thus far--water is plentiful. As some industries which rely on adequate and affordable water are squeezed by a drying California climate they might begin to migrate to wetter economically struggling "rust belt" regions such as the Detroit area [ very affordable, centrally located; with plenty of room for expansion ], Ohio, western Pennsylvania and "upstate" New York.
We are already seeing Texas farmers giving up due to heat and drought and moving their operations north.
The decline of the great California agricultural regions bodes well for the income and property values of northern North American farms as produce prices rise along with their production output responding to increased prices and demand. In much of upstate New York the dairy business is operating at its highest capacity in its history and still not meeting demand for its product.
Monday, January 6, 2014
Scariest Current TV Commecial
That commercial encouraging people to invest in Belize amazes me. It makes me wonder how many people still do not understand the major paradigm change brought on by climate change: The fact that for the foreseeable future our world will no longer be governed by the weather and climate rules that we have been accustomed to for the past several thousand years and that this needs to be seriously considered in the equation whenever making a major life decision, especially where geography is concerned.
Certain geographic areas such as inland regions above 40 degrees latitude north will benefit from climate change whereas others such as those in tropical low elevation regions will be degraded significantly on an increasingly frequent basis by severe weather.
These commercials are encouraging people to move to and invest in the small eastern Central American country of Belize. If Belize is devastated by a climate change era hyper-cyclone where will investors assets be "backed up"; in fortress " Switzerland?
I visited the nearby island of Roatan, Honduras in the mid 1990s. This is a very beautiful region but Belize is especially plagued by very high crime while both countries have, in recent years been increasingly subject to the influence of large cartels trading between South America and North America.
Both countries also have a largely impoverished populace with a huge number of penniless people living in grass huts like their ancestors did thousands of years ago. In comparison to these impoverished souls even an American with lower middle class status is viewed as quite wealthy. I recall American fast food restaurants and even most mid-price hotels guarded by men with machine guns. I was very surprised to discover that an employee of the hotel I stayed at in San Pedro Sula who took me for an excursion "to see the river" had learned the balance on my Schwab account via the Visa card I used to rent my room; this was unsettling because, small as the account balance would be to most Americans it was a fortune to him and his associates..
Nevertheless the people in Honduras, in general were wonderful. I met one young man who was returning to his home village after picking tomatoes for a month with total payout for his labors of $20.00. At one rather isolated seaside hotel in Puerto Cortes hidden deep in marshes thick with grasses taller than a man I was asked if I was a Mormon [ my surname "Ogden" being the same as a major city in Mormon Utah. ]. I honestly advised my inquirer that I was a Buddhist which seemed to mystify him. Later I learned that several Mormons had been butchered with machetes a few years before due to their missionary efforts in Honduras. Also, I learned of an American activist who had apparently been murdered there in the same manner for attempting to fight for womens' rights.
Despite the crime, however, the major issue with Belize, and all of Central America for that matter is climate change. We know that sea level is rising. We know that hurricanes and typhoons are becoming more intense. Witness the recent typhoon catastrophe which devastated much of the Philippine archipelago with what was apparently the most powerful cyclone ever recorded.
All coastal regions, especially archipelagos in tropical, semitropical and even temperate regions are now extremely vulnerable to the ravages of climate change, especially low lying ones like eastern Belize, Honduras, the Bay Islands and the Florida keys.
This year the western hemisphere, with the exception of Mexico, was spared. But will next year's hurricane season make up for this? Any sensible person would not migrate to and invest in an increasingly vulnerable region to find out unless they are an adventurer or researcher.
If you are wise and want to move to a region that is likely to be climatically safe for the next few decades it would be best to inquire from insurance company and weather scientist statisticians as to which places have the greatest INvulnerability to the degradations of climate change.
Obviously, over the long term, unless an amazing technology is developed to remove enormous quantities of carbon from the atmosphere within the next few years it would appear that the best move in North America would be to inland, well drained parts of Canada [ not subject to wildfires ] and the northern most inland regions of the U.S.--again to well drained heights, especially the summits of hills where there is no historical potential of wildfires.
Of course for extremists planning long term it would be worthwhile to explore the feasibility of colonizing Arctic and Antarctic regions as well as the southern tip of South America. Already we are seeing much increased interest in exploring Antarctica which includes the British Royal Family--a wise family with access to the world's greatest minds--only too aware of their growing vulnerability to powerful storms lashing the British " archipelago ". Erosion to the western coasts of Great Britain is accelerating.
At the rate things are going Antarctica could well become the " refuge continent of the future " for the preservation of humankind. Moral: Move north, not south. Move inland, not to the coast. Move to the summits, even to moderate hill tops when it can be clearly determined there is absolutely no reasonable potential of flooding or runoff from higher nearby ground.
Certain geographic areas such as inland regions above 40 degrees latitude north will benefit from climate change whereas others such as those in tropical low elevation regions will be degraded significantly on an increasingly frequent basis by severe weather.
These commercials are encouraging people to move to and invest in the small eastern Central American country of Belize. If Belize is devastated by a climate change era hyper-cyclone where will investors assets be "backed up"; in fortress " Switzerland?
I visited the nearby island of Roatan, Honduras in the mid 1990s. This is a very beautiful region but Belize is especially plagued by very high crime while both countries have, in recent years been increasingly subject to the influence of large cartels trading between South America and North America.
Both countries also have a largely impoverished populace with a huge number of penniless people living in grass huts like their ancestors did thousands of years ago. In comparison to these impoverished souls even an American with lower middle class status is viewed as quite wealthy. I recall American fast food restaurants and even most mid-price hotels guarded by men with machine guns. I was very surprised to discover that an employee of the hotel I stayed at in San Pedro Sula who took me for an excursion "to see the river" had learned the balance on my Schwab account via the Visa card I used to rent my room; this was unsettling because, small as the account balance would be to most Americans it was a fortune to him and his associates..
Nevertheless the people in Honduras, in general were wonderful. I met one young man who was returning to his home village after picking tomatoes for a month with total payout for his labors of $20.00. At one rather isolated seaside hotel in Puerto Cortes hidden deep in marshes thick with grasses taller than a man I was asked if I was a Mormon [ my surname "Ogden" being the same as a major city in Mormon Utah. ]. I honestly advised my inquirer that I was a Buddhist which seemed to mystify him. Later I learned that several Mormons had been butchered with machetes a few years before due to their missionary efforts in Honduras. Also, I learned of an American activist who had apparently been murdered there in the same manner for attempting to fight for womens' rights.
Despite the crime, however, the major issue with Belize, and all of Central America for that matter is climate change. We know that sea level is rising. We know that hurricanes and typhoons are becoming more intense. Witness the recent typhoon catastrophe which devastated much of the Philippine archipelago with what was apparently the most powerful cyclone ever recorded.
All coastal regions, especially archipelagos in tropical, semitropical and even temperate regions are now extremely vulnerable to the ravages of climate change, especially low lying ones like eastern Belize, Honduras, the Bay Islands and the Florida keys.
This year the western hemisphere, with the exception of Mexico, was spared. But will next year's hurricane season make up for this? Any sensible person would not migrate to and invest in an increasingly vulnerable region to find out unless they are an adventurer or researcher.
If you are wise and want to move to a region that is likely to be climatically safe for the next few decades it would be best to inquire from insurance company and weather scientist statisticians as to which places have the greatest INvulnerability to the degradations of climate change.
Obviously, over the long term, unless an amazing technology is developed to remove enormous quantities of carbon from the atmosphere within the next few years it would appear that the best move in North America would be to inland, well drained parts of Canada [ not subject to wildfires ] and the northern most inland regions of the U.S.--again to well drained heights, especially the summits of hills where there is no historical potential of wildfires.
Of course for extremists planning long term it would be worthwhile to explore the feasibility of colonizing Arctic and Antarctic regions as well as the southern tip of South America. Already we are seeing much increased interest in exploring Antarctica which includes the British Royal Family--a wise family with access to the world's greatest minds--only too aware of their growing vulnerability to powerful storms lashing the British " archipelago ". Erosion to the western coasts of Great Britain is accelerating.
At the rate things are going Antarctica could well become the " refuge continent of the future " for the preservation of humankind. Moral: Move north, not south. Move inland, not to the coast. Move to the summits, even to moderate hill tops when it can be clearly determined there is absolutely no reasonable potential of flooding or runoff from higher nearby ground.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)