Greenpeace Target Greenland

As mentioned on a previous post, Greenland is rapidly emerging as the focus of climate change activism, with Greenpeace today shutting down the Cairn Energy deep water oil platform in the Davis Straight to the west of Greenland.
















Cairn Energy can be contacted here.

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• Greenpeace claims to have shut down Greenland oil well (telegraph.co.uk)
• Greenpeace blocks Greenland drilling (msnbc.msn.com)
• Greenpeace 'board Cairn platform' (bbc.co.uk)
• Greenland's prime minister lambasts Greenpeace for raiding Arctic oil rig (guardian.co.uk)

Inception: Emotional Hit

Having only just got round to seeing Inception, I loved the intensity of the film and was genuinely entertained by its energy, imagination and visual power. It was a treat to watch a film that was so "seeable" as well as to follow a storyline that was gripping and original.

Although writer-director Christopher Nolan has come up with an original and well-worked concept film I appreciated the deferential nods to Matrix (in the zero gravity fight scene in the hotel corridor) and 2001 (such as when Fischer finally meets his dying father in the sanitized, green-tiled room). Production values also resonate in parts, unsurprisingly, with Nolan's earlier Batman Begins. The white-clad soldiers shooting each other in the snow scene, of course, is straight out of On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Personally, I don't see the film as masterpiece, but do agree with Mark Kermode that it is "brilliant".

Beyond the core idea (that, through technology, people can enter other people's dreams), there was a limited development of the philosophy and ethics of the concept (a contrast in this regard with 2001). Dom and Mal Cobb's experience of life in limbo should, however, be a warning to other lovey-dovey couples of the risks involved in being too hippy-trippy, especially when there are children who need looking after!

A great film. Get the DVD. And watch out for trains next time you're in a car chase.

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• Inception, Part II: A Psychologically "Real" Dream World (psychologytoday.com)
• Movie Review: Inception - Eye Candy, or Mind Candy? (slashfilm.com)

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Greenpeace Protest Deep Water Drilling off Greenland

The Stena Don oil rig owned by Cairn Energy - off the coast of the Greenland in one of the most fragile environments on Earth.

For more on Greenland as an oil-rich environment, click here.

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Is Marriage Equality Comprable to Racial Equality?

One of the arguments advocated in favour of same sex marriage is that the right inherent in such an arrangement is analogous to the right of people to receive equal treatment under the law regardless of their race or ethnicity.

Brian Brown, Executive Director of America's National Organization for Marriage, takes a different view:

"It is about a profound love and respect for an institution that the government did not create; an institution that predates churches, governments ...; an institution that brings together the two great halves of humanity – male and female.....

"I believe that this fight is the beginning of a new civil rights movement, and I don't say that in any shallow way.....

“A lot of African-American leaders … are tired of their struggle being hijacked by those who are attempting to use the civil rights movement to redefine marriage.....

“Marriage is not based upon race.... So trying to compare same-sex marriage to overturning laws against interracial marriage is comparing apples to oranges.”

source

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Environmental News Updates

Some random links that caught my eye this week, all around the themes of severe weather, climate change and attempts at making the transition towards sustainable energy.

The Boston Globe has a major photo essay on the recent floods and landslides in western China:

At midnight on Sunday, August 8th, a temporary lake caused by a recent landslide broke loose above the town of Zhouqu, in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, China. The outflow slid down the valley as a wall of mud, wiping out houses and multi-story buildings, and killing at least 1,144 residents - with over 600 still reported as missing. More than 10,000 soldiers and rescuers arrived soon to comb through the mountains of mud that buried several parts of Zhouqu County. Engineers also worked to blast the debris that had passed through the town to partially block the Bailong River, causing further flooding. Collected here are images of the landslide-affected area of northwestern China, part of a series of disasters in Asia caused by recent heavy rains.

41 dramatic photos make up the piece, here.


On a more positive note, the New York Times reports on Portugal's success in producing 45% of its electricity through renewables this year, an increase of 17% on 2009. Wind, wave, hydro and solar power are all combining to make Portugal a world leader in renewables.

Prime Minister José Sócrates is quoted: “I’ve seen all the smiles — you know: It’s a good dream. It can’t compete. It’s too expensive....The experience of Portugal shows that it is possible to make these changes in a very short time.”

Meanwhile, the world's largest marine turbine - weighing 130 tonnes and capable of generating electricity for 1,000 homes - has been unveiled and is about to be deployed in the seas around Orkney. The turbine is capable of turning (and thus generating power) with both the rise and fall of the tides in some of the roughest seas in the world.

Finally, the Global Footprint Network has announced that August 21st is Earth Overshoot Day in 2010, defined as:

the day when human demand on nature surpasses what nature can renewably supply...as of August 21st, humanity will have demanded an amount of ecological resources equivalent to what it takes nature 12 months to produce.

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