'The Last Jedi' picks up a nomination from the Costume Designers Guild plus other speculative fiction nominees

After writing about 'The Shape of Water' and speculative fiction nominees galore at the BAFTA Awards, I suggested today's topic.

I'm thinking about posting an entry listed the speculative fiction nominees at the Costume Designers Guild Awards tomorrow followed by the speculative fiction winners at the PGA Awards.  Stay tuned.

If "The Last Jedi" can earn a nomination at the Art Directors Guild Awards along with lots of other speculative fiction movies and TV shows, then maybe the Costume Designers Guild would reward speculative fiction as well.  After looking at the nominees, I was not disappointed.  Every category has at least one speculative fiction nominee to say nothing of two categories just for science fiction and fantasy.

Before I share all the nominees and my opinion of their chances of winning their categories, I'm sharing Wochit Entertainment asking Which Flix Score Costume Designers Guild Nominations?

Costume design is one of the most important components of big budget blockbusters. Wonder Woman, Thor: Ragnarok, and Star Wars: The Last Jedi were all recognized for their costumed contributions. The awards are broken down to categories for film and television. The categories include: Contemporary, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, and Period, as well as one for music videos. The winners of the Costume Designers Guild Awards are set to be announced February 20.

Yes, "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" earned another nomination to join the one for Production Design from the Art Directors Guild and Sound and Visual Effects from BAFTA.  At least my readers and I know what categories the professionals think it excels at.  Also, here are all the nominees "The Last Jedi," "Wonder Woman," and "Thor: Ragnarok" are competing against.

Excellence in Sci-Fi / Fantasy Film

Beauty and the Beast - Jacqueline Durran
Blade Runner 2049 - Renée April
Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Michael Kaplan
Thor: Ragnarok - Mayes C. Rubeo
Wonder Woman - Lindy Hemming

While I'm rooting for "The Last Jedi" and "Wonder Woman," I suspect "Beauty and the Beast" is the favorite.  It's the only one of the group nominated at the BAFTA Awards.

Excellence in Contemporary Film

Get Out – Nadine Haders
I, Tonya – Jennifer Johnson
Kingsman: The Golden Circle – Arianne Phillips
Lady Bird – April Napier
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – Melissa Toth

One speculative fiction film earned a nomination in this category, "Get Out," two if one counts "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" as a comic book movie.  I think the latter has more fun outfits to look at.  That written, my pick is "I, Tonya," which was the only nominee in this category also nominated at the BAFTA Awards.

Excellence in Period Film

Dunkirk – Jeffrey Kurland
Greatest Showman, The – Ellen Mirojnick
Murder on the Orient Express – Alexandra Byrne
Phantom Thread – Mark Bridges
Shape of Water, The – Luis Sequeira

This is the one category where I think the speculative film nominee, "The Shape of Water," has a chance, as it was also nominated at the BAFTA Awards and Critics' Choice Awards.  However, it's competing against "Phantom Thread," which is not only nominated at the BAFTA Awards, but won the Critics' Choice Award for Best Costume Design.  Wochit Entertainment featured it in another clip about the nominations, Costume Designers Guild Recognizes ‘The Phantom Thread,’ ‘Beauty and the Beast’.


As much as I'm rooting for the monster romance, I think "Phantom Thread" is the favorite.  Still, speculative fiction did well with seven or eight of the fifteen nominees.

Follow over the jump for the television and short form nominees.

On 'Weimar America' with The Archdruid and his readers

I know I promised to post my observations on Fascism and the Future, Part Two: The Totalitarian Center at the end of The Archdruid on Fascism, part 1, that's going to take a while to put together.  Instead, I'm going to jump ahead to a thread from Fascism and the Future, Part Three: Weimar America, in which I riffed on the title.

"Weimar America" is a phrase that is becoming more and more popular, with more than 4000 hits for links that use that exact phrase and millions of hits for links that use both in the same text.  The first page of Google returns results from such reputable sources at Salon, The New Republic, and The American Conservative--oh, and you, too.  All of them seem to be from the current decade.  It's a meme that is in definitely in the air.

Greer isn't the only collapse/Peak Oil blogger to invoke the Weimar Republic.  Kunstler has done so twice, first in We're Weimar and again in Weimar meets Waterloo.  He also freaked out over Sarah Palin as Memorial Day: Enter Hitler, Release 2.0 in his own warning of Fascist takeover, but that's a topic for another day.  Besides, he was wrong.  Back to Greer, whose response struck me as surprisingly hopeful.

Pinku-sensei, that's one of the few reassuring things I can think of about all this. If a phrase like that has become part of the standard rap of the chattering classes, we probably don't have to worry about it as much.

Dwig followed up to both of us by listing the sources for the use of the phrase.

Out of curiosity, I did a search for it. Here's a few of the sites, with ideological labels attached, based on what I saw at the sties. (Yes, I know, don't put much weight on them, but it does give a pretty good indication that it's not just one group's obsession.)

    - alternet.org: liberal
    - libertyunyielding.com/: conservative
    - truthdig.com: liberal
    - prorevnews.blogspot.com: progressive
    - newrepublic.com: conservative
    - attackthesystem.com: pan-anarchism
    - hnn.us: history news network
    - swordattheready.wordpress.com: christian right
    - theamericanconservative.com: what it says

The New Republic is more liberal or centrist than conservative, but otherwise it's a good analysis of the sources.

Greer appreciated the list, writing "Dwig, fascinating. Thanks for the leads."  I hope all my readers found them useful, too.

I'll return in the future with more on The Archdruid on Fascism and the future, including comments on what constitutes Left and Right, observations on his scenario of a fascist takeover, and an aside on the LaRouche movement.  Given the way I operate, I'll probably get to that last one first.  LaRouche's disciples are in the news this election season, including a return engagement of the one I encountered in A-10s on parade.  Stay tuned.

What The Archdruid ignored in 'Mentats wanted'

In The Archdruid and I talk real estate, I mentioned that I commented about more than just real estate and would talk about it later.

Greer and I got into a side conversation in the comments to Mentats Wanted, Will Train--real estate.  Even though I had plenty of things to say about the main topic, that's what he responded to.
...
I'll get back to the rest of the conversation...later.

As I type this, I'm waiting for the comment about the death of Michael Ruppert I left at Greer's most recent entry, The End of Employment, to make it through moderation.  Waiting is reminding me of the points I made that weren't addressed two weeks ago, so I feel now is an appropriate time to post them.  Follow over the jump.

Floods in Colorado, the other top post for the third year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News, plus other climate news

According to the secondary counter, Floods in Colorado from ABC News and University of Colorado, posted September 15, 2013, is the third most viewed entry from the third year of this blog and the third most popular in the entire history of the blog with 1201 page views, behind both Space news for Apophis Day in second and first place Finally, a Ringworld movie!  However, according the the primary counter, it's not only the most viewed entry of last year, but the number one entry in the history of the blog with 1135 page views, an achievement I commemorated in My stats didn't fall in October.

Floods in Colorado from ABC News and University of Colorado, finished its climb from 841 page views in September through 939 page views to finish October with 1163 page views, making it the most read entry in the history of this blog, kicking The Buzz about Detroit for the week ending May 28, 2011 from Model D Media out of the top 10 on the way.  That one went to number one on its own, although I padded its lead by linking to it at Kunstler's blog.

I'm not sure what propelled that entry unless it got linked somewhere that used "no follow," but it attracted readers for weeks, pushing the blog's page views to a monthly record.

This month was the first in which the blog passed 12,000 page views.  I had an inkling it was going to happen during the week of October 15-22, when the rolling 30-day view counter passed 12,000 page views every day.  Even that is no guarantee, as readership could have still slowed down.  It did, but not enough to keep the blog from passing 10,000 page views early Saturday the 26th, 11,000 on Monday the 28th, and 12,000 on Halloween, ending up with 12,295 page views for the month.

Yes, the entry set one record and helped set another.  Too bad for it that I changed my procedure for ordering entries this year.  Still, it does deserve recognition as the other top post.

It was not the only entry about climate and weather to make this year's top twenty.  Follow over the jump for the rest.

Perspectives: maps of the territory

I found the above graphics in Recharting Collapseniks over at The Great Change Blog thanks to Progress4What over at Kunstler's blog.  Both appear to be very good mental maps of where bloggers on the environment fall relative to their views of the future and how to achieve it.  I can certainly use them to not only understand where people such as Kunstler, Greer, and Orlov stand on issues, which determines their perspectives, but also to clarify my own thinking.  I believe that would be very useful.  If nothing else, doing so would make good blogging fodder.

Speaking of perspectives, note the circles connected by an arrow moving from the upper left hand corner to the lower right.  That movement was one of the events that Greer describes in A Bargain with the Archdruid.  I have my response and Greer's reply saved.  Stay tuned for me to post it this week.

Perspectives on the next doomsday from The Archdruid and me

In Nablopomo for February: Perspective, I made a programming note.

I also like to examine how other bloggers see things.  In fact, I have more than a week's worth of material saved up from previous months about The Archdruid, Kunstler, Nebris, The Hipcrime Vocab, Julie Bass and others that I didn't get around to posting.  This month's theme looks like a good excuse to do that.

Here is the oldest conversation with Greer that I hadn't yet posted, my response to 2030 is the New 2012 along with his reply.

One of Greer's recurring points is that, whenever a date for doomsday comes and goes, a new one comes along.  The new date is 2030, which has no basis in any external event or prophesy.  At least 2012 tied into the Fake Mayan Apocalypse.  Greer explains that the timing has an internal logic, not an external one, one which I understand.

Greer: It’s thus surely no accident that 2030 is about the time the middle of the Baby Boom generation will be approaching the end of its statistically likely lifespan.

Me: I was wondering why that date, other than the combination of a nice round number with a time close enough to be threatening, but not too alarming.  I would think something more concrete, like either 2029 or 2036, when the asteroid Apophis, aptly named after an Egyptian deity of destruction, would fly close enough to Earth to have a chance of colliding.  Your explanation, though, makes sense given the narcissism of the Boomers.  This way, they maintain their importance even in death, while not having to give up anything beforehand.

My comment ties back to this passage.

The third factor, which relates to the second one, unfolds from the historical tragedy of the Baby Boom generation, which is massively overrepresented in apocalypse fandom just now.  The Boomers were among the most idealistic generations in US history, but they were also far and away the most privileged, and the conflict between those two influences has defined much of their trajectory through time. Starting when the Sixties youth culture crashed and burned, the Boomers have repeatedly faced forced choices between their ideals and their privileges.  Each time, the majority of Boomers—there have always been noble exceptions—chose to cling to their privileges, and then spent the next decade or so insisting at the top of their lungs that their ideals hadn’t been compromised by that choice.

I'm a Boomer myself and I've been examining the position of my generation relative to its generational neighbors for more than 20 years, which I how I became acquainted with andelku of Contemplating the Hedgehog, so Greer's observations rang true.  He described the major philosophical conflict within Boomers and how it has panned out over the past 50 years.  It's one of the reasons why I have the feeling that we're like the Moties, doomed to crash our civilization, and why I've determined to be a Crazy Eddie trying to prevent that.

Follow over the jump for more of this conversation, along with the theme song for this blog.

Cities, stars, entropy, and sustainability

Discovery News inspired me to examine the connections among all these topics by posting Cities Are Like Stars.

People living in big cities have a lot in common with... the inside of a star? Sounds crazy, but it actually makes sense. Anthony explains this radical new way to look at life in the world's busiest cities.

That's such a good explanation of how cities work as systems that I'm considering showing it to my students as part of my urbanization and population lecture.  As for the central idea, here's the money quote from the EurekAlert press release describing the research.

So what is a city? Bettencourt thinks the only metaphor that comes close to capturing a city's function is from stellar physics: "A city is first and foremost a social reactor," Bettencourt explains. "It works like a star, attracting people and accelerating social interaction and social outputs in a way that is analogous to how stars compress matter and burn brighter and faster the bigger they are."

So cities are like stars because as both get larger, both increase their metabolisms.  As Spock would say, fascinating.  Unfortunately, if one extends the metaphor farther, the implications become ominous.  Large stars burn bright, but don't live very long.  Therefore, if a city really is like a star, being large will doom it to a short life.

Kunstler might appreciate that conclusion, as he's thought that industrialism, which allows modern cities, sows the seeds of its own destruction through its ruthless quest for efficiency.

Second Year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News: Kunstler's Tea Party

For this blog's 1000th post, I look back at the most viewed entry in the history of the blog so far according to the primary view counter, Happy 4th of July from James Howard Kunstler's Tea Party! While I posted this response to Kunstler's My Tea Party on July 4th, 2011, it was not among the top ten posts from the first year of the blog as of March 21, 2012. Follow over the jump for the story of how I came to write the entry and how it went from obscurity to the most read piece of writing here at Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

Weekly Roundup for July 31st through August 6th, 2011

This past week was probably the second busiest week for this blog so far. It surpassed last week in all categories, as I posted 16 entries, a record, readers left ten comments, and the blog received 1006 page views, only the second time that has happened. In contrast, the previous week saw 12 entries, five comments, and 783 page views. This week is off to a good start already, as two people have already left comments. You all keep reading and commenting, and I'll keep posting.




Sunday was the last day of NaBloPoMo's July Swim theme, but the only real "Swim" post that day was Weekly Roundup for July 24th through 30th, 2011 in which I recapped all of the previous week's Swim posts. It turned out that the big theme of the rest of the week wasn't the August NaBloPoMo theme, Fiction, but a continuing breaking news story, the Debt Ceiling Hostage Crisis, the resolution of which became the Satan Sandwich.

Weekly Roundup for July 24th through 30th, 2011

This past week maintained the pace set the week before, when I posted 12 entries, readers made five comments, and the blog received 783 page views. Last week, I again wrote 12 entries, readers left four comments, one of which was spam, and the blog had 753 page views, more than 100 a day. This past week also saw the first time the blog exceeded 4,000 page views in a month, which happened late Friday. The month ended with 4,181 hits, a record. The stats are already looking good for this week, as readers left six comments, none of which were spam, and the 114 hits for today are well above last Sunday's 65. If this is the new normal, then I'm happy.




This was the last full week of Swim posts and most of my posts fit this theme one way or another, beginning with the previous Weekly Roundup in which I summarized all the previous week's Swim posts. The real Swim posts began with the second post of last Sunday, when I began covering the story of Raquel Nelson in A petition against the criminalization of walking, the most popular post of the week with 128 views. I followed up with Update on petition to decriminalize walking and wrapped up Raquel's story, for this week at least, in Her day in court, in which I also covered the conclusion of Julie Bass's legal journey.

Swimming against the tide of politics was the theme of many of the rest of the week's postings as well, beginning with I haven't forgotten about Troy's library, in which I revisited the struggle to keep local libraries open. The election for the millage will be the day after tomorrow. Look for a post about it. The swim against ignorance continued in Why do Tea Partiers hate high-speed rail?--a post inspired by a reaction to a story covered in Silly Sustainability Saturday: Carmageddon, Tea Partiers against manatees, and Butterbeer from a few weeks ago. This same story made another cameo in Silly Sustainability Saturday: The Onion, more manatees, heat wave denial, and a poem in which a U.S. Representative from Florida actually took their conspiracy theory seriously. If it weren't for the fact that the Tea Partiers are the epitome of what Kunstler calls "corn-pone fascists" who are standing in the way of sustainable solutions, I'd just type "LOL Teabaggers" and be done with them.

I didn't only document other people's attempts to swim against the political and cultural currents. I got up on my virtual soapbox myself. In What motivates Americans to act, I expressed my cynicism about America's screwed up priorities. For further commentary on this subject, read the LiveJournal version of this entry in which I explained why the NFL lockout had been resolved but the debt ceiling hostage crisis so far hasn't. I became a more idealistic in Allow me this rant on an anti-tax meme. I despaired in We could have had the Moon, instead we get Afghanistan. By this morning I was getting a bit punchy, as you can see in Debt Ceiling Cat, which will be in the next weekly roundup.

Of course, I also had the linkspams. This week, I posted only two of them, Sustainability news from Michigan's research universities for the week ending July 23, 2011 and Sustainability news from midwestern research universities for the week ending July 23, 2011. There were articles left over, which I'll collect into another sustainablity in archeology post, probably along with another CoDominion post and a leftovers post. That's in addition to the two linkspams of material I already have saved in another file. Hey, I'm an environmentalist, I recycle.

If you noticed, the previous weekly roundup didn't include a back-catalog champion. That's not the case this week, as Portland is watching "The End of Suburbia" cracked the weekly top ten with 14 page views. It also ended up as one of the top ten posts for July with 47 hits.

By the way, next month's theme for Nablopomo is Fiction. I'm participating. Here's the badge.




More on this theme beginning tomorrow, which will be in a few minutes. See you then!

We could have had the Moon, instead we get Afghanistan

In the spirit of a picture is worth 1000 words, I present the following.






Full sized original, along with explanatory text at The Pain Comics

Hat/tip to hrhqod1 on LiveJournal, who got it from jwz.

After the seeing the above, then rereading The end of an era: last space shuttle mission and Science and society for the week ending July 16, 2011, I'm tempted to drink heavily. Instead, I'll post my standard rant about Afghanistan.

I used to play a game called Pax Brittanica, which simulated world conditions from 1880-1916. In that game, Afghanistan was a region that was 1) most likely to revolt, 2) a real pain to conquer, and 3) cost more to govern than could ever be extracted from it. Furthermore, should anyone ever be dumb enough to actually invade it, the mere act of occupying the country would be enough to give at least one major power, if not two, cause to declare war. In the games I played, no one ever messed with the place.

If a friggin' game can figure that out, why can't people do so in the real world? Yeah, I know, Osama bin Ladin and the Taliban. Still, the above wisdom should have been enough to convince people to get in, get the job done, and get out.

I still stand by this piece of wisdom I gained by being a gamer geek.

Why do Tea Partiers hate high-speed rail?

In the first Silly Sustainability Saturday, I quoted an article from the St. Petersburg Times: Tea party members tackle a new issue: manatees.

Everybody knows what the tea party members oppose. High taxes. Big government. Obama's health care plan. High-speed rail.

That same article was reposted to Oh No They Didn't Political on LiveJournal. LJ user cecilia_ weasley started a thread by asking "why would Tea Partiers be opposed to high-speed rail. I gave a slightly smart-aleck response, "After all, haven't they read "Atlas Shrugged"?  It's all about railroads!" To which cecilia_weasley replied:

I haven't read that yet, I barely could read The Fountainhead. (ugh) But seriously, why would anyone oppose developing infrastructure? Making it easier for people to get from A to B? IDGI Americans, pls to help me.

I finally have an answer for her, but LiveJournal is under a DDoS attack and I can't post there right now, so I'll post a link and extract here.

Alternet: Why Do Conservatives Hate High-Speed Rail? 5 Reasons Right-Wingers Are Sabotaging Public Transportation Projects
In addition to busting unions and gutting voting rights, Tea Party governors are refusing federal funding for high-speed rail. What do they have against it?

Her day in court

Yesterday, July 26th, was the key day in court for two women whose sustainability-related legal plights I've been following, Julie Bass and Raquel Nelson. Both of them received about the best legal outcomes that one could reasonably expect given how things looked the day before; all charges against Julie Bass were dismissed and Raquel Nelson will not serve any jail time and may get a new trial. All of us should consider these small victories for sustainability.

Each of these women deserve their own posts, which I promise to do later. Right now, I'll just salute both of these women for swimming against the stream of government using the criminal justice system to enforce anti-sustainability standards of behavior.

Update on petition to decriminalize walking

Grist has an update to When design kills: The criminalization of walking, which I linked to last night in A petition against the criminalization of walking:

Mother convicted in son’s street-crossing death speaks out on Today show [VIDEO].

Here's the video from MSNBC.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Finally, there is a petition: Cobb County GA: Release Grieving Mother of Hit-and-Run & Install a Crosswalk. Nearly 58,000 people have signed it, up from 37,660 last night.

Weekly Roundup for July 17th through 23rd, 2011

After a record-breaking week, things were bound to slow down and they did. I posted 12 entries, readers made five comments, and the blog received 783 page views, down from 14 posts, 13 comments, and 1577 page views last week. Even so, I count it as a good week, as it was on par with the week before with eleven posts, five comments, and 832 page views of the week before. If nothing else, page views remained well above the average of 560 per week for all of May and June. Besides, Saturday saw the 10,000th page view in this history of this blog and on July 20th the number of monthly page views exceeded 3,000 for the first time ever. People are reading me, so I'm happy.





Most of my posts counted as Swim posts this week, although they weren't quite the ones I had in mind this time last week. To begin with, I counted Weekly Roundup for July 10th through 16th, 2011 as a Swim post, as a good chunk of the opening described my swimming against the stream of spam that flows into any blog with traffic. Bloody Vikings! I continued pursuing the Swim angle in my followup to Silly Sustainability Saturday: Carmageddon, Tea Partiers against manatees, and Butterbeer, Cyclists, subway rider, and rollerblader all beat jet during Carmageddon involved the advocates of sustainable transportation as well as a blogger about California Highways swimming against the stream of conventional wisdom about traffic. I also included the peaceful yet entertaining cosplaying protesters of In Chile, superheroes dance against austerity as people swimming against the tide of austerity sweeping the planet.

In a way, the local stories I covered could also be considered swimming against the tide, sometimes unsuccessfully. The demise of Borders Books, which I wrote about in Borders Books 1971-2011 and The funeral for Borders Books begins chronicled the end of my favorite booksellers to remain in business after two decades of swimming against the tide of their competitors and their own poor business decisions. The same could be said about my coverage of the heat wave in both Hot enough for you? and Still hot enough for you?, which described how people, animals, and the power grid were trying to beat the heat and sometimes failing. Some attempts actually involved swimming pools, turning Swim from metaphor to reality.

Finally, even my compilations of sustainability news items could be considered Swim posts. I explicitly labeled Sustainability news from Michigan's research universities for the week ending July 16, 2011 and Sustainability news from midwestern research universities for the week ending July 16, 2011 as such because I was too tired to comment on each item and it was an effort even to post them. I didn't make that claim for Sustainability in unexpected places: archeology 2, but I didn't comment on the individual items there, either. The heat was getting to me, too.

On the other hand, I was able to make comments on both Science and society for the week ending July 16, 2011 and Silly Sustainability Saturday: Boobs and Haboobs. In the first, I voiced my frustration with people making pro-austerity and anti-sustainability decisions; I was the one swimming against the stream there. In the second, I pointed out how the people who are frustrating me are themselves swimming against reality. I have confidence that reality will win, eventually.

That's it for last week. As for this week, I already have at least one post a day planned. There are three nearly completed linkspams already saved to another file, as well as the notes for the same four Swim posts that I had on tap last week, along with an article about Detroit a reader posted on my Facebook wall that I've already promised to cover. That doesn't even cover anything else I might write about, such as Julie Bass's court date on Tuesday. As I keep writing, I don't have to worry about finding something to write about the rest of the month. Blogging about sustainability in metro Detroit means never running out of material!

Science and society for the week ending July 16, 2011

Here are the leftovers from my linkspam source--two stories about anti-science decisions by politicians where they are using austerity as a weapon against sustainability, two articles about how one particular anti-science politician responds to a sustainability issue instead of science, then two stories about the science behind the mentality of people who would make such decisions. As you can probably figure out, I'm not in a mood to be nice today.

First, the anti-science decisions, which tie into The end of an era: last space shuttle mission.

Sustainability news from midwestern research universities for the week ending July 16, 2011

If you read this and think you're seeing repeats from Sustainability news from Michigan's research universities for the week ending July 16, 2011, you are. Two of the studies I cited yesterday had authors from both Michigan State University and University of Wisconsin. See if you can tell which ones they are.

Again, very little commentary today, as I'm swimming against the stream of the heat, my own exhaustion, and lots of other work that I need to attend to.

General Sustainability

University of Wisconsin: Climate change reducing ocean's carbon dioxide uptake
by Jill Sakai
July 13, 2011

How deep is the ocean’s capacity to buffer against climate change?

As one of the planet’s largest single carbon absorbers, the ocean takes up roughly one-third of all human carbon emissions, reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide and its associated global changes.

But whether the ocean can continue mopping up human-produced carbon at the same rate is still up in the air. Previous studies on the topic have yielded conflicting results, says University of Wisconsin-Madison assistant professor Galen McKinley.

In a new analysis published online July 10 in Nature Geoscience, McKinley and her colleagues identify a likely source of many of those inconsistencies and provide some of the first observational evidence that climate change is negatively impacting the ocean carbon sink.

“The ocean is taking up less carbon because of the warming caused by the carbon in the atmosphere,” says McKinley, an assistant professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences and a member of the Center for Climatic Research in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.

Purdue University: Grain production not keeping up with demand, economist says
July 14, 2011

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Grain crops are being gobbled up faster than farmers can grow them, and that could portend trouble down the road if production doesn't catch up, said a Purdue University agricultural economist.

There have been two major demand surges in the past five years, including the rising use of corn to produce ethanol and China's purchases of soybeans, Chris Hurt said. The former has been driven by government biofuels mandates and high oil prices, while the latter is the product of China's growing food demand brought on by rapidly increasing incomes that have enabled the Chinese people to buy more food.

"These greater levels of usage have placed a strain on the agricultural production system, resulting in low inventories that leave little room for any production shortfalls," Hurt said. "Producers certainly have responded to try to meet those demands, but what we've seen is that demand has really outpaced the ability of the world to supply."

Inventories of corn and soybeans are near "bare minimums" in the United States, Hurt said, with wheat stocks in better shape.
...
"Fifty-nine percent of all the growth in corn use in the entire world over the last five years has been in a category where ethanol would be placed: industrial use," he said. "Here in the United States over the last five years 100 percent of the increase in corn usage is for ethanol, representing 2.5 billion bushels of corn."

About 27 percent of the U.S. corn crop is used for ethanol, compared to 10 percent in 2005, Hurt estimated. All told, 16 million additional acres of corn from the 2010 crop was required to produce ethanol versus 2005.

Purdue University: High feed costs and increased exports lead to rising pork prices
July 12, 2011

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Pork prices are on the rise as international exports increase and high feed costs are passed on to consumers, said a Purdue Extension agricultural economist.

Retail prices this year are averaging a record $3.35 per pound, up 14 percent from $2.93 per pound in early 2010.

Increases in exports to South Korea, Japan, Russia and China have led to stronger demand for U.S. pork, said Chris Hurt. Meat designated for export comprised 22 percent of all U.S. pork in production this spring, and he said that is leaving less for U.S. consumers.

"While it now appears pork production will rise about 1 percent this year, the large sales to foreign customers mean tight supplies here at home," Hurt said.

Purdue University: Purdue researcher travels to China to promote EcoPartnership, sustainability
July 11, 2011

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue earth and atmospheric sciences professor Timothy Filley has been awarded a Chinese Academy of Sciences Visiting Professorship for Senior International Scientists, marking the university's first activity under a new Purdue-China EcoPartnership.

Filley will spend the next three months at the CAS Institute for Applied Ecology in Shenyang, China, promoting scientific and educational collaborations that address issues in the earth sciences. Specifically, the research projects will focus on the human impacts to terrestrial ecosystems and their influence on global change issues related to soil and water use.

"My goal is to link Purdue to research conducted at long-term field experiments in northeast China and Inner Mongolia," Filley said. "Of particular interest is how soil organic matter responds to stresses such as invasive species, grassland and forest fires, and excess nitrogen addition from a variety of sources including fertilizers, and the burning of fossil fuels."

Sustainability news from Michigan's research universities for the week ending July 16, 2011

What did I promise my readers?

I already have enough material for three complete linkspams, so watch for those later this week beginning with part one, sustainability news from Michigan's research universities, later tonight. I also have notes for at least four more Swim entries, not counting any new developments in Oak Park's war on Julie Bass's plants and animals.

"Tomorrow" was Monday. It's now Thursday. It's time for part one of the linkspam.

Very little commentary today, as I'm swimming against the stream of the heat, my own exhaustion, and lots of other work that I need to attend to.

General Sustainability

University of Michigan: World Population Day: Will 7 billion people create a crisis?
July 11, 2011

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—World population will reach 7 billion this year, prompting new concerns about whether the world will soon face a major population crisis.

"In spite of 50 years of the fastest population growth on record, the world has done remarkably well in producing enough food and reducing poverty," said University of Michigan economist David Lam.

Lam is a professor of economics and a research professor at the U-M Institute for Social Research. He delivered the presidential address, titled "How the World Survived the Population Bomb: Lessons from 50 Years of Exceptional Demographic History," at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America earlier this year.

In 1968, when Paul Ehrlich's book, "The Population Bomb," triggered alarm about the impact of a rapidly growing world population, growth rates were about 2 percent and world population doubled in the 39 years between 1960 and 1999.

According to Lam, that is something that never happened before and will never happen again.

University of Michigan: U-M will launch Planet Blue Ambassador program this fall
July 12, 2011

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Students won't be the only ones in the classroom this fall, as a unique pilot program involving University of Michigan students and staff kicks off as part of the university's commitment to sustainability.

Through a collaboration involving the Graham Sustainability Institute, University Housing, the Office of Campus Sustainability, the Voices of the Staff Environmental Stewardship Team and the Student Sustainability Initiative, a new seminar-based program will provide the necessary skills and training for "Planet Blue Ambassadors," while exploring similarities and differences between student and staff experiences. Planet Blue Ambassadors will model and teach sustainability practices and serve as "eco-reps" to the U-M community. The ultimate program goal is to create a culture of sustainability across all U-M units.

"This is an opportunity to connect students from diverse academic backgrounds with members of the U-M faculty and staff by providing an action-based learning experience," said Mike Shriberg, education director for the Graham Institute and a lecturer in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA). "The primary goal is to teach best practices so that students and staff can encourage environmentally responsible behaviors both in the residence halls and in organizational units throughout campus."

The beauty and peacefulness of the University of Michigan's Diag derive in large part from its trees. Many were planted as long ago as the Civil War, some just last week. Here's a glimpse at a spot we love through the generations.

Norm Lownds, curator of the Michigan 4-H Children's Garden, talks about the different types of interactivity that happen in the garden.

Michigan State University: MSU to host youth garden symposium
July 14, 2011

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University will host the 19th annual National Children and Youth Garden Symposium July 21-23.

The conference, which is sponsored by the American Horticultural Society, includes a number of keynote speakers and about 50 educational lectures, workshops and learning stations.

The educational sessions include:

"From Schoolyard to Backyard"
"Helpful Hints from Horticultural Therapy"
"Green Corps: Sustainable Youth and Urban Agriculture"
"Digging Into Worm Composting"
"Butterfly Gardening Using Native Plants"

Michigan State University: MSU’s Mott Group to host six FoodCorps members
July 14, 2011

Thanks to a recent grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service, the C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems at Michigan State University will help increase vulnerable children's knowledge of, engagement with and access to healthy food.

The C.S. Mott Group will aid six of Michigan's FoodCorps members in conducting nutrition education, building and tending school gardens and expanding farm-to-cafeteria sourcing of healthy food at the Michigan Land Use Institute, YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids, Food System Economic Partnership and the Crim Fitness Foundation.

In Chile, superheroes dance against austerity

Video accompanies The Daily Telegraph's article Chile superheroes dance for education reform
Hundreds of caped avengers dance in downtown Santiago, as part of a demonstration for education changes.

After being bummed by Borders going out of business, I could use something like the above to cheer me up. Not only is it a demonstration by young people against austerity (the students want lower tuition and cheaper bus passes), something we've seen from Cairo to London, it's a creative and fun way to attract attention and get the point across. In fact, the students in Chile have been particularly creative, as the BBC video about this story shows, as they also staged a kissing protest. The BBC video, in fact, gives a lot more context than the one above, but I couldn't find an embed code for it, so The Telegraph wins.

As for how the story is being covered in the U.S., I present the lede from NBC 9 News in Colorado.

Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman demonstrated for education reform in Chile Monday night.

I saw more than just those the big three from DC Comics. I also recognized Huntress, Sailor Moon, and Mario from the Mario Brothers video games. It was a true geek riot.

I salute the Chilean students, who are swimming against the stream while flying their geek flag high!

Cyclists, subway rider, and rollerblader all beat jet during Carmageddon

Remember me popping popcorn on Saturday?

It's not all bad news for the planet. As USA Today also reported, a bicycle club decided to challenge Jet Blue to a race.

Will JetBlue's special "Carmegeddon flights" between Burbank and Long Beach really help Los Angelinos get across town faster during the city's fear 405 freeway shutdown?

That may be hard to judge, but a group of L.A.-area bicyclists plans to put the airline's crosstown flights to the test in a "bike vs. airplane" race between the airports.

I just watched the end of Rachel Maddow's show, and she bet $1 on the cyclists "For the Schwinn." I would, too.

As for JetBlue, they didn't miss a beat.

[JetBlue spokeswoman Allison] Steinberg says "we're thrilled that the Los Angeles Cyclists want to race us from Burbank to Long Beach."

And, she adds: "If they're too tired to ride back home, bikes fly free with us for the month of July in celebration of Tour de France. Enthusiasts can even kick back in our comfy leather seats and watch live coverage of the 2011 Tour de France in-flight."

Score one for JetBlue for PR, even if the planet loses.

Finally, the cyclists promise to "fight fair."

For the details, BikeCommuteNews.com says: "All riders will depart from the same location, the Burbank Airport, at the same time, and be required to follow all traffic laws."

This will be a hoot.

Slate reported that the race went even better for the planet than I expected.