Shrinking Snow and Ice Cover Intensify Global Warming

New research shows that the decreases in Earth's snow and ice cover over the past 30 years have exacerbated global warming more than models predict they should have, on average

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—The decreases in Earth's snow and ice cover over the past 30 years have exacerbated global warming more than models predict they should have, on average, new research from the University of Michigan shows.

To conduct this study, Mark Flanner, assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, analyzed satellite data showing snow and ice during the past three decades in the Northern Hemisphere, which holds the majority of the planet's frozen surface area. The research is newly published online in Nature Geoscience.

Snow and ice reflect the sun's light and heat back to space, causing an atmospheric cooling effect. But as the planet warms, more ice melts and in some cases, less snow falls, exposing additional ground and water that absorb more heat, amplifying the effects of warmer temperatures. This change in reflectance contributes to what's called "albedo feedback," one of the main positive feedback mechanisms adding fuel to the planet's warming trend. The strongest positive feedback is from atmospheric water vapor, and cloud changes may also enhance warming. Read More


Chemtrails are REAL!
By David Kong
Chemtrails are no longer myths. Research have shown that the government is spraying aluminum particles into our sky to protect earth from global warming also known as geo weather engineering. Supposingly changing electrical waves and frequency... Read More

Imbalance in human tendencies can lead to violence

Written by Richard Taran
The past several years have seen increased incidences of violence in the schools, in public and the workplace. The aftermaths are the same: shock, grief, looking for answers. The latest event in Tucson, Ariz., was particularly shocking because it involved a political figure.

In our search for answers, we tend to blame our pet peeves as the cause for senseless violence. Of course, there is not just one cause, but rather a complex interaction between human nature and our environment.

There are three tendencies of human nature, which are important pieces of the puzzle to explore. Knowing about them could possibly prevent further school, public and workplace violence. They are tendencies to alter our consciousness, to seek intensity, and to narrow our reality. These tendencies are natural to all people; yet, when exaggerated in the context of addictions, poor judgment, alienation, illness and denial, they can lead to violence. Read More

Today in history: Earthquake of enormous magnitude hits the Pacific Northwest coast

On January 26, 1700, at about 9:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time a gigantic earthquake occurs 60 to 70 miles off the Pacific Northwest coast. The quake violently shakes the ground for three to five minutes and is felt along the coastal interior of the Pacific Northwest including all counties in present-day Western Washington. A tsunami forms, reaching about 33 feet high along the Washington coast, travels across the Pacific Ocean and hits the east coast of Japan. Japanese sources document this earthquake, which is the earliest documented historical event in Western Washington. Other evidence includes drowned groves of red cedars and Sitka spruces in the Pacific Northwest. Indian legends corroborate the cataclysmic occurrence. Read More

Is Extreme Weather a Result of Global Warming?

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- In the past year, every continent except Antarctica has seen record-breaking floods. Rains submerged one-fifth of Pakistan, a thousand-year deluge swamped Nashville and storms just north of Rio caused the deadliest landslides Brazil has ever seen.

Southern France and northern Australia had floods, too. Sri Lanka, South Africa, the list goes on.

And while no single weather event can be linked definitively to global climate change, a growing number of scientists say these extreme events represent the face of a warming world. Read More

In search of the sustainable car

Midwest’s First Holistically Sustainable Community Bank to Open

Plants' global warming dilemma: climb to escape heat or stoop for water?

It was long thought that plants move to higher ground and to higher latitudes as the Earth warms, but new research has found that plants are also moving to lower elevations to be closer to snow, rain, and fog as a result of global warming.

By Pete Spotts

For years, scientists have recorded the gradual march of plants and animals up mountain slopes and toward higher latitudes as global warming has forced them to chase their climatic comfort zones. Read More

Foreclosure Crisis Remedy: A True Inside Job – The Transformation of Consciousness

by Connie Marlow
Is anyone paying attention? Is anyone outraged? If not, go see “Inside Job” a “Wall Street-damning documentary,” as well as “The Company Men.” Both films show that it was not those “greedy homeowners who bought houses they couldn’t afford” that threw this country and the world into the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression. It was Wall Street and the mega-banks, in the crime of the millennium.

Foreclosures have broken all records. Attorneys General throughout the country are conducting investigations into big bank mortgage fraud. Over 5,000,000 homes have been seized so far by banks who in fact lack legal standing to foreclose, and another 5,000,000 homes will likely be seized before this is over. That’s a lot of roofs over a lot of heads. What is happening to all those families? Do you really want to know? It’s a nightmare.

There has been a coup in this country – an insidious takeover facilitated by our belief in bottom-line profit as the only mechanism to prosperity. This Industrial Age mindset has been robbing our children of their spirits for centuries – creating educational systems that provide the workplace with the “survival of the fittest” mentality needed to operate a competitive economic system.

This entire system is collapsing ... Read More

The Rise (and Demise) of Earth’s Eco-Cities

by William Pentland
In 2008, the Ecocity World Summit convened in San Francisco to prescribe the “eco-city” concept as the anti-dote to the escalating threats of resource scarcity, climate change and the massive urbanization predicted to occur over the next Century. The Summit organizers made the following declaration: ”Into the deep future, the cities in which we live must enable people to thrive in harmony with nature and achieve sustainable development . . . Cities, towns and villages should be designed to enhance the health and quality of life of their inhabitants and maintain the ecosystems on which they depend.”

The “eco-city” was supposed to combine the principles of green building and the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to reduce – and potentially eliminate – the adverse impact cities have historically had on the natural environment. In “Sustainable Cities: Oxymoron or The Shape of the Future?,” Annissa Alusi, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School, reviews the origins and outcomes (thus far) of the first generation of “eco-city” projects being pursued around the world. The findings are mixed and include the following snapshots. Read More

Two Suns? Twin Stars Could Be Visible from Earth by 2012

by Dean Praetorius

Earth could be getting a second sun, at least temporarily.

Dr. Brad Carter, Senior Lecturer of Physics at the University of Southern Queensland, outlined the scenario to news.com.au. Betelgeuse, one of the night sky's brightest stars, is losing mass, indicating it is collapsing. It could run out of fuel and go super-nova at any time.

When that happens, for at least a few weeks, we'd see a second sun, Carter says. There may also be no night during that timeframe.

The Star Wars-esque scenario could happen by 2012, Carter says... or it could take longer. The explosion could also cause a neutron star or result in the formation of a black hole 1300 light years from Earth, reports news.com.au.

But doomsday sayers should be careful about speculation on this one. If the star does go super-nova, Earth will be showered with harmless particles, according to Carter. "They will flood through the Earth and bizarrely enough, even though the supernova we see visually will light up the night sky, 99 per cent of the energy in the supernova is released in these particles that will come through our bodies and through the Earth with absolutely no harm whatsoever," he told news.com.au. Read More

Floods 'Worst Disaster In Australian History'

Pete Norman, Sky News Online
Floods that have devastated huge areas of Australia's eastern coastline will be the costliest natural disaster in the country's history, according to a government minister.
Treasurer Wayne Swan has claimed the deluge last week in Queensland and overnight in Victoria, where 46 townships have been affected, will prompt spending cuts.
"It looks like this is possibly going to be, in economic terms, the largest natural disaster in our history," he said.
"This is very big. It's not just something which is going to occupy our time for the next few months - it will be a question of years as we go through the rebuilding." Read More

Home builders see green prefab potential

By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY

Sandra Beer watched her neighbors in East Chatham, N.Y., devote copious time and sweat equity in building all or part of their homes.
"As a single working mom, I realized I couldn't go that route," says Beer, 51, a fundraiser for a PBS-TV station in Albany. So she explored factory-built options that would be energy efficient.
"I kept looking for something that was middle-class green," she recalls. She signed a contract for a two-bedroom, one-bath $160,000 prefab from Blu Homes, a Massahusetts-based company, in April that was completed in September. The price included delivery but not land.
"It was a lot easier than what others around me experienced," she says, noting the on-budget, quick delivery.
Like Beer, more U.S. consumers and developers are turning to factory-built housing for speed, quality and energy efficiency. The prefab market, once derided as the lowly world of double-wides trailers, is positioning itself for major growth when the housing industry rebounds.
New Hampshire-based Bensonwood Homes builds high-end homes in sections, whether walls or entire bathooms, off-site in its factory and assembles them onsite with with a crane and a small crew. "We're light years away from where we were five years ago," says TeddBenson of New Hampshire-based Bensonwood Homes. His company is refining computer software that can do a 3-D home model, then cut, shape and detail each part in the factory. Read More

Ecotech Institute opens its doors
AURORA, CO A new trade school focused entirely on renewable energy, sustainable design and “green” technology welcomed about 200 students to its new, 62,000-square-foot campus in Aurora this week.

Earth Wobble Changes Zodiac, Astronomy Professor Fixes It

By Jack Phillips
The wobble of the Earth is cited as a reason why our Astrological signs are out of whack. A new sign is even needed, an astronomy professor said yesterday, adding that he is surprised his claims got considerable buzz.

Parke Kunkle told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that the wobble of the Earth means that it is no longer aligned in the same way that it was thousands of years ago when the first astrological signs were drafted.

He said that while he does not believe in astrology, there could be a 13th sign, Ophiuchus.

After the news broke, it went viral on various sites, generating considerable buzz. On Google’s trend list at one point Thursday, searches pertaining to the story covered the top five.

The wobble, he said, is called “precession,” an astronomical term for the change in the earth’s axis every so often. Every 70 years or so, the planet shifts one degree, so imagine how much it has shifted over the past 3,000 years.

Kunkle told The Associated Press that he doesn’t know why that his statements became an Internet sensation.

"This is not new news. I have no idea why it went viral this time," Kunkel told the agency. "Almost every astronomy class talks about it."

His original statement to the Star-Tribune was "because of this change of tilt, the Earth is really over here in effect and Sun is in a different constellation than it was 3,000 years ago.”

But in the past 24 hours, he has been swamped with questions. It's been an exhausting hoot," he told the Star-Tribune.

American Federation of Astrologers spokesperson Shelley Ackerman said that the Kunkle statements should not prompt a change in one’s horoscope.

"This doesn't change your chart at all. I'm not about to use it," she told AP. "I've told all of them not to worry about it. Every few years a story like this comes out and scares the living daylights out of everyone, but it'll go away as quickly as it came."

But if you did wish to change your sign, here’s how it would look. Note the 13th sign Ophiuchus:

* Capricorn: Jan. 20-Feb. 16
* Aquarius: Feb. 16-March 11
* Pisces: March 11-April 18
* Aries: April 18-May 13
* Taurus: May 13-June 21
* Gemini: June 21-July 20
* Cancer: July 20-Aug. 10
* Leo: Aug. 10-Sept. 16
* Virgo: Sept. 16-Oct. 30
* Libra: Oct. 30-Nov. 22
* Scorpio: Nov. 23-29
* Ophiuchus: Nov. 29-Dec. 17
* Sagittarius: Dec. 17-Jan. 20

The Coming Celestial Convergence

This paper is perhaps one of the most fascinating articles I've read lately on solar flares, recent research on our Solar System and Galaxy, and their implication for humanity's spiritual growth and evolution. Some of the material presented mirrors prophecies from the I AM America material regarding the Great Central Sun (Galactic Center), Time Compaction, and the Golden City Vortices. The information is a bit long and filled with science, but well worth it!--Lori
The Coming Celestial Convergence by Chad Adams

Geomagnetism: Long Term Movement of the North Magnetic Pole

Geological Survey of Canada

The accompanying figure shows the path of the North Magnetic Pole since its discovery in 1831 to the last observed position in 2001. During the last century the Pole has moved a remarkable 1100 km. What is more, since about 1970 the NMP has accelerated and is now moving at more than 40 km per year. If the NMP maintains its present speed and direction it will reach Siberia in about 50 years. Such an extrapolation is, however, tenuous. It is quite possible that the Pole will veer from its present course, and it is also possible that the pole will slow down sometime in the next half century. Read More

Pole Shift Forces Airport Makeover

Oxygen Free Oceans Wrought Changes on Early Earth

by Joshua Hill

Geologists at the University of California, Riverside, have discovered chemical evidence that indicates Earth’s ancient oceans were not only oxygen-free, but also contained large quantities of hydrogen sulphide in some areas.

“We are the first to show that ample hydrogen sulfide in the ocean was possible this early in Earth’s history,” said Timothy Lyons, a professor of biogeochemistry and the senior investigator in the study, which appears in the February issue of Geology. “This surprising finding adds to growing evidence showing that ancient ocean chemistry was far more complex than previously imagined and likely influenced life’s evolution on Earth in unexpected ways – such as, by delaying the appearance and proliferation of some key groups of organisms.”

Hydrogen sulphide traditionally was believed to arise as a result of a process which saw oxygen weathering rocks, resulting in sulphate, which in turn was washed into the oceans where bacteria then convert the sulphate into hydrogen sulphide. Read More

Climate change to go on for at least “1,000 years”

[Left: At the South Pole lies the An­tar­tic Ice Sheet, shaded in red in the above di­a­gram. It is con­si­dered vu­lner­able to melt­ing due to glob­al warm­ing (Cred­it: NA­SA/GSFC Sci­en­tif­ic Vis­u­al­i­za­tion Stu­dio)]

Courtesy University of Calgary and World Science staff

Ris­ing car­bon di­ox­ide lev­els in the Earth’s at­mos­phere will cause un­stop­pa­ble changes to the cli­mate for at least the next 1,000 years, a new study sug­gests.

The find­ings have led re­search­ers to es­ti­mate a col­lapse of the West Ant­arc­tic ice sheet by the year 3000, and an even­tu­al rise in the glob­al sea lev­el of at least four me­tres (yards).

The stu­dy, to ap­pear in the Jan. 9 ad­vance on­line edi­tion of the re­search jour­nal Na­ture Ge­o­sci­ence, is billed as the first full cli­mate mod­el sim­ula­t­ion to make pre­dic­tions so far ahead. It’s based on best-case, “zero-emis­sions” sce­nar­i­os sim­ulated by sci­ent­ists from the Ca­na­di­an Cen­tre for Cli­mate Mod­el­ling and Anal­y­sis at the Uni­vers­ity of Vic­to­ria, and at the Uni­vers­ity of Cal­ga­ry, al­so in Can­a­da.

“We cre­at­ed ‘what if’ sce­nar­i­os,” said re­searcher Shawn Mar­shall of the Uni­vers­ity of Cal­ga­ry. “What if we com­pletely stopped us­ing fos­sil fu­els and put no more [car­bon di­ox­ide] in the at­mos­phere? How long would it then take to re­verse cur­rent cli­mate change trends and will things first be­come worse?” Read More

Global Clean Energy Holdings launches Center for Sustainable Energy Farming

In California, Global Clean Energy Holdings announced the establishment of a new non-profit research organization: The Center for Sustainable Energy Farming ( http://www.cfsef.org/ ). The Center’s mission is to perform cutting-edge plant science research in genetics, breeding and horticulture, and further develop technologies to allow for the economic commercialization and sustainability of energy farms globally.

The Center will initially focus on Jatropha curcas, that Global Cleans states is a potential 2nd and 3rd generation biodiesel and bio-jet fuel feedstock species. Research at the Center will be focused on increasing agricultural production; creating a sustainable feedstock supply; reducing inputs including the use of fossil fuel, pesticides, water and fertilizer, and developing new and sustainable biofuels.

Dead Birds Fall from Sky in Sweden; Millions of Dead Fish found in Maryland, Brazil, New Zealand

Millions of dead fish surfaced in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay in the U.S., Tuesday, while similar unexplained mass fish deaths occurred across the world in Brazil and New Zealand. On Wednesday, 50 birds were found dead on a street in Sweden. The news come after recents reports of mysterious massive bird and fish deaths days prior in Arkansas and Louisiana.

The Baltimore Sun reports that an estimated 2 million fish were found dead in the Chesapeake Bay, mostly adult spot with some juvenile croakers in the mix, as well. Maryland Department of the Environment spokesperson Dawn Stoltzfus says "cold-water stress" is believed to be the culprit. She told The Sun that similar large winter fish deaths were documented in 1976 and 1980. Read More

Scientists Now Know: We're Not From Here!

Summary & comments by Dan Eden for Viewzone
"It has been postulated that this is the real reason for both global warming since higher energy levels of the Milky Way are almost certain to cause our Sun to burn hotter and emit higher energies. Indeed, temperatures have been seen to rise on virtually all the planets in our system. This seems quite apart from any local phenomenon like greenhouse gases etc.
This grand turning is possibly the root cause for the discontinuation of the Mayan calendar (the most accurate on the planet) because the 'read-point' of the Pleiades star cluster, which many believe the calendar was based upon, can no longer be a constant as we begin to steer away from the earlier predictable movements..."

Imagine the shock of growing up in a loving family with people you call "Mum" and "Dad" and then, suddenly, learning that you are actually adopted!

This same sense of shock came as scientists announced that the Sun, the Moon, our planet and its siblings, were not born into the familiar band of stars known as the Milky Way galaxy, but we actually belong to a strange formation with the unfamiliar name of the Sagittarius Dwarf galaxy!

How can this be?

Using volumes of data from the Two-Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), a major project to survey the sky in infrared light led by the University of Massachusetts, the astronomers are answering questions that have baffled scientists for decades and proving that our own Milky Way is consuming one of its neighbors in a dramatic display of ongoing galactic cannibalism. The study published in the Astrophysical Journal, is the first to map the full extent of the Sagittarius galaxy and show in visually vivid detail how its debris wraps around and passes through our Milky Way. Sagittarius is 10,000 times smaller in mass than the Milky Way, so it is getting stretched out, torn apart and gobbled up by the bigger Milky Way. Read More

The Earth owns us

"Our galaxy is called the Milky Way, because of the dusting of the white that accompanies its spiral formation. And Lord Vishnu, the all-pervading, lies in the ocean of milk (Ksheer Sagar) on the endless coils of the serpent Anantha/Shesha Naag. The allegory is so right: the Ocean of Milk for the Milky Way, the coils of the serpent to indicate the spiralling nature of the galaxy. And Vishnu (the name means that which pervades all) right in the middle of it all, or forming the basis of it."

The Earthquake in Christchurch on September 4 brought the message of the fragile nature of our lives too close for comfort. Fortunately, we did not lose any lives, although the cost of damage is expected to run in the billions. The majority of people only want one thing in the aftermath of the Earthquake – get back to their normal lives as quickly as possible.

One message that the Earthquake again failed to impress on our minds is the reality of how we as a species are inter-related, that we live in the interconnected world of nature and are as open to the vagaries of nature as anyone in any part of the world.

However, much and which ever way we protect our borders and our way of life, natural disasters don’t recognise these demarcations. Nor does something like global warming or climate change or any other global event like El Nino or La Nina.

While the Earth has been divided up in countries and regions, oceans and stratosphere and other spheres, it remains for all intents and purpose a ‘single operating system’ – connected in so many ways that we only starting to understand. It is rightly said that the fluttering of a butterfly’s wings in Wales will eventually lead to a storm in the Amazon, that is how interconnected we are. Read More

7.1-magnitude earthquake hits Chile

By mjones, GTD News

Santiago – A 7.1-magnitude earthquake shook the souther part of Chile and costs thousands of people to evacuate as fear of tsunamis increased.

According to the National Emergency Office, there were no reports of casualties and damages to properties. There was also no tsunami alert released by local officials.

Vicente Nunez, head of the National Emergency Office of Chile said in a statement that there were no people harmed because of the earthquake.

The United States Geological Survey said that the epicenter of the earthquake was located near the coast of Tirua. Tirua is about 385 miles from Santiago, the capital city of Chile. The U.S. Geological Survey also said that it occurred at 2020 GMT at a depth of 10 miles. An aftershock that followed was later measured to be 5.0 in magnitude.

Earthquake Shakes Parts of Southwestern Utah

Circleville, Utah (ABC 4 News) - A 4.5 magnitude earthquake shook parts of southwestern Utah early Monday morning.

It struck just after 5:00am MDT, and was centered 8 miles northwest of Circleville.

So far, there are no reports of any damage.

ABC 4 talked to one resident who said the earthquake shook him out of bed, and the Beaver County Sheriff's Department says they felt the earthquake there as well.

Natural disasters 'killed 295,000 in 2010'

FRANKFURT — The Haiti earthquake and floods in Pakistan and China helped make 2010 an exceptional year for natural disasters, killing 295,000 and costing $130 billion, the world's top reinsurer said Monday.

"The high number of weather-related natural catastrophes and record temperatures both globally and in different regions of the world provide further indications of advancing climate change," said Munich Re in a report.

The last time so many people died in natural disasters was in 1983, when 300,000 people died, mainly due to famine in Ethiopia, spokesman Gerd Henghuber told AFP.

A total of 950 natural disasters were recorded last year, making 2010 the second worst year since 1980. The average number of events over the past 10 years was 785. Read More

Britain May Freeze, Possible Death of the Gulf Stream

Read about the Great Ocean Conveyor Belt at I AM America

10 Mantras for a More Meaningful New Year

by Steve McSwain
Speaker, thinker, activist and spiritual teacher; author, 'The Enoch Factor: The Sacred Art of Knowing God'

A mantra is a sound, syllable or group of words which, when recited, are regarded as capable of producing spiritual transformation (or so says Wiki). Actually, mantra is a word common in the eastern world and is itself made up of two words: man meaning "mind," and tra meaning "instrument." So, a mantra is "an instrument of the mind."

In eastern religions, and to a lesser degree in the mystical traditions of Christianity, meditators use mantras to center themselves and so bring health and wholeness to the inner self (or, greater unity between the mind, body and spirit). Benedictine monks regularly use scripture in this fashion. For example, they might recite in meditation over and over again the words, "The Lord is my shepherd" (from the 23rd Psalm).

In my own experience, I have made it an every-morning practice to meditate and recite the following mantras. This is the first time, however, I've actually written them down. This was itself a wonderful discipline.

In many respects, a New Year's Resolution is a kind of mantra. But, like mantras, resolutions must be practiced daily if you're serious about them becoming your way of living. Which is why, my first mantra is...

1. I will practice meditation every day.

This is no longer difficult. But, in the early days of becoming a meditator, it was extremely difficult to shut down the mind with its propensity to chatter almost incessantly. With persistence, however, and with time, my mind began to slowly shut down whenever I entered a state of meditation. Today, I would no more consider starting the day without first meditating than I would to go through a day without eating. Meditation is to my innermost self what food and nourishment is to the outer self, the body. Pema Chodron, the Buddhist monk, said, "We don't sit in meditation to become good meditators; we sit in meditation to become more awake in our lives." It is in meditating on the following mantras that the miracle of inner transformation takes place. I become that which I imagine. Or, in the slightly altered words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The antecedent to every behavior is a mantra." You are what you think about. So practice meditating on the following and see what happens. Read More