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The Cosmic Community of Intelligent Life Empathy and Compassion for the Common Good (Universe Forelaws, Meaning and Purpose) Albedo Management, Industrial Hemp, Desalination From Nation-States to United Albedo Regions Forelaws Science, Technology and Culture A Compassionate/Cooperative Global Society on Earth Years 2018-2021 Launching Albedoism, the Forelaws Party, and James Webb Space Telescope (Spring 2019) "the human brain is the most complex and orderly arrangement of matter in the universe." - Isaac Asimov (1920-1992), professor of biochemistry at Boston University, USA. (describes that of all intelligent life in the cosmic community of intelligent life). Every 230 million years Earth, its inhabitants and the Sun (our star) orbit the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The Milky Way is the galactic home of humankind and untold numbers of fellow counterparts - many far more advanced than humankind with respect to cosmic genealogy, climate change, and empathy and compassion for the common good (Universe forelaws, meaning and purpose). Appreciation on Earth of cosmic genealogy - in which from infinity to infinity intelligent life propagates empathy and compassion for the common good - is traceable unarguably to pioneering investigation of organic matter in space conducted in the 1970/80s by astronomers Sir Fred Hoyle (1915-2001) and Chandra Wickramasinghe, giving birth to the science discipline astrobiology merging astronomy and biology - with irreversible geopolitical implications (moving humanity beyond divisiveness of nation-states to united albedo regions and a compassionate/ cooperative global society). Dr. Wickramasinghe, currently, is director of the Center for Astrobiology, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka. He is author (with 32 co-authors) of the year-long-peer-reviewed article "Cause of Cambrian Explosion - Terrestrial or Cosmic?" (CETC) - published on line 13 March 2018 in the journal Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology. Since 1996 notable progress in astrobiology has been chronicled by Brig Klyce (CETC co-author and author of Cosmic Ancestry) in the website Cosmic Ancestry. A cosmic phenomenon operative in cosmic genealogy - no two star systems with intelligent life are exactly the same in terms of solar radiation - explains intelligent life "races" before amalgamation. "When Jon (Jon Larsen, Project Stardust) first came to me I was dubious. Many people had reported finding cosmic dust in urban areas before, but when they were analysed scientists found that these particles were all industrial in origin." – Matthew Genge, Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London. "This was our first view of the comet dust. We are the first people in the history of the planet to see comet dust." - Donald Brownlee, Cosmic Dust Group, Department of Astronomy, University of Washington. "To suppose that Earth is the only populated world in infinite space is as absurd to believe that in an entire field sown with millet, only one grain will grow." - Metrodorus of Chios (Greek Philosopher, Fourth Century BC. ". . . herald a new worldview that I hope will unite the many nations and races of people that inhabit our planet." - Chandra Wickramasinghe, Director, Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology, UK. "It (darwinism) proclaimed that our true relation is that of competitors and combatants in a struggle for mere survival . . ." - George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), socialist, vegetarian, playwright - author of The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism (1926). --------- "The historian of science may be tempted to claim that when paradigms change, the world itself changes with them." - from The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Thomas S. Kuhn, 1962, 2nd ed. 1970). "We are all living together on a single planet, which is threatened by our own actions. And if you don't have some kind of global cooperation, nationalism is just not on the right level to tackle the problems, whether it's climate change or whether it's technological disruption." - Yuval Noah Harari, author, historian, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Addressing climate change centers on planet albedo, i.e. atmosphere and surface reflectivity of solar radiation. Management on Earth of solar radiation involves alteration of human infrastructure, which, among other things, consists of buildings, roads, hempcrete houses, and airport runways - all capable of changing surface color with temperature change. This phenomenon - known as thermochromism - provides opportunities for positive management of solar radiation received on Earth (albedoism) - toward benign and relative stability in weather and climate. In working also with the plant kingdom (every tree and flower a contributor) to achieve optimal albedo in human infrastructure, innovative and creative albedo management paves the way to united albedo regions on Earth, and a compassionate/cooperative global society. Through albedoism and united albedo regions, empathy and compassion for the common good places humankind on a trajectory countering, remediably, droughts, desertification, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, lightning-induced wildland fires, subsidence, and ice ages. The Keith Group at Harvard University, USA, stands out among organizations and associations researching climate change and albedoism. Terra Mission (NASA, 1999) . . . "carries five instruments that observe Earth's atmosphere, ocean, land, snow and ice, and energy budget. Taken together, these observations provide unique insight into how the Earth system works and how it is changing." "Governments will respond to the will of the people provided we tell them what we want. And what we want is a livable world." - Citizens' Climate Lobby.---------- "We believe in a safe climate and a better future — a just, prosperous, and equitable world built with the power of ordinary people." - 350.org. The emerging forelaws party and its cornerstone the democrathon process (TDP) promote empathy and compassion for the common good locally and globally. The forelaws party and TDP address local and global issues ranging from war, carnism and racism to neutralizing and phasing-out nuclear weapons/energy within divisive nation-states . . . vulnerable to climate change, to natural disasters, and to global terrorism (compounded by nuclear waste disposal) . The forelaws party and TDP advance empathy and compassion for the common good in conflict resolution, in science and technology, in energy, economics and politics, in animal rights - in veganism - as well in creative/productive employment availability, public-supported-funded quality health care, public-funded education at all levels - public-supported-funded quality housing. "We believe we as a country can be a trailblazer for a new age of renewable energy sources," - German Chancellor Angela Merkel (on phase-out of nuclear energy). "Several states have used civilian nuclear reactors as a cover to make nuclear weapons. The "spent fuel" waste produced by a civilian reactor contains plutonium that, if separated out, can be used to make a bomb." Graham Allison, Nuclear Terrorism, USA. "Despite the end of the Cold War over two decades ago, humanity still has over 15,000 nuclear weapons. Some of these are hundreds of times more powerful than those that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki . . . " - Future of Life Institute. Challenges ahead for the forelaws party and TDP (in addition to those cited above, and led in many areas by global sisterhood activism) include plentiful global fresh water and food - fossil fuels elimination - closure of international trade wars coincident with ending divisive capitalism - energy conservation with renewable energy available on a global grid - natural (unmodified) organic foods such as stevia, a plant replacing refined sugars - digital direct democracy - accelerated desalination (freshwater from seawater) - increasing industrial hemp production globalwide - total recycling and landfill disappearance (Zero Waste). "SIMPLY PUT, the common good is the well-being of a community considered as a whole. Pursuing the common good involves thinking about how the various parts and their interrelationships can be maintained, developed, and corrected so that the whole community flourishes in a way that enhances the well-being of its various parts." - from Defining "Common Good" in the Digital World, by Deanna B. Marcum, ITHAKA, USA. Perilous yet an emergent turning point for humankind, the years 2018-2021 (launching the forelaws party, albedo management, and Webb - and dramatic increase of desalination and industrial hemp production globalwide) become the all-important first step toward a compassionate/cooperative global society on Earth. "Webb (James Webb Space Telescope) will be the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It will study every phase in the history of our Universe . . . " - NASA - to be launched Spring 2019. "We cannot compromise with the earth; we cannot compromise with the catastrophe of unchecked climate change, so we must compromise with one another." - Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister, UK. Part and parcel of naturalist Nature (everything is connected to everything else), empathy and compassion for the common good represents a cause, norm and way forward on all planets with intelligent life. On Earth, ending 194 nation-state divisiveness not limited to nationalism, militarism, war (military, cyber and trade), capitalism, environment/climate degradation, nuclear weapons/energy, carnism, and racism . . . in favor of benign and relative stability in weather and climate (albedoism) - and a compassionate/cooperative global society . . . begins with the forelaws party and science and moral commitment to empathy and compassion for the common good - imperative today in relations between United States and North Korea, and in those between Middle East nation-states. "Beyond Carnism seeks to empower concerned citizens and vegan advocates through education and activism, to help create a more compassionate and just world for all beings, human and nonhuman alike." - Melanie Joy, director, Beyond Carnism, author of Beyond Beliefs (2017). "You sat high atop your mom’s shoulder and held a sign that read BUILD A WALL AND MY GENERATION WILL TEAR IT DOWN". - Representative Joe Kennedy, III, US Congressman and former Peace Corps member. Existence of the cosmic community of intelligent life - which includes humankind and its revolutionary new science discipline astrobiology (and complementary Cosmic Ancestry) - eternalizes empathy and compassion for the common good (Universe forelaws, meaning and purpose) . . . settling the question of why the Universe, intelligent life - and existence itself - exist. Highlighting procreation fundamentally and existentially, and motherhood specifically, intelligent life remains a gift with indefinable promise and potential for empathy and compassion for the common good - in the cosmic community of intelligent life. Forelaws on Board forelaws_on_board@forelawsonboard.net www.forelawsonboard.net/ The Democrathon Process (DEMOCRATHONS) Government for the Common Good “These scientific studies countervail the influential claims of the Kants, Nietzsches, and Rands about the nature of human goodness." - Dacher Keltner, author of "Born to be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life" and co-founder of Greater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley, CA, USA. The democrathon process (DEMOCRATHONS) - cornerstone of the forelaws party and forerunner of digital direct democracy - functions in unison with the Initiative and Referendum currently available in some form in 24 States in the USA and continuing to grow globally - with prospects and efficacy significantly more practicable and widespread since the advent of computer and information technology. A political-educational-fundraising tool, DEMOCRATHONS maximize citizen participation within and beyond the political jurisdiction of subject Initiative or Referendum. The democrathon process is the leading edge of political science and government. DEMOCRATHONS on albedoism and united albedo regions, on common good legislation, on ending carnism and racism, on dispatching nuclear weapons/energy - timely and urgent - catalyze a new vision and way forward beyond 194 nation-state divisiveness (distinctly beyond the 2nd amendment to the U.S. Constitution) to a compassionate/cooperative global society on Earth. DEMOCRATHON fundraising centers on the generation of pledges/contributions collected in excess of the number needed to place subject Initiative or Referendum on the ballot - i.e, for example, $.50, or $l.00, or $5.00, or $10.00 for each l,000 valid signatures collected additionally. Contributors include private citizens of all ages, public/private organizations, corporations, schools, churches, and others. Instrumental in the coming of age of computer, information and political science, the democrathon process helps worthy causes of contributors through funding derived from monies collected over and above DEMONCRATHON costs, which, initially, relies upon donations from concerned citizens both local and global. Note: The DEMOCRATHON suggested below demonstrates the educational significance of DEMOCRATHONS (key to issue education and voter approval), e.g. "It (darwinism) proclaimed that our true relation is that of competitors and combatants in a struggle for mere survival . . ." - George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Nobel Laureate, socialist, vegetarian, playwright, author of "The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism (1926). (______) DEMOCRATHON 2018/19 (Empathy and Compassion for the Common Good) The people of the State of _______ . . . desirous of creating a compassionate/cooperative global society (beyond 194 nation-states characterized by divisive geopolitics not limited to nationalism, militarism, war, environmental degradation, and capitalism) . . . call upon the _______ Legislative Assembly to incorporate in all enacted legislation the following: "This legislation reflects and furthers empathy and compassion for the common good (Universe forelaws, meaning and purpose), defining and advancing the Forelaws Party and the Forelaws University on Earth - and global sisterhood - central to a compassionate/cooperative global society". Desalination and Industrial Hemp Residents of Beijing, China's capital, could be drinking freshwater from desalinated seawater within five years. As part of China's eleventh five-year plan, this source could become a main supply in efforts to deal with the water shortage (National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) People's Republic of China.) The current growth rate of desalination at coastal locations bodes well for direct transport of freshwater (from seawater) to inland points such as Beijing. Mandated by empathy and compassion for the common good, dramatically accelerated and expanded seawater desalination - reflecting and driven by albedo management dedicated to optimal solar radiation - achieves (1) global freshwater availability and food surpluses, (2) relief for low-lying communities vulnerable to sea-level rise, (3) enlarged surface land mass on Earth (4) replenishment of aquifers - and below-ground storage of fresh water in areas including those where once resided coal and petroleum . . . effectively reversing desertification, reducing earthquake incidence and impact, and checking (by shrinking sea water surface) excessive cloud formation triggering ice ages. "A UK researcher (Philip Davies, Aston University) has proposed a new process to decompose waste desalination brine using solar energy that could allow desalination plants to act as a sink rather than a source of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and help to neutralise ocean acidity." - Chemistry World, 22 January 2015. Albedoism in desalination presupposes a transition era, entailing a network of overland pipelines (new &/or converted to freshwater use). Interport transportation of freshwater converted from seawater can be expected to take advantage of surplus marine tanker capacity resulting from ongoing trends to renewable energy sources. The same is true concerning existing overland pipelines currently used in moving petroleum and petroleum products. "CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A new approach to desalination being developed by researchers at MIT and in South Korea could lead to small, portable desalination units that could be powered by solar cells or batteries and could deliver enough fresh water to supply the needs of a family or small village. As an added bonus, the system would also remove many contaminants, viruses and bacteria at the same time." . . . . . Source: “Direct Seawater Desalination by Ion Concentration Polarization,” by Sung Jae Kim, Sung Hee Ko, Kwan Hyoung Kang, and Jongyoon Han. Nature Nanotechnology, March 21, 2010. - from MIT News 23 March 2010. ". . . we have found a way to make a membrane (for use in seawater desalination) that can produce higher amounts of water compared to the commercial membranes being used today, while using the same process." - Mohammed Rasool Qtaishat, Water for All. ------------------------------------------------- "Vote Hemp seeks the full normalization of and a free market for industrial hemp in America. Vote Hemp's mission is to educate consumers, business owners, farmers and legislators about the many benefits of industrial hemp and to mobilize voters to elect pro-hemp politicians. Hemp is one of the few issues on the national debate that enjoys tremendous bipartisan and cross-cultural support. Democrats, Libertarians, Progressives, Greens and Republicans, farmers and hippies, global corporations and small mom-and-pop businesses are all part of the broad coalition in favor of industrial hemp.Vote Hemp seeks the full normalization of and a free market for industrial hemp in America. Vote Hemp's mission is to educate consumers, business owners, farmers and legislators about the many benefits of industrial hemp and to mobilize voters to elect pro-hemp politicians. Hemp is one of the few issues on the national debate that enjoys tremendous bipartisan and cross-cultural support. Democrats, Libertarians, Progressives, Greens and Republicans, farmers and hippies, global corporations and small mom-and-pop businesses are all part of the broad coalition in favor of industrial hemp." Vote Hemp, Inc. P.O. Box 1571 Brattleboro, VT 05302 Email: hempinfo@votehemp.com. Any product made from petroleum can be made from industrial hemp. Industrial hemp seeds can produce food such as bread, hempburgers, milk and ice cream. Hemp fiberboard has been demonstrated to be twice the strength of wood fiberboard. "Hempcrete" blocks, "lighter, stronger and easier to work with than masonry concrete", have been manufactured at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota (start-up costs were under $10,000.00.) As humanity transitions to albedoism and united albedo regions products made from industrial hemp - and industrial hemp itself as a growing plant - will make a major contribution. A plant requiring no genetic modification, industrial hemp can be cultivated with and without irrigation in countries like Afghanistan, Columbia, Mexico, and the USA - and processed into upwards of 10,000 useful products which include paper, food and building materials. "Concerns about global warming, energy consumption and increased demand for potable water sources are causing a dramatic expansion of the desalination industry. These changes present an exciting opportunity for IDA to play a more centralized role in speaking for the industry to increase public awareness of the many benefits of desalination, including drought-proof reliability, expandability, availability and potentially unlimited production." Lisa Henthorne, International Desalination Association. Forelaws on Board forelaws_on_board@forelawsonboard.net www.forelawsonboard.net/ The Age of Empathy and Compassion for the Common Good A Compassionate/Cooperative Global Society "Whatever you can do . . . . . or believe you can . . . . . begin it Boldness has magic . . . . . power . . . . . and genius in it." Johnne Goethe ---------------------------------------------------- "When the bonds of sisterhood go global, we can enact greater change!" - Global Sisterhood. "I suspect that the cosmic quality of microbiology will seem as obvious to future generations as the Sun being the centre of the solar system seems obvious to the present generation" - Sir Fred Hoyle (1915-2001) - "The Relation of Biology to Astronomy". "But the climaxing observation appeared in year 2002. How exceedingly ironic that 30 years after Fred Hoyle pointed to NGC 7603 as a crucial system which must force out acceptance of the existence of discordant redshifts - after a generation has passed - the luminous link between this active Seyfert and its appendage is observed to have two high redshift, quasar-like objects in it." - Halton C. Arp, American astronomer, Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, and author of Seeing Red, Apeiron, 1998 (refuting "Big-Bang" theory). "Life comes from space because life comes from life." - Brig Klyce, Cosmic Ancestry. "We should phase out all (nuclear) plants beginning with those that are close to heavily populated areas." - Larry Bogart (1914-1991), Coordinator, Citizens Energy Council. "Other nations, such as Germany, are increasing renewable energy sources, while creating jobs, as they phase out nuclear energy and seek to reduce carbon emissions.” - Lloyd Marbet, anti-nuclear and peace activist. "The first law of ecology is that everything is related to everything else" - Barry Commoner (1917-2012), author of The Closing Circle. "This focus on altruism for message content has several advantages." - Douglas Vakoch, President, METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence) International. "A human being is part of the whole, called by us "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." - Albert Einstein. "We are a global network of artists, writers, musicians, designer, poets, philosophers, and punks trying to pull off a radical transformation of the current world order." - Adbusters, Vancouver, BC, Canada. “A man can do what he wants, but not want what he wants.” - Arthur Schopenhauer. "My veganism has been a reconciliation of existing ideologies and concepts I once could not adopt because they were so inconvenient and unfamiliar. Already a feminist, veganism was a step outside the path I was already comfortable taking." - Anna Varga, from Vegan Feminist Network. "We encourage critical feedback and are always searching for innovative initiatives to improve the quality of our work." - Women's Learning Partnership. "The Sisterhood Is Global Institute (SIGI), an international nonprofit NGO with consultative status to the United Nations, has for more than three decades functioned as the world’s first feminist think-tank." "A new approach to activism and a new kind of protest are desperately needed." ¯ Micah White, The End of Protest: A New Playbook for Revolution "You would then want to draw on research findings from a wide range of disciplines to try to determine the kinds of interventions with the greatest likelihood of success in pushing the system in this direction." - from Compassionate System Design, by author Jonathan Leighton. "To realize we are all in the same boat and need to walk in each other's shoes." - Edwin Rutsch, founder and director of Center for Building a Culture of Empathy, USA. “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.” – His Holiness the Dalai Lama. “…respect for oneself, understanding and compassion for others, and a sense of responsibility for the world, its citizens and its future.” - Mary Gordon, founder of Roots of Empathy and author of Roots of Empathy: Changing the World, Child by Child (2005.) "It would be good to prevent the vast suffering and countless violent deaths caused by predation." - Jeff McMahan, Department of Philosophy, University of Oxford, UK. "The initiative already has led to six completed science textbooks in Tibetan and English, with two more textbooks in various stages of completion." - from the Robert A. Paul Emory-Tibet Science Initiative, Emory University, USA. “From the right to know and the duty to inquire flows the obligation to act.” - Sandra Steingraber ("Rachel Carson of the 21st Century"), author of Living Downstream (1997, 2010.) "We are particularly interested in the science of prosocial emotions, including moral elevation, compassion, empathy, and altruism." - The Saturn Lab, Sarina Saturn, Director, Oregon State University, USA. "We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race." - Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary-General. ". . . Which then means that everyone has their own perception or version of `reality'. That's because each of us `physically' perceives the external world slightly differently, and each of us carries a unique baggage of a life-time's concepts and assumptions which further influence those perceptions." - Ray Dickenson, Editor, Perceptions. "Toward that end (veganism) Gentle World has served as a clearing house of information for nearly 40 years, helping children, teens and adults embrace a lifestyle that incorporates their values." "There is no such thing as a B12 deficiency, even in 100% raw vegan food eaters. They do not have to eat dirt, animal products, or take pills to secure coenzymes of B12. Bacteria in the intestinal tract make it for us, and the metabolically usable and necessary forms of coenzyme B12 are contained in unprocessed, fresh natural plant foods, particularly in nuts and seeds. The real problem in so-called B12 deficiency is a failure of digestion and absorption of foods, rather than a deficiency of the vitamin itself . . ." - Virginia Vetrano, D.C., M.D., D.Sc. "A scientific and lay community that understands the neural basis for empathy and compassion and uses newly developed insights and tools to create methods to enhance the ability of humans to practice these mental states." - Center for Empathy and Compassion, University of California at San Diego, USA. ". . . to understand how our knowledge about the brain maps onto the world we live in, and how we can structure things at a government level . . . to make a better place, given the knowledge we have." - David Eagleman, Baylor College of Medicine, USA. "Even though we can't conceive of the number of stars in the Milky Way or the number of neurons in the human brain, equating the two gives people a sense of enormity. And as conscious beings we like to find patterns, and we find equivalencies interesting, especially when the things being equated are "important" or "epic" (like neurons and stars)." - Scitable by Nature Education. "That leads me to my next point, which is how we can more broadly engage each of you – students, educators, researchers, engineers, and the larger academic community – in our nation's cybersecurity efforts. To meet the challenges I've discussed, DHS needs a world-class cybersecurity team – a strong, dependable pipeline for the future." - Janet Napolitano, former Secretary, Department of Homeland Security, at San Jose State University, April 16, 2012. "This is one of the defining battles of our age, one that takes place for the most part out of the public eye." - Mark Bowden, author of Worm: The First Digital World War (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2011.) "We have discussed five modes of using mathematics as a tool which partly overlap and are partly heterogeneous in kind. The instrumental use of mathematics is not governed by a single scheme. Rather, the heterogeneity of tools and of tool usages teaches a lesson about the limits of mathematization." - from Mathematics as a Tool, by Johannes Lenhard and Martin Carrier, Philosophy Department, Bielefeld University, 2/2015. ". . . . . I believe a non-Platonist position gives us greater freedom of thought. If we accept that mathematics is invented, rather than discovered, we can be more daring, ask deeper questions, and be motivated to create further change." - Derek Abbott, University of Adelaide, Australia, from "Is Mathematics Invented or Discovered?" (Huffpost Science, 9/13/2013). "Win-win sees life as a cooperative arena, not a competitive one. Win-win is a frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks mutual benefit in all human interactions." - Author Steven R. Covey (1932-2012.) "Selecting and implementing a common language will be a major development not only for the nearly 500 million people of the EU, but also for the more than 6 billion people who populate the rest of the world." - Author Philip Yaffe. "The globalization process has brought great opportunities as well as new challenges, especially within communication:" - The Future Global Language. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "The technological challenges of solar geoengineering look simple in comparison to the challenge of building legitimate governance mechanisms for a high-leverage technology with global reach. I have been an early leader in organizing meetings on public policy and governance of geoengineering including meetings at Harvard in 2007, in Lisbon in 2009, and helped launch the Solar Radiation Management Governance Initiative (SRMGI)." - David Keith (The Keith Group), author of A Case for Climate Engineering (2013). "The solar energy reflected from Earth is a fundamental component of the Earth’s energy balance, and processes that define the albedo of Earth are of elementary relevance to the Earth’s climate . . . Joint analyses of surface solar flux data that are a complicated mix of measurements and model calculations with top-of-atmosphere (TOA) flux measurements from current orbiting satellites yield a number of surprising results . . . " - The Albedo of Earth, from Reviews of Geophysics, March 2015. "Location, topography, and the exchange of radiant energy between the sun and Earth ultimately determine weather" (from Retrieval of Surface Albedo from Space, December, 2002.) - John Maurer, University of Hawaii at Manoa. “After I had given just a few talks about the climate, I realized that the actions I was suggesting to my listeners to take, while essential, were not a match for the problem." - Marshall Saunders, Founder and President, Citizens' Climate Lobby. "Global warming is no longer a philosophical threat, no longer a future threat, no longer a threat at all. It's our reality." - Bill McKibben, Co-Founder, 350.org "a globally-recognized expert on helping disparate interests find common ground on energy, public policy, and the environment" - recounts the work of Mark Reynolds, Executive Director, Citizens' Climate Lobby. "Among U.S. states, Maryland, Virginia, and DC are exceptionally vulnerable to climate change. The states have more than 5,000 miles of Chesapeake and Atlantic shoreline, almost every inch of which would be degraded or inundated completely by the projected sea-level rise of up to three feet." - Chesapeake Climate Action Network. "As a joint initiative between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA . . . . . Landsat represents the world's longest continuously acquired collection of space-based moderate-resolution land remote sensing data. Four decades of imagery provides a unique resource for those who work in agriculture, geology, forestry, regional planning, education, mapping, and global change research. Landsat images are also invaluable for emergency response and disaster relief." - NASA Landsat Science. "USGS LCI (Land Cover Institute) is a focal point for advancing the science, knowledge, and applications of land use and land cover information." - USGS LCI, USA. "The dialogue is now shifting gears from climate science to climate action. There's still a lot we need to learn about the science, but the events of the past year have ended much of the lingering debate and controversy." - Jane Lubchenco, former administrator of The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2009 to 2013; currently a distinguished professor in the department of integrative biology at Oregon State University, while serving as adviser to the university on marine studies issues. "I look forward to working with the Steering Committee, Second Nature, and our growing network of universities and colleges to tackle society's most difficult climate challenges." - President Wim Wiewel, Portland State University, USA (Chair, Steering Committee, American College and University President's Climate Commitment.) "D. But greatest of all would be the effect upon our ethical and aesthetic culture if we made ourselves consistent with that primate nature which was built over long ages into our very genes. We have tried to operate a church and a schoolhouse at one end of the street and a slaughterhouse at the other, to fill our minds with kindness and our stomachs with tortured flesh; to teach peace and eat like beasts of prey. But we have overlooked the moral in the story of Diomedes. Each generation has run amok and torn us to pieces in turn for the ugly lies which it has been taught - viz. that animals must be killed for food and people for military objectives." - from The Recovery of Culture (Diet and War) by Henry Bailey Stevens, 1949. Forelaws on Board forelaws_on_board@forelawsonboard.net www.forelawsonboard.net/ |