Wednesday, November 28, 2012

An in Depth View of Earth's Climate Creation & Maintenance Mechanisms and the Synthetic Biology Science is Pushing as a Replacement Solution

Special Note: For some time now I've observed that in our world's rushed modern era of super-fast paced lifestyles and all manner social networking choices which tends to dumb people down (No offense, I'm often there too), it tends to cause short attention spans. Warning !!! This post will be lengthy, but filled with enough important info that will attempt to enlighten, refresh or even attempt to recall back to many people's minds many things they also have observed in nature as I have, but never gave it another thought. And they should have. I won't be touching much on the bad science of cloud seeding. That irresponsible technology speaks volumes about the oft ignorance of Science & Scientists wedded to corporate masters and the subject also fuels the conspiracy sites which focus much more attention on this with a flood of their own propaganda anyway. I'm more focused on our natural world's climate/weather creation and maintenance mechanisms and how a healing of these complex components are the real solution to the problem. Sadly today, many in the Scientific community champion innovative shortcut  solutions, which for the most part fall far short of the desired goal of a healthy planet and are mainly motivated by Legacy building along with providing eye-candy to the public that they are actually doing something important, The reality is patent pursuit and a plethora of profit angles. 
Clouds: Why Does This Little Cloud Exist?

You don't need a degree in physics, chemistry or biology to be able to be a good gardener, landscaper or outdoor enthusiast. Do any of the above endeavors require the understanding of countless biology or physics theorems to achieve successful outcomes ? Hardly! However, many a beginning novice gardener, landscaper or folks who pursue a love of the outdoors often discover something we call "Heuristics" or more commonly known as "Rule of Thumb" (the TRUE - 'Green Thumb') which is acquired through trail and error. Now the real funny thing here is this, many modern Academics will come along and formalize these into theorems, teach them through textbooks and long boring lectures to a new generation researchers, who then become slaves to the theory, taught to ignore their own common sense and end up participating in the destruction of the natural world they're supposedly trying to save. Clearly there are many successful researchers involved in any of these pursuits are motivated by a love of their work and have learned through hands on experience and observation from which the creation of true innovations are discovered by the use of common sense. We actually have a term for this now, Biomemetics. Most gardeners,  landscapers and outdoor enthusiasts don't put theories into practice. If anything, they create theories out of practice. 
Now if you aren't bored yet and are still interested in reading of some common sense strategies which can be acquired through simple observation and comparing these to some truly amazing real world scientific studies & discoveries, then continue reading!
Animation Credit: Daily Mail

Meteo-Systems Weather Modification 
There is no end to the arrogance and excuse making by those fully immersed behind this world's Bad Science. I'm talking mainly about those corporations who employ the best Scientists money can buy. Certainly there are good well meaning and conscientious Scientists and other honest researchers who draw our attention to the dangers of continuing down this wrong way road to understanding , but they do NOT have the same funding and resources as those Researchers employed by this world's giant business corporation monopolies. The Earth's natural climate system drivers and moderators have for the most part been damaged, perhaps in some areas beyond repair. This world's Scientists (the good as well as bad) actually know the mechanisms by which our planet's water cycling system moves and exists. Countless research papers have been published on the complexity of Earth's vegetative systems and some of the incredible natural phenomena associated with them by which climate and weather are created and maintain with perfect precision when left alone. We were all treated to the above illustration at the end of 2011 by The Daily Mail and other online publications reporting on the weather modification and creation claims of a Swiss Corporation called  Meteo-Systems International AG ("Meteo")  who said they had the secret weapon against global warming or climate change and the acquisition of water resources. Some of the popular Weather Modification Watchdog Groups out there on the Internet claim that such technology could even be a cause for these later day Frankenstorm events. While some information these groups reveal is intriguing and perhaps factual, it becomes muddled in imaginative fiction where cloak and dagger government conspiracies seem to abound everywhere. Personally I could care less about some of the imaginative sensationalism of an X-Files conspiracy love affair stories between suspected characters who could only be described as Agent Mulder in bed with the Smoking Man - Mr Spender. The real science (the important science) is never addressed or focused on and that's the real shame. So much could be learned otherwise.

The first real rain experiment by Meteo-Systems that the sensational headlines was conducted with the help of $13+ million dollars from the country of Dubai where it was claimed that Meteo-Systems created over 52 Thunderstorms from that country's weather anomaly called the Indian Monsoon Current which is facilitated by the Somali Jet Stream which normally makes things humid in Arabia, but dumps most of the rain further north in Afghanistan Pakistan and parts of India. So the question begs: Did this Swiss Corporation Meteo-Systems AG actually tap into this wet monsoonal current and make it rain in Arabia as they claimed ? Also, did their modification system have anything to do with the 2010 catastrophic flooding of Pakistan and India that same time period of the summer of 2010 ? To their credit Meteo-Systems is not like the normal conventional weather modification or Geoengineering companies. At least that is the impression I get from the information presented on their newer website. I'll get to that further on down. First take a look at this illustration below.

This explanation from Live Science was given showing traditional well known weather modification systems at the top of the picture who irresponsibly employ the use of chemicals for cloud seeding and the supposedly new system invented by Meteo-Systems AG which attempts to electrically charge the air to encourage already existing aerosols into water droplet formation. Actually they didn't really invent anything. What they did was utilize another kind of science which are  called Biomimetics which for the most part is nothing more than copyright violation & infringement of things already existing out in Nature (*grinning*), but claiming them as their own without revealing much of the specifics or giving credit to Earth's natural mechanisms. This cloud formation and rainfall mechanism is already in existence out in Nature as other parts of Science and their Researchers have previously revealed to us over the past couple of decades. So it's really nothing new. It's just simply something new to the average person reading the findings on online journals.

Photo Credit: Meteo-Systems AG

Of course when the News of the 52 synthetic Thunderstorms created in the hot dry Arabian Peninsula was reported on, it was only natural that folks everywhere would ask the "How Questions". Looking for information back then was difficult and cloaked in a mystery of generalized terms and explanations. The only link to info back then was of a very generic website cited here below which still exists. Mostly it was disappointing for anyone researching for pertinent facts and viable knowledge, but fortunately, they have really upgraded the informational content of their website which still exists.

Back in the January 2011 revelations on this subject, the only real  info on the technology created and owned by Meteo-Systems International AG could be found online through the Weather Modification Patents recording site called Patent Docs and other sites recording Patent information. In this link below are recorded the methods of aerosol usage in conjunction with grounded based towers transmitting electrical negative ions released into the upper atmosphere. Note: This is identical to what all vegetative systems accomplish on Earth when left alone in a healthy state. At the bottom of this post I'll list the articles or posts I've written on this subject. Much of these Natural systems have been badly disrupted leading to our present crisis of climate change and erratic weather pattern anomalies. So for your own personal information, here are a number of Patent Descriptions on some official sites:
Patent application title: APPARATUS AND RELATED METHODS FOR WEATHER MODIFICATION BY ELECTRICAL PROCESSES IN THE ATMOSPHERE Read more: http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20110174892#ixzz2DKcnVBDn
Apparatus and related methods for weather modification by electrical processes in the atmosphere - United States Patent Application 20110174892
CLAIMS MADE: US Patent Application 20110174892 - APPARATUS AND RELATED METHODS FOR WEATHER MODIFICATION BY ELECTRICAL PROCESSES IN THE ATMOSPHERE
Recently however Meteo-Systems has come out with a newer site which appears to have been created in 2005 , but last modified in July 2012. Along with all manner of deeper informative explanations of the technology, there are also numerous photos of the actual tower apparatuses used, which for the most part were shrouded in mystery hidden behind some creative artwork used by the media. Below is the new website link where they appear to be fully open about who they are and what they do.

Photo Credit:  Meteo-Systems AG
Fascinating photo of the antenna array high on a hill above Dubai. Though the animation was more colourful in it's description, this never the less reveals what the true system looks like.
Photo Credit: Meteo-Systems AG
Here's a further photo gallery below of various tower designs from Meteo-System AG's own website.
Credit: Meteo Systems
Selecting the appropriate sites is important for increasing rain in a target area At this point, I'd like to take you to an illustration on their site which is intriguing and actually enlightening as to their true attempt at replicating nature. This animation from their website illustrates why a high geological location is necessary and imperative to the success of their program and devices. Take a look below.
© Copyright 2008 METEO SYSTEMS. All rights reserved.
This is truly a kool illustration on the left  here and something similar to what I wanted a friend of mine to create for me this coming summer 2013 to illustrate some natural phenomena I have personally observed countless times over and over again up in the San Jacinto Mountains in Southern California during the monsoon season which moves up from Mexico every summer. In the above illustration, Meteo-System's WeatherTec tower devices need an exacting appropriate location in order to be the most effective. I can tell you it works the same way in nature with regards vegetation, though Meteo is not in the business of revealing this. It must also be mentioned that these systems do not create clouds and rain out of dry thin air. That's impossible and to their credit they admit this. They have to wait for a specific time of year for their own monsoonal moisture event to take place and move over the landscape. This is identical to the way the monsoons work in Nature as well.  As I referenced at the beginning of this post, this mechanism which they (Meteo-System's Technology) tap into is called Indian Monsoon Current and it is facilitated in it's northward movement by what is called the Somali Jet Stream which pushes northward from east Africa through Oman on it's way into Afghanistan and Pakistan. It was this heavy moisture flow stream from which they tapped into and the same flow which caused the flooding in Pakistan that same year.

So according to the illustration and explanation above, these towers need to be positioned on a high geographical point of location in order to properly feed the negative electrical ions into the atmosphere to interact with the already existing aerosols for water droplet formation and growth. This actually is what takes place in nature on a natural normal level, but with mostly healthy old growth vegetation with a deep healthy rooting structural network tapped into and grounded deep into the Earth's electrical conductivity and underground water table. This same vegetation when exposed to the correct  physical anomalies on the surface and in the atmosphere will also release tons of aerosols upwards into the high atmosphere along with the release of electrically charge negative ions. In previous posts I have written about the scientific findings of vegetation's effect on climate building and maintenance  HERE , HERE , HERE , HERE , and also some of the grounded networked mechanisms which facilitate this HERE , HERE , and recent published reports of this same networks of electrical charge deep down within ocean floors HERE which may also influence the reactions and interactions of trillions upon trillions of microscopic organisms like Plankton and other bacteria which release aerosols to facilitate cloud formation over the Earth's vast oceans. So with all this in mind now, let's revisit that illustrative artwork and allow Meteo-System's own comments to explain exactly what is going on below.

Credit: © Copyright 2008 METEO SYSTEMS. All rights reserved.
WeatherTec™ uses entirely natural processes and combines scientific theory and practice to mimic the manner in which the sun’s cosmic rays ionize the atmosphere and so impact on the earth’s Global Electric Circuit to affect cloud microphysics. The technology utilizes the “pipeline in the sky” where atmospheric humidity from the oceans can be transported many hundreds of kilometers inland to bring water down to ground in the form of rainfall or snow. So there it is once again, the artwork illustration just above here along with the Meteo-System Company's explanation which actually makes very good sense and here's why. I have actually observed this monsoonal weather phenomena they are describing here and I understand fully the reasons why they are patterning their tower array setup to replicate what actually already takes place everywhere out in nature. When I view this above illustration, I can picture in my mind a geographical location up in Anza California called Cahuilla Mountain. From the first time I moved up there in Anza and noticed summer monsoonal cloud formation up in the San Jacinto Mountains, I always wondered why specific geographic locations had the same phenomena of cloud building and influence time after time during the season AND year after year in those same locations for well over a decade. Incredibly it often looked so mechanical and organized almost as if being run behind the scenes somewhere through a computer simulation. On the point of wondering and thought reflection with regards cloud formation, if I could put my thoughts into words, they would be almost identical to those of Howard Perlman from the USGS Water Science School pages on their site. Take a look at that photo I posted at the top of the page in my intro. Remember the question: "Why Does This Little Cloud Exist?"
Credit: USGS - Howard Perlman

"For this little cloud to form, certain meteorlogical conditions must be present, but what was so unique about that area of maybe a few hundred square meters that would allow this lonely cloud to form? What puzzled me so much was trying to figure out how the weather conditions would be right for cloud formation in the one very tiny section of the sky, but not a few hundreds yards above, below or next to it? Out of the whole expanse of many square miles of the sky, what was happening in this tiny dot of the sky that would allow a cloud do form, and form just right there?" (Source)
Seriously, have YOU ever had those same thoughts and wonderment when viewing a little singular cloud up in a sky of clear blue all around and pondered why the phenomena of cloud appearance is happening specifically there and nowhere else ? Cahuilla Mountain, Beauty Peak, BuckSnort Mountains and Lookout Mountain which are all around the perimeter of Anza Valley all have similar cloud creation characteristics. Here was Howard Perlman's response to his own question:
"The answer is—I don't know! Likely a difference in humidity or the concentration of vapor or maybe a spot of warmer or colder air? So, I can't provide an answer, but if any of you are weather experts have the knowledge, please email me with a scientific answer and I will post it here."
The interesting thing about the orographic and convective cloud formation being facilitated on top of a mountain like Cahuilla, is that the geography is only part of the answer. If it were mere geographic formations like mountains (and I have thought on this in the past) then there would be no deserts like the Sahara. In the case of Dubai, where for the most part it is devoid of any or very little vegetation for the transmittal of negative ions, Meteo-Systems applied their own Antenna array on the mountain top to transmit electrical negative ions into the atmosphere. So what component in Nature allows for this ?

Image: National Weather Service

Take as an animated example here of a Thunderhead formation which often will be seen as having those flanking tails which taper down to a specific starting point. I know most all of you have seen these before, but have never given it a second thought. It is this lowest starting point at which much of the charging takes place where the smallest cloud forms at the beginning, then proceeds to move towards the largest cloud making up the great thunderhead. This is EXACTLY what I would witness first hand while watching cloud formations over Cahuilla Mtn from my location at a friends house (Kenneth Balliger Sr & Jr) off south Howard Road & Hwy 371 in Anza. In fact my friends were there with me back in 1984 as we first saw it for the first time and discussed what was going on. This phenomena would start with a tiny wisp of cloud over the middle of Cahuilla Peak, then from that point proceeded to move eastward towards the town of Anza itself where the massive Thunderhead itself was forming. Between the Thunderhead and the newborn tiny infant cloud above the Peak, there were maybe 8 to 10 evenly spaced cloud anomalies all the while growing in size as they finally met with the largest Thunderhead cloud at the end, only to be sucked up into it. The timing and precision between the separate cloud formations was exact, hence the reason I mentioned comparison to a conveyor belt mechanism run by computer simulation. It was just that organized. 

One more note that I think is important mentioning here. In this Meteo-System's illustration, in Anza, this more accurately describes a winter time scenario. However, if you could imagine for a moment in that illustration, a different wind direction coming from right to left. If the hill in the animation were to represent Cahuilla Mountain as it would be viewed from the south, the then right to left wind direction in the same picture represents the easterly flow of monsoonal moisture coming from the east out of Arizona towards the Pacific Ocean coast. However, the cloud formation direction, movement and development of the actual Thunderstorm would always remain the same in that illustration. As we stood there observing this incredible phenomena, we commented on the ability of the clouds to move directly eastward against the blustery east to west movement of the monsoonal flow. How could this be possible ?  It seems to defy physics as we know them. Clearly this is similar to natural phenomena described by Viktor Schauberger who also witnessed many mysterious natural phenomena or anomalies which seemed to defy the conventional then known Laws of Physics. He was accused of all manner of pseudo-scientific practice and was demonized as a heretical rabble rouser. Yet he lived at a time (1885 - 1958) where such natural phenomena still existed and could still be easily observed, though not necessarily and accurately explained with the limited knowledge of the time. Still, given the degradation of our present environment on Earth, he obviously was on to something important. This is why I don't discount what the present modern day arrogance discounts as legends myths and fables for no other reason that they can't explain them. Given the disastrous consequences of this present climate change or shifting, I am wondering who really has the correct understanding on how the Earth and it's incredible mechanisms. Being shackled to making a Buck is a hindrance to true understanding. Hence, we are prisoner to Industrial Science and it's power and wealth grab motivations.

Below is a quick video of cloud formation by means of orographic & convection forces on the top of a mountain. Take special note in the rapid time lapse of the newer cloud always forming over the same exact spot on the right hand side of this video. Notice also this area of formation appears to be directly above the more heavily vegetated area of trees in a forest, while the surrounding area appears to be granite rock.


On July 3, 1996 there was an arson fire that was set a blaze by some degenerate wack-job around the Juan Diego Flats parking area on the north side of Cahuilla Mountain. I believe this fire was named back then the "1996 Diego Fire". It was aggressively pushed up hill and easily along by strong afternoon westerly winds from Temecula and the Pacific coast. This fire ate up almost all old growth Pine/Oak woodland Forest and Chaparral plant community vegetation. From that point forwards, at least while I still lived up there until leaving in 2002, I never ever again saw that cloud formation phenomena happen in the same precise patterns like some well oiled machine as before. I have no idea if the natural system has healed yet, but hopefully I'll be able to document something next year while visiting. Way back in the 1980s, I or we didn't have the camera equipment or even forethought to document those experiences which is truly a shame. I certainly had no interest in writing things down as in these blogs. Even now I only do so because of the climatic circumstance of living in Sweden which shackles me to a life of indoor living. Hopefully my written experiences here triggers the memory of others who have had similar observations to document. As time pants on to the end, such experiences of these amazing phenomena will be harder to come by, but let's hope not. All I can say is that someone else out there has seen this or will now be more observant in view of our understanding on how these climate mechanisms actually work.

As a side point here of note. To properly view this phenomena, you need a monsoonal situation where the clouds are not a frontal squall coming in from the east. The day needs to have moist humid conditions coming in from the east southeast with the day starting out with crystal blue skies and gradually developing clouds. At the point of first cloud formation anomalies, look at that specific location below for the characteristics described. On another important note, you may not see this summertime phenomena very clearly if the winter season has been an extremely heavily wet El Nino year or years. This is because if there was record rainfall the previous winter, the ground will still be saturated over the entire area. If that is the case, then the conductivity of the entire area will allow for easier cloud formation which will cover the entire region.  So specific location cloud formation will be more difficult to detect. Yes, this was also my observation during El Nino summers. Rainfall in El Nino summers in Anza having 8 or more inches were not uncommon as cloud cover was complete from horizon to horizon. Isolated storm formation due to areas of old growth vegetation drawing up conductivity through enhanced Hydraulic Lift and Redistribution were harder to observe. Just an interesting side point. Here is a further link to my post on Timeless Environments which allows for easier and simpler views of this amazing Cahuilla Mountain.
LINK: Cahuilla Mountain, Anza, California

Animation Credit: Australian Rain Technologies
This animation is from the Australian Rain Technologies group and their ATLANT Technology. Notice the similarity by way of comparison to the Meteo-System which describes the same exact location properties for the strategic placement of towers for this  cloud formation and rainmaking utilizing orographic and convective anomaliesOnce again, see the similarity in designing concepts and technology as the Meteo-Systems ?

Photo Credit: Australian Rain Technologies
View this Video: "New Ways to Rain - Australian Rain Technologies"


I suppose summing up here, I do have a measure of admiration for the company Meteo-Systems and a couple other companies whose main concept is the electrically charged ions release into the atmosphere and their illustrative graphics if for no other reason than they justify and illustrate what I have been telling many for years about weather phenomena and it's necessary association with healthy vegetated ecosystems. Though I think such weather improvement programs should be including some type of a revegetation program. Even in Dubai and the Saudi Arabian Peninsula itself, there is evidence of the area being at one time fully vegetated. For example, after the infamous Desert Storm 1990 war with Iraq, I remember reading an article in the San Diego Union Tribune of  researchers who viewed the satellite photos which were found to contain an indentation anomaly on the ground from Yemen to the country of Kuwait. Ground studies were conducted and an ancient river was discovered which once flowed the entire Arabian Peninsula with it's ancient delta in the country of Kuwait.  Incredibly the ground studies revealed this same ancient river had recently flowed only a little over 4000 years ago. Hmmmmmm ???
There are also other companies doing much of the same thing, but I'll post on them later either in another post or a side page at the top right of this blog. At the very least I'll link to their own websites below under the references.
 The world's Global Economies are based on this obsession with wealth creation which demands that for a country to be considered as having a so-called healthy economy, they must be more of an exporter of more than the goods they import and they also need to encourage their citizens towards an unlimited consumption lifestyle, even on credit if necessary. Such economies require tons of raw materials. Raw materials are hard to come by very easily now in our modern times. Often times wholesale destruction of pristine forested ecosystems must be removed to actually get at them. Take the Canadian Tar Sands oil-shale projects in Alberta Province as an example. Now let's factor in all the other Earth damaging component realities like these common modern day occurrences of freakish weather storms which also bring wholesale destruction. Rebuilding all these urban infrastructures requires even more and more raw materials and they have to come from somewhere. The industrial world's quest for these raw materials mandates an Industrial Forestry policy to replace what has been obliterated. There is no time nor patience for allowing nature to heal on it's own, hence artificial synthetic biology appears to be the best they can conceive. Factor in also this world's ongoing civil upheavals and outright War which also destroys infrastructure and these too need replacing & rebuilding which also requires more and more raw materials. Again the natural world is the one that takes the huge hit, but in so doing, so do all the physical weather mechanisms which were put in place eons ago that allow life to continue on this planet. These cannot be replaced overnight and no amount of unnatural irresponsible genetic modification of plant species is going to speed things up either.

Photo Credit: National Wildlife Federation
Now that you have a deeper understanding of how the natural world's climate and weather creation mechanisms work and operate, how much of a weather component mechanism would you now say has been lost here in the photo above, now that you understand some of the water cycling principals better ? What effect or impact of these Alberta Tar Sands Projects do you think such action has had or will have on the surrounding provinces of Canada or perhaps North America in general ? Could this irresponsible action and technology have played a role or even an ongoing role in the present North American Drought ? I hope everyone understands that this photograph above is just a fraction of how bad it really is up in this region ?

  Photo Credit: habeeb.com 
This is one of the oldest Cedar of Lebanon Grove (or what is left of  those once vast forested mountains) in Becharri Lebanon. Notice the high stone wall that surrounds what is left of the forest ? Most of these mountains in LebanonSyria and Israel were covered with huge dense vast spreading forests of this tree along with other important vegetation like OaksAleppo and Stone Pine. If you Google the history of this area and it's iconic tree, you'll find that the destruction of these forests really took off around the Industrial Revolution era with the then existing Ottoman Empire which needed wood to run it's steam trains throughout the Empire which extended from Turkey, to Bagdad to Egypt and Arabia along the Red Sea. Further information on this relates how even your average Lebanese citizen has ventured up into those mountains in search of valuable raw materials for whatever purpose they had in mind. This site above is well guarded now and you can still see the chainsaw scars of recent poaching of wood. So here are some more questions. What effect do you believe, after now having a greater understanding of the natural world's complex weather modification and creation systems ? What are the bad consequences on climate to this part of the world due to the wholesale removal and destruction of these once vast historical ancient forests by humans ?  Do you believe there has been any effect at all ? Do you believe that the present list of Scientific innovations such as replacing biological components with Synthetic ones are the real answers we need as far as solutions for this planet Earth's survival ?
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Further Reading References:
http://www.australianrain.com.au/
Habeeb.con - Cedars of Lebanon
http://www.aquiess.com/
http://www.meteo-systems.com/
Looks like rain: what makes some clouds rain while others merely drift serenely overhead? Mark Anderson sticks his head in a cloud.
The Boston Globe: DROUGHT BUSTERS IONOGENICS FASHIONS ITSELF A LATTER-DAY RAINMAKER - BUT SKEPTICS QUESTION ITS PROCESS OF RADIATING ELECTRICITY INTO THE AIR.
USGS: The Water Cycle: Water Storage in the Atmosphere
Envirotech: Looking for a change in the weather
http://www.aquiess.com/WMO-Statement-Weather-Modification.pdf

Friday, November 16, 2012

Agro-Forestry: Connecting to the Nature of Things Around You


Courtesy of University of Missouri Extension Service
Example of Forest Farming practice shown in this illustrative animation where Shiitake Mushrooms are grown on logs. There are also additional forest farming crops like Ginseng and Ferns being grown under the tree canopy.
I have previously written on some topics of forest interconnections with regards the Mycorrhizal Grid and connections of different plants to this network for mutual survival. I presently have a draft on my other site dealing with woodland gardening in the urban landscape setting. Agroforestry is not exactly an ideal option for this planet's Industrial Agriculture whose sole purpose is the pursuit obscene profits at an industrial level which requires massive mechanization at the least amount of cost and time over the widest areas possible. But really at what cost ? It's not necessarily in dollar terms now but will be at a future date when the Earth's natural systems totally breakdown. Nature is incredible with it's long history of tolerating human stupidity. But we live at a time now where we are able to observe nature not responding quickly enough to repair damage. For me personally I saw a turning point around the time of the Communist fall around the year 1990 where a more focused interest on consumerism was viewed by many of these former communistic regimes as saving their system of governing with slight modifications to ideologies. I remember the former Soviet Union opening up massive tracts of land in Siberia to logging interests for sale to countries like Japan which has no such resources. It was a time of increased logging in South America and other lands who were desperate for that quick cash fix infusion into their national coffers. I can't explain everything from A-Z on this, but gradually it'll come out. 

Okay Okay I know - Agroforestry ?!?!?!

I know, how can you possibly get a tractor in and out of that ?  Maybe the tractor and the modern industrial science based agriculture doesn't necessarily belong there in the first place. Clearly not all methods developed by folks of European descent in richer industrial countries work in other parts of the Earth. However, perhaps it's more important that these folks can be taught to develop a system where they will be able to sustain themselves without outside interference or intrusion from the Industrial Science Grain Salesman, then maybe that's the answer. Of course for subsidized Industrial Farmers and Commodity Brokering Middle men/women, that may be a real problem. And maybe that in itself is the problem.

There is clearly a lot of good information out there now about more holistic concepts like permaculture, Terra Preta, Biochar, and countless others which make more sense then the present life destroying Industrial schemes practiced today. You can actually GOOGLE the word/term "Agroforestry" and find an incredible amount of info out there. However lately something new has appeared from the Technische Universität Müchen in an article 
"Intensive Farming with a Climate-Friendly Touch: Farming/Woodland Mix Increases Yields"
Here's the link:
http://www.tum.de/en/about-tum/news/press-releases/long/article/30191/
Here is the Press Release: November 11, 2012
In the world of agriculture, climate protection and intensive farming are generally assumed to be a contradiction in terms. At Technische Universität München (TUM), however, scientists have come up with a new land development concept that could change this view. The new model is tailored to medium-sized farms in South America and sees farmers transitioning from large-scale monoculture to more diverse crop mixtures spread over smaller plots interspersed with wooded areas – a switch that can bring significant financial benefits.
Each year, huge carbon stores are lost as a result of deforestation. In South America, around four million hectares of forest are cut down every year. As a result, international climate protection programs are planning to financially compensate farmers who preserve forests or plant new trees. Demand for land is rising, however. And growing need for food and energy crops will inevitably lead to conflicts of interest over fertile land in countries such as Brazil and Ecuador.
Thomas Knoke and Michael Weber at Technische Universität München (TUM) firmly believe that intensive, high-yield agricultural practices can go hand-in-hand with climate and environmental protection. The two scientists and their colleagues have developed a “diversified land-use” concept for medium-sized holdings in South America based on an idea originally developed by retired TUM professor, Wolfgang Haber. The new concept encourages farmers to move away from large-scale monocropping and plant a mix of field crops on smaller plots, while at the same time setting aside part of their land for forests and hedges. Any unused land will be reforested. The smaller plots of farmland will still be large enough for intensive farming practices using fertilizers, planting machines and harvesters. The interspersed wooded areas and hedges will protect the soil from erosion and serve as long-term carbon stores. 
Knoke and Weber have evaluated the economic viability of their concept based on a typical medium-sized agricultural holding. This model hacienda comprises an area of over 116 hectares and includes croplands, wooded areas and unused land. There are around five million family-owned farms of this size on the South American continent.
Adopting this sustainable method of intensive farming initially means higher costs for farmers due to reforestation and the division of land into individual plots. However, the combination of woodland management and smaller plots of land pays off in the long term. Working lots of individual plots enables farmers to diversify and spread risk – in much the same way as smart investors. By growing a broader portfolio of crops such as soya, sugar cane, corn and coffee, they can reduce their dependency on price fluctuations. The wooded areas also provide extra income. Smaller material from forest thinning can be used as firewood, while larger logs can be sold as building material. Depending on the crops harvested, a farm modeled on the diversified land-use method will achieve higher returns than a monocrop farm in eight years at the latest. Farmers working this new model can achieve between 19 and 25 percent more yield than they would with large-scale monoculture.
To ease the transition to diversified land development, Knoke and Weber are lobbying for start-up funding and knowledge sharing. “The associated costs, however, are the same or less than comparable measures aimed at reducing CO2 levels,” explains Professor Knoke from the TUM’s Institute of Forest Management. “Which makes diversified land development in line with local dynamics an effective approach to ensuring highly productive yet climate-friendly agriculture.”

(Photo World Agroforestry Centre)
Research Shows Legume Trees Can Fertilize and Stabilize Maize Fields, Generate Higher Yields
"The study, "Can Integration of Legume Trees Increase Yield Stability in Rainfed Maize Cropping Systems in Southern Africa?", by Gudeta Sileshi, Legesse Kassa Debusho and Festus Akinnifesi, was published in this month's issue ofAgronomy Journal of the Soil Science Society of America." 
"Three coordinated experiments, begun in 1991 in Malawi and Zambia, found that farms that mix nitrogen-fixing trees and maize have consistent and relatively high yields year after year. In Malawi, the highest average maize yield was found in fields that combined both fertilizer trees and inorganic fertilizers, but applied at just half the standard recommended amounts."

How Stuff Works
Australian International Food Security Centre
(THURSDAY, 8 NOVEMBER 2012) 
Intercropping 'boosts maize yields by 50 per cent'
"The results of a 12 year study in Zambia and Malawi have found that growing leguminous trees on maize farms can boost and stabilise maize yields. This study is informing the AIFSC’s Trees for Food Security project which is providing scientific advice to inform the national tree planting programs in Ethiopia and Rwanda. The project will also scale out to Burundi and Uganda." 
“We found that maize farms with legume trees had, on average, a 50 per cent increase in yields and that the yields were stable, compared with those grown with or without fertilisers,” said Gudeta Sileshi, lead study author and the World Agroforestry Centre’s regional coordinator for Southern Africa, based in Malawi. Read more about new study
http://www.scidev.net/en/sub-suharan-africa/news/intercropping-boosts-maize-yields-by-50-per-cent-.html




Not to get overly complicated or long winded here, but I'll post numerous resource links for further in depth interest below. Just taking a few moments to reflect on the above result on doubling Maize or Corn production. These are generally small Farmers by comparison to the Industrial Giants of Agriculture who are obsessed with complete global control of the Food Inc business. Such smaller scale farming methods are obviously more Eco-friendly by comparison to the massive land clearing programs which tend to destroy any ecological components around them. Now a person either believes the claims of a 50% increase in yield or they don't. Do Industrial Agricultural practices accomplish similar percentages ? In the beginning yes, but gradually the land degrades and more and more newer chemicals need development and application to the ground. This is where the Permacultural methods of Agroforestry will most always maintain the same level of productivity if managed responsibly. It will never fail. In the old days farms were small and run by families. There were organizations called Ag or Farm Cooperatives and/or Granges where everyone pulled together and helped their neighbours. 

Eventually these went by the wayside. In life there will always be certain individuals who are, let's say, more industrious. Nothing wrong with that, we need productive leadership. Not every personality can lead. However with the start of the industrial revolution and various world wars that followed, certain individuals wanted more. They wanted to monopolize and take over. That's where many of this world's Industrial Ag Giants came from. As a general rule the individuals who run these giants are mostly disconnected from the field. They wear blinders as to the rural decision consequences of their Corporate/Share Holder choices being made back in the big cities. With the exception of many third world countries, family run farms in the industrial wealthy countries are for the most part a thing of the past. Many of them don't even survive without the welfare program of Agricultural Subsidies provided by the United States government which mandates specific quantities or certain monocrops like corn and soy. 

A large part of my family and friends are from the State of Iowa. This industrial Agri-business and Gov welfare subsidies approach has not only helped in ruining the landscape, but also destroyed much of the traditional sense of neighbourhood community that once existed in these areas. Not long ago I Googled a family member's name who farms back in eastern Iowa (who is not important) but the subsidies he received over the decades were telling because were not for these Gov Handouts, he'd been out of business decades ago. In the Media's reporting on Election Campaign coverage, I can suddenly see all the reasons for those political promises on the IOWA Trail of continued or furthered welfare programs in election those campaign promises. Having come from the western USA and being for the most part self sufficient, I often would come at odds when talking to friends and family back there on many of the government programs. For example people who live in flood prone areas always needing and demanding a bailout of sorts. Farmers wanting subsidies, but in order to keep receiving these, you have to play ball with covert unofficial Gov-Approved Ag Companies like Monsanto. 
BTW, here is a site which reveals subsidy payouts to all farmers or Ag corps across the nation. Have fun, it's enlightening.
http://farm-payments.findthedata.org/
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I'll have more in the future on this subject. It's not going away any time soon. 

Photo credit Dave Nuffield
From a local Southern California note here. This is the Coachella Valley where a combination of crops such as Date Palms and Citrus have been grown together for decades on the older Farms.
The website and group called Earth Integral had a nice piece on Agroforestry and the natural phenomena of gravity which not only wants to push water down stream but also fertility down hill to valleys below. They wrote a recent piece which dealt with techniques of reversing this natural process for the benefit of ecosystems at higher elevations. It gives now meaning to the old expression , "Pushing Fecal Matter Up Hill"

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Agroforestry References for those Interested:
http://www.agroforestry.ac.uk/meetings/2011.html
http://www.drylandsolutions.com/dryland.php?i=5
http://www.worldagroforestrycentre.org/
Impact of Fertilizer Tree Fallows in Eastern Zambia
http://www.scidev.net/en/sub-suharan-africa/news/intercropping-boosts-maize-yields-by-50-per-cent-.html
The Permaculture Research Institute of Australia
Permies.com - Forums-Articles-Videos-Podcasts

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Underwater Electrical Networks: Possible Climate Driver Which Might Have Been Disrupted ?

Microbial Wires: New Microbe Forms Deep-Sea Power Cable  scooped by Dr Stefan Gruenwald
Image: Nils Risgaard-Petersen

Wiring Diagram Below
"In the photo above, orange strands of the new Desulfobulbaceae stretch in a laboratory beaker between a reddish, oxygen-rich sediment layer and a dark, sulfurous, oxygen-depleted layer. This is the essential structure of much of the world's seafloor, and one that the new Desulfobulbaceae evolved to exploit: One end feeds on hydrogen sulfide below, pulling out an electron that's sent up the chain and, at the other end, is used to pull in oxygen. (See diagram below.) It's a simple form of breathing. Water is generated as a byproduct."

Image: Nils Risgaard-Petersen
www.wired.com - October 25, 8:17 PM
The world's deep seafloors are dark and airless places, but vast swaths may pulse gently with energy conducted through a type of newly discovered bacteria that forms living electrical cables. The bacteria were first detected in 2010 by researchers perplexed at chemical fluctuations in sediments from the bottom of Aarhus Bay in Denmark. Almost instantaneously linking changing oxygen levels in water with reactions in mud nearly an inch below, the fluctuations occurred too fast to be explained by chemistry. 
Only an electrical signal made sense -- but no known bacteria could transmit electricity across such comparatively vast distances. Were bacteria the size of humans, the signals would be making a journey 12 miles long. Now the mysterious bacteria have been identified. They belong to a microbial family called Desulfobulbaceae, though they share just 92 percent of their genes with any previously known member of that family. They deserve to be considered a new genus, the study of which could open a new scientific frontier for understanding the interface of biology, geology and chemistry across the undersea world.  
Seen through an electron microscope, the Desulfobulbaceae -- the researchers haven't yet given them a genus or species name -- appear in blue. They link end-to-end, forming filaments nearly an inch in length. One end feeds on hydrogen sulfide below, pulling out an electron that's sent up the chain and, at the other end, is used to pull in oxygen. It's a simple form of breathing. Water is generated as a byproduct. Each filament of the new Desulfobulbaceae doesn't merely represent the end-to-end alignment of many individual microbes, but should be a considered a single multicellular organism. 
With so much electricity being transferred, are other organisms tapping the lines? Might the Desulfobulbaceae be a power source for entire as-yet-unappreciated deep-sea microbial ecologies, which in turn shape some of the planet's fundamental biogeochemical processes? "These are exciting times for microbiologists," wrote microbiologist Gemma Reguera of Michigan State University in a commentary accompanying the new study. "The present work reminds us -- one more time -- just how much more awaits discovery."  
(Credit: Mingdong Dong, Jie Song and Nils Risgaard-Petersen)
As seen through an electron microscope, the Desulfobulbaceae. The researchers haven't yet given the organism a name of genus or species as yet. This composite image shows a microscopic image of the actual bacteria filaments as light blue structures in the background and an Artist's impression of the bacterial filaments (and the darker blue, in the foreground) The electrical conducting strings are shown in red.
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Another Article Link in Nature.com
Abstract:
Oxygen consumption in marine sediments is often coupled to the oxidation of sulphide generated by degradation of organic matter in deeper, oxygen-free layers. Geochemical observations have shown that this coupling can be mediated by electric currents carried by unidentified electron transporters across centimetre-wide zones. Here we present evidence that the native conductors are long, filamentous bacteria. They abounded in sediment zones with electric currents and along their length they contained strings with distinct properties in accordance with a function as electron transporters. Living, electrical cables add a new dimension to the understanding of interactions in nature and may find use in technology development. 
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(Credit: Nils Risgaard-Petersen/Aarhus University)In one teaspoon of mud, there may be up to one kilometer's
 worth of power cables.
In the Nature.com article the editors added a bit of speculation and wonderment of a Biomimetics angle of sorts:
A major challenge for multicellular organisms is that of supplying every cell with food and oxygen. Nils Risgaard-Petersen and colleagues report a surprising solution to the problem, arrived at by multicellular filamentous Desulobulbaceae bacteria several centimetres long, living in the upper layers of marine sediments sampled in Aarhus Bay, Denmark. These organisms seem to function as living electrical cables, transporting electrons from sulphides generated in organic matter in deeper anoxic sediments to the oxygen available in the surface layers. 
These living micro-cables raise a host of topics for future research, and could also find technological applications.
One thing that intrigued me is what possible influence could this have on climate as a major driver of this necessary machine which allows life to exist here on the surface. And I suppose what could be learned and copied from this function. Now the reason I mention climate influence is because trillions upon trillions of other free floating bacterioplankton which consume decaying algae in the water and also give off sulfur aerosol compounds which do aid in the important work of cloud formation over oceans. Remember what the good science has discovered about vegetation in rainforests giving off Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds (BVOC) which aid in cloud formation and rainfall ? Remember the electric conductivity found in trees and the negative ions given off by vegetation which effect the atmosphere in a number of very important environmental factors related to climate maintenance ?

Here's my point. Are there any interconnections within the ocean floors and plankton as there are on land with networking cooperation between differing species of plants and the negative electromagnetic activity which influences them from the grounding in the earth to the reaching towards the positively charged sky above ? This is why I hate terms like "Primitive" when speaking of tiny organisms such as this. Without them so-called higher life like us doesn't happen and good science has found that they are actually far more complex than the long time general biased ideologies have mandated their life and roles to be. 

Photo Dr R Grant Gilmore, Dynamic Corporation

Terra Nature Trust - Before Damage by Fishing Trawler

Photo Lance Horn, 
National Undersea Research Center, University of North Carolina
Terra Nature Trust - After Seafloor was bulldozed by Fishing Trawler

Of course now one wonders about the effects on these newly discovered bacteria and the possible consequences ?

Here's another thought. Having written a post on Sweden's & Norway's Coral Reefs and the vast destruction that has taken place in on bottom dragged nets attempting huge catches of Cod, Halibut and/or flounder by massive industrial sized modern day Fishing Trawlers, could this be effecting climate if such ocean bottom bacteria do act as a major component ? It's already know that most all other life is almost completely destroyed on the ocean floors by this irresponsible activity, but what about this new component ? And there is yet another industrial mining operation factor to seriously consider. Not long ago there were underwater photo shots of where mining operation equipment was tested on the sea floor. It made a moonscape of sorts on the bottom where previous deep sea life existed. Given these latest possible important findings on this electrical conductivity role of these bacteria, it will be imperative to find out quickly just what important function they serve in Earth's biological inter-connectedness.

Clearly there are many other things to consider with regards the potential destructiveness of this latest technology to extract Earth's natural Resources for further consumerism to keep those precious world economy engines running. I ultimately have no idea if there is some important role in which these power cable bacteria may play in climate maintenance. In view of the critical ecological dilemma we find ourselves in, it would behoove all of us to encourage a quickening the pace to find out soon before something further goes wrong with climate. Even the effects of that disaster British Petroleum fiasco in the Gulf. What further environmental hand did that have on these interesting bacterial power cables and has this influenced any of the present freakish storm weather ? Again I don't know, but just throwing the questions out there.

It's clear that Land plants in an old growth setting no matter what vegetation type of ecosystem are ground deep in the earth, tapped in to subsoil water sources and transmit not only water and nutrients, also a measure of electrical energy through their network of interconnected root systems via a sophisticated mycorrhizal fungal grid system. From research and technological innovations by companies like Voltree, it is known that a measure of electrical current does run through the living structure of a plant and into the atmosphere which facilitates the Earth's water cycle. Destruction of these has proven just how true this is. Now with the discovery of these complex underwater seabed network of electrical conductivity of these bacterial filaments, do these have an effects on the countless trillions of bacterioplankton who give off aerosols for oceanic cloud formation ? Maybe there is a connection somehow through the water. Some of the latest hair brain schemes presented forth of dumping various chemicals in oceans to reverse climate change should be assessed before further damage is done to a sophisticated system that humans clearly DO NOT know everything about despite the self-promoting arrogance otherwise presented forth through various media outlets. The point now is, will humans make the connection between these connections in time ?
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Further References on climate and cloud formation as facilitated by healthy Vegetative Ecosystems