Boss Has A Message For Us

Kozelidir Person of the Year 2018

It wasn't difficult to name AOC for this. She's such a big bowl of fresh air. And boy does she know what she's talking about.

How does a Sanders-Ocasio-Cortez sound for 2020?

Waiting Better Than Massive Bat Culling

Our flying fox had been red-listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) because its population was expected to decline by about a third in the next twenty one years. Culling 18,000 bats is equivalent to exterminating 20% of the species -- in a few weeks -- if you think there are 90,000 of them. Additional pressure that the endemic bats might find impossible to bear. But wait. Not everybody agrees there are 90k bats: the IUCN puts the actual figure closer to 50,000. Which would mean that the operation under way will be eliminating a third of Zorro Volador Negro de Mauricio.

Projections of the IUCN may also be too optimistic as meteorological data appears to have become increasingly shaky: cyclones and hurricanes have been showing up in places great-grandmothers never thought possible. Plus we've seen several cyclones lining up in our neck of the ocean in the not-so-distant past.

The upshot of all this uncertainty is that we need to tread super cautiously. For sure there seems to be more bats now -- Mauritius has been spared by strong cyclones for several years -- but more people are netting their trees. Which should give government pause to consider other mitigating measures that have been tried elsewhere. Especially given that bats are not the only fruit predators in town. And in any case many of them will not survive a major cyclone.

Russia's Emissions Down By 40% From 1990 Levels

Is that a triumph of eco-socliasm? Not really. The collapse is rather due to the economic problems that followed the break-up of the Soviet Union. In fact the emissions reached a maximum 60% decrease in 2003. And Russia is not alone. The other republics of the former Union also exhibit similar patterns as this interesting NYT graphic will show.

While you're at it I would recommend you scroll through the interesting timeline on climate change which begins with Fourier's early theory and ends with COP15.