Most pre-putin-era russian music stars are in exile somewhere in europe. They should coordinate together, make a big concert in some safe place, with clear political messages, some might penetrate through to people behind the state-tv propaganda wall.
Yes, indeed there is always going to be a balance point, with most tasks in life. Thinking is hard, more effort devoted to one topic is less for another. But we can also get into a bigger mess by trying to tell people simple answers to complex problems.
Actually to be more specific I’m a climate-system model developer, it’s intrinsically a very complex problem, so I try to develop software to help people learn by experiment, and balance choices. You can see my current efforts here. Maybe it’s already too complex for some, too simple for others, I’m still trying to fill the gaps.
I don’t agree with this, the answer is not collapse.
To me complexity is beautiful, creating and maintaining complexity is the essence of what it is to be alive.
Although I’m no fan of hierarchy or big capital, there are better systems for organising, balancing feedbacks, and we need to keep thinking about ways to do this (which is why we’re here on lemmy).
While medieval societies based more on tribal loyalty were more unequal and hierarchical than modern ones, as well as sustaining far fewer people until the next famine or pandemic.
I consider Human Ecology as the concepts of ecology (including energy, system feedbacks etc.) applied to human society and all that depends on - which is broader than your description. I recall the activities of CHE in Edinburgh in the 1990s. However there are diverse interpretations, also the word ecology has different nuance in different languages (e.g. is used more broadly in french).
Works well for the south-facing facade of our house, keeps it much cooler in summer.
I also remember the grape-covered streets cooling Turfan ( تۇرپان , 吐鲁番), one of the hottest towns in China due to its position 150m below sea-level.
Makes sense from a human-ecology point of view (which was trendy in 1980s),
but that thread is rather fatalistic - a more useful question is what can we do about this ?
As a software developer, I’m also aware that there can be diminishing returns to increasing complexity and feedbacks, on the other hand more feedbacks can add extra powers and resilience, how to stabilise with a good balance ?
A more convenient link format:
!india@lemmy.zip
Note also:
(there may be others - didn’t re-search).
Although I don’t live there, I’d like to see more discussion of India on Lemmy.
I guess you are right about building railways in Romania, for example I remember a train crossing the (then) shiny new EU-funded rail bridge across the Danube from Vidin, then continuing at a walking pace towards Craiova. However, where i lived near Ottignies in Belgium it was no better - they demolished houses, build tunnels and bridges, then postponed laying the rail track for over a decade. As for projects getting delayed and costs inflated by archaeological digs - check out tunnels in London… And don’t get lemmings (?) started on DB infrastructure… Maybe the emergency situation in Ukraine, oddly helps them to get some things moving faster ?
I remember in 1990s the talk about “Europe from Lisbon to Vladivostok”, also having crossed the land border from Russia to China several times during that period, I felt the relative european culture on ‘our’ side. So, yes, there was a lost opportunity, and we could have been more welcoming, but it was not a conspiracy, nor were any specific political groups to blame (as article hints) - rather just the slow muddled consensus-processes of EU and NATO could not cope with any faster expansion, meanwhile russians got impatient and let Putin (KGB) take over, so it went bad.
If we were to redesign the whole structure, I’d say we should abolish NATO and replace it with a mutual defence organisation for democracies anywhere in the world - including Brazil, Japan, India, etc. if they like, but with no permanent membership. There should be clearly specified democratic criteria including freedom for political opposition, media, NGOs, etc., and when these are no-longer fulfilled, a procedure for suspension of rights that requires a large majority but no vetos. So, currently Hungary might be suspended, and even USA if it continues its current track, while democrats in Russia (or in exile from R) might be encouraged to see a long-term pathway open.
Such redesign of NATO - conversion from a tribal members club to a defence of democracy - might even be an face-saving way to end the war.
Ah yes, I see it on openrailwaymap, which also indicates mixed gauge all the way along the Tisza valley to Vinohradiv, also a ukranian gauge line from Uzhhorod to Kosice - are these still operating ?
Another trans-european link I should have mentioned for longer term planning - considering that Lukashenka won’t be in the way forever, is a ukrainian-gauge line from Riga to Odesa - reviving already existing connections (and to balance that - a polish gauge line Bialystok - Grodno - Vilnius , complementing rail baltica).
Seems to me a win-win scenario. Remember that Ukraine is actually remarkably good at railways - especially at manufacturing large numbers of comfortable and good-value sleeper wagons, which the rest of europe lacks, and also at maintaining their system in such adverse circumstances - their punctuality today is still much better than DB. On the other hand the track routes in Ukraine are anything but direct, dating from 19th century when capital cities were Petersburg and Vienna (so they align better N-S than E-W), so there’s a lot of potential to make them straighter. The obstacles maybe rather regional mistrust - whether politicians in Suceava accept the status of Chernivtsi - a similar question as whether hungarians / slovakians accept Uzhhorod, polish Lutsk or Kovel,…? Better passenger transport links could help to build trust.
Good, this means passengers can change in Uzhgorod - a nice town, instead of Chop which is just an isolated station with big gauge-changing sheds.
But it’s only 22km. So next step, plan a more ambitious standard gauge connection, from Suceava (Romania) via Chernivtsi, Ternopil, Lutsk to Chelm (Poland) - this could be a really useful european N-S link, skirting around the Carpathian mountains. In parallel, for balance, plan a ukranian-gauge track to Gdansk on the Baltic, to facilitate freight exports, also maybe extend the existing ukranian-gauge track which already reaches from Hrubieszow to Katowice.
Why just US schools? Such a rethink should apply to every country.
In my opinion, school holidays should be rescheduled to coincide with the best periods for outdoor activities (for example, here in europe I’d prefer the summer holiday to be in June which is cooler than July but with longer daylight hours). While for both extreme hot or cold (and dark) periods, it’s better that kids are gathered in a coolable / warmable institutional building, than assume that all parents can provide such a space for the whole day.
Current school holiday patterns date from 19th century traditions, when kids helped with planting in april and harvest in august, change is long overdue.
Important topic, hope CB are right this time about peaking (have been over-optimistic in the past).
But coal to chemicals is terrible, it’s what europeans abandoned long ago (mostly mid-last-century) - seems extreme self-sufficiency concept ( or maybe can’t rely on russian oil / gas ) ?
I used to sing while riding a bicycle around hilly edinburgh, can testify it’s good for positive psychology.
Well written article on complicated topic. I hadn’t realised - even as a belgian climatologist - that one plant was responsible for so much emissions.
I reckon that in europe as a whole, we have enough steel and need to shift to recycling it more efficiently (including dismantling some reinforced concrete structures, ol pipes etc), although that’s not the case in Africa, India with with growing population.
Well, the rock was already there, the stones are local. Enterprising group of monks thought - good place to attract rich tourists (kings etc.) - apparently they made a profit by inventing a saint and selling indulgences. Human nature hasn’t changed much.
We used to have many fireflies around midsummer in our garden (in belgium) - until we got ducks, now they are fewer. Their larvae eat slugs and snails, so those ducks compete for the same food. I’d guess “pest control” is a bigger cause for decline than climate, in this case.
Interesting concept, but the efficiency compared to standing turbines needs to be calculated based on the expected lifetime. What’s the leakage rate of the helium? What’s the resistance of the fabric (or whatever it’s made of) and cables to UV light ?