Tuesday

Long day. Rehearsal with the quartet (sounded great), then packing up gear, then filling out forms for New Zealand in July. Afterwards I called and cancelled my AT+T long distance service. Just a small gesture, but something I wanted to do. In a little while: another 7 phone interviews with media in Australia, followed by packing my personal bags since we are leaving Santa Fe in the early morning hours. I won’t bring my laptop and will be out of touch until Saturday morning. Oh, and I added more live videos to YouTube – see the LINKS on the right side of this Diary.

The Debate is Over

WorldChanging: Another World Is Here: The Debate is Over
This is the way the debate ends: not with a bang but a press availability. President Bush today in a backhand way admitted that climate change is here, but said we shouldn’t get caught up in discussion about what is causing it and instead focus on solutions:

‘And in my judgment we need to set aside whether or not greenhouse gases have been caused by mankind or because of natural effects and focus on the technologies that will enable us to live better lives and at the same time protect the environment.’

We’re all about solutions, of course, but this is no time to ignore science, because, as this Op-Ed notes, scientists are saying that none of the solutions we’re yet considering are even vaguely on a par with the magnitude of the threat we face.

Deserts creeping closer

Deserts may be creeping closer to cities – Yahoo! News

Moving the jet streams farther from the equator could disrupt storm patterns, as well as intensify individual storms on the poleward side of the jet streams, said lead author Qiang Fu, a University of Washington atmospheric scientist.

In Europe, for example, that shift could mean less snow falling on the Alps in winter. That would be bad news for skiers, as well as for farmers and others who rely on rivers fed by snowmelt.

‘This definitely favors or enhances the frequency of droughts,’ Fu said of such a shift.