Category Archives: Text

Nalgenes Pose a Threat

It is a reoccurring topic on this blog, toxic chemicals in objects that we use for our daily lives, and on this sunday, I’d like to bring forth another.

The difference between this blog and a mainstream news source is that I’m not hear to scare you into paying attention. I don’t believe in trying to scare the crap out of people to get them to listen, I believe more that once people hear the facts that have a direct impact, negative or positive, on their lives – they will want to take action and want to know more.

So if you’re the outdoors type, or the travelling type, or maybe you play ultimate frisbee like myself and my good friends here in Amsterdam, you surely know all about the Nalgene bottle.  I know I received mine as a gift from a special friend long ago.  Millions of people around the world are into using Nalgene bottles for carrying water throughout their day.  They have great faith in these bottles for being reliable and durable. Unfortunately this is more of an assumption based on general experience and the recommendations of others, we don’t sit around thinking, hmm what is this made of and is it ok to carry my drinking water?

However, up in Canada, this is exactly what they’ve been working on.  The Federal Health Department has been doing research into the material that Nalgene’s are made from, which includes something called bisphenol-A.  More and more research indicates that, especially as a bottle gets older, dangerous chemicals from this plastic start to break down and get into the water.  This also true under increased temperatures. Im summarizing the problem somewhat, but the basic idea is one that is unfortunately too common in this day and age.  An item that is very popular and seemingly very useful, turns out to also be potentially dangerous yet the issue is hardly noticed on the mainstream radar, unless its used as a scare tactic.

Im sure this issue will come back, as more tests are being done all the time. But for now, many shops in Canada are pulling various kinds of Nalgenes off the shelves, and here in my Amsterdam apartment, Im retiring my dear bottle; Ill find some other purpose for it, hopefully one that has little impact on humans and the environment.

For now consider this a public service announcement. If you’ve got a nalgene and you want to resist any suggestions to stop using it, I strongly recommend you research this issue and then consider your decision. You don’t HAVE to use THAT bottle, there are alternatives that pose less of a risk. This article points out some of them.

Rising Sea, Eating Cities?

During the question/answer segment of my Arctic Cold War talk at the 24C3, alot of people raised tough and specific questions about the Arctic conflict and the facts I used to illustrate the dangers of both military build up and the melting of the arctic. One particular question came from international man of mystery Dan Kaminsky who asked me about data that indicates melting arctic ice is contributing to rising sea levels putting many coastal cities at great risk in the next decade.

As often happens during my talks and virtually any story I tell in everyday life, I may exaggerate my examples, and in the talk I said that most of the arctic ice would be melted by 2015. I also said that ocean levels would rise at an even greater pace and cities like Amsterdam and New York would find themselves in great danger. Dan seemed concerned at the immediacy that such cities would be swallowed up by water, so when he asked me again about it, I calmed down a bit and said, more accurately, that coastal cities would see an increasing rate of rising water levels, so technically some millimeters per year.

Since then I’ve had a chance to examine further that particular phenomenon, and double check what the hell I was saying. Here’s what I’ve figured out:

  • Ice melting (over land) in places like Greenland (glaciers) and polar ice caps is a cause of accelerated ocean level rise.
  • By 2015 the arctic ice cover in the summer is predicted to be completely gone.
  • According to most measurements I find, the average global sea level rise in the 20th century is around 1.2 mm per year.
  • However the average yearly rate since 1992, according to specialized satellite data is 2.8mm.
  • If we look specifically at the case of New York City, where the sea level has been rising .03 meters (11 inches) per decade, NY State emergency management models indicate that by 2050, the level will rise between 15 and 19 inches. (38 cm or more)
  • By 2080 the level will have risen by more than 3 ft! (.9 m)

So although I know Dan is not a regular reader of this blog, now I have more detailed information about just how bad the rising ocean levels are getting and what it means for a city like New York. Next time you’re in the Large Apple, stand at the east river, look down and picture that water 1 meter higher.

Manipulation Through Nationalism

Watching video of last week’s Iowa Caucuses on the Uptake, it left me severely disturbed to watch as people stand in a room and yell at each other about which candidate is best. They scream and shout and hardly anyone listens and they spout rhetoric that anyone could have heard from the candidate themselves over the past year. They use adjectives to praise a candidate who they think they know, “honest”, “determined”, “strong”, “experienced”… naturally it is the same list people have been using since the feudal days when the king and queen were the most suited to lead us thanks to their nobility and wisdom.

Meanwhile I gather what information I can on the situation in Kenya, where people are also dedicated to their candidate. Questionable election results, a familiar theme throughout the planet, lead to supporters of the opposition taking to the streets. Police are dispatched with little concern for the safety or rights of citizens , demonstrators are shot and killed. Elsewhere one group that supports one candidate targets the other group that supports the other candidate, they attack with weapons and whatever they can get their hands on. They’re convinced that their guy should have won; they believe so strongly in a person they think they know, they’re willing to kill or be killed for him.

Famous and Infamous people have said, throughout history, that nationalism is one of the most dangerous forces on earth. With the power to make people hate each other, convinced that their cause, their flag, their candidate.. is the answer. And when he or she occasionally gets power and then does nothing, they find another to support, re-directing their blind loyalty.. or maybe they stick with their incompetent leader no matter how bad it gets… as if they are required to by some natural law.

Whether they are yelling at each other in a room in Iowa, torturing people in Guantanamo, beating and burning each other alive in Kenya, or rigging election results in Georgia to help a western-friendly oil man stay president, it is all a very cruel and dangerous game. Cruel because those in power use people… they use people’s lives.. people are expendable to them. Dangerous because beyond the yelling comes hatred. After the hatred can come violence. And from violence comes more violence that can and will tear countries, regions, and the world apart. All in the name of what people like to call democracy…. all in the name of some candidate who swears he or she can fix all that is wrong with the society we live in, and the lives so many people feel trapped in.

Video of my Talk at 24C3

Here is a link to the video of my speech at the 24C3. It is about an hour including questions, if you’re curious what I said and what it was like, watch some of it. If you like the first minutes, watch the rest. I won’t be putting this in the feed as a podcast, full credit to the CCC for putting it up so quick this year. The direct link to the video is here.

On that site you can also see a list of speeches from the conference, shop around, you might enjoy. I’ll be checking out Hacker Spaces and The Voting Computers sessions as I missed those and I know they’re good.

Canadian Military and the Arctic

Hitched a ride with some kind Amsterdam hackers and made it home from Berlin after another wonderful visit. Before leaving I got to spend some more time with both Mitch Altman who brought you the TV-B-Gone, and Emmanuel of 2600. I recorded podcasts with both of them, and during our conversations we did come back to the topic which I raised at the conference, the Arctic Cold War.

Currently I’m looking more into Canada’s role and their plan for the part of the arctic that they claim. What is often referred to as the Northwest Passage, is the route that goes right over Canada and could make for a good connection between the Atlantic and the Pacific, because of the fast melting of the arctic ice. Canada claims that the Northwest Passage is their sovereign territory, despite the fact that part of it is in the arctic which is supposed to be international territory. They also reject claims from nations, such as the US, that say it is an international crossing or an international straight, and can therefore not be considered property of Canada.

Why does this matter so much? As I said in my talk, among the reasons, the destruction of the planet hangs in the balance. Nations like Russia, Canada, and even the US, have mobilized military resources and dedicated money for new military forces to patrol, oversee, and be positioned in the arctic to show some kind of control or claim over territory. Canada itself has carried out excercises and dedicated a military force that, according to the prime minister, will defend Canada’s sovereign territory in the arctic. Note the term – DEFEND!

As I explore Canada’s military statements and websites, there is an odd mix of friendliness and willingness to use the military is this game to gain control of the arctic. I’m gathering a few military videos and statistics on their activities and will put them out in a video entry shortly. But one thing is already clear, there is something very disturbing when nations not only try to claim what is supposed to be international territory that has such great importance to the future of the planet, but when they also use weapons and soldiers in some twisted effort to support that claim by exhibiting a willingness to use deadly force.

In the New Year, MAke Changes.

Berlin parties too hard.

Podcasts, vlogs, and words will be here soon. In the meantime, reflect on 07, prepare for 08, and hopefully this year, the world takes a step forward for the first time in a long time.