geomythology: guardian (uk)

dec 6th

apropos of what you posted, kapidhwaja, here is belatedly some recognition that local legends have a significant basis in fact and that they should be listened to. there is a great deal of retained racial knowledge that is extremely valuable.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1657262,00.html

this is precisely why the despoilation of local cultures by imported religions (ie. conversion) is such a grave and irreparable loss. i am amazed for instance when christists in kerala name a florist's 'sharon'  -- the sharon valley is one of the few fertile areas in the west asian desert -- when all around them is a veritable garden of eden (in their own terminology), a pristine paradise. the only place where flowers grow in west asia is probably sharon, but in kerala there are flowers all around. the converts have been so inculturated that they cannot see that india is a holy land, for them the only holy land -- and therefore their loyalties lie with it -- is the desert of west asia. sad, but true.

as to toney's question about global warming, the article in the economist has a pretty vivid picture: a bikini-clad woman about to dive into a totally frozen, snow-covered swimming pool. much of europe is considerably warmer than it should be based on latitude: for instance britain is about the same latitude as frozen toronto, but far warmer because of the gulf stream. the conjecture is that the gulf stream is weakening, and thus might make nw europe far colder.

doubtinggaurav, i think crichton's book is a polemic. i have been reading a few references, and there is pretty much no doubt that CO2 levels, NOx levels and so forth have grown substantially since the industrial revolution. and there is now data going back millions of years, based on ice-core sampling in antarctica. in my opinion, we have reached a point of no return. the glaciers are melting, and so are the polar ice-caps. the weather is changing drastically, and i am reminded of that execrable movie "waterworld". sea levels rising, flora and fauna changing, and most of this because of fossil fuel burning. isn't it true that temperatures have risen in the summer and rainfall increased in the fall in much of india? and there have been bitter winters and hot summers in the us, too. i think the sooner we go in for clean solar energy the better off the whole world will be.