I don’t particularly like the word ‘nature.’ I prefer the word creation. It’s all about my convictions. But, that’s not the point of this post. The point is when things get out of whack on our home planet, they can really get out of kilter. And, there is not a whole lot we can do about it.

A flood in southern China triggered cave-ins, landslides, and mudslides. The result was some 147 geological disasters and 1,980 people having their safety threatened. People died, transport, power and communications were disrupted.

Torrential rains hit 11 prefectures in cities throughout the area over the past few days causing landslides, more flooding and mud-rock flow. $108 million in damages.

There is not a whole lot we can do about it … except, we can take care of what we have. We don’t know when the Earth, nature, creation (choose your word) will fight back. In the meantime, let’s be good stewards of what we have been entrusted in.

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Planetary geologists are guessing that valleys on Mars came from gushes of water resulting from past rainfall or groundwater springs. Theorize, believe, speculate … they all have the same meaning when it comes right down to it. Scientists so much want to believe that life, as we know it, existed elsewhere that they will jump to any conclusion.

And jump they do I think.

They have no evidence. They only believe. What’s the difference between believing conditions existed for life as we know it despite having no concrete evidence and believing, say that the universe, as we know it, is the product of some all powerful designer? Both are guesses, no?

I hope we never need to find another home far away from the home where we live now. I don’t anticipate that happening in my lifetime either. But, if we don’t become better stewards of this planet with which we have been entrusted, we may be doing more than wishing life could be sustained on Mars, we may be desperately hoping it can.

What do you think?

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What good about high gas prices? I can think of a lot of things, but here’s one. Japan and China, historical enemies, are cooperating in the East China Sea as they explore for more natural gas. It’s the first time the two countries have agreed to explore undersea resources together.

The exploration is overtly an attempt at improving the relations of the two countries. Chinese hate what Japan did and rightfully so. Many Chinese start off hating Japanese as a rule and go from there. Japanese think about Chinese, “Huh? Is there something wrong?”

High gas prices are causing people everywhere to take extreme action and if that means people getting along who don’t normally, in my book, that’s a good thing.

I am not that naive, however. The two countries will sign treaties and agreements out the gazoo “to protect each other’s legal positions till a demarcation line is set.” Yeah, everybody wants to make sure they get what’s coming to them.

In any event, “It is a welcome development in Japan-China relations and a specific achievement in our strategic relations.”

Why can’t we all just get along?

I love it when a plan comes together. I love it more when countries work together to make the world a better place.

In this case, Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will be working together with the Iceland Power Company, Reykjavik Energy, to build five 45-megawatt geothermal power plants in the small country to the north of the European continent. The new plants will begin operating in about two years, October, 2010 and the whole project is expected to be complete by February 2012.

Blessed with a high volume of volcanoes (for those who consider this kind of thing a blessing) and geothermal energy options, Iceland already has five geothermal plants and cover over 87-percent of the country’s heating and hot water requirements through them.

I need to check my math, but if five plants provide 87-percent of the heating and hot water needs, then how many more plants are needed to meet the other 13%? Seriously, how cool is it that Iceland can get so much energy in this way? ICan they bottle it up and export it, to the US? That would be cool.

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Did you know that mountains grow at a relatively fast rate (a few mm each year) until the forces that form them are no longer active? Apparently that’s the case with the Andes Mountains which are one of the longest and highest mountain ranges in the world.

For millions of years the Andes grew slowly. Then all of a sudden, 10 - 6 million years ago things changed. Geologists at the University of Rochester in NY, led by professor Carmala Garzione, revealed that in the last 4 million years the Andes grew by as much as 2,500 meters. Furthermore, things are not about to stop.

Formed in the Jurassic period (150-200 milion years ago) as a result of plate tectonics processes which caused a large sheet of crust, the Nazca plate, they slid under the South American plate. What’s more,the Andes are still active.

This new discovery may suggest that the tectonic plates theory, which explains how mountains are formed (two tectonic plates pushing against each other), should be updated. The new “theory” was named delamination, and refers to denser rocks that can detach from the underside of the crust allowing the lighter crust to rise in sudden bursts.

Garzione and her colleagues are now trying to find out what were the effects of such a rapid growth of the Andes (and probably other mountains, too) on climate and the evolution of life on Earth.

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