Rotavator Agriculture (Rot_A) @

MANILA: Through the front-view mirror of Solid North Bus 1608 coming from Asingan going to Cubao, I took the photograph Sunday, 09 October 2016 at 0757 hours somewhere in Tarlac. Rice drying poorly on the shoulders of the highway. If you can't get to 14% moisture content, you rice is wet and will sell poorly. The photograph is perfect, if I may say so myself: It suggests 3 things actually, literally and figuratively. 1, The sunlit part of the road reminds us that the rice farmer has no problem drying his palay under the sun on a public road, except of course passing vehicles when they have to take the shoulder of the road either side to maneuver. Actually, he has no other choice. 2, The shaded part of the road reminds us that the rice farmer has a problem drying his palay either (a) under the sun because the sun is hiding and there is not enough sunshine to heat the grains and evaporate the unwanted moisture in them, or (b) when it suddenly rains, as it ...

MANILA: Climate scientists are alarmed that the Earth's atmosphere has reached what they believe is its carbon dioxide threshold of 400 ppm, which to them is the tipping point to the end of the world. Lauren Tousignant says, "This is the worst news for life on Earth" (29 September 2016, New York Post , nypost.com ). Ophelia Benson simply says (28 September 2016, butterfliesandwheels.org ): "Bye world." Citing Ralph Keeling, who runs the Scripps Institute for Oceanography's carbon dioxide monitoring program, Brian Kahn says, "Even if the world stopped emitting carbon dioxide tomorrow, what (man) has already put in the atmosphere will linger for many decades to come" ( scientificamerican.com ). To solve a problem, change the problem! What if all the carbon dioxide emitted tomorrow can be captured tomorrow? My photograph has taught me how it can be done. Clue: Keeling's pessimism stems from the fact that climate experts are cl...

MANILA: Today, Friday, the last day of September 2016, I read the omen that Brian Kahn has written in The Guardian about climate change, that "The world passes 400ppm carbon dioxide threshold. Permanently" (28 September 2016, theguardian.com ): In the centuries to come, history books will likely look back on September 2016 as a major milestone for the world’s climate. At a time when atmospheric carbon dioxide is usually at its minimum, the monthly value failed to drop below 400 parts per million (ppm). ¶ That all but ensures that 2016 will be the year that carbon dioxide officially passed the symbolic 400 ppm mark, never to return below it in our lifetimes, according to scientists. Now, now Brian, that is completely off the mark. If climate change is here and we do not or cannot stop it, there will be no centuries to count anymore! In fact, no one will be around to write any history. The BEC Crew puts it in the worst words, saying, "Earth's CO...