Showing posts with label change happens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label change happens. Show all posts

Friday, December 4, 2015

Climate Summit: Costumes and a Smog Brick

Climate change talks in Paris started this week, with the usual protesters and editorials.

Meanwhile, folks in Minnesota are shopping at Christmas tree farms: and a performance artist in Beijing made a brick from smog.
  1. Costumes, Protesters, and Something Serious
  2. Tree Farms
  3. Climate Change, Today's Problems, and a Brick Made With Smog
I'm convinced that climate change happens: and has been happening since before life began on Earth, 3,800,000,000 or so years back. As I've said before, the natural world got along fine without us. Now that we're here, however, we're responsible for its maintenance. (July 3, 2015)

United Nations Climate Conference, 2015


Another big United Nations Climate Conference started Monday, November 30, 2015.

I'm pretty sure some folks will think it's some sort of plot because the United Nations is involved: and that others will think it's wonderful for the same reason.
2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference
(Wikipedia)

"The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21 or CMP 11 is being held in Le Bourget, from November 30 to December 11. It will be the 21st yearly session of the Conference of the Parties to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 11th session of the Meeting of the Parties to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The conference objective is to achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on climate, from all the nations of the world....
My guess is that achieving "...a legally binding and universal agreement on climate, from all the nations of the world..." isn't likely.

Not when we've got leaders like Kim Jong-un, Saparmurat Niyazov, and Sweden's Regeringen in the mix. I think getting that many folks agreeing on where to eat lunch would be an accomplishment.

Basically Good


As Johnny Cash sang, there's a problem with being "so heavenly minded, you're no earthly good." (No Earthly Good, from Cash Unearthed (Box Set), via metrolyrics.com)

Somebody said that first: maybe Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., or Jr.; or D. L. Moody. Or maybe it was Terence, or Petronius — the Roman courtier, not 3244 Petronius, that's an asteroid.

Aristotle said that virtue is practical, or should be: and I think he's right.

I've talked about faith, works, and getting a grip, before. Basically, If I've got faith that's worth something, it'll affect how I live. (November 22, 2015; September 6, 2015)

Then there's the notion that 'spiritual' is good and 'material' is bad. (June 26, 2015; April 24, 2015)

The idea that the physical world "...is evil, the product of a fall, and is thus to be rejected or left behind..." is not what the Catholic Church teaches. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 285)

I see the natural world as basically good, since I believe that:
I've used that list before. (June 26, 2015; June 15, 2014)

The world is God's property. We're stewards, responsible for maintenance of natural resources: for our use, and for future generations. (Catechism, 339, 952, 2402-2405, 2456)

We're also responsible for the other critters here.

Human Dignity and Blue-Eyed-Lemurs


This is not a good time to be a Madagascan blue-eyed black lemur. (BBC News)

Folks living in Madagascar have used slash and burn agriculture: felling and burning trees in a field-size area, planting crops on the exposed ground, then moving on in a few years when the soil is depleted.

It's a very low-tech approach to farming, and works: as long as population density is very low, and the forest is very large.

Madagascar isn't all that big.

Although there's enough woodland in the island's northeast region, black-eyed lemurs would have to cross cleared land to get there. My guess is that someone will think of catching the critters and carrying them to a new habitat: or not.

I've got blue eyes, but I'm not a lemur: so why should I care what happens to them?

I must care, within reason, because I'm human. We're expected to respect the "integrity of creation," including animals. (Catechism, 2415-2418)

Making animals needlessly suffer or die is "contrary to human dignity," and we shouldn't do it. On the other hand, spending money on them instead of relieving human misery is wrong, too. Loving animals is okay: but we should love humans more. (Catechism, 2418)
"The seventh commandment [You shall not steal] requires respect for the goods of others through the practice of justice and charity, temperance and solidarity. In particular it requires respect for promises made and contracts agreed to, reparation for injustice committed and restitution of stolen goods, and respect for the integrity of creation by the prudent and moderate use of the mineral, vegetable, and animal resources of the universe with special attention to those species which are in danger of extinction."
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 506)
Does that mean God will smite us if we let Madagascan blue-eyed black lemurs, or any other species, go extinct? And what about species that we've intentionally exterminated, like the smallpox virus?

The 'fire and brimstone' approach to God notwithstanding, the Almighty does not have anger management issues. We developed a distorted image of God after the Eden incident. I think it's more accurate to say that God 'gets angry' at our behavior: not us. (Catechism, 397-401)

I've discussed disease, Edmund Massey, and Pope Pius Pius VII, before: and healing the sick is not wrong. (January 23, 2015)

My guess is that maintaining the integrity of creation does not mean trying to keep everything exactly the way it was at some arbitrary date. Species have been appearing and disappearing since life began here, 3,800,000,000 years ago. Maybe longer. (October 23, 2015)

Change Happens


Getting back to climate change and that United Nations conference, Earth's current ice age started about 2,580,000 years back.

So far, we've uncovered evidence of five ice ages, starting with the Huronian glaciation. That one started about 2,400,000,000 years ago, after the Great Oxygenation Event, or GOE. (June 27, 2014)

The GOE happened when critters like today's blue-green algae started making oxygen, triggering the Huronian glaciation. Some anaerobic species died out, and some didn't.

Critters that use oxygen to 'burn' organic stuff emerged: like fungi and animals. The new oxygen-using metabolism let critters process and store more energy, and get bigger.

More recently, some 555,000,000 years back, Albumares, Dickinsonia, and Pteridinium — weren't like anything alive today.

Neither was Dendrogramma enigmatica. (September 12, 2014)

We've learned that Tribrachidium, a three-lobed animal (?) was a filter-feeder. Apparently life in the Ediacaran was more complex than we thought, and that's another topic: maybe for next Friday's post.

Where was I? The United Nations, Deuteronomy, lemurs, ice ages. Right.

Climate, and everything else, on Earth has been changing since the planet formed, some 4,540,000,000 years ago. I've talked about change, God, clay, and getting a grip, too. A lot. (June 26, 2015; May 8, 2015; December 5, 2014; July 11, 2014)

Let's take a closer look at that chart, the one that shows temperatures for the last 5,000,000 years.


(From Lisiecki and Raymo (2005), via Wikimedia Commons; under GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later; used w/o permission.)

The 41 kyr (kiloyear) and 100 kyr cycles may be coincidences — or not. Either way, Milankovitch cycles, periodic and predictable changes in Earth's movements, line up pretty well with shifts in Earth's climate. Scientists still aren't sure why.

Earth has been cooling off, on average, for the last 5,000,000 years. But that's just recent geological history: very roughly 1/900th Earth's age. The story's a bit more complicated as we look further back.


(From Robert A. Rohde, from published and publicly available data, incorporated into the Global Warming Art project; via Wikimedia Commons; under GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later; used w/o permission.)

"Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum" is a fancier name for the Eocene Optimum. It was 170,000 years of good times for critters that like it warm. That didn't last; and about 34,000,000 years back, Antarctica started looking the way it does now: with lots of ice.

There have been ups and downs since then: but we never quite got back to the 'good old days' of the Eocene Optimum, when something killed off deep sea life in spots.

Antarctica, South America, Africa, India, and Australia, used to be part of the same continent, and that's yet another topic.


(From Ron Blakey, NAU Geology; via Wikimedia Commons; used w/o permission.)
(Earth during the Late Triassic, 220,000 years ago.)

Scientists call Earth's current eon the Phaerozoic It started 541,000,000 years ago, give or take 1,000,000, when critters with hard parts like Trilobites and reef-building Archaeocyatha appeared, and I'm drifting off-topic again.


(From Dragons flight, from publicly available data, part of the Global Warming Art project; via Wikimedia Commons; under GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later; used w/o permission.)

Psalms and Antarctica's Rainforest


Over the last few centuries, we've learned that Earth is billions, not thousands, of years old, and has been changing since day one.

I'm okay with that.

Some folks aren't, but I see what we're learning as opportunities for "even greater admiration" of God's greatness. (Catechism, 283)

If anything, what we're learning of this creation's cosmic scale emphasizes the Creator's majesty. (July 26, 2015; July 15, 2014)
"3 Terrible and awesome are you, stronger than the ancient mountains."
(Psalms 76:5)

"Yours are the heavens, yours the earth; you founded the world and everything in it."
(Psalms 89:12)

"Your throne stands firm from of old; you are from everlasting, LORD."
(Psalms 93:2)
Earth's ice caps aren't as large as they were during the last glacial maximum, 26,500 years ago, but a mile-deep glacier still covers most of Greenland.

That's not "normal" for this planet. Our home hasn't always been as warm as the early Carboniferous and early Paleogene: and it's been colder. The Marinoan glaciation, some 650,000,000 to 635,000,000 years back, may or may not have covered the planet.

The last I heard, some scientists figure we're in an interglacial period of the current ice age. Or maybe the Quaternary glaciation is finally over. (May 8, 2015)

As I keep saying, change happens. Around 52,000,000 years ago, for example, a rainforest covered at least part of Antarctica: where the temperature was about 20 degrees Celsius, 68 Fahrenheit:

1. Costumes, Protesters, and Something Serious



(From CNN, used w/o permission.)
("Women dressed as angels pose at the Place de la République"
(CNN))
"How ISIS inadvertently helped climate talks"
Frida Ghitis, op-ed, CNN (December 1, 2015)

"ISIS planners were probably not thinking about climate change when they chose the date for their terrorist attacks in Paris earlier this month. It's highly unlikely that they looked at the calendar and considered the implications of striking the French capital just two weeks before the world's most important gathering on climate change.

"And yet, by attacking Paris just before the U.N. Climate Change Conference, COP21, they inadvertently gave a boost to the chances that the conference will succeed.

"The blood drawn by ISIS christened Paris as a central stage in a momentous global drama. And then, by an accident of timing, the climate conference became a new act in this historic play. Savage violence juxtaposed against saving the planet has turned the conference into a show of resistance against terrorism...."
Not all protesters in Paris for the climate talks looked like they were attending a fancy-dress ball, but the folks cosplaying angels had company.

Photos associated with that CNN op-ed showed at least one person was dressed as a panda, and another dressed as a bear wearing a panda pin. Someone else came as Skeletor, or maybe a skeleton in a babushka; and the group in this photo sported natty penguin costumes.

I suspect Frida Ghitis is right, though: ISIS probably gave the climate change conference a bigger boost than the demonstrators.

Folks who want an effective climate agreement may or may not like what happens after negotiators from the 195 countries involved are finished. Money is apparently one of the difficulties.

A Reuters article points out that developing nations use fossil fuels: and will almost certainly need financial help to upgrade.

2. Tree Farms



(From KARE, used w/o permission.)
"We asked KARE 11 Facebook fans last week to share their favorite Christmas tree farm. Here is a list of the top 11."
(KARE))
"Top 11 Christmas tree farms, picked by KARE 11 Facebook fans"
Dana Thiede, KARE (November 30, 2015)

"Those Thanksgiving leftovers are likely a distant memory, and it's officially time to turn attention towards the next holiday on the calendar.

"For many, that means loading the kids in the ol' family truckster, and heading out to one of the many tree farms in Minnesota or western Wisconsin to harvest the perfect Christmas tree.

"Last week we asked KARE 11 Facebook fans to share their favorite Christmas tree farm. Here is a list of the top 11...."
The trees in that photo's background aren't dead, and neither is the grass. It's late fall or early winter in this area by the time most folks are buying Christmas trees. Autumn colors have come and gone, deciduous trees have shed their leaves, and the grass will be dormant until next spring.

Christmas tree farms are probably the best-known sort of tree farm: but I think the odds are pretty good that lumber you see at a building supply retailer came from a recent tree farm harvest.

I've been noticing fewer 'save the forests, stop using timber' op-ed pieces, so maybe word is getting around that not only does wood grow on trees: trees are a pretty good crop choice for some farmers.

Rockwood Tree Farm & Timber Frame Homes, up in Ontario, grows trees and processes them into construction materials: and that's yet again another topic.

More:

3. Climate Change, Today's Problems, and a Brick Made With Smog



(From Getty Images, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)
("The Paris conference is seen as the best opportunity in six years to agree a new global climate treaty"
(BBC News))
"COP21: Public support for tough climate deal 'declines' "
Matt McGrath, BBC News (November 27, 2015)

"Public support for a strong global deal on climate change has declined, according to a poll carried out in 20 countries.

"Only four now have majorities in favour of their governments setting ambitious targets at a global conference in Paris.

"In a similar poll before the Copenhagen meeting in 2009, eight countries had majorities favouring tough action.

"The poll has been provided to the BBC by research group GlobeScan.

"Just under half of all those surveyed viewed climate change as a 'very serious' problem this year, compared with 63% in 2009....

"...The number rating climate change as a very serious issue in richer countries declined significantly from 2009, while support for strong action at the Paris conference has only grown in three of the 20 countries polled.

"Canada, France, Spain and the UK are the only four with majorities in favour of their governments taking a leading role...."
I think climate change is an issue we'll have to deal with: eventually. I do not, however, think it is an urgent problem.

The question isn't whether we can change Earth's climate. We've been doing that for the last few generations.

What we must decide, probably within the next thousand years, is what changes we should make. (February 20, 2015)

We must also, I think, learn a great deal more about how our planet's climate works.

Going straight to field tests is probably not a good idea. (February 20, 2015)

As I recall, scientists became extremely cautious about weather modification after a 1972 flood left 238 dead, five missing, 3,000 injured, and cost $165,000,000 USD in lost property and infrastructure.1

There's no evidence that a cloud-seeding experiment exacerbated the storm: but the coincidence was disturbing. (February 20, 2015)

At the moment, I think our best option is to keep learning more about Earth's climate: and clean up some of the planet's worst problem areas.

China's industrial northeast still depends heavily on coal for power, with predictable results.2
"A performance artist used a vacuum cleaner to suck up particles in super smoggy Beijing to make a brick of condensed pollution.

"Beijing has been swamped for days in a beige-gray miasma of smog, bringing coughs and rasping, hospitals crowded from respiratory ailments, a midday sky so dim that it could pass for evening, and head-shaking disgust from residents who had hoped the city was over the worst of its chronic pollution.

"But 'Brother Nut,' a performance artist, has something solid to show from the acrid soup in the air: a brick of condensed pollution.

"For 100 days, Brother Nut dragged a roaring, industrial-strength vacuum cleaner around the Chinese capital’s landmarks, sucking up dust from the atmosphere.

"He has mixed the accumulated gray gunk with red clay to create a small but potent symbol of the city's air problems...."
(Chris Buckley, Adam Wu; The Seattle Times (December 1, 2015))

People Being Human


We've been changing Earth on a local and regional level for several thousand years. That started when some of us developed agriculture, about a dozen millennia back now. (January 16, 2015)

Large-scale projects like Egypt's irrigation system are more recent. A ceremonial Egyptian macehead shows someone wearing Upper Egypt's Hedjet, or White Crown, opening dikes: or maybe cutting a furrow. Either way, it's about 5,000 years old.

Ever since the European ice cap melted, much of the Netherlands has been damp: or under water. Folks there stopped living on artificial hills a thousand years back or so, and started building dikes.

The 'up' side is that they don't have to live on terps now. The 'down' side is that if they don't maintain the dike system, quite a bit of their country will be under water.

The point of that history lesson is that we've been affecting the environment for millennia. What's changing is the degree to which we can affect our home.

I don't see a problem with it: since that's what happens when we use tools, and using technology is part of being human. Ethics apply, of course. (Catechism, 2293-2295)

When we ignore the ethical angle, bad things happen. (Catechism, 339)

I've talked about passenger pigeons, dodos, hydraulic mining, and the London death fog, before. (January 16, 2015)

A short ramble about Deuteronomy and ownership, and I'm done.

Respect, Resources, and Looking Ahead


Exodus 20:15, Deuteronomy 5:19, and Matthew 19:18 say "you shall not steal."

Owning property is fine. It helps maintain our freedom and dignity, and gives a measure of security. But the right to private ownership isn't absolute.

Other folks matter, too: and stealing is wrong, even if it's called something else — or the victim is someone who isn't here yet. (Catechism, 2401-2449)

Respecting the "integrity of creation" means taking care of this world and its resources, for the common good of all humanity: including everyone who will follow us. (Catechism, 2415)

We've made — and learned from — mistakes. We have a great deal left to learn.

After the Great Smog of '52, the United Kingdom's Parliament cobbled together the Clean Air Act 1956. America's 1955 Air Pollution Control Act and 1963 Clean Air Act were some of my country's efforts to clean up mistakes made during the first generations of industrial development.

'None of the above' are perfect solutions. But I am convinced that we can keep learning, and build a better world:
1 More about the 1972 Rapid Cities, South Dakota, flood:
2 Northeastern China's heavy industries still use coal, with familiar results:
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Sunday, October 25, 2015

New Evangelization: Fire and Light

"The New Evangelization calls each of us to deepen our faith, believe in the Gospel message and go forth to proclaim the Gospel. The focus of the New Evangelization calls all Catholics to be evangelized and then go forth to evangelize...."
("New Evangelization," USCCB1)
In a way, the "new" evangelization isn't new. Matthew 28:19 means the same thing now that it did two millennia ago.

But it isn't the first, or the 11th, century any more. We're in the 21st, and the world is changing.

This isn't a new situation:
"...the world is on fire. Men try to condemn Christ once again, as it were, for they bring a thousand false witnesses against him. They would raze his Church to the ground.... No, my sisters, this is no time to treat with God for things of little importance...."
(Camino de perfección, 1, 5; St. Teresa of Avila; quoted by Benedict XVI on July 16, 2012)1)
St. Teresa of Avila wrote Camino de perfección around the middle of the 16th century.

The 20th century and the first 15 years of the 21st haven't been 'just like' 16th century Europe's experience: but I think there are some parallels — Violence in the Middle East and Europe, social and political unrest, new military and information technology.

Machiavelli's The Prince reflected, at least, the 'principles be hanged: I'll get what I want' political attitude that's still with us.

The Protestant Reformation let northern princes set up their own state-operated churches, like Henry VIII's Church of England. The Münster Rebellion was, arguably, an unsuccessful private-sector effort to do the same thing on a local scale.

Remarkably, "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" wasn't banned until six decades after its publication. As Grace Hopper said, "humans are allergic to change." I've discussed Copernicus and newfangled ideas before. A lot. (February 20, 2015; January 9, 2015; July 18, 2014)

Getting back to 'today,' we've gone from zeppelins and neon lights to the Internet and industrial robots in a few generations. Europeans slaughtered each other in wholesale lots, twice, abandoned their empires, and are trying to cooperate for a change.

The United Nations has lasted seven decades, with 193 members and two observer states.

I don't think the UN is the "competent and sufficiently powerful authority at the international level" that Bl. Pope Paul VI mentioned in "Gaudium et spes," but it's a start. (September 27, 2015; May 1, 2015; August 24, 2014)

St. Teresa of Avila: Reform, Yes; "Going Back," No


Anxiety comes easily in times when society is in upheaval.

I'm cautiously optimistic, though, about the future. That's partly because I think today's society should change. The trick is pushing change in a good direction.

A little over three years ago, Benedict XVI talked about St. Teresa of Avila's era: and how she can be a role model for Catholics today.
"...In promoting a 'radical return' to a more austere form of Carmelite life, St. Teresa sought 'to create a form of life which favored a personal encounter with the Lord,' the Pope explained.

"Rather than harking back to the past, however, St. Teresa presented 'a new way of being Carmelite' to 'a world which was also new,' Pope Benedict observed. He quoted the Spanish saint's own writings to her religious sisters in which she summed up the 'difficult times' in which they lived.

" 'The world is on fire,' wrote St. Teresa of post-Reformation Europe. 'Men try to condemn Christ once again. They would raze His Church to the ground. No, my sisters, this is no time to treat with God for things of little importance.'

" 'Does this luminous and engaging call, written more than four centuries ago by the mystic saint, not sound familiar in our own times?' asked Pope Benedict in response...."
(David Kerr, CNA/EWTN News (July 16, 2012))
If I thought we had a perfect society in the 'good old days' before 1954, 1933, 1848, or some other imagined golden age, I'd be protesting rock music, promoting prohibition, or trying to keep my wife from voting.

Let's remember what "reform" means: "to improve by alteration, correction of error, or removal of defects; put into a better form or condition." (thefreedictionary.com)

We can't go back to the 'good old days,' which is just as well. We had problems then, too, and I'm drifting off-topic: which assumes I had a topic in mind to begin with.

Let's see: "the world is on fire," Münster Rebellion, zeppelins. Right. Got it.

Priorities and Love


I'm a Catholic layman, so I'm part of the Church's front line, permeating "social, political, and economic realities with the demands of Christian doctrine and life." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 899)

I'm Catholic, though, so that doesn't mean trying to ram my subculture's preferences and customs down everyone's throat. (August 30, 2015; September 7, 2014)

My top priority is knowing and loving God. (Catechism, 1)

I'm also expected to pass on the best news we've ever had: God loves us and wants to adopt us. All of us. (John 3:17; Romans 8:15; Ephesians 1:3-5; Catechism, 1-3, 52, 1825)

As an adopted child of God, I'm expected to reflect God's qualities: which is pretty much the opposite of easy. (Catechism, 339, 355, 369-370, 386-409)

If I take God, and my faith, seriously, I'll —

Love God, and love my neighbor. (Matthew 5:43-44; Mark 12:28-31; Luke 10:25-30; Catechism, 1825)

See everybody as my neighbor. (Matthew 5:43-44; Mark 12:28-31; Luke 10:25-30; Catechism, 1825)

Treat others as I want to be treated. (Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31; Catechism, 1789)

As I've said before, it's simple: not easy. (October 12, 2014)

"The Light Shines in the Darkness"


The Catholic Church is old: ancient. For two millennia, we've had the same basic message: Jesus stopped being dead. Heaven is open to us. (John 20; Catechism, 638-655, 1026)

This is a big deal.
"1 2 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

"He was in the beginning with God.

"3 All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be

"through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race;

"4 the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
(John 1:1-5)
'Ancient' and 'consistent' isn't the same as 'decrepit' and 'outdated.' Our basic message hasn't changed. How we present it hasn't stopped changing. (May 31, 2015)

Benedict XVI said we're supposed to use "...methods free from inertia...." I think he's right.
"...In the 'exhilarating task' of the New Evangelization, he said, the example of St. Teresa should inspire all Christians because she 'evangelized unhesitatingly, showing tireless ardor, employing methods free from inertia and using expressions bathed in light.'

" 'This remains important in the current time,' said the Pope, 'when there is a pressing need for the baptized to renew their hearts through individual prayer in which, following the guidance of St. Teresa, they also focus on contemplation of Christ's blessed humanity as the only way to reach the glory of God.'"
(David Kerr, CNA/EWTN News)
I don't know how much "tireless ardor" I can manage, and I can't think of an expression "bathed in light" for wrapping up this post — so I'll repeat one of my favorite bits from the Bible.
"While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.

"They said, 'Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.' "
(Acts 1:10-11)
Two millennia later, we're still working, watching, and waiting. If we'd been following anyone else, we'd have given up long ago. But Jesus isn't anyone else. And that's another topic. Topics. (April 5, 2015; November 30, 2014; October 5, 2014)

Remembering what matters:
1 Background:
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Monday, October 5, 2015

Taking a Break, Again


(From NASA/ISS, used w/o permission.)

Like I said a week ago, I'm taking a week off. Maybe two. (September 28, 2015)

I figure I'll reset my 'vacation' clock so it starts today. Writing about last week's tragic mass killing at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, took me away from light reading and serious goofing off. (October 4, 2015)

Then the second half of Synod 14 started yesterday: along with the usual breathless mainstream news coverage.

I'll be writing about it — after it's over, most likely. I'm seriously considering taking the rest of the month off, but like I said before: I can hold my breath, or not write, for a while; but eventually I have to breathe or write again.

About the Synod: I'm not awash in angst, drowning in despair, or wailing like a banshee. That's because I kept wondering how the Catholic Church could possibly have survived for two millennia. Eventually I knew too much, had to join, and that's another topic. (September 13, 2014)

Where was I? Tragedy, writing, Synod, angst. Right. I'm not howling like a banshee because I know that bishops can't rewrite the Decalogue, or change anything else in the deposit of faith. (October 12, 2014)

The Holy Spirit has been holding us up for two millennia, and I don't think that'll change this year. We were around before Rome fell. We've kept going, in spite of wars, plagues, and occasionally-appalling leadership.

Saintly Popes impressed me: but it was the anything-but-saintly ones who helped convince me that the Church had outside help. Human institutions simply don't last this long.(July 13, 2014)

I prefer getting information about events like Synod 14 from outfits that have a clue about my faith:
I'm reasonably certain that Synod 14's documents will not boil down to "everything's fine the way it was in 1950: let's all go back then."

I'm also reasonably certain that folks who see 'the good old days' through rose-colored glasses, or their parents' tinted specs, will be shocked and horrified by whatever the Synod does say.

Some may decide that they're the only 'real' Catholics left in the whole world, and set up their very own little mini-church. That's happened before, and that's yet another topic.

Me? I'll read documents — the final drafts — coming from Synod 14, and keep following the Pope. More accurately, I'll keep following the authority our Lord gave Peter, held by the current Pope: and that's yet again another topic.

More, mostly about family, Synod 14, and being human:
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Friday, September 18, 2015

New Species, Old Burial Site

Scientists from University of the Witwatersrand found skeletal remains in South Africa's Rising Star Cave.

This is a big deal, since it's the largest collection of hominin bones found in a single spot: and these folks may have been burying their dead 2,500,000 years ago.
  1. Homo Naledi
  2. And Now for Something Completely Different

Ancestry and "Flickerings"



(From H. Strickland Constable/Harper's Weekly, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)

A substantial portion of my ancestors are "of low type" — according to an 1899 Harper's Weekly illustration:
"The Iberians are believed to have been originally an African race, who thousands of years ago spread themselves through Spain over Western Europe. Their remains are found in the barrows, or burying places, in sundry parts of these countries. The skulls are of low prognathous type. They came to Ireland and mixed with the natives of the South and West, who themselves are supposed to have been of low type and descendants of savages of the Stone Age, who, in consequence of isolation from the rest of the world, had never been out-competed in the healthy struggle of life, and thus made way, according to the laws of nature, for superior races."
(Harper's Weekly, 1899, via Wikimedia Commons)
As one of my ancestors said of another, "he doesn't have family: he's Irish." I most sincerely do not miss the 'good old days.' (September 11, 2015)

Americans have, for the most part, come to accept the Irish — these days it's Middle Eastern folks that evoke fear and loathing among some 'real' Americans. Me? I'll start being concerned if folks stop trying to break into our country, and that's another topic.

Between knowing my family history, growing up in the '60s, and reading about efforts to protect the "Aryan race," I'm a bit dubious when scientists make assumptions about folks who don't look British.

The last I checked, scientists are still debating whether flower petals and pigments found at Neanderthal burial sites were placed there intentionally, or 'just happened' to get buried with the bodies.

Some arguments for the 'Neanderthals didn't do this' position are, I think, reasonable. Others remind me of that Harper's Weekly illustration, and Boule's imaginative reconstruction. (October 31, 2014)

Neanderthal burials weren't the oldest evidence of folks acting like humans. Leiden University biologist Josephine Joordens recently took a very close look at a seashell collected in the 1800s: and found a half-million-year-old set of zigzag marks. (December 12, 2014)

I strongly suspect that "flickerings of abstract thought" have been going on for a very long time. (September 5, 2014)

I'll be talking about research published last week, which may show that we've been burying our dead for upwards of 2,500,000 years.

"Even Greater Admiration"


I'm Catholic, so I take Sacred Scripture seriously. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 101-133)

That isn't even close to believing that the Bible was written from a poetically-challenged American viewpoint.

I could be a Christian and believe that the universe began on the nightfall before October 23, 4004 BC.

But I don't have to ignore what we're learning about God's creation.

Faith and science get along just fine, or should. Scientific discoveries are invitations to "even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator." (Catechism, 283)
"The beauty of the universe: The order and harmony of the created world results from the diversity of beings and from the relationships which exist among them. Man discovers them progressively as the laws of nature. They call forth the admiration of scholars. The beauty of creation reflects the infinite beauty of the Creator and ought to inspire the respect and submission of man's intellect and will."
(Catechism, 341)
Like I keep saying, studying this universe and developing new technology is part of being human. It's what we do. (Catechism, 2293-2295)

Believing that we are created in the image of God, male and female, means that each of us is a person: not something, but someone. We are made from the stuff of this world, and filled with God's 'breath:' matter and spirit, body and soul. (Genesis 1:27, 2:7; Catechism, 355, 357, 362-368)

I read Genesis 1:1-2:4 and 2:4-25 as poetic explanation of God's role in our existence: among other things.

What's been changing in the last few centuries is how much we know about the "clay" God used. (July 24, 2015; December 5, 2014)

The Last 555,000,000 Years: Briefly


Nothing quite like Dickinsonia costata is around today. Scientists think it was an animal, a fungus, or something else — a member of an "extinct kingdom."

Scientists currently categorize life into three domains: bacteria, archaea, and eukaryota.

We're eukaryotes: critters with cells containing a nucleus and other organelles enclosed in membranes.

Animals, plants, and fungi are eukaryotes: and so are critters that are 'none of the above,' like slime molds and excavata.

Don't bother trying to remember those names, there will not be a test on this.

The point is that life has changed in the 555,000,000-odd years since Dickinsonia costata and other Ediacara biota flourished.

Something dreadful happened about 66,000,000 years back, one of Earth's glacial epochs started some 63,000,000 years later, and we started learning that Aristotle wasn't always right a few centuries ago. (July 31, 2015; February 20, 2015; May 8, 2015)

A Calvinist named Ussher published "Annalium pars posterior" in 1654, which said that Creation happened at nightfall on 22 October 4004 BC. Ussher based his numbers on painstaking study of the Bible.

If steadfast faith in Ussher was what held Christianity up, my faith would have started crumbling shortly after 1778, when when Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, published "Les époques de la nature."

I've talked about Earth, exoplanets, Aristotle, and getting a grip, before. (July 31, 2015)

Origins


Turns out, this universe is about 13,798,000,000 years old, and Earth formed right around 4,540,000,000 years back.

The cosmic scale of this universe doesn't bother me. We've known it was big and old for a long time:
"3 Terrible and awesome are you, stronger than the ancient mountains."
(Psalms 76:5)
"He sits enthroned above the vault of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; He stretches out the heavens like a veil, spreads them out like a tent to dwell in."
(Isaiah 40:22)
"3 Raise your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth below; Though the heavens grow thin like smoke, the earth wears out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies, My salvation shall remain forever and my justice shall never be dismayed."
(Isaiah 51:6)
"4 Indeed, before you the whole universe is as a grain from a balance, or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth.

"But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook the sins of men that they may repent.

"For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for what you hated, you would not have fashioned.

"And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it; or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you? "
(Wisdom 11:22-25)
I might not have imagined a creation on this scale, but I'm not God: putting it mildly.

Now, about "clay."

One of the Genesis creation stories has God making us out of clay. (Genesis 2:7)

I could insist that God magically transformed "materials having a particle size of less than 2 micrometers ... [or] the family of minerals that has similar chemical compositions and common crystal structural characteristics"1 into a human being.

I think acknowledging what we're learning about this astounding creation makes more sense.

I've talked about truth and secondary causes before, too. (September 11, 2015)

About human origins: it's become increasingly obvious that the "clay" we're made from is the other living organisms here on Earth. Acknowledging this reality and God's role in creation make sense: to me, anyway.2

Now, finally, a newly-discovered "human-like species."

1. Homo Naledi



(From John Hawks, via Thinkstock/BBC News, used w/o permission.)
(BBC News)
"New human-like species discovered in S Africa"
Pallab Ghosh, BBC News (September 10, 2015)

"Scientists have discovered a new human-like species in a burial chamber deep in a cave system in South Africa.

"The discovery of 15 partial skeletons is the largest single discovery of its type in Africa.

"The researchers claim that the discovery will change ideas about our human ancestors.

"The studies which have been published in the journal Elife also indicate that these individuals were capable of ritual behaviour...."
Scientists found partial skeletal remains of 15 individuals near the bottom of a 12-meter vertical shaft, deep within a cave. They were male and female, from infants to elderly: and they didn't look quite like us.

The only other fossils in the chamber were "micro-mammals:" critters a whole lot smaller than we are.

The least-unlikely explanation for how the bones got there is that someone dropped them down the shaft.

The bones didn't have claw or tooth marks, no known predator selectively buries human or human-like bones, and there's no sign of flooding that would deposit remains there.


(From Paul H. G. M. Dirks et al; via Wikimedia Commons; used w/o permission.)
(Cross-section sketch of Dinaledi chamber.)

"An Extraordinary Experience"



(From John Hawks, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)
("Homo naledi has a mixture of primitive and more modern features"
(BBC News))
"...The species, which has been named naledi, has been classified in the grouping, or genus, Homo, to which modern humans belong.

"The researchers who made the find have not been able to find out how long ago these creatures lived - but the scientist who led the team, Prof Lee Berger, told BBC News that he believed they could be among the first of our kind (genus Homo) and could have lived in Africa up to three million years ago.

"Like all those working in the field, he is at pains to avoid the term 'missing link'. Prof Berger says naledi could be thought of as a 'bridge' between more primitive bipedal primates and humans.

" 'We'd gone in with the idea of recovering one fossil. That turned into multiple fossils. That turned into the discovery of multiple skeletons and multiple individuals.

" 'And so by the end of that remarkable 21-day experience, we had discovered the largest assemblage of fossil human relatives ever discovered in the history of the continent of Africa. That was an extraordinary experience.'..."
(Pallab Ghosh, BBC News)
The odds are pretty good that these Homo naledi lived "up to three million years ago."

As of September 10, the bones haven't been tested for age. These scientists base their age estimate on similarities to fossils found from that era.

What's exciting about this find is that we're probably looking at one community's interments — and the largest single collection of genus Homo fossils found so far. We'll almost certainly learn a great deal by studying them.

Hands, Feet, and Humanity's Story




(From Peter Schmid, via Thinkstock/BBC News, used w/o permission.)
"...'What we are seeing is more and more species of creatures that suggests that nature was experimenting with how to evolve humans, thus giving rise to several different types of human-like creatures originating in parallel in different parts of Africa. Only one line eventually survived to give rise to us,' he [Professor Lee Berger] told BBC News....

" 'We are going to know when its children were weaned, when they were born, how they developed, the speed at which they developed, the difference between males and females at every developmental stage from infancy, to childhood to teens to how they aged and how they died.'..."
(Pallab Ghosh, BBC News)
The phrase "nature was experimenting with how to evolve humans" is an example of anthropomorphism: "Attribution of human motivation, characteristics, or behavior to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena." (TheFreeDictionary.com)

Professor Berger may believe that nature consciously experiments — but I suspect it's more likely that he intended 'nature experimenting' as a metaphor.

He may agree with scientists who still see human evolution as a "march of progress," from a primitive non-human primate straight through to today's model.

That made more sense back in 1965, when Time-Life published "Early Man."

The last I heard, folks living today have DNA from Neanderthals, Denisovans, and another group whose bodies we haven't found yet.

Scientists still say that Neanderthals, Denisovans, and Red Deer Cave people, whose DNA we haven't found yet, are different "species."

I think human history is a whole lot more complicated than we imagined: and that many or most of the different "species" in our genus are more like today's ethnic groups. As I said last week, there isn't as much regional variation these days. (September 11, 2015; July 11, 2014)

"Wonderful Things"



(From National Geographic, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)
("Homo naledi may have looked something like this"
(BBC News))
"...Among them was Marina Elliott. She showed me the narrow entrance to the cave and then described how she felt when she first saw the chamber.

" 'The first time I went to the excavation site I likened it to the feeling that Howard Carter must have had when he opened Tutankhamen's tomb - that you are in a very confined space and then it opens up and all of a sudden all you can see are all these wonderful things - it was incredible,' she said.

"Ms Elliott and her colleagues believe that they have found a burial chamber. The Homo naledi people appear to have carried individuals deep into the cave system and deposited them in the chamber - possibly over generations.

"If that is correct, it suggests naledi was capable of ritual behaviour and possibly symbolic thought - something that until now had only been associated with much later humans within the last 200,000 years.

"Prof Berger said: 'We are going to have to contemplate some very deep things about what it is to be human. Have we been wrong all along about this kind of behaviour that we thought was unique to modern humans?

"'Did we inherit that behaviour from deep time and is it something that (the earliest humans) have always been able to do?'

"Prof Berger believes that the discovery of a creature that has such a mix of modern and primitive features should make scientists rethink the definition of what it is to be human - so much so that he himself is reluctant to describe naledi as human.

"Other researchers working in the field, such as Prof Stringer, believe that naledi should be described as a primitive human. But he agrees that current theories need to be re-evaluated and that we have only just scratched the surface of the rich and complex story of human evolution."
(Pallab Ghosh, BBC News)
There's a lot going on here.

I liked the reference to Howard Carter. That echoes my perception of this universe: filled with "wonderful things," for those who take time to notice. (January 2, 2015; October 5, 2014)

I think that Professors Berger and Stringer are right — that we need to reconsider what we mean by "human."

Unlike Berger, however, I see Homo neledi as 'human' — most likely.

Those folks weren't as big as the average person today, around five feet tall; and their brains were around 500 cubic centimeters, compared to 1,200 cubic centimeters for today's model.

Our fingers are straighter, and we're probably smarter than Homo neledi. But it looks like they interred their dead, a very 'human' action. I don't think I'm 'more human' than someone with a lower IQ — and my family history strongly disinclines me to reject folks based on appearance.

About the artist's representation of Homo neledi, I think the nose may be a best-estimate. That piece of the skull apparently hasn't been found yet.

More:
  • Wikipedia
  • "Geological and taphonomic context for the new hominin species Homo naledi from the Dinaledi Chamber, South Africa"
    Paul H. G. M. Dirks, Lee R Berger, Eric M Roberts, Jan D Kramers, John Hawks, Patrick S Randolph-Quinney, Marina Elliott, Charles M Musiba, Steven E Churchill, Darryl J de Ruiter, Peter Schmid, Lucinda R Backwell, Georgy A Belyanin, Pedro Boshoff, K Lindsay Hunter, Elen M Feuerriegel, Alia Gurtov, James du G Harrison, Rick Hunter, Ashley Kruger, Hannah Morris, Tebogo V Makhubela, Becca Peixotto, Steven Tucker; eLIFE (September 10, 2015)
  • "Homo naledi, a new species of the genus Homo from the Dinaledi Chamber, South Africa"
    Lee R Berger, John Hawks, Darryl J de Ruiter, Steven E Churchill, Peter Schmid, Lucas K Delezene, Tracy L Kivell, Heather M Garvin, Scott A Williams, Jeremy M DeSilva, Matthew M Skinner, Charles M Musiba, Noel Cameron, Trenton W Holliday, William Harcourt-Smith, Rebecca R Ackermann, Markus Bastir, Barry Bogin, Debra Bolter, Juliet Brophy, Zachary D Cofran, Kimberly A Congdon, Andrew S Deane, Mana Dembo, Michelle Drapeau, Marina C Elliott, Elen M Feuerriegel, Daniel Garcia-Martinez, David J Green, Alia Gurtov, Joel D Irish, Ashley Kruger, Myra F Laird, Damiano Marchi, Marc R Meyer, Shahed Nalla, Enquye W Negash, Caley M Orr, Davorka Radovcic, Lauren Schroeder, Jill E Scott, Zachary Throckmorton, Matthew W Tocheri, Caroline VanSickle, Christopher S Walker, Pianpian Wei, Bernhard Zipfel; eLIFE (September 10, 2015)

2. And Now for Something Completely Different



(From Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters, used w/o permission.)
("Fossils of a newly discovered ancient species, named 'Homo naledi', are pictured during their unveiling outside Johannesburg September 10, 2015."
(Reuters))
"Fossil first: ancient human relative may have buried its dead"
Ed Stoddard, Reuters (September 10, 2015)

"Humanity's claim to uniqueness just suffered another setback: scientists reported on Thursday that a newly discovered ancient species related to humans also appeared to bury its dead.

"Fossils of the creature were unearthed in a deep cave near the famed sites of Sterkfontein and Swartkrans, treasure troves 50 km (30 miles) northwest of Johannesburg that have yielded pieces of the puzzle of human evolution for decades.

" 'It was right under our nose in the most explored valley of the continent of Africa,' said Lee Berger of the Evolutionary Studies Institute at Johannesburg's University of the Witwatersrand.

"The new species - described in the scientific journal eLife (elifesciences.org/) and National Geographic magazine - has been named 'Homo naledi', in honor of the 'Rising Star' cave where it was found. Naledi means 'star' in South Africa's Sesotho language. ..."
To Ed Stoddard's credit, this Reuters article gets around to some details of this discovery. Maybe an editor insisted on that silly lead paragraph. Or maybe the folks at Reuters felt it wouldn't be polite to contradict a Deputy President:
"...'Today, we unearth our past. We are not exceptional. We are not the only ones who are able to bury our dead,' South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said at news conference where the announcement was made a few kms (miles) from the site...."
(Ed Stoddard, Reuters)
The Homo naledi site may be the oldest instance we've found of folks interring their dead, and Homo neledi is almost certainly a new "species."

I'll grant that some scientists still aren't convinced that Neanderthals buried their dead.

It's true that Neanderthal burial sites are less elaborate than those of folks who look more like us, but I think it's time to say goodbye to Boule's Neanderthal 'ape-man.' And that's yet another topic. (September 11, 2015; October 31, 2014)

More:

Remembering Jane Goodall


That's a Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters photo of Professor Lee Berger with a replica of a Homo naledi skull.

The 'humans aren't unique' theme included a look back to when non-human tool use was a new idea:
"...This is not the first time that the study of our relatives, extinct or living, has yielded evidence that humans do not have the monopoly on certain kinds of behavior.

"Jane Goodall in 1960 famously observed chimpanzees, our closest living relative, using grass stems for termite 'fishing', the first recorded use of a crude tool by non-humans...."
(Ed Stoddard, Reuters)
Since then, scientists started noticing that quite a few critters — insects, fish, cephalopods, reptiles, birds, and mammals — use tools:
We're still working out definitions as to exactly what "tool use" is. Interestingly, some other primates "make" tools — sharpening a stick or removing leaves and twigs from a branch.

Getting a Grip


Judging from this Reuters article's tone, sound and fury over evolution hasn't abated since the mid-19th century.

Some loudly-religious folks feel that science in general, and evolution in particular, is bad: like the person who warned me about the "religion of the Antichrist," evolution.

That attitude may help account for other folks assuming that all religious belief requires ignorance, irrationality, or both. (July 17, 2015; April 14, 2010)

I'm Catholic, so accepting reality is an important part of my faith: whether or not I like a particular facet of the real world.

Like I keep saying, the universe is billions, not thousands, of years old; Earth isn't flat; Adam and Eve weren't German; poetry isn't science; and thinking is not a sin.

And — despite what you may have heard — Dante did not drop Ulysses into the eighth circle of Hell for being curious. Which is yet again another topic. (July 24, 2015; March 29, 2015; August 1, 2014)

The Victorian-era brouhaha over evolution wasn't the first time folks grabbed a piece of truth and dashed off the edge of reason.

You've probably read this before — some European scholars said that we may not be standing on the only world back in the last half of the 13th century. Others said this couldn't be true, because Aristotle said there was only one world.

The Church stepped in, forbidding Catholics from claiming that Earth is the only world. Proposition 27/219 of 1277 was later annulled: but not the principle that God's God, Aristotle's not. (July 31, 2015; February 23, 2014)

We didn't have all the answers some 2,600 years back, when quite a few folks thought we lived on a flat plate.

We didn't have all the answers when Anaximander, Empedocles, and Darwin said critters — including us — change over time. And we don't have all the answers today. (May 29, 2015)

But as long as we keep acting like human beings, we'll keep learning more. I don't have a problem with that, since I believe that God is large and in charge:
"...God, the Creator and Ruler of all things, is also the Author of the Scriptures - and that therefore nothing can be proved either by physical science or archaeology which can really contradict the Scriptures. ... Even if the difficulty is after all not cleared up and the discrepancy seems to remain, the contest must not be abandoned; truth cannot contradict truth...."
("Providentissimus Deus,"1 Pope Leo XIII (November 18, 1893) [emphasis mine])
Still more of my take on human origins:
1 "Environmental Characteristics of Clays and Clay Mineral Deposits," USGS

2 Life on Earth is very modular. Humans are unique, but we share the vast majority of our genes with every other living thing.

I could be shocked and horrified by this, and reject science as 'Satanic,' or tell God that I don't approve. Neither alternative seems reasonable. As a Catholic, I don't have to choose between reality and faith.

Here's part of what the Church says about genetics, evolution, and getting a grip:
"...Since it has been demonstrated that all living organisms on earth are genetically related, it is virtually certain that all living organisms have descended from this first organism. Converging evidence from many studies in the physical and biological sciences furnishes mounting support for some theory of evolution to account for the development and diversification of life on earth, while controversy continues over the pace and mechanisms of evolution. While the story of human origins is complex and subject to revision, physical anthropology and molecular biology combine to make a convincing case for the origin of the human species in Africa about 150,000 years ago in a humanoid population of common genetic lineage. However it is to be explained, the decisive factor in human origins was a continually increasing brain size, culminating in that of homo sapiens. With the development of the human brain, the nature and rate of evolution were permanently altered: with the introduction of the uniquely human factors of consciousness, intentionality, freedom and creativity, biological evolution was recast as social and cultural evolution.

"64. Pope John Paul II stated some years ago that 'new knowledge leads to the recognition of the theory of evolution as more than a hypothesis. It is indeed remarkable that this theory has been progressively accepted by researchers following a series of discoveries in various fields of knowledge' ('Message to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on Evolution' 1996). In continuity with previous twentieth century papal teaching on evolution (especially Pope Pius XII's encyclical Humani Generis ), the Holy Father's message acknowledges that there are 'several theories of evolution' that are 'materialist, reductionist and spiritualist' and thus incompatible with the Catholic faith. It follows that the message of Pope John Paul II cannot be read as a blanket approbation of all theories of evolution, including those of a neo-Darwinian provenance which explicitly deny to divine providence any truly causal role in the development of life in the universe. Mainly concerned with evolution as it 'involves the question of man,' however, Pope John Paul's message is specifically critical of materialistic theories of human origins and insists on the relevance of philosophy and theology for an adequate understanding of the 'ontological leap' to the human which cannot be explained in purely scientific terms. The Church's interest in evolution thus focuses particularly on 'the conception of man' who, as created in the image of God, 'cannot be subordinated as a pure means or instrument either to the species or to society.' As a person created in the image of God, he is capable of forming relationships of communion with other persons and with the triune God, as well as of exercising sovereignty and stewardship in the created universe. The implication of these remarks is that theories of evolution and of the origin of the universe possess particular theological interest when they touch on the doctrines of the creation ex nihilo and the creation of man in the image of God...."
("Communion and Stewardship: Human Persons Created in the Image of God," International Theological Commission (July 23, 2004))
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Marian Apparition: Champion, Wisconsin

Background:Posts in this blog: In the news:

What's That Doing in a Nice Catholic Blog?

From time to time, a service that I use will display links to - odd - services and retailers.

I block a few of the more obvious dubious advertisers.

For example: psychic anything, numerology, mediums, and related practices are on the no-no list for Catholics. It has to do with the Church's stand on divination. I try to block those ads.

Sometime regrettable advertisements get through, anyway.

Bottom line? What that service displays reflects the local culture's norms, - not Catholic teaching.