I had no idea that Los Angeles could get occasional tropical cyclones. I just read that one hit in 1939 and killed 40 people in Long Beach. There was another that swept the coast from San Diego to Long Beach in the 1850s. wow. There's a chance that it might rain here next week if we get remnant from some sort of tropical storm, depression, remnant, most-likely not hurricane Dean. The only limiting factor for tropical cyclones in southern california is sea surface temperatures. During El nino events the pacific is a lot warmer. The intensity of these events is expected to increase in magnitude as long as global mean temperatures continue their current rise. In light of current events, (see Brazil below), it wouldn't be out of the question to see a low grade tropical cyclone hit Santa Monica bay during the fall preceding the next el nino event.

I've been fixated on environmental change the past few days. It's a natural fascination but some aspects of being a spectator to it all can still come off as being sadistic.

Some facts:
-Last year was the first year ever that a recorded Hurricane hit Brazil. (Denied by Brazilian gov't but confirmed by remote sensing imagery).
-Coldplay payed for carbon offsets in the form of planted mango trees in India to offset the release of their album and tour last year. Nearly all of the mango trees are now dead because they were not planted in suitable conditions.

Okay, so the whole carbon offset fad is really enraging in general as it seems to function as some sort of justification for the excessively extravagant lifestyles of the rich. Carbon offsetting is used by tons of celebrities so they can appear to be environmentalists. It's an awful band-aid fix. There are a lot of things like this going on right now. Stories touting the salvation of humankind in the form of cane-sugar ethanol are becoming more and more frequent. Although it is true that cane-sugar is superior to corn in terms of , extraction as well as efficiency, what these articles fail to mention is all the problems that would accompany a global economy that relies on sugar cane ethanol for a large portion of its fuel needs. There are two main problems, one, the increased strain on the land for cane-sugar would doubtlessly lead to an accelerated encroachment into the amazon basin. The destruction of more tropical rain forest in the name of minimizing our collective carbon footprint is horribly short-sighted when these same forests function as gigantic carbon sinks. Not to mention the importance the area might hold to the aboriginal groups, flora and fauna that live there. The second major flaw is the impact the shift to cane-sugar ethanol would have on agriculture. A shift of the magnitude proposed by many would send the prices of many crops skyrocketing, heavy government subsidies would serve as partial relief. Maybe Ted Turner and Sheryl Crow could will buy more carbon offsetting credits for their private jet travel and the Amazon basin could be reforested entirely with wilting mango trees. Surely that is the solution. "I am doing my part" they will all say.

-Al Gore and others are still trying to claim that it is possible for industrialized societies to make the fundamental shifts required to become much more sustainable without any economic sacrifice.

This is the one that really bothers me. This will never happen. This is the key to our collective failure globally. Business and profits come first. Property rights = pursuit of happiness. blah blah blah. Corporate greed in the name of personal freedoms while simultaneously our government seizes its opportunity to gut our civil liberties to the point that nearly any form of domestic spying, internment, torture and asset freezing can now be both justifiable as well as legal if invoking concerns relating to "the global war on terrorism".

I am in no way purporting to be perfect by offering up these criticisms but when our most public,"environmental leaders", spew shit like this from there multi-million dollar mouths it makes me frustrated.

It is my day off and I think I might go to the beach. I wish I had a parasol.