World

_20200303_224853what would happen if the Earth was tipped up on its axis?

The world would spin so the equator was spinning at nintey degrees or so to where it is now. Every twenty four hours it would still spin West to East as it does now, but the Sun would not rise and set every day. I think it would only do that when the Earth was mid way between when either pole faced the Sun. Because the Earth rotates round the Sun. So the North or North East or North West would face the Sun for half  of the year and the South, South East and South West for the other half.

So what would happen to the poles? Even now, because the Earth is tipped at an angle and doesn’t rotate vertically, we get summers and winters. So there  twenty four hour days in the polar summer, and twenty four hour nights in polar winter. If the Earth was tipped over more the twenty four hour days and nights would last for months. The side away from the Sun would be colder, the side towards it would be hotter. Perhaps all the ice would melt at one pole and freeze much more at the other? Who knows? I’m sure scientists would have the answer. Thankfully we don’t face that question. Sadly we do face climate crisis. We need to sort out the current situation. How? I don’t know the answer to that. But perhaps we should follow what teachers put on school reports. We must try harder?!

Cold

_20200210_123927

Oh its a bit cold today. There is sleet falling and its very grey overhead. I’m sitting shivering a bit, I have to pay my fuel bills soon and I’m trying to minimise how much I use. So the heating is on a timer and I’m wearing a cardigan to keep warm. The temperature inside is about 17°C (outside its about 5°C). But it’s been another mild winter. It’s only been frosty a few times and we’ve had no lying snow. I’ve got things to do so I can leave the heating off till later. When I was younger I wasn’t bothered by the cold. I lived in house with no central heating, and we just had single glazing. So I’m a lot better off than I used to be.

I do think about the majority of the people on the planet who are not as lucky as me. It’s a sad situation where a few billionaires can have as much money as half the earth’s population. In the meantime my hubby just turned a light on, but left one on in the kitchen…. Bah humbug!

Can you know how I feel?

_20200208_112515

Can you know how I feel?

The fog that ties me down?

The tight knots in my head,

A lack of wanting to do things.

My mind wanders away to rest.

Huddled in grey mist,

Finding solace in thought.

Do you know what I can do?

How I can break my bonds.

Feel lightened by relief?

A choice of turning in and tuning out.

Or hold tight until life returns….

Freeing me from these thoughts.

Let’s be Optimistic!

DSC_2390_optimized (4)

Oh let’s be Optimistic,

Let’s have a laugh

Let’s not see the real world

Let’s have a blast!

Who cares if the world burns,

If the Elephants are gone

Let’s all have a party,

I’ll bring my gun!

Now the world is hotter

I can leave my home.

Holiday so far away

Maybe go and roam.

The Antarctic is melting

Trees burnt down to the ground,

If we see a single leaf

Optimism and relief?

Think of the environment

Keep it safe, in peace.

 

Tee design

©sketch-1579274176395

 

Day 17 of the challenge on Facebook, today it was an ethical tee shirt design. I said I would like the world to concentrate on finding peace, and supporting nature by cleaning up the environment and taking the climate crisis seriously. I did think of adding flames but that seemed too much. My only concern is the tee shirts would have to be ethically sourced, carbon neutral and any workers paid a living wage. Too much to hope for?

X

Last decade had highest ever recorded temperatures.

_20200115_181148

Three maps, dated 1970-74, 1997-2001, 2015-19. There were others but I didn’t snap them in time. So we are getting hotter. Life will change, and possibly catastrophically if we don’t do something. I remember doing a collage about population growth in the 1970’s. I did a picture of earth with a line of people snaking away from it towards the moon. I’ve always been conscious of the environment. I was a tree warden in about 1975 and told people off for damaging trees. I think I got carried away once and really told some boys off about their behaviour. Fast forward several decades, and things are only getting worse. X

Green skies

_20200104_013144

Something bloomed into the sky after the meteorite fell. A green mist rose from the sea and started spreading across the land. For a while it lay in the hollows and valleys, but steadily crept higher.

People noticed it and shied away from it. They travelled inland and up hills and mountains. Soon they were isolated, no one would cross the green air.

The small islands of high land topping the green murk gradually were overcome. People breathed their last air as it rose, scrabbling for height, but succumbing to the green gas. They were suffocating and dying.

Asian mountains stayed above the haze for a while longer. But like everywhere else the human population passed away. Eventually the only survivors were left alone, high above Earth, in the space station. There was nothing left for them to do but wait for the end.

But then a miracle (if after all the death that could be said) happened. The gas started to clear. After three weeks it had gone completely. It was then that the astronauts realised that all Earth’s animals had survived. They realised that it was the humans haemoglobin in their blood that had been affected. Other animals had different DNA.

But the problem was how would they descend from the space station? What would become of them?

Elephants

IMG_20200104_202636

Soon we may only see Elephants as symbols in pictures or on textiles. They are one of the terribly endangered species in the world that coukd soon be extinct. The problem isn’t just hunting or poaching, but also the threat of climate change. As the land dries up through to drought, or is flooded by seas rising their habitat will be displaced. Only if we really try to do something about the situation do we stand to change things.

Pareidolia

sketch-1577988609370

Had to look this up….

“Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon that causes people to see patterns in a random stimulus.”… “This often leads to people assigning human characteristics to objects. Usually this is simplified to people seeing faces in objects where there isn’t one.”

I definitely have this, whether it is a positive or negative thing. I see patterns in most things. I’ve drawn over this picture which I’d mirrored from a photo, so you can see the images I could see in it. I haven’t drawn everything I could see, and I’ve used a bit of artistic licence.

Shells

DSC_2397

In this case a bi-valve. Shells are made up of calcium carbonate. They need a neutral water environment  to grow and survive. But like so many problems we cause, we are damaging the oceans. The seas are slowly acidifying them. The oceans are now weakly acidic which is slowly affecting the growth of shells and corals. They cannot lay down the material they are made of as easily in the current environment. If things get worse we could lose many of these beautiful creatures (yes they are animal not plant life).

More to work on in the coming decade. If we don’t a large number of animals that eat shellfish may be affected. We really do have to think about it.