There Is Beauty in the World

Original Image from Billboard.com

Macy Gray has a new album coming out. You can stream it live here (as of 6/16/2010).

As I right this, the earth is spewing oil due to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It's important in times like this to stay focused on what's important. There is beauty in the world. Now, I don't want to minimize the disaster inflicted by our own greed. I want to think of this as an opportunity to move on. The President said something or rather last night, but it's vastly important that we blame not only the oil companies, but ourselves.

We have a responsibility. We need to make sure there is still beauty in the world for the people who come after us. We do not have dominion over this realm. We have to be stewards of it for future generations.

Can I please have the leg of zebra giraffe with a side of mint jelly?

The title of this post is meant to be completely humorous, though the humor is somewhat dark.

Scientists have captured photos of an Okapi, a rare mammal that's about the size of a deer, but is related to the giraffe, and has some zebra-like markings. You really can't make this up.

The sad thing is, poachers are trying to kill the creature. It will probably become extinct within a few years. I can understand why people would kill it. It seems like a fairly easy target and people are freaking starving, so why not kill a free freak like this?

Really, we need to figure out a way to end hunger in Africa so that we don't have to worry about such a unique creature being driven into oblivion. The Tasmanian Tiger, the Dodo, and soon the Okapi.

Climate Change

This video impacts me more in 3 minutes than An Inconvenient Truth impacted me in 2 + hours.

Scientists have created a computerized model of CO2 emissions in the continental US. I find this very disheartening because it is overwhelming to think how much of a carbon footprint I have as an individual and the nation has as a whole. However, I do find it enlightening to finally have an idea of what our emissions actually look like. The one bad thing is that we cannot compare this to Europe or China, but they have pretty compelling data as part of the representation. Check it out.

Found via Towleroad.