National Geographic | This Victorian Eclectic

National Geographic published this article, Sea Level Rise: Ocean Levels Are Getting Higher-Can We Do Anything About It?

This photograph from the article, shows Venice, Italy, during a big flood in 2008.

According to this article, the sea level has already risen in the past century 4 to 8 inches, and the rate of rise is expected to increase substantially, due to climate change. Since the early 1990s it has risen an average of 0.14 inches per year, ( which is about 1/6 of an inch per year). This suggest that it has risen perhaps 4 inches in the 25 years, and maybe the rate of increase has already picked up.

What are the implications for us who live on Galveston Island, an average of 7 feet above sea level? Eventual inundation. Of course, it is a gradual process, marked by higher tides here and there, according to the sun, moon, and storms. In the meantime, we can enjoy our beach, homes, and city, as the people do in flooded Venice, above.

In answer to the question, can we do anything about it? Of course we can. We can use our resources, including all energy and brain resources to transitions off of fossil fuels. We should already have been transitioning away from them.

A National Geographic Book. This book, Brain, The Complete Mind, How It Develops, How It Works, and How To Keep It Sharp, by Michael S Sweeney, covers some of the new neuroscience discoveries, and includes, among much more information, the following. It describes some of the major neurotransmitters. According to an online search of “How many neurotransmitters are there?” there may be from at least 60 to over 110 neurotransmitters. On this page we learn something about how Helen Keller managed, and the thoughts of St. Thomas Aquinas on aspects of the working mind. Scattered throughout the book are these sections on “Staying Sharp”. This book has many other helpful features. Near this sections is one describing how people think, in order to, for example, follow a recipe. This page describes how nuns age. This nicely illustrated book does indeed give “you greater insight into how your mind operates and how you can keep it sharp”.