MUENCHHAUSEN, December 21, 2015

MUENCHHAUSEN

AN ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER ABOUT ENVIRONMENT,

RENEWABLE RESOURCE TECHNOLOGY,

AND RELATED TOPICS

By BOOTSTRAP PRESS, INC.

BETHESDA, MD

JJGREENBARON(at)VERIZON.NET

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December 21, 2015

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WELCOME!

The Green Baron (TGB) welcomes one and all who take the time to read Muenchhausen. He aims to “tell it like it is” as much as possible, and avoid advocacy and ideological positions. There are enough of those to go around in other publications.

The Green Baron also welcomes comments from anyone who may read Muenchhausen. Please send comments to the e-mail address above.

WINTER SOLSTICE
Today is the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere (and Summer Solstice in the Southern). Very interestingly, some nacreous ("mother-of-pearl") and even noctilucent clouds have been spotted in northern Scandinavia where polar night currently prevails. These clouds can float as high as 70,000 feet above mean sea level--so high that they reflect sunlight even at the high latitudes where they are observed. Some scientists say that though noctilucent and nacreous clouds may exhibit a nearly ineffable beauty, they can potentially reduce levels of stratospheric ozone.

Noctilucent clouds over Arctic (1)


CLIMATE--PARIS

The much vaunted Paris climate conference or COP21 lasted from November 30 to December 11. There has been much political-type hoopla about this conclave. What portions of the agreement (?) reached will prove to be binding and observed and by whom is anyone's guess. One can state with complete truth that certain Paris hotels and restaurants did a land-office business. Stories about it that have appeared in the popular press--and TGB has numerous clippings and downloadings--so far leaves him in a quandary. There is, however, much to discuss if one can figure out what actually has been decided or resolved.
Meanwhile, horrific pollution episodes have been taking place in cities as diverse as Beijing, New Delhi, and Tehran.

Air pollution episode in India (2)

BACTERIAL DRUG RESISTANCE
Articles on the growing danger of bacterial resistance to drugs, or "R", are being seen increasingly not only in the popular press, but also in publications aimed at diplomats. TGB has seen stories in publications as diverse as the popular PARADE and the specialized Washington Diplomat. Moreover, "R" in bacteria is rapidly becoming multiple; i.e., a given species of bacteria becomes resistant to more than one class of antibiotics. WASH YOUR HANDS! That's the first line of defense.


REFERENCES
1. NASA. https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=637&q=noctilucent+clouds&oq=noctilu&gs_l=img.1.0.0l10.1907.5311.0.10590.8.7.0.1.1.0.160.856.0j7.7.0....0...
1ac.1.64.img..0.8.852.05GFONp9lec#imgrc=LuepM99leFAh4M%3A

2. El Dinamo (Chile). http://www.eldinamo.cl/ambiente/2015/06/05/no-solo-chile-esta-bajo-el-humo-estas-son-las-10-ciudades-mas-contaminadas-del-mundo/