HEAVENLY PALACES AND SPACE JUNKS: CHINA’S QUIET SPACE REVOLUTION

Posted on April 8, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Belt and Road, capitalism, Chang’e-5, china, Elon Musk, ESA, exploration, featured, Google, ISS, Mars, military, moon, NASA, Proxima, scifi, sf, space, space agency, Space X, Tiangong, UN, USA, Xi Jinping.

by Justin Reynolds

There was some apprehension as a Chinese ‘Heavenly Palace’ fell to Earth last week. The 8.5 tonne Tiangong-1 space station, adrift since China’s space agency lost connection with it two years ago, made an ‘uncontrolled’ re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere early on Easter Monday.

Fortunately there was never much cause for concern, the European Space Agency calculating the chances of being hit by debris as ’10 million times smaller than the yearly chance of being hit by lightning’. Most of the station burned up on contact with Earth’s atmosphere and the remaining fragments plunged into the South Pacific. But the episode had a eerie resonance, symbolising something of the West’s prevailing perception of China as an enigmatic, technologically advanced state, glowing with – rather like its wayward satellite – a nebulous sense of danger.Continue Reading

THE ARCTIC

Posted on July 27, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Arctic, Arctic Council, CFC, climate change, co2, Donald Trump, inuit, John Kerry, melt, micro-beads, NASA, oil, oil spill, pollution, sea ice, SESAME, SWIPA, vortex.

By Gunnar Eigener

Recent events have focused media attention on changes to the environment of Antarctica, brought about by both natural and anthropogenic effects. Yet the Arctic should remain higher on the list of priorities, for challenges it faces are not merely regional, but global.

The Arctic Council, which consists of the eight countries with territory within the Arctic Circle, produced a report ‘Snow, Water, Ice, Permafrost in the Arctic’ (SWIPA), which stated the area of sea ice has decreased by over 50% over the past 30 years. The report goes on to estimate that the Arctic will be ice free by 2040 (although some other reports suggest 2037). Regardless of the exact year, the thickness of Arctic sea ice is falling dramatically. In the central Arctic ocean, the ice has declined by up to 65% between 1975 and 2012. It was in 2012 that the lowest area of was recorded, at 4.1 million square kilometres. The previous record was set in 2007 with 4.17 million square kilometres.Continue Reading

ANTARCTICA: THE CANARY IN THE COAL MINE

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Antarctic, Antarctic Treaty System, Antarctica, Arctic, B15, climate change, co2, ice, iceberg, Larson C, melt, NASA, natural gas, oil, Pine Glacier, putin, Russia.

By Gunnar Eigener

The calving of a 5,800 square-kilometre section of the Larsen C ice shelf has been recorded. Although it is only half the size of the largest ever recorded iceberg (B15 broke off from Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf in 2000, measuring 11,007 square-kilometres), it nonetheless represents yet another loss of ice – not just in Antarctica, but globally.Continue Reading

THE SUMMER OF STARS LESS STRIKING

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged astrophiles, Biancamaria Frabotta, bright, climate, creative writing, darkness, discover, humanity, in translation, italian, italian women in translation, L’estate delle stelle, lens, locals, NASA, night, poem, poet, poetry, shadow, space, space poetry, stars, strangers, summer, translation, unearthed.

by Alex Valente

Original Italian by Biancamaria Frabotta (1946 – ), ‘L’estate delle stelle…’

The summer of stars less striking
encouraged locals and strangers
to hope in a return of ancient climates.
On the yellow grass unstable in the sparse
humours drinks remained half-full
another fuel to have sleepless nights.Continue Reading

REVIEW: MOONRISE BY ELLA CHAPPELL

Posted on February 18, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged art review, arts, As Yet Untitled, bad nights, beauty, book review, Crescent, Donald Trump, Ella Chappell, emotion, external, feminism, flowers, fun, good nights, happiness, independent press, learn, Lewis Buxton, love, moon, moonrise, moons, NASA, night clubs, poems, poetry, poetry review, publisher, review, scientific theory, sex, sexual fantasies, stones, zinnia.

by Lewis Buxton

Moonrise’s publisher, As Yet Untitled, is an ‘independent press that specialises in limited edition, handmade works that embrace the breadth of possibility in the book’s form’. The book is beautifully made, a fragile thing one worries about reading with a cup of tea too close. Interesting then to consider the fragility of the book’s form with the robustness of the poems. Moonrise, by Ella Chappell, is a book about sex and love and flowers and moons and stones and good nights and bad nights and scientific theories and the gravity that pulls at us all. These aren’t new themes. But that’s what I like about this book; there is at once a familiarity to it but still a newness in the words, a fresh light on the scene.Continue Reading

ENVIRONMENTAL WARS: THE CORPORATE AND POLITICAL WAR ON NATURE

Posted on February 14, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged access, America, china, climate action, climate change, coal, dakota, dakota pipe line, DAPL, department of energy and climate change, energy, environment, environmental protection agency, epa, global warming, GOP, Green, Green Investment Bank, keystone xl pipeline, Myron Ebell, NASA, national parks, obama, oil, paris, Paris agreement, pipeline, pollution, republican, SEC, solar, stream protection rule, Trump, twitter, us army corps of engineers, war on nature.

by Gunnar Eigener

The Republican Party’s war on the environment has begun in earnest.

The US Army Corps of Engineers have approved the final easement to complete the Dakota Pipe Line (DAPL). The Keystone XL Pipeline has also been approved. Republican senators have introduced a bill to disband the Environmental Protection Agency. The Stream Protection Rule has been repealed using the Congressional Review Act. The Securities & Exchange Commissions (SEC) transparency rule has been repealed. The Interior Department methane rule is currently going through the repeal process. Trump has promised to disband the Clean Power Act and the EPA website has removed all pages relating to climate change. Trump’s America First Energy Plan neglected to mention solar energy jobs and, although the initial plan to sell of 3.3 million acres of national land has been withdrawn, proposals have been put forward to transfer federal land to state control. In the UK, the government is pushing forward with the intention to sell the Green Investment Bank and renewable energy ventures look set to slashed even more. A report by the Energy and Climate Committee has predicted that the UK will fail to meet its renewable energy targets. The closing of the Department of Energy and Climate Change led to its operations being transferred to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, casting doubt of the ability to prioritise the environment over business. Continue Reading

DARK NIGHT STRANGLES THE TRAVELLING LAMP

Posted on July 27, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged art, astronomy, comet, creative writing, earth, exploration, kepler, Kepler 452b, NASA, news, original poetry, own poetry, planet, poem, poetry, response, science, solar, space, stars, telescope, universe.

by Jake Reynolds

In response.

Commander Coates of New Earth Transfers descends
from a helicopter’s exoskeleton and battles the gales
to signal Anna Garvey, protestor, handcuffed to the rubble
of a Wonder. He fixes goggles to his eyes, flashes his ID.

Don’t tell me, he says. You swallowed the key.

These streets have spent a year in the tinny grips
of radio screech. He tells her she’s going to catch
her death, and reaches in a pouch on his belt
for a halo of rusty keys. Drones stare from the helicopter.

Don’t tell me, he says. You’ve made up your mind.Continue Reading

NASA

HEAVENLY PALACES AND SPACE JUNKS: CHINA’S QUIET SPACE REVOLUTION

THE ARCTIC

ANTARCTICA: THE CANARY IN THE COAL MINE

THE SUMMER OF STARS LESS STRIKING

REVIEW: MOONRISE BY ELLA CHAPPELL

ENVIRONMENTAL WARS: THE CORPORATE AND POLITICAL WAR ON NATURE

DARK NIGHT STRANGLES THE TRAVELLING LAMP

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