Cyclone of '08
Entry posted by caldrail
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The huge storm in Burma has left as many as ten thousand people dead. Its hard to understand the scale of disasters like this. Even the secretive burmese government has felt it has no choice but to ask for foreign assistance. No doubt many people are pointing fingers and blaming Global Warming etc etc. Its as well to point that terrible storms have happened before, its just that the modern media make us so much more aware of what happens around the world now and that given we only live for a short time, so much of what has happened in the past is something we're not often aware of. We've certainly been made aware of this one.
I'm thinking in terms of something like the change in british climate in 1314-15. Previous to that was the Medieval Warm Period, a time when agriculture could have done better if the agricultural system hadn't been held back by tax and the manorial system. But in 1314 it all changed. The summers were exceptionally wet and the winters hard. Starvation became commonplace.
Doesn't this all sound familiar? Our recent summers have been wet also, the flooding exacerbated by settlements in flood plains and little opportunity for rainwater to soak away where great swathes of concrete and asphalt cover the ground.
Since the black death spread from India thirty years later and reduced the population of europe by 3/4, lets hope the similarities aren't too close 
Important Reminder
Its Compost Awareness Week next week. Make sure you know where your compost is, and use your compost responsibly. As long as compost levels are properly controlled, we can offset our Compost Footprint and escape the worst of Global Composting.
Log-On of the Week
BJ, our new all-singing and dancing Lord mayor of London, has succesfully logged on to his PC in his new office. Way to go B. Keep up the good work.
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