Once again, the south east of Australia has had huge fires. But how can this be? Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are rising, carbon dioxide is ‘plant food’ and apparently the result is ‘global greening’. The greening phenomenon is actually real. Studies have shown that world vegetation has thickened, and that some of this is due… Continue reading Australia – both Greening and Burning?
Author: Mike Pole
From New Zealand. Traveling the weyward path trying to figure out how the world works. I study fossil plants, past climates, travel, walk, hike, read, take photos, struggle with computer graphics and plant trees.
How You Can Predict Bushfires in Australia – Four Days Out
Tomorrow, Tuesday Nov 12, 2019 is looking very bad for south-east Australia (especially New South Wales, but also parts of Queensland, Victoria and South Australia), and this was clear at least four days ago. The reason for this is the ‘synoptic’ pattern of atmospheric circulation that has been predicted for Tuesday – and how this… Continue reading How You Can Predict Bushfires in Australia – Four Days Out
That Rich Woman in the Slovenian Forest
We don’t know what she looked like, because most of her upper body has vanished…. Most of you probably don’t know of my ‘secret’ ambition – to ‘time travel’ by recreating life-like images of people from long ago. I’m keen to know what those corroded brooches, diadems, ear-rings, and what-not that you see in museums,… Continue reading That Rich Woman in the Slovenian Forest
A Chilling Thought about Travel – is it mostly Hoarding?
Seven months of travelling nearly done, and I’m siting in a plane, about to watch a documentary on Martin Phillipps of ‘The Chills’. My trip started in Ukraine/Belarus. Then I moved south to Turkey – more precisely the Kurdish far south-east. An underlying theme was to see how many ‘Mediterranean islands I could bounce around.… Continue reading A Chilling Thought about Travel – is it mostly Hoarding?
A Postcard from the Pripyat, Belarus
The young woman walked up to me, and, without a word, began rearranging the coins on my hand…. *** References to the Pripyat Marshes, near the border of Belarus and Ukraine, keep popping up in books as the area where the Slavic languages appeared. I have no idea where this idea lies on the spectrum… Continue reading A Postcard from the Pripyat, Belarus
Belarus – and that ‘Registration Thing’
The passport control officer at Minsk Airport seemed genuinely shocked to see me (well, OK, I can have that effect on people). For so long, Belarus had seemed to be the hardest country in Europe to visit. This changed suddenly for citizens of many countries, and caught me off-guard. For New Zealanders at least, the… Continue reading Belarus – and that ‘Registration Thing’
Excuse me, I’m looking for the bog – Yelnya, Belarus
This all started in Minsk with my CouchSurfing host Alex’s Mum, Olga. Alex wasn’t home from his tutoring work, so Olga thought she would show me some photos of Belarus on the internet. Among a slew of truly stunning landscape shots, a few reached out ad grabbed me. They were of a wetland/bog called Yelnya… Continue reading Excuse me, I’m looking for the bog – Yelnya, Belarus
Desperately Seeking Cool Cafes in Odesa, Ukraine
My first impression of Odesa was not good. It was back in 2006 when I was merely transiting on the way to neighbouring Moldova and Transdnistria. From the train, I needed to jump almost directly onto a little shuttle bus. After an overnight trip from Kiev, the train pulled up to the platform in Odesa… Continue reading Desperately Seeking Cool Cafes in Odesa, Ukraine
Magic on the Night Train to Odesa, Ukraine
“Only First-Class!” Well darn, that wasn’t in the script – there were no other berths on the train from Poltava to Odesa. I had tried to be organised, and buy them earlier in New Zealand. Buying Ukrainian railway tickets on line is essentially quite straight forward. It was just that, after I had plodded through… Continue reading Magic on the Night Train to Odesa, Ukraine
The antifragile (?) tree-ferns of Omatepe, Nicaragua
“We’ll follow these guys – they’re three local hoodlums”, This from my local guide on Omatepe Island, Nicaragua. I was sitting behind him on his trail bike, and we were burning down the road after walking up Volcan Maderas, the smaller of the two volcanoes on the Island. *** My hostel, Soma, had organised my… Continue reading The antifragile (?) tree-ferns of Omatepe, Nicaragua