MARDI GRAS: Emily & Mathieu's PARTY!
...told it would be good...

Back to Oz, in the ebb-and-flow of life, all I really love is the peace and quite of a good reading while wishing I could spend time, as I used to, with my niece Carola...
I love you dear and I wish you wisdom and health!

Back to the western part of Sicily.
Here are Erice's Duomo from the XII-XVI century, 2 real old school fishermen...and my beloved doric temple of Segesta....very inspiring!

Siracusa is a wonder of the past: the Ear of Dionisus (the old quarry where the stone was extracted from), and Frederik II's Fortress, later to become a spanish army base among my favourite ones.

Now, some self-explanatory shots from Sicily!
St. Lucia's Duomo in Siracusa: the sacred catholic and the profane greek merge into one!

...and, in the end, it is the dream of a greener future that prevails and haunts me down here.

The relationship with Paul proved to be a path to unprecedented personal growth.

It was certainly a time in which we confronted one another with our strong personalities and ideals.

That's how the story ended: with a disagreement, and probably covert understanding, that we could not grow in the same soil. Beauty had a large share of it, though.

So, as the story goes, in february 2005 I returned to the country of ocean, desert, mountains and.... terrible cockatoos!
Had I done the right thing? Made the right step toward new opportunities?
At the time it was a 50:50 whether it would be Paul or work.
I certainly happened to face more than I had burgained for.
As an old russian friend of mine used to say: 'All happens for the best'.
Alles komt goed uitendelijk ;-D

After that, I went back to Europe. It became very difficult for me to return to a land I had already abandoned, at least within myself. So I eventually took the decision to say farewell to the lans I feel closest to (my ancient Sicily) and prepared to go back to Australia for a year. But that could not happen without going to my darling Keith & Kaori's amazing wedding in Edinburgh .
Cheers to the loving & supportive birds they are!

After 2 great months touring Tasmania together with Giuseppe, reading books and breathing again in the light of the South, I then landed to Melbourne where its beauty (e.g. the 12 Apostles), this time haunted me and thrusted me....to a passionate end.

Then, back in the Netherlands, I found myself fearing another grey & dump northern winter. Suddenly, my yet-to-know great friend Giuseppe, enticed me with views and birds from Sandy Bay (Hobart) so I swiftly packed up my luggages and left for my new adventure down under.
Unbelievably, downtown Hobart, I happened to bump into Liz: a uni-mate from my Environmental Science course in Plymouth. Oh what a great time we had catching up!

After my contract at IMSA ended, I took a little break to Brazil, where I had the chance to meet my Soul Sista: Fernanda.
I miss her as usual, as Ferna has the tendency to be caught in the bliss of her enviable life of thoughts and writings.
Her beautiful sister was also the one who first drew me. I was very happy to find this drawing when Ferna & I returned from a 3-day excursion.

However, that was a time of thoughfulness as well.
Loneliness and disarray gave a push to always give a contribution to the socio-environmental cause, like the Dutch Social Forum, the day when this shot was taken. I was in my little place in De Pijp, the most multi-racial neighbourhood down in A'dam, by the Heineken Plain.

As the story goes, scrolling up,...A'dam meant an exciting time of work, dance ...and some very good birthdays. Dancing with Ricardo that night back in 2002 was pure beauty!
Some other times, a little trip outside A'dam, though a rarity, would happen.
So, once, I went to Antwerpen (see left), where the streets smell of delicious chocolate and where markets sell precious stones from far away lands.
Right there, I had the biggest chocolate bar ever!

Actually, it all started back in 2001, when I happened to share with my best girlfriend ever!
We met at an estate agency: she stepped in, we looked at each other and we were friends forever.
We ultimately happened to have a great flat sharing and beyond: balanced, trustworthy and fun life-long friendship!

I miss you Karin!


When Karin went back to Germany after her short exchange program, I continued with making lovely and inspiring friends like my irish composer.
There on the bridge (see photo on the canal). is where we once had a lovely coffee in real european style. I miss a bit of that good old Europe...to be honest
Never mind, you cannot possibly have it all...

I then had one of my best dancing birthday celebrations with gorgeous Rico & the fine jazz music Amsterdam has to offer. Check brazilian Rico & I ;-D

Too long a time has elapsed without any post, unfortunately.

The bless of having found Kerem again, incidentally on-line, is a very good excuse to start writing again.

Here comes a short update: my best shots of the last few years!

For Kerem


with luv
Dizzy



It all started back in the UK.
After a fascinating and academically stimulating exchange program in Ontario (CA), I followed a MSc course in northern england.
That land got simply too much for a southern chick like myself so I fled to another sunny land: The Netherlands.

There, between an inspiring tune, a few dance classes and work....I made heaps of beautiful friends....

like Margherita, may she be alright with the vikings (how much we laughed about this denomination!)....and my dearest Karien & Ricardo.

Finally it was time to bring a new article!
To view a good map to better visualise the topic discussed, go to:
http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/great_ocean_conveyor_belt

Steaming hot or Cold Trouble ?
By Désirée Lucchese

‘Uncertainty about climate change is no longer to be an issue’.
This more or less paraphrases what several scientific bodies and institutions have recently come to agree, in other words:
Climate Change is happening and there is enough proof to back it up.
Now, it is time to tackle it!
Complexity aside, will the global climate be getting warmer or will we plunge into ice-cold times instead?

Last year, exceptional dry conditions (in Africa, Australia, UK), wet weather leading to floods (in Brazil, China), or simply freak temperature fluctuations (in USA, India, Japan, Poland, Romania, Russia) and snowstorms (in France, Switzerland and Italy) have been common headlines on international newspapers. And we do not even seem to be surprised anymore. Hurricane Katrina in particular, which devastated New Orleans in September last year, is probably one of the grimmest examples of the scale of vulnerability of urban areas, in light of little foresight.

But how to forecast the unpredictable?
If there is one highly uncertain science, it is climatology.
Geological patterns, Atmospheric Science and Ocean Science all come together in one of the biggest riddles of the XXI century:
where is the climate of our ‘spaceship earth’ heading to?

(Once more), I would like to stress how complex ecological systems, and their interactions, are in the environment. There is no algebraic sum as such as two processes combining together might cause an effect bigger than the expected (this is a synergy) and some processes might increment their very source (what is referred to as a positive feedback loop). In the latter case, this is what they mean when they say that CO2 rise is going to accelerate in a warmer climate: as the way CO2 is up-taken by plants and dissolved into the oceans is temperature-sensitive, then a warmer global climate would inevitably affect both CO2 concentrations being absorbed - by plants and oceanic sediments - and released into the atmosphere. In this last scenario, the IPPC (the intergovernmental panel on climate change) has estimated a temperature increase of 3 degree Celcius for the next 50 years, when earlier estimates were of 100 years.
This falls within out own generation!

three degrees temperature rise might not seem a lot to us, and we might as well welcome it if that will mean milder weather in the northern hemisphere, but what is 1 degree at the equator, researchers warn, might mean up to 6 degrees at higher latitudes, therefore affecting higher melting rates of Glaciers.

The Glaciers are already melting, we all know it as we also hear about conservationists’ fears about the present stress and speeding extinction of polar bear populations and alike.
but what about our coastal cities with the prospected rise of sea levels?
About 65% of the world’s population live on the coast.
Is now Katrina ringing a bell within us?

Should we not leave our cars in the garage, lobby for good (and proper) public transport & more cycling routes for healthy biking ?
We might as well want to turn lights off and consume less, thus slowing down that whole huge oil-machine that makes up our economies.
We seem to have heard all this before but are we really doing something about it or do we tend to put good deeds aside from our life priorities?

The point is ripe for me to throw another little pebble at you.
Now, what would you think if instead of getting warmer, our climate would become very cold? What if global warming would actually cause us to step into an early mini-ice age?

For many years in academia there has been an indication of some oceanic patterns that might trigger a mini ice-age as it did happen about 12,000 years ago when the Scandinavian forest turned into a Tundra.
more recently, this astonishing piece of news has also seeped into the public domain, but what does it really mean?
It refers to the deep ocean currents, a complex as well as obscure network of deep currents like the known ‘Ocean Conveyor Belt Circulation’, one of the most studied oceanic systems.
These deep oceanic currents store and transport vast amounts of heat, moisture and carbon around the globe thus influencing temperatures and weather around the world.

Heat absorbed in one location, say in the south Indian ocean, may be released to the atmosphere after thousands of kilometres, as far as the North Atlantic Ocean (see map). Such currents are driven by winds and by heat & salt concentrations that lead them to either remain shallow or sink when denser (warm water is lighter than salty water).


In the example of the North Atlantic Circulation, when the conveyor reaches the north Atlantic, laden with warm water rich in nutrients, the so called Gulf Stream becomes the very current that keeps Europe warm as it drifts on to reach Greenland and Norway while part of the conveyor sinks as it cools with northern temperatures.

However, there are some great changes, though still obscure, happening among deep currents. A team of researchers from the University of Southampton (UK), have reported a slowing down of the Atlantic Circulation by a astonishing 30% in the last decade only.

This can be explained by melting ice in the Artic that happen to dilute the salty water of the North Atlantic Current. In fact, when the Conveyor reaches the Northern hemisphere, laden with warm salty waters, it starts to cool down and therefore the heavier salty water sinks under lighter one to then drift partly in the Gulf Stream and partly back southward. The rising discharge of fresh water by artic river flows (due to ice melting) therefore dilutes the heavier salty water of the Conveyor and ultimately interferes with its sinking.

If the Conveyor stops then Europe, being deprived of its natural heating system, will plunge into a mini-ice age but , strikingly, in its wake the whole weather system and rainfall patterns would change globally.
In this case, a drop in temperature of 5 degrees Celsius would hit farming hard while rainfall patterns might exacerbate elsewhere, probably where already critical. Complexity is such that we can only make assumptions and no forecasts. Some researchers even maintain that cooler climate conditions might mitigate global warming.

However, if oceanic currents are to drastically change this would bear more far reaching implications.
Oceanic waters, by mixing through up-welling and sinking, happen to supply vital nutrients to the phytoplankton (the basis of ocean food chains); further, water not mixing would speed the saturation of upper waters with Carbon and this, in a positive feedback loop, would exacerbate global warming as the Oceans are already soaking up carbon - by forming calcareous sediments.

Caution is necessary particularly as, scientifically, there is still conflicting evidence, not all observations fit conclusions and we might as well consider unanticipated changes of currents.
After all, despite its paramount importance for global weather patterns, the North Atlantic Conveyor accounts for only 10% of the Ocean (New Scientist, april ’06).

No need to panic yet as Armageddon is not to be expected soon!
but once uncertainty over climate change has finally been lifted from disputes, shall we not give some earnest thought to what might be happening?

In Australia, the Southern Ocean deep currents, accounting for about 20% of the Ocean (CSIRO Marine Research), are also continuously monitored and seem to be warming and becoming less salty.
The Southern Ocean processes directly affect the Australian climate while, at the same time, feed into the upper & lower branches of the global Ocean Conveyor.

What is really happening deep down in our Oceans?
As the greek philosopher Eraclitus wrote, ‘Pantha Rei’ (everything flows): change is a natural part of our lives and, indeed, of our life-supporting system. The point is: are we heading towards a warmer, flooded and drier future or towards deep & cold trouble? END

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