The attempt to save five doomed planes - is it a plan of desperation, or an act of hubris?
Binding creature gets +1/+1 and has lifelink.
: Blurred Gargoyle gains haste until end of turn.
"War rages beyond my gaze. Be my swift eyes, little one."
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control a black permanent and a red permanent, Chained Angel gets +4/+0, loses defender, and gains first strike until end of turn. Return it to its owner's hand at the beginning of the end step.
Other Elephant creatures you control get +1/+1.
: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. It gains vigilance until end of turn.
: Put three +1/+1 counters on each creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it. Those creatures gains lifelink and vigilance until end of turn.
Whenever Gelesh Battlestrider attacks, you may pay and sacrifice a creature. If you do, untap all attacking creatures, and all attacking creatures gain menace until end of turn.
Mournrites - Gelesh Warrior gets +1/+1 and has first strike as long as there are three or more creature cards in your graveyard.
"The first duty of a Gelesh is to survive so she can recall the names of the fallen."
For a short moment, Teramos wondered if the spirit was once an angel or just a light mage, before realizing that both would be a tragedy.
Mergeback — , Put Godsteel Gargoyle from your graveyard on the bottom of your library: Each creature you control gains indestructible and flying until end of turn.
Whenever a card is put onto the bottom of your library from your graveyard, put a +1/+1 counter on Guardian of Lost Kaalu.
Mergeback — , Put Hallower Spirit from your graveyard on the bottom of your library: You can't lose the game this turn and your opponents can't win the game this turn. Until end of turn, damage that would reduce your life total to less than 1 reduces it to 1 instead.
"See the truth. They do not guard Harunad from the Gelesh or the Ogshka. No, they guard it from people like me, who would spread the truth about Galeza's false promises."
You gain life equal to the highest toughness among creature cards in your graveyard.
Mournrites - If there are three or more creature cards in your graveyard, you gain an additional 1 life for each creature card in your graveyard.
Mournrites - Loxodon Stoic gets +2/+2 as long as there are three or more creature cards in your graveyard.
Put two 3/3 white Ogre creature tokens with vigilance onto the battlefield.
On Kiress, 'ogre' and 'siege engine' share a linguistic root.
Put all permanent cards from all graveyards onto the battlefield under their owners' control. Exile Plan of Desperation.
, Sacrifice Protector Spirit: Destroy target attacking creature.
Mergeback — , Put Protector Spirit from your graveyard on the bottom of your library: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
Enchanted creature can't attack or block, it's activated abilities can't be activated, and it has hexproof.
Not every object on Antarin became part of the reconstitution cycle.
: Sorrow-Wing Soldier gets +2/+0 and gains flying and first strike until end of turn.
Until the beginning of your next turn, creatures can't attack you or planeswalkers you control.
Mergeback - , Put Termporal Stutter from your graveyard on the bottom of your library: You gain life equal to the life you've lost this turn.
Binding creature gets +2/+2 and has vigilance.
"I know now what you are planning, Galeza. You would have us run away like cowards, and spit on our ancestors and their sacrifices."
Creatures you control get +1/+1 and have vigilance.
The rebels of Alkrashess claim that their unceasing alertness and caution are the source of their continued victory against the Kiress Hierarchy.
Destroy target artifact or enchantment. You gain life equal to its converted mana cost.
"I take as little as I can, Teramos, but take I must, or Antarin would be gone rather than just dead."
, : Target player discards a card. Activate this ability only during your main phase.
, : Exile the top card of your library. You may play it this turn.
Binding creature gets +2/+2 and has flying.
Creature spells cost more to cast.
When Arcane Collection enters the battlefield, search your library for up to three nonland cards that share a card type and exile them. Then shuffle your library.
: You may cast a card exiled by Arcane Collection with converted mana cost X without paying its mana cost.
Activated abilities of cards in your graveyard cost less to activate. This effect can't reduce the amount of mana an ability costs to activate to less than one mana.
Fateful hour — : Deathrattle Beetle gets +2/+2 and gains deathtouch until end of turn. Activate this ability only if you have 5 or less life.
Mergeback — , Put Early Vanishing from your graveyard on the bottom of your library: Return target creature to its owner's hand.
: Return Flighty Flock to its owner's hand.
They are so easily spooked that some Vedalken suspect that they are aware of the coming doom as well.
The owner of target creature shuffles it into his or her library, then reveals cards from the top of his or her library until he or she reveals a creature card. The player puts that card onto the battlefield, then puts the other cards revealed this way on the bottom of his or her library in a random order.
Fateful hour — If you have 5 or less life, the next spell you cast this turn costs less to cast.
Zettek's spark flared as he realized the stunningly simple truth — the approaching moon and the eternal night were not immediately related.
Draw X cards, then discard X cards, where X is the number of cards in your hand.
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each of your visions and has flying.
Whenever a card is put onto the bottom of your library from your graveyard, put a +1/+1 counter on Mirrorshell Gargoyle.
, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Mirrorshell Gargoyle: Mirrorshell Gargoyle gains hexproof until end of turn.
As long as an instant card or a sorcery card is among your visions, Mistglade Drake gets +2/+2.
Before you oracle, you may choose land or nonland. If you do and receive a vision of the chosen type, draw two cards.
Moonseeker Gargoyle can block only creatures with flying.
Their search on Antarin is futile — the moon they seek is hurtling towards Zetasyn.
Target creature gets -3/-0 until end of turn. If it is tapped, it doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.
Zetasyn's Vedalken do not live in giant jellyfish for the aesthetics. At least not entirely.
Nightsea Serpent can't attack unless there are five or more Islands on the battlefield.
Fateful hour — As long as you have 5 or less life, all lands you control are Islands in addition to their types, and Nightsea Serpent gets +4/+4 and has protection from instants.
Counter that spell unless its controller pays 1 for each of your visions.
: Target creature gains haste and trample until end of turn. If that creature has no +1/+1 counters on it, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
When Sage Drake enters the battlefield, draw a card.
Kaalu's serpent replicas were much less lifelike before being reconstituted in the mergeback cycle.
Tap two target creatures. They don't untap during their controllers' next untap steps.
Draw a card, then put up to one target card in your graveyard on the bottom of your library.
: Stormcloud Elemental gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
"Call my children a mockery, Teramos? What are you, then?"
Whenever a card is put on the bottom of your library from your graveyard, you may pay . If you do, return target creature to its owner's hand.
: Look at the top two cards of your library. You may put one or both of them into your graveyard.
When Vedalken Skyknight dies, put a 1/1 blue Bird creature token with flying onto the battlefield.
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When Acidic Chains enters the battlefield, target opponent gains control of it.
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice a creature or nonbasic land, then target opponent gains control of Acidic Chains.
Pay 2 life, Sacrifice a creature: Draw a card.
Mournrites - Whenever you sacrifice a creature, if there are three or more creature cards in your graveyard, you may put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
Mournrites - If there are three or more creature cards in your graveyard, that player loses 3 life.
At the beginning of your upkeep, each player loses 1 life.
Fateful hour - Whenever an opponent loses life, if you have 5 or less life, put two +1/+1 counters on Catastrophic Goo.
Target player draws two cards and loses two life.
Whenever a creature attacks you or a planeswalker you control, that creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
The Gelesh do not bother with border markers. They let the bones of the invaders speak for themselves.
As an additional cost to cast Despicable Dealings, sacrifice a creature or planeswalker.
If you sacrificed a legendary creature or a planeswalker to cast Despicable Dealings, copy Despicable Dealings.
Search your library for a card, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.
Folkir could feel the Grand Hierarch's suspicious stares in his back. If he didn't make his move soon, Syaren would either succumb to his paranoia, or find damning proof.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may pay . If you do, put a 1/1 black Rat creature token onto the battlefield.
, Sacrifice a Rat: Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
Some say that all cities of Kiress are connected through their sewers.
Put two 1/1 black Rat creature tokens onto the battlefield.
As an additional cost to cast Feast of the Ogshka, sacrifice a creature.
You gain life equal to the sacrificed creature's toughness.
Destroy target black, green, or blue creature.
: Until your next turn, whenever a creature attacks you or Folkir Tamora, that creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
: Target player discards two cards unless he or she discards a creature card.
, , Sacrifice Gelesh Slave: Gelesh Slave deals 1 damage to target creature and you gain 3 life.
"The third duty of a Gelesh is to give his life that a stronger Gelesh may benefit."
Mournrites — Whenever a creature an opponent controls dies, if there are three or more creature cards in your graveyard, you gain life equal to that creature's toughness.
Ignoble Hierarch gets +1/+1 for each creature card bound to it.
Put a card bound to Ignoble Hierarch into its owner's graveyard: Regenerate Ignoble Hierarch.
"You there. You'll go first."
"The Ogshka may not be monsters, but they're monster enough that I would not accept their offerings."
Syaren's first act as Grand Hierarch was killing everyone who knew where A'Klamarr was held.
: Ogshka Drainer gets +0/+2 and gains vigilance until end of turn.
, : Put a 1/1 green Snake creature token with deathtouch onto the battlefield.
, : Target creature gains lifelink and flying until end of turn.
The Vukul are ever hungering.
Fateful hour — : Skull-Carapace Beetle gets +3/+3 and gains hexproof until end of turn. Activate this ability only if you have 5 or less life.
Fateful hour — If you have 5 or less life, instead all creatures you don't control get -5/-5.
Binding creature gets +2/+2 and has menace.
Binding creature gets +1/+1 and has deathtouch.
Fateful hour — Vukul Scorpion has deathtouch and "When Vukul Scorpion dies, up to two target creatures get -2/-2 until end of turn" as long as you have 5 or less life.
Target creature gets -2/-1 until end of turn.
Not every thing is a stepping stone.
Until end of turn, if you would add mana to your mana pool, add three times that much mana to your mana pool instead.
Unused mana emptying from your mana pool this turn also causes you to lose that much life.
The five planeswalkers never stopped to consider whether their grandiose plan was actually feasible.
Breath of the Sagekites deals damage to each creature and player equal to the number of your visions.
Mergeback — , Put Charge to Battle from your graveyard on the bottom of your library: Target creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn.
Gain control of X target creatures until end of turn. Untap them. They gain haste until end of turn.
Antarin's eternal war no longer knows its old combatants, nor the ones of yesterday.
: Core Gargoyle becomes a blue and red creature with base power and toughness 2/2 and flying.
: If Core Gargoyle is blue, it becomes a blue, red, and white creature with base power and toughness 4/3 and first strike.
: If Core Gargoyle is white, it becomes a colorless creature with base power and toughness 7/7 and trample.
Whenever Enraged Firelich becomes tapped, it deals damage to each other creature equal to the number of cards bound to it.
Whenever an artifact enters the battlefield, you may pay . If you do, that permanent's controller sacrifices it.
Fiery Impact deals 4 damage to target creature or player.
Never stand in line of sight of a dying pyrogriff.
, : Return target artifact card from your graveyard to your hand.
, : You draw a card, then discard a card.
Flame-Spiked Juggernaut attacks each turn if able.
Whenever a card is put onto the bottom of your library from your graveyard, put a +1/+1 counter on Flame-Spiked Juggernaut.
Whenever Goblin Firetosser attacks, it deals 1 damage to defending player.
When Goblin Rabblerouser enters the battlefield, other creatures you control get +1/+0 until end of turn.
Target creature gets +2/+0 and gains haste until end of turn.
Magmablast deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Copy target instant or sorcery spell. You may choose new targets for it.
Mergeback — , Put Null Echoes from your graveyard on the bottom of your library: Copy target instant or sorcery spell, or triggered or activated ability. You may choose new targets for that spell or ability.
Paldrym Javelin Guard enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it.
, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Paldrym Javelin Guard: Paldrym Javelin Guard deals 2 damage to target creature.
When Rampaging Slagkite enters the battlefield, sacrifice it unless you sacrifice two Mountains.
The arrival of a dragon is rarely a peaceful event.
When Scoria Drake enters the battlefield, you may sacrifice a Mountain. If you do, put two +1/+1 counters on Scoria Drake.
Binding creature gets +1/+1 and has haste.
: Skarvess Dragoon gets +1/+0 until end of turn. If its power is 4 or greater, it also gains flying until end of turn.
Binding creature gets +2/+2 and has " : This creature gets 1/+0 until end of turn. If its power is 4 or greater, it also gains flying until end of turn.
: Sunmist Gargoyle gets +1/+1 and can attack this turn as though it didn't have defender.
Swiftfire Blast deals 2 damage to target creature.
Mergeback — , Put Swiftfire Blast from your graveyard on the bottom of your library: Put a 3/1 red Elemental creature token with haste onto the battlefield. Sacrifice that token at the beginning of the next end step.
"Of course they respond to your calls, Teramos. Though you have changed, you still are tied to Antarin."
Destroy target land. Toppling Quake deals 2 damage to target creature.
Few inhabitants of Yidress realized that the tremors were not only increasing in number, but also in strength.
, Sacrifice Torching Recruiter: Gain control of target creature until end of turn. Untap it. It gains haste until end of turn.
Visionfire deals X damage to that creature or player, where X is the number of your visions.
Enchanted creature gets +3/+0 and has first strike and haste.
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay . If you do, attach Volcanic Might to that creature.
Barkscale Hydra enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it.
Whenever Barkscale Hydra deals combat damage to a player, you may remove a +1/+1 counter from it. If you do, draw a card.
Mournrites — , Sacrifice Decorated Mawling: Put a creature card from your hand onto the battlefield. Activate this ability only if there are three or more creature cards in your graveyard.
Creatures you control get +1/+1 and have trample.
Fateful hour — As long as you have 5 or less life, creatures you control get an additional +2/+2 and have vigilance.
Fateful hour — : Doomwing Beetle gets +4/+0 and gains flying until end of turn. Activate this ability only if you have 5 or less life.
Whenever you tap a land for mana, add G, U or B to your mana pool.
"What may seem a wasteful experiment today can well become the main path of survival tomorrow."
Sacrifice Honored Sacrifice: Regenerate another target creature.
"To give my life for Karadruum. To give my life to the hungry gods. To give my life to all."
: Jungleblade Elite gets +3/+3 and gains trample until end of turn. Activate this ability only once each turn.
"After seeing Esper, I much better understand the elven dislike for our people."
"The lynxfolk of the Karadruum do not understand themselves as leonin, (unlike the elephantfolk who think of themselves as loxodons). Yet the Karadruum culture is much closer to the average leonin one than to the lynxes they look like."
: Add , or to your mana pool.
"I hear the cubs speak of the unnatural lands of the Crimson. How disappointingly wrong they are. The Crimson is as natural of the Karadruum, and the grasslands around Harunad."
: Add one mana to your mana pool that shares a color with one of your visions.
: Ley Warrior gains flying until end of turn.
One must be prepared to take the strangest paths in order to follow the Ley Stream.
Mournrites — : Regenerate target creature you control. Activate this ability only if there are three or more creature cards in your graveyard.
"To feed the Maws is destiny. To feed the Maws today is not."
When Liskol Empath enters the battlefield, reveal the top three cards of your library. Put a creature card from among them on top of your library and the rest into your graveyard.
, : Return target creature you control and target creature an opponent controls to their owners' hands.
, : Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.
Mournrites — Loxodon Brawler gets +3/+3 and has trample as long as there are three or more creature cards in your graveyard.
Fateful hour — As long as you have 5 or less life, enchanted creature gets an additional +3/+3 and has trample and indestructible.
If your life total is less than 5, your life total becomes 5.
Whenever you oracle, you may have target creature you control get +2/+2 until end of turn.
Mournrites — If there are three or more creature cards in your graveyard, that creature also gains indestructible until end of turn.
In his desire to divine the omens and messages hidden into the web, the elf forgot to consider the weaver.
Put target card from your graveyard on the top of your library. You gain life equal to that card's converted mana cost.
: Scalewing Shaman gains flying and deathtouch until end of turn.
Neither she not the Vedalken who enchanted the cloak cared that it was made from the scales of her father.
Terrillian Ranger gets +1/+1 for each land card among your visions.
Mournrites - Thundering Mawling gets +2/+2 as long as there are three or more creature cards in your graveyard.
Until end of turn, that creature gets +1/+1 and an additional +1/+1 for each of your visions.
A Mawling's eyes may not be better than those of a Karadruum, but they are much farther off the ground.
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Target creature gets +3/+3 and gains flying until end of turn.
Strong as steel, light as air, fleeting as snow.
* Return target artifact or creature to its owner's hand.
* Put a 3/1 red Elemental creature token with haste onto the battlefield. Sacrifice that token at the beginning of the next end step.
* Return target creature card with converted mana cost 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.
* Put two +1/+1 counters on Antarin Core.
* Antarin Core deals 3 damage to target creature.
When Armory of Lost Peluur enters the battlefield, draw a card.
The Peluur elite thought they could be safe from their superweapon. They never had the time to learn otherwise.
: Ashsight Drake gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
Whenever Ashsight Drake deals combat damage to a player, if its power is 4 or greater, you may draw two cards.
Here today, gone's your marrow.
Carnivorous Snail has hexproof as long as it isn't attacking.
Whenever another creature you control dies, you lose 2 life and put a +1/+1 counter on Carnivorous Snail.
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has deathtouch and lifelink.
"Let none say that the Gods do not provide their blessings."
* Whenever a creature dies this turn, you gain life equal to its toughness.
* Destroy target nonblack creature.
* Creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain trample until end of turn.
Destroy target nonland, nonenchantment permanent.
Target creature you control gets +5/+5 until end of turn. Sacrifice that creature at the beginning of the end step.
Whenever Devastator Dreadnought attacks, each player sacrifices a permanent.
Mergeback — , Put Devastator Dreadnought from your graveyard on the bottom of your library: Destroy target permanent, then return another target permanent to its owner's hand.
Exile target nonland permanent. At the beginning of its owner's next end step, return that card to that player's hand.
Divine Maw's power and toughness are each equal to the number of cards in all graveyards.
* Return up to three target land cards from your graveyard to your hand.
* Reveal the top five cards of your library. You may put a noncreature, nonland card from among them into your hand. Put the rest on the top and/or bottom of your library in any order.
* Discard up to three cards, then draw that many cards.
At the beginning of your upkeep, enchanted permanent deals 1 damage to its owner.
When Gelesh Swiftkiller dies, you gain 3 life.
"The second duty of a Gelesh is to kill, that fewer enemies of the Gelesh live."
At the beginning of the end step, return Geyser Elemental to its owner's hand.
Goblin Rat-Charioteer attacks each turn if able.
When Goblin Rat-Charioteer dies, put two 1/1 black Rat creature tokens onto the battlefield.
Whenever Golden Sagekite deals combat damage to a player, you may draw a card and put a +1/+1 counter on Golden Sagekite.
At the beginning of your upkeep, target opponent loses life equal to the number of cards bound to Grand Hierarch Syaren, you gain that much life, and Syaren deals that much damage to up to one target creature.
Gray Eminence has protection from the colors of other permanents you control.
"A'Klamarr's rule was thought to be eternal, but then he showed weakness. My rule shall not even be visible."
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 2 life and draw a card.
Fateful hour - At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have 5 or less life, draw two cards, then distribute X +1/+1 counters among any number of target creatures, where X is the number of cards in your hand.
"The Hungry God Gherass is stirring, and heads near Karadruum. We must bring these news to the Elders."
They graze out on the sea, with nothing but their food beneath their feet.
* Kiress Charm deals 2 damage to each creature.
* Exile target creature. At the beginning of the next end step, return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control with a +1/+1 counter on it.
* Target opponent discards a card at random.
When Loxodon Wurmrider dies, put a 6/6 green Wurm creature token with trample onto the battlefield.
Mergeback — , Put Magmargoyle in your graveyard on the bottom of your library: Magmargoyle deals 2 damage to each creature.
, Pay 2 life: Malitherium gets +4/+4 until end of turn.
Fateful hour — Malitherium gets +4/+4 and can't be blocked as long as you have 5 or less life.
Enchanted creature gets +3/+3 and has trample and "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may return target creature that player controls and Meandering Might to their owners' hands."
Mental Storm deals X damage to each creature and each player.
Counter target instant or sorcery spell. It controller puts the top five cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
Mergeback — , Put Mirage Phoenix from your graveyard on the bottom of your library: Put a 4/4 blue, red, and white Phoenix Illusion creature token with flying named Phoenix Mirage onto the battlefield.
When Nightsea Trader enters the battlefield, you may draw two cards. If you do, each opponent may draw a card.
Pay 1 life: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. Activate this ability no more than twice each turn.
Sacrifice another creature: Ogshka Warrior gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
"The planar wanderer should be aware that the Ogshka leechfolk have a ring of eyes from below their maw to the top back of their head, giving them a grand field of view, making stealth around them a foolish proposition."
Punish Knowledge deals damage equal to the number of cards in target player's hand to that player, and you gain that much life. That player discards two cards.
On Kiress, intelligence can be a capital offense.
Destroy target artifact or enchantment. If that permanent was attached to another permanent, you may draw a card.
Rat creatures you control have vigilance.
When Rat Herder enters the battlefield, put two 1/1 black Rat creature tokens onto the battlefield.
Return target creature card in a graveyard and target creature on the battlefield to their owners' hands.
Rebellious Mob's power and toughness are each equal to the number of creatures you control.
: Up to two target creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain flying until end of turn.
: Put a 2/2 green and blue Hippo creature token onto the battlefield.
As long as a creature card with flying is among your visions, Shape of Things to Come has flying. The same is true for deathtouch, first strike, double strike, haste, hexproof, indestructible, lifelink, menace, prowess, reach, trample, and vigilance.
"Our people relish freedom, Seleste. Freedom to not be an oracle, freedom to see the skies, and yes, sometimes even freedom from having to think."
When Sorrow-Wing Screecher enters the battlefield, it deals 2 damage to target opponent.
Ten years ago, Scornqueller Goraven decided to purge Yidress's sorrow-wing population. It took nine years and a half to find all of his bones.
Whenever a player draws a card, that player loses 4 life unless he or she sacrifices a creature.
Crafted for a single task — eradicating any desire to know and learn.
The gargoyles' quest to find the lost moon literally makes them reach new heights.
: Exile Sunmist Elemental. Return it to the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step.
Untap target creature. It gains first strike until end of turn.
: Regenerate Tainted Phelddagrif. You lose 1 life and each opponent gains 1 life.
: Put a +1/+1 counter on Tainted Phelddagrif. Each opponent puts a 2/2 green and blue Hippo creature token onto the battlefield.
: Tainted Phelddagrif gains flying until end of turn. Each opponent may draw a card.
, Sacrifice a creature: Put a +1/+1 counter on enchanted creature.
You may play land cards among your visions.
When Thundering Elemental enters the battlefield, it deals 2 damage to target player.
"A rare occasion. The Core releases something I like."
When Traitor to Harunad enters the battlefield, destroy target artifact or enchantment.
Mournrites — When Twin Maws enters the battlefield, if there are three or more creature cards in your graveyard, put a 6/6 green Wurm token with trample onto the battlefield.
Target player discards a card at random. Uprise deals 1 damage to that player.
Vampire Hierarch gets +1/+1 for each card bound to it.
When Vedalken Flameseer enters the battlefield, draw a number of cards equal to its power.
: Vedalken Flameseer gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
Mournrites — Creature spells you cast with power 4 or greater cost less to cast as long as there are three or more creature cards in your graveyard.
Whenever a creature you control dies, you may put two +1/+1 counters on Yeskor of Karadruum.
Remove a +1/+1 counter from Yeskor: Regenerate Yeskor.
Choose target creature. Draw a card, then discard a card. Zany Bolt deals damage to that creature equal to the discarded card's converted mana cost.
Though the mages of Paldrym prefer spells of earth and fire, lightning has always had a certain appeal.
* Each player loses 4 life. If your life total is less than 5, your life total becomes 5.
* Put three +1/+1 counters on target creature.
: Draw a card. You lose 2 life.
: Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn. Another target creature gets -3/-3 until end of turn.
: Until end of turn, you may cast nonland cards from your hand without paying their mana cost.
When Æthervault Spider enters the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on it if was spent to cast it. If was spent to cast it, return target creature an opponent controls to its owner's hand.
Sacrifice another creature: Regenerate Eternal Maw.
When Gelesh Heartspeaker enters the battlefield, you may exile another target creature if was spent to cast it, then return that card to the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step. If was spent to cast it, you may have target player discard a card.
When Goblin Flamespear enters the battlefield, you may have it deal 2 damage to target creature if was spent to cast it. If was spent to cast it, up to two target creatures gain first strike until end of turn.
Creature spells you cast cost 1 less to cast.
The threat of the approaching moon brought about the meeting of Zetasyn's finest minds.
Nullfires deals X damage to each attacking or blocking creature target player controls.
Attacking or blocking creatures you control get +X/+0 until end of turn.
When Steamborne Elemental enters the battlefield, you may draw a card, then discard a card if was spent to cast it. If was spent to cast it, it gets +1/+0 and gains haste until end of turn.
When Necratherium enters the battlefield, target opponent sacrifices a creature if was spent to cast it. If was spent to cast it, you may return target creature or land card in your graveyard to your hand.
Whenever you sacrifice a creature, put a charge counter on Bloodblade.
Equipped creature gets +1/+0 for each charge counter on Bloodblade.
"So many people and creatures have started using the star motif, but even Master Goras Farseer can't say what it means."
Whenever a creature you control dies, put a charge counter on Gelesh Sacrificial Bowl.
, Remove a charge counter from Gelesh Sacrificial Bowl: Add to your mana pool.
Created as a tool of survival, they turned into a symbol of devastation.
, , Pay 2 life: Draw a card, then discard a card.
You can't spell 'experimentation' without 'pain'.
Equipped creature gets +X/+X, where X is the highest converted mana cost among your visions, and has hexproof.
Federis Observatory enters the battlefield tapped.
, Sacrifice Federis Observatory: Add to your mana pool.
Filthy Slums enters the battlefield tapped.
Where discontent and rigid structure clash.
Liskol Hatchcaves enters the battlefield tapped.
, Sacrifice Liskol Hatchcaves: Add to your mana pool.
Null Crater enters the battlefield tapped.
, Sacrifice Null Crater: Add to your mana pool.
Ogshka Moors enters the battlefield tapped.
, Sacrifice Ogshka Moors: Add to your mana pool.
Oracular Jungles enters the battlefield tapped.
Where the wise and the wild meet.
Overgrown Wetlands enters the battlefield tapped.
Where land and sea swallow each other.
Scorched Floodplains enters the battlefield tapped.
Where creation and destruction merge.
Even the experimenters of Zetasyn understand that sometimes observation without interference is the key to knowledge.
Thunderous Battlescape enters the battlefield tapped.
Whenever you cast a creature spell, you may tap target creature.
Unhallowed Grove enters the battlefield tapped.
Where life and death struggle for dominance.
: Add to your mana pool. If Unshaped Reaches has a growth counter on it, instead add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
, : Put a growth counter on Unshaped Reaches.
Yidress City Hall enters the battlefield tapped.
, Sacrifice Yidress City Hall: Add to your mana pool.
Last edited by Knight Otu on Tue Nov 17, 2015 4:30 pm, edited 22 times in total.
I like this set very much.
I've edited Grand Hierarch Syaren to allow him to not target a creature, and Yidress City Hall bcause of a missing mana cost tag.
Changed Threatening Dead from having and granting intimidate to having and granting menace.
I actually had planned to ignore the upcoming evergreen changes for Five Worlds and its second set, but I figured I could change the few instances of intimidate to menace, and give Shape the ability to pick it and prowess up. I'm keeping protection in the block, and prowess and scry (the latter for obvious reasons) out of it, though.
I'm still looking over all of the cards, but so far the set looks good to me. You have a lot going on with key and ability words. Conspire, Fateful hour, Mergeback, Bound, Oracle, Mournrites plus some I may have missed is a lot of keywords. The only problem I found with that is that its hard to properly develop that many keywords in a set. As soon as I started to get past three they started to lose a sense of identity.
Your multicolored cards in particular are well designed and interesting.
Nightsea Reaver might be too strong for a common.
I think Ley Line Seer could just be "Add a mana of a color that shares a color with one of your visions"?
You've caught all the keywords in the set - one per plane, and conspire (and technically protection now, I guess). Yes, six keywords is at the upper bounds of a set, but I think most of the complexity is sitting in the bound keyword. Khans similarly had one keyword per clan, plus morph, with most of the complexity in morph. I think it should work out.
Possibly. Protection from instants and unblockability isn't the best combination to put on a common in retrospect. I'm adding it to my "rework this" list.
It would be a different card though (and it's from the GUR plane - I'm obviously not against any color mana sources in the set, but it would be less sppropriate) - it's supposed to potentially give you if you work for it... which, now that I think of it, isn't likely to be a good idea at uncommon. Onto the list with it.
Gelesh Heartspeaker's text now says "When Gelesh Heartspeaker enters the battlefield, you may exile another target creature if WW was spent to cast it, then return that card to the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step. If BB was spent to cast it, you may have target player discard a card."
Scalewing Shaman now costs , was .
Nightsea Reaver now says "Nightsea Reaver can't block" rather that "Nightsea Reaver can't block or be blocked".
Ley Seer tap ability now says " : Add one mana to your mana pool that shares a color with one of your visions."
Also, there are two cycles of cards needing some help still before I add them to the thread.
Also, I'm adding the Charms, Magi, and Folkir to the archive as they stand right now. Folkir changed a little bit.
I like this set and I hope to see more of it soon!
I should be posting the remaining three planeswalkers soonishly, then I'll try and finish the plane flavor and commons threads. After that, I'll likely go White uncommons, black rares and so on. I hope the good impressions stay all the way.
Defender of Harunad is now a 2/4, was a 1/4.
Hallower Spirit's Mergeback ability is now "WW, Put Hallower Spirit from your graveyard on the bottom of your library: You can't lose the game this turn and your opponents can't win the game this turn. Until end of turn, damage that would reduce your life total to less than 1 reduces it to 1 instead."
Mistglade Sphinx's second ability now reads "Before you oracle, you may choose land or nonland. If you do and receive a vision of the chosen type, draw two cards."
Acidic Chains now costs 2BB, was 3BB.
Deadly Borders now gives -1/-1 to attackers, was -2/-2.
"As an additional cost to cast Despicable Dealings, sacrifice a creature or planeswalker.
Search your library for a card, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library."
Husk Drainer now costs 2BB rather than 1BBB.
Mental Storm is now rare.
Ogshka Warrior now 2/2 with "Sacrifice another creature: Ogshka Warrior gets +2/+2 until end of turn."; was a 3/2 vanilla.
Spawn of A'Klamarr now has haste, vigilance, and "Whenever a player draws a card, that player loses 4 life unless he or she sacrifices a creature."; was haste, lifelink, and "Whenever an opponent draws a card, he or she loses 2 life and sacrifices a creature."
Final changelog. I declare the set as complete (unless there is dire need for errata).
Two cards with the bind keyword action used an outdated reminder text - "(Exile it bound to this creature until this creature leaves the battlefield.)" rather than "(Exile it bound to this creature until this creature leaves the battlefield or your control.)"
Gelesh Battle Strider had the activated ability "WBG: Gelesh Battlestrider gets +3/+3 and gains lifelink, vigilance, and menace until end of turn. Activate this ability only once per turn." Replaced with "Whenever Gelesh Battlestrider attacks, you may pay WB and sacrifice a creature. If you do, untap all attacking creatures, and all attacking creatures gain menace until end of turn."
Godsteel Gargoyle's Mergeback ability is now "Each creature you control gains indestructible and flying until end of turn." for 4WW rather than target creature for 1WW.
Plan of Desperation now a 3WW sorcery that reads "Put all permanent cards from all graveyards onto the battlefield under their owners' control. Exile Plan of Desperation." Was a convoluted mess.
Nightsea Serpent was a 6/3 for 3UUU with "Nightsea Serpent can't attack unless defending player controls an Island.
Fateful hour — As long as you have 5 or less life, Nightsea Serpent gets +3/+3 and has protection from instants, and all lands are Islands in addition to their types."
"Nightsea Serpent can't attack unless there are five or more Islands on the battlefield.
Fateful hour — As long as you have 5 or less life, all lands you control are Islands in addition to their types, and Nightsea Serpent gets +4/+4 and has protection from instants."
Resinplate Soldier's activated ability now reads "1RG: Target creature gains haste and trample until end of turn. If that creature has no +1/+1 counters on it, put a +1/+1 counter on it."
1R, Sacrifice Torching Recruiter: Gain control of target creature until end of turn. Untap it. It gains haste until end of turn.
Rat Herder now costs 3WB and reads "Rat creatures you control have vigilance.
When Rat Herder enters the battlefield, put two 1/1 black Rat creature tokens onto the battlefield."
When Traitor to Harunad enters the battlefield, destroy target artifact or enchantment."
Twin Maws had an erroneous "library" that was supposed to be "graveyard".
Eternal Maw now has "Sacrifice another creature: Regenerate Eternal Maw.", was "If Eternal Maw would be destroyed, sacrifice a creature instead. If you do, remove all damage from Eternal Maw."
Welp, more work for me this month.


With a little more than a couple hundred days to go before I hit the road, I'm already overwhelmed by the gracious corporate sponsorships Rally Around the World has secured. My trek across the globe is a journey to raise money for the Rally Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports childhood cancer research. Corporate sponsors are making this all possible, so we can make a big difference in the lives of children facing cancer.
So far, the following companies have already "rallied" and have my deepest appreciation.
And of course, I'm grateful to my employer, National Distribution & Contracting, Inc., for the generosity of resources for this endeavor.
If you'd like to support Rally Around the World, drop me a line anytime. Thanks for following, reading and rallying!


What may not be categorized as cussing but still a sin is using the Lord's name in vain. It's no coincidence that a lot of people routinely use the name of Jesus in vain – the name above all names (Phil. 2:8; Ephesians 1:20-21) – in vain.
Communicating With Angels…. or Are They Really Demons?


text:
There Are Four Weeks Left in the Republican Gubernatorial Primary
Four weeks from today, and after much meddling in favor of certain candidates that have since been disqualified from the ballot, the MIGOP will finally have a gubernatorial nominee to advance to the fall against Governor Whitmer.
One look at the options on the ballot, and it's clear to see why even the MIGOP has openly admitted they have no "clear and identifiable frontrunner right now" as voters remain largely undecided.
Out-of-touch millionaire Kevin Rinke – who has been sued multiple times by his own employees for racial and sexual harassment – is pushing a wrong-for-Michigan agenda that would hurt working families. It features a "piss-poor public policy proposal" that would "drain $12 billion in state revenues" annually without alternative funding for the critical services that would be drastically impacted by his budget plan. The used Toyota salesman also continues to throw his millions behind a "flat-out false" TV ad broadcasting completely unfounded election conspiracy theories in order to justify his crusade to make it harder for Michiganders to vote.
Following the implosion of Perry Johnson and James Craig, who is now running a write-in campaign that has been even more of a joke than his traditional bid, Tudor Dixon appears to be the third and latest candidate to brandish the depreciated title of MIGOP-insider favorite. She has a special interest-backed, wrong-for-Michigan agenda that would dismantle public education, eliminate reproductive freedom, and hurt major pillars of Michigan's economy – especially when the auto industry is involved. She has claimed there was not an insurrection, defended charged insurrectionist and fellow competitior Ryan Kelley, and pushed conspiracy theories on a number of issues – including her unfounded claim that Planned Parenthood has a "business model" to bring sex ed to schools so they can profit off abortions.
A testament to just how radical the primary field is, known and charged insurrectionist Ryan Kelley is currently enjoying a surge to the top after the FBI raided his home and arrested him on multiple criminal charges. Every other Republican gubernatorial candidate and both MIGOP co-chairs "rushed" to his defense on the day of his arrest – despite knowing it was for participating in the violent insurrection on January 6th that resulted in five deaths and 140 injured law enforcement officers. Many have speculated that it has helped distinguish him among the crowded field.
Through messaging that he has conceded "does not portray current reality," snake oil salesman Garrett Soldano has spewed countless conspiracy theories and lies, whether they be of the anti-vaxx, anti-fair election, anti-law and order, or anti-choice variety. He wants to defund Michigan's 15 public universities, which he described as "indoctrination centers," and is pledging to conduct "massive spending cuts" to critical services like public education, local law enforcement, and Michigan's roads and bridges. The highlight of his campaign was stating that survivors of sexual assault should not be able to have abortions because "God put them in this moment."
Like the rest of the field, pastor and general extremist Ralph Rebandt is also running to drag Michigan backwards.
"The Republican gubernatorial primary is four weeks away, but tough to tell based on the state of the MIGOP and their still crowded pack of candidates that continue to struggle with distinguishing themselves from one another. That's because Kevin Rinke, Tudor Dixon, Ryan Kelley, Garrett Soldano, and Ralph Rebandt have pushed extreme agendas that would decimate public education, eliminate reproductive freedom, and slash funding for law enforcement. Our working families deserve leadership that will continue to keep them first."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I love memoirs–I've said this before–and can read one after another, but even I get a little tired of the endless string of "Here's The Unique Way that My Parents Messed Me Up" stories. I certainly understand how a traumatic childhood can allow for the kind of narrative arc that works well in memoirs, but they are such a drag to read. Which is one reason that She Left Me the Gun: My Mother's Life Before Me by Emma Brockes was a such a refreshing change from the usual memoir.
Though told from Emma's point of view, the book is really about her mother Paula, who was born and raised in South Africa but emigrated to England as an adult. After arriving in London, she got married, had her daughter, moved to the country, and lived out a normal, sedate village life. It was only after her mother died that Emma started looking into some of the vague things that her mother had said about her past. It takes Emma a fair amount of research, including multiple trips to South Africa and visits with extended family, to piece together exactly what happened to her mother before she got to England, and I'll just say that very little of it was good.
The book goes into some detail about what happened to Paula, and offers an intriguing glimpse into everyday life in modern South Africa, as Emma ends up spending a great deal of time there meeting family and doing research. But the real heart of the book seems to be Emma trying to get her head around both who her mother was, and how much of the past she has the right and/or responsibility to know. Her mother kept this information from Emma for her whole life, and clearly wanted her to be as protected as possible; by discovering the truth, does Emma undo her mother's work? Did Emma really know her mother, if she knows nothing of the first 30 years of her life and the momentous events that shaped her? (Emma does a great job of explaining that kid feeling of, "My mom was born, and then she had me. The end.") And after her mother has died, does Emma have an obligation to learn what happened, so that SOMEONE knows exactly what her mother had to overcome?
The biggest question asked here, though, is just how does someone start over again? No matter the specifics of what happened to Paula, the upshot is that at 30 years old she walked away from a troubled life in South Africa and started all over again in London. She got married, had a child, and remained, as her daughter describes her, a vibrant, funny, functional person. How does someone do that? How could Paula do it when so many others couldn't? The book doesn't really answer that, of course. It's a bigger mystery than one book can solve and Paula herself isn't around to offer her thoughts. I wish she were, because she sounds like she would have been a riot, even if she couldn't tell you how she did this magic act of creating a new life.
Kinsey's Three Word Review: Inconclusive, but satisfying.
You might also like: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, another memoir by a daughter that is (largely) about her mother. In this case, the unknowable part seems to be how Walls ended up so functional when her mother was so dysfunctional, but it addresses some of the same key questions about how you construct a life.
I like memoirs and I read a lot of them. Some of them work better than others. Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton is not going to go to the very top of my list, but it a solid book and an enjoyable read. Plus, trying to figure out why I didn't like it more than I did helped me figure out exactly why I like some memoirs better than others, which could certainly help my future book selections.
Hamilton is the very respected chef at Prune, a very respected restaurant in New York's East Village. (I've never been there, but the menu sure looks good.) There are about a million and one chef's memoirs out there, but this one at least offers a change from the standard culinary school story, since Hamilton took a much more circuitous route to restaurant ownership. She roughly divides her story into three parts that echo the title. The Blood section deals with her childhood and her family, who sound fun but wildly dysfunctional. Personally, I don't like reading about people's childhoods and found the first section of this book a real slog–I honestly wasn't sure I was even going to keep reading. But Hamilton leaves homes as a teenager and moves to New York City, and things pick up from there. In Bones, she describes how she wandered through work in large-scale catering houses and through an MFA program before opening her restaurant and I found all of that fascinating. (Her stories about the catering world also explain a lot of things about the meals I ate a conference recently.) Finally, Butter deals with her marriage, kids and, in-laws. Sound pretty standard? Well, she's a lesbian who marries an Italian man so he can get his green card (sort of?), has kids, and then falls in love with his mother and the annual trip to Italy to visit her husband's family. So, not so standard. There were a lot of things in Butter that felt very glossed over to me–she talks in depth about the affair she had with the Italian before they married, but hardly mentions even in passing how they choose to have multiple children–but Italy sure does sound nice. I might have married the guy for those in-laws myself.
So what insight about memoirs did this book lead me to? That memoirs work better when they are structured around something very specific. My favorite two memoirs of recent years were Eat, Pray, Love and Julie & Julia. I think those work well because they both use a particular activity or time period as a framework for the story, such as Julie Powell spending a year cooking her way through one of Julia Child's cookbooks. This prevents the memoir from falling into a patten in which the author just basically describes everything that has happened from the time they were born up until the present. In Julie & Julia, no matter what tangents she goes off on or what she chooses to discuss, I know that the book is going to come back to what she's cooking and that it's going to end when the year is up. In Blood, Bones & Butter, Hamilton does use the three title ingredients to create a structure, but it's limited–I actually didn't figure out how the sections were divided until after I had finished the book. And the real weakness of the everything-up-until-now method of writing a memoir is that things often just sort of stop when the author reaches the current day. I definitely felt that way with this book and would really like to hear the rest of Hamilton's story. I am aware that when someone is writing the story of their life, that story may not have a classic narrative arc. That's why I think the very explicit structure of something like Eat, Pray, Love works so well. As a reader, I want for there to be a conclusion of some sort, and putting a frame of time or concept around the story helps provide that. Blood, Bones & Butter is an interesting and well-written book–maybe it is to its credit that my main issue with it is that I wanted to hear more of the story.


Bloomberg News In a recent study, most urban areas were found to have smaller carbon footprints than their national averages. São Paulo, Brazil, fared best.
Generally speaking, studies have shown that city dwellers, who frequent public transportation, occupy smaller-than-average and multiunit living spaces, use less energy to heat and cool, tend to have lower carbon footprints than their suburban or rural counterparts, who often have bigger homes, use more energy to heat and cool, and typically drive themselves to and fro.
A 2008 report by the Brookings Institution, for example, found that the average American in a metropolitan area has a carbon footprint of 8.21 tons — 14 percent less than the average American living outside the city.
And Edward L. Glaeser, an economics professor at Harvard, reached a similar conclusion in a study he conducted along with Matthew Kahn, a U.C.L.A. environmental economist. "Cities generally have significantly lower emissions than suburban areas, and the city-suburb gap is particularly large in older areas, like New York," the authors found.
A new study appearing in the April issue of the journal Environment and Urbanization looked at cities in a variety of countries, and for the most part, it affirms these findings.
Analyzing the per capita emissions from 12 major cities in Europe, Asia, North America and South America, the study's author, David Dodman of the International Institute for Environment and Development — a London-based sustainable development research group financed by a variety of public and private donors — found that per capita emissions from cities were typically smaller than their nation's averages.
Using data collected from a variety of sources, including several previously published studies and commissioned reports, Mr. Dodman found that, of the cities studied, Washington ranked the highest in terms of per capita carbon dioxide levels, with 19.7 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emitted, compared to 23.92 tonnes nationally.
For its part, New York City, which in 2007 conducted its own greenhouse gas study, registered 7.1 tonnes per capita.
Internationally, São Paulo, Brazil, was the lowest polluter surveyed at just 1.5 tonnes per capita, compared to 8.2 tonnes for the country as a whole.
Beijing and Shanghai were exceptions. Both had larger city CO2 emissions scores than their national averages: 6.9 and 8.1 tonnes, respectively, compared to 3.36 tonnes nationally.
Also, cities reduce suburban sprawl, a truly malignant encroachment on nature.
Remember–the forest (and not the trees) is individual total carbon emissions of under 3 tons per year! If you're emitting more than that, city or suburb, you're unsustainable! Use //www.salamanderpoints.com to check your daily carbon output.
This supports what some of us in the suburban/rural parts of the country also know – 'smart growth' (careful clustering of residential, with planned green space) is the way to go. Something else struck me while reading this – from a 'bang for the buck' standpoint, existing dense living spaces (i.e., large cities) are the best places to attempt quick improvements (reductions) in carbon tonnes per capita.
Just to play devil's advocate, bear in mind that Ed Glaeser actually lives in a wealthy low-density suburb in metro Boston, outside of the reach of public transportation. I'm an urban dweller myself but IMO, we will never see a wholesale urban renaissance until some of the livability issues are dealt with, such as the dismal performance of urban public school systems and the enormous amount of sub par building stock in cities – street noise and noise from other tenants are the bane of the urbanite's existence and municipal codes should be amended to mandate that no new building should receive a certificate of occupancy unless it can pass stringent noise level guidelines. These are important issues and the second one tends to fly under the radar a lot of the time.
And yes cities are entirely self sufficient as well. They produce everything they need; from the miles of concrete and steel, the biodynamic food they grow, and even the oxygenated debt they issue. If we could just outsource our stale thinking we could save tons of needless outgassing.
In a non-corrupt world the most efficent use of energy would prevail. But we have a government here in the USA which maintains fleets of aircraft carriers for the sole purpose of keeping oil cheap and keeping the automobile as #1. Cheap gas drive sprawl, Walmart, and the ships who bring us junk from China. If oil was the price it should be we would either use wind, solar, or live differently. The invisible hand of the marketplace is controlled by Exxon.
I'm surprised the difference is so small, at 14%. Seems we need more nuclear power to solve this mess, along with a lot more conservation by cities. Since buildings need reinvestment to improve efficiency, a surtax of 20% on heating oil, rechanneled to retrofits, would be welcome by most nuance-thinking citizens.
Bad study, the data is garbage.
First, it used incorrect data for energy use for public transportation. It broke down energy use for public transportation per ride instead of total system use per rider. Currently, public transportation is a net carbon loss per rider when compared to cars because so many trains run virtually empty. These empty train trips have to be counted against each rider and they weren't for this study they simply gave a usage per ride and left the extra use unaccounted for, that is bad, really bad, statistics. Better yet the power comes overwhelmingly from dirty coal burning power plants, gas is much less carbon polluting as it is more energy efficient. Moreover, Rural areas were dinged for mileage driven that supports the urban denizens. A truck coming from a rural area carrying goods to the city should count against the city not the rural area. Traffic on roads crossing rural areas should count against the city too. Moreover, those public lights lights city dwellers love that are virtually nonexistent in rural and smaller cities must also count against city denizens and didn't in this instance . Urban area heating often comes from dirty coal burning power plants whereas heating in rural areas is overwhelmingly comes from cleaner burning natural gas.
People need to remember, from a regional economics standpoint urban areas are expendable but their hinterlands (the rural areas) are not. A regional center cannot exist without its hinterlands. OTOH, the hinterlands will do just fine without the urban areas.
In short this study is statistical garbage. But if it makes the urban dwellers feel good about themselves, so be it.
The global study does not seem to be complete, since it mentions Sao Paulo as the lowest polluter. It certainly is up there, but among big cities (more than a million population, say) there are bound to be some Indian cities at the top of the list.
Mumbai for eg, has roughly 60% of its population using public transport – there really is no room to drive in the city.
Kind of depressing to see some of the comments. In high-income nations, most of the rural population have nothing to do with agriculture and in general, relative to their income level, they have higher levels of energy use for transport and for heating/cooling their homes than city dwellers, especially those living in compact cities. Yes of course city populations rely on rural areas for food, other natural resources and many ecological services but it does not mean that city dwellers cannot combine high quality lifestyles with very low levels of energy use (and with consumption patterns that imply low levels of greenhouse gas emissions). Most rural dwellers also appreciate a lot of the goods and services produced in cities. So please lets not fool ourselves into thinking that everyone going back to rural areas and growing their own food is any real solution.
Very interesting study, only I have to say that being a São Paulo resident I don't feel at all like São Paulo is an example for sustainability. The public transportation system is terrible, air pollution is a health hazard, and walkable neighborhoods are non-existant. Thanks to the climate, heating is not necessary and houses are built for ventilation so air conditioning is generally not necessary either.
I love São Paulo, but if it's considered an example for sustainabilty we're all in big trouble!
So I shouldn't feel guilty about opening my window when the steam heat is too relentless (even though the valves are off)?
Rather than patting ourselves on the back, I wish the city would come up with a plan for retro-fitting older buildings.
I could not see the new study in "Environment and Urbanization" – the link is to summary – but even a quick reading of the Glaser paper shows that, like most such, it is leaving out major parts of urban CO2 production. The paper itself states that it only looks at household gasoline consumption, public transit cost, home heating, and electricity cost, but there's far more that goes into keeping the ciry machine running.
Others have mentioned the costs of street lights – and how about all the vacant offices lighting up the skyline? How about water & sewage? Garbage disposal – all my organic garbage goes into my compost pile, the urbanites' garbage gets hauled away by diesel-burning trucks. How about the carbon footprint of all the machinery & crews needed to build & maintain the city and its services? How about the emissions of the coffee shops & restaurants that cater to urbanites, when the equivalents (if there are any) are rolled into ordinary rural life?
Then perhaps we should also consider potentialities, as well as actualities. For an example, in a world of cheap fossil fuel, the typical rural and urban dweller may both heat with oil or propane. However, the urbanite is far more tightly locked into decisions made when his apartment building was constructed, while the rural homeowner is free to upgrade insulation, or install a wood stove or solar heating. By the same token, the urbanite is locked into food supply decisions made by supermarket managers – and indeed, may often not know or care where food ultimately comes from – while someone living in a rural area can plant a garden, or by produce & meat from the farmer down the road.
Whatever the actual emissions may be at present – the studies are incomplete if not actively biased – it seems clear that a rural lifestyle has the POTENTIAL for a far smaller CO2 footprint than any conceivable urban one.
Many of the above comments seem to assume that if certain activities didn't happen in the cities, they wouldn't happen at all, which is ridiculous. Yes, trucks have to bring food in from the farms to the cities, but if they didn't do that, then they'd have to bring food out to the suburbs. If the empty offices aren't in the cities, they'd be elsewhere.
The point isn't whether cities generate CO2 — all human activity does — but how RELATIVELY efficient it is to perform these activities in cities rather than other places.
City dwellers complaining about rural people and vice versa. Here in NA we all need to look at ourselves and see what we can do. For almost all of us we use up more than we should. A 14% difference when we're talking about using about 7 times the amount we should. Cities could do a lot better by updating many buildings and using common sense when it comes to conservation (turning off lights, etc.). People who live rurally should limit their trips to the city, grow their own food, compost and live in smaller homes. I have lived in both areas, but haven't brought my consumption down to where it should be – but I am cutting it down.
"Relative efficiency," has a very scientific feel; right down to the reductive nomenclature. But to declare urban density as the relatively, efficient solution is ludicrous. Are cities as we practice them even viable, let alone sustainable? Why reduce your portrait to back to the primitive land or space age efficient? Aren't some places different than others? We are mutually dependent and can all improve.
It's still about potential, really. Much of the work that has traditionally been done in offices doesn't need to be done in them. For instance, when I started in my current line of work a couple of decades ago, I drove (or biked, even then) miles to my employer-provided office cubicle to use their computers. (Which were kept in machine rooms with lots of power used for air conditioning.) Now I do essentially the same work from my rural home, expending no energy on commuting, and only a few tens of watts to run my computer and a cable modem.
There are fewer and fewer reasons why people need to live crammed into cities, and a great many ways in which a rural (as distinct from suburban) lifestyle can be made more energy-efficient, and more rewarding, than an urban one.
Fundamentally, though, it's a quality of life issue. While I realize that there are people who claim to like living in cities, much as there those who are turned on by whips & chains, I don't think anyone should be forced into either against their will.
Please, come to New York and try to pack yourself onto one of our "empty" trains or buses. Then drive yourself back to your suburb in your 4,000 pound vehicle.


text:
MAN HELD IN PARROT DEATH
Things between Thomas and Donna Uthe were getting so bad that sooner or later, she knew somebody was going to get hurt.
But she never thought it would be her beloved parrot, Ruby.
On Friday morning, she found the multicolored bird poisoned in his cage at their home in the 3000 block of Lake Shore Drive. Her husband was howling like an animal, sitting at the top of the stairs, she told authorities.
Broward Sheriff's deputies later arrested Thomas Uthe on charges of animal abuse related to the animal's death and domestic violence related to an earlier altercation between the couple.
Detective Michael Vadnal said Thomas Uthe, 58, saturated the parrot with insecticides and pesticides and then let it die while Donna Uthe slept. She woke up when she heard him howling.
"When I tell you this parrot was like her child, there is no exaggeration in that," Vadnal said. "She was totally devastated by [the death). I can see why, and I feel for her." While talking to investigators, Donna Uthe also showed them bruises on her arm and shoulder from a fight the couple had Feb. 11. Vadnal said Thomas Uthe grabbed his wife, hit her and pushed her against a wall.
In April 1995, he pleaded no contest to a domestic violence case involving a shooting into a house. He was sentenced to five years' probation and 90 days in jail.
Thomas Uthe was being held without bond at the Broward County Jail.


Since The 1980s Japanese Farmers Have Been Growing What Peculiar Crop?
The First Comic Superhero To Appear On The Silver Screen Was?
Since the 1980s, Japanese farmers from the island of Shikoku have been growing some rather strange looking watermelons. In a bid to capitalize on novelty (due to the Japanese love of efficient storage and the small size of Japanese refrigerators), the farmers began growing watermelons in sturdy tempered glass cubes to make the previously round and inefficient melon into an easily stacked and stored cube.
How efficiently stored? The glass molds used to grow the melons are sized just right such that the resulting melon is perfectly sized for the standard shelf spacing of Japanese refrigerators. Such preternatural perfection comes at a steep price, however, and the carefully formed melons sell for 2-3 times more than a regular watermelon.
Ironically, the process of cubing the watermelons (and of harvesting them at just the right time to maximize their symmetry and good looks) yields a watermelon that is too young and unripened to provide any of the bright pink and juicy melon flesh you'd expect. As such, the watermelons have become status symbols among wealthy shoppers in major cities like Tokyo and are given as gifts and used as decoration. When it comes time for a proper fruit salad, a rounder and more natural looking watermelon is in order.


text:
https://www.theridgefieldpress.com/past_obituaries/article/Dorothy-Marcia-Barlow-Bissell-89-active-in-14002937.php
Dorothy Marcia Barlow Bissell, 89, active in First Congregational Church
Published 2:24 pm EDT, Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Dorothy Marcia Barlow Bissell, who was active in the First Congregational Church here, died Aug. 5, at the Jewish Home of Fairfield. She was 89 years old and he widow of Roger W. Bissell.
She was born on June 9, 1923 in Dedham, Mass., and graduated with a bachelor's degree in art history from Wheaton College, Norton, Mass. She also studied personnel management at Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Mass.
She worked in Boston for C. Crawford Hollidge, Ltd., where she met Mr. Bissell. They married on Valentine's Day, 1948. The family moved to Ridgefield in 1975 and Mrs. Bissell was active in the Women's Fellowship of the First Congregational Church as a member of the Gibson Circle and later the Elizabeth Circle. She also was an active member of PEO Chapter G.
After the death of her husband in 1982, she worked for six years at the B. J. Dolan Company in Bethel before retiring in 1988.
She is survived by her five children: Douglas H. Bissell and wife Virginia (Balchunas) of Waynesboro, Va., Marcia L. Bissell of Fairfield, Benjamin B. Bissell and wife Lori (Mangiamele) of Trumbull, Cynthia A. Bissell of Branford, and Jonathan R. Bissell of Danbury. She is also survived by three grandsons and two nieces.
A memorial service will take place on Thursday Aug. 9, at 11 a.m. at the First Congregational Church in Ridgefield. Burial will be at the Canton Corner Cemetery in Canton, Mass., at a later date.
The Edmund N. Dougiello Funeral Home in Fairfield is handling arrangements. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Red Cross or a charity of one's choice.


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text:
What is Seed Money?
Seed money refers to the funds a startup raises to launch its product or business. It usually comes from friends and family, co-founders, or angel investors in exchange for equity.
Seed money is usually used to fund a business during its launch phase when it's small but full of promise (just like a seed). This form of early-stage financing helps startups grow faster and overcome barriers more efficiently, paving the way for future financing from venture capitalists or an IPO.
But everything starts with seed funding: like planting a seed, this type of financing will hopefully grow the business into a strong operation that generates a return.
How does seed money work?
Seed capital is the first stage of funding a business. It's used for a business in its very early stages and typically isn't a lot of money (under $1M).
Startups typically use seed money for launch-related expenses like:
Rent or real estate
Employees and payroll
Production and distribution
Marketing and audience analysis
Keep in mind that seed funding isn't the same as venture capital. Venture capital usually comes after seed funding because it requires institutional investors and significant sums of money. Seed money is usually a smaller amount with less complexity, which makes it a great option for early-stage startups.
The pros and cons of seed money
Seed money helps startups make their vision a reality. But this type of funding comes with pros and cons that you need to weigh carefully.
Seed money pros:
It accelerates the startup more quickly, growing it faster than it would have without funding.
Seed funding decreases the risks of funding the startup yourself or applying for personal debt.
If you attract the right type of investors, seed money can give you access to valuable mentorship.
Seed money cons:
Some seed money deals require you to give away a lot of equity in your company early on.
If you take on a loan, you need to be able to pay back that loan, plus interest.
Accepting investments means your business has to comply with certain regulations.
Seed money provides a much-needed jolt of life to a brand-new business, but it isn't without risk. Make sure you're ready to give away equity or pay off debt when you accept seed funding — otherwise, you risk losing everything.
Where to get seed money
At this stage, the business is a startup with an unproven model. While you can always try to finance the business through a bank loan, most financial institutions won't extend financing to an early-stage business because it lacks a track record.
Instead of bank financing, many early-stage startups source seed money from:
Bootstrapping — This happens when you source funds either personally or from your friends and family. Since most entrepreneurs don't want to put their own finances on the chopping block, bootstrapping funds usually come from your network. Keep in mind that it's very risky to accept seed money from friends and family. If the business doesn't do well, it could put a strain on your personal relationships. While it can be easier to get a "yes," you have to enforce boundaries. Treat your friends and family as the investors they are so you can succeed together.
Debt — Seed money debt usually comes from angel investors, not a bank. In this scenario, an investor extends a loan to you in exchange for seed money. You'll need to pay back the loan with interest, but this does mean you don't give up equity in your company. If you anticipate meteoric growth over time, this could put more money in your pocket.
Equity — Equity deals are a common way to raise seed money. You ask an investor for seed money in exchange for stock or a share of ownership in your company. This is great if you don't want the burden of paying off debt right now, but it will make it difficult to control your company when you give away more equity.
Crowdfunding — Platforms like Indiegogo and GoFundMe allow you to crowdsource products without giving away equity. You can offer steep discounts to your crowdfunding partners in exchange for their early purchase supporting your startup.
Convertible securities — The most common type of convertible security is convertible debt. This deal usually starts out as a loan but converts to equity. If you're trying to appeal to a risk-averse investor, you might use a convertible security agreement to secure seed money.
Angel investors — High-income investors usually fund startups as "angels." They typically finance seed money as a loan if the amount is under $1M and do equity deals if it's above that threshold.
Incubators: You can join an incubator program to solidify your startup ideas, design a product, and clarify your vision. Y Combinator is a well-known example, but there are incubators available across the globe.
Remember, the purpose of seed funding is to get your business off the ground. After you acquire seed money, you'll create a track record that allows you to apply for venture capital dollars and, eventually, an IPO.
How Covid-19 Has Impacted Seed Funding In Q1'20
Which Investors Are Best At Finding Future Unicorns Early?
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text:
package org.hisp.dhis.fieldfiltering;

import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertFalse;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNotNull;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;

import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.List;

import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;

import com.google.common.collect.Sets;

/**
 * @author Morten Olav Hansen
 */
class FieldFilterParserTest
{
    @Test
    void testDepth0Filters()
    {
        List<FieldPath> fieldPaths = FieldFilterParser.parse( Sets.newHashSet( "id, name", "    abc" ) );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "id" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "name" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "abc" );
    }

    @Test
    void testDepth1Filters()
    {
        List<FieldPath> fieldPaths = FieldFilterParser.parse( Collections.singleton( "id,name,group[id,name]" ) );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "id" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "name" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "group.id" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "group.name" );
    }

    @Test
    void testDepthXFilters()
    {
        List<FieldPath> fieldPaths = FieldFilterParser
            .parse( Sets.newHashSet( "id,name,group[id,name]", "group[id,name,group[id,name,group[id,name]]]" ) );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "id" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "name" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "group.id" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "group.name" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "group.group.id" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "group.group.name" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "group.group.group.id" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "group.group.group.name" );
    }

    @Test
    void testOnlyBlockFilters()
    {
        List<FieldPath> fieldPaths = FieldFilterParser.parse( Collections.singleton( "group[id,name]" ) );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "group.id" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "group.name" );
    }

    @Test
    void testOnlySpringBlockFilters()
    {
        List<FieldPath> fieldPaths = FieldFilterParser.parse( Sets.newHashSet( "group[id", "name]" ) );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "group.id" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "group.name" );
    }

    @Test
    void testParseWithPrefix1()
    {
        List<FieldPath> fieldPaths = FieldFilterParser.parseWithPrefix( Sets.newHashSet( "a", "b" ), "prefix" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "prefix.a" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "prefix.b" );
    }

    @Test
    void testParseWithPrefix2()
    {
        List<FieldPath> fieldPaths = FieldFilterParser.parseWithPrefix( Collections.singleton( "aaa[a],bbb[b]" ),
            "prefix" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "prefix.aaa.a" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "prefix.bbb.b" );
    }

    @Test
    void testParseWithTransformer1()
    {
        List<FieldPath> fieldPaths = FieldFilterParser
            .parse( Collections.singleton( "name::x(a;b),id~y(a;b;c),code|z(t)" ) );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "name" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "id" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "code" );
    }

    @Test
    void testParseWithTransformer2()
    {
        List<FieldPath> fieldPaths = FieldFilterParser.parse( Collections.singleton( "groups[name::x(a;b)]" ) );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "groups" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "groups.name" );
    }

    @Test
    void testParseWithTransformer3()
    {
        List<FieldPath> fieldPaths = FieldFilterParser
            .parse( Collections.singleton( "groups[name::x(a;b), code~y(a)]" ) );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "groups" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "groups.name" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "groups.code" );
    }

    @Test
    void testParseWithTransformer4()
    {
        List<FieldPath> fieldPaths = FieldFilterParser.parse( Collections.singleton( "name::rename(n),groups[name]" ) );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "name", true );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "groups" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "groups.name", false );
    }

    @Test
    void testParseWithTransformer5()
    {
        List<FieldPath> fieldPaths = FieldFilterParser
            .parse( Collections.singleton( "name::rename(n),groups::rename(g)[name::rename(n)]" ) );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "name", true );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "groups", true );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "groups.name", true );
    }

    @Test
    void testParseWithTransformer6()
    {
        List<FieldPath> fieldPaths = FieldFilterParser
            .parse( Collections.singleton( "name::rename(n),groups::rename(g)[name]" ) );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "name", true );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "groups", true );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "groups.name", false );
    }

    @Test
    void testParseWithTransformer7()
    {
        List<FieldPath> fieldPaths = FieldFilterParser.parse( Collections.singleton( "name::size,group::isEmpty" ) );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "name", true );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "group", true );
    }

    @Test
    void testParseWithTransformer8()
    {
        List<FieldPath> fieldPaths = FieldFilterParser.parse( Collections.singleton( "name::rename(n)" ) );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "name", true );
        FieldPathTransformer fieldPathTransformer = fieldPaths.get( 0 ).getTransformers().get( 0 );
        assertEquals( "rename", fieldPathTransformer.getName() );
    }

    @Test
    void testParseWithMultipleTransformers()
    {
        List<FieldPath> fieldPaths = FieldFilterParser.parse( Collections.singleton( "name::size::rename(n)" ) );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "name", true );
        FieldPathTransformer fieldPathTransformer = fieldPaths.get( 0 ).getTransformers().get( 0 );
        assertEquals( "size", fieldPathTransformer.getName() );
        fieldPathTransformer = fieldPaths.get( 0 ).getTransformers().get( 1 );
        assertEquals( "rename", fieldPathTransformer.getName() );
    }

    @Test
    void testParseWithPresetAndExclude1()
    {
        List<FieldPath> fieldPaths = FieldFilterParser.parse( Collections.singleton( "id,name,!code,:owner" ) );
        FieldPath id = getFieldPath( fieldPaths, "id" );
        assertNotNull( id );
        assertFalse( id.isExclude() );
        assertFalse( id.isPreset() );
        FieldPath name = getFieldPath( fieldPaths, "name" );
        assertNotNull( name );
        assertFalse( name.isExclude() );
        assertFalse( name.isPreset() );
        FieldPath code = getFieldPath( fieldPaths, "code" );
        assertNotNull( code );
        assertTrue( code.isExclude() );
        assertFalse( code.isPreset() );
        FieldPath owner = getFieldPath( fieldPaths, "owner" );
        assertNotNull( owner );
        assertFalse( owner.isExclude() );
        assertTrue( owner.isPreset() );
    }

    @Test
    void testParseWithPresetAndExclude()
    {
        List<FieldPath> fieldPaths = FieldFilterParser
            .parse( Collections.singleton( "id,name,!code,:owner,group[:owner,:all,!code,hello]" ) );
        FieldPath id = getFieldPath( fieldPaths, "id" );
        assertNotNull( id );
        assertFalse( id.isExclude() );
        assertFalse( id.isPreset() );
        FieldPath name = getFieldPath( fieldPaths, "name" );
        assertNotNull( name );
        assertFalse( name.isExclude() );
        assertFalse( name.isPreset() );
        FieldPath code = getFieldPath( fieldPaths, "code" );
        assertNotNull( code );
        assertTrue( code.isExclude() );
        assertFalse( code.isPreset() );
        FieldPath owner = getFieldPath( fieldPaths, "owner" );
        assertNotNull( owner );
        assertFalse( owner.isExclude() );
        assertTrue( owner.isPreset() );
        FieldPath groupOwner = getFieldPath( fieldPaths, "group.owner" );
        assertNotNull( groupOwner );
        assertFalse( groupOwner.isExclude() );
        assertTrue( groupOwner.isPreset() );
        FieldPath groupAll = getFieldPath( fieldPaths, "group.all" );
        assertNotNull( groupAll );
        assertFalse( groupAll.isExclude() );
        assertTrue( groupAll.isPreset() );
        FieldPath groupCode = getFieldPath( fieldPaths, "group.code" );
        assertNotNull( groupCode );
        assertTrue( groupCode.isExclude() );
        assertFalse( groupCode.isPreset() );
        FieldPath groupHello = getFieldPath( fieldPaths, "group.hello" );
        assertNotNull( groupHello );
        assertFalse( groupHello.isExclude() );
        assertFalse( groupHello.isPreset() );
    }

    @Test
    void testParseWithAsterisk1()
    {
        List<FieldPath> fieldPaths = FieldFilterParser.parse( Collections.singleton( "*,!code" ) );
        FieldPath asterisk = getFieldPath( fieldPaths, "all" );
        assertNotNull( asterisk );
        assertFalse( asterisk.isExclude() );
        assertTrue( asterisk.isPreset() );
        FieldPath code = getFieldPath( fieldPaths, "code" );
        assertNotNull( code );
        assertTrue( code.isExclude() );
        assertFalse( code.isPreset() );
    }

    @Test
    void testParseWithAsterisk2()
    {
        List<FieldPath> fieldPaths = FieldFilterParser.parse( Collections.singleton( "*,!code,group[*]" ) );
        FieldPath asterisk = getFieldPath( fieldPaths, "all" );
        assertNotNull( asterisk );
        assertFalse( asterisk.isExclude() );
        assertTrue( asterisk.isPreset() );
        FieldPath code = getFieldPath( fieldPaths, "code" );
        assertNotNull( code );
        assertTrue( code.isExclude() );
        assertFalse( code.isPreset() );
        FieldPath groupAsterisk = getFieldPath( fieldPaths, "group.all" );
        assertNotNull( groupAsterisk );
        assertFalse( groupAsterisk.isExclude() );
        assertTrue( groupAsterisk.isPreset() );
    }

    @Test
    void testMixedBlockSingleFields()
    {
        List<FieldPath> fieldPaths = FieldFilterParser.parse( Collections.singleton( "id,name,group[id,name],code" ) );
        assertEquals( 6, fieldPaths.size() );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "id" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "name" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "group" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "group.id" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "group.name" );
        assertFieldPathContains( fieldPaths, "code" );
    }

    private void assertFieldPathContains( List<FieldPath> fieldPaths, String expected, boolean isTransformer )
    {
        boolean condition = false;
        for ( FieldPath fieldPath : fieldPaths )
        {
            String path = fieldPath.toFullPath();
            if ( path.equals( expected ) )
            {
                condition = fieldPath.isTransformer() == isTransformer;
                break;
            }
        }
        assertTrue( condition );
    }

    private void assertFieldPathContains( List<FieldPath> fieldPaths, String expected )
    {
        boolean condition = false;
        for ( FieldPath fieldPath : fieldPaths )
        {
            String path = fieldPath.toFullPath();
            if ( path.equals( expected ) )
            {
                condition = true;
                break;
            }
        }
        assertTrue( condition );
    }

    private FieldPath getFieldPath( List<FieldPath> fieldPaths, String path )
    {
        for ( FieldPath fieldPath : fieldPaths )
        {
            String fullPath = fieldPath.toFullPath();
            if ( path.equals( fullPath ) )
            {
                return fieldPath;
            }
        }
        return null;
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
China&India
Extensive pollution is changing the mindset of China's institutions
Up until the 1960s, most industrialising countries gave scant attention to the air, water and soil pollution that came with the proliferation of factories. To the extent they did, such issues were considered the price to be paid for progress.
Farmers in China's Yunnan province digging ditches to lead water from a white polluted stream into farm fields in March 2013. The government estimates that almost 20 per cent of China's once arable land is now unfit for food production due to soil contamination. Photo: Reuters
Follow us on TikTok and Instagram, and join our Telegram channel for the latest updates.
Cecilia Tortajada and Asit K. Biswas
By Cecilia Tortajada and Asit K. Biswas
By the late 1960s, that price became too high. Confronted by cases of serious pollution — most dramatically, the sight of the oil-contaminated Cuyahoga River in Ohio on fire — and their effects on human and environmental health, the first environmentalists began sounding the alarm. From the 1970s, many countries began establishing environmental-protection ministries to try to clean up the air, water and soil, and prevent further damage.
China, in a sense, has followed the West: Develop first and take care of pollution later. But given its size and the speed of its growth, its environmental reckoning has come much sooner.
In the West, industrialisation took place over two centuries. In contrast, much of the growth in China has occurred during the past three decades. China's annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth from 1989 to this year averaged 9.85 per cent — an incredible feat no other country has managed in human history.
The result has been extensive air, water and soil pollution.
This is more so because China's development has been heavily dependent on natural resources, especially coal and oil. Its resource-intensive growth model has been using larger amounts of energy per unit of GDP than nearly all other developing countries.
Accordingly, China has been generating significantly more contaminants per unit of product manufactured, compared with other major economies. For example, it has been estimated by the International Energy Agency that China's carbon dioxide emission per unit of GDP in purchasing power parity is nearly double that of the United States.
Environmental degradation, however, now threatens China's economic growth, food security, public health and international trade.
Air pollution is already a serious problem in all Chinese megacities. A group of scientists from the US, Canada, India and China estimate that 1.6 million people die in China prematurely each year because of air pollution.
Several chief executives of Fortune 500 companies have said they have trouble recruiting international staff in China because candidates do not want to breathe dirty air or subject their families to doing so. Over the long term, unless the situation changes, this may affect the level of foreign direct investment in China.
In terms of food security, surveys by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Land and Resources, conducted from 2005 to 2013, found that about 26.3 million hectares of once arable land, out of a total of 135 million hectares (almost 20 per cent), are now unfit for food production because of serious contamination by heavy metals.
This is primarily because industrial and mining liquid wastes are inadequately treated and disposed of. The food that could have been produced from this loss of productive land could support the entire population of Australia.
The government estimates that 121 million hectares of arable land are needed to maintain the country's food security. This means the country is now 12.5 million hectares below the declared "red-line" of 121 million hectares. Not surprisingly, China's grain self-sufficiency ratio has declined from 90 per cent in 2011 to 86 per cent in 2014. Edible crops are not being allowed to grow on contaminated land.
In addition, according to official statistics, 10.4 per cent of grasslands, 11.4 per cent of unused lands and 10 per cent of woodlands in the country are severely polluted.
That is not all. In April this year, the Ministry of Water Resources reported that samples from 2,103 groundwater wells in the country's heavily populated eastern watersheds are seriously contaminated. Some 32.9 per cent of the samples were suitable only for industrial and agricultural use. Another 47.3 per cent of samples were unfit for any type of human consumption. So, 80 per cent is unfit to use for domestic purposes.
Increasing concerns with air, water and soil pollution have resulted in social unrest. Last year, in Guangdong Province, locals protested over the expansion of a coal-fired power plant. This unrest primarily focuses on specific local issues (such as the location of incineration plants), for which some solutions are possible.
Extensive media coverage of environmental pollution has drawn some attention to the problems. In recent years, China's leaders have publicly expressed concern over environmental problems confronting the country.
Former Premier Wen Jiabao said water problems threaten "the very survival of the Chinese nation". In March 2014, Premier Li Keqiang, during his first annual policy report, described pollution as "nature's red-light warning against the model of inefficient and blind development". He went on to declare a "war on pollution".
China's government has acted on this resolve. In 2010, China's environmental expenditure was two trillion yuan (S$411 billion). By last year, this had more than doubled to 4.5 trillion yuan, nearly 40 per cent of which was to combat water pollution.
In 2014, 1,188 pollution control criminal cases were brought to court, almost eight times the number of court cases in 2013.
In May this year, China Daily reported that Changzhou Intermediate People's Court in Zhejiang Province accepted a public interest lawsuit against three chemical plants by three national NGOs. The lawsuit alleges that the three chemical factories moved out of the area after seriously contaminating the land on which they were located without restoring it.
The fact that the court promptly accepted the indictment filed on April 29 is a sign of major mindset change in China's institutions: That pollution has major social and economic costs which no longer can be accepted as a "sign of progress". This may not have been possible even five years ago. These are encouraging signs.
We are cautiously optimistic that over the next one to two decades, China will be able to halt and reverse environmental pollution trends with new regulations and enforcement. Just as it industrialised in record time, and polluted in record time, our hope is it can also fix the problem in record time.
Cecilia Tortajada is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Water Policy in the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore; Asit K. Biswas is Distinguished Visiting Professor in the same School. One of their areas of specialisation is development, environment and resources management in China.
Commentary Explore now


Meaning of the Irish name Proinsias. Listen and learn how to pronounce Proinsias so you can get the correct pronunciation for this Irish boy name.
MEANING: The Irish form of Francis, a name originating from the figure of St. Francis of Assisi. The name means ""little French man"" and was popularised in Ireland by the Franciscans whose founder was St. Francis of Assisi. The Celts would have been responsive to the stories of St. Francis's attitude to birds and animals.


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