172 Sq Ft Dream Castle

How cities can be protected from sea-level rise

https://agenda.weforum.org/2015/07/how-cities-can-be-protected-from-sea-level-rise/?utm_content=bufferf036a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

By Sally Brown

Extreme storms and rising sea levels will threaten the existence of coastal cities worldwide, unless preventative action is undertaken. With population growth and sea-level rise set to continue, research has estimated that by 2050, we can expect more than US$1 trillion worth of damages per year to be incurred by 136 of the world’s largest cities, if there is no attempt to adapt.

The game changer came in 2005, when we saw one of the most active hurricane seasons in US history. Hurricane Katrina, the fifth hurricane of that season, resulted in nearly 1,600 deaths. Almost half of these fatalities occurred in New Orleans: 80% of the city was flooded, at a cost of US$40 billion. When the water subsided, so did the population: ten years on, the city that used to house 500,000 is now home to only 300,000 people.

There are a number of ways to go about changing cities to account for rising sea levels: we can raise coastal defences, build houses on stilts, or simply move cities and their populations away from the coast. Which of these strategies works best was one of many questions set out in Climate Change: A Risk Assessment – a new report led by Sir David King and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Constant threat

Globally, sea levels have been remarkably stable since civilisation started to develop several thousand years ago. During the 20th century, sea levels rose about 17cm, at an average rate of 1.8mm per year. Over the past few decades, that rate has doubled to more than 3mm per year. This trend is expected to continue and accelerate. According to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changereport, the sea level is projected to rise up to 1m by 2100. If the large ice sheets ofGreenland and Antarctica melted, even higher rises are considered possible, albeit highly uncertain.

Importantly, if carbon emissions are stabilised, or even decrease, the sea level will continue to rise for many centuries, as the deep ocean slowly warms and the large ice sheets reach a new equilibrium. Simply put, sea-level rise is here to stay. It is likely to lead to greater flooding, salinisation (the build up of salt in surface and groundwater) and erosion in coastal areas, affecting millions of people worldwide and costing billions of dollars of damage.

The high costs of economic damage and loss of life are becoming less acceptable in a world where extreme weather events can be accurately forecast and coastal protection is possible. In many parts of the world, damages and loss of life remain high, as seen during Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the Philippines in 2013. Preparing coastal cities for extreme events and adapting them to cope with sea-level rise remains challenging: King’s report highlights the engineering, financial and socio-political limits of the adaptation challenge.

But cities are starting to embrace these challenges. For example, last year, Bostonput forward the bold, novel idea of becoming an American Venice – a city full of canals to hold water as sea levels rise. New York has considered building a barrier to keep water out, in light of the fact that, with a 1m rise in the sea level, a 1-in-100 year event (that is, a severe storm one would expect to occur once every 100 years) could become 200 times more likely to occur.

London has also developed a range of flexible options that would protect the Thames Estuary against up to 5m of sea-level rise. These include raising defences, implementing flood storage and constructing a new and bigger Thames Barrier further downstream.

Developing better cities

In developing countries, few cities are preparing for sea-level rise, despite the awareness that this is a long-term hazard. Developing cities also frequently have rapid population growth. In Shanghai and Kolkata more than 400,000 people live less than 2m above the present-day sea level. A rise of 1m will increase the frequency of a current 1-in-100 year event by 40 times in Shanghai, and about 1,000 times in Kolkata.

Local ground subsidence is another factor to worry about. This involves the sinking of the land relative to the sea due to natural and sometimes human processes (such as groundwater withdrawal). Local ground subsidence will worsen conditions in about a quarter of coastal cities – namely, those built on susceptible deltaic soils (those at the mouth of a river).

Small islands and their cities are also under serious threat from sea-level rise as they are low-lying, remote and dispersed in their territories, and often have limited financial resources. Far from being a green, spacious island, Malé – the capital of the Maldives – is one of the world’s most densely populated cities. Building protective structures is one way of reducing the impacts of extreme events: Malé is surrounded by a sea wall and giant tetrapods (a four-pronged concentrate structure about 2m high). But a lack of space limits future coastal protection.

To overcome this, a new island has been constructed, Hulhumalé, with sea-level rise also in mind. The solution to sea-level rise is simply to build upwards: The island was raised to 2m above present day sea level to protect against storms. This buys time, but moving into the late 21st or early 22nd century this may not be enough. Other Maldivian islands are following suit, with the Safer Islands programme selectively raising parts of islands. This may help the parts of the country, but clearly much more work is required to ensure the long-term prospects of this fragile island nation.

Ultimately, these case studies show us that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to adapting cities to rising sea levels. Rather, the best bet for cities to adapt against rising sea levels is to dare to be different. Both engineering design, government authorities and social attitudes must acknowledge that change needs to occur, if we’re to avoid disaster.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

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Author: Sally Brown is Research Fellow at University of Southampton. Ivan Haigh is Lecturer in Coastal Oceanography at University of Southampton. Robert Nicholls is Professor of Coastal Engineering at University of Southampton.

Image: Cityscape of Cape Town in South Africa. REUTERS/Euroluftbild.de.

TAMAN LISTRIK TENAGA ANGIN TANARARA

This Mycologist Holds The Patent That Could DESTROY Monsanto

http://www.trueactivist.com/this-mycologist-holds-the-patent-that-could-destroy-monsanto/

Paul Stamets has figured out how to use mother nature to safely control over 200,000 species of insects.


Credit: DiscoverMagazine

Monsanto, the biotech company found to be the most hated organizations in the world, is responsible for a number of dirty dealings that have earned it such a reputation. The creator of Agent Orange (a deadly herbicide responsible for thousands of disfigurements and birth defects in Vietnam), and glyphosate (recently declared to be “probably carcinogenic” by the WHO), it’s for good reason individuals everywhere are banding together to boycott the giant company and its foul play. (Don’t believe us? Watch Food, Inc.)

But although awareness is being raised every day enlightening individuals on why they should opt for organic seeds, local produce, and support bio-dynamic agricultural methods, few feel confident that their efforts will actually help put the agri-giant out of business. Based upon the following news, however, we believe there’s reason to be hopeful:

In 2006, Paul Stamets, the world’s leading mycologist, was granted a patent that has potential to change the world.

Stated by executives in the pesticide industry, the patent Stamets holds represents “the most disruptive technology we have ever witnessed,” and when they say disruptive, they mean harmful to the chemical pesticide industry.

Credit: IsaacHernandez.com

It seems Paul has figured out how to use mother nature to keep insects from destroying crops, a finding that could make chemically-produced pest control completely obsolete. It is what is being called SMART pesticides.

SMART pesticides provide safe and nearly permanent solution for controlling over 200,000 species of insects – and all thanks to the magic offered by mushrooms.

The Mycologist does this by taking entomopathogenic Fungi (fungi that destroys insects) and morphs it so it does not produce spores. In result, this actually attracts the insects who then eat and turn into fungi from the inside out!

Credit: EWAO

Wouldn’t a better world result if biotech companies has limited control over crops, seeds, and the way populations grow food? Monsanto is already blamed to be responsible for the bee and monarch die-off ; who knows what other horrors could be prevented if its toxic chemical concoctions were no longer needed to grow crops.

Credit: LoveClicks

Monsanto may have generated $16 billion dollars in 2014, but its sales have reportedly been decreasing thanks to consumer awareness and action taken by activists.

By sharing this article, you are playing an important role in helping to raise awareness  about an alternative pest control method that may potentially revolutionize the way humans grow crops.

Want to learn more about Paul Stamets? Here’s a TED Talk he gave in 2008:

Here are helpful links to understand more about the incredible patent Paul Stamets holds:

Here is a link to the patent 7,122,176: http://www.google.com/patents/US7122176

A list of all the patents Paul has applied for: http://patents.justia.com/inventor/paul-edward-stamets

Plenty of information about Paul Stamets: http://www.fungi.com/about-paul-stamets.html

Wikipedia page about Paul Stamets: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Stamets

Original Source: LoveClicks

This Ecocapsule Tiny Home Lets You Live Off-Grid Anywhere In The World!

http://www.trueactivist.com/this-ecocapsule-tiny-home-lets-you-live-off-grid-anywhere-in-the-world/
by Amanda Froelich 

This egg-shaped abode is powered by solar and wind energy, includes rainwater collection and filtration, and even has a kitchenette that can be used to prepare a hot meal.


Credit: Nice Architects

Ambition to live off-grid does not come without its difficulties. First, there is the task of explaining to your friends and family members why you desire to detach from mainstream society and live peacefully in nature. And second, there are the logistics of how you might actually survive the Earth’s fluctuating weather patterns while taking care of basic necessities like running water, a flushing toilet, or even a fire pit to cook food over.

But soon such woes may no longer be a concern, as an ingenious little egg-shaped tiny home has just been unveiled to the world with capabilities that  far surpass most other off-grid abodes.

Credit: Nice Architects

Credit: Nice Architects

Designed by Bratislava-based Nice Architects, the Ecocapsule is a micro-shelter that offers a variety of sustainable offerings. Ultra-portable, the capsule is powered by solar and wind energy, includes rainwater collection and filtration, and even has a tiny kitchenette that can be used to prepare a hot meal.

Truly, this is one of the most impressive off-grid luxury tiny homes we’ve ever seen.

Credit: Nice Architects

In the egg-spaced shape measuring 4.5 meters (14.6 feet) in length, 2.4 meters (7.9 feet) in width, and 2.5 meters in height (8.2 feet), there seems to be enough space to compactly fit all the home necessities.

The total usable floor space is eight square meters (86 square feet), enough space, say the designers, to comfortably fit two adults. The home with a tiny footprint includes a folding bed, two large operable windows, a working/dining area, shower and flushable toilet, storage space, and a built-in kitchenette with running water.

Credit: Nice Architects

Credit: Nice Architects

The built-in 750W wind turbine and 2.6-square-meter array of high efficiency solar cells (600W output) power the Ecocapsule. A dual-power system and high-capacity battery (9,744Wh capacity) ensures the rounded shell stays operable even during times of low solar and wind activity.

In addition, the high-tech shelter is optimized for rainwater collection. Each Ecocapsule weighs approximately 1,5000 kilograms and can fit inside a standard shipping container.

While you’re not alone in your desire to quickly order an Ecocapsule, they are not yet for sale. At present, only renderings and diagrams of the Ecocapsule are available; however, Nice Architects plans to unveil a prototype at the Pioneers festival in Vienna on May 28, 2015.

Having taken seven years to complete the wondrous Ecocapsule, the Nice Architects plans to release the tiny home for sale later this year. The first produced units are planned to be delivered in the first half of 2016.

As shown below, maybe it could also be a sustainable solution for those who currently live without a safe, secure home?

Credit: Nice Architects

Trik Gampang Bangun Rumah Hemat Energi

http://properti.kompas.com/read/2015/05/16/171640821/Trik.Gampang.Bangun.Rumah.Hemat.Energi?utm_source=properti&utm_medium=bp&utm_campaign=related&


Tidak ada lagi yang bisa kita lakukan untuk memastikan lingkungan lebih aman dan sehat selama bertahun-tahun yang akan datang, kecuali memulainya dari dalam rumah.

KOMPAS.com - Tidak ada lagi yang bisa kita lakukan untuk memastikan lingkungan yang lebih aman dan sehat selama bertahun-tahun yang akan datang, kecuali memulainya dari dalam rumah. 

Meskipun membawa dampak positif, banyak yang bingung bagaimana membuat rumah ramah lingkungan. Untuk menjadikan rumah menjadi hijau, Anda bisa memulai dari lima hal ini.

1. Produk Energi Efisien

Cara termudah untuk membuat rumah menjadi ramah lingkungan adalah dengan membeli atau memilih produk hemat energi. Memang awalnya barang-barang ini cenderung lebih mahal daripada yang biasa, namun produk hemat energi ini dijamin menghemat uang dalam jangka panjang.

Entah itu di dapur, kamar mandi, ruang keluarga, atau ruangan lain di rumah, sebaiknya pilih produk energi efisien yang bisa Anda temukan di toko furnitur.

2. Jendela

Ketika tiba saatnya untuk mencari jendela hemat energi, ada beberapa langkah yang perlu Anda perhatikan. Pertama, Anda perlu memahami berbagai jenis jendela kaca. Kemudian, pilih gaya jendela berdasarkan bagaimana jendela tersebut terbuka dan tertutup, misalnya ke samping atau terbuka bagian bawahnya.

Hal penting setelah itu adalah pada saat pemasangan. Instalasi yang tidak tepat dapat menyebabkan rembesan dan bahkan kebocoran air.

3. Kabinet

Jika Anda ingin mengubah rumah menjadi rumah hijau, ruangan yang paling populer untuk dirombak adalah dapur. Sebuah titik awal adalah dari lemari atau kabinet. 

Ada banyak zat dan bahan yang terlibat dalam produksi lemari berkelanjutan dalam kualitas udara di rumah Anda. Bagi mereka pemilik rumah yang ramah lingkungan, salah satu bahan yang bisa dipasang adalah bambu dan papan biokomposit, lyptus, kayu daur ulang, dan stock cabinet.

Selain itu, Anda juga bisa mencari produk yang bersertifikasi, misalnya dari Green Seal atau GreenGuard, untuk mengetahui apakah produk tersebut memiliki emisi VOC rendah.

4. Pipa

Percaya atau tidak, salah satu cara terbaik menjadikan rumah hijau adalah melalui pipa Anda. Tidak hanya biaya utilitas pipa hijau lebih rendah dalam jangka panjang, tapi pipa hijau akan membuat rumah dan lingkungan sehat.

Pipa rumah mencakup berbagai kategori, mulai dari drainase dan pipa untuk pemanas air, toilet, dan saluran pembuangan utama. Untuk proyek-proyek tertentu, Anda bisa mengisolasi pipa, menginstal pemanas air panas baru, menginstal sistem penyaringan air, memasang toilet dengan aliran air yang rendah, dan memasang keran peredam aliran.

5. Lantai

Saat ini, banyak pemilik rumah yang memilih lantai kayu. Jika Anda ingin menggunakan lantai kayu keras, Anda bisa memilih engineered wood atau kayu olahan. Dalam pembuatannya, kayu olahan membutuhkan kayu jauh lebih sedikit dari kayu keras standar lainnya. Selain itu, pohon-pohon untuk kayu olahan tumbuh lebih cepat daripada kayu keras padat lainnya.

Selain itu, Anda juga dapat menginstal lantai yang terbuat dari bahan yang berkelanjutan, daur ulang, atau reklamasi.

How Vulnerable is Indonesia to Future Climate Change?

http://www.insideindonesia.org/how-vulnerable-is-indonesia-to-future-climate-change
by Satrio Adi Wicaksono



In a speech delivered to Indonesian students in Jakarta in 2014, United States Secretary of State John Kerry boldly stated that climate change is perhaps ‘the world’s most fearsome weapon of mass destruction’ and Indonesia is ‘one of the most vulnerable countries on Earth’ due to climate change. A close look at climate-related death statistics compiled by the Brussels-based Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, which included deaths caused by droughts, floods, landslides, and storms, suggest Kerry was not exaggerating. Between 1980 and 2007, more than 174,000 Indonesians died in climate-related disasters. Apart from Ethiopia, the death toll was higher than any other country.

More droughts? More floods?

Climate change is going to have some major consequences in Indonesia through changing rainfall patterns, although the impacts will vary across regions. As an example, the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report suggests that the Nusa Tenggara islands will become dryer while other islands will become wetter by the end of the century. Scientists have already observed deviations from the twentieth century average rainfall, as well as the average length of dry and rainy seasons, for many Indonesian islands. These trends, if they continue, are worrying. Significant increase in rainfall during the rainy season may lead to higher risk of flooding and landslides, whereas delayed rainfall and a longer dry season in the country’s rice-producing regions mean an extended paceklik (hungry season) for farmers, who can no longer predict when the rainy season will start. Fishermen are already finding it harder to predict monsoonal weather patterns, or what fish they can catch with which nets. More extreme weather events mean less time at sea. Both farmers and fishermen undoubtedly face declining livelihoods due to climate change. 

Many Indonesian farmers and fishermen are already familiar with El Niño and La Niña – climate phenomena occurring at irregular intervals of two to seven years which bring extended drought (in the case of El Niño) or wetter than usual conditions (during La Niña). Scientists think stronger and more frequent El Niño/La Niña events are likely to take place under the emerging climate regime, exacerbating the negative impacts of both phenomena, such as paceklik during El Niño and floods during La Niña. 

During an unusually strong 1997-1998 El Niño event, Indonesia experienced a major shortfall of rice production, forcing imports to a record 5.8 million tons in 1998, the largest quantity of rice ever imported by a single nation. The El Niño-induced drought also exacerbated forest fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra in 1997-1998, triggered primarily by illegal land clearing. Smoke and haze from the fires shrouded much of Sumatra, Singapore, the Malaysian Peninsula, and Kalimantan, at a total cost of some US$4.4 billion. Weather-related damage and losses will likely balloon if strong El Niño/La Niña events become the future norm.

Climate model projections for Indonesia

Computer models have been widely used by the climate science community to simulate and project future climate conditions. There are approximately thirty major climate-modelling labs around the world with supercomputer facilities capable of handling the sophisticated calculations needed to run climate simulations. These models incorporate the physics and chemistry of land surfaces, atmosphere, and the oceans, though they each must also involve a large number of simplifying assumptions. Each model is somewhat unique, and different models are better at capturing different climate processes. 

The IPCC has chosen some of the world’s most advanced climate models to run a set of coordinated experiments to provide an improved best-estimate forecast of future climates. These experiments allow us, for example, to compare how each model independently simulates precipitation under different scenarios of future fossil fuel use. 

The simulation results for Indonesia are interesting. Though most models agree that the temperature will increase by two to four degrees Celsius by 2100, there is little agreement on the trend and magnitude of rainfall changes across different parts of Indonesia. This makes it difficult to project how El Niño/La Niña phenomena will behave and how wet or dry a particular region is going to be in the future. How to effectively model the complexity of Indonesian precipitation is a challenge that has yet to be resolved, and this has led some people within the climate science community to think they might be able to improve the work of climate models – especially in the Indonesian context – by adding a new dimension: looking into how climate has changed in the past.

‘Don’t abandon history!’

Sukarno, the founding father of the Republic of Indonesia, once remarked famously, ‘Don’t ever abandon history!’ His message would bring nods of approval from palaeoclimatologists, a subset of climate scientists whose primary work is to reconstruct past climate conditions. They aim to better understand the dynamics of climate change by anchoring global and regional predictions to an understanding of past conditions and processes.

The work of palaeoclimatologists helps climate modellers to replicate past climate conditions and in so doing make future predictions more accurate. With the help of past climate data, the efficacy of current climate models can thus be improved. Long-term reconstructed rainfall data across different parts of Indonesia from different time periods can be used to test climate models and to reduce the disagreement about projected rainfall patterns for Indonesia.

Projected future climate changes in Indonesia will likely occur at faster rates and will be of a greater magnitude than in the past. Nevertheless, studying past episodes of climate change can provide us with insight on how complex rainfall systems operate in Indonesia and what we might expect from human-induced global warming. The Earth’s climate has changed many times in the past, mostly due to long-term cycles in the globe’s orbital position as it revolves around the sun, as well as variations in greenhouse gases and aerosols. The more recent climate change has been attributed to the rapid increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide – an important greenhouse gas – since the Industrial Revolution. Preliminary studies, including the work that I have been conducting in Sulawesi, and described later in the article, indicate that these past global changes induced significant precipitation changes in Indonesia. 

Understanding Indonesian precipitation is also crucial because of the geophysical importance of its location. The waters surrounding Indonesia are the warmest in the world, which leads to strong atmospheric convection and high annual rainfall in most parts of Indonesia, especially compared to other regions on Earth. This in turn has given rise to the archipelago’s diverse tropical rainforest ecosystems. An interconnected global climate system means Indonesia’s warm waters also serve as a major source of global water vapour and heat transport, essentially energising the Earth’s water and energy cycles. A firmer understanding of Indonesian rainfall histories will thus give climate scientists a clearer picture of feedbacks associated with water and heat transport cycles, which may lead to better predictions of climate change in Indonesia and globally.

How do palaeoclimatologists reconstruct Indonesian rainfall history?

The recording of weather and climate in Indonesia was begun by the Dutch around mid-nineteenth century. With only 150 years of climate records, however, it is difficult to understand longer-term trends and dynamics of climate variability in the archipelago. To reconstruct past climate conditions beyond what is recorded by these direct records, palaeoclimatologists look to proxy measures of rainfall preserved within tree rings, corals, polar ice cores, cave stalagmites, and sediments from lakes and oceans. These data can then be calibrated to modern-day temperature and rainfall, which will allow scientists to estimate past climate conditions. 

At present, the reconstruction of Indonesian rainfall history is a bit like trying to fit together a jigsaw with some pieces missing. There are a limited number of long-term, high-resolution precipitation records from the region. These records tend to be patchy, in terms of spatial and temporal coverage. The Indonesian archipelago’s vast area, combined with the topography of its islands, also means that the precipitation history of Sulawesi will be different, for example, from that of Papua. 

Despite this complexity, the climate records available for Indonesia have turned out to be very useful for understanding the sensitivity of this region to climate change. For example, a research project of mine indicates that the climates of central Sulawesi have varied considerably in the last 50,000 years. Analyses of the carbon isotopes of leaf wax (a marker for climate-dependent plant biomass such as closed-canopy rainforests and savannas), extracted from a thirteen-metre sediment core of Lake Towuti in East Luwu Regency, South Sulawesi, have suggested that the normally wet, tropical climate was interrupted by a severe dry period during the peak of the last ice age, from around 33,000 to 16,000 years ago. At that time, much of lowland central Sulawesi, currently filled by lush tropical rainforests, was covered by widespread grasslands similar to those found in eastern Nusa Tenggara. There is a strong indication that glaciers covering vast swathes of the northern hemisphere at this time can easily shift the path of the Indonesian monsoon, causing dry conditions in central Indonesia and wetter climate in northern Australia. 

However, a similar dataset from the nearby Lake Matano, located at a higher altitude, suggests that that the high mountains near Lake Matano remained home to rainforests even during the dry ice age, indicating the persistence of wetter condition in some parts of Sulawesi. The contrasting findings between Lake Towuti and Lake Matano is important as it illustrates the role of high elevation regions as a refuge for tropical rainforests during historic drying periods and in the establishment of the current high biodiversity in the region.

Many palaeoclimatologists I know were drawn into the field not only due to the field’s scientific importance in advancing our prediction of future climate, but also because of palaeoclimatology’s multifaceted nature. It is a fascinating, multidisciplinary field, combining geology, archaeology, history, chemistry, physics, biology, and ocean sciences. The work I have been doing in Sulawesi and other Indonesian islands since I started my doctoral program has made me realise that palaeoclimatology is not only highly rewarding scientifically, the field and laboratory work that go into producing the climate data are also equally enjoyable.

The more, the merrier

Completing the jigsaw puzzle of Indonesian climate history is no easy task. Proxy records of precipitation preserved underneath Indonesian seas and lands are highly useful for understanding future climate change, but they are often difficult and expensive to uncover and analyse. For example, the budget for the coring project in central Sulawesi, excluding laboratory analyses, was approximately US$100,000.

Another problem is there are only a handful of palaeoclimatologists working to understand long-term changes in Indonesian climate, and very few of them are Indonesians. To my knowledge, less than ten professors and researchers are working full time in this field at Indonesian institutions, and there are only six postgraduates completing theses in this field in foreign universities. Although there has been an uptake in palaeoclimate research in Indonesia over the last few years, many interesting research questions remain to be answered, especially regarding the state of rainfall during climate change intervals deeper in time (Geologists and paleoclimatologists often refer to the periods occurring before 10 thousand years ago as "deep time" periods, at least in the geology timescale).

Building on the success of our work on Sulawesi’s past precipitation during the last ice age, the research group I am working with is now spearheading an effort to recover even deeper sediment records from Lake Towuti, all the way down to the lake’s bedrock (up to 170 metres of sediment). In what will be the first scientific lake drilling project in Southeast Asia, 39 scientists from 17 institutions across six countries work collaboratively to understand the response and sensitivity of Sulawesi precipitation and rainforests to global climate changes over the past 800,000 years. Indonesia is huge, so work like this in other regions will be essential to completing the puzzle of Indonesian climate history. We need to know a lot more before we can understand Indonesia’s vulnerability to climate change and improve our ability to predict future precipitation patterns.

Satrio Adi Wicaksono (satrioadi.wicaksono@gmail.com) is a PhD candidate in climate science at Brown University in Providence, USA. He serves as Project Coordinator for the scientific drilling project of Lake Towuti in central Sulawesi, due to commence in May 2015 (http://facebook.com/towutidrilling/).