By Jean Hodgkinson

Evolution can go to hell as far as I am concerned. What a mistake we are. We have mortally wounded this sweet life-supporting planet -Kurt Vonnegut

Duly noted last week, 2011 was so insanely plentiful and consistently ludicrous it demanded two weeks’ cataloguing. As of Canada Day human beings were still behaving as if this solitary cosmic Eden were ours (or theirs) alone and, moreover, as though it was meant to support our modern brand of madness for centuries yet. Look again ...

July [1] “hundreds of thousands of Syrians protest regime, crackdown continues” ... “Bank of Moscow, fifth largest in Russia, gets record $14 billion bailout after the discovery almost a third of its assets are ‘problematic’” [2] “ExxonMobil workers attempt to contain oil spill on Montana’s Yellowstone River” [4] “Barack Obama declared dead by Fox News Twitter account, hackers blamed but messages remain several hours” [5] “bailout for Greece’s financial system challenged in German court amid concerns result may rock EU” ... “Portugal’s banks may need another bailout after it is downgraded to ‘junk’ status” ... “Montana declares state of emergency in Yellowstone River oil spill” [6] “European Commission denounces international credit ratings agencies as ‘questionable’ after Portugal downgraded, Greek foreign minister calls it ‘madness’” [10] “Australian prime minister announces plan to introduce carbon tax” [12] “Ireland’s debt rating reduced to ‘junk’ status” ... “in Northern Ireland, riots mark the culmination of Belfast marching season” [15] “8 European banks fail stress tests that could leave them open to another financial crisis, another 16 in ‘danger zone’” [16] “thousands expected in Dublin, Ireland, to demonstrate against EU- and IMF-imposed budget cuts”

August [1] “HSBC bank announces plans to cut 5,000 jobs now, 25,000 by 2013” ... “Taiwanese computer assembler plans to add a million robots to its plants in the next three years” [4] “fourteen southern U.S. states put on heat alert with several dozen deaths since July heat wave” [8] “Tokyo Grain Exchange suspends trading in rice futures following fears Japanese crops contaminated by Fukushima nuclear disaster radiation” [10] “stock markets in Asia, Australia continue to rebound” [11] “stock markets in Asia, Australia fall” ... “Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 423 points, fourth straight day U.S. stocks fluctuate more than 400 points” [16] “German economy grows only 0.1% in second quarter, raising concerns about European economy as a whole” [28] “Notting Hill Carnival, world’s second largest street festival, underway peacefully in London under heavy police presence due to recent riots”

September [13] “12.3 million people in Pakistan’s Sindh province displaced, 1.7 million acres of fertile land inundated in monsoon flooding” ... “Minnesota’s Pagami Creek wildfire spreads, over 100,000 acres, smoke drifting across U.S. Midwest” [19] “Standard & Poor’s lowers Italy’s credit rating from A+ to A due to concerns over its high levels of debt, governmental stability” [20] “Italian scientists on trial for allegedly downplaying risk of major quake before the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake which killed 308 people” [23] “NASA’s Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (ca. 1991) expected to fall from orbit sometime this evening” [25] “floodwaters continue to rise on outskirts of Thailand’s capital Bangkok” ... “Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah announces reforms giving women right to vote, run in municipal elections” [27] “over two million affected by floods in India”

October [4] “Pacific islands of Tuvalu and Tokelau declare state of emergency due to a lack of drinking water caused by low rainfall” [5] “severe monsoon flooding in Thailand, 58 of 77 provinces affected” [12] “Australia passes carbon tax, 85 protesters removed from parliament” [14] “Spain’s credit rating cut to AA- as EU debt crisis deepens” [17] “Occupy Wall Street protests in hundreds of cities worldwide” ... “world’s first commercial spaceport opens, commercial flights to begin by 2013”

November [2] “Greek cabinet unanimously supports prime minister Papandreou’s plan to hold referendum on proposed EU economic rescue plan” [3] “Papandreou holds emergency cabinet meeting during which cancellation of referendum is announced, following negotiations with opposition” ... “U.S. Department of Energy publishes 2010 greenhouse gas levels, they are higher than worst case scenario outlined by IPCC climate experts just four years ago” [8] “flooding in Thailand reaches prime minister’s residence in Bangkok, forcing her to withdraw from APEC summit to deal with the crisis” [26] “NASA launches the largest rover yet sent to Mars with the aim of finding evidence of life, past or present”

December [11] “2011 UN Climate Change Conference ends with agreement to begin negotiations on new treaty” [12] “Canada announces withdrawal from Kyoto Protocol” [15] “2010 U.S. census shows 1 in 2 people classified as low-income or poor” [24] “tens of thousands protest parliamentary elections in Russia, allegedly rigged” [25] “warmest temperature ever recorded at South Pole, -12.3°C at Amundsen–Scott station”