Mountains of Rubbish...and They're Called "Products"

 Too many manufacturers continue to churn out mountains of rubbish.  They refer to such rubbish as their products.  The clothing, toy, and high-tech industries are especially egregious in this regard. Most household goods (including appliances) are not far behind.  To make things worse, too many consumers continue to buy the junk.  I suppose that's partly due to the fact that quality, durable goods are more & more difficult to find these days.  However, I suspect the main reason is the cheap price of junk.  Consumers seem to believe they're getting a genuine bargain.  Advertising half-truths and outright lies also are to blame.

https://steadystate.org/ending-planned-obsolescence-a-nonpartisan-movement-for-steady-staters-to-support/

"Comfort junk" is much like "comfort food".  It looks good and seems satisfying, but such does not necessarily mean that it's good for you.  For one thing, it doesn't last.  You have to replace it about five to ten times more often than you normally would if it were durable.  And yet, we keep buying it.  Thus, too much waste keeps being dumped into the ecosphere.  We're already way over the amount Nature can assimilate, and it just keeps getting worse.

BOYCOTT junk.  If that involves a change in lifestyle, so be it. Our biophysical, natural support system cannot take ever-increasing amounts of waste without serious consequences to us and all life. SUPPORT laws & regulations (which are starting to spring forth) that combat planned obsolescence.  See the article at the link above.  This is a nonpartisan issue through & through.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

How most billionaires damage the economy

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_Mx1koLOGc

Unfortunately, too many people believe the myth that billionaires help the economy.  This short clip (7.5 minutes) from Wired magazine explains why a "wealth tax" is necessary.  [As I stated in the previous post, the first permanent Income Tax in the USA was such a tax.  It applied to only 2% of the population.  Not long after that, legislators were lobbied over & over by the Rich, and we wound up with the current set-up.]

There's nothing wrong with being rich if one acts responsibly and helps society by paying their fair share.  To get where they are, billionaires stood on the shoulders of society via education, infrastructure, networks, communication, civility in our habitat & relations, etc.  In addition, perhaps they had a bit of luck:  maybe born on third base, maybe smarter than the average person, or taken under the wing of someone with wealth/influence/power.  In any case, there's no such thing as a "self-made" billionaire.  That's another myth.  

Any super-rich person should be willing & happy to help out society by means of a wealth tax.  Humans are a social species, and that includes those in the Upper Crust. 

Watch the clip at the link above; see if it makes sense to you.

From Inequality.org---

67%.  Now, someone please tell me how anyone still believes our elected politicians in DC represent the Will of the People.  It doesn't appear they do in this instance.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Here's a glaring example of wealth inequality

 [If an asset's price has increased and you haven't yet sold it, you have an "unrealized capital gain".] See below---

When the first permanent Income Tax legislative bill was passed into Law (there was a temporary one during our Civil War), wages were not taxed, only capital gains were. The tax applied to only about 2% of the adult population.

During the Golden Age of American Capitalism (right after WW II to the "Nixon Shock" in 1971), the Upper Crust was taxed at a rate of up to 90%...and they remained wealthy. Now they whine if they have to pay at a rate of 30%.

Be Well

COP 27 more or less confirms my hypothesis

On this blog and before COP 27, I hypothesized the following:  the world's public and private Powers-That-Be have no intention whatsoever of transitioning away from fossil fuels.  COP 27, like all its predecessors, failed to endorse the phasing out of all fossil fuels.  They did call for phasing out coal, but not oil and natural gas.  Why?

The answer is simple:  oil and gas almost are the perfect energy sources to enable the pursuit of infinite, ever-expanding, economic growth.  Compared to renewables, they are - or more accurately, once were - more convenient, cheaper to obtain, packed with more punch, and the infrastructure for extraction & distribution already is pretty much developed.  As to any problems created by fossil fuel use, no worries, new technology will solve them.  At least, that's most likely how the linear thinking, neoliberal petroleum supporters view the situation.

Many other people see things through the lens of comprehensive thinking, nonlinearity, and complexity theory.  Or, they simply apply common sense to the whole thing.  Their conclusions are quite different, and they've been warning us about our current state for decades.  Plus, the freight train which will hit us relatively soon involves much more than climate disruption.

Either we will significantly address the impending catastrophes of appalling air-water-soil pollution, soil loss, natural ecosystem destruction, overharvesting of forests and fish, the toxic forever-chemicals, the ubiquitous endocrine-disrupting chemicals now found in our food & water, nuclear wastes, polluting-destructive-perpetual war, biodiversity loss, the spread of disease, and more, or Mother Nature will.  She already has started.

With some exceptions around the world (the USA is not one of them), it's beginning to appear that positive action by individual countries on the scale required is not going to happen.  Therefore, it's up to smaller political entities - states/provinces, counties, local cities & towns - to adopt and implement sustainable policies ASAP.  At least then, some areas will have a somewhat better chance of weathering the coming disasters.  Which disasters?  Things like severe food shortages, a lack of fresh, clean water, a lack of jobs, a sense of insecurity & perhaps despair, the feeling of living in an atomized society, a lack of Nature, etc.  Much is being done in some areas, and much more can be done everywhere.  Search out solutions; they're all over the internet.  Tons of them.  We're in ecological overshoot already, and whether everyone sees it or not, the human race is in dire straits.  Even if only on a local or regional level, we can mitigate the Crisis to one degree or another.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Climate Change & other eco-disasters are SYMPTOMS of ""THE meta-problem of humanity - ecological overshoot"

Prof. William E. Rees is one of the best comprehensive thinkers now on our planet.  In the short talk at the link below, he explains why the Establishment generally is on the wrong path regarding solutions to the ongoing Eco-Crisis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3nCFwhV-9E&list=WL&index=91

For the most part, our public and private policy makers are dealing with symptoms of the Crisis, while more or less ignoring the meta-problem of eco-overshoot.  We humans are gobbling up resources faster than Earth can regenerate them.  In addition, we're filling up waste sinks (bodies of water, the atmosphere, etc.) with pollutants faster than Earth can assimilate & neutralize them.  Finally, our "solutions" to the Crisis are almost all in the framework of perpetual growth with more & more consumption.  This won't work; Rees brilliantly explains why not in the concise clip above.  [The first person you see merely is introducing the good Professor.]

If you truly wish to understand the path we need to be on, this video is a must-see.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Complex Systems appear to be a complete puzzle to almost all Powers-That-Be

 Elected politicians, appointed administrators, business leaders, and other policy-makers seem to have little to no knowledge of the concepts in this short video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp8v2Udd_PM&list=WL&index=88&t=1s

An understanding of complexity, synergy, feedback loops, emergence, etc. is necessary if Homo sapiens is to survive and thrive in the Anthropocene.  Currently, Spaceship Earth appears to have way too few people in power who grasp these crucial concepts.  To compound the problem, those in power usually have as advisors mainstream economists, attorneys, and other linear thinking specialists.  Perhaps there are some, but I've not seen or heard of any advisors who think comprehensively on the level of, let's say, Bucky Fuller, Carl Sagan, Barry Commoner, Jeremy Lent, Suzanne Simard, Richard Heinberg, Jennie M. Ratcliffe, Paul R. Ehrlich, Anne Ehrlich, Brian Czech, Nate Hagens, William E. Rees, and many others.

Without embracing nonlinear complexity, I'm afraid those who "run the world" are doomed to continue tinkering around the edges of the solutions to our ongoing socio-eco-econ-ethical Crisis.  The good news is that in many places, peaceful pressure from the ground up is beginning to nudge our Leaders out of their dogmatic, stuck-in-the-past slumber.  Let's hope that continues.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Message from Right Livelihood Laureates and members of the World Future Council to COP 27

 If we as a species are to significantly address not only the climate problem, but other eco-socio-ethical existential threats as well, then governments must adopt these eight policies.

https://www.worldfuturecouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Save-the-Planet-Statement.pdf

This is what it will take to avoid catastrophe.  Stop-gap measures and tinkering around the edges of the problem will not suffice.  So say those identified in the title of this essay.  They are correct.

All previous Climate Conferences have accomplished little to nothing regarding implementing real solutions to the Crisis.  Let's hope this one is different.  One of the hindrances to effective solutions continues to be the popular view of mainstream economics.  Its supporters appear to see it essentially as a secular religion.  As such, it is promoted and promulgated as faith-based, a "given".  Any challenges to it are treated as sacrilegious.

Governments must overcome that obstacle.  Science does not support such a view.  Mainstream economists in general are dead wrong in their belief that economics is larger than and separate from the natural world.  Reliance on linear mathematical equations and linear thinking has led them to such an erroneous conclusion.  Our Earth System is nonlinear.  As such, it has emergent properties either not accounted for or ignored by the bulk of today's economists and many business leaders in various industries.

Massive problems have arisen regarding our atmosphere, soil, water, wildlife, forests, prairies, the spread of disease (not only in humans, but also in other animal life and in plants, including crops), cities, and more.  Either directly or indirectly, neoclassical (AKA, neoliberal) economics and linear thinking largely are responsible for these problems.  [Over the last fifteen years, I've posted details of such causation throughout this blog and here:   https://ecologicalliberalism.blogspot.com/ .  Even more details are in my book, which I published in April.]

Hopefully, COP 27 will not drop the ball.  If they do, any further such conferences probably will be way too late.

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Not only my opinion.  Take Care

More on Emergence, Synergy, & Complexity Theory, and Why Study of Them is Necessary to Avoid Total Catastrophe

The relevant video link is at the end of this brief essay.

Complexity theory is a relatively new approach to scientific inquiry, and is characterized by systems thinking, AKA, synthetic holism.  [The adjective here, "synthetic", refers to "synthesis" rather than "artificiality".]  The traditional method of scientific inquiry, analytical reductionism, has served us well (and continues to do so); however, it has severe limitations when it comes to analyzing complex systems, e.g., ecosystems or financial networks.

Any complex system has as a key component the phenomenon known as synergy - the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  Thus, synergy produces emergent properties in the system, new properties not detectable by reductionism with its linear mathematical equations.  Emergence is nonlinear.  Emergent properties, the understanding of which is key to solving problems in a complex system, cannot be identified and dealt with by analyzing individual parts or the sum of those parts.

We must use reductionism where appropriate, but then go beyond it with systems thinking.  That's the best hope for avoiding total devastation regarding our ongoing socio-eco-econ-ethical Crisis.  For a brilliant visualization of emergence, synergy, etc., view the short clip at the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN6SaRmF_8c&list=WL&index=94&t=440s

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Rickards, Monkeys, Economists, and Complexity Theory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl9oiXeqzCI&list=WL&index=93

Jim Rickards has a Master's Degree in International Economics, and his analyses have been mostly on the mark in the past.  In this 13-minute clip, he explains WHY the next financial crash (which is overdue) will be "horrific".  The presentation has some good chuckles, and his reasoning makes a lot of sense.

He talks a hundred mph, so you have to listen carefully.  Most economists will not like the content, but they mostly deserve his characterization of them. 

Here's a brief overview of complexity theory.  Don't miss the last half.  Complexity theory is the key to an "emerging post-Newtonian paradigm" which finally is providing a holistic approach to the analysis of complex systems in both natural and artificial arenas.  The short clip below is the best introduction I've seen so far to a truly innovative and revolutionary subject.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-ladOjo1QA

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

The canary in the coal mine...

 is silently screeching...just before it's gone---

https://www.democracynow.org/2022/11/8/headlines/report_ice_levels_collapsing_at_levels_unthinkable_just_a_decade_ago 

Please spread the note below far & wide--- 

In about 10 years or so (maybe less, maybe more), none of the current crazy politics will matter.  WHY?  Humans will be spending most of their time trying to survive the multi-faceted Eco-Crisis.  Multiple millions of people will be migrating, trying to find a livable habitat.  Even those not migrating will be suffering as never before.  Because of trophic cascades and feedback loops in the ecosphere (already started), as well as no truly significant mitigating actions by humans at the required scale , it will be an unprecedented catastrophe.  

People finally will pull their heads out of the sand & wake up, but it will be too late.  OR, they won't wake up & instead remain in the dark while blaming the Repubs...or the Dems.  Such is the degree of ecological ignorance in the USA today.  The dark side of tribalism (along with the Plutocracy) wins, & the prize is an unmitigated disaster.

Finally, it isn't only climate that's an existential threat to humanity.  There's the water crisis, the soil crisis, the disease crisis, the food crisis, the ethical crisis, the biodiversity crisis, and several others.  They're all systemic and deeply interconnected.  So, what can be done that isn't being done?

Once again, here's my contribution to solutions---

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-beginning-of-the-path-to-human-extinction-and-how-to-get-off-it-scott-haley/1141364431?ean=2940160947181

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Not only my opinion.  Take Care 

GREAT, innovative article on Gold, Money, & Banking

 The info in the article at the link below is NOT the standard fare found regarding the title above.  I would venture to guess you haven't heard or seen three-fourths of it anywhere.  It's truly ground-breaking.

 https://steadystate.org/money-and-the-steady-state-economy/

The author, Herman E. Daly, died just recently at 84.  He was a giant in Ecological Economics, & pretty much ignored/suppressed by the Establishment.  One of the reasons for that:  he believed "money" is a public utility, & should not be created out of thin air by private banks (which it is, via fractional reserve banking).

R.I.P., Prof. Daly.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

"...a clear and present danger to American democracy", AND MORE - REDUX

 I first published this piece about four months ago.  It applies today as much, or perhaps more, as it did then.  [It's slightly edited - our median income is added near the very end of the essay.]

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The title above is how retired Judge Michael Luttig described Donald J. Trump and his followers.  The kicker is this:  Judge Luttig is one of the most respected conservative judges in the USA.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/16/trump-clear-present-danger-to-us-democracy-conservative-judge-warns

This should mean all Main Street people still in the Trump Cult will re-evaluate their mistaken beliefs, but I'm not holding my breath.  Cult members rarely ever are rational in any sense of the word.

It also should mean the hijacked Republican Party finally will come to its senses and dump Trump.  Politics being as irrational as it is, again I'm not holding my breath.  In general, the two major Parties of the current era appear to care little about honor, principles, ethics, the Law, and especially, the Constitution.  Instead, their number one priority is re-election...at any cost.

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The entire political scene in the USA is an embarrassment to the country.  It's also a danger.  Plus, it has caused most of the world to lose respect for us.  Finally, it's not really much of a stretch to say our political scene is an existential threat not only to us, but to all life on Earth as well.  Why?  Simply put, the actions or lack of action on the following "fronts" are a threat to the existence of our species & all others:  nuclear weapons & nuke waste; unprecedented ecological damage; societal disintegration; economic chaos; perpetual war; a belief in unlimited economic growth; corporatism; corporate globalization; and politics lacking common sense & ethics.  We must get off that path if Life is to survive and thrive.

p.s.  Biden touted the new jobs report yesterday (10-28-22).  He was gleeful, & said it was "great news".  Perhaps, but this should be added:  the current median income in the USA is $36,080, which means HALF our workers make LESS than that.  Source:  usdebtclock.org  (far right side of the page).

In this day & age - not so great.

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Here's my contribution to a paradigm shift:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-beginning-of-the-path-to-human-extinction-and-how-to-get-off-it-scott-haley/1141364431?ean=2940160947181

or

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Z4QL6NB

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

There are almost ZERO genuine "conservatives" in the present-day USA

The title is one of my hypotheses.  It's based on long experience as an ardent conservative back in the 1960's, and on my continuing interest in all major political and economic philosophies up through today.  From Edmund Burke to Russell Kirk to William F. Buckley, Jr. and beyond, I'm well-versed in the personalities & principles of conservatism.  I haven't been a conservative for decades, but remember it all.  Some people have said, "But conservatism has changed since back then.".  No, and here's why:  the bedrock principles of a philosophy do not change.  The "change" is as follows:  conservatism has been displaced & co-opted by neoconservatism and neoliberalism (there's not a lot of difference between the two), and they have principles totally different from those of conservatism.

The term, "conservative" or "conservatism" once stood for honor, duty, conservation of high values, integrity, truth, acting in a civil manner, and minding your own business.  That's why the co-opters of the Conservative Movement retained the label rather than owning up to their real identity.  They wanted the (mostly) good reputation of being a conservative.

Russell Kirk (R.I.P.) is well known as the Father of American Conservatism.  His iconic book, The Conservative Mind" (1953), had seven editions with total sales over one million copies.  I doubt there are even ten so-called conservatives today (under the age of 50 of so) who know much of anything about him, or about the principles he espoused.

 From Kirk:

"When every person claims to be a power unto himself, then society falls into anarchy. Anarchy never lasts long, being intolerable for everyone, and contrary to the ineluctable fact that some persons are more strong and more clever than their neighbors. To anarchy there succeeds tyranny or oligarchy [emphasis added], in which power is monopolized by a very few."

~  The Russell Kirk Center

[Yes, I also had to look up the definition of "ineluctable".  It's an adjective meaning:  unable to be avoided or resisted, inescapable.  Kirk was an intellectual of the highest order, hence the fancy language.  He laid the philosophical underpinnings for American Conservatism, and did so almost singlehandedly.]

Kirk on civil society and change:

"Conservatives are champions of custom, convention, and continuity [as in the peaceful transition of power] because they prefer the devil they know to the devil they don't know... necessary change, conservatives argue, ought to be gradual and discriminatory, never unfixing old interests at once."

From---

https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2021/07/ten-conservative-principles-russell-kirk.html

No time to go through all ten principles from the link immediately above.  Just from the quotes cited so far, it should be obvious that Trump & Crew (and many others who claim to be Right-Wing) are not conservatives at all.  Some of them think they are, but that's only because they are completely unfamiliar with the founding principles of American Conservatism.  For example, such principles do not support threatening violence to election officials, or to those of us who are exercising the freedom to wear a pandemic mask, or those who believe a woman should have control over her own body, or those who believe human rights violations by Saudi Arabia, or Israel, or any other country disqualify them from being our ally.  Such principles do not support initiating violence or "first strikes" of any kind.  They do not support egregious lying or fraud, nor do they support wanton destruction of Nature in the name of capitalism.

True conservatives conserve good things rather than destroy or damage them for little or no reason.

So, what's my point here?  To those few of you who still are genuine conservatives, I suggest the following.  Politically and philosophically, get as far away as possible from the unprincipled, unethical, uncivil, phony "conservatives" who have co-opted the Conservative Movement.  Their ideology is much closer to fascism than it is to conservatism.  In the long run, History will judge them as either fascists or precursors to such.

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Not only my opinion.   Be Well

Here's EXACTLY how to defeat corporatist/fascist/xenophobic/unAmerican GOP candidates

 https://www.democracynow.org/2022/10/25/ralph_nader_mark_green_midterms_2022

Poo-poo him all you want to, but Nader is the most dedicated & brilliant friend of Main Street this country ever has had.  He shows precisely how to defeat the Party which has co-opted the Repubs for years.  Details are in the link above & the one immediately below.

https://winningamerica.net/

I'm not a Repub or Dem, but even a goose could see that the Dem Party is orders of magnitude better for the country than the unAmerican, criminal tragedy which calls itself the Repub Party.  Both major Parties are corrupt, run by the Super-Rich, & damaging to Main Street; but the Repubs are so much worse than the Dems in so many respects it boggles the mind that even ten people would vote GOP in a Fed election.  How are they worse?  Listen to Nader at the 1st link above.  He's right on the mark.  

If the Dems don't take his advice, they're dumber than a wooden post & deserve to lose next month AND in 2024.    The Repubs are just as dumb if they choose & support Trump (again) in the next Presidential election.  After his performance in January 2021, the gaslighting criminal should be popular only with cult members who are both propagandized to the hilt & ignorant beyond redemption.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

This might be the beginning of the end of Corporate Globalization

More & more, people with influence  are recognizing the destructiveness & failure of neoliberal globalization.  It's about time.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrEI2-7Ubiw

  The solution offered hearkens back to E.F. Schumacher's "Small is Beautiful"; at least, it's akin to that.  Again, IT'S ABOUT TIME that happened.  This could be the beginning of the overthrow of global corporatism.  Let's hope so.  Perhaps policy makers will start seeing that all those "cheap" goods have social, economic, & environmental costs which have not been taken into account. 

Incidentally, the goods coming from Asia are not cheap in price.  Why?  Because the quality of them is so poor that they have to be replaced about ten times more than those made with durable materials, quality assurance, & quality control.  And, as has been shown over & over lately, with great distances come monstrous supply chain problems.  Suddenly the price of an item jumps up because it's scarce.

Finally, corporate globalization must go because mega companies (in general) :  a) don't really care much about customer satisfaction; and b) often evade accountability when they farm out manufacturing overseas.  International Trade can be responsibly done, but the WTO & the so-called "Free Trade Agreements" are an utter disaster.

https://rethinktrade.org/toolkit/hyperglobalization-and-supply-chain-failures/

Small is beautiful.  Let's have an economics as if people really mattered to the Powers-That-Be.  How about that?!

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Major Flaws in Analyses by Mainstream Talking Heads Regarding Our Ongoing Socio-Eco-Econ Crisis

IIn addition to Alternative News sources (such as Democracy Now!), every day I watch or read at least a couple of Mainstream (corporate) News sources, such as NBC Nightly News or a news magazine article like this one---

https://time.com/6221771/stagflation-crisis-debt-nouriel-roubini/

Using the article above as an example, the following conclusions have become obvious.

It's a brilliant analysis (in terms of reductionism instead of holism) BUT there are two major flaws in it.  Because the author likely is a neoliberal economist (as opposed to an ecological economist such as Herman E. Daly, William E. Rees, Joshua Farley, et al.) he apparently can't see them.

1.  His analysis is strictly within the neoliberal framework of shooting for infinite economic growth (as well as overconsumption) on a finite  planet.  Such is eventually not possible because of the second law of thermodynamics (& other reasons), having to do with energy & entropy.  Without infinite growth - which requires ever more energy each year - mainstream (neoliberal) economics eventually will fail completely, regardless of anything the Fed does & regardless of any changes in monetary & fiscal policy.  The need for more & more energy will kill it.  According to Prof. Nate Hagens, in only the last 30 years we humans have used more energy than in the previous 5,000 years.  If we continue on that path, & with only 2% or so econ growth per year, in 50 years the energy required just to extract and/or capture the amount we'll need will make the whole scenario cost-prohibitive.  

Unknown, future new tech won't be able to help much because getting it always involves using more & more energy.  The solution to all this is adopting some version of a steady-state economy and dumping infinite-growth economics.  Much work is being done toward that end.   https://steadystate.org/ is only one of several non-profits which are dealing with it.  Have a look when you can.

2.  While he gives a slight nod to the Eco-Crisis, he doesn't seem to fully grasp the massive problems with not only climate change, but just as importantly, with soil degradation & erosion, desertification, fresh water availability, deforestation, worldwide toxic pollution, biodiversity loss, nuke contamination, over-harvesting and over-extracting of dwindling natural resources, overpopulation, ocean warming & acidification, the methane "bomb", and more in the eco-realm.  All of those together can collapse a society much more so than stagflation and supply shocks.  Without a sea change in our worldview, our ethics, and our metaphysics, they will...unless we overcome the neoliberal propaganda which has been rampant for the last 40 years.  

People say, "Well, it's deeply complex...it's all relative...it's complicated", etc.  All true, but none of that means we aren't facing multiple threats to our existence, or that Gov't is handling those existential threats well rather than kicking the can down the road, or that Tech will save us and preserve our pursuit of infinite growth.  

Bottom line:  it isn't just about politics, or economics, or climate change.  If we are to survive & thrive, almost everything must change.  People are anxious to "get back to normal".  The trouble with that is:  "normal" was/is the cause of the multifaceted mess we're in now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xr9rIQxwj4&list=WL&index=60

As a species, collectively we appear to be "energy blind" (from the clip immediately above) and wedded to the idea that the temporary "carbon pulse" will continue on for decades & decades more.

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Not only my opinion.  Take Care

How Industrial Farming is Destroying Us, & How to Avoid That Scenario

 Factory farming is not only shortening our lives, but also is poisoning our ethics, our generic spirituality, and a large part of the entire natural Earth System (the interconnected hydrosphere-geosphere-atmosphere-biosphere).  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYacqSge9OY&list=WL&index=88&t=113s

At least watch the first 35 minutes, or at the very least, the first 15 minutes.

A sample of topics in this clip from The Land Institute:  a brief history of "back to the land"; how we produce and distribute food; monoculture v. polyculture; the herbicide Roundup (glyphosate) now in our bodies; techno-utopianism; climate change & other aspects of the Eco-Crisis; the problem with corn; perennial regenerative agriculture's challenges; how factory farming is destroying the "free market" economy; politics; power; genuine populism v. fake populism; and the general solutions to all these problems.

All of the above is a large part of the current, ongoing socio-eco-econ-ethical Crisis.

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Not only my opinion.  Take Care

How colleges & universities have failed to prepare humanity regarding understanding & coping with existential threats

 The problem continues.  

https://www.ehn.org/failure-of-the-universities-the-culture-gap-is-now-near-lethal-2658333670/culture-gap

In great detail, the authors of this article show how higher education has become mired in dogmatic slumber, especially regarding the threats of climate change and expanding nuclear weapon arsenals.  Furthermore, it seems apparent that most educated people today have little grasp of the overall foundations of sustainability.

Decades ago, R. Buckminster (Bucky) Fuller pointed out in his book, Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth:  specialization precludes comprehensive thinking.  Today, and for years now, we're buried in specialists.  In general, they don't appear to be able to comprehend what has been called the Earth System, which consists of the interconnected & interdependent atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere (aka, lithosphere), and biosphere.  Understanding the complex functioning of our Earth System must at least be attempted by leaders (public & private) and policy makers if we are to avoid our own destruction.

Education in the following fields seems to be especially remiss in teaching comprehensive thinking re Earth & sustainability:  politics, economics, the Law, and business.  Unfortunately, those fields produce the majority of policy-makers in the democratic world.  One could argue, I suppose, those people rely upon advisors who are educated in broader Earth concerns.  Perhaps, but given the current socio-eco-econ-ethical Crisis we're now in, it should be blatantly obvious any such advice largely is being ignored.  [Luckily for us, there are some exceptions around the world; but not enough.]

The original purpose of public education in general was not to produce thinkers, but to produce workers.  People were needed who could read, write, and do arithmetic.  There's nothing wrong with that, but that alone is not sufficient.  We need critical and comprehensive thinkers as well.

Finally, so as not to be misunderstood, consider this:  specialization often is required.  It's not a bad thing unless it's the only thing.  Even in Earth System study, one must specialize to varying degrees.  At the same time, though, one also must seek a broader understanding.  Higher education (in particular) must structure its programs in such a way if civil society is to avoid collapse.  The need for a truly educated populace has never been greater.

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Not only my opinion.  Take Care

p.s.  For everyone, both those with a higher education and those who cannot (for various reasons) get one, I urge you to continue learning with the greatest library ever assembled, the internet.  Don't believe the largely Establishment poo-pooers of the Web, who often would prefer to keep us ignorant.  The internet contains tons & tons of legitimate, highly useful, & educational info.  Sift through the chaff on your Search results page (which can be done quickly), and find the kernels.  Education is a life-long process.

"Enigma in the Desert"

 https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/125757238

Done in Abstract Realism, this is one of my recent paintings.

Be Well

The horrible side of the High Tech Industry FAR outweighs the good side

Below is my reply - edited quite a bit - to an email which suggested the term "Tech Whiz Kids" (which I often use in writing & speech) is somewhat inaccurate because many of those people now are much older.

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I have no problem with you or anyone substituting some other term for "kids" in "Tech Whiz Kids" (TWK).  But for me, they're all TWK, regardless of age.  "Kids" is not meant to be taken literally.  For me, it denotes an attitude.  In general, they are "playing with fire" when they develop things which atomize our society, & they don't even think about the unintended consequences.  By "atomize our society", I mean: depriving us of meaningful relationships with others (which, admittedly, usually is done by higher-ups in the Corporatocracy re things like labor unions) via luring us away from those relationships, or damaging them with gizmos designed to make each of us an island unto ourselves.  So, only one of many examples: some younger people think their 7,000 "friends" on some "social" medium actually are significant.  Why go out into the world & meet with real friends when I have my gizmo right here in the house with 7,000 "friends" on it?  

[Kids sometimes play with fire.]  

The adult TWK act irresponsibly also when they build-in obsolescence into their products.  It takes 500 lbs of raw materials to make one cell phone.  I don't know how many pounds it takes to make some of their larger crap which also has a short lifespan.  [Kids sometimes/often act irresponsibly.]

Their companies, usually run by TWK who moved up the corporate ladder, are often deceitful beyond belief.  One example:  I think it's Apple who claims to be 100% "Green".  In fact, they farm out the manufacture of products to other companies located in places with few to no environmental regulations.  Those other companies generally have egregious practices when it comes to pollution, etc.  But Apple technically can claim to be "Green".  [Kids often are deceitful.]

Bottom line:  I believe the High Tech Industry - despite the good & useful things it has done - has pretty much ruined our society, both physically/materially, spiritually (in a generic sense), and culturally.  It has atomized us, stolen our privacy, polluted the ecosphere, gobbled up natural resources, enabled dictatorial governments & oligarchs (with undemocratic, egregious surveillance programs/gizmos), enabled wars being fought with no soldiers (except drone operators, making illegal wars more numerous), promulgated infinite growth on a finite planet, & more.  I believe High Tech is in the top 5 worst industries in the history of our species.  As far as I can tell, the majority of TWK act just like spoiled, irresponsible, destructive kids.  They've contributed greatly to the ruination of our kids, our society, and our planet.  It seems their primary goal is to get rich...at almost any cost.

Just my opinion, & it won't change.  I think the "bad" side of High Tech far outweighs the "good" side.  Congress could change things for the better, but probably won't.  Except for a very few, most of our elected officials in the Fed Gov't favor the corporatists, not Main Street.  [Corporatism is not Adam Smith capitalism; essentially, it's fascism - the marriage of the power of the State to the power of Mega Biz.]  The good things about High Tech should be supported; the bad things should be boycotted.  Only consumers can significantly put High Tech on a better path.  The Fed Gov't has shown over & over it will do little to such effect.

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Not only my opinion, & Everyone Be Well

This is Just GREAT!

 The title is sarcasm.  Of course, some people will think it's great - the xenophobes, the white nationalists, the cult Trumpistas, etc., OR those who appear to be completely naive (or in some cases egregiously ignorant) regarding international relations, politics, genuine Christianity, spirituality in general, holism, etc.

https://theintercept.com/2022/09/18/biden-trump-border-wall/

re: Biden & this project---  "C'est la vie, say the old folks.  It goes to show you never can tell."  [about politicians]  

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Not only my opinion.  Take Care

"Ecology Calculators" Can Make a Difference

 https://www.omnicalculator.com/ecology

Several PhD candidates came up with this series of unique "calculators", meaning algorithms.  The broad categories are:  eco footprint, renewable energy, and other.  So, for example, under "eco footprint" one of the calculators is "flight carbon footprint".  Another is "cryptocurrency footprint, and another is "tree benefit".  You plug in some specific numbers, and they calculate the benefit or damage.

Under "other", here are only a few of the calculators:  "Shannon diversity index", "fish mercury", and "tap water".  In all the broad categories, these are easy to use and quite interesting.

Tools like the ones above are helpful in revealing both our positive and negative impacts on the ecosphere.  Sometimes such impacts simply are not readily apparent.  I hope you will spread these far and wide.  Thanks.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

p.s.  This photo is available here:

https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/123294980

It was taken at the edge of my backyard after a series of desert monsoon rainfalls.

WOW! Jeffrey Sachs: a voice of reason in a sea of outmoded western world hegemony

 https://www.democracynow.org/2022/8/30/wests_false_narrative_china_russia_ukraine

Kudos to Sachs.  For decades, the U.S. Fed Gov't has had a foreign policy which is egregiously filled with hubris, stuck in the past, and just plain dangerous (never mind stupid).  It continues to this day, and it makes little to no difference which major political party is in power.  I've believed all this for at least twenty years.  Sachs confirms it; so do many others.

My primary interest in world affairs for many years has been ecology and sustainability.  Nevertheless, it became clear to me a long time ago that without a sane foreign policy in DC and elsewhere, the world would be facing continual eco-catastrophes.  Why?  Because Earth is one giant ecosystem, and overcoming eco-problems requires global cooperation.  Global conflict destroys any chance for those efforts.  If things don't change significantly, there will not be a sustainable planet for our grandkids.

Please listen carefully to Professor Sachs' presentation.  His life has been devoted to sustainability economics, mitigating poverty, and helping countries in crisis.  He works not only in academia, but also as an advisor to various world leaders.  This interview pulls no punches.  Plus, his grasp of modern industrial history is superb.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Hypothesis Number Two: It's likely the sincere people who are not concerned about...

our ongoing Eco-Crisis have such a view because they analyze and evaluate concepts by means of reductionism.  In that method of analysis, whatever is being examined is broken down into its constituent parts.  Each part is thoroughly evaluated separate from the others, and then the various parts are added together to determine some sort of conclusion regarding the whole.  Such a method can be extremely misleading when dealing with complex (not just complicated) systems.  Complexity is nonlinear.  [A motor vehicle is a linear system; it's "complicated", but the behavior of the "whole" is predictable by examining the individual parts.  Thus, it's not a complex system.]

Instead, for complex items (such as the Eco-Crisis, or even a single ecosystem, or a single living organism), the method of examination described in General Systems Theory should be utilized.  Why?  The approach used in Systems Theory (the updated version doesn't include the word "General") is holistic, not reductionist.  It uses synthesis rather than only analysis of parts.  It is aware of synergy:  a whole system is greater than the sum of its individual parts, which means the behavior of a whole system is unpredictable from the analysis of only its parts.

The above is true because a whole system produces emergent properties, or emergence.  Such properties are found in complex, self-organizing, dynamic, whole systems rather than in individual parts.  Emergence often is unpredicted, and a big surprise to people who adhere to reductionism.  Briefly, following are a couple of examples of emergent properties.

1.  The human body is a complex, dynamic, synergistic system.  It's made up of innumerable parts, from macroscopic to microscopic.  You may examine bones, or blood cells, or the stomach, or brain cells, or the heart, or the adrenal glands...but you will never find the emergent properties of anxiety, fear, anger, or love in those parts.  Only the whole "system" is capable of such.  [The human body produces many other forms of emergence.]

2.  A forest of hundreds of acres also is a complex, dynamic, synergistic system.  Examine a leaf, a strip of tree bark, a beetle, a squirrel, a clod of soil, or even a single tree...and you still won't find the emergent property of rainfall over a large area.  That rainfall often is the result of the process of green plant transpiration in all the trees combined.  Water is taken in by the roots, distributed throughout the plant, and a small portion of it is used to support individual cells of the organism.  The vast majority of it, however, is moved from the leaves to the atmosphere.  Depending upon various factors, it then can result in rainfall.  [Forests also produce many other forms of emergence.]

All ecosystems and all living organisms (even a bacterium) are complex systems.  Synergy applies, nonlinearity applies, and emergence applies.

The point being:  our Eco-Crisis involves complex, dynamic, nonlinear, living systems which only can be properly understood by taking a "systems theory" approach.  It's no wonder to me why people (of all kinds) using a reductionist, linear approach are perplexed, puzzled, and confused over the urgency of the Crisis.  They simply can't see it.  [I'm not talking about folks who see it full well, but are concerned only with promoting corporatism's greed.]

This little essay did not explain how to apply Systems Theory toward understanding and solving the socio-eco-econ-ethical crisis because such an explanation would take multiple, multiple pages.  Books have been written on the subject.  Google it.  Awhile back, I listed several of them on this venue when I shared the bibliography for my first book.  

In two parts:

   http://individualsovereignty.blogspot.com/search/label/Bibliography    In particular, especially see:  Lent, Jeremy 2021; and Ratcliffe, Jennie M. 2021.

With the holistic approach of Systems Theory, we can effectively deal with the present Crisis.  But, to be effective, we must ignore the propaganda coming from corporatists and their political puppets, and we must sway the sincere nonbelievers.

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Not only my opinion.  Take Care

Hypothesis: It's likely the Powers-That-Be (public & private) in our Land have no intention whatsoever of...

With a minor edit, my latest email is below.

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I've studied human impact on the environment for 50 years, and watched our "transition" to renewable energy for a tad over 20 years.  We've made a little progress in renewable energy, but fossil fuels still rule the roost.  Except for a reduction in the use of coal, and except for oil cartels reducing production once in awhile to manipulate the price, and except for lower demand for gasoline during the 1st two years of the pandemic, fossil fuel use has not been significantly reduced in the USA.  Plus, renewable energy production has not been able to meet even the annual increase (the increase only) in energy demand here and worldwide.   https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/04/gap-between-renewable-energy-and-power-demand-oil-gas-coal.html

So, I propose the following hypothesis.  "It's likely the Powers-That-Be (public & private) in our Land have no intention whatsoever of transitioning to renewable energy.  Instead, the plan is to kick the can down the road while having renewables complement the dominant fossil fuels".  [Of course, sooner or later, fossil energy either will be too inaccessible to extract affordably, or it will be gone.  But that won't be anytime soon, or soon enough.]  Meanwhile, a bunch of politicians (funded by the short-sighted fossil industry) have assured the proverbial kicking of the can down the road with the recent Inflation Reduction Act.  Said law is somewhat good for the complementary renewable energy industry, and even better for the myopic fossil fuel cartel.

I imagine others have come up with this hypothesis before me, but I suspect most of Main Street still believe the elites are sincere when they claim to be transitioning away from fossil fuels to renewables.  Thus I fear pressure in favor of accelerating the transition will abate.  Such would be extremely detrimental to Homo sapiens and all other life on Spaceship Earth.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-beginning-of-the-path-to-human-extinction-and-how-to-get-off-it-scott-haley/1141364431?ean=2940160947181

http://individualsovereignty.blogspot.com/ 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Z4QL6NB

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well