tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35482161761743929912024-03-19T06:24:05.164-07:00Individual SovereigntyWe the People hold the power.
Government is the servant.Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.comBlogger641125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-14700377277905942662024-03-17T07:44:00.000-07:002024-03-17T07:47:03.099-07:00Gaza, Israel, USA, Biden, and Netanyahu<p><span style="font-size: medium;">Someone I care about wrote me and suggested I have compassion for Biden. My response is below.</span></p><p><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">RE your "compassion for Biden" comment---</b></p><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My compassion is for the children and other civilians in Gaza. Biden is now a war criminal (according to several philosophers, UN humanitarian workers, university professors, & others), complicit in ethnic cleansing, genocide, and the outright starvation & murder of innocent children. His hypocritical statements, e.g., "I'm doing everything I can to stop this [the "over-the-top" war]" are sickening. He's not doing even half of what he could.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I wonder how compassionate toward Genocide Joe you'd be if your grandson had been killed in Gaza by U.S. supplied weapons. Biden has materially helped to kill over <b>12,300 children</b>. <i>Nothing can excuse that.</i> I don't care what his reasoning is. He's complicit in war crimes, period. <u>Trump would be even worse, but that doesn't make Biden less of a war criminal</u>. What he's doing is a stain on him and everyone in this country. It's totally unforgivable. You don't back a thug (Netanyahu) who <b>purposely</b> attacks hospitals, UN shelters, ambulances, residences, etc., with innocent children in them...<b>even if you believe your perceived enemy also is there</b>. It's criminal, immoral, unethical, and barbaric. And yet, Biden keeps sending weapons to do the deed.<br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Outrageous.</b></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Don't bother trying to change my mind on this... because no one can. No one.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">------------------------------<wbr></wbr>---</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Not only my opinion. Be Well</div>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-86202013500155107552024-03-17T05:35:00.000-07:002024-03-17T05:35:32.241-07:00No Technology is more useful than this one<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> I just recently came off a <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">10+ hour power outage, plus the landline phone (the only phone I have) & internet were also out (& the fiber-optic cable for them is</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">underground</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">). This all in the middle of the heaviest snowfall in my 11 years here. It drove home two points...again.</span></span></p><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1. There is no technology more useful than a steady supply of electricity. Not SMART phones, nor so-called A.I., nor any other High Tech gizmo. <b>More importantly</b>,</span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">2. According to the geologist & mining engineer, Simon Michaux, plus two physicists, and a couple of other scientists I can't recall at the moment, <b>within about FIVE years,</b> we'll be at the beginning of a protracted period of critical mineral supply shortages (there are plenty left in the Earth, but getting them, refining them, & distributing them will be problematic). Manufacture of the one billion SMART phones per year (currently) will have to be cut way back. Why? Because each one has from 30-70 different critical minerals, & they will be needed for the massive number of needed renewable energy gizmos. <u>Never mind the batteries</u>. </span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">So, the experts I mentioned above say it's <i>highly likely </i>that a "cell phone winter" is coming...unless we transition to a much simpler phone, one without all the bells & whistles (& many of the minerals) of the much touted SMART phone. Those who say they "can't function without my phone" perhaps should imagine functioning without <i>electricity</i>. <img alt="🙃" aria-label="🙃" class="an1" data-emoji="🙃" draggable="false" loading="lazy" src="https://fonts.gstatic.com/s/e/notoemoji/15.0/1f643/72.png" style="height: 1.2em; vertical-align: middle; width: 1.2em;" /></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">....................</span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Not only my opinion. Take Care</span></div>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-21710781731143110442024-03-14T03:10:00.000-07:002024-03-14T03:10:42.080-07:00TEN reasons why Trump should be seen as UNAMERICAN...and more<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1. He has little-to-no respect for the U.S. Constitution.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>[Source: his own words]</span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>2. He admires dictators.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span>[Source: his own words & actions]</span><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span>3. He doesn't believe in an independent Justice Department.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span><span>[Source: his own words & actions]</span><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span><span>4. He has little-to-no respect for members of our military, especially those who had the extreme misfortune of being POWs.</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">[Source: his own words]</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span><span><span>5. He has little-to-no respect for immigrants...except for (I'm <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>guessing) his grandparents and present wife (who were <span> </span><span> </span>immigrants). He forgets how immigrants helped build the USA.</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">[Source: his own words & actions]<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">6. He has no statesmanship, and usually acts like a whining child.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>[Source: his own words & actions]</span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>7. He works to maintain a personality cult. It's all about him, not <span> </span>the USA (or the world). Quote: "I'm the only one who can save<span> </span>you." ~ DJT. Such is pure, unadulterated idiocy.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span>[Source: his own words & actions]</span><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span>8. He manipulates his "fans" by means of serial lying and playing to their fears. Trump is habitually dishonest & a truly negative, <span> sociopathic, vindictive </span>person.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">[Source: his own words & actions]</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span><span>9. He has little-to-no respect for (or knowledge of) anything in <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>Nature, ecological principles, or conservation.</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span><span><span>[Source: his own words & actions]</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span><span>10. He's almost completely anti-democracy.</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span><span><span>[Source: his own words & actions]</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Several polls show a majority of voters <i>don't want Trump or Biden as President</i>. Here's one---</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8rPZI4ofaY&t=1s</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Here's another---</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">https://www.masslive.com/politics/2024/02/2024-election-voters-dont-want-trump-biden-rematch-umass-amherst-poll-says.html</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Someone referred to the upcoming election as "the evil of two lessers". 😏</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">............................</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Not only my opinion. Be Well</span></div>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-29452059214420392342024-03-01T07:35:00.000-08:002024-03-01T12:21:49.387-08:00Ten reasons why it's time for President Biden to gracefully retire<p></p><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: medium;"> President Biden, you tepidly stated the Israeli response to the initial Hamas attack was now "over the top". It's much more than that; it's <b>criminal</b>. Yet, you keep sending weapons and ammo to Israel, thus <i>supporting the response which you say is too much, "over the top". </i><b>Hello!</b></span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;"> Every country ( including the USA) should be sanctioning Netanyahu and other members of the current Israeli Leadership who are responsible for purposely killing thousands of children and other civilians. <u>Those victims </u></span><i style="font-size: large;"><u>are not collateral damage</u></i><span style="font-size: large;">. It was </span><b style="font-size: large;">known</b><span style="font-size: large;"> they were in the hospitals, UN shelters, refugee camps, ambulances, residences, etc. which were attacked. Netanyahu et al. are Trump-on-steroids. That's what you're supporting, Mr. President. Wake up.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"> According to Oil Change International, twenty countries (including the USA) are planning to expand oil production for <i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><b>twenty-six more years</b></i><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">. </span></span> <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://priceofoil.org/content/uploads/2023/09/OCI-Planet-Wreckers-Report.pdf&source=gmail&ust=1696121772222000&usg=AOvVaw3S1obkBEO_zA4mhC_LwPfC" href="https://priceofoil.org/content/uploads/2023/09/OCI-Planet-Wreckers-Report.pdf" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;" target="_blank">https://priceofoil.org/<wbr></wbr>content/uploads/2023/09/OCI-<wbr></wbr>Planet-Wreckers-Report.pdf</a></li><li> <span style="font-size: medium;">You tout your climate mitigation efforts, but they really are a mixed bag. In accordance with number 3. above, you are expanding drilling for fossil energy on public lands. Plus, the Inflation Reduction Act (constantly bragged about by you and others) favors oil companies as much as efforts toward renewable energy.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"> Your Administration continues to pursue Julian Assange. His "crime" was exposing US military misdeeds, some of which were war crimes. Your backing of Netanyahu means <i>you are complicit in war crimes</i>. That's according to many humanitarian scholars at the U.N., a few politicians here in the USA, a few universities around the world, and several governments. Wake up. You're aiding in the murder of CHILDREN.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"> Yes, you're better than Trump as a Leader, but not better than so many other <i>potential </i>candidates. Trump is so unAmerican and has such a cult mentality, but <i>still</i> might win the election if someone other than you isn't running against him. You don't seem to know how to deal with his idiocy. Like many others, you let him get away with constantly <i>changing the subject whenever he's caught in a lie or otherwise backed into a corner. </i>He acts like a spoiled brat, and gets away with it. Anyone who knows the first thing about debating could show him up to be the whining child he is in no time at all. He's a gaslighter, a serial liar, a bully, and his knowledge of almost everything is pathetic. He's not an unknown. </span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"> Unlike a few politicians, you don't seem to understand ecological overshoot at all. Plus, you don't appear to grasp <b>any ecological principles</b> (not just overshoot). Like other anachronistic politicians, you apparently believe infinite economic growth - which, by the way, is exponential - is compatible with the health of a finite planet. You don't see such as an oxymoron.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"> Like Obama and Trump, <b>you're updating our nuclear weapons arsenal </b>instead of eliminating it. You seem to have bought into the idea that a "limited" nuclear war is possible without any significant consequences. Sheer ignorance.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"> Trump has zero statesmanship, but yours isn't much better. Putin warned the West about NATO expansion to his borders, and wanted talks about Ukraine. Your Administration avoided talks. Instead, you were quick to jump into a proxy war.</span></li></ol><span style="font-size: large;"> 10. <b>Your outmoded foreign policy is a disaster</b>. It's predicated on the idea of the USA as the world's police force. It's stuck in a "unipolar" world, with the USA as the undisputed Head Honcho. It fails to recognize the emerging multipolar world, in which other major nations actually get to have some influence in their regions. See the Jeffrey Sachs interviews on <i>Democracy Now</i> for details.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">The election still is eight months away. Time to change horses. There are plenty of potential candidates who have a much better chance than you, Mr. President, of defeating the poorest excuse for a politician in the history of our country. Bow out gracefully, and you'll see a flood of (okay, maybe only several) candidates enter the race. The wannabe dictator will be defeated first verbally, and then at the ballot box. Hands down. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">.......................</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Not only my opinion. Be Well</span></div><p></p>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-5430247154552887782024-02-26T03:14:00.000-08:002024-02-26T03:14:52.873-08:00This peril goes way, WAY beyond the Trump danger<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">Our</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> T</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">rump problem is like a bothersome gnat compared to this. </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3Db2n_Jk37cLE&source=gmail&ust=1709029434229000&usg=AOvVaw30dgZJfsJNBnQ_Xi3-Nbyx" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2n_Jk37cLE" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.<wbr></wbr>com/watch?v=b2n_Jk37cLE</a></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Not only is democracy in peril, but so are social cohesion, <i>cognition</i>, a meaningful life, and Nature. What's described here isn't only in the future; <u>it already has started</u>. Politicians are doing little-to-nothing to get a handle on it.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The piece at the link above is about <i>centralized</i> A.I., augmented reality, networked tribalism, and how a few High Tech mega companies are using all that to mold the public mind. It's about the Corporate Surveillance State manipulating the public into accepting something akin to neofeudalism. <b>If our "Leaders" don't <i>decentralize</i> A.I. </b>as soon as possible, then it's highly likely Fascism (which is the Power of Big Biz married to the Power of the State) will rule societies all around the world. China and Russia already are Fascist States. More than likely, the USA soon will be (if not already) if A.I. isn't put on a short leash. Only politicians can do that. Even though they talk-the-talk, Big Biz won't do it. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The danger of A.I. is not that machines will wind up killing us. It's much, much more subtle a threat. If you think you know enough about A.I., or if you believe it's all being handled, you're wrong. If you have to watch this interview in stages, do so. It will BLOW YOU AWAY. Hopefully, you'll then be motivated to send the link to the staff of your political "representatives", and to everyone you know. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The guy being interviewed, John Robb, is ex-military and an astronautical engineer, as well as a past consultant hired by numerous Fed Agencies on A.I. and network related issues. He's been at that for about 30 years...and he's worried about all the above. By the way, he's not all doom and gloom; his message winds up being positive (although, from an ecological viewpoint, a bit unrealistic in places).</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">....................</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Not only my opinion. Be Well & Be Aware</div>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-33328795551614512242024-02-23T15:58:00.000-08:002024-02-23T15:58:15.372-08:00An Apparently Much-Needed BIOLOGY Lesson for the Alabama Supreme Court<div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-size: medium;">When a female human egg is fertilized by a male human sperm cell, the result is known as a <i>zygote.</i> [The same is true with all other members of the biological Animal Kingdom.] A zygote still is a single cell. It has no brain, central nervous system, eyes, heart, etc. [Yes, that should be obvious and known by everyone. Given the Court's decision, however, thought I'd better make sure:]</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When the fertilized egg divides into two identical cells, and those two divide, and on & on, the result is known as an <i>embryo. </i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">While an embryo, the group of cells appears no differently than does a group of cells from any number of other animals at the same stage of development. It's a blob of <b>undifferentiated cells</b>. It's not a child, not even close. There's no brain, no developed systems found in a fetus, no sentience, no consciousness, nothing but a group of identical cells. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Yes, an embryo has the potential of becoming a human life; <i>but it's not yet such.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Approximately eleven weeks after the last menstrual period in the mother, an embryo begins the phase of <i><u>cell differentiation</u></i>. Body systems develop with specific organs. The eventual result is known as a <i>fetus</i>. The differences between an embryo and a fetus are monumental and relevant to ethics.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When an embryo is frozen (which happens in the IVF<b>***</b> process weeks prior to the beginning of the change to a fetus) cell differentiation doesn't begin until after unfreezing.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: large;">[<b>***</b>IVF = in vitro fertilization]</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: large;">To treat/view an embryo as a child is absurd. To make things worse, one of the justifications for the decision was a citation from the Christian <i>Holy Bible</i>. I was unaware of Alabama being a theocracy, or at least, acting like one. There's no way that's appropriate...or even legal I would guess.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: large;">By the way, when you do a Google Search for questions regarding an "embryo", about one-third or more of the answers deal with a FETUS, not an embryo. So it seems some Tech Whiz "Kids" who write algorithms for this Search topic, <i>also need this Biology lesson</i>.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: large;">.......................</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Not only my opinion. Be Well</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: large;">p.s. In case anyone is wondering, I have an academic background in Biology and taught the subject at both the High School and Community College levels for years.</span></div>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-16821930602672078672024-02-22T14:38:00.000-08:002024-02-22T14:40:48.338-08:00Attention: Main Street, City & County Comprehensive Planners, and Anyone Truly Interested in Sustainability<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Here's why 2-4% annual Growth (which, by the way, is <i>exponential</i>) is harmful, and <u>a framework</u> for the sustainable alternative---</span></div><div class="gs" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Google Sans", Roboto, RobotoDraft, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 20px; width: initial;"><div class="gE iv gt" style="cursor: auto; font-size: 0.875rem; padding: 20px 0px 0px;"><table cellpadding="0" class="cf gJ" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-collapse: collapse; display: block; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-top: 0px; width: auto;"><tbody style="display: block;"></tbody></table><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://steadystate.org/envisioning-a-steady-state-comprehensive-plan/&source=gmail&ust=1708726296481000&usg=AOvVaw2E-HAXBfOjV5c43-P-ba8w" href="https://steadystate.org/envisioning-a-steady-state-comprehensive-plan/" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;" target="_blank">https://steadystate.org/<wbr></wbr>envisioning-a-steady-state-<wbr></wbr>comprehensive-plan/</a></div><div class="gE iv gt" style="cursor: auto; padding: 20px 0px 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It's somewhat of a long read, but worth it. If nothing else, study the informative graphics and you'll get much of the central theme.</span></div><div class="gE iv gt" style="cursor: auto; padding: 20px 0px 0px;">....................................</div><div class="gE iv gt" style="cursor: auto; padding: 20px 0px 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Not only my opinion. Be Well</span></div></div>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-69164227088847999462024-02-21T18:59:00.000-08:002024-02-21T18:59:10.518-08:00"France's Start-Up Nation is a Neoliberal Hell"<p> https://techwontsave.us/episode/206_frances_start_up_nation_is_a_neoliberal_hell_w_nastasia_hadjadji?emci=10369721-2fd0-ee11-85f9-002248223794&emdi=fdc8a869-ebd0-ee11-85f9-002248223794&ceid=6171896</p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The neoliberal Macron, elected in 2017, has more or less teamed up with portions of the neoliberal High Tech Industry to transform France into something akin to a "start-up" corporation. [It began as only efforts to attract High Tech investment, but morphed into working toward the instituting of a full-blown Corporatocracy.] For details, copy & paste on a new page (or do a Search for the title) the link above.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In the name of "efficiency", the team (so to speak) is working to <i>privatize public services</i> and basically dismantle or <i>drastically reduce France's social safety net</i>. That's the common objective and function of neoliberal policies instituted by Establishments in most "democratic" countries all around the world. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What boggles the mind is this: in the past several/many years, neoliberalism and the associated corporate globalization have shown themselves to be an abject failure relative to benefits to Main Street. The failure has been ecological, social, and economic, never mind psychological and political. If you're in the top twenty percent (or so) of income earners, then the whole thing has been great for you. The rest of us have not fared so well.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Except</b> in my country, the USA, most of the world has recognized the harm done by privatization, deregulation, austerity for Main Street, job insecurity, reduced retirement benefits, monopolization in High Tech, stagnant wages, and the like. So, it's no wonder to me why Main Street in France and elsewhere has been protesting neoliberal policies and the continuing transfer of wealth to the Upper Crust.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">.........................</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Not only my opinion. Take Care</span></div>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-6934981161456544302024-02-18T05:44:00.000-08:002024-02-18T05:44:29.765-08:00Why the factory farming of animals (and animal lab experimentation) is an obscenity<p> <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://tamerlaine.org/factory-farming-in-pictures&source=gmail&ust=1708342191396000&usg=AOvVaw0D5fyCTrQ7oBPqaxSdW34O" href="https://tamerlaine.org/factory-farming-in-pictures" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;" target="_blank">https://tamerlaine.org/<wbr></wbr>factory-farming-in-pictures</a></p><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1. Family farms, shrinking in number, still outnumber factory or "industrial" farms by far. BUT, the total number of animals on factory farms is greater than the total on family farms. A <i><b>single factory dairy farm</b> can have anywhere from 7</i><b>00 to 25,000 </b>milk cows...on ONE "farm". Dairy cattle! These cows are never on pasture. They live in giant warehouses and/or crowded feedlots. There are about 9.4 million milk cows in the USA; the majority of them are never grazing on pasture their entire lives. [NOTE: in China & a few other countries, there are factory dairy farms with up to <b>100,000</b> milk cows on each one.]</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2. Hogs on factory farms live their entire lives indoors, most of them in steel bar <u>crates</u>, not roaming around in a big indoor arena. Sows live in gestating crates barely longer and taller than the animal...<u>their entire lives</u> (which usually is only a few years). [See the photo at the link above. Not counting dogs, hogs are the most intelligent of all farm animals. In general, they can do simple math better than a 3-yr-old human. Like all livestock, they are social creatures, & have emotions.]</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">3. Poultry on factory farms are never outdoors anymore. They're raised in crowded crates in giant sheds, several packed into each crate, & crates stacked upon each other.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">4. Lab animals--- I can't even go there--- many of the experiments are cruel beyond belief, done in universities with full Government funding. Mice, cats, dogs, primates, and a few other mammals are subjected to inordinate suffering. <u>Sentient beings treated like nonliving objects</u>. There are a few corporations which do nothing but raise "crops" of these creatures, thousands of future victims for sale. It seems many humans pretend all animals except us are too dumb to be aware of their own suffering. I guess such thinking soothes their consciences.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In most of these factory operations, cleaning of animal wastes is done automatically, which means it's incomplete. Because of the massive numbers of animals, infected/sick ones often get overlooked and die without medical treatment.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">The philosopher, Kant, once wrote (paraphrased): w</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #040c28; font-family: "Google Sans", Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">e can judge the character of people by their treatment of animals.</span></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #040c28; font-family: "Google Sans", Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #040c28; font-family: "Google Sans", Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Factory farming (especially of animals) is an obscenity. It's a gross insult to civil society, sentient beings, and Nature. <i style="font-weight: bold;">We are capable of far better behavior. </i>Studies have shown that "small farms can feed the world". Google it. [You'll find arguments and studies supporting both sides of the question. The disagreement largely revolves around the definition of the term, "small farm".]</span></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #040c28; font-family: "Google Sans", Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">...........................</span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #040c28; font-family: "Google Sans", Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Not only my opinion. Be Well</span></span></div>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-37924224750382217752024-02-15T10:23:00.000-08:002024-02-15T10:23:07.976-08:00Excerpt from: "Choices & Change on the Path to a Sustainable Existence..."<div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-size: medium;">Here's part of Chapter 2 (Soil, Not Oil) from my second short book.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">[The book is available here: </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/Choices-Change-Path-Sustainable-Existence/dp/B0CSSVWB3N&source=gmail&ust=1708105532988000&usg=AOvVaw01Ct-3IpSQvgVtzwI4iZwo" href="https://www.amazon.com/Choices-Change-Path-Sustainable-Existence/dp/B0CSSVWB3N" jslog="32272; 1:WyIjdGhyZWFkLWE6ci0xNDI3ODA2NDU1MzkzMDY4NTg4fG1zZy1hOnItMTg3MDY3MjE1MDczNzk0MzIyMiJd; 4:WyIjbXNnLWE6ci0xODcwNjcyMTUwNzM3OTQzMjIyIl0." style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/<wbr></wbr>Choices-Change-Path-<wbr></wbr>Sustainable-Existence/dp/<wbr></wbr>B0CSSVWB3N</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">? ] ---</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i style="font-family: Calibri, serif;">...............................</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Introduction</span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><br /></u></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span><u>Dirt</u></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span>
is almost totally without any life in it. </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span><u>Soil</u></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span>
is a living ecosystem which, in conjunction with water, air,
sunlight, and the chlorophyll in green plants, makes animal life
possible on Earth. It’s a more valuable natural resource than
petroleum. Partly because few people seem to recognize or appreciate
that view, we are in a worldwide soil crisis. [Dr. Vandana Shiva, a
renowned agroecologist, has an informative and beautiful book out
titled,</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span><i>
Soil Not Oil</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span>.]</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Though
not recognized as such at the time, the crisis began with the first
agricultural Green Revolution in the late 1950’s and throughout the
1960’s. Because planners were concerned about human population
outpacing food production, plant breeders started developing new,
high-yielding varieties of cereal grains, particularly wheat and
rice. The newly developed crops were high-yielding because they
managed to pull more nutrients (e.g., nitrogen, phosphorus, and
potassium) out of the soil as compared to older varieties.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In
addition to new crop varieties, science developed pesticides and
farmers applied them to their fields in earnest, especially in the
late 1950’s and early 1960’s. Tons of DDT were dumped onto
fields, thus controlling plant-eating insects. Food production began
to rise.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, serif; font-size: medium;">Apparently,
few people were concerned about any potential impact of poisons on
soil microbes, worms, fungi, and other life forms necessary for soil
health.</span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">At
the same time, the petrochemical industry developed artificial
(synthetic) fertilizers. By about the early 1970’s, worldwide food
production began to increase at an unprecedented rate. Such was the
start of the second Green Revolution. Due to massive application of
both synthetic fertilizers and irrigation water, it lasted to about
1985 or so. Annual grain production increased by 160%.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span>When
the Green Revolution began, the start of a long period of soil
degradation also began. For quite awhile, it was unrecognized. The
widespread use of DDT on crops (and thus, on soil as well) began not
long after WWII, well before the Green Revolution. It was banned in
the USA in 1972. The primary reason for the ban was the harm it
caused populations of raptors, or birds of prey. The harm to soil
generally was unknown at the time. In agriculture, other poisons
took the place of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT). Herbicides
also contributed to the ongoing degradation of soil. So, too, did
the massive use of synthetic fertilizers. </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span><u>To
understand WHY and HOW petrochemicals </u></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span>(in
this case, synthetic fertilizers and synthetic pesticides) </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span><u>cause
the degradation of a most valuable resource, let’s look at soil in
a bit more detail</u></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span>.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span>Like
all others, soil is a highly complex natural </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span><i>ecosystem</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span>.
Most ecologists would agree that a healthy, natural ecosystem </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span><i>is
more complex than anything ever built by humans.</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span>
Anything. So, the first thing to keep in mind is: soil is a living
system with more complexity than any machine or system made by us.
That complex, living system is the basis of our food supply. Almost
all our plant and animal food products ultimately come from the soil.
Instead of essentially poisoning it with artificial petrochemicals,
we should be revering it and treating it with the utmost care. [See
Pal, R. 2006 in References.]</span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span>Fifty
or more years ago, a good topsoil consisted of 25% air, 25% water,
45% minerals, </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span><b>and
5% humus</b></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span>.
The last item, humus, is partially decayed organic matter. It’s
derived primarily from dead plants, plant parts (such as fallen
leaves, twigs broken off, tree bark, etc.), dead animals and
microbes, and animal wastes. </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span><u>Humus
is crucial to soil fertility</u></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span>.
It provides not only </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span><b>macronutrients</b></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span>
such as N</span></span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span>itrogen
(N), Phosphorus (P), & Potassium (K), and the</span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span><i>
</i></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span><b>secondary
nutrients</b></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span><i>
Calcium (Ca), </i></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span>
</span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span><i>Magnesium
(Mg), and Sulfur (S), </i></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span>but
also the </span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span><b>micronutrients</b></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span> Zinc
(Zn), Manganese (Mn), Iron (Fe), Chloride (a form of Chlorine, Cl),
Copper (Cu), Molybdenum (Mo), and Boron (B). When industrial farmers
use the main synthetic fertilizer made from petroleum, </span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span><u>all
the soil gets is macronutients</u></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span>.
Over time, the soil slowly is degraded. Today’s soil contains
humus hovering around </span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span><b>1%</b></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span>,
and that’s only a part of what makes up the Soil Crisis.</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><i style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Other
Aspects of Soil Important to Humans</span></i></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif; font-size: medium;">About
25% of the world’s land biodiversity is found in soil. One result
of that: biodiverse soil bacteria provide us with new antibiotics.
Also, biodiversity overall makes a soil ecosystem healthier and more
resistant to environmental stresses such as disease in soil plants
and animals, drought, and other damage to soil food webs.</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, serif; font-size: medium;">Soil
filters water. For the most part, large groundwater aquifers are
located inside “solid” rock. Rock has many tiny crevices,
cracks, and microscopic pores which allow water molecules to enter.
They accumulate there over thousands and thousands of years. Before
ever getting to underlying bedrock, soil filters the water as it
travels downward. That’s why water from a drilled well generally
is “pure”.</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, serif; font-size: medium;">Soil
is an important carbon sink. It sequesters carbon dioxide, thus
keeping excess CO2 out of our atmosphere.</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
mineral portion of soil is composed of various combinations of sand,
silt, and clay. Individual clay particles are so tiny they can be
seen only with a high-powered microscope. As such, they exist in
what’s known as a colloid, or in colloidal form. In that state,
they have a net negative electrical charge. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-weight: normal;">This
means they attract positively charged mineral nutrients</span></u></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
such as calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, etc. The nutrients
thus are prevented from leaching down into the lower depths of the
subsoil, out of reach of many plant roots.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Humus
also exists in colloidal form. It, too, holds nutrients in the
topsoil where they can be absorbed by plant roots. The colloids
making up both inorganic clay and organic humus are the most
chemically active parts of any soil. They are crucial to soil
fertility. Humus is a great source of nutrition for plants, and by
releasing the nutrients </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><i><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">slowly
</span></span></i></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">during
decomposition, the plant roots are not “burned” when the
nutrients are absorbed. The petrochemical fertilizer, ammonium
nitrate, sometimes does damage to plant roots by quickly
overwhelming and “burning” them.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, serif; font-size: medium;">Green
land plants get most of their water and nutrients (other than
glucose, which they make themselves) from soil. Such plants not
only are the basis of our food web, but also a significant source of
the oxygen we require to live.</span></p>
</li></ul>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Petrochemicals,
a major cause of soil degradation, damage or destroy soil
biodiversity by killing many different types of microbes which are
necessary to soil health. [See Pal, R. 2006 and Goudie, Andrew S.
2019 in References.] Bacteria, the most numerous of the soil
microbes, work to decompose plant and animal matter. Thus they
promote nutrient cycling. So do fungi and actinomycetes. Some
bacteria can pull nitrogen out of the air and “fix” it into
certain plants known as legumes (e.g., alfalfa, clover, and beans).
Actinomycetes resemble both bacteria and fungi, and they aid in
decomposition of organic matter, thus also contributing to the
cycling of nutrients in the soil ecosystem. In addition to
decomposition, fungi help bind soil particles into aggregates, and so
aid in resistance to wind and water erosion.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Mycorrhizal
fungi in soil are especially important to green plants.
“Mycorrhizal” refers to a plant’s root system. These fungi
live on the roots of plants in a mostly symbiotic (mutually
beneficial) manner. Their hyphae – fungal feeding tubes – allow
the host plant’s roots to take in more water and nutrients than
they otherwise could. The practices of </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><i><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">industrial</span></span></i></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
farming – with their use of synthetic fertilizers and herbicides –
are destroying these valuable fungi. Thus, over time, crop yields
ultimately will be reduced because of soil degradation.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Factory
farming also exacerbates wind and water erosion of soil, thus
contributing even more to soil degradation.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: left; widows: 2;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>BOTTOM
LINE</b><span style="font-weight: normal;">: the use of petrochemicals on farms, and all the rest of
industrial agriculture, </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><i><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">must
be phased out</span></span></i></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.
Farming and food supply chains must return to a smaller scale in
order to regenerate our soil and cease the poisoning of food
ecosystems. Organic farming, sometimes called regenerative
agriculture, permaculture, or agroecology, is </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-weight: normal;">the
best choice forward</span></u></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: left; widows: 2;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">..........................</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: left; widows: 2;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The excerpt above shows how reliance on Technology can backfire if planners and policy makers are not thinking comprehensively. I see the same thing taking shape today with geoengineers addressing <i style="text-decoration-line: none;">symptoms</i> rather than <u>root causes</u> of our ongoing Crisis.</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: left; widows: 2;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.........................</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: left; widows: 2;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Not only my opinion. Be Well, and BE AWARE</span></span></span></span></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span></div>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-11495117457234442342024-01-29T21:55:00.000-08:002024-01-29T22:05:32.511-08:00The Mother of All Feedback Loops re Human Society<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A short while ago, I posted the following as a small part of a new book description---</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"<span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">the complex feedback loop involving constant economic growth, which requires more energy, which then creates more complexity in society, which then requires more energy, which then creates even more complexity, etc. is ruining our habitat;".</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">This essay is an expanded view of that concept.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">In our past (and ongoing) pursuit of infinite economic growth, we've created a System, a "Superorganism" according to the ecologist, Nate Hagens. This System is so large, so filled with <b>complexity</b>, and so out-of-control that a) it can't be fully described, and b) it can't be reined-in, and c) it's ruining the ecosphere. It's the ultimate Rat-Race. It's a primary cause of our ecological overshoot. It's a runaway machine with no one at the helm. <u>It's literally killing us</u>, not only with pollutants, but also with food insecurity, the stress of job insecurity, inadequate health care facilities, wars, inequality and inequity, declining democracy, and the like. About twenty percent (maybe less) of Earth's human population are managing to stay afloat in the ongoing energy binge; the rest of us are in a slow descent to subsistence living.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">[<b>The twenty-six richest people on Earth </b>own as much wealth as HALF the entire world's population combined. In a civil society, that's an obscenity. It's most likely also why the Rich and Powerful (perhaps with a few exceptions) want the runaway System to continue. They appear to <u>not</u> be long-term, comprehensive, holistic thinkers.]</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">The ever-increasing <i>complexity</i> is causing significant problems in the arenas of: global supply chains, manufacturing, transportation, consumption, extraction of natural resources, generation and distribution of electricity, health care equity, income inequality, institutional functioning, and more. As society becomes more complex, the need for more and more energy increases.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Even a High School biology student could tell you with a high degree of certainty that such a scenario is unsustainable on a planet with finite resources. Unfortunately, it appears most (not all) of the Powers-That-Be <b>are relying on ideology, not science, </b>to navigate through this current Crisis. They appear to believe the benefits of our 150-year energy binge are the norm, but fail to see the Mother of All Feedback Loops, and the negative externalities of fossil fuel use. They also don't seem to grasp the looming minerals problem relative to our necessary transition to Green Energy. Never mind the soil crisis and the impending food supply shortage.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">According to the mining engineer and geologist, Simon Michaux, in about only five years there will be serious problems regarding necessary minerals for Green energy. In about ten years, agriculture also will be having significant problems. It all revolves around energy.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: large;">If we don't voluntarily reduce our energy use, <b>we'll be forced to by </b></span><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">lack </b><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: large;">of cheap, easily available, and abundant fossil fuels AND </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">lack</b><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: large;"> of cheap, easily available and necessary minerals (about 70 of them) for renewables. Less energy use will lessen eco-overshoot by leaps and bounds. It also will slow down the Rat-Race by lessening societal complexity. This all can happen if we phase out of infinite economic GROWTH, and phase into economic development in a steady state economy. [See </span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: medium;">https://steadystate.org/ ]</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: medium;">...............</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: medium;">Not only my opinion. Be Well, and Be Aware</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWjDXyZcagOn2XnbSRLb_sjuuL3tNVFqWCiYCTgWif7JTdS4XO4YEAbwAdt5n_be7-V8t9QPz747oN1VtECiWqiptixQfa57ABDSsix2B_h0thw0WDaGjMtROsx77qVF2sgtq7XAfhpywpfCAo3_eGv4EC4-Ua-Kl_M4BSNzTGQ136CfkQta55t5U3FKk/s2940/Complexity%20Connections%20A.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2297" data-original-width="2940" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWjDXyZcagOn2XnbSRLb_sjuuL3tNVFqWCiYCTgWif7JTdS4XO4YEAbwAdt5n_be7-V8t9QPz747oN1VtECiWqiptixQfa57ABDSsix2B_h0thw0WDaGjMtROsx77qVF2sgtq7XAfhpywpfCAo3_eGv4EC4-Ua-Kl_M4BSNzTGQ136CfkQta55t5U3FKk/w400-h313/Complexity%20Connections%20A.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-21639566948162507602024-01-28T23:33:00.000-08:002024-01-28T23:33:33.358-08:00Quote: "...whether God-given, biologically endowed, or just taken for granted."<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This masterfully written essay clearly shows aggregate humanity is on a most destructive path re nonhuman animals. [</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://greattransition.org/gti-forum/solidarity-animals-crist&source=gmail&ust=1706597734148000&usg=AOvVaw0zxB_zuY2hufLWNCWBI8TP" href="https://greattransition.org/gti-forum/solidarity-animals-crist" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">https://greattransition.org/<wbr></wbr>gti-forum/solidarity-animals-<wbr></wbr>crist</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">] Despite that bad news, the author inspires to the Nth degree. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><u style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At least</u><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">read the first three paragraphs. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Judith Crist is a wordsmith of the highest order. </b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reading her article</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> is well worth the time.</span></span></p><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Crist goes on to unravel/unpack the paradox of our love of animals existing simultaneously with the structural violence we impose upon them. Then, too, she brilliantly recounts the history and heritage of John Rodman's </span><span style="font-size: large;">"Differential</span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Imperative</b>" - how we, in order to soothe our conscience, assign inordinate value to the difference between us and other animals. [I say "<u>other</u> animals" because we're part of the biological Animal Kingdom; obviously, we aren't plants or microorganisms:]<br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Next, Crist relays how indigenous societies have (in general) treated nonhuman animals with respect, compassion, and the dignity they deserve <i>while using them for human purposes</i>. A much needed lesson for us all.</span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Finally, she explains how mistreatment and misuse of animals has spilled over to include human-to-human interaction, and our degradation of the ecosphere. Someday we'll all learn: "everything is connected to everything else" ~ Barry Commoner, 1971 (another masterful wordsmith).</span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">................</span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Not only my opinion. Take Care</span></div>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-64807694728636805012024-01-24T18:50:00.000-08:002024-01-24T18:50:35.023-08:00MAGA should become MAMA: $50 TRILLION has been taken from Main Street<p> <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/make-america-mad-again-tax-the-rich&source=gmail&ust=1706230299482000&usg=AOvVaw33HTcGsBEAV6OG5x2wStPN" href="https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/make-america-mad-again-tax-the-rich" jslog="32272; 1:WyIjdGhyZWFkLWE6cjQ2NTYxMjAzOTM5NzM4MTQ2MzJ8bXNnLWE6ci03OTg3MTAwMDcxNTMwNTA1NDgxIl0.; 4:WyIjbXNnLWE6ci03OTg3MTAwMDcxNTMwNTA1NDgxIl0." style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;" target="_blank">https://www.commondreams.org/<wbr></wbr>opinion/make-america-mad-<wbr></wbr>again-tax-the-rich</a></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Mad about what?...trickle-down economics, that's what.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">For a bit over forty years, the USA has encouraged/supported "trickle-down" economics. It has been a resounding success...for the Super-Rich. They mined the gold; and Main Street got the shaft. There's nothing "Great" about such economics; but Trump thinks there is.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">At the link above, a <i>Time</i> magazine article which explains all this is discussed/analyzed by Paul Buchheit, an economic justice author. He does a great job in this opinion piece of showing how MAGA ignores the reality of the last forty years.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">To put $50 trillion into perspective, let's compare the number one million to the number one billion in the framework of "time". One million seconds (of time) = </span><u style="font-size: large;">about twelve days</u><span style="font-size: large;">, and one billion seconds = </span><span style="font-size: large;">about </span><b style="font-size: large;">thirty-one years.</b><span style="font-size: large;"> As you know, the number </span><i style="font-size: large;">one trillion</i><span style="font-size: large;"> = 1,000 times one billion.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Often the Upper 1% of income earners like to imply (or state outright) that they pulled themselves up the ladder of wealth by their own bootstraps (so to speak). Taking the vast High Tech Industry as an example, let's look at what really happened.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In the beginning (the 1950's), High Tech development was funded <b>almost entirely</b> by taxpayer dollars via the Defense Department. If it hadn't been for public money, which was massive for that industry, development would have been held back for who knows how long. [Even today, significant government contracts are awarded to High Tech companies and other mega businesses.] So, whose bootstraps?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">...............................</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Not only my opinion. Be Well</span></div><p><br /></p>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-73818402649451669462024-01-23T10:21:00.000-08:002024-01-23T10:21:38.306-08:00More on: "Choices & Change on the Path to a Sustainable Existence..."<div style="text-align: left;"> <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CSSVWB3N?ref_%3Dpe_93986420_774957520&source=gmail&ust=1705805254942000&usg=AOvVaw0CCNskYuFxe4GTkCRo0gRv" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CSSVWB3N?ref_=pe_93986420_774957520" jslog="32272; 1:WyIjdGhyZWFkLWE6cjg2OTg4ODU5NTAyNzEzNjY4NzF8bXNnLWE6ci02MTcxODgyODc0ODcwNjY4NjI1Il0.; 4:WyIjbXNnLWE6ci02MTcxODgyODc0ODcwNjY4NjI1Il0." style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/dp/<wbr></wbr>B0CSSVWB3N?ref_=pe_93986420_<wbr></wbr>774957520</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">If you would like a free pdf </span><span style="font-size: large;">copy, email me with the title, "Choices & Change".</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Below is a list of major topics in the book---</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: medium;">why we're blind to the Big Picture regarding the "carbon pulse" (fossil energy), and what it will take to transition away from it;</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">why the pursuit of infinite economic growth must be abandoned ASAP;</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">our blindness regarding mineral requirements for a Green economy;</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">while "Going Green" is necessary, unfortunately the present approach by the Powers-That-Be is insufficient;</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">why we are not superior to and separate from Nature;</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">why our society must convert from high-energy use to low-energy use;</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">the complex feedback loop involving constant economic growth, which requires more energy, which then creates more complexity in society, which then requires more energy, which then creates even more complexity, etc. is ruining our habitat;</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">ecological overshoot is THE problem, but Powers-That-Be mostly are trying to address only the <i>symptoms</i> of that;</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">why there's a soil crisis, and the best choices for resolving it;</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">ditto for the fresh water crisis;</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">ditto for the food crisis;</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">why healthy ecosystems and biodiversity are the bedrock of our existence;</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">how factory farming is ruining agriculture, and the best choice forward;</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">what many people don't seem to understand about science;</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">what is "sustainability", and numerous examples of it;</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">the shift in our ethics which is necessary for humans to survive and thrive;</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">the propaganda coming from the Corporatocracy;</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">why the petrochemical industry must be reined-in;</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">why "The Market" can't solve the ill effects of Climate Change; and</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">what's needed for a bright future for us and our descendants.</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-size: medium;">.............................</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Not only my opinion. Be Well</span></div></div>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-6889700141833526222024-01-21T18:25:00.000-08:002024-01-21T18:25:40.657-08:00The Ecological Ignorance of U.S. Presidents REDUX<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I posted the essay below a year ago; it's even more relevant now.</span><span style="font-size: large;">.........................</span></div><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"> </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.democracynow.org/2023/1/25/frida_berrigan_doomsday_clock&source=gmail&ust=1674792240923000&usg=AOvVaw0vZ7HsTtRQVRN5awSEKrzv" href="https://www.democracynow.org/2023/1/25/frida_berrigan_doomsday_clock" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.democracynow.org/<wbr></wbr>2023/1/25/frida_berrigan_<wbr></wbr>doomsday_clock</a></p><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It borders on insanity that common folks in the relatively free countries (out of <b>9 total***</b>) which produce & own nuke weapons aren't persistently calling for a ban on such weapons. Even a number of high-ranking military folks, such as retired Colonel Andrew Bacevich, have stated nukes are unnecessary for the defense of any nation.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">[<b>***Many more than 9 "host" </b>(or endorse) <b>U.S. nukes]</b></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The <i>Bulletin of Atomic Scientists </i>now have their "Doomsday Clock" set at 90 seconds to midnight.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">All our recent Presidents are in favor of so-called "lower yield, tactical" nukes. Obama launched a 10-yr program (continued by Trump & Biden) to expand and upgrade our nuke arsenal. <u>Such action demonstrates an ecological ignorance beyond comprehension</u>.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">On top of all that, more production of nukes means more nuke waste (which produces ionizing radiation for thousands of years). The waste we have already is <i>temporarily</i> being stored at whatever site generates it. That's been going on since the mid-<b>1940's</b>. There have been big problems, and they continue.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ike's "military-industrial complex" rolls on, and very few people seem to care, <u>or maybe they feel there's nothing they can do about it</u>. <b>Here's something you can do about it:</b></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.icanw.org/join&source=gmail&ust=1674792240923000&usg=AOvVaw3opvyLyFoil-YHEyJ08c-x" href="https://www.icanw.org/join" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.icanw.org/join</a> And here's part of why you should,<b><br /></b></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.icanw.org/nuclear_arsenals&source=gmail&ust=1674792240923000&usg=AOvVaw2mVvCrrso4Kut_4qPo6NOb" href="https://www.icanw.org/nuclear_arsenals" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.icanw.org/nuclear_<wbr></wbr>arsenals</a></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">.....................</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Not only my opinion. Take Care</div>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-34776052428534513142024-01-19T21:04:00.000-08:002024-01-19T21:04:31.290-08:00"Choices & Change on the Path to a Sustainable Existence..."<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My second book is now available at the link below. Please read the Description, in which I discuss who probably would enjoy the read and who would not. </span><img alt="😊" aria-label="😊" class="an1" data-emoji="😊" loading="lazy" src="https://fonts.gstatic.com/s/e/notoemoji/15.0/1f60a/72.png" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; height: 1.2em; vertical-align: middle; width: 1.2em;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></p><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CSSVWB3N?ref_%3Dpe_93986420_774957520&source=gmail&ust=1705805254942000&usg=AOvVaw0CCNskYuFxe4GTkCRo0gRv" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CSSVWB3N?ref_=pe_93986420_774957520" jslog="32272; 1:WyIjdGhyZWFkLWE6cjg2OTg4ODU5NTAyNzEzNjY4NzF8bXNnLWE6ci02MTcxODgyODc0ODcwNjY4NjI1Il0.; 4:WyIjbXNnLWE6ci02MTcxODgyODc0ODcwNjY4NjI1Il0." style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/dp/<wbr></wbr>B0CSSVWB3N?ref_=pe_93986420_<wbr></wbr>774957520</a><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If interested at all in sustainability, you may also want to read a sample of the Introduction. Click on "Read Sample" in the upper left quadrant of the page. From time to time, I'll post other excerpts on this venue. A hardback version will out soon. I doubt that an eBook will be because (as I learned with the first book) getting it up and out is somewhat of a nightmare for a High Tech Dummy like me - <i>even if I hire someone to do the eBook formatting</i>. 😵</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In any case, Thanks to All for your consideration, and </div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Happy Trails,</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Scott</div>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-28001551444996061972024-01-18T22:13:00.000-08:002024-01-18T22:48:35.226-08:00Wars around the world currently are being run by thugs<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> Civil society is being egregiously damaged, essentially torn apart. Putin (in his defense) was backed into a corner by expansion of NATO to the East; then he reacted like a thug. With October 7, the Leadership of Hamas became criminal thugs. [Yes, Gaza and the West Bank have been strangled by Israel's politicians for decades; but that's no justifiable excuse to brutally murder civilians, including children.] Netanyahu and crew certainly were entitled to a response; but for weeks their over-reaction has become criminal thuggery. No time to summarize the various thugs in parts of Africa and even in South America.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">While Biden is not a thug, he 's supporting the thuggery of Israeli Leadership by supplying weapons, ammo, and military intelligence against Gaza. So, in essence, he gives aid to:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">a) the bombing of medical facilities, ambulances, civilian residences, schools, UN shelters, refugee camps, and whole areas where Palestinians were sent because they supposedly were "safe" areas; and,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">b) the killing of CHILDREN; and,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">c) the ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians; and,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">d) the intentional starving of them as well.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">While all that may not make him a thug, arguably it does place him on the border of being not only unlawful and heartless, but insane as well. [No, I'm not trained in clinical psychology. But a wise man once told me: "You don't have to be a master carpenter to recognize a shack.":]</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is all so Orwellian that it's truly mind-boggling. Why people keep electing Establishment thugs (for example, Netanyahu and the micro-thug, Trump), to office is beyond my comprehension. If not thugs, we elect dogmatic, stuck-in-the-Past, corporatist-supporting people with no vision and zero capability of thinking comprehensively (e. g., Biden, Bush, and again, Trump).</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In this country, Elizabeth Warren should be elected President, or someone along the lines (back when) of the Republican Senator, Mark Hatfield, a truly honorable politician; or, someone like George McGovern, another honorable Senator. Instead, we get either wannabe Fascists or slumbering, corporatist drones. C'est la vie</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">...........................</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Not only my opinion. Be Well</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">p.s. War is mostly for the benefit of Big Biz, and a distraction from the shrinking of the Middle Class.</div></div></div>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-4052565678113826692024-01-16T21:50:00.000-08:002024-01-16T21:50:14.721-08:00Public Awareness of ‘Nuclear Winter’ is Too Low Given Current Risks<div><span style="font-size: medium;">This (see the title above) is particularly true in the UK and the USA; however, I'm guessing it's also true in other places around the world. Decades ago, I'm fairly certain most people were up to speed on the highly probable effects of nuclear war and<i> the aftermath of nuclear winter</i> on the biosphere. </span></div><div><br /></div><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://mahb.stanford.edu/library-item/opinion-poll-survey-public-awareness-of-nuclear-winter-is-too-low-given-current-risks/&source=gmail&ust=1705547383778000&usg=AOvVaw36BoZI79LLzAqylx9pXED3" href="https://mahb.stanford.edu/library-item/opinion-poll-survey-public-awareness-of-nuclear-winter-is-too-low-given-current-risks/" jslog="32272; 1:WyIjdGhyZWFkLWE6cjIyNzg5MDcwNzk2NzQ2Mjk4NDV8bXNnLWE6ci03OTQ4MjEwMDg0MjM0ODMwNDM2Il0.; 4:WyIjbXNnLWE6ci03OTQ4MjEwMDg0MjM0ODMwNDM2Il0." style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;" target="_blank">https://mahb.stanford.edu/<wbr></wbr>library-item/opinion-poll-<wbr></wbr>survey-public-awareness-of-<wbr></wbr>nuclear-winter-is-too-low-<wbr></wbr>given-current-risks/</a><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Nowadays, we have several world leaders who have developed, or are developing, so-called <i>tactical</i> (rather than strategic) nuke weapons. Apparently, they think use of them will have no serious or long-term deleterious effects on the life which survives such a war. According to the scientific fields of ecology, biology, climatology, and physics, such thinking is <b>sheer nonsense</b>.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thebulletin.org/2022/10/nowhere-to-hide-how-a-nuclear-war-would-kill-you-and-almost-everyone-else/%23:~:text%3DUsing%2520a%2520radiative%252Dconvective%2520climate,weapons%2520after%2520a%2520nuclear%2520war&source=gmail&ust=1705551600441000&usg=AOvVaw1InYS2GT5nLDOw9INHFj52" href="https://thebulletin.org/2022/10/nowhere-to-hide-how-a-nuclear-war-would-kill-you-and-almost-everyone-else/#:~:text=Using%20a%20radiative%2Dconvective%20climate,weapons%20after%20a%20nuclear%20war" jslog="32272; 1:WyIjdGhyZWFkLWE6cjYxOTY2ODcwODA3NjgzNDE5MjJ8bXNnLWE6cjE5Nzk2MTM4Nzc2MjU5MTgwMzYiXQ..; 4:WyIjbXNnLWE6cjE5Nzk2MTM4Nzc2MjU5MTgwMzYiXQ.." style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;" target="_blank">https://thebulletin.org/2022/<wbr></wbr>10/nowhere-to-hide-how-a-<wbr></wbr>nuclear-war-would-kill-you-<wbr></wbr>and-almost-everyone-else/#:~:<wbr></wbr>text=Using%20a%20radiative%<wbr></wbr>2Dconvective%20climate,<wbr></wbr>weapons%20after%20a%20nuclear%<wbr></wbr>20war</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Leaders such as Obama, Trump, and Biden (all of whom are responsible for our tactical nuke weapon arsenal) have displayed a mind-boggling ignorance of nuclear winter. How tragic, and that's just in the USA. I imagine leaders in other nuke weapon countries are just as bad.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">In democratic countries, voters need to wake up and kick such politicians out of office. Nuclear weapons are not necessary to defend a nation, not any nation.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">If green plants and oceanic algae - which are the base of <u>food chai</u></span><span style="font-size: large;"><u>ns</u> AND supply us with <u>oxygen</u> - can't get adequate sunlight for months (perhaps up to a year or two), then such will be an extinction level event for many animals, possibly including humans. In any case, famine would be widespread. If animals are subjected to an atmosphere overburdened with soot and other fine particulates from explosion updraft, populations will crash. Any animal with lungs would be severely impacted. Then, on top of everything above, there's the damage from radioactive fallout. Never mind the impact on fresh water supplies. Ionizing radiation is the ultimate pollution.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">BOTTOM LINE: maintaining nuke weapons not only is the height of ignorance, it's an egregious insult to civil society and a stupidly dangerous risk to all life.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">.............................</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Not only my opinion. Be Well</span></div>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-38145944875978651502024-01-14T10:49:00.000-08:002024-01-14T10:49:46.703-08:00Science does not deal in Absolutes when it comes to the conclusions of research studies<div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-size: medium;">In my education and work, I've been involved in various aspects of science for a bit more than five decades. Over time, it seems more and more people have developed a serious misconception regarding research in almost all fields of science.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span>When it comes to the </span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span><u><b>conclusions</b></u></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span><b> </b></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span>of a study (not the measurements leading up to conclusions), Science and scientists usually deal in </span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span><b>degrees of probability</b></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span>, not certainty. In other words, science is not absolute. Why? There are too many unknown variables to be accounted for in any scientific investigation. Because of that, when new discoveries are made in a particular area of </span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: large; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;">research,
the previous theory is likely to be modified or even discarded.
With new research, past conclusions often change. </span></span></span><span style="font-size: large; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><b>We
should never forget</b></span></span></span><span style="font-size: large; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;">:
for a long time, it was believed to be a "fact" that the
Sun revolved around the Earth. After all, </span></span></span><span style="font-size: large; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><i>anyone
could SEE it happening </i></span></span></span><span style="font-size: large; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;">every
day. "Proof" positive. <i style="font-weight: bold;">:)</i></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><i style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></i></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New discoveries by the super-telescope, the orbiting "James-Webb-Space-Telescope" (JWST, launched in 2021), are debunking our concept of Space-Time. Specifically, Time (as we perceive it) now appears to be nonexistent, an illusion made-up by humans. <br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3D4IS5y5uFQ_c&source=gmail&ust=1705340444075000&usg=AOvVaw1GgL_Ry7EIaKvlzkfjWfXN" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IS5y5uFQ_c" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=4IS5y5uFQ_c</a><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In addition, these new findings question the "fact" of a single Big Bang creating the universe. That "absolute" now is being re-considered in depth. Furthermore, repeated cycles of creation and destruction of the entire universe - in line with Vedic philosophy & the Upanishads - appear to be likely. [Scientists don't mention anything about the Vedas, but that's what they're now considering.] Also, the new info suggests the probability that existence is one big NOW, i.e., the past, present, and future all exist at once.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>This is Science at its best</u> - past "facts" being challenged by new discoveries.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, ancient wisdom may be ahead of modern-day cosmologists. In any case, the new discoveries of the JWST are strongly suggesting that the human concept of TIME is all wrong.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People should not lose belief in Science just because it deals in degrees of probability (regarding conclusions of a study) rather than absolute certainty. Not even scientists are all-knowing. A number of theoretical physicists have stated: humans barely have scratched only the surface of Reality. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">................</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not only my opinion. Be Well</div></span></span></div>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-47871120953053973382024-01-10T18:17:00.000-08:002024-01-10T18:17:02.453-08:00Nicotine, Mitochondria, Vitamin C, Ketones, Dementia, Parkinsonism, Human Biology, & a Long Life<p><span style="font-size: medium;">A change of pace---</span> </p><p><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DZ9XyQrNG7Lc&source=gmail&ust=1705017391124000&usg=AOvVaw3u9a9Ds5iGH59cI7G7pv2K" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9XyQrNG7Lc" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=Z9XyQrNG7Lc</a></p><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>This is not </b>to promote smoking, but rather to show things are not always as they seem to be. That's especially true when "things" are coming from The Establishment. <img alt="😏" aria-label="😏" class="an1" data-emoji="😏" loading="lazy" src="https://fonts.gstatic.com/s/e/notoemoji/15.0/1f60f/72.png" style="height: 1.2em; vertical-align: middle; width: 1.2em;" /> </div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">NOTE: you won't miss much by skipping the 1st 2 minutes. Then watch <u>at least</u> the next 10 minutes or so. Guaranteed: you'll learn stuff you would never have guessed. Enjoy.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: medium;">p.s. For those who may not know (or have forgotten): mitochondria are tiny, sausage-shaped organelles in your body cells which provide you with energy (primarily from glucose & fat). <span style="color: #202124; font-family: "Google Sans", Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><u>Each cell </u>has </span><span style="background-color: rgba(80, 151, 255, 0.18); color: #040c28; font-family: "Google Sans", Roboto, arial, sans-serif;">between 100,000 and 600,000</span><span style="color: #202124; font-family: "Google Sans", Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"> mitochondria! Oh Lawdy Momma <img alt="☺️" aria-label="☺️" class="an1" data-emoji="☺️" loading="lazy" src="https://fonts.gstatic.com/s/e/notoemoji/15.0/263a_fe0f/72.png" style="height: 1.2em; vertical-align: middle; width: 1.2em;" /> (from the song, "Crocodile Rock")</span></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: "Google Sans", Roboto, arial, sans-serif;">.........................</span></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Google Sans, Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Be Well</span></div>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-61158697113551008212024-01-04T18:33:00.000-08:002024-01-04T18:42:20.817-08:00Your kitchen stove/range, natural gas & propane, asthma in children, and BENZENE<p><span style="font-size: medium;">From Stanford University---</span> </p><p><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3D_1Xk_q7qxv4%26t%3D2s&source=gmail&ust=1704487034363000&usg=AOvVaw0vnEeoEyRmvxsDd3RVPpq4" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1Xk_q7qxv4&t=2s" jslog="32272; 1:WyIjdGhyZWFkLWE6cjUwNDQ5OTgzMDMyMzMwNDEyNzZ8bXNnLWE6ci0xNTQ3NzY4NTgyNDI5NTQ1OTA1Il0.; 4:WyIjbXNnLWE6ci0xNTQ3NzY4NTgyNDI5NTQ1OTA1Il0." style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=_1Xk_q7qxv4&t=2s</a></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The clip is only a bit over ONE MINUTE long.</span></p><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://news.stanford.edu/2023/06/16/cooking-gas-stoves-emits-benzene-2/&source=gmail&ust=1704487034363000&usg=AOvVaw1LfnAwh1PnKfcKgygGuLID" href="https://news.stanford.edu/2023/06/16/cooking-gas-stoves-emits-benzene-2/" jslog="32272; 1:WyIjdGhyZWFkLWE6cjUwNDQ5OTgzMDMyMzMwNDEyNzZ8bXNnLWE6ci0xNTQ3NzY4NTgyNDI5NTQ1OTA1Il0.; 4:WyIjbXNnLWE6ci0xNTQ3NzY4NTgyNDI5NTQ1OTA1Il0." style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://news.stanford.edu/<wbr></wbr>2023/06/16/cooking-gas-stoves-<wbr></wbr>emits-benzene-2/</a></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><u>The Bad News</u></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Scientific studies by Stanford scientists have concluded:</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">a) gas kitchen stoves emit concerning levels of benzene (a known carcinogen);</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">b) children in homes using gas stoves have a 42% higher chance of developing asthma than kids in homes without such stoves;</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span><span><span>c) gas stoves emit other pollutants as well, such as nitrogen <span> </span>dioxide (which causes respiratory problems) and methane (natural gas); and,</span></span></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">d) the stove hood fan does little to lower benzene levels.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span><span><span><span>[Other studies have shown that gas stoves emit formaldehyde and </span></span></span></span>carbon monoxide as well.]</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span><span><span><u>The Good News</u></span></span></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span><span><span><u><br /></u></span></span></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span><span><span>There's not a lot: </span></span></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span><span><span><span>a) </span>a well-ventilated home can significantly reduce benzene <span> </span>concentrations; and,</span></span></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">b) benzene levels will be lower if you never run the stovetop burners on "High".</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span><span><span><span>It would appear that natural gas is not as "clean" as the petrochemical industry has been saying for years and years. Or perhaps they meant in comparison to coal, which isn't a very high bar, eh?</span></span></span></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span><span><span><span>......................</span></span></span></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span><span><span><span>Not only my opinion. Be Well</span></span></span></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span><span><span><span>p.s. Please excuse the spacing problems in this piece. Tried to correct them, but faulty algorithms prevented me from doing so. [High Tech has more faulty algorithms than the amount of "Carter's Little Liver Pills" decades ago. And the Techies want us to trust them with so-called "A. I.":]</span></span></span></span></div>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-17730568832916829352024-01-01T23:39:00.000-08:002024-01-02T02:00:29.035-08:00Humans, all other life on Earth, technology, and the future<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> As we begin a new year, consider a physicist's view of what our economic superorganism is doing to our quality of life. The ecologist, Nate Hagens, interviews Thomas Murphy. </span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">I especially enjoyed his unique method of putting human history into perspective, </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">which is covered in the first 6 minutes</b><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">. Don't miss it; at least watch that. [You can spare 6 minutes:]</span></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3Df6yFrh1X6DI&source=gmail&ust=1704241608010000&usg=AOvVaw2-ucO8NRx-CQ3JwaviuNLm" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6yFrh1X6DI" jslog="32272; 1:WyIjdGhyZWFkLWE6ci0xMDg2OTcwOTgxNzI4NDc4MTYzfG1zZy1hOnItNTM4MTcxMDkzMDQxNDc5NDQzNSJd; 4:WyIjbXNnLWE6ci01MzgxNzEwOTMwNDE0Nzk0NDM1Il0." style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=f6yFrh1X6DI</a></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You may have to adjust it back to the beginning.</span> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In terms of the geological time frame on Earth, we "modern" humans (</span><i style="font-size: large;">Homo sapiens</i><span style="font-size: large;">)</span><i style="font-size: large;"> </i><span style="font-size: large;">haven't been in existence for very long - about 200,000 years or so. Our ancestors started about 2</span><b style="font-size: large;">.</b><span style="font-size: large;">5 million years ago. In a recent essay - <i>The Simple Story of Civilization </i>- Prof. Murphy compressed our</span><span style="font-size: large;"> full time </span><span style="font-size: large;">(ancestors + "modern")</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">on this planet into a 75-year span. Using that time frame for our total existence, he calculated the following:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">a) a mere five years ago, <i>Homo sapiens </i>appeared;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">b) only fifteen weeks ago, agriculture (and "civilization") began - that's about 10,000+/- years ago in the geologic time frame;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">c) barely <b>four days ago</b>, the Age of Science began - about 400 years ago in geologic time;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">d) only <b>a day and a half ago</b>, the Age of Fossil Energy started - around 150 years ago in normal geologic time;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">e) finally, just <b>twelve hours ago</b>, global and rapid eco-devastation began - that's about 50 years ago in normal time. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">The petrochemical industry is largely responsible for e) above.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">According to Dr. Murphy, several important points arise from the scenario just described.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1) Prior to the advent of agriculture and settlements/towns/cities (civilization), we lived more or less in harmony with Nature.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">2) For thousands of years after the emergence of civilization, we still had some degree of harmony with our habitat.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">3) Nevertheless, the arrival of civilization started a path of accumulation of possessions, development of hierarchies in the extreme, and efforts to <b>control Nature</b>.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">4) Then, only 150 years ago, we harnessed a Master resource - relatively cheap, abundant, and easily transportable fossil energy -and we basically went berserk on overconsumption and increased attempts to control Nature.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">5) Little thought was given to unintended consequences.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">6) Our current civilization was not designed to be sustainable. For one thing, the economic system the Powers-That-Be worship is constantly and infinitely craving more energy, and more production, and more consumption. More, more, and more into infinity. It's not sustainable ecologically, thermodynamically, financially, or socially.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">7) Plus, we've "doubled-down" on efforts to control Nature, something which never will be fully attained. Meanwhile, we're damaging/destroying the basis of our biophysical existence. Such a system is destined to fail, and we're getting close to that point.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">8) Because the system (a Superorganism) is so large, and essentially uncontrolled, <b>the failure will be monumental</b>.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Prof. Murphy's BOTTOM LINE is this:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Our current path clearly is not sustainable. The spurt of growth and expansion we've seen in the last 150 years is not the norm in human history, is temporary, and is unsustainable to the max. Future choices must ALL be predicated on (paraphrased) sustainability principles which conserve and protect the ecosphere. In short, he's saying something I've echoed a number of times: <b>everything must change</b> if we are to survive and thrive. Only then will we be able to bequeath a healthy habitat and society to our descendants. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">How to bring about necessary changes is an open question. A good start would be to ignore Corporatocracy propaganda, shun dogma, open our minds, be more cooperative with others, live with intention, and increase our thinking out-of-the-box. Many people and nonprofit groups are doing such, and even a few parts of some governments are doing so. Best choices for moving forward are emerging, and should be supported. Make time for that.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">..........................</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Not only my opinion. Take Care, Be Aware, and Find Peace of Mind</span></div>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-40710793359719886372023-12-26T11:32:00.000-08:002023-12-26T11:32:11.060-08:00Approaching the Net Energy Cliff<p> <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://steadystate.org/approaching-the-energy-cliff/%23comments&source=gmail&ust=1703701593285000&usg=AOvVaw0-IKSV5YgNdR04B5H2Jp0j" href="https://steadystate.org/approaching-the-energy-cliff/#comments" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;" target="_blank">https://steadystate.org/<wbr></wbr>approaching-the-energy-cliff/#<wbr></wbr>comments</a></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">It's difficult to see how any objective person can deny it, but apparently (from what I've read and watched), many do. Combine what's at the link above with the narrative at the link below, and any denial becomes nonsensical.</span></p><p><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DO0pt3ioQuNc%26list%3DWL%26index%3D70%26t%3D11s&source=gmail&ust=1703703068301000&usg=AOvVaw0_3M4ApeaEwZTcQkKQ3x1g" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0pt3ioQuNc&list=WL&index=70&t=11s" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=O0pt3ioQuNc&list=WL&index=<wbr></wbr>70&t=11s</a></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When reality says there's a high probability troubles are coming soon, it's best to plan for them instead of burying our heads in the sand or relying on a vague notion of "human ingenuity" (and the Market) to somehow see us through.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">..................</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Not only my opinion. Be Well</span></div>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-9424311223304488302023-12-19T19:43:00.000-08:002023-12-19T19:43:43.504-08:00Wildfires, the micronutrient chromium-3, the highly toxic chromium-6, & Climate Change<div style="text-align: left;"> <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://news.stanford.edu/2023/12/12/wildfires-leave-trail-toxic-metal-soil/&source=gmail&ust=1703126516630000&usg=AOvVaw12MD5awn2HPvRWdQaz_pHb" href="https://news.stanford.edu/2023/12/12/wildfires-leave-trail-toxic-metal-soil/" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;" target="_blank">https://news.stanford.edu/<wbr></wbr>2023/12/12/wildfires-leave-<wbr></wbr>trail-toxic-metal-soil/</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Our bodies contain various metals, e.g. zinc, which are necessary for proper nutrition. Another of those metals is <u>chromium-3</u> (Cr-3), which helps in metabolizing glucose, the "fuel" of living things. Chromium-3 is commonly found in soils in the western USA, Australia, Europe, and several other countries.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There's another form of chromium which is <i>highly toxic</i>, <u>chromium-6</u> (Cr-6). Research has shown that wildfires can convert Cr-3 into Cr-6. The toxic metal then is updrafted into the atmosphere and carried various distances. Read the short Stanford news article found at the link above for more information.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">By now, most people are aware that wildfires are exacerbated by the ongoing changes in climate. </span><span style="font-size: large;">All the above gives humans one more reason to mitigate climate disruption ASAP. We aren't doing nearly enough, or fast enough.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">................</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Not only my opinion. Be Well</span></div>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3548216176174392991.post-65226846098918907502023-12-15T20:04:00.000-08:002023-12-15T20:20:38.740-08:00WOW, "Beyond Growth": Jason Hickel on Capital, GDP, the Global North, EU's Green Deal, Economics+<div style="text-align: left;"> <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DxszUWnSEJig%26t%3D100s&source=gmail&ust=1702776781489000&usg=AOvVaw2YyNSg6WdL-PbHmU9zNDXw" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xszUWnSEJig&t=100s" jslog="32272; 1:WyIjdGhyZWFkLWE6cjg3NzQ1OTU5NDA3NTY5MTY2ODd8bXNnLWE6cjM0NzM0OTMyNzA3MjgzMzQ5NTAiXQ..; 4:WyIjbXNnLWE6cjM0NzM0OTMyNzA3MjgzMzQ5NTAiXQ.." style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=xszUWnSEJig&t=100s</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">[You may have to adjust it back to the beginning.]</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Prof. Jason Hickel is a comprehensive, holistic thinker who grasps the value and complexity of the systems approach to problem-solving. In this short talk (introductory remarks to a "Beyond Growth" Conference in Europe), he wows and inspires the audience with a concise no-holds-barred view of the human predicament and the best choices for moving forward.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As Hickel verbally unpacks multiple crucial issues in his rapid-fire delivery, I'm again reminded of how Europe (in general) is light-years ahead of the USA when it comes to sustainability considerations. Here in my country (which I love & never would leave), it often seems as though the overwhelming majority of adults are mired in the dogma of infinite economic growth. It's sacrosanct. It's a given, never to be questioned. It's a secular religion. Such must change if our species is to survive and thrive.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">On the bright side, I'm encouraged by the interest developing online in the ideas of not only Hickel, but also William E. Rees, Nate Hagens, Simon Michaux, Brian Czech, Vandana Shiva, Peter Kalmus, Joseph Tainter, Steve Keen, Giorgos Kallis, Dennis Meadows, Josh Farley, Patrick Ophuls, and many other natural and/or social scientists. As more people become aware of planetary boundaries and biophysical issues, the better our chances of successfully navigating through the current, multi-pronged Crisis.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">.......................</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Not only my opinion. Take Care</span></div>Scott Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822015880980374198noreply@blogger.com0