Ten reasons why it's time for President Biden to gracefully retire

1.  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 criminal.  Yet, you keep sending weapons and ammo to Israel, thus supporting the response which you say is too much, "over the top".  Hello!
2.   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.  Those victims are not collateral damage.  It was known 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.
3.  According to Oil Change International,  twenty countries (including the USA) are planning to expand oil production for twenty-six more years.   https://priceofoil.org/content/uploads/2023/09/OCI-Planet-Wreckers-Report.pdf
4.  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.
5.  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 you are complicit in war crimes.  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.
6.  Yes, you're better than Trump as a Leader, but not better than so many other potential candidates.  Trump is so unAmerican and has such a cult mentality, but still 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 changing the subject whenever he's caught in a lie or otherwise backed into a corner.  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. 
7.  Unlike a few politicians, you don't seem to understand ecological overshoot at all.  Plus, you don't appear to grasp any ecological principles (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.
8.  Like Obama and Trump, you're updating our nuclear weapons arsenal 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.
9.  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.

 10.  Your outmoded foreign policy is a disaster.  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 Democracy Now for details.

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.  

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Approaching the Net Energy Cliff

 https://steadystate.org/approaching-the-energy-cliff/#comments

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0pt3ioQuNc&list=WL&index=70&t=11s

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.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

"Unseen Costs of Net Zero", Simon Michaux

To be clear:  YES, we do need to GO GREEN.  The Establishment and much of Main Street, however, apparently are not aware of exactly what it will take to do so.  They also seem to be unaware of the scale needed for such a transformation, and of the entire mining-minerals-metals situation.

The current thinking of most people who support a transition to Green energy appears to be as follows.  Here's what we'll do:

a)  get off petroleum and all its products;

b)  build a large number of Green energy gizmos;

c)  electrify all transport vehicles (personal and commercial);

d)  scale up nuclear energy, if necessary;

e)  recycle and reuse materials;

f)   increase energy efficiency;

g)  use carbon offsets and cap & trade to balance things out; and

h)  with all the above in place, we can continue the pursuit of infinite economic and population growth on our finite planet.

Sounds great, eh?!

But there's a massive problem (which The Establishment doesn't want to acknowledge), and here it is---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGvTbB38bwA&list=WL&index=68

Infinite growth is not necessary for humans to thrive, and for the sake of all life on Earth, it must cease.  Do a Search for "CASSE top 10 policies for a steady state economy".  Read anything by Herman Daly.  Neoliberal/neoclassical economics is not sacrosanct.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

"The System" is a Superorganism, & it craves GROWTH at any cost

  "The System" is a Superorganism which started about 10,000 yrs ago with the advent of the raising of annual grains which could be stored.  Ag surplus made division of labor possible, and that yielded hierarchy and inequality.  No conspiracy, just social evolution.  The System kept growing and expanding until eventually it was a runaway machine...with no one at the helm.  Exactly what we have today.  And it just keeps expanding.  It ignores biophysical limits, which means it's bound to collapse.  The only thing in question is "when".

Constant "Growth" requires ever more fossil ENERGY.  The problem is:  "easy energy" (cheap in cost and easily extractable from the ecosphere) - for all practical purposes - is gone.  Never mind (not really) the environmental damage caused by fossil energy; soon the "Energy Return on Investment" (EROI) will discourage investors.  Plus, compounding the problem, manufacturing renewable energy at the required scale requires:  (1) massive amounts of new mining and refining of dozens of metals and other minerals, many of which also are no longer "easy"; and (2) a huge expansion of power transmission lines, the "energy grid".  Both (1) & (2) require significant amounts of time and investment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=undp6sgCIX4

Growth requires more energy, and more of that enables our society to become more complex, and then more complexity requires even more energy.  Establishment thinkers believe such a situation can continue without restraint.  Infinite Growth.  They appear to think Technology and increasing efficiency will allow such to continue.  The Laws of Nature (especially in Physics and Ecology) say otherwise.  We must convert from high-energy use to low-energy use if we are to survive and thrive.

BOTTOM LINE---  Growth of "The System" needs to be not only reduced, but also eventually eliminated.  We humans have used more energy in the last thirty years than in the prior 150 years, and demand for energy still is increasing.  Such a scenario simply is not sustainable.

RELATED NOTE---  Growth also can be one of several causes of war:  https://steadystate.org/the-crisis-in-the-middle-east-is-a-crisis-of-growth/?blm_aid=122634 

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Planetary Boundaries, Holocene Epoch, 1.5 Degrees Celsius, Carbon Pulse, Ecosphere, and Energy Transition

Johan Rockstrom is a brilliant PhD ecologist who, along with his colleagues, has spent fifteen years developing the concept of  "planetary boundaries".  There are nine of these boundaries, and they delineate the safe space on Earth which enables modern-day humans to live and thrive.  We have overshot six of those nine boundaries.

 https://www.youtube.com/watchv=k0aYeQrLEn0&list=WL&index=67

In the short video at the link above, Dr. Rockstrom shows what has transpired since we left the last Ice Age about 12,000 years ago.  That was the beginning of the current geologic time period, the Holocene Epoch.  All of recorded human history has been in the Holocene.  As a distinct species, we've been on Earth approximately 200,000 years; but until about 10,000 years ago, we were strictly hunter-gatherers.  That all changed with the advent of annual grain agriculture.  With the ability to store surplus grain, we could labor at tasks other than hunting and gathering food.  Eventually, division of labor led to the Industrial Revolution.

The next monumental change was the discovery and development of fossil energy.  The harnessing of the "carbon pulse" has led to great advancement, and great disaster.  Thus we have the predicament of today:  ecological overshoot by humans.

In the clip above, Rockstrom ties all the elements in my title of this post together in a clear and concise manner.  He masterfully explains what's going on re the Crisis, what needs to be done, and why the Powers-That-Be are on the wrong track when it comes to solutions.  This subject is complicated, and you may have to watch the video twice to fully grasp its significance.  Or, maybe only once.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Here are the cruxes of our current situation

If the many expert PhD ecologists (whose work I've been following for five-plus years) are correct about what's coming fairly soon, then aggregate humanity is in for some extremely troubling times.

People have to be aware of a problem before they undertake mitigation of it.  I sincerely doubt that (as only a few examples) most American adults are aware of the following:

1.  large scale investment in renewable energy is declining when it should be increasing; and,

2.  fossil fuels are necessary (for now & the immediate future, at least) to build renewable energy gizmos and infrastructure; and,

3.  going Green and still pursuing infinite economic growth is an oxymoron; and,

4.  because of the amounts of refined metals (copper, boron, iron, nickel, manganese, chromium, zinc, silver, molybdenum, and about 50-60 others) and rare earth elements necessary for production of renewable energy, and the time required to mine & refine those minerals, it's extremely likely there's no way we can avoid major catastrophes (worse than those recently) within the next 10 or so years...even if we NOW would go full steam ahead with production of renewables...& we're not even doing that.

[Note:  over 90 of the 118 chemical elements on the Periodic Table are metals.  High Tech gizmos require 30-70 of them in each manufactured unit.]

POINT BEING:  I'm convinced that an overwhelming majority of Americans - including a majority of those on the political Left - are not aware of (or don't believe) most of the content in 1-4 above.  Thus, they don't believe MAJOR catastrophes (worse than those of today) are coming relatively soon, no matter what we do or don't do.  More importantly, I'm convinced a majority believe we can go back to "normal" (excessive consumerism, overconsumption, living high on the hog) if we just Go Green.  They seem to believe: things will be fine if we just use renewable energy and recycle & re-use materials; industrial farming can continue to expand; commercial & industrial land development can continue to expand; fresh water availability is not a problem; soil degradation is not a problem; etc.  I'm also convinced a majority of people believe we have until 2040 or 2050 to "solve the problem", and so, no worries - the Powers-That-Be are handling it.  Sorry, none of that is true.

But all the above doesn't mean there's no hope.  Science apparently can't do it, but those coming catastrophes finally will wake up people to the fact that we as aggregate humans must undergo a paradigm shift in lifestyle, ethics, & worldview.  Only then will people, in earnest, adopt the choices found in Chapter 11 of my 1st book (or wherever else they find them)...and hundreds more found all over the internet - methods to heal the ecosphere, live sustainably as a species, and pass on a healthy habitat to future generations.  That can happen, but first we'll be going through incredibly troubling times.  There's no way to avoid them.  Prepare your mind.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

 

Why investment in renewable energy (at scale) is stagnating...

 and why the transition away from fossil fuels is too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gSzzuY1Yw0&list=WL&index=69

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-585aVUNz68&list=WL&index=68

Both clips above seem to reinforce my hypothesis expressed here:

https://individualsovereignty.blogspot.com/2022/08/hypothesis-its-likely-powers-that-be.html

As the erudite political scientist and human ecologist Dr. Patrick Ophuls states:  "Electrifying the Titanic" (one of his book titles) is a good thing, but it won't suffice.  We also have to convert from a high-energy society to a low-energy society.  High energy use requires natural resource abundance (ecological abundance), but we're at the beginning of natural resource scarcity.  We've already picked the low-hanging fruit (so to speak); what's left is getting too expensive to extract from the ecosphere.  We're talking about dozens of metals and several rare earth elements.  Never mind water and petroleum.  All are necessary for the production of high tech renewable energy gizmos.  We must transition to renewables, but we also have to change our lifestyle and worldview.  Scientific studies and common sense make that crystal clear.

In short, we have to phase out of exponential, perpetual economic growth and overconsumption if we are to survive and thrive.  Not converting to a low-energy society will result in a much worse Crisis (both eco and econ) than what we're in today.  The scale of it will be unprecedented in human history.

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Not only my opinion.  Take Care

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

With a minor edit, my latest email is below.

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

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

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

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

http://individualsovereignty.blogspot.com/ 

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

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well