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

U. S. Government's Lip Service to Climate Mitigation, and Planet Wreckers Report REDUX

 https://www.democracynow.org/2023/12/1/headlines/biden_to_eschew_cop28_as_us_opens_another_oil_and_gas_leasing_auction

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the Biden Administration's actions re a new round of oil and gas leasing auctions could potentially "erase" any climate gains in the Inflation Reduction Act.  The USA is now the world's largest oil producer, and in 2022 66% of our oil came from the fracking of shale.  Often called shale oil, it's also referred to as "tight oil".  As you may know, drilling for it often has resulted in big problems (all of which usually are denied by the industry).

At the global level, we now have twenty countries (including the USA) planning to expand oil production for twenty-six more years. 

https://priceofoil.org/2023/09/12/planet-wreckers-how-20-countries-oil-and-gas-extraction-plans-risk-locking-in-climate-chaos/

In addition, COP 28 (which started today) is being run by the CEO of one of the largest oil producers in the world.  Do you think there's any conflict of interest in such a scenario?  Seems likely, eh?

As pointed out previously on this Blog, we do need to use fossil fuels in the immediate future in order to construct and distribute massive numbers of Green energy gizmos and new electrical power lines.  I don't know for how long, but surely not twenty-six more years.

Is it not yet clear that the Establishment is on the wrong path?  And not yet clear that voters keep electing politicians to high office who favor consumerism over ecological principles?  If this whole business weren't so tragic, it would be laughable.

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Not only my opinion.  Take Care

Dr. Vandana Shiva: Tech Destruction of Agriculture & Natural Ecosystems vs. Agroecology

 Here's a genuine defender of Earth---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frAjk-oiEeo (8 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwxOxQ1AOEg (28 minutes)

The second video is more wide-ranging, and includes topics such as:   "the Poison Cartel", why "310,000 [East] Indian farmers committed suicide", the egregious problems caused by Monsanto (continuing by Bayer, who bought Monsanto) and BILL GATES and OBAMA, the "war on cash", the IT industry, Davos, GMO plants, seed and water democracy, the Rights of Nature, "Oneness vs. the 1%", and more.

The first video is titled, "The Violence of the [Agricultural] Green Revolution" (whoever posted it gave it a different title on YouTube, so don't think you're at the wrong link when you first get there).  Over the years, we've mostly heard from the Establishment only the plus side of the "Green Revolution" of the 1960's and 1970's.  Nary a word (usually) about how that scenario ruined soil, plants, biodiversity, the nitrogen cycle, farming, water conservation, and more.  This short video corrects that situation.

Both videos discuss the tragedy/bane of industrial agriculture, aka, factory farming.  Such a practice negatively affects much more than farmland.  It impacts all ecosystems, Earth in general, human health, climate, biodiversity, and our social fabric.

Vandana Shiva has three academic Degrees:  the first was in Quantum Physics; the other two were in the Philosophy of Science.  More importantly, she has worked for about 40+ years in the field of ecology, and is recognized as a top-notch agroecologist.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Speaking Truth to Power: Dr. Peter Kalmus

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rJHlFME480

Spend 3.33 minutes and watch Dr. Kalmus speak Truth to Power.  What the Powers-That-Be are doing is "insanity".  [Perhaps it should be characterized as on the brink of insanity, or outrageously ignorant.  Whatever the case, it's extremely harmful to all life on Earth.]

In the USA, the Democrats are almost as bad as the Republicans.  The Dems talk-the-talk better than the Repubs, but rarely do they ever walk-the-walk.  Maybe when the Food Crisis gets worse (probably within ten years) they'll be forced to do so in high gear.

When Dems say they "follow the Science", they mean medical science, not ecology or climatology.  Too bad for us.  When everything continues to get worse, hopefully that will change.

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Not only my opinion.  Take Care

According to you-know-who,

it's all a "Chinese hoax"---

https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/repeat-photo-grinnell-glacier-1910-2007

Never mind the compulsive serial lying, the multiple indictments, the total lack of statesmanship, the whining, the constant divisive rhetoric, the lack of knowledge of almost everything, and more; simply for this item alone he never should be elected again...to any office...anywhere.

p.s.  As you probably know, what you see in the two photos has happened to glaciers all over the world, not just in Montana's Glacier National Park.  Show these photos to anyone you know who is denying that overall the planet Earth is warming.  Then ask them what they believe caused the Grinnell Glacier to lose 213 acres of ice from 1910 to 2007.  [Undoubtedly, it's even more acreage by now.]

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

The PLANET WRECKERS Report, by Oil Change International

 https://priceofoil.org/content/uploads/2023/09/OCI-Planet-Wreckers-Report.pdf

AT LEAST read the "Executive Summary" on pages 4 & 5, and then have a look at "Figure 1" on the bottom half of page 5.  Those two items give pretty much all you need to know.  It's a short read.

[Suggestion:  increase the print size to 125% or 150%.  For those who may not know:  simply click on the "+" sign at the top of the pdf page.]

The USA is "Planet-Wrecker-in Chief", followed by Canada and Russia.  What we're talking about here are plans for NEW oil and natural gas fields from 2023 to 2050.  They are not yet in production, and represent an expansion of fossil energy production.  In addition to the three countries cited above, seventeen others also will be expanding oil and gas production.

I see no evidence anywhere that most politicians are objecting to these expansion plans.  I suspect they never will unless there's a massive outcry from Main Street.  What would it take?  Ten million emails to political representatives?  Honestly, I don't know.

Some nonprofit organization would have to launch such a campaign, and relatively soon.  I do know what's highly likely (according to thousands of research scientists) if the expansion plans come to fruition:  we'll experience effects of climate chaos orders of magnitude worse than those  of today.

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Not only my opinion.  Take Care

USA to expand FOSSIL energy production for about 26 more years, to 2050

Nineteen other countries are doing the same.  That's according to a Report titled, Planet Wreckers.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/12/us-behind-more-than-a-third-of-global-oil-and-gas-expansion-plans-report-finds

Perhaps this is why major countries have been dragging their feet at all the climate conferences (COPs), eh?  These same countries appear to believe they can stop said production expansion around 2050 or so because they think we'll be at NET ZERO carbon emissions by then.  Really?  Interesting logic.  Net Zero while expanding fossil energy is a complete fantasy.

In a recent previous post here, I've stated in order to generate renewable energy gizmos and infrastructure, we will have to use fossil fuels for the immediate future.  But not for 26 more years.  That's way beyond "immediate future".

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Biden's response to the climate emergency is a tragic joke

 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/27/joe-biden-climate-emergency-peter-kalmus

Follow the science, Mr. President, and that doesn't mean only the medical science.  I'm sure you've heard of physics, climatology, and ecology.  Dr. Kalmus explains what they are telling you in the essay at the link above.  Pay attention!

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Exactly what will it take for...

1.  Biden, DeSantis, Trump and all the other dogmatic, linear-thinking politicians around the globe to recognize we're in a climate emergency?  Biden should be declaring one.

https://www.democracynow.org/2023/7/28/headlines/un_leader_declares_new_era_of_global_boiling_amid_hottest_month_in_human_history

2.  mega companies such as Amazon to realize they need to hire more employees rather than laying off ones they now have on staff? That is to say, IF they really want to have a decent company, then that's what they should do.  Not just more warehouse workers, but more customer service reps as well.  Algorithms rarely can handle customer service adequately.  Of course, such hiring would mean slightly reducing the gazillionaire status of the owners.  Such is not worth consideration by said owners, I guess, eh?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bezos#:~:text=With%20a%20net%20worth%20of,Bloomberg%20Billionaires%20Index%20and%20Forbes.

3.  politicians in countries with nuke weapons to realize how ignorant and/or stupid it is to have such weapons?

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article271584102.html

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-01-22-mn-25349-story.html

https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2022-04/news/biden-policy-allows-first-use-nuclear-weapons

I must confess, I don't know the definitive answers to those questions.  I only can guess.  One such guess:  unprecedented, massive disasters.

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Be Well

Biodiversity----->Healthy Ecosystems----->Healthy Humans

Here's a nontechnical, concise explanation of the importance of biodiversity in maintaining healthy ecosystems, and how those ecosystems provide value to us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCH1Gre3Mg0

The clip is only nine minutes long.

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Biodiversity loss rivals climate disruption as an existential threat to humans for many more reasons than those covered in the piece at the link above.  Am working on a second book, tentatively titled "Biodiversity - the Bedrock of Human Existence".  Have barely started the journal research, but already I can see that biodiversity has deep and crucial connections to soil health, plant and animal health, and ecosystem functioning in general.  Plus, due to critical biogeochemical cycles and biodiversity's part in them, it helps regulate climate.  Everything is interconnected.

Unfortunately, I suspect not nearly enough people on Main Street grasp the significance of declining populations in the wild and ultimately, species extinction.  We're already in dire straits with this situation, and not doing enough to mitigate it.  More on mitigation at a later time.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Start preparing your grandchildren to be subsistence farmers

My latest email (slightly edited) to family and a few friends is titled:  Biden could...but chances are, he won't.  Here's the text---

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 https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/energy-justice/pdfs/Climate-Emergency-Powers-Report.pdf

The above Report was put out earlier this year by the Center for Biological Diversity.  At least read a bit of the Executive Summary, starting on p. 3.  Biden (or any President) already has the emergency powers to mitigate climate disruption, but the probability is high he won't use them.  Here's why---

Joe & most of our politicians adhere to neoliberal economics, & that requires infinite growth or else the system collapses.  Growth of that type requires more & more energy.  In the last 30 years, we humans have used more energy than we did in the previous 5,000 years.  [Best estimate by scientists who study such things.]  Climate mitigation will require a reversal of that trend.  In general, our politicians can't face the music because doing so will risk losing re-election, and re-election is their primary concern.

So, again, start preparing your grandkids to be subsistence farmers.  Why?  Because it is only agricultural surplus which allows us to pursue any other vocation.  The cascading effects of climate disruption + long-term soil degradation & erosion + loss of available fresh water + toxic pollution of plants + global overpopulation + more & more expense to obtain energy + biodiversity loss + other factors sooner or later will sharply reduce ag surplus, & eventually eliminate it.  Once again, each family (or each community) will have to raise its own food.  The worldwide Food Crisis already has started.

Infinite economic & population growth in a finite habitat is not possible.  If we humans stay on such a path, in about 30 more years or so we'll need all the energy available just to extract needed energy from the ecosphere.  And that's at a growth rate of only 2-3% per year, which is what most countries are shooting for.  There are more sensible, sustainable options, but they require a paradigm shift in values & lifestyle.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

With several exceptions, there's not much to celebrate on Earth Day 2022

I remember well Earth Day 1970.  That year I was teaching Earth Science in Klamath Falls, Oregon.  People all around the USA (& probably elsewhere) were joining the Environmental Movement.  The EPA was created.  As well as a number of other environmental laws, the Clean Air Act was passed.  In many regards, it was a time of optimism.  It seemed to be a paradigm shift for the better.

Except for a small number of countries/areas around the world (the USA is NOT in the exceptions), fifty-two years later we have the following:

1)  in general, GDPs continue to expand, and that correlates directly to increasing ecological damage;

2)  men like Putin apparently possess almost zero knowledge of ecological principles (never mind ethics);

3)  like most other countries, the USA has no Fed Dept of Sustainability;

4)  Biden is re-opening drilling for fossil fuels on public land;

5)  cleanup on the most toxic sites in the USA (Superfund sites) practically is at a standstill;

6)  the petrochemical industry is pumping out more single-use plastic items than ever before;

7)  the climate situation continues to deteriorate;

8)  instead of being proactive and thus addressing the ecological causes of pandemics, governments continue to be reactive when fighting disease;

9)  the Powers-That-Be are not adequately addressing biodiversity loss and numerous other eco-problems, most likely because they don't understand such problems are an existential threat to humans; and

10)  there still is no permanent solution to the problem of millions & millions of gallons (or in many cases, pounds of solid material) of nuclear waste, which now is being temporarily stored in every State in the USA.  [Some of it is escaping into the soil, the water, and the atmosphere.  Such waste will remain radioactive for thousands of years.]

Given the above, one wonders if perhaps we should change the scientific name of humans (Homo sapiens) to Homo moronicus.  😕

To all the exceptions I mentioned, keep going with your good work.  It must be discouraging at times, but you can prevail.  Sustainability still has a chance.  KUDOS, and thank you for your efforts.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

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

Latest Additions to the Bibliography for...

 The Beginning of the Path to Human Extinction, and HOW TO GET OFF IT - Notes on a Paradigm Shift.

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These are all excellent---

Barnes, Peter.  2006. Capitalism 3.0: a guide to reclaiming the commons,                  Berrett-Koehler Publishing.  pp. 65-116.

Bontz, Scott (Edited by). Fall, 2021. Land Report – Number 131, The Land                         Institute.  pp. 4-28.

Brown, Charles S. Winter 1995. Anthropocentrism and Ecocentrism: the Quest for         a New Worldview, The Midwest Quarterly, Volume 36, Number 2.

Clayton, P. and W. A. Schwartz. 2019. What is Ecological Civilization? - Crisis, Hope,         and the Future of the Planet, Process Century Press. pp. 53-68, 82-93, 114-                143.

Farrar, John et al. 2003. HOW ROOTS CONTROL THE FLUX OF CARBON TO THE                 RHIZOSPHERE, Ecology , Volume 84, Number 4.

Fioramonti, Lorenzo et al. February 202.   Wellbeing economy: An effective                     paradigm to mainstream post-growth policies?, Ecological Economics,                     Volume 192.

Goudie, Andrew S. 2019. Human Impact on the Natural Environment – Past,                     Present and Future – Eighth Edition, John Wiley & Sons. pp. 267-281,                        341-359.

Kinne, O. 2002. Eco-ethics further developed text: 01.05.2002. EEIU Brochure,                   Inter-Research, Oldendorf/Luhe.

Melgar-Melgar, Rigo E. and Hall, Charles A.S. March 2020. Why ecological economics needs to return to its roots: The biophysical foundation of socio-economic systems, Ecological Economics, Volume 169.

Miller, Todd. et al. October 2021. Global Climate Wall – How the world’s                             wealthiest nations prioritise borders over climate action, Transnational                     Institute, Amsterdam. pp. 1-65.

Ratcliffe, Jennie M. 2021. Nothing Lowly in the Universe, The Crundale Press.                   pp. 157-176, 195-213, 245-275.

Sparenberg, David. 2021. Earth Spirit – Confronting the Crisis – Essays and                         Meditations on Eco-Spirituality, John Hunt Publishing. pp. 9-11, 18-20, 32-35,          83-84.

Werner, Marion. et al. 2022. The Glyphosate Assemblage: Herbicides, Uneven                 Development, and Chemical Geographies of Ubiquity, Annals of the American         Association of Geographers, Volume 112, Number 1, 2022.

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As I finish this draft, there's only one entry ("Melgar-Melgar") which has incorrect indentation after line 1.  Tried to fix it, but wasn't permitted to by whatever this word processing program here is called.  All the other entries are correct, but whether or not that will hold true after I click on "Publish" is anybody's guess.  😊  In any case, I don't have time to undo any damage done by algorithms.

Still hoping to have the book done by the end of this month, but that easily could spill over to sometime in February.

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Be Well

p.s.  Just now looked at a preview of this post.  As I feared, the Tech Whiz Kid algorithms pretty well messed up the biblio format.  C'est la vie, eh?  That's okay, it's readable.