Suggestions for helping to mitigate the socio-eco-econ-ethical Crisis of the Ages

 In the spheres of---

1.  Regenerative Agriculture...

Support and work with The Land Institute.  Here's a letter/email being sent by supporters to legislators in the USA  (modified for something similar to perennial grain, the letter campaign could be done in other countries as well)---

As you consider the appropriations bill to fund the USDA for fiscal year 2024, I want to request that you: appropriate 7 million dollars to the USDA for Kernza research.

The cultivation of Kernza® perennial grain for human-edible grain, livestock forage, and conservation plantings offers the potential to create new income streams for American farmers, diversify cropping systems, sequester carbon, and support healthy ecosystems in rural communities. Kernza is the first commercially viable perennial grain crop in the world. American researchers, millers, bakers, brewers, food companies, and farmers are paving the path for this ecologically-friendly cropping system to become a major food and forage crop. There is a strong and urgent need to support ongoing work now to foster this growing community of stakeholders.

With an appropriation of 7 million dollars to the USDA in fiscal year 2024 for Kernza research, you will directly support government, academic, industry, farmer, business, and non-profit partners who are invested in seeing increases in yield and acres planted for this perennial grain, growth in our nutritional information for producers, and a holistic understanding of the ecosystem service benefits that Kernza can provide.

2.  Fashion...

Boycott so-called "Fast Fashion".  Here's an excerpt from my still-in-progress second book (on sustainability)---

Examples of Activities/Practices/Institutions Lacking Sustainability

The So-Called “Fast Fashion” Industry

This worker and ecology unfriendly industry makes poor quality clothes, produces them at an extremely rapid pace, and sells them at super cheap prices. It appeals primarily to young people (usually between ages 18 and 24), and marketing takes place to a large degree on social media. Buyers don’t expect the clothes to last much longer than about a month or two, or being worn perhaps ten times. Then they wind up in a landfill...tons of them. Buyers don’t mind the short lifespan because they’re pressured on social media to constantly wear something new with a different design.

In general, workers at Fast Fashion factories are treated much like cattle, and are expected to work long hours, sometimes twelve hours per day. This happens in China, where the industry first took root, and in several other Asian countries. Reports by documentary film makers indicate that finished products from these places sometimes are contaminated with lead-based pigments. On social media, buyers are told to wash the clothes before wearing them. Apparently they believe such action totally eliminates the risk from toxic lead. It does not. In addition to long hours, workers also endure low wages, unsafe conditions, and sometimes physical assaults and sexual abuse. The industry is an egregious disaster.

A company by the name of Shein (pronounced she-in), which was founded in China in 2008 under the name ZZKKO by a U.S.-born Chinese American, is now the top dog in the industry. It’s a $100 billion company. All from junk clothes.

The entire Fast Fashion industry should be boycotted/shunned. It’s an insult to civilized society, its factory workers, and Mother Earth. I hope everyone chooses to boycott it.

3.  Other junk products:  get on board with this movement...

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

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

Here are two more things everyone can do to help our journey to sustainability. Whenever possible, BOYCOTT ALL junk.  If that involves a change in lifestyle, so be it. Our biophysical, natural support system cannot take ever-increasing amounts of waste without serious consequences to us and all life. SUPPORT laws and regulations (which are starting to spring forth) that combat planned obsolescence.  See the online article at the link above.  This is a nonpartisan issue through and through, so personal Party politics should not restrain you.

We are in the Crisis of the Ages. I propose the following hypothesis: the Crisis (in general) is manifesting itself as a philosophical battle between Modern-Day Naturalists and Mega Corporate Technocrats. It’s monumental, and it affects every single one of us. The needed solutions to our problems are known. We must choose to implement them, but the ongoing battle seems to be preventing implementation at the required scale.

4.  Economics, ecology, & in general:  join (or at least follow) one or more of these organizations...

Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy

MAHB - Stanford University

 [ Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere]

https://www.icanw.org/ [International Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons, 2017 Nobel Peace Prize winner]

The Land Institute: Natural Systems Agriculture

https://www.arborday.org/

They all are doing significant work for the implementation of sustainability on planet Earth.

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Not only my opinion.  Take Care

This is more or less further confirmation of the hypothesis which states:

 the public and private Powers-That-Be have no intention whatsoever of transitioning fully from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgOEGKDVvsg&list=WL&index=83&t=2182s  [Mining alone will make it unworkable in the needed time frame.]

Title:  "The energy transition delusion:  inescapable mineral realities"

Mark Mills is with the Manhattan Institute and on the faculty at Northwestern U.

https://www.manhattan-institute.org/expert/mark-p-mills

He's a physicist, author, & entrepreneur.

The alternative (not in the video clip above) is to transition away from the paradigm of perpetual, ever-expanding, infinite economic growth on a finite Earth.  https://steadystate.org/  and

https://steadystate.org/discover/definition-of-steady-state-economy/

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Not only my opinion.  Take Care

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

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

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

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

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

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

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

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

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

[Kids sometimes play with fire.]  

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

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

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

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

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Not only my opinion, & Everyone Be Well

Ten Steps for Instituting Corporatism in a Society

This is from the superb documentary, "Requiem for the American Dream", with Noam Chomsky.  Chomsky often is regarded as a socialist, or even (especially by some on the political Right) as a communist; in reality, probably the closest thing to his political beliefs is a specific type of anarchism---anarcho-syndicalism, a type of direct democracy.  In any case, in the film mentioned above he shows in great detail how Corporatism essentially has taken over America, and how both the Right and the Left have been duped.  He refers to the ten points in my title as the "10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth and Power"---

1.  Reduce democracy.
2.  Shape ideology.
3.  Redesign the economy.
4.  Shift the burden.
5.  Attack solidarity.
6.  Run the regulators.
7.  Engineer elections.
8.  Keep the rabble in line.
9.  Manufacture consent.
10.  Marginalize the population.

Rich in detail and historical news clips, the documentary shows how Mega Business has manipulated American society through means such as Propaganda, Financialization, Lobbying, Consumerism, Crony Capitalism, political ideologies, undue influence, etc. to the point where genuine participatory democracy is pretty much long gone.

Apologies for the brevity of this piece, but I don't have the time or energy to adequately detail each of the ten points.  See the film; currently it's on Netflix, and probably found elsewhere online as well.  It shows exactly how a bloodless coup has taken place in the USA.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Two Ways to Fight the Crony Capitalist Corporatocracy

I believe it was the NYT best-selling author, John Perkins, who coined the term "Corporatocracy" some years ago.  [See the book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.]  There's no question that we live in and under the Rule of Corporatism...in government, in international matters, in the Financialization Movement, and even in social matters.  Some people are fighting back...peacefully.

Here are two admittedly small ways---specific methods---to fight the Corporatocracy.  I'm of the philosophy that every little bit eventually helps.

1.  Boycott Apple Computer.  No, not because of the FBI thing...Apple happens to be correct in that case.  Boycott them because that company doesn't make one single product in the USA.  All those manufacturing jobs have been shipped overseas by Apple.  That won't change until we Americans show the company that there's a painful price to pay for such action.

In Apple's defense and in fairness, I must point out that corporations are required by law (thanks a lot Dems & Repubs) to maximize profits for their shareholders.  But here's the thing--- forcing them via boycott to bring manufacturing back here (thus paying higher wages & reducing profits) is far better for them than reducing sales by a significant percentage...or going bankrupt.  Is Apple the only company manufacturing out-of-country?  Of course not.  Let's identify the others and do the same to them.  Politicians aren't doing anything about it; it's up to We the People.

2.  Start raising a significant portion of your own food.  See the "Urban Homestead" documentaries & interviews on YouTube...6,000 pounds of food per year on 1/10th of an acre...the guy is a genius.  So, too, are his family members.  For specific instructions on Container Gardening (Indoor/Deck/Porch/Patio/Balcony Gardening), see my clips on same at youtube.com/user/scotthaley12 .

This is a way to tell Monsanto and other gross companies to go to hell.  Same thing for Mega Corporate Factory Farm Agriculture and Mega Corporate Food Manufacturers.  In conjunction with raising a good portion of your own food, patronize local farms and farmers' markets in your area.  Even in big cities, you should be able to find some sort of Farmers' Market Co-op or the like.  Years ago, there was a Movement whose theme was "Small is Beautiful".  It is.
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This is how you fight Corporatism---through boycotts and one yard/deck/balcony/porch/patio at a time.  It's not flashy, it takes time, and perhaps small sacrifices...but it can be effective if enough people do it.  If we don't restore the dominance of Manufacturing over Financialization in this great Land, the Middle Class will completely disappear and those on the lower rungs of the economic ladder will be forever condemned to poverty.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

The Biggest Foreign Enemy of the USA

This enemy dwarfs all other threats to our beloved country, and for that matter, the world.  Our Neoliberal Elites, both Democrats and Republicans, for the most part coddle this particular enemy.  [I'll illustrate below.]  In terms of a threat, this enemy makes Al Qaida look more akin to the Mafia than anything else.  [You have a better chance of being killed by lightning than by a terrorist; that's according to a statistical study done by someone...the source escapes me at the moment.]  In 2001, this enemy was allowed to join the Elitist, worldwide economic structure known as the WTO.  In the ten years following that event, 57,000 manufacturing facilities disappeared from the USA.  Literally millions of jobs were lost, along with tax revenues supporting a decent level of government services in cities and counties all over our country.

Yes, that's correct...the foreign enemy of which I speak is the totalitarian Gov't of Mainland China.  It's important to note that we're not talking about the Chinese people; they are victims of this most brutal regime.  With the possible exception of North Korea, Mainland China's Gov't is probably the most brutal on Earth.  In addition, because of the policies and actions of that regime, China is the most environmentally degraded country in existence.  Grossly polluted air, water, and soil are common throughout that land.

When Bill Clinton and the Republicans in Congress sold the idea of China being in the WTO to the American people, they claimed that not only would it create jobs in the USA, but that it also would democratize Mainland China.  We have had, and still have, a Trade policy regarding China that isn't only foolish...it's just plain stupid.  If not, then it's nefarious.  It benefits transnational, mega corporations...and no one else.  It fits right in with the dominant political and economic philosophy of Neoliberalism.  [See other posts on this Blog.]  China's fourth largest Trading partner is not a country...it's WalMart.

Mainland China uses weapons of mass job destruction against the USA... in particular, forced labor in many of their factories, child labor, State-subsidized exports, little to no expenditures for the protection of workers, no concern at all for economic "externalities" (such as environmental degradation, the prevention of which costs money), and manipulation of the value of their currency (the Yuan) to their distinct Trade advantage.  The result of all this is a huge China-USA Trade imbalance in favor of a brutal, totalitarian Gov't.  This is so-called "Free Trade" in action.  This is what is being promoted by the Elites in DC.

A number of experts in the documentary, Death by China (narrated by Martin Sheen), state that the best Jobs Program in the USA would be a total revision of our China Trade Policy.  It's common sense.  Our society is being destroyed by the current policy, by "Free Trade" in general, by Neoliberalism, and by both branches (Republican and Democrat) of the Mega Corporation Party...arguably the only major political party in the USA.  Other knowledgeable people in Death by China (which also is in book form) state that a society without a strong manufacturing base cannot sustain a viable Middle Class.  Without that, we're left with only the super-rich and the poor.

Small manufacturers cannot compete with the Big Boys anymore...because the Big Boys have moved out of the country to places where costs have been slashed to the bone.  Elites have made that possible, both Democrat and Republican Elites.  Our China Trade Policy is a perfect example.  We need Fair Trade with China, not "Free Trade".  By the way, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (should it be approved here) will make this whole scenario even worse.  Obama is pushing for the TPP with great enthusiasm...and is putting forth pretty much the same propaganda that Clinton and the Republicans did relative to China entering the WTO.

I know full well that sometimes it's extremely difficult to find a particular consumer good that is not made in China.  Nevertheless, the next time we're thinking about such a purchase, let's consider these facts---
1.  Many children in China work 12-hour days in factories.
2.  Prisoners (political and otherwise) make Chinese goods in various forced labor camps and prison manufacturing facilities.  No labor, no food.
3.  Mainland China now has "cancer villages", in which the soil is heavily contaminated with carcinogenic heavy metals...a result of no concern for "externalities".
4.  The organs of some political prisoners in China (as well as those of criminals) are harvested by Gov't doctors for sale on the Black Market in Shanghai.  There are confirmed reports that in some cases all the prisoner's organs are harvested...and then the body is cremated.
5.  Contaminated pet food from China has killed household pets here in the USA.
6.  Children's toys from China have been found to contain lead and other toxins.
7.  Various baby appliances/furniture from China have been found to be unsafe.
8.  If you attempt to organize workers at your workplace in China, you can be sent to prison.
9.  There are almost zero worker protections in Mainland China.
10.  China has been rapidly building up its military, with high-tech weapons.
11.  The Gov't of Mainland China definitely is not our friend, nor is it the friend of its own people.
12.  Not only are factories and jobs being shifted to China, so too is Research and Development, as well as intellectual property.
13.  Our China Trade Policy is responsible for the loss of millions of US jobs... thank you, DC Propagandists.
14.  The Gov't of Mainland China is a most brutal, totalitarian institution...and its Trade and manufacturing practices are illegal, immoral, and completely unfair.

Despite all the above, we Americans continue to buy goods Made in China.  Perhaps it's time to seriously re-think the matter.  Perhaps it's past time to hold Republican and Democrat policy-makers to account.  Perhaps it's time to boycott certain mega corporations.  [Most of them are headquartered in the USA, and have maybe 25,000 or more management-type employees (e.g., Apple Computer); unfortunately for our economy, though, they have hundreds of thousands of employees overseas.]

Sixty or so years ago, there was a much different Business Culture in this country.  The Elites in Business had concern for not only the present, but the future as well... the future of both the corporation and our society.  In recent times, the only concern appears to be for short-term profits...quarterly, not even yearly.  Many CEOs don't seem to plan to be around in the company for long...they're looking for that Golden Parachute in the short-term.  There appears to be very little concern for the future of either the corporation, its employees, or the American society.  This shabby attitude is masked by almost continuous propaganda of the Neoliberal variety... and we Americans have been, oh, so gullible.  I'm slightly encouraged by the observation that people seem to be awakening a bit from their slumber.

There is a better way, but first we have to stop drinking the Propaganda Kool Aid.

Partly just my opinion.  Be Well