Wars, Governance, Complexity, the Astonishing Decline of USA's Diplomacy, and More

 The ecologist, Nate Hagens, interviews Chuck Watson, an expert with decades of experience in the geopolitics of the Middle East, the USA, and Russia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMVe4nxvQ6U

AT LEAST watch the first 20 minutes or so of this penetrating piece.

In our evolutionary history, we humans have moved further and further away from the reality of Nature.  Instead of Nature, we've used social constructs to make up our own reality.  Mistakenly, it seems most humans now believe the constructs of economics, politics, formal religion, and various other ideologies have placed us in a position superior to and separate from Nature.  That's a false belief, and destructive to our habitat.

Such a view can cause, and is causing, catastrophic consequences.  For example, many governments now appear to believe planetary biophysical limits can be ignored.  As a result of such a belief, natural resources - essential to life - are being depleted or damaged or destroyed at astronomical rates.  One result of that is:  governments are going to WAR over land, water, minerals, fertile soil, natural gas deposits, oil, and the like.  

[See the last online link in the post immediately prior to this piece.  Also see:  https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/6/21/palestines-forgotten-oil-and-gas-resources ]

Nothing can excuse the brutal murder of civilians by Hamas; however, the context of Israel essentially strangling Gaza and the West Bank Palestinians for decades should not be ignored.  It isn't only about religion.  Immediately adjacent to Israel, sitting underneath the surface of Palestinian land are deposits of oil and natural gas.  Israel needs such for economic growth.  Like most countries, it believes in infinite economic growth on a finite planet.

Are our made-up constructs necessary?  Yes, that's a given.  But they must be implemented with care and comprehensive thinking, and if we desire to thrive as a species, they must not ignore the Laws of Nature.  In modern times, our social constructs have made our lives more and more complex.  In fact, the complexity now is so enormous it's beginning to look as though our governments are on the brink of not being able to cope with the situation.  Underneath it all is the monstrous mistake we made after our discovery and development of a bonanza - fossil energy.  Instead of thinking comprehensively and sustainably, we went on a 150-year energy binge.  We're still on it.

That binge brought about (and it's ongoing) an exponential increase in the complexity of society in general.  Complexity doesn't have to be harmful.  An ecosystem is orders of magnitude more complex than any machine ever built by humans.  What can be harmful is having the Powers-That-Be (both public and private) analyzing and dealing with complexity using only linear thinking and a reductionist method of analysis.  A nonlinear, holistic approach needs to be in the mix.  Reductionism can be useful in certain circumstances, but holism (or systems thinking) is required for successfully navigating through complexity.  Very few political Leaders of today appear to have any clue whatsoever of holistic thinking.  If they had such a clue, perhaps we wouldn't be entering an era of natural resource scarcity; and maybe there would be a lot fewer wars, especially during troubling environmental catastrophes.  Perhaps differences among us would no longer impede peaceful cooperation.

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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

Censorship on the political Right and the political Left equals INTOLERANCE on both sides

 Some on the Right ban books (really? - in this day & age?!), and those books are not breaking the Law.  They don't contain libel, or promote something illegal such as child pornography or insurrection.  Writing about gender issues or systemic racism is not against the Law.  Neither is writing about socialism.  All this is not rocket science; it's simply common sense, right?

Some on the Left engage in cancel culture and beyond-the-pale political correctness.  They try to shame people and/or cause speaking events to be cancelled.  The targets of their "holier-than-thou" onslaught have not broken any laws.  Instead, they have views different from those on the Left.  Now, obviously, if a speaker is advocating insurrection, or some other illegal action, then of course the event should be shut down.  Threatening anyone with bodily harm (even if it's not related to insurrection) is a form of assault, and is against the Law.  Having different views is not.

Here's a clip for all the holier-than-thou True Believers on the Right and the Left---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDTi2eMW26U

WARNING:  for people who, for whatever reason, are psychologically fragile when it comes to coarse language (so-called "cussing"), be aware that such is contained in this less-than-eight-minute clip.

I imagine the practitioners of intolerance think they have really good reasons for their actions, or even believe it's not intolerance at all.  But here's the thing:  if the target of your action is not breaking the Law, then your activity regarding the person(s) demonstrates your intolerance of their freedom.  For some odd reason, you believe they should act as you act, think as you think, believe as you believe.  Even if they aren't breaking the Law, you can't tolerate whatever they're doing because their view of something doesn't fit in with yours.  So, come hell or high water, you're going to see their book banned, or their speech cancelled, or the like.  Apparently, you're the self-appointed guardian of society.

I realize some of this banning of books, for example, revolves around the concept of "protecting children" in school.  As a former teacher, I agree some books may not be appropriate for children of a certain age.  That doesn't mean those books must be banned for all children of all ages.  It also doesn't mean historical TRUTH should kept from children.  Pretending racism doesn't exist, or gender issues are not real, or democratic socialism is evil, etc. are all examples of little else but IGNORANCE.  Indoctrinating children into such beliefs, and/or preventing them from learning the truth is wrong, and harmful to their social development.

As to cancelling speeches by means of disruption or other methods, that also is as wrong as wrong can be.  Boycotting a speech is okay, of course, but preventing others from even hearing views which don't agree with yours is an insult to freedom.  There are lots of opinions in the world, not only yours.  Allow people to hear all sides, not just your holier-than-thou view.

As I navigate through old age, I continue to wonder if members of our species ever are going to "live and let live".  I've wondered about such for decades.  Will cooperation among us ever exceed competition?  Must we all too often try and cram our particular beliefs down someone else's throat?  Some cooperation is going on in the world, but not anywhere near the scale required if we are to survive (and thrive beyond) the current socio-eco-econ-ethical Crisis.  Intolerance certainly is not helping.  It often leads to hatred, and then violence.

In our evolutionary history, despite violence and the dark side of innate tribalism, we managed to thrive due to our intelligence and cooperative leanings.  Other species had more physical prowess and were more efficient predators, plus they were better adapted to survive the Ice Age; but we exhibited more group cooperation than most of the others.  That's required now more than ever before.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

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

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

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