Cowboys in Russia, Food, Water, & Geopolitics

The relatively short clip below (from PBS) should be a wake-up call for The Establishment in the USA and elsewhere.  It details much of the content of a new documentary, titled "The Grab".  The new doc delves into how some world Leaders are scrambling - in the shadows - to secure adequate future food and water resources for their people.  One reviewer called the film "an international thriller".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppwlFwcL4iY&list=WL&index=70

Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, Wall Street Hedge Funds, and others are all involved in land (and water) "grabs", and in a fairly surreptitious manner.  Many of these resource acquisitions are occurring in North America and Africa.  The people doing the "grabbing" recognize that the Meta-Crisis is shrinking the availability of crucial resources, particularly water and food. 

We're not talking only about the Eco-Crisis here and the fact that arable, tillable, productive farmland is shrinking and soil is being degraded worldwide.  [Such is true even in well-off countries.]  In addition, groundwater aquifers on productive land are being depleted at unprecedented rates.  It's also multiple-continent supply chain problems, the worldwide financial fragility, social inequity, energy blindness, geopolitical rivalries, sanctions, war, and more which are creating the Food Crisis and the Water Crisis.

In the USA, much of the time it appears that the Powers-That-Be are mostly unconcerned about these matters.  For example, our elected officials seem to have this view:  The Market will handle any upcoming problems.  Human ingenuity will save the day.  As a result, our country has no national water policy and not even any sort of national water strategy.  China, Russia, and some other countries all do.

Natural resources everywhere are in trouble.  Ideology won't save them from disaster, but Science can.  What stands in the way?  Primarily it's myopic politics and politicians who are not comprehensive thinkers.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

p.s.  Watch the video.  Cowboys in Russia, indeed.

"Rattling The Establishment's Cage: ..."

 For those who may not like (for whatever reason) shopping on Amazon, my latest book is also now available in eBook format here---

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rattling-the-establishments-cage-scott-c-haley/1145990820;jsessionid=1A939C1289BDBED3AEC564DE17317C1F.prodny_store01-atgap03?ean=2940179599685

and here---

https://books.apple.com/us/book/rattling-the-establishment-s-cage-short-essays-notes/id6535647494

It's also on other venues, such as Everand, Kobo, Tolino, Smashwords, and about six others as well.  On Amazon and Barnes & Noble, you're able to read sample pages.  I haven't had time to check on the other sites, so can't say if they have samples or not.

"The Establishment" is probably a permanent fixture in most societies around the world, and has done some good things.  Too often, though, it misleads or outright lies to us regarding significant issues.  These are things of which we need to be aware if we are to have sustainable and meaningful lives.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Informed, & Happy Trails

p.s.  The cover image below is one of my Abstract Expressionist paintings.

Memo to both Main St. & Land Use Planners: this positive, global change is highly likely to occur within 10 years

 Background Info (detailed in several places elsewhere on this blog)

1.  Factory farming of crops and livestock is damaging soil, depleting water supplies, using too much energy, damaging our climate, eliminating small family farms, reducing necessary biodiversity, and polluting the ecosphere (which includes us).

2.  Big Agriculture's Globalization of food production and distribution sounds good, and once in a blue moon even looks good; however, overall it's faltering and turning into a disaster.

3.  Climate change, multiple-continent supply chains, geopolitical rivalries, war, energy shortages, financial sanctions, and the like are all making global production and distribution of food problematic.

4.  One-third of the world's food already is grown on farms less than five acres each.  Source:  https://ourworldindata.org/smallholder-food-production

The Coming Positive Global Change

1.  Whether we plan for it or not, various factors will drive humans to transition from Globalization to Localization (and Regionalization).  All goods, including food, will be involved.  A few places in the world already have made a start.

2.  As much as possible:  food will be grown locally and/or regionally; synthetic, petrochemical herbicides & insecticides will not be used; and big machinery will not be necessary.  Here's how it's done:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc3-3s115mM&list=WL&index=68    If a guy in a wheelchair and his team can do it, anyone can.  Don't miss this short clip.  It's most inspirational, and extremely informative.

3.  If you don't believe this can be done in towns and cities, do a YouTube Search for "urban community gardens", or "urban farming", and you'll be amazed.  In any case, it can be done just outside the city limits (if not smack-dab downtown).

4.  Because of greatly shortened supply chains, much less need for petrochemicals, much less need for fuel-guzzling big machinery, and much less need for packaging & processing, this type of organic farming will GREATLY reduce global energy use.  That's important because within about ten years, we'll be forced to cut way back on energy use.  [See the Nate Hagens interviews on YouTube which deal with Energy Blindness, as well as those on Minerals Blindness.  Simon Michaux and Tom Murphy also are good sources.]

5.  Because it uses drip-irrigation in areas where such is required, it also will significantly reduce freshwater depletion.  Currently, world agriculture uses 70% of all water fit for human consumption.  The lion's share of that is gobbled up by Big Ag (Factory Farming), and for the most part, drip-irrigation is not used.

You may be thinking, hey, I'm not a farmer.  Why should I care about any of this?  I would answer, do you like to eat?  😊  If your community or county or State does not start planning for the coming changes in food availability and fresh water availability, then you will be a farmer...a subsistence farmer.

We all need to convince our local authorities  to at least look into these matters.  The probability is extremely high that relatively soon we'll be forced to become a low-energy-use society all around the globe.  The metrics for such a scenario are all there.  Localization will be a massive help, but to avoid chaos, planning for it must start ASAP.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Immunity decision by SCOTUS is worse than the Kelo v. City of New London decision

The Kelo case was almost 25 years ago.  SCOTUS decided a city seizing private land under Eminent Domain and then selling it to a private developer constituted "public use", and thus was permissible.  Yikes!

Yesterday's immunity decision is so egregious and so damaging to the concept of American Government that any attempt by me in describing such would not suffice.  The text at the link below does suffice, and will not be found in the Mainstream Media---

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/trump-immunity-supreme-court/

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Not only my opinion.  p.s.  The dissenters on the Court decision are spot-on.

ADDENDUM to "The Biden-Trump Debate..."

Someone I care about agreed with my last post on the Debate.  Along with agreement, also included was:  but "It's too late!".  My email response is below, slightly edited for this posting. 

September would be too late.  Four months to go until the election is adequate time for other people to mount  a campaign.  But, the point is moot because the DNC and most high-level Dems won't do anything to pressure Joe.  And, of course, the RNC and all high level Repubs seem to care not at all that Don-the-Con is a proven serial liar and a wannabe fascist, so they'll do nothing to dump Trump.

It isn't too late, either, for 99% of voters to vote for Jill Stein (or Marianne Williamson, or a Libertarian candidate, etc.), or to send a message by boycotting the election, but none of that will happen.  

American voters mostly are completely dogmatic, and demonstrate little imagination.  For the last fifty years or so, the USA truly has been dumbed-down.  It's tragic, and a genuine embarrassment.  And so it goes.

Some authorities now even are telling young people, you don't need a college or university education to get a decent job.  Yes, that's true; however - HELLO - getting a job isn't the only reason for going to college.  College/university graduates generally are more well-rounded, more broadly educated, more open-minded, better adapted to the complexity of modern society, and more appreciative of the importance of history, ethics, science, and society than those without such an education.  Those factors should not be ignored when contemplating a career path.  There's much more to life than just a decent job.  Work is important, but it's not the Be-All and End-All of a good life, a meaningful existence.

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Not only my opinion.  Happy Trails

The Biden-Trump Debate made several things crystal clear

https://www.democracynow.org/2024/6/28/democrats_reaction_to_disastrous_debate

1.  Even at this late date, Biden must step aside.  He's not up to the task of beating Trump or being President next year.

2.  Almost every sentence from Trump is a blatant lie.  Worse, it seems likely he actually believes those lies.  He's some sort of mental case.  [Mary Trump, a clinical psychologist, has so stated such multiple times.]

3.  High level Democrats must step up NOW and pressure Biden to bow out.  There are several better qualified people who could run.

4.  High level Republicans must stop backing a serial liar who also is a full-blown, wannabe fascist.

5.  Neither Biden or Trump understands how mainstream economics (neoliberal econ) is ruining our economy for people on Main Street.

6.  Regarding foreign policy (particularly re Gaza), both men are a disaster.

7.  Every Main Street Democrat and Republican must now pressure their respective elected officials to dump Trump and Biden.

8.  Because number 7 above most likely won't happen, every voter must seriously consider either a protest vote in November, or boycotting the whole sham.

9.  Biden is weak and impaired (most likely, so is Trump, but usually he hides it fairly well) and Trump is mentally "off his rocker".

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Not only my opinion.  Take Care

Here's one reason Trump plainly is ignorant of crucial matters, and why HISTORY is important

NOTE:  I'm not in favor of Biden for President, either.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvJ4XS9_h_0&list=WL&index=69

Showing his lack of wisdom and ignorance of economic history, Trump has floated a Trial Balloon proposal regarding the economy.  To be fair, I suspect not many people on Main Street are aware of this particular bit of history; but someone running for President should be aware of it.

A number of people have referred to DJT's proposal as:

the "worst economic proposal in U.S. history".

The clip is only twelve minutes in length, and I think quite interesting.  Everyone should try to catch it, and especially those who (for some baffling reason) continue to believe the almost constant stream of Trump's blatant lies.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well