In Relation to the Ongoing Crisis: Human Consciousness & Intelligence Relative to Other Earthly Forms of Those Characteristics

 I'm fairly certain that we humans all have been raised to believe human beings are superior to all other life forms on Earth.  Perhaps not superior in every way possible, but at least in regard to intelligence and consciousness.  As we journey through life, that idea often is reinforced by both people and circumstances.  We view the concept as a given; no further thought about it is necessary.

Some people believe in it because of religion, I'm guessing.  At least, that is likely in terms of the religion in Western World cultures.  In those beliefs, humans are the pinnacle of creation.  Other animal life, and certainly plants, are viewed as having only a utilitarian purpose vis-a-vis humanity.  Forget about microbes.  Atheists and perhaps agnostics, as well, seem to believe in it because of little more than Logic.  It simply makes sense.

Like most everyone else, for years I bought into the myth of human superiority.  How could it not be true?  Of course we were meant to dominate this planet.  Eventually, though, I came to realize there are other ways of looking at the web of life and our place in it.  I didn't experience a single "eureka" moment, nothing like that.  It was more like hundreds of those moments, and they stretched out over decades.  Because of my education and experience in Agriculture, Biology, and Environmental Geography, most eurekas involved nonhuman animals, plants, and other parts of the natural environment.  Then, too, the ignorance (and sometimes, utter stupidity) displayed by we humans relative to our habitat and other life played a part in changing my worldview.

Here are only two little tidbits which helped to bring about about my transformation.  Did you know that trees communicate with each other in forests, and "mother trees" nurture nearby seedlings?  They do these things by means of symbiotic, micorrhizal fungi.  Watch this video by the plant ecologist, Suzanne Simard.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un2yBgIAxYs&list=WL&index=65&t=33s

This is not based on magical thinking, but rather on solid ecological research.  The clip is relatively short, and quite a revelation.  The botanist, Diana Beresford-Kroeger, has something similar in a full-length documentary, Call of the Forest: the Forgotten Wisdom of Trees.  Both pieces demonstrate scientific evidence supporting the hypothesis that trees have a type of consciousness and intelligence.  Not like that of humans, but nonetheless significant.

While we most certainly are unique, humans are but a single strand in the fabric of life on Earth.  Our mistaken worldview coupled with our hubris regarding other life have resulted in the current Crisis.  A change in our Ethics is critical if we are to survive and thrive in the future.  It has taken us decades to cause life-sustaining natural cycles to be on the brink of ruin.  We must now re-double our efforts to avoid total disaster.  That's not only my opinion.  Many other people all across the political spectrum agree.

In my next post, I'll provide a long list of sources which show what's needed and why, plus some of the amazing research going on presently and in the recent past.   It's the not-yet-complete bibliography for a short book I've been writing since January of this year.

..........

Everyone Take Care

Where the Political Left is Wrong in Social, Educational, & Political Spheres - REDUX

I first posted this piece about two years ago.  Here it is again because I believe intolerance is a major obstacle to the successful implementation of worldwide sustainability.

........................

Here's the main thing wrong with the general political Left in the social, educational, & political spheres of life---

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

and, although it's well-intentioned, it's creating a "stunning fragility" in our youth.  Plus, it's accompanied by an almost virulent self-righteousness.  The speakers here expose it, & explain why it's damaging...not only to our youth, but also to the country in general.  I agree 100%.

The clip is only 13.5 minutes.

The subject matter at the above link includes:  egregious, over-the-top, political correctness; the coddling of kids; gross intolerance of views other than those promulgated by the Left; "slurring" rather than debating in a reasonable manner; and a subtle self-righteousness regarding social and political issues.

By the way, the political Right (in general) is as bad as, or worse than, the Left regarding this whole shebang... at least, most of it.  The result is that the fracturing of our society gets worse & worse every year.  Civility is well on its way to being totally gone.  It's being replaced by not only rudeness, but intolerance and violence as well.  The Corporate Media seem to focus on such activities, but rarely (if ever) ask "Why is this happening?".  Undoubtedly, the answer contains many factors, complex factors; nevertheless, we need to figure this thing out.  If we don't, I believe our society will continue to break down, perhaps even to the point of Martial Law being imposed.  It costs little to nothing to seriously and rationally consider an opposing point-of-view.

A starting point is this:  every side in any significant disagreement passionately believes that its side is the one "in the right", or "best for most people".  The opposing sides need to find out why "the other side" thinks that way... rather than simply slurring them and giving them sound-bite retorts.

Politicians, institutions of all kinds (religious, educational, social, Law enforcement, non-profit, for-profit, etc.), and all of us "common" people need to wake up and re-double our efforts to promote reasonable & civil debate, tolerance, and respect for individuals with opposing views.  I've seen decades of decay in that regard.  It doesn't bode well for the future of our Land.

So, though it may be extremely difficult to do, I propose to all "True Believers" to (at least once in awhile) step outside the "For or Against" paradigm and make a herculean effort to consider issues without having any prejudgements.  I like Socrates' observation on Wisdom:  "The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.".  Let's be more tolerant of each other's views...and start learning.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

From Researchers: How to Have Resilient Communities, a Good Economy, and a Sustainable World

It has taken about forty to fifty years for neoliberalism and corporate globalization to bring us to what might be the beginning of the path to human extinction.  If not that, it is at the very least, the path to the end of organized human existence.  In other words, the beginning of the end of civil society.

Yes, bold statements.  I write them as an environmental geographer (a human ecologist) who has been involved in various aspects of the ongoing Crisis for almost fifty years.  I started studying human impact on the environment in 1972 at Arizona State U.  After many years as an ecology teacher, an independent consulting ecologist, and a hazmat specialist with the Sacramento County Environmental Management Department, I came to the conclusion stated in the first paragraph above.

I've also concluded that unfortunately too many people on Main Street in the USA don't seem to grasp the severity of the ongoing socio-eco-econ-ethical Crisis.  Nor do they appear to fully understand the cause of it.  And finally, they also don't seem to be aware of the massive paradigm shift in values required to survive and thrive in the future.

In a way, I don't blame them too much.  The neoliberal propaganda is so thick in this country that it's a wonder anyone fully understands the dire consequences of overloading (with pollutants) the waste sink known as our atmosphere.  Or understands the egregious damage to soil and crops from the overuse of synthetic pesticides.  Or understands how biodiverse, healthy, natural ecosystems prevent the spread of disease.  Or understands how the petrochemical industry literally is poisoning our habitat and the natural systems upon which our survival depends.  Or grasps the severity of the nuclear waste problem.  And on & on.

Below are only a few suggestions/needs/actions which can help to take us out of the mess we've created.  I placed one of those articles in all three bold-faced categories.  That's how important I believe it is.  Both videos are in two of the categories.  The Crisis is multi-faceted.  There is no one silver bullet to solve it all.  Keep that in mind.

.................

Resilience -

https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2020/04/06/The-Earth-Is-Telling-Us-We-Must-Rethink-Our-Growth-Society/

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/7563/htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suHCiRlT-oc&list=WL&index=68&t=6s

Economics -

https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2020/04/06/The-Earth-Is-Telling-Us-We-Must-Rethink-Our-Growth-Society/

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

https://steadystate.org/top-10-policies-for-a-steady-state-economy/

https://steadystateeconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Degrowth-ISEE-2021-A-Practical-Steady-State-Economy-LK-1.pdf

https://mahb.stanford.edu/blog/the-case-for-cooperative-business-ownership-a-mahb-dialogue-with-professor-anu-puusa-university-of-eastern-finland/

Sustainability -

https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2020/04/06/The-Earth-Is-Telling-Us-We-Must-Rethink-Our-Growth-Society/

https://futureu.education/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Richardson_Neoliberalism-environmental-policy_FutureU.pdf

https://stockholmresilience.org/research/planetary-boundaries/the-nine-planetary-boundaries.html

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378019314116?dgcid=raven_sd_recommender_email

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suHCiRlT-oc&list=WL&index=68&t=6s

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

...............

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

p.s.  Yes, there's a lot to digest here, but you can't learn much in just a few minutes.  Solutions to the Crisis are many, and complicated.  We humans have become accustomed to "sound-bite" size pieces of information, but solving these problems will require much more than those tiny bits.

NY Times: "40 Million People Rely on the Colorado River. It’s Drying Up Fast."

 The article was well done.  The water crisis is here and now, and it's much worse than only water above ground. 

It isn't only surface water that's concerning; it's groundwater, as well.  Most H2O used by humans comes from aquifers below the surface, not from surface bodies of water; and they're being depleted fairly rapidly.  Even with the mega drought in most of the West, I fear too many people in the USA do not grasp the seriousness of our ongoing water crisis.  They see lots of water in various places, but may not understand that most of it is unavailable to humans.  

Of all the H2O on Earth, only 1% of it is available for drinking, bathing, cooking, etc.  The rest is either salt water or glacial ice or fresh water in remote places, or places where it relatively quickly runs to the ocean.  By 2040, most human habitats in the world won't have enough water to meet year-round demand, & that includes most of the USA...unless we drastically alter our water use.  

Step one: no lawn or golf course or sports field (& the like) anywhere should ever be watered...unless we figure out a really low-energy, cheap way to desalinate sea water.  Presently, that's not in the cards.  It's time to end the Great American Lawn Fetish.  It wastes water, and artificial fertilizers & herbicides used on lawns run off, polluting streams & lakes.  Lawn runoff contributes to eutrophication of bodies of water.  Have you ever seen or smelled a eutrophic lake?  There are plenty of alternatives to grass lawns.

Here's a vid that every person on Earth should watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C65iqOSCZOY&list=WL&index=57&t=7s

It was on Netflix at one time.  Perhaps you've seen it.  This would wake up people.  Potable water will be the next gold...relatively scarce, and a high value asset.

.............

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

"HOT MONEY"...

 with General Wesley Clark & his son, Wes, Jr., & directed by Susan Kucera ("Living in the Future's Past", narrated by Jeff Bridges).  Too bad Clark Sr. wasn't elected President when he ran awhile ago.  It's on Amazon Prime, not the best production for a doc, but the content is on the mark.  It shows precisely why:

1.  the global financial world is so fragile, & why mega banks should be broken up ASAP;

2.  there's so much economic & financial inequality;

3.  most national gov'ts (including ours) are not seriously addressing Climate Change [only some cities & States in the USA are, & that's insufficient];

4.  mostly, the transformation to clean energy is going at a snail's pace;

5.  Climate Change already has started the destruction of the worldwide financial & economic systems;

6.  the new normal will involve mass human migrations never seen before;

7.  too many people apparently fail to recognize the paradigm shift in values which must occur if we are to survive & thrive in the future; and

8.  too many people are wrong when they believe that Tech will save us in time, therefore to them, there's no urgency about any of this, no need to drastically alter politics, the economy, or the financial system...much less our values.

..........

I imagine this documentary is found not only on Prime, but elsewhere online as well.  Look for it if you really want to understand what's going on currently, and what's required to avoid complete catastrophe.  Off & on, I've been studying this for about 50 years (started in 1972 at Arizona State U.), so please believe this:  humans are facing the greatest Crisis in our history, and climate disruption is only a part of it.  The "experts" think we have until 2050 to mitigate the problem & thus avoid total societal breakdown.  In all probability, I believe that benchmark should be moved to the year 2035.  Why?  Because much more than climate is involved.  

It's time for all of us to take this seriously.  Much can be done on the micro scale, & much "lobbying" (of sorts) needs to be done on the macro scale.  Politicians will engage in window dressing efforts unless there's an outcry from the ground up.  History has proven such.

Best of Due Diligence to Everyone

p.s.  STEP 1:  stop believing the Edward Bernays style propaganda put out by most of the Powers-That-Be.  For example, it will take much more than Tech to avoid catastrophe.  Don't believe anyone who says otherwise.

....................

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

NOTE:  After more than a year of being gone from this blog, I'm returning on a sporadic basis.  Why?  Because I appreciate the fact that, in my absence, many people visited this site even though there weren't any new posts.  Thank you, and I hope you enjoy the once-in-awhile future essays.

A New Blog

Here's the link---

https://ecologicalliberalism.blogspot.com/

Please join me on a path forward.

Everyone Be Well, and Happy Trails

Neoliberalism Has Ruled For Decades - Is That Nightmare Over?

Preface
Below is an email I sent family and friends yesterday, explaining why this is my last essay on this blog.  Individual Sovereignty started a bit over thirteen years ago.  It's time to change horses... but first---
......................................

Introduction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBzSLu3MZ6I

Only a bit over six minutes in length (too brief to be a complete explanation), this clip to some degree explains the neoliberal coup.  Pay particular attention to Jimmy Carter's short statement.  Carter was elected President largely because of the efforts of David Rockefeller and Z. Brzezinski (author of The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives).

............................

The Email (Title:  Maybe, Maybe Not), edited

The end of neoliberalism?---

https://mahb.stanford.edu/blog/coronavirus-spells-the-end-of-the-neoliberal-era-whats-next/  and...

https://newrepublic.com/article/155970/collapse-neoliberalism  

 We can always hope.  It should have collapsed after Pinochet in Chile, or at least after the Crash in 2008.  Corporatists, politicians, economists of a certain flavor, the Corporate Media, and others keep it hanging on... without naming it.

Neoliberalism has brought us lost jobs & manufacturing, income inequality, austerity, increased susceptibility to disease, environmental destruction, increased military interventionism, privatization, Neofeudalism, and a weaker, less resilient economy... among many other ills.  

Prominent Neoliberals include/included:  Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, Walter Lippmann, Kissinger, Carter, Brzezinski, David Rockefeller, Milton Friedman, Reagan, Thatcher, H.W. Bush, both Clintons, Gore, M. Albright, Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan, Obama, Biden, Larry Summers, T. Geithner, Pelosi, McConnell, most all Mega Bank CEOs, etc.  The Cheney-Bush-Wolfowitz cabal was NeoCon, and the difference between that & NeoLib is almost nil.  Trump isn't a NeoCon or a NeoLib.  He has no ideology at all.  The closest one would be straight-up Fascism.

As you can see, the term "neoliberal" transcends the old labels of Repub, Dem, Conservative, Libertarian, & Liberal.  That's not only my opinion.  Many articles have been written on the subject in numerous, prestigious publications... The New Yorker, The Atlantic (founded as The Atlantic Monthly), NYT, The New Republic, The Guardian, etc.  Here are a few of those pieces---

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/15/neoliberalism-ideology-problem-george-monbiot  (the best history of neoliberalism I've read so far).

 https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/05/history-of-neoliberal-meaning/528276/

https://newrepublic.com/article/147810/worlds-apart-neoliberalism-shapes-global-economy 

https://newrepublic.com/article/155970/collapse-neoliberalism  (neoliberalism on both the Right & the Left)

Neoliberals are all across the political spectrum, and have been for decades.  I believe anyone not fully aware of the details in all the above is behind on the learning curve in politics.  So, after posting this--- maybe in the next few days--- on Individual Sovereignty, I'm going to leave that blog and start a new one.  [The theme of it will be something along the lines of "Ecology and World Survival".]  I've concluded that neither the Right or the Left (on Main Street) truly understands the unquestionably dominant economic and political philosophy/ideology in the world (including the USA) today--- neoliberalism, and the fact that it has displaced all the old labels.  I'm growing weary of trying to explain it.  Time to move on.  

p.s.  Neoliberalism is not "new", and it's not "liberal".

..............................

Not only my opinion.  Stay Well

p.s.  Many thanks to those who have followed this blog for years, and to those who visited however briefly.  Within a month or so, I hope to have the new site up and running.  I'll post a link on this blog when appropriate.  If you have any interest in Human Ecology and Environmental Science, please have a look.