This is the one...THIS IS IT: The Great Simplification!

 Without question, this is the best, most informative description of the ecology of the human species I've seen in the last fifty years.  It clearly & concisely lays out our relationships to Earth, Energy, Economics, Life in general, and all life forms.  Topics include:  the carbon pulse, energy blind, the temporary energy surplus, the human superorganism, money v. wealth, our ecological overshoot, the great simplification, and more.

https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/animations

At the link above, you can watch the full piece (32 minutes), or scroll down a bit for the individual parts/episodes (four of them).  At the very least, watch Part 4 (only 9 minutes).  Below is a link to the full clip on YouTube---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xr9rIQxwj4

What was, what IS, and what's coming (there are many choices regarding what's coming) in the human story.  If you want valuable insights to the predicament in which we find ourselves, don't miss it. 

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Stock Market 101, the Steady State Economy, & the Trophic Theory of Money

 The U.S. Stock Market appears to be on the cusp of a serious decline, perhaps even an outright Crash.  Here's an ecological economics view of the situation---

https://steadystate.org/sell-your-stocks-and-enjoy-the-slide/

Brian Czech is a long-time ecologist in the realms of both wildlife and humans.  He's the Executive Director of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy.

Here's everything you need to know about the trophic theory of money---

https://royalsoc.org.au/images/pdf/journal/152-1-Czech.pdf

This journal article will make it clear to you why ecological economics is the most reasonable option for attaining a sustainable society, one which is fair, just, and environmentally friendly.  It's a brilliant piece.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Stunningly Beautiful

 "Legacy", a full-length documentary on Amazon Prime, and probably elsewhere online.  I would have titled it:  "Beauty, Energy, and the Human Story".  After a brief intro of the French documentarian's forty years of work involving the Life-Energy Cycle around the globe, it begins a narrative of Humans-Energy-Earth.  Aerial photography illustrates the story, and transports the viewer out of his/her Ego.  If the first twenty minutes or so doesn't grab you, your spirit probably has dried up and blown away.  [That last statement most likely is hyperbole, but it drives home a valid point:]

L  E  G  A  C  Y, well worth the watch.

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Be Well

KUDOS to the Hot Shot Wildfire Fighters

 I'm recently back from a 2nd wildfire evacuation which lasted well over two weeks.  The first one lasted only a tad over four days.  We had three days at home until the second evac.  What a nightmare, especially for people my age.  This post will be shorter than most because I'm pretty well exhausted.

The Hermit Peak fire merged with the Calf Canyon fire to become the largest fire in New Mexico's history.  It ravaged (among other places) the little valley where I live.  A tiny town a few miles down the road from me (Mora, population about 1,000 or so) is now housing approximately 900 Hot Shot firefighters.  Even though the fire is now past our valley, they expect to keep Mora as their base until the end of July.  Their herculean efforts here saved most of our homes, including mine and all my neighbors.

In my opinion, these firefighters (as well as all urban firefighters) have jobs as tough as any combat soldier does.  They deserve every bit as much respect and thanks.  KUDOS to all of them.

All the extreme, over-the-top wildfires have various causes, and at the top of that list is anthropogenic Climate Disruption.  Until we seriously and significantly address that issue, look for more beyond-the-pale fires.  At least, such is my opinion...and that of all other ecologists I've read or heard in the last twenty years.

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Be Well

The Pandemicene: especially for humans who think they are separate from & above Nature

 Climate Change/Disruption (along with wildlife habitat damage/destruction by humans) is causing many animal populations to find a new home.  The result is an increase in contact and sharing of new viruses among different animals.  A new study in the journal, Nature, shows how that scenario likely will result in more pandemics in the human population.

https://www.democracynow.org/2022/4/29/ed_yong_pandemicene

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04788-w

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01198-w

Meanwhile, too many national Leaders around the globe appear to be working on window-dressing solutions to Climate Change, or simply kicking the can down the road in other ways.  On top of that, Leaders in a few places have launched wars during this time of an existential threat labeled the socio-eco-econ-ethical crisis.  Having done so, they exhibit monumental ignorance.  It's no wonder that many Main Street people are losing faith in the capabilities of national politicians...all across the political spectrum.

Not all, but most of the progress toward solutions to the crisis are happening below the national level.  Such is orders of magnitude better than nothing, but it will not suffice.  In fact, more is needed than just national efforts.  The crisis is global, not only national, or provincial, or city-wide.  Global planning and cooperation is crucial if civil society is to survive and thrive.

To those who may be concerned primarily with their national territorial imperative (see the book by Robert Ardrey, The Territorial Imperative) and the freedom of independence, please consider the following points---

1)  Neither of those two concepts will do you much good if you have insufficient food, potable water, clean air, unpolluted soil, etc., or if we all are ravaged by viral diseases, or have collapsed economies, or exist in a neofeudal society with only the very Rich and the relatively Poor, or if we're sick from a toxic environment.

2)  Cooperating to combat/mitigate/alleviate an existential global crisis does NOT have to mean losing nationhood or freedom in general.  Some sacrifices will have to be made by all of us, but you won't become a slave.

3)  In a real sense, the current system is making you a slave--- to Debt, and to the Rat Race of unlimited economic growth + overconsumption...while polluting our limited/finite habitat.  Who benefits?  Overwhelmingly, it's the Super-Rich, the Upper Crust, the new aristocrats.

Bottom line:  stop drinking the Propaganda Kool Aid coming from the State-Corporate-Financial Complex.  Ignore the sound bites and the molding of the public mind.  Question everything.  Ignore the Bread & Circuses.  Dig deep when you study an issue.  Think out of the box we've all been put into.

The public and private Powers-That-Be want you to believe technology is going to save us from the existential threat we're facing.  Without a paradigm shift in values/ethics, it won't.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Earth Day Post Number Two - Roads Which Charge EVs Wirelessly

Did you catch NBC's Nightly News this evening (4-22)?  Inventors in Sweden have come up with a system that facilitates the charging of electric vehicles by roads, WIRELESSLY.  No time to explain it, so here's the YouTube link---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkrZp6p6Sio&list=WL&index=60

Find the section which covers this story. 

This might revolutionize EVs and their use, and reduce air pollution.  KUDOS to Sweden.

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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