the Green New Deal Takes Precedency & an AOC Endorsement Takes the Presidency

Turns out that I wrote too hastily before knowing the facts, therefore the initial message of my post was a misinformed hunch. I hadn’t realized that there’s a minimum age limit of 35 years to be president of the United States of America. Therefore, at best, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is campaigning to make sure that the Green New Deal plays a major role on all platforms. And as her popularity sky rockets because of her cleverness, authenticity and passion – as this article in the Guardian stresses – who she endorses will be a major issue for all contenders.

Democrats covet an endorsement from Ocasio-Cortez

This would be the time for Trump to throw out yet another executive order – bypassing laws – to lower the age limit of running for president. 🙂

Get Ready for the Green New Deal as expressed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

We are here to say “No More” “Basta”

As she states in this rally for the Green New Deal at Howard University in Washington D.C.

“We can not allow ourselves to be bullied out of our values, any more. Our history may be written, but our future is not. Cynicism is what the established 1% want you to have. Yet, the average every day person has never been more powerful than it is today. We all need to have these conversations, to elevate our collective consciousness. Big Money has never been weaker.”

Get Ready for the Green New Deal as being a central issue for whomever Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorses as a democratic runner for President.

“No More” “Basta”

She says, “We can not allow ourselves to be bullied out of our values, any more. Our history may be written, but our future is not. Cynicism is what the established 1% want you to have, yet the average every day person has never been more powerful than it is today; to have these conversations, to elevate our collective consciousness. Big Money has never been weaker.”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Green New Deal speech

The Green New Deal campaign rally will convince the American public of the importance of taking care of our relationship to the earth, and to one another, above anything else.

 

Inequality and Earth Injustice ‘No More’

 

I’m all over it! For non-native English speakers that means, I’m full-on 100% aligned and in support of the Green New Deal and everything this beautiful, brave, articulate and erudite woman says. She’s extremely well educated and intelligent. She knows what she’s talking about AND she has the passion and down-to-earth humanity to communicate the feeling that you can trust her. I am so grateful that she is putting massive energy into putting many topics out in front, that have been side-lined or simply taboo to even discuss.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Green New Deal speech

I trust that the American people can listen and be convinced if they are on the fence, and fully embrace what she is saying from the heart about how much industrial and corporate powers have gotten away with at the expense of people who they trampled over. I believe that whoever she endorses, she will be continue to put on the heat and emphasize diplomatically to the world what needs to be on every leader’s table.

Ocasio-Cortez blows roof off building with EPIC speech

And it could be this heroic woman will actually, despite perhaps fear, reticence and reluctance at first, lead all of us to actually participate in saving our planet and as many species as we can.

I stand by her. I’ve been impressed with every speech. Therefore her campaign for the Green New Deal will certainly require anyone who she endorses, to be someone who will completely support it and promise to lead the public to make the dramatic changes that we need to make across the world, to save as many life forms of the planet from extinction and ourselves, and to change the course of the mainstream consciousness.

Just as with the actions and presence of Greta Thunberg, the Swedish girl who started the school strikes to end her governments and the world’s silence about global warming and extinction, I feel very hopeful that AOC has taken the world stage!

We Can do this, We Must do this Together and We Can Have a Great Time As We Make the Changes Together

> Learning, Creating, Inspiring and Conspiring <

Corporate Greed and Corpocrisy No More

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IPCC Climate Change Report | Highest Recorded CO2 Levels & Arctic Temperatures | Bill Mckibben Discussing Significance of Rising CO2 | Greta Thunberg TED Talk | Enforcing Legislation

In November of 2018, an (IPCC) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report by internationally collaborating scientists, spoke of the nefarious consequences of global warming of 1.5º C.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Articles sprouted this last week regarding a report released by researchers at Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory, who recorded record-setting temperatures this last Saturday, May 11th.
atmospheric research facility

Carbon Dioxide Levels In The Atmosphere Hit Highest Mark In Human History, written by Nina Golgowski

“Carbon dioxide levels in the Earth’s atmosphere have soared to a new high, one never before been seen in human history, researchers announced as temperatures near the Arctic circle rose into the 80s.”

These alarmingly warm temperatures came as a daily CO2 reading by atmospheric researchers on Saturday recorded a 415.26 parts per million (ppm) baseline.”

Rebecca Lindsey wrote in August 2018 Climate Change: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide regarding the 2017 rate of carbon dioxide atmospheric levels as 405.0 ppm parts per million. She wrote this US government report from the (NOAA) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Science and Information for a Climate-Smart Nation.

Carbon Dioxide Rising Levels Climate NOAA

Here is the Annual 2018 Global Climate Report by the NOAA. https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/201813

A person passionately familiar with what this reading means, he started 350.org in 2008, stressing to educate the public about the need to cap CO2 atmospheric levels at 350. Well his target limit was exceeded in 2017 at 405.26 ppm, and the last week carbon concentrations surpassed 415 parts per million. Bill McKibben discusses the significance of the rising CO2 levels in this audio interview.

Bill McKibben discusses the significance of the rising CO2 levels

My post was originally going to be another tally of my encounters with people sitting in or standing by their stationary vehicles with the engine left running. I will let this linger at the end, just to point out that despite the dramatic need to absolutely change the world’s reliance on fossil fuels and large industrial practices in general that disrupt ecological balances, it is absolutely up to all of us to find alternative ways of viewing what we take for granted and assume is a typical and natural behavior.

As Greta Thunberg mentioned in one of her first speeches, that to the Swedish public before the Parliament to explain her reasoning behind striking school as a 15 year old. She stated that most people are more fearful of having to adjust their behavior that relies on fossil fuels out of habit and convenience, than they are fearful of climate change itself. The problem is that it just isn’t quite grasped, it feels like a remote problem, like a remote-control war that you see short sound bites of that is happening across the globe. Well, the other major factor in peoples’ lack of concern, is the complete absence of reporting about it by the media or governments undertaking it as a major issue. Therefore the public is not only not informed, but often due to huge amounts of money poured into disinformation by petroleum industry lobbying groups, they are way misinformed.

Here is the now 16 year old audacious and articulate Swedish girl Greta Thunberg giving a TED talk about the dire need to act now to avert the most dramatic repercussions of climate change.

Greta Thunberg TED talk on climate change

Yesterday, I came upon a couple nicely dressed, obvious professionals, involved in a conversation on the sidewalk, standing several meters from the large SUV parked there with the engine running. I cycled back around to direct my voice to them saying in the most gentle way possible, do you realize that we’re in a climate crisis, and CO2 is going from your vehicle into the atmosphere? Several minutes later I bicycled by a backhoe that was stationary, but the engine on, as two men worked by it, no person in the cab. As I cycled by their work van, I saw and felt that the engine was on, no one nearby. I circled back to the men to say -as gently as I could – why do you have your engines on? The guy at first looked at me, then when he realized I was making a ‘critical observation’, he ignored me. Finally he said coarsely, “Does anyone tell you how to ride your bike?”

I looked up the Department of Environmental Management of Rhode Island, the State where I’m living. Located it, went there, walking in with a back pack on a Friday afternoon, I already looked suspicious. My question, “WHY IS THIS NOT A LAW? You can generate income by fining people. When I first arrived to this town and realized as a bicyclist that consistently, in every socio economic neighborhood, people have a tendency to sit in their cars with the engine idling. In fact, plenty are not even in their cars, but near them, as they leave the engines running.

Fortunately the woman officer with whom I spoke understood the concerns, stated that there had been at one point anti-idling laws and that in fact in the more old money town of Newport, there is anti-idling legislation.

From the time that I was beginning to drive, before their was a threat of accelerating temperatures due to human activities; heat and transportation demands, I naturally knew that there was no reason to leave an engine running. It wastes fuel, it spews out exhaust.

Obviously what impacts the environment on a much larger scale, are the industries that mine for coal and oil and transport it, and use this energy on a large scale for industrial operations and large, institutional constructions.

Nevertheless, as populations continue to increase and more and more people come to demand having their own automobile or truck, the collective use affects the CO2 levels. There are plenty of reports that reveal that idling engines are contributing to the higher levels of Carbon Dioxide, a green house gas that is warming the earth as it concentrates heat.

Since there appears to be, even in this college town with an ivy league school, an uncanny disassociation among the population and workers for the University of the consequences of their actions. Since I’ve already written numerous letters to the Mayor, Governor and State Legislature, it seemed the next move, to bring this to their attention. The officer with whom I spoke really warmed up to me after her initial skeptical looking expression, I said that if you employ me, I could make the government a thousand dollars an hour. She laughed. She told me that rather than telling people about the climate consequences, tell them that there are fines for idling.

Let’s educate ourselves as much as possible and talk with one another about the best things we can do to change our behaviors, while the new politicians on the block like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez do their best to confront the established powers and force the government to stop their silence, and begin orchestrating the Green New Deal.

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Carol sitting under the trees

Arundhati Roy’s Extraordinary Eloquence, Poetically Incising the Truth

I wasn’t going to do another blog till I complete my book. However I decided to listen to the entire Democracy Now news hour while I chopping vegetables preparing my dinner, when I saw that Amy Goodman would be interviewing here. I am once again absolutely blown away with how sharply Arundhati Roy incises the truth with her vision.

I first learned of Arundhati Roy decades ago, after the September 11th attacks in the United States. In her Come September speech in 2002, she peels the truth from the political and economic realities of the constructs of our world, to expose power and powerlessness. It is of the context of what was going on at that time, and is STILL THE TRUTH.

I blogged about Arundhati Roy’s profound speech, “Come September” in 2009 https://digesthis.wordpress.com/2009/10/31/arundhati-roy/

Come September is A PROFOUND BEARING OF TRUTH. Roy speaks poetically to power on the US’s War on Terror, globalization, the misuses of nationalism, and the growing chasm between the rich and poor.

Arundhati Roy full speech 2002 Come September

Her first fiction novel is entitled “God of Small Things”

Please take the time to listen to each of the interviews. She is profound in her imagery and astounding insightfulness.

Each of these segments have the transcripts. I suggest you trying to find as much of here writings (fiction and non-fiction) and speeches, as you can!

https://www.democracynow.org/2019/5/13/arundhati_roy_a_us_attack_on

Arundhati Roy: A U.S. Attack on Iran Would Be “Biggest Mistake It Has Ever Made”

https://www.democracynow.org/2019/5/13/arundhati_roy_capitalism_is_a_form

Arundhati Roy: Capitalism Is “a Form of Religion” Stopping Solutions to Climate Change & Inequality

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKaU8skVKnU

Arundhati Roy on the Power of Fiction: “Literature is The Simplest Way of Saying a Complicated Thing”

Arundhati Roy Interview Democracy Now

“As the ice caps melt, as oceans heat up and water tables plunge, as we rip through the delicate web of interdependence that sustains life on earth, as our formidable intelligence leads us to breach the boundaries between humans and machines and our even more formidable hubris undermines our ability to connect the survival of our planet to our survival as a species, as we replace art with algorithms and stare into a future in which most human beings may not be needed to participate in or be remunerated for economic activity, at just such a time we have the steady hands of white supremacists in the White House, new imperialists in China and neo-Nazis once again massing on the streets of Europe, Hindu nationalists in India, and a host of butcher princes and lesser dictators in other countries to guide us into the unknown.

While many of us dreamt that another world is possible, these folks were dreaming, too. And it is their dream, our nightmare, that is perilously close to being realized. Capitalism’s gratuitous wars and sanctioned greed have jeopardized the planet and filled it with refugees. Much of the blame for this rests squarely on the shoulders of the government of the United States. Seventeen years after invading Afghanistan, after bombing it into the Stone Age with the sole aim of toppling the Taliban, the U.S. government is back in talks with the very same Taliban. In the interim, it has destroyed Iraq, Libya and Syria. Hundreds of thousands have lost their lives to war and sanctions. A whole region has descended into chaos, ancient cities pounded into dust.

Amidst the desolation and the rubble, a monstrosity called Daesh, ISIS, has been spawned. It has spread across the world, indiscriminately murdering ordinary people who had absolutely nothing to do with America’s wars. Over these last few years, given the wars it has waged and the international treaties it has arbitrarily reneged on, the U.S. government perfectly fits its own definition of a rogue state. And now resorting to the same old scare tactics, the same tired falsehoods and the same old fake news about nuclear weapons, it is gearing up to bomb Iran. That will be the biggest mistake it has ever made.”

Pope Francis Encyclical on Climate Change

 

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December 10th, 2018 Carol Keiter

“I Am” documentary | What is Wrong with the World? What can we do about it?

After facing his own death, film producer Tom Shadyac suddenly had an instant sense of clarity and purpose. He went around the world with a film crew of four, to talk with significant minds, authors, journalists, academics, leaders, historians, religious leaders who had been extremely influential and inspirational in his own life, to ask two questions: What is Wrong with the World? What can we do about it?

He created this documentary film in three parts. This is it. Tom Shadyac director of I Am. Part one.

Asking whether there is a fundamental, endemic problem, that causes all the other problems?

I Am, Albert Einstein quote

I Am Part Two introduces HeartMath, the concept that the heart is smart and in many indigenous cultures, the heart is the center of consciousness, not the brain. It also ventures into quantum entanglement.

Desmond Tutu God says I dont have anybody else except you

I Am Howard Zinn No evidence that war comes out of some innate human need

“I Am” Part Three introduces the fact that mass mind – many individual actions together – really does affect the fabric of reality. The evolutionary biologist, Elisabet Sahtouris, states this is a participatory universe. Interconnectivity. Everything that we do in it, changes it. We have an interior role in co-creating with all the other species.

Everything on our planet is alive.

 

I Am Part Three Howard Zinn talks about how change happens in increments by individual actions together. Desmond Tutu states that change happens, when each person feels concern.

I Am quote Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Power of One person.

I Am video on Vimeo Dr David Suzuki

I Am We should be grateful and celebrate our relatives

Dr. David Suzuki, scientist, author “The Sacred Balance”, mentions Wade Davis’s term the ethnosphere: the sum total of all of the ways that humans beings have imagines the world into existence. Suzuki talks about the separation of humanity from the natural world, and the fact that the economy is the most important thing in our lives.

Among the people interviewed:

Lynne McTaggart – Author, “the Field” talks of the stories that fashion our worldview, in a competition, scarcity, in which a person needs to be significant, at someone else’s expense

Dean Radin – Senior Scientist, Institute of Noetic Sciences,

Howard Zinn – Historian, Author “A People’s History of the United States”

John Francis – Environmentalist, Author “Planetwalker”

Noam Chomsky- Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, MIT

Desmond Tutu – Archbishop, Cape Town, South Africa

Thom Hartmann – Author “Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight”
There’s a fundamental difference between machines and life, and we are running our society as if we are a machine and as if the world is a machine
Thom mentions Jack Davis Professor of Native American studies at UCA Davis, talks of the Native American term “Wetico” = cannibal – one who eats the life of another. It is considered an illness.

Daniel Quinn – Author, “Ishmael”

Ray Anderson – CEO Interface

Chris Jordan – Photographer

Coleman Barks – Poet, Author “The Essential Rumi”

Marc Ian Barasch – Author, “Field Notes on the Compassionate Life”

Dacher Keltner – Professor of Psychology, UC Berkeley

Rollin McCraty – Senior Researcher, Heartmath Institute

Elisabet Sahtouris – Evolutionary Biologist

Marilyn Schlitz – President, CEO Institute of Noetic Sciences

Carol Keiter the blogger 2019-02-22.

International XR Extinction Rebellion Die-In

Extinction Rebellion Worldwide Die-In

Extinction Rebellion climate change activists stage mass ‘die-in’ protests across the globe to put spotlight on risk to human life

Protesters lie down in the streets in France, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Italy, The Netherlands and the UK.

and Germany, the USA….

“The actions were part of worldwide celebration at 12.05pm called by Extinction Rebellion Berlin following the protests that began in London in November 2018, which have since spawned a mass movement.”

Banksy Extinction Rebellion artwork appears at protest site at London

‘Banksy’ Extinction Rebellion artwork appears at protest site at London’s Marble Arch

California signs up for China’s Belt and Road Forum to help in fight against climate change

“Although the US federal government has snubbed the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, representatives from America’s most populous state are attending to drum up support for international efforts to tackle climate change.”

Notch Up the Government’s Role with “ObamaWorks” | A Version of Roosevelt’s WPA | Green New Deal

I originally proposed this in 2012. I decided to repost it presently in lieu of the proposal of the ‘Green New Deal‘.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Rep D-NY discusses the Green New Deal with Bernie Sanders Climate Change – Environmental Policy

My religion and spirituality is the natural world and my relationship to it. I love and adore all of the different species of flora and fauna, the water, air, wind, the soil of the earth. It is full of splendor and awesome. I value human invented relishes much less.

We all need to re-evaluate and repair our connection to the natural world and to value and cherish that of which we are inextricably a part. We need to radically transform our relationship which has been diminished and twisted in the last decades, due to having a perspective and approach that looked at other forms of life as a commodity to use. We need to revive our love and respect for the natural world and become guardians of it, not just for our children, but for the beings that exist before us right here and right now.

Prior to Obama’s win of the 2012 presidential nomination, on the 5th of October I submitted this query to a dozen American magazine publications, and waited for a response. I received only one, a rejection from The Nation. I continued to wait to see if anyone would wish to publish my ideas, which would preclude putting the information onto my blog, for free viewing. Presuming that none will respond, here it is:

Though Obama supporters surely commemorate his intention to employ the federal government to serve the American public, he could even crank it up a bit, by reenacting Franklin D. Roosevelt’s WPA – Works Progress Administration – under the guise of ObamaWorks. “Renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration; the WPA was the largest and most ambitious American New Deal agency, employing millions of people (mostly unskilled men) to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads. In a much smaller project, Federal Project Number One, the WPA employed musicians, artists, writers, actors and directors in large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects.” Wow, is THAT ever fantastic to hear about! The recognition that the arts and literature are all about inspiring and creating the theatre for human evolution! What is that saying? ‘History repeats itself for those who are doomed to forget.’ A mere google away: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (George Santayana)

In 1933, as the 32nd president of the United States, FDR orchestrated the “New Deal” in his first 100 days of office. His purpose was to transform a shattered economy, following the 1929 stock market crash. This consisted of a series of economic programs to establish “Relief”, “Recovery” and “Reform”, of which the WPA was a substantial mechanism; operating its own projects in cooperation with state and local governments. In the inception of his second term, Obama could emphatically authorize a series of programs needed to make improvements across America; delineating the jobs required to implement them, and build our economy and morale in the process, as had been achieved through Roosevelt’s WPA. The circumstances surrounding each of their administrations are parallel; both enmeshed in war and coming into power following a Wall Street engendered economic collapse. Whereas Obama’s 44th presidency coincided with a recession, FDR’s corresponded with the Great Depression. Since Obama has already demonstrated his audacity in confronting Wall Street with the Dodd-Frank Act, why not engage in another executive order or two, as were prerequisite for FDR to carry out his Works. Now is the critical time to launch an indispensable ObamaWorks plan; to facilitate the investment in a much needed overhaul throughout the country, prioritized according to national as well as regional and community needs.
 
Though it may seem implausible, given that we’re ensconced in an imbalanced Democracy in which Plutocratic powers often determine what the executive branch may or may not do, this is precisely the recipe to revitalize America! The WPA was one bold aspect of the New Deal, which Roosevelt legislated to put millions of unskilled Americans back to work, including the construction of buildings and roads. “Happy Days could be Here Again”, if instead of side-stepping issues, tip-toeing around egregious lobby groups and getting stalled in bipartisan gridlocks, Obama would simply administer a number of definitive projects, ObamaWorks, and set them into motion. These programs would respond to our need for energy independence, and result in the subsequent investment in renewable energy enterprises and environmentally sound ‘green’ building. America has been lagging in developing clean and efficient transportation infrastructures, as well as in education and efficient communication networks. We need to make decisions that will reflect viable options for the generations to come, without obliterating our environment and the delicate balance of the global ecosystem and economic interdependency. In our quest to achieve international standards in education, we have inadvertently started to impinge on creative teaching methods and the hands-on approach in our classrooms. Yet because Americans are innovative and industrious, as we pull our resources together and share our ‘best practices’, we can resolve road-blocks and work through ever evolving solutions to our problems. As ObamaCare can continually be adjusted according to new insights, so can we all work together, community by community, fused by the U.S. Government’s vision and financial backing; prioritizing our most needed investments and emboldening our spirits.

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How do we Create an Economy that Nourishes the Natural World – which keeps us Alive? Dr. David Suzuki

The Canadian scientist Dr. David Suzuki says that the primary driver of this climate catastrophe and mass extinction that we face has been the economy. It’s urgent that humanity act now – go all out to maintain the temperature of our heating earth. It is how we will be defined as a species. He has the academic understanding as well as emotional connection to the natural world that has built his tremendous breadth of understanding and clarity in expressing these truths. Why it’s time to think about human extinction | Dr David Suzuki”

Does your MP Representative Recognize you Environmental Rights

The economy – the corporate agenda – is driving us on the path that we’re on.

Why its time to think about human extinction Dr David Suzuki

Suzuki has a wide breadth of understanding of many subjects. He was raised in an environment in which he had a very close relationship to the natural world. He learned to love and respect all different species and to recognize our integral connection to all of nature. His understanding of the importance of protecting the natural world fed his lifelong environmental activism and lead to the co-founding of the David Suzuki Foundation in 1990, to “to find ways for society to live in balance with the natural world that does sustain us.

A genetic scientist, his academic background and expertise on the various subjects lends to his eloquence. Dr. David Suzuki has an enlightened manner. He smiles continuously as he speaks about these subjects, without contempt or anger in his voice or eyes. He is penetratingly clear and concise about what is important in life and what it is that all human beings should be aware of, educated in and what we need to do.

There are some things we can’t change – gravity, speed of light – other things like capitalism, the market, the economy, are human inventions that we can change.

Clean air is sacred – we can’t go 3 minutes without air. If the air is polluted, we become ill. Humans have a responsibility to protect this.

Clean water is sacred – we can’t go for 4 to 6 days without water. Our bodies are 60 to 70 % water. If the water is dirty, we become ill.

Clean soil (earth and fire) is sacred – we can’t go without food for 4 to 6 weeks, or we will die.

Every bit of the food we eat was once alive. All of the energy that our bodies use is derived from sunlight that has been captured and converted through photosynthesis. All the plants take in carbon out of the air and put oxygen back.

I feel that this should be mandatory viewing, However, I’m not the secretary of education nor am I living in a dictatorship which could mandate this. Suzuki mentions that we need to maintain a thread of hope. He recalls how President John F. Kennedy stated that America will put someone on the moon within a decade, in response to the successful Soviet space projects. At the time, the USA didn’t know how they would do this, but had the intention. We need to embrace this intention now. Who we vote in to office, as well as educating the voting public, is essential. What we buy and how we live is also critical.

Listening to this man could be a mind-bending and emotionally awakening experience. Suzuki understands and articulates why human beings should recognize our place and responsibility.

We are the only animals on the planet capable of destroying it, and perhaps the only ones who do not recognize that as we negatively impact our balance with nature, we will destroy ourselves.

This balance concerns human over-population, chemical pollution and damage to our air, water and soil, the destruction of life within an entire food chain in our biosphere, plastic pollution and the adverse effect of releasing carbon dioxide and methane into our atmosphere – warming the planet – and the destruction of habitats of creatures on land, sea and air, driving them to extinction. This includes the human beings.

He mentions Rachel Carson as a huge influence with the publication of her book in 1962, “Silent Spring“.

Rachel Carson wrote in Silent Spring about the deadly effects of the use of powerful chemicals in pesticides, specifically DDT. “Carson was a former marine biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Utilizing her many sources in federal science and in private research, she spent over six years documenting her analysis that humans were misusing powerful, persistent, chemical pesticides before knowing the full extent of their potential harm to the whole biota.”

Her book introduced the world for the first time the recognition that these chemicals are harmful, and the need for humans to be cautions, to educate ourselves and to act responsibly as stewards of the living earth. “Unlike most pesticides whose effectiveness is limited to destroying one or two types of insects, DDT was capable of killing hundreds of different kinds at once.” Because she specifically talked about the effects of DDT which was produced by powerful agricultural chemical corporations like Monsanto, with strong ties to the government, she was immediately attacked and discredited by several major media outlets.”The Deafening Criticism Against Silent Spring” mentions that she “wrote this before the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Love Canal, Three Mile Island, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the West Virginia chemical spill, and numerous other environmental disasters brought about by apparent corporate malfeasance.”

Yet her book published in 1962 spoke such a momentous truth that it was widely read. It lead to the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970 and the banning of DDT in 1972.

The multinational agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation Monsanto was the first to manufacture DDT. They have produced a slew of very harmful chemicals since. Monsanto, a seed company as well, was recently bought by Bayer. They probably realized that it was to their advantage to have their name less public and publicized since they’ve been involved in numerous law suits. In fact, I just listened to Vandana Shiva interviewed by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now who said just that, Monsanto wished to hide its name. Vandana Shiva: We Must Fight Back Against the 1 Percent to Stop the Sixth Mass Extinction

Monsanto’s Dirty Dozen: The 12 Most Awful Products Made By Monsanto.”

Like everything else, the agrochemical companies have also consolidated their power. The Biggest Pesticide Companies in the World.

On the 50th anniversary of its publication, this article was published in the Smithsonian. “Crazy Lies Haters Threw at Rachel Carson“.

Suzuki talks of the impact of the eco philosopher and writer Clive Hamilton, his non-fiction book “Requiem for a Species: Why We Resist the Truth about Climate Change” written in 2010. Hamilton is an Australian academic who explores the reasons for climate change denial and its implications. Hamilton argues that questioning unfettered growth, challenges the conception of progress according to the mentality of the people who align themselves with the approach of the status quo market. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/apr/16/requiem-for-a-species-clive-hamilton

Suzuki mentions that we can’t change the laws of nature, however we can change our human institutions. It is economics that is driving the warming of our environment, specifically through industries that are polluting and warming the atmosphere.

I had learned about Dr. David Suzuki several years ago, and was so tremendously impressed with what he expresses that I wrote a blog about him in 2016.

https://digesthis.wordpress.com/2016/03/08/sustainability-david-suzuki-creative-consciousness-same-name-but-different/

I learned of his daughter Severn Suzuki’s concern for the natural world and precocious eloquence in her presentation for the Rio climate summit in 1962. Not surprising, given the household she was raised in. I put together this blog about her also in 2016.

Servern Suzuki Rio 1992

https://carolkeiter.wordpress.com/2016/03/08/future-generations-sorry-prince-ea-stand-for-trees-severn-suzuki-anjali-appadurai/

It is my passion to share this information, because to me, it’s essential.

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Carol Keiter the blogger 2019-02-22.

Tears of Delight PM of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern’s Well-Being Budget & Maori Guardianship | Friendship Bench

I am in tears of delight as I listen to the statements of the Prime Minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party, Jacinda Ardern, speaking of well-being as the measuring stick at the Davos, Switzerland World Economic Forum. She speaks honestly and earnestly – brilliantly revealing to the other diplomats a lens through which to look that is not measuring the quantity of profits through the GDP, but the quality of life and well-being of the people.

New Zealand politics of kindness, empathy and well-being

Among the leaders of the prohibitively expensive and exclusive Davos World Economic Forum, here is yet another example of a leader stepping outside of the dictates of the norm, to instead be a spokesperson for the quality of life. She states that numbers mean nothing, if people are homeless, if the teen suicide rate is high, if people are emotionally and physically ill. It’s another great step for humanity to have an excellent female leader with the bravery to speak the truth. She’s naturally a tremendous advocate for making changes to avert climate catastrophe.

We all know what disasters continue to strike due to industrial practices that are bent on wielding the highest profits, at the cost of health and life of human and species loss and environmental degradation.

Instead of complete lies, such as what comes from the USA present reality-show-muppet-leader, everything that she says speaks truth, conviction and dignity, from the content of her words to her tone and mannerisms. She speaks honestly, as do a number of recently elected female congresswomen in the US. Hurray for the people who are electing these women leaders throughout the world. It is great news.

Not unprecedented in her ideas, the government of Bhutan conceived of the model of Gross National Happiness as a more real measuring stick than the GDP. You can have a high GDP with great numbers, sales and profits that are off the charts…and as you focus the lens in close, you see that the Amazons and Walmarts that are employing high numbers of stressed people, have paved all of the pristine land; expanded their enterprises along with their parking lots stinking of tar and asphalt and wiped out swaths of land that are habitat to creatures who share the planet.

Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Index

The construction of the GNH Index includes nine domains

Psychological wellbeing
Health
Education
Time use
Cultural diversity and resilience
Good governance
Community vitality
Ecological diversity and resilience
Living standards

We no longer need an economy bent on profit, so that the computer that I’m using has to be replaced every x amount of years, because of it being built to become obsolete in that short amount of time, as the Superfund sites where the minerals are harvested or skeletons of older models of trash accumulate, to litter and poison water and air. There is absolutely a different paradigm waiting for us around the corner.

Jacinda Ardern aims to to bring the New Zealand Maori philosophy of ‘guardianship’ of the environment into politics.

nothing to fear jacinda ardern urges world leaders

weforum Prince William aka HRH Duke of Cambridge, Prime Minister of New Zealand and Labor Party leader
Jacinda Ardern, Dr. Dixon Chibanda of Zimbabwe discuss mental health and friendship bench

One of the panelists was Dr. Dixon Chibanda of Zimbabwe. He is one of a total of 12 psychiatrists in the country of Zimbabwe, to serve a population of more than 16 million. He conceived of the idea of training grandmothers to essentially – listen – and the program has been wildly successful. HE created and implemented the ‘practice’ called a Friendship Bench. He talks of the Friendship Bench in this TED talk. Grandmothers in Zimbabwe are trained in cognitive behavioral evidence based talk-therapy; empowering them with the skills to listen, show empathy and provide emotional support.

The grandmothers have actually been more effective than doctors, in treating depression, anxiety, addictions and for patients’ overall success rates.

Grandmother Jack in Zimbabwe helped to pioneer the Friendship Bench program

Grandmother Jack was one of the first grandmothers in Zimbabwe, empowered to provide evidence-based talk therapy. She saw 256 clients whose lives were improved dramatically. She is now deceased.

The Friendship Bench has since been adopted worldwide.

It has morphed to not be simply Grandmothers, but for peers to sit with each other to listen and show their support.  Certainly it helps dramatically the people who are suffering from physical or mental illness, or addiction and emotional trauma. And most brilliantly it also empowers the person who is trained as the listener, who can provide emotional support and empathy.

The Friendship Bench looks to get peers talking to each other about depression, suicide and mental health

friendship bench london for peers to talk to each other openly

Carol Keiter aka nomadbeatz welcomes donations for her writing, photography, illustrations, eBook & music composition

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bicycle before sunflowers

True Leaders Discuss Climate Change Solutions | Invest Your Time in this Critical Town Hall Discussion

I have not been writing any blogs because I am diving into completing my book. However I found this discovery of a town hall meeting that took place December 3rd, to be critical to share.

Town Hall Discussion on Climate Change

“U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) hosted a national town hall on Monday, Dec. 3, aimed at addressing the global threat of climate change and exploring solutions that can protect the planet from devastation and create tens of millions of good-paying jobs.

Sanders was joined by 350.org founder and author Bill McKibben; actress, activist and Our Revolution board member Shailene Woodley; CNN host and author Van Jones; Earth Guardians Youth Director Xiuhtezcatl Martinez; Congresswoman-Elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; Union of Concerned Scientists Director of Climate Science Dr. Brenda Ekwurzel; Dr. Camilla Bausch, President of Ecologic Institute; and Dale Ross, mayor of Georgetown, Texas

the Photo Ark | Half-Earth Project | Plastic Ocean | Dolphin Deaths Sonar-Seismic Tests | Patriotism to Finance the Military Industrial GDP > Ecocide

We are creatures that live on a miraculous planet with a plethora of life forms that are phenomenally beautiful and intriguing in their intricacies of form and behavior. A world of intelligent systems, from how the wind and water moves, to living soil that nourishes flora that in turn house and nourish fauna. All these systems are intelligent and continually interacting. Without all of this life, we would have a very dull, one-dimensional existence. In fact, we wouldn’t exist at all; not without the birds, bees, trees, ants, bacteria, rain, plasma. Yet we sort of forget about it and go about our lives entrenched in our habits: patterns of movement, acquisition of materials and societal norms that compel us to adhere to certain standards and activities. Many of our actions that don’t appear to be harmful in any way because they are accepted as standard – everyone else does it – are extravagant and fully damaging to all life systems on earth. Yet, we are magical beings. We have intricate bodies, minds and imaginations. We are capable of so, so much more. There is so much beauty on the earth. Soil gives nutrients to plants. The sun infiltrates and charges life. Water provides life. One drop of water is fragile beauty, an ocean is a reservoir of life and power. Taking oil out of the crevices of the earth, is like draining blood vessels. Mining and splitting the earth is like slicing and tearing away skin. Do you feel joy exchanging a smile with another being? Delight in interacting with another creature? Do you realize that you have the choice through joining in your actions with many other people together, to make this earth into a paradise in a multitude of ways? Simply by making the decision and joining others to change habits and become the life force that walks away from the path of destruction and the monetary system within which we are entrenched. If we all do this together, it will actually be a spiritual leap of faith.

Joel Sartore the Photo Ark

Joel Sartore decided to photograph every life form. He’s the founder of the Photo Ark ” groundbreaking effort to document species before they disappear—and to get people to care while there’s still time.” The BBC did a feature on his work The man who takes studio photos of endangered species. as well.

At the same time, E.O. Wilson’s incentive is to catalogue all of earth’s species. He’s established the Biodiversity Foundation’s Half-Earth Project. “Half-Earth proposes an achievable plan to save our imperiled biosphere: to devote half the surface of the Earth to nature. In order to stave off the mass extinction of species, including our own, we must move swiftly to preserve the biodiversity of our planet”, says Edward O. Wilson.

E.O. Wilson’s Biodiversity Foundation and Half-Earth Project

https://eowilsonfoundation.org/half-earth-our-planet-s-fight-for-life/

The reason I bring these people up who wish to remind us of what is out there and encourage us to do what we can to save their lives, is because we have come down a path that is wiping them out. Our habits of sophisticated locomotion, comfortable surroundings, tastes for food and beverages and entertainment, conveniences, comforts and luxuries as humans, come with a cost to the rest of the living planet and wildlife.

Certify your Garden to Wildlife; your yard, deck, windowsill, roof, local park or school. Learn what you can do, and do it.

We are suffocating our atmosphere, putting toxins into our soils, choking our planet’s coastlines, waterways and oceans with plastic. An article in a New Zealand paper a year ago states, “Drowning our marine life in a growing sea of plastic.” 27 Mar, 2017

Plastic Ocean Still from Australian documentary NZHerald

Plastic Oceans Foundation is a global charitable organization that aims to change the worlds’ attitude to plastic in a single generation. They’ve created a film Plastic Ocean. Here’s the trailer of A Plastic Ocean.

Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Five major collections of garbage due to ocean currents.

Particles of plastic of all shapes and sizes are being found in the farthest islands from civilization, inside the stomachs of migratory birds and in whales. Researchers indicate that they find typically 100 to 200 pieces of plastic in the stomachs of birds. A beached whale had more than a 1,000 pieces of plastic in its stomach. As plastic gets baked in the sun and tossed around, it breaks into smaller and smaller pieces, and is often misidentified as food all along the food chain of ocean creatures.

Boyan Slat: How we will rid the oceans of plastic

 

Fortunately, there are a number of individuals and groups of people who recognize this and are doing fantastic things to mitigate problems from deforestation to replanting, cleaning, finding ways to dissuade  people from using plastics, educate them, devise ways to encourage people to recycle and exchange plastic for currency and who are cleaning it up.

 

 

Yet the reason that I started this blog was when I learned of several dolphin stranding events that occurred a weekend ago. And as I was putting together this article, a week later another stranding happened. I found plenty of articles showing a correspondence between naval sonar exercises as well as industrial seismic testing with mass stranding events (landing out of the water and unable to swim back in) of various marine mammals. I’m talking about species that are social, intelligent, humorous, playful and gregarious. I’ve written to several international marine mammal groups and several responded, yet none indicated a direct association to naval sonar exercises or petroleum exploration recent enough to indicate that their seismic testing may have affected these pods. I however, am inclined to think that if these were previously associated, with a correspondence between these underwater invasive sound activities that travel easily through the medium of water and are extremely loud, that these pulses would indeed affect these species who use echolocation to find their food, detect their predators and to navigate. If it has already been linked, why is it not recognized or talked about?

Senator for Queensland to Australia questions regarding Active Sonar

 

RIMPAC CPF Navy Warship Exercises

Comments steered me to references of naval (military) activities in the region where these recent dolphin deaths occurred. I was pointed to RIMPAC and Raytheon.  I looked up The Raytheon Company – a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics.

Raytheon gets $37 million SM-6 and SM-2 missiles contract modification Nov 27, 2018 in Maritime Security, Missiles & Bombs, News

I was told about RIMPAC, the Rim of the Pacific Exercise is the world’s largest international maritime warfare exercise. And found this very proud pro war-games propaganda video “News Alert – World’s Largest Naval Exercise Rimpac 2018 Begins, China Un-Invited”

Though the article a week ago regarding 145 Pilot Whales Found Dead on Remote New Zealand Beach, Nobody Knows Why (Pilot Whales are dolphins), I feel like there’s a silence about this. There have been discoveries of damaged tissue, acoustic trauma and hemorrhaging around the ear.

145 Pilot Whales Found Dead on Remote New Zealand Beach. Nobody Knows Why.

This article refers to the one that happened a few days ago. 51 Pilot Whales Die in Another Mass Stranding in New Zealand.

This somewhat recent article hints at sonar, but will not make a clear statement indicating that this was the cause. “Dead whales that washed up on Irish beaches ‘may have been killed by military sonar” Thursday 9 August 2018 “The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) said the strandings coincided with naval manoeuvres following the reported sighting of a foreign submarine in British waters. No connection between the whales’ deaths and the naval manoeuvres was established.” Hmmm, once again, no idea? No connection!

Greenpeace talks about whale and dolphin injury and deaths due to Seismic & Sonar Testing. They say that according to government estimates, 138,500 whales and dolphins will soon be injured and possibly killed along the east coast of the U.S., if exploration companies are allowed to use dangerous blasts of noise to search for offshore oil and gas. Just as the reports I read from the New Zealand government report on pathologies of marine mammals, none of the reports really divulged what may have caused the death. These are individuals working in a government office. I met an American who was a Climate Scientist working for the State of California who told me he was warned not to mention the word ‘global warming’ in any of his reports as early as 1991. He confided that his studies always lead to mentioning the phenomenon. I’m thinking that the lack of mentioning a correlation with sonar or seismic testing of the Australian government bureau may also be because the employees are dissuaded from mentioning this.

The Center for BiologicalDiversity is well aware of the deleterious impacts of sonar and seismic testing.

Seismic blasting diagram center for biologicaldiversity

The correlation is certainly there. Well, where exactly are our heads at? Certainly the Navy is going to be the last to admit that they’re killing dolphins.

I sent a letter of inquiry to a handful of international whaling organizations asking if they have any more information on this connection? I did receive several responses. So far, the two that wrote back didn’t make that correlation. The dolphins were too remote to get to before decomposition begins, which emulates the findings of damaged tissue from sonar or seismic activity, then it’s too late to detect specific deterioration from what had been the cause. I asked if they were aware of autopsies being conducted regarding signs of deafness, damaged tissues, acoustic trauma or hemorrhaging around the ear? Mentioning that although certainly ingestion of plastics is a tremendous problem leading to toxicity and death, the stranding of an entire group points to an event that effected them during a fixed period of time.

They didn’t find this correlation. One responded with an official New Zealand government link to Marine Mammal Pathology Reports, which upon perusing a few, I didn’t see any indicating plastic or naval sonar. In fact, none of them point to any projected cause.  I investigated current 2018 Australian Naval exercises, didn’t yet find any specific report (to the public) but found for example this. The NZ response mentioned that “The most recent petroleum seismic survey in New Zealand finished on 30 Mar 2018, so this is unlikely to be related.”

 

I guess PTSD isn’t considered with respect to marine mammals who’ve been forced to exposure of extremely loud noises. Of course it is disruptive and cumulative. Of course it would lead to deafness and affect the function of sensitive organs , when one’s entire operating system – echolocation – relies on subtle sound detection.

 

A naval report Thales to Upgrade Sonars on Australia’s fleet of Collins-class Submarines with a lot of military propaganda. “Australia’s strategic priority on enhancing its submarine capability will be supported by Thales through major upgrades of the sonar systems on all six Collins class submarines. A$230million contract with Thales is part of a A$542million project approved by the Australian Government for the upgrade of the Collins class sensor capabilities, the key to extending the life and the regional superiority of the Collins fleet.”

In the meantime I’d just watched this video by Robert Reich, THE MONOPOLIZATION OF AMERICA: The Biggest Economic Problem You’re Hearing Almost Nothing About He explains that a century ago there were anti-trust laws preventing any company from getting too large, but they disappeared during the Reagan years. Reich points out that the less businesses there are in competition, the more that the few who are in control can create their own prices as well as the wage standards. No competitor, no problem, for those making the rules.

Robert Reich Monopolization of America Monsanto Owns Genetically most soy and corn

Robert Reich Monopolization of America Walmart Drives Down Workers Wages

Robert Reich Monopolization of America Health Care Monopolies 2015

Robert Reich Monopolization of America Health Care Monopolies 2016

And then I saw this bit of information

The USA according to what businesses ‘control’ each state. Walmart Nation, Health Care Boeing

I noticed how odd it is that Health Care is a business, an obviously really, really big moneymaker. Hmmm, and then Boeing, a weapons manufacturer. ok. The Boeing Company is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. Yes, the same Boeing which Withheld Information on 737 Model, According to Safety Experts and Others. You know, that most recent airline crash in Indonesia.C

Military/Naval use of seismic testing to detect enemy submarines and underwater electronic weapons testing and industrial exploration to detect resources they wish to split open the earth to access. These I believe are completely in synch with the stranding, um, lets call it mass death.

Stranding sounds too harmless, a better word is ECOCIDE. If there is any correlation to the fact that this has occurred once, it means that the people of the world who are continuing an activity that they consciously know is killing another species, I would say is killing, silently, without regard. And as long as they can keep a lid on it, they will.

Well, hmmm. The technology for war and manufacturing – seismic testing – is causing staggering loss.

Transnational BANKS, CORPORATE INDUSTRIAL Monopolies and MILITARY > are DRIVING RELENTLESS GROWTH and FINANCING EXTINCTION.

There have been suggests on many fronts that we need to reintroduce the commons, so treasured land and water and air resources are commonly held among all of the people. And in the process of valuing, establishing parks and community gardens and places for people to come together in the arts and sciences, all people can participate in building this community; re establishing the common wealth and common health, as George Monbiot eludes to in Common Wealth 2nd October 2017

Federal Budget the Costs of Being an Empire

Joseph E. Stiglitz wrote on November 1, 2018 The American Economy Is Rigged, And what we can do about it “Markets do not exist in a vacuum: they are shaped by rules and regulations, which can be designed to favor one group over another.”

The military is big business. It’s not just about defense, it’s integrated into the economic system, manufacturing, jobs, investments, just like  big industry. These have a presence in all powerful countries. So the scale is continually tipped towards investments and money, with the natural environment and the preservation of life and wilderness, not good for finances. This massive infrastructure of manufacturing weapons, building sophisticated information systems, to fleets of ships, submarines and jets, and upgrading technology to be the most powerful to penetrate everything, to be the feared and powerful enemy, is all part of the global market, keeping business and money, flowing.

Most of the wealthy nations and multinational companies that bolster this military presence, basically adhere to the same stance: war, might, deterrence and growing the GDP in profits in the multi-billions: USD $, AUD $, GBP £, EUR €, CNY ¥, CAD C$, HKD HK$, INR Rs., JPY ¥….

And all of us are participating in one way or another. Grade schools are grooming kids to stay in line. Patriotism plays a big role as well. Patriotism to the school, to the country. Military is considered honorable. Media and broadcast TV show idols. We are encouraged as young adults to decide what we wish to provide through our services to the world. We start working or enter into vocational schools, colleges and universities. The military in its different guises is a lure, secure income, free education. Many students are persuaded to study not necessarily what they feel the most connection to, but what will make the most money. Along with consolidating companies, minds are getting shrunk into mirroring this value of money and profit above all else. Thing is, it’s maybe not so easy to decipher how what they are doing for their work is affecting other life. We have this extraordinarily beautiful earth and delightful creatures whose habitat continues to shrink as the big box stores, the Walmarts, the Coscos, the Starbucks, the CVS…keep building more and more branches, mowing down trees and tasteful buildings and paving more parking lots as cities all over the USA have the same ugly car-centered peripheral sprawl of all of the chains and box stores. Is that really what we want? Or are we sort of indoctrinated into thinking that we need to keep buying, that this is what life is all about. And we keep feeling a crunch of money and time, and keep rushing to go out and buy more. It is perhaps difficult to find the time or space or luxury to step back and know that our work and habits may be contributing to some very nasty stuff. But perhaps it’s not quite in our consciousness, and therefore not really in our conscience to be bothered if the work we do isn’t meaningful or is paving the way to more destruction of our natural world? Perhaps the huge narcotic epidemic in the USA is because of all of this emphasis on financial wealth and power, with little connection to how much we are violating the earth and the habitats of its creatures. I’d rather see a bunch of fields of flowers and groves of trees, bicycle paths, community gardens and fruit and nut trees in parks than more Walmarts or other box stores. I think a lot of people would be a lot healthier and happier if they were out with friends and families playing outdoors and interacting with one another in parks than having to have the newest and latest fashion, shoes, watches, phones, computers, tv monitors, cars. We are sort of drilled into thinking that we need all this stuff, and that ‘getting the best deal is more important’ than the fact that Walmart has wiped out all of your local markets, that Amazon has put all your favorite little shops out of business and that there’s hardly any green left as these massive businesses keep slapping them up as fast and efficiently and cheaply as they can.

This is violence to the earth and its creatures. Building more and more box commercial chains, outlets, malls appears to be what people want, but I think its a seduction game into making people feel that they NEED these things to be loved and lovable. Or that an engine is an extension of one’s manhood and therefore showing someone’s worth. Fighting so called enemies in wars, drilling, fracking, draining, cutting, slicing, spoiling environments, destroying beauty and habitats is violence to the being (the earth and its creatures) which is our life support system which gave us the gift of life and all of these wonderful creatures to watch in endearment to share it with. How far can a person go making choices, or simply not paying attention to the repercussions of their actions? How long can people distract themselves and not have the community resources to understand how their habits are affecting creatures near and far? Many are so time-challenged and consumed with making ends meet their tastes, that they do not comprehend the larger picture, nor wish to.

Humans are highly social creatures. As babies, we learn through watching, listening and observing our surroundings with all of our senses Then we adapt into discovering who we are through interactions with our parents, at school, with teachers, peers. Cultural institutions monitor us and guide us. Modern western man over a period of time shifted to a very comfort driven, consumer oriented culture in the land of plenty. And this idolatry for gadgets and all that glistens and gives us glamour and freedom, comes at a cost.

Just when we were catching on to all that money can buy, we started to get more indoctrinated into being patriotic to our countries. As war became the focus with WWI, this marriage of industry and government seemed to launch. People were living well, standard of living associated with goods manufactured and profits made through war. In the latter part of the last century, more businesses consolidated, and the money firmly linked to the government and continually to weapons manufacture and war.

Do I sound unpatriotic? If Patriotism implies looking the other way when the means of employment is to build weapons, approach other people by trying to overpower them instead of looking another human being in the eye, or regarding any creature as a subject that is incredible with fascinating life, to destroy it because it’s in the way of my profit, or choke it’s air, pollute it’s water and soil and basically kill anything that gets in the way of the corporation or state, then yes indeed, I am not patriotic.

A song by the British band The English Beat talks satirically about youth being indoctrinated into working in industries making weapons or things you don’t need that will screw up everything it touches. That’s a pretty common understanding these days.

The English Beat song Get a Job

There’s a training course
boys and girls of real ambition
start a new job in a factory
where they’re making ammunition
but it makes them think of stealing
when they read between the lines
through the owners of this funfair
you won’t find a ride you like
just get-a-job, get-a-job

manufacture rubbish
although no one can afford it
you could make a profit
more than anyone deserves
so you find you’re left with poison
so you dump it in our water
and so create the kind of problems
only radiation cures
through get-a-job, get-a-job
get-a-job, get-a-job

oh you young people are revolting
8 to 5 life should give the jolt needed
in a few years you won’t feel quite the same
you’ll be playing their get-a-job game
games games games games

there’s a training camp when
you come from saving nations
get a new job and a new leg
social rehabilitation
every time you thing of leaving
you get caught between the lines (lies)
it’s the training for the funfair
you get taken for a ride
you! get-a-job get-a-job
just get-a-job, get-a-job
just get-a-job, get-a-job

Oh, it’s an understanding that things may suffer from the job, but completely misunderstood that the person is choosing to do something that is really bad for their own spirit and health and bad for others, bad for our living planet, bad for life systems and destroying biodiversity.

That’s why I feel so much hope when a youthful person stands up and says what many adults are not wanting to talk about or hear. The 15 year old Swedish girl,Greta Thunberg made a speech in English in London at theExtinction Rebellion launch. She went on a school strike and then Greta sat before the Swedish Parliament stating that the government and the grownups are doing NOTHING, regardless of all the facts.

Greta’s powerful speech to Swedish people before the Parliament

There are individuals and entrepreneurs and nations taking action to deal with plastic crisis. But there’s nothing more important than recognizing that change can happen. Coming through education and arts and activities within your own communities. We can drive that change. If one young girl has already sparked and inspired students in Australia, in another continent, this can ripple. We need to look very, very hard, at what we are choosing, so that we don’t lose what is most precious. You may think your own immediate children are the most precious, but what if there are no trees, woods, grasses, available food, no clean oceans or rivers or lakes, or air, and no other life? It is an astoundingly clear choice to me. We’ve got to make some changes, and we’re going to do this together. And plenty of people are pointing the way, and your own ideas will be as valuable as anyones, collaboratively we will create this change.

Greta states in her speech before the Swedish Parliament, “To all of you who choose to look the other way every day because you seem more frightened of the changes that can prevent catastrophic climate change than the catastrophic climate change itself. Your silence is almost worst of all. The future of all the coming generations rests on your shoulder. Every single person counts. Just like every single emission counts. Every single kilo. Everything counts.”

Geert Weggenhe Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2018

Global Warming. Climate Change. Climate Justice. Ben & Jerry’s

Stop Look Smile
Appreciate All Life
It’s Free

Joel Sartore photo ark picture and the blogger, Carol Keiter

What can I say? I simply did not want to break up how I wish to present these topics, because they are integrally interrelated.