Brief Recess

Lithium Will Keep Us Together

2011-06-26T09:13:00.001-07:00

The lesson of The Seeker has rested gently on my mind. Is humankind like a “passel” of dogs where each dog rips and tears for itself? This was my frame of mind as I listened to President Obama’s recent address to the nation.

Thankfully, my disorientation as I heard an American president talk about concentrating on the United States and its people by withdrawing troops from Afghanistan was short lived. This could not be, I thought, America cannot be doing such a thing. We just might be more than a pack of feral dogs.

Then, I took a deep breath and remembered an article I had read at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html and with a sense of resignation accepted that the dismal future forecast in my fears is probably not capable of being averted.

Comically, I thought about that old song: “Love will keep us together” and could hear it in my mind with a slight change in words. Now it was “Lithium will keep us together”. It really has a beat to it when you think about it. Can’t remember whether it was the Captain and Tennille or Sonny and Cher, but you get my drift here.

So I yawned and sadly got ready for bed, knowing that everything, while not all right, was as expected. The status quo would continue on the path of deterioration of the present level of existence for most of us. The president’s assurances seemed to my cynical self as just another bait and switch to keep the peasants from seeing. Yep, an affirmation sadly that there is no way folks are gonna wake up.

This put me in mind of India and my recent visit there earlier this year; the dirty skies, the constant inhalation of particulate matter, and the sad knowledge that this is going on not only in India, but also in China and the rest of the developing nations of the world.

Of greater concern to a minority of us is that the degradation is already starting in America as the populous begins to view environmental regulation as the Satan that prevents economic growth. No one seems to realize that the absolute continued pursuit of personal benefit at all costs leads to absolute failure of our system. Most folks just don’t see that greed must be regulated. There, I have said it.

Is it time to get messianic? Will it make a difference? Is there free will or is man truly an animal unable to change his nature? Can the message of love, caring and concern voiced by the enlightened for eons find fertile ground without perversions and exceptions that permit hatred “just some of the time?” I think not.

The Seeker Returns

2011-06-07T13:47:00.000-07:00

Just when you think that certain experiences are behind you, you look up and there is one ahead of you. While recently at my country retreat known as Brief Recess, I went out to the barn to check on the tractor and noticed a fleeting shadow as I approached the door. I paused and looked again, closely. Then I heard his voice.

“Come on inside here before you get sunstroke out there with no hat,” the familiar voice called out.

I walked on inside to the coolness of the barn. My eyes adjusted and there he was, just twirling something like screw driver with a leather string through the handle around his index finger. He was wearing the same white shirt with the familiar pall mall cigarette hanging from his lip.

What, I wondered, was he doing here? Did he have some wisdom to impart about the crazy current happenings in our country and the world? I fumbled around and finally spoke to him. “It’s been over five years since we last talked, I think.”

“Well,” he grunted, “you seemed to be kinda perturbed and I didn’t want to see you bust your bonnet over whatever you got in your craw. Had some time off and thought I would drop in and see how you were doing.”

I related that I had retired from the judging business, started doing a little gardening and traveling around in the world.

“But something ain’t right, is it?” he inquired.

“Nope,” I admitted. “The world seems to be getting a little crazy in some respects and I feel sorta powerless as one person to do anything about it.”

“Does the way that the nation is behaving in the world, does it kinda remind you of the alpha dog in the pen full of hounds at feeding time?” He said while grinning broadly.

“You know, that is sorta the feeling I get; what with all the frustration everybody is venting about politics, about the lack of jobs, and the feeling that everybody’s standard of living is in jeopardy. I mean we don’t seem to see a need to maintain the status quo, but just seem to keep on with each individual just wanting more and more.”

“Yep, that’s lead dog behavior in the pen all right,” he remarked. “Reckon the dog getting put in a pen all by his self will calm him down any?”

“Not sure what you’re getting at here,” I replied. “But sometimes I do separate out the big dog if he gets too rough on the others, eating more than his share and all“.

“Think about it,” he said. “The nature of the world has a balance to it. When one part starts acting up, another part acts in a way to provide a counter balance. What you got to hope for is that no one part gets so caught up in its sense of individuality that it forgets it is a part of the rest. It is the same with the dog pen.”

“And so,” I asked, “your point is what?”

He looked at me thoughtfully and replied, “you gotta hope that the dogs don’t all get to snarling and fighting to the point that they tear down the whole darned dog pen.”

As I pondered this point, I heard thunder overhead, looked back at the barn door, then looked at where he had been. He was gone, but I thought I heard him chuckling somewhere in the eternal distance.
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Contortions, Contractions, Contradictions

2011-06-04T04:30:00.000-07:00

Everyone is talking today about the changes we observe happening here and all over the world. People are uncomfortable from Peoria to Paris. Social upheaval ripples from New Delhi to New Zealand to New Bedford. Tunisia to Tripoli finds everyone seeking a solution. Can these concerns be understood? Perhaps we can see an outline.

Mawkish nostalgia has met avant-garde and the results are really WOW!
Just the other day it seems, we learned from the writings of Upton Sinclair about the need for regulation in the meat packing industry to make food safer to eat.

Now minority forces seek to convince us that the prevailing sentiment in America has changed. That regulation in any form is bad! The magic hand of the free market will solve all problems. Proponents of this doctrine say we need to expand conditions that will support innovation and create solutions to the problems faced by the world. Supposedly, government (which is all of us lest we forget) artificially tied the hands of economic growth in the past and now the fetters must come off.

Tremendous improvements brought about by government programs in the past are ignored. Rural electrification, spend-offs from the space industry, results in medical research that extend and enhance the quality of life, and other items achieved through education are all being ignored by those who now say that government is bad.

Particularly repugnant to a reasoning mind is the manner in which a minority seeks to achieve the goal of less government. The masses of people are being manipulated as never before through devices that have nothing to do with the issue. The issue should be how we make our lives better through our combined efforts known as governance, not the destruction of such a "standing together" to bring about great things.

Although most people would prefer a job, a place to live and the security that these things would be there tomorrow, opponents already financial secure see such an extension of basic life benefits to the rest of the citizenry as a threat to their security. These opponents have now adopted the use of symbols to divide or divert attention from the real purpose of government.

These symbols are better called “red herrings”. One major symbol injected into the political process in this country is fundamentalist religion. The rank hypocrisy of use of such a symbol in the political process is illustrated by the fact that the armed forces of the United States are engaged in fighting two wars against population factions in foreign countries to prevent self-governance there by a religious process, fundamentalist Islam. Why? Because fundamentalist Islam demeans the rights of people to choose a more secular life style!

Alternatively, in America, the forces that would reduce government and destroy its force for good are turning more and more to introduction of divisive religious issues into the political equation. Campaigns are conducted to place religious idols, monuments or items in public places without regard to religious rights of others. Intrusive free speech is exercised to attempt to degrade the death of soldiers at their funerals. Laws are sought to attempt to govern behavior between consenting sexual parties. Some groups are even inspired to interfere with questions of private, personal ethics like abortion when a future mother’s life is in danger.

Many of the people engaged in such religious campaigns are earnest in their belief that their religious duty is to create such theocratic constraints on the public. What many of them fail to see is that their beliefs make them subject to being manipulated.

When political issues dealing with government at any level are debated, the stance that a political candidate may have taken with regard to a social religious issue is often used to discredit him or her. So, the end result is that the very people who would benefit most from election of candidate A are forced to turn away from that candidate because they think that survival of their immortal soul requires it. Candidate B is elected because that candidate made the right decision on a non-relevant religious issue, even though the needs of the electorate on relevant issues is thwarted.

Yes, the American Taliban has been born and prospers. The issue is no longer whether we should be pooling resources to investigate and find new ways to continue to prosper. The issue is whether we should divert, divide and destroy what would otherwise be a common will to collectively serve the interests of all individuals in our country.

Ideas no longer compete on merit. As resources have shrunk, civility of political discourse no longer allows a discussion of the greater good.

What should be discussed is the REAL issue. Individualism versus collectivism should be the prevailing issue. Is it better to continue to isolate ourselves in individual plots or merge together in a larger area? Is it wiser for each of us to float in a tiny canoe or for all of us to get in a large boat?

Lost in the discussion is the possibility of solutions that occupy a middle of the road position. The issue is now become a parody on the question: Can you be a little bit pregnant?

Gone are the distinctions of the caterpillar and the butterfly. Kill a caterpillar and you have killed a butterfly. The details of natural interplay in the life of the caterpillar, the events that can and do happen before that caterpillar (if lucky enough) becomes a butterfly, have all been forgotten as the search for normalcy centers on absolutes.

Somewhere, somehow, humankind has become a separate entity from the rest of the world. Instead of being a part of creation, we have grown apart from creation. Lost is the field of reference for consideration of our existence.

We should remember the Hindu proverb:
Rivers do not drink their own water. Trees do not eat their own fruit. Clouds do not swallow their own rain. What great ones have is always for the benefit of others.

We Should Care

2011-04-06T07:42:00.000-07:00

Today, April 5, 2011, was a rough day. In the early morning hours, a storm attacked my home in Tallahassee, Florida, with great ferocity. In my own yard, three magnificent Red Oaks were laid to rest alongside the grave of my revered golden retriever, Chelsea of Lancaster Park. Chelsea was undisturbed, however, and continues her rest unabated.

The same cannot be said for those of us who still live and breathe. My heart was touched tonight as I read the comments of an aged minister in the comments section of a computer newspaper in the town where I was born and raised. The newspaper, titled the Madison Voice (and comment), which can be read at http://madisonfloridavoice.net/?p=17379&cpage=1#comment-15914, certainly tugged at my heart strings.

Our world, here and abroad, has erupted in a realization of the tightening of available resources. Abroad, the youth in other countries are turning against corruption and the defiling of sacred honor of self and others. Here at home, we are caught up in a web of turning against our old—perhaps because they offer a softer target than that faced by the younger generations in countries of the Middle East. There, in those places, the angst of what happens tomorrow is directed with great honesty against those who are stealing the future of the young.

While revolution abroad attacks the incumbent and corrupt leaderships that exist in those countries, we turn instead against our teachers, against those who care for our young, and against our elderly. It is a sad commentary and one of which no right thinking individual can be proud. While those who have robbed and pillaged for generations in foreign countries face a quandary and possibly the gallows, here at home we have turned against our strengths in what appears to be a resolve to reveal the most venial in ourselves. We refuse to live within our means. We refuse to face up to our responsibilities for our young and our elderly in order that we can reap great profits for ourselves in the moment.

Meanwhile, our brethren in foreign lands take a different stance and demand that corrupt leadership yield to those with better ideas and hope for the future. Such a picture of us in this day can only produce a picture tomorrow which will be an embarrassment to our descendants. Perhaps the words of the ancient prophets do not ring hollow near this anniversary of the surrender of the confederacy of the southern insurrection, along with anniversaries of the season that remembers the deaths of Martin King and Robert Kennedy; perhaps the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children for generations. If such is the case, could not those who forecast doom for this generation indeed have an eye and an ear to the future? A future filled with the screams of agony of those who refused to face up to those who have stolen our tomorrows and our hopes for a brighter day for us or at least our descendants!

Enough you are saying. Perhaps you are right. Perhaps it is time to take my sleeping pill and go to bed. After all, tomorrow is a work day and we must not think of why we are working or for whom. We do not have the courage to undertake the task proposed by such a question. All of which may dictate that we do not have the mentality or the will to keep any semblance of a society that exists for the betterment of all and prevention of its exploitation by social psychopaths on the right and the left of the political spectrum.

All I can say is: While you may be right, it still makes me wonder why those in the rest of the world want so much and are willing to give all for what so many here deem to be so little.

India: The Elusive, The Eloquent or Misery?

2011-02-20T09:49:00.000-08:00

After an absence of about 44 years, myself and two companions traveled back to India. We planned to look around the area of Ludhiana, Punjab where we were all stationed as U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers during the period of 1965-67. We wanted to see what had changed, as well as view some other areas of the rest of the country that we had missed before. We pretty well accomplished those goals during a journey that I term "traveling to the eye of the tiger."

Our flight landed in New Delhi around 1:15 A.M. on January 14, 2011. After gathering our luggage and clearing customs, we met our driver and headed to the hotel. We noted what appeared to be heavy smog and asked the driver about it. He pointed out that the smog was not that bad and was simply a result of the fall weather. Somehow I thought the answer was less than the full story. I was not wrong.

If this were a travelogue, I would go into detail about every site we visited. Time and space constraints do not provide such an opportunity, so I will only comment on what I considered the truly high spots of the trip (for pictures of the trip by retired photographer and newsman Charles L.Griffin, a member of our trio, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/clgriffin/sets/).

Following our arrival and visits to some historical sites in New Delhi, we took the train to Agra, the site of the world famous Taj Mahal. It is a truly awesome place that I had only seen from the train during my sojourn here many years ago. Definitely, it is a "must visit" for anyone who goes to India.

Also, do not miss what I call the "love temples" of Khajuraho. Most of the temples were constructed during the period of 900 to 1000 A.D. and depict in stone carvings all forms of exotic love-making by the populous of that day. I was struck by the innocence with which these people viewed the most basic of human drives. That these temples and intricate erotic carvings, made with the simplest of tools, have survived to the present day is a wonder and a tribute to the artistic appreciation of those who later came to rule the area.

The Ganges River flows majestically through India. It symbolizes so much of what this country is about. The ever constant rhythm of life, the acceptance of what is and what may be; these are all reflected in the face of this great tributary. Located on the river is the city of Benaras, or Varanasi as it is now called, Here you will find the famous "burning ghats" where disposal of bodily remains of the Hindu faithful continues to occur. This part of India seemed unchanged to me from my previous visit almost half a century before.

Nearby is Bodhgaya, the city where Lord Buddha found enlightenment under the Banyan tree around 500 B.C. He then preached his first sermon at a place called Sarnath. The effect of this religion or philosophy and its impact is truly felt when you visit these places.

Always through these travels, we were constantly aware of the terrific population of India, straining at all boundaries to accommodate 1.2 billion people within a national area which is one third the size of the United States. Population growth is estimated to continue unabated with the number of people in India eclipsing China's 2 billion souls by 2017.

Along side the growth of population is the deterioration in air quality, not to mention the voluminous amount of trash visible everywhere, mainly in the form of discarded plastic bags and bottles. Smoke stacks without "scrubbers" belch out noxious fumes and particle matter around the clock. Contaminated water, a historical problem for India, has grown worse.

In terms of economic activity, however, India is leaping forward. While inflationary pressures abound, there is an expectation of 8.3 percent economic growth in the coming year. As stated by an old friend, originally from India, "prosperity has come to India." One must wonder if the prosperity will be worth it in the long run.

New Delhi with 14 million people and 6 million automobiles proudly stands as the capital city of this great country. Here the Republic Day Parade on January 26, 2011, displayed all the grandeur and glory of India. Be aware that the military might of India has increased. The country maintains the second largest army in the world behind that of China. Now manufacturing its own war materials, inclusive of fighter jets, India is a nuclear power to be reckoned with by the rest of the world.

My "home town" of Ludhiana, once what could be called an agricultural city of 400,000 people, is situated in Punjab state. It has grown to about 1.5 million people with a concomitant increase in its manufacturing base. A textile center for the country, the blue skies and simple farming scenes of my youth in Ludhiana are no more.

Just when the pleasant thought of the India of yesterday with its many problems but simplicity of life, collided with the present overwhelming dismay of maddening crowds and honking of car horns, the beauty of the Himalayas provided us with a brief respite. Simila was declared the summer capitol of India in days of yesteryear. It remains a pleasant place to visit in the foothills of these most majestic of the world's mountains, although it is no longer the lovely alpine-like village of my memory. Growth has come even to this lovely place where homes are stacked against the mountainsides in unbelievable numbers.

A visit to India would not be complete without a reference to the tiger. Once bountiful in supply, the national population of theses great felines has decreased to about 1,411 animals. Approximately 161 of these magnificent cats reside in Jim Corbett National Park. Throughout India's national park system, efforts are being made to save the country's national mascot from extinction. Jim Corbett offers an opportunity to catch a glimpse of the tiger, if you are lucky. Whether you see a tiger or not, a trip to India inoculates you with a mixture of love for this great country and its wonderful people, as well as a deep concern for the future of the world's largest democracy.

Energy Cannot Be Destroyed

2010-05-04T16:48:00.000-07:00

A young, brilliant economist with whom I am acquainted (he is my nephew) recently wrote a column in his blog. He maintains that nothing needs to change because energy is not destroyed, but merely altered through its use. Admittedly, he has a point. What is sadly lacking, however, is the technology today to derive energy from the discharged results of, say, the internal combustion engine. Today we call those discharges “pollutants.” We know that pollutants will eventually destroy our environment and ability to have any existence.
If we review available energy alternatives, most reviewers agree that use must be made of all known alternative sources in the future. Even then, economic growth will never equal what we have known during this age of fossil fuels.
Many look to cold fusion to fuel civilization in the days to come. If that theory can be brought within the realm of the practical, it may well provide the answer that will send man to the stars and beyond. Today, unfortunately, practicality of cold fusion is elusive.
Energy from the use of nuclear power plants has its own set of problems that technology today cannot resolve. In addition, the cost of such plants is prohibitive in today’s economy.
Most of the population does, however, assume that yesterday’s truths will always be truth. It happened yesterday, hence it will happen tomorrow. This has been dubbed the “recency” effect by persons studying human behavior and their acceptance or denial of inevitable change.
The God of technology has served our species well to date. It may well be short-sighted to think that there are limits to what we can achieve through known technology. But, the laws of Thermodynamics are immutable. When you have converted all the energy in fossil fuels to another unusable form, the human species will be in deep do-do unless replacement alternatives are developed. Economic growth will not continue at the current pace.
Present indicators do not portend a form of available energy at that time in adequate amounts to permit folks to live in the same way in the future that they do today.
The impossibility of distant future living in the same way that we live today may not be bad. Life in the future is not without hope. While that life will be different than today, it may well be a better existence if everyone lives in a more cooperative fashion.
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The Future of Whale Bone Corsets

2010-04-07T06:19:00.000-07:00

The obdurate nature of humans has guaranteed their own demise. Even the most, well obdurate, among us concede that the day of plenty is fast drawing to a close. In the elapse of the century since use of the whale bone corset, cheap energy in the form of fossil fuel has brought amazing increases in human population and calamity to the planet. These increases have also brought knowledge and new technological levels.
In one day now, through the marvel of the internal combustion engine fueled by petroleum, one man and a machine can accomplish what forty men and mules did a century ago. The unbinding of energy that lay sleeping under the crust of the earth for millions of years has led to the creation of some good and much bad by that scamp we call human. A veritable Pandora’s Box has opened and from it has emerged a garrulous and hither before unseen human population on the globe that grasps, twists, and undulates like a great serpent that seeks to swallow itself.
Underlying all the scientific discovery permitting the defeat of much disease plaguing our species since its inception, has been growing yet another and more deadly disease: the destruction of the diversity that has permitted a delicately balanced and carefully tuned world to continue its existence. With the discovery of cheap energy have also come antibiotics and vaccinations. No longer is a cancerous like growing population stymied by the boundary of infection. Population increase, and its attendant problems and strains upon the maintenance of diversity, seems unabated.
Abatement is, however, on the way. Much like moral of the story of the little red hen, the “obdurate” nature of most individuals has led to enjoyment of the present with little regard for the future. Despite the brilliance of some minds in the eons of human evolution, the horrible reality of what happens next seems to have taken a back seat to heathenism. At a time when emphasis in on the individual and introspection of the individual’s needs and wants, most humans have forgotten or were never cognizant of their inclusion within that one huge group of all living humans. Each individual has regarded him or herself as a separate identity apart from the greater herd.
Individuals have at their core a need to obtain that which satisfies them through alliance with others that agree with them on those individual goals. When other alliances of individuals that may differ in seeking satisfaction are confronted, the result is conflict. Such conflict continues until there is resolution. Usually the only resolution is subjection of one alliance by another, a process called empire building. In today’s world, the process of empire building is reaching its apogee. Cheap energy has brought great knowledge with its concomitant population increases on the world. That cheap energy is now reaching the stage, as exemplified through the world economy, where it will be more and more expensive. Alliances have already begun to fight and struggle to obtain more of that sacred elixir called petroleum with the very possible conclusion that modern warfare could decree that corsets may be forever discarded along with the bodies that may have worn them.
In the event that such an apocalyptic result is avoided, chances are good for the future of whale bone corsets.
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Resource Valuation

2009-10-05T09:22:00.000-07:00

Money is the measuring stick by which we assign value to the ingredients of our lives. Whether it is food, medicine, or shelter, we assign a monetary value to the particular object of our expenditure.

A most interesting post at http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com shows just what an error often results from presuming a common value to energy resources. Value to these resources should be based on its source, its available quantity and what it can do in terms of efficiency or actual work.

John Michael Greer is the writer of the piece and he makes the following interesting observation:

In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith criticizes the notion – as common in his time as in ours – that money is the same thing as wealth. The wealth of a country, he points out, consists of the product of its natural resources and collective labor: in modern terms, it’s the sum total of the goods and services produced by a nation’s ecosystems and economy. In another place, though, he defines wealth as anything that can be valued in money. These definitions do not conflict with one another; rather, they make the crucial point that money is not wealth but the yardstick by which modern cultures measure wealth. This ought to be the first thing we teach children about money, though of course it isn’t.

Greer goes on to point out that economists erroneously apply the principles enunciated by Smith to reach the conclusion that the market will cure all ills.

This habit of thought pervades contemporary economics. For a relevant example, watch the way most economists these days brush aside the immense challenges of peak oil with the assurance that if oil ever does get scarce, the market will come up with alternatives. Implicit in this claim is the assumption that any energy source is as good as any other, and that the total amount in the system is effectively unlimited. This is true of money – one dollar bill is worth exactly the same amount as any other, and the total number of dollars in circulation is as close to limitless, these days, as the printing presses of the US Treasury can make it – but it is emphatically not true of energy resources, or of any other form of wealth.

All in all, Greer’s article is well written and worthy of a read by anyone who is concerned about the future. It further illustrates the need for a future society committed to cooperation in the utilization of finite resources.

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Does The Dream Live On?

2009-09-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

Recently, we witnessed the death of the last Kennedy brother. Progressives of the world wept while others cast a skeptical eye toward the legacy of the last great warrior of Camelot.

The fawning of the popular press is a good thing. It keeps analysis of any event within certain boundaries. Certainly, nothing less than honesty will do as history looks to the past and judges just who were the Kennedy’s and what did they bring to our great nation?

First, we must start with wealth. The wealth of the Kennedy family was accumulated in the days when resources were plentiful and efforts to “get all you could get” were not a comment of degradation. Interestingly, many on the right still profess that same philosophy with regard to shrinking resources of the present day.

Although an exponentially expanding population commands the exercise of responsibility in the utilization of what remains on the banquet table of civilization, there are those who decry the necessity for cooperation as humankind moves forward to (to borrow a phrase) a “new frontier” in the evolution of how we live and how we interact with one another.

Times are always changing as the circumstances of existence shift. Today, some are heart broken at the death of a man who, in days of yesteryear, lived much of his early private life in a manner that was already outdated and never in accord with the strictest standards of public approbation. Yet, this same man sought to bring others to the bar of public accountability. Some examples include his opposition to a former president who eschewed a respect for constitutional rights of the individual, including attempts to place unsuitable persons on the Supreme Court. Yes, the opposition of might and right to that former president and some later holders of the presidency appeared in the unlikely façade of a warrior with feet of clay. The silver haired “lion of the senate” rallied the media and public attention to these threats of danger to the republic. He continued to fight similar battles as the years passed. He never faltered in his efforts to provide the counter balance to certain conservative opinion, a counter balance so essential for the survival of a viable democracy.

All of which raises the question: Do we disregard the evil some would do to all of us? Do we disregard evil simply because he who defends us against that evil is not without sin? In my mind, we leap over the horns of the dilemma and save ourselves in response to the clarion call of the defender. We do not sleep silently while the storm rages destruction simply because the “wake up” call comes from one, who in his earlier personal life, practiced a life style which we could not endorse. No, we proceed to the ramparts to preserve that which is best in our society. We repel those who intentionally or mindlessly seek the downfall of all in favor of individual greed. Notably, it is a circle come to fruition as we observe that the valiant watchman and defender, whose altruistic actions saved us, originally came himself from wealth accumulated as a result of values outdated in our world.

So, in a maudlin way, good does triumph over evil. In the words of the late senator, “the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.”

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Relax, Don't Panic

2009-08-09T19:29:00.000-07:00

When we look at the “system” of creation and reality as most of us perceive it, a natural reaction is to panic and seek a solution to climate control, peak oil and other threats. This is a good thing. This is how civilization changes to cope with different circumstances.
Tools exist to help us deal with these matters. Technological avenues are explored. We define the problem. We begin to plot the solution, legislate it and eventually implement it despite the cries of those trapped by ignorance.
But the best laid plans can never escape the improbable, the event or events that are unseen and unexpected when they intervene. We cannot see or know that which we do not know.
Today we are told in some quarters that despite best efforts, it is too late. Human kind has soiled its nest, its earth, beyond the limits of redemption. The ice caps will melt, the oceans will flood, and our species will be extinguished.
A brief visit to http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/7/30/759435/-Global-Warming:-A-Path-Beyond-Denial-and-Despair shows the fallacy of such thinking. Human audacity is found in the egotism of despair. It is not a world that belongs to “us”. It is a world of which we are a part. Notably, even church clerics are coming around to this point of view in theological terms. Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori sent some shock waves through the religious community lately with her espousal of this idea. Go to http://www.religiondispatches.org/blog/sexandgender/1648/bishop_sends_shockwave%2C_slaying_the_sacred_cow_of_individual_salvation_%5Bincludes_an_online_comic%5D and read it for yourself.
In no way is it recommended that humankind, in a spirit of despair, desist from efforts to rectify damage to mother earth. Rather, such efforts should be redoubled with the confidence that although the outcome is almost a certainty, the earth will remain to rotate in time around the sun as long as the universe exists.
We have to come to peace with our place as a part of the earth, as opposed to being its dominator. Rest assured that while we bear responsibility to comport ourselves in a way that helps to continue the existence of this wonderful reality we enjoy, we must never forget our place as a mere part of it all.

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Life Energy

2009-07-30T06:38:00.000-07:00

An interesting speaker on a recent NPR program captured my attention as he opined that we live in a “culture of anticipation”. Perhaps that is what is wrong with all of us. We are always anticipating the next event. No one is content to sit and simply accept the NOW ! No one wants to simply listen to their own heartbeat.

Well, for my money, such a non-activity sounds pretty boring all right! Does this mean that I am an adrenalin junkie? Nope, and neither are most of the rest of us that are still alive. Sitting and watching a beautiful landscape is okay. Watching the birds and the clouds is okay. But just sitting and not even being engaged in reflection? Man, you gotta be stoned or, in my world, very weird.

This is not a cultural trait as much as it is a trait indigenous to our species. I believe that everyone, outside of some practitioners of certain mystical eastern religions, lives a life of anticipation to some extent. Because we are cognizant of a past, present and a future, we cannot help but wonder what that future holds for us. As we age, the envisioning of those events can become depressing for a lot of individuals. The reason for the depression is that we direct our attention to a long term future of which we cannot be a part.

I believe the solution to this problem is to envision and be a part of events in which we can expect to be a participant in the future. The tree we plant today will shelter our descendants within its shade and provide those descendants with fruit many years from now.

If we view ourselves as a form of energy that is expended over time, you begin to see why I believe it is imperative to exercise some thought in the choice of the individual activities that will fill that time period. Because my dog cannot imagine tomorrow’s bowl of dog food, he won’t think about it until I begin to fill the food bowl. At that moment, he will realize that food time is now! And he will jump around in his exultation and anticipation of the food he sees that he is about to receive.

In that same way, a lot of people waste their precious energy on activities that fill their day but do nothing to make the world of today a better place for eons of tomorrows. For instance, gobs of activities are out there upon which we can expend our life energy.

Certainly the first item upon which we are required to spend some life energy is insuring that we maintain that energy as long as possible through the process of eating. In order to eat, we must usually earn money through some process. Some of us, however, have finished that portion of our lives where we are required to work for food--or so we think. We believe that our pensions, savings or other entity will provide for our future. Let's rethink that subject.

The world is presently entering an era where population, always expanding exponentially, is bereft of the means of individual energy maintenance. At least there is not be the means to maintain the individual energies of everyone on the globe.

But wait! We have been there before. Starvation, plague and war have done their part to resolve the issue in previous times. In addition, our knowledge has expanded and permitted increased agriculture productivity and medical advances. A globe intertwined with trade and commercialism has also aided the cause. Accordingly, a normal question to ask is why should we not expect the situation to continue?

The question of whether the situation will continue is one that can safely, absent a nuclear Holocaust, be answered in the affirmative.. At the same time, remember that the depth and breadth of the situation to be treated by natural means (starvation and disease) may be much, much larger as many more individuals will soon face the life effacing tonic required to cure an ailing world.

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Canada: Pointing The Way Forward?

2009-07-22T13:37:00.000-07:00

For more than a year now, with minor exceptions, we have explored the idea of the coming new age and its requirement for greater cooperation in the utilization of limited resources on a finite planet burdened by an exponentially expanding human population.

Presently, we observe a process where greater regulation of the forces of self interest that drive economic development is taking place everywhere with the result, hopefully, of an era of increased cooperation for all folks. These efforts can be seen in the development of alternative energy production, increased conservation techniques, and an overall return to a simpler way of living.

A recent tour of Canadian’s Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick provinces presented a wonderful illustration of a bucolic existence which could be instructive for inhabitants of the United States.

A trip some years ago to the climes of northern Quebec province’s Kuujjuaq area in search of the not-so-elusive caribou, offered little to compare with the recent Canadian experience we enjoyed this time with Tauck Tours. Arriving in Halifax, Nova Scotia, we began a truly professional tour orchestrated by Rob White. Impressive with his knowledge of historical, political and economic facts of the current scene, White took us through a primer of how Canada does it. His techniques included something for everyone.

Since our concern revolves around resource conservation, notable observations included: Composting toilets at Peggy’s Cove, wind turbines on the hills, and an emphasis everywhere on recycling. Of course, we would be remiss not to mention the view of farming techniques of the past offered by a tour of the home and grounds of the late Maud Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables. Those techniques and mechanisms have value for a future where energy will be scarcer.

Obviously, we have only scratched the surface of these provinces. Much more could be said about our journey with regard to the art, history, music and other marvels we saw and appreciated on this trip.

So, if you are interested in obtaining a glimpse of a better future, travel to our neighbor to the North for a respite from the hot, humid climate of summer. You will love the flowers, the sea, the food (especially Cow’s Ice Cream) and the wonderful people of these Canadian provinces. We definitely intend a return visit to Canada, hopefully with Tauck Tours and the instructive Rob White.

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THE DAY THE MUSIC STOPPED: PART II

2009-06-25T20:25:00.001-07:00

Everyone is talking about it. The news is raging with it. It was one of those spectacular days that remain in the collective memory of us all. Michael Jackson has died.

Even if you did not know Michael Jackson, you knew him when you thought about it. When you heard a song via some electronic media and thought that the music was appropriate for the moment, a lot of the time you were appreciating Michael Jackson.

He was the star of a family of African-American musical performers from Gary, Indiana. He was a mystery as a person. He was inventive and his "moon walk" won acclaim from everyone who enjoyed music and dance. Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtyJbIOZjS8 and watch a video of his famous thriller performance.

Regardless of what anyone thought of him, Michael Jackson was the kind of icon that comes easily to mind as a symbol of his time.

He lived and died in the fifty year period stretching from 1959 to 2009. He was like the country and the world in which he lived; constantly changing and re-defining himself. He went from sweet little brother of the Jackson Five to make his own mark in his own right, but he was always a blur of change and many wondered if he really knew what he wanted. In this way, he was a reflection of his time.

Nevertheless, whether you considered him a deviant or a genius, his impact on the world was gargantuan.

And so it is with the world as we face intense changes in the way we inhabit our planet. Those changes haunt and chase us and will soon overtake us. While the future is no longer a concern for Michael Jackson, the remaining population of the planet must accept constant changes. And whistling past the graveyard is no way to achieve that acceptance. Reality cannot be denied. One thing is for sure, however. The journey forward will be better thanks to the music of Michael Jackson.

The Dock of the Bay

2009-04-29T13:12:00.001-07:00

If you sit and watch, you begin to see a virtual swirl of existence. The cacophony of all of it tends to totally occupy our senses. What means this impingement upon our health of this strange malady called "swine flu"? When will the markets reach bottom and bring the cooling winds of economic recovery? What about energy and the lack thereof that we try to grasp and connect to the lack of economic growth and its resultant lack of jobs?

Some of the people still think in classical terms: Terms such as this is just a temporary slowing of the economy; we will be saved by technological breakthroughs that will permit a return to the past where labor and capital continue the minuet of getting, giving and using limited resources; and that only thinking despairing thoughts will prevent this return to "normalcy."

Too often we tend to misaim the power of positive thinking. Thinking positive about the future is essential to our survival and creation of the different order which will come despite protests against it. Thinking positive must be used in realistic terms, however, to realize the full value of that intellectual tool. Despite the desire to obtain great monetary wealth to which some people still direct their energies, a better practice might be to think realistically in terms of shelter, food and medical care for ourselves and our loved ones.

Instead of taking great joy in spending our life energy in climbing a corporate ladder by selling intangibles, there is an undercurrent flowing that says these activities are not better than the entrepreneur who seeks to grow food on smaller plots of land, or raise fish, chickens and another animals in a harmonious cycle where all of the activities complement each other.

Speculation, whether in real estate or stocks, is the epitome of greed and brings a veritable feast to the drive within the human animal to outcompete the rest of the herd of humankind. It also brings great pain since speculation is nothing more than the capturing of life energy of human participants through their exploitation of finite resources until there is no more energy to capture or resources to exploit. The great "ponzi" scheme then collapses. Eventually, the resources expire or the needs of the population that drive speculation begin to dwindle as population stops growing.

Sitting on the dock offers a great view of the goings and comings of humankind and beautifully illustrates the futility of speculation. The ocean and cool breezes remind us that the best things in this life are free.

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Spring Has Sprung

2009-04-16T08:50:00.001-07:00

Spring is here. Garden planting time has arrived. Already the squash, zucchini, tomatoes, eggplants and peppers are sprouting. Now the digging of holes for transplant of these vegetable plants is upon us. It is a good time and a time for reflection.

My hand guides the spade as it uncovers the leaves and digs the holes, and a sense of doing something productive blossoms deep inside. For one dark moment, I think of the past; the paths not taken. The ghosts of departed friends and loved ones rise from my memory for a moment. Introspection is not all bad, but too much can be bad for the best of us. It is best to look ahead even though that future path is much shorter than it seemed at previous planting times.

What is ahead? Will the current economic depression run its course to a return of the ways of years past? If not, will the new order that emerges bear any resemblance to the capitalistic economy of today? The answer to these questions is one worth pondering.

America is the undisputed leader of the modern world. Like the rest of that world, we are going through a bad time. We take great and justified pride in our newly elected national leadership. Finally our leader speaks and points to the problem. It is energy, he says. We nod in total agreement. Our economic system is locked up and credit needs to flow again, he says. Some of us wonder what this means and its connection to energy. Some even turn their heads away as the leadership asks and receives money to fund some needed projects to employ citizens. Many more become rightfully concerned as sums of public funds go to what we perceive as undeserving recipients like banks and officials of the financial oligarchy.

The largest concern is whether the need for economic growth espoused by the leadership means a type of growth that bears the same markings and characteristics of the system that resulted in the present disarray of greed and disregard for the planet's resources. Many citizens think so and disillusionment is growing.

An agrarian past grew to an industrial present and ultimately to the physical and moral bankruptcy of the world economy as resources were devoured by an ever growing population. A future looms and the major concern is what will it look like?

Before we grow too impatient with the leadership of our nation, perhaps a view of transitions in the past is not out of order. Remember that those changes did not happen all at once. There was resistance to change. Wars were fought. Pestilence entered our world and took away many a poor soul. Ultimately though, the evolution of change made its inexorable way forward and those who stood against it perished.

So it is with the present situation. Old ways of thinking must and will change. Some of the change will result from enlightening of individuals. Some of it will sadly result from deathly struggles resulting in the obliteration of those who refuse to change. Technology will provide some light for the way forward. As always, the future is there. The question is whether we in a collective sense shall shape it, or be shaped by it?

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Earth from the Skies

2009-03-15T07:21:00.001-07:00

The awesome view of earth from the skies is marvelous, or so I am informed by some who have acquired a certain computer program at a nominal fee and now scrutinize various facets of the earth's surface.

Somehow, I wonder if I really want to view everything from above. If your purpose is to walk down memory lane, seems to me there may be merit in looking at those things from eye level here on the ground. As nostalgia tugs at me to view my childhood haunts, I think doing it like a floating or soaring bird from above just wouldn't be the same. It would not really satisfy that yearning for yesterday which blossoms from time to time in all of us.

The greater value of such a program might be in viewing that not yet seen. For me, this would include viewing current events, or looking at exotic destinations like the Mayan pyramids or those similar structures in Egypt.

Also, such a program probably has merit if you are a bit of a pantheist and want to see how it would feel to be a soaring eagle in the next life. I may get the program just so I can view those places in India, or England or North America where I was privileged to be for a brief time. Maybe I will even swing over to some underdeveloped nations and see how they are making out.

The sky view of the third world will definitely be one worth taking. Even now, doubters of the predicted future of economic contraction due to the depletion of resources by our ever growing population can view the beginning of global disaster in poorer countries.

Such a preview of the events and effects of the global economic contraction later to be experienced here will serve to hopefully get us more prepared. Hopefully, we can observe the changes elsewhere, vicariously experience them, and make fairly rapid adjustment to cope with what will surely be a different existence. Yes, the program is known as Google Earth and probably is a good thing.

-30-

The Crash and Predictions

2009-02-03T09:30:00.001-08:00

Everyone that I know is concerned about the changes in the stock market and the government bailout. What does it mean? The answer to this question is obvious. Economic growth is slowing from its previous pace.

Why is this happening? Growth depends upon an ever increasing source of energy. The world, however, has reached peak oil. The rate or amount of oil presently pumped, roughly 85 million barrels per day, cannot increase in any appreciable manner because the pumping capacity and the resource to meet that capacity are stagnant.

Unmindful of these constraints, financial manipulators attempted to continue with a process of wealth creation. Instruments alleged to document value were bundled and sold at a profit. The population accepted this perception of wealth creation in much the same way that the coyote assumes a road in thin air as he chases the road runner. Then, the perception fails, the emperor is discovered to have no clothes, and everything crashes.

A popular banking fiction long thought to be a truth is that additional money is generated when banks loan money to customers. This idea was sustained on the reasonable basis that a valid loan with high prospects of repayment expands the assets of the bank. A loan with an expectation of repayment over and beyond the initial amount loaned to the borrower under current banking principles means that the profit amount is newly created wealth.

So accepted became this financial philosophy that lenders either became complacent or corruptly forgot the element of chance remaining in the loan situation—that the borrower might default and fail to repay the loan. When this possibility did occur to the banking world, unscrupulous, but innovative minds went to work with the issuance and sale of credit repayment guarantees. By avoiding the terminology of insurance, a ponszi scheme of mammoth proportions enveloped the entire world.

Now those schemes have collapsed in the face of the unthinkable. A curtailment of energy available for continued future growth at a rate sufficient to meet and exceed population demands has come to town. The future is not out there. It is now. Suddenly the factory planned in order to hire tomorrow's workers won't be built. As a consequence, the loans of today cannot be repaid. Further, the size of the failure has destroyed the ability, if any there was, for effectiveness of the illicit repayment guarantees. An economic debacle of unimagined dimensions is upon us.

Can the slate be wiped clean? Is it possible to eliminate the invalid loans and the ineffective guarantees and straighten out the financial mess that we face? Some say that an astronomical bailout by the government will cure these problems. Certainly the government can step in and pay these debts. Without considering whether such repayment will come at a cost of great inflation as more and more fiat money is loosed in the system, there is another question that should be asked: Can a repeat of this situation be prevented from happening in the future?

Unless the possibility of repetition can be guaranteed against, the more appropriate path would appear to be to let the market control, let this world financial crash continue as massive human suffering climbs to gigantic proportions, even at the cost of social unrest and political upheaval.

A good guess is that the future will be marked by a zig-zag downward direction as regards economic charts. That direction will also experience some temporary upturns as energy prices fluctuates. As soon as demand starts building, however, prices will rise and the rug will be jerked from under the newly rising economic tide. The plummet downward will likely continue until either population excess gets trimmed or there is a magic energy break through courtesy of the gods of technology. A smart move would be to bet on excess population trimming to happen before miracles occur which amend the laws of physics currently governing the finite resources of the world.

The current debate on stimulus versus tax cuts by government is not really relevant. Stimulus will only bring temporary relief and inflation (but may prevent social unrest). Tax cuts will do nothing but fatten already fattened wallets. Tax cuts may prevent inflation, but are also likely to encourage social unrest and political upheaval.

For the present day, everyone simply has to live for the fairly long term future on a much reduced scale or standard of living than has been the case in the past. But all is not lost. Optimism should still have a home in our hearts. David W. Orr in a commencement address to the School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania in 2007 put it this way: "Hope is a verb with its sleeves rolled up."

The challenges of tomorrow are still there. The mystery of true curiosity still exists and brings with it the wonder of innovation amidst a realization that we may truly find meaning in redefining ourselves and our civilization.

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The Year That Was

2008-12-23T05:07:00.001-08:00

Treat the earth well.
It was not given to you by your parents,
it was loaned to you by your children.
We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors,
we borrow it from our Children.

(Ancient Indian Proverb)

Wow and gosh almighty! 2008 was quite a year! Talk about doing it up in the national election! John McCain selected himself a wing-woman to guard his back on the treacherous trip to the gates of hell to get Bin Ladin, which gave us a national debate on the subject of experience and qualification required by a person who is a backup in the event the President is unable to act.

Heated were the discussions on television, coffee shops and breakfast tables across the land on a subject that really is pretty unimportant in most presidential elections. It was important this year due to McCain's age (72) and his status as a four time cancer survivor.

The Salt Lake City Tribune summed it up best with the following:

Out of nowhere, and without proper vetting, the impetuous McCain picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. She quickly proved grievously underequipped to step into the presidency should McCain, at 72 and with a history of health problems, die in office. More than any single factor, McCain's bad judgment in choosing the inarticulate, insular and ethically challenged Palin disqualifies him for the presidency. ...

The country desperately needs a new and well-defined road map for the 21st century and leadership that can unite the country behind it.

We believe that Barack Obama can give us both.

Apparently the public saw it the same way. As we all know, Obama won the election, big time.

In the meantime throughout the world, the global economy continued to tank. Not a surprise to anyone who is alive and reading anything in the recent past. A close friend, however, who is a regular reader of this blog, wrote and expressed his concern that we may be losing our central theme of hope for the future. Quite the contrary is the fact. There is a greater necessity for hope today than ever before.

On a personal level, the year 2008 and events in that year lent even more emphasis to hope for the future as we celebrated the arrival of our first grandchild. While the future is dark, hope will prevail as we all pull together in common cause to find a solution to the world's problems. It must be so because a little girl named Madison, who is barely two plus months old, demands it.

The future does require that we be realistic. It is in that sense of realism that we seek to convey a glimpse of the huge problems coming to the fore. The people of the earth are the cause of most of those problems. There you have it. A priori, the cause offers the solution: In this case, the acceptance by our world population of the constraints of the finite nature of the world and its resources. Will that occur?

An answer to this question is close at hand. We and little children around our world see the road of hope as the only avenue. Join us in 2009 as we travel that road. The journey's destination also bears the same name as the road. .

WHAT COMES NEXT?

2008-12-05T07:00:00.001-08:00

What comes next? This is a question that many are asking today. Energy prices are falling. Isn't this a good thing? Well, it could be a good thing, but it is likely simply another directional signal to the future coming our way or better stated, the way of our descendants. After all consideration is given to the subject, it is indeed all about energy. Consider the following:

Energy has always been the basis of cultural complexity and it always will be. … the past clarifies potential paths to the future. One often-discussed path is cultural and economic simplicity and lower energy costs. This could come about through the "crash" that many fear -- a genuine collapse over a period of one or two generations, with much violence, starvation, and loss of population. The alternative is the "soft landing" that many people hope for - a voluntary change to solar energy and green fuels, energy-conserving technologies, and less overall consumption. This is a utopian alternative that, as suggested above, will come about only if severe, prolonged hardship in industrial nations makes it attractive, and if economic growth and consumerism can be removed from the realm of ideology.
-– Joseph A. Tainter

For the reader who is enticed by the foregoing quotation, your attention is directed to http://dieoff.org/page134.htm for a very edifying read. If the idea of reading through dry scholarly writings does not have appeal, the simple, but effective, way of broadening your horizons on this subject exists at http://www.dieoff.org/ for your viewing pleasure. Just click at the top of the page on the cartoon media that deals with the subject of your interest.

Now the intricate and immediate details of our present situation revolve around whether employment will continued to fall, will we have a predictable future that meets our needs and the needs of our loved ones, correct? No matter how much we may want to rely on intuition or daily routine, it behooves all of us to broaden our knowledge base on the subject of energy. What is its effect on our lives? What determines its availability? How should our leadership respond to the global crisis before us? It is submitted that a knowledgeable basis of opinion as we seek these answers is beneficial.

In the interim, a path of sustainable and frugal life style appears advisable absent the discovery of the "magic bullet".

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Deflate or Inflate?

2008-12-03T23:58:00.001-08:00

Recent economic events have the world and its people in turmoil. Credit markets have frozen. Factories have closed. Unemployment has risen. The new government to be installed in January of 2009 is considering solutions to these difficulties.

Basically, the purpose of this blog has been to ignite discussion and provoke thought by readers as to the cause of this world-wide problem and consider what we as individuals can do at this time. Generally, the theme of the blog thus far has been consideration of whether there is a common denominator to all these problems. The tentative conclusion presented is that, yes, there is a common thread. Nothing is static. Change is constant and knowledge always unfolding. We live in a finite world with ever-increasing demands on finite resources in that world.

Presently we deal with the problems generated by growth's demands for energy. Those energy demands have centered mainly on fossil fuels. Other sources of energy exist and will be tapped by the growing demand. How will that happen?

The Institute for 21^st Century Energy is an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. A panel of the Institute, headed by none other than General James Jones has just issued its Transition Plan for Securing America's Energy Future. Notably, the preamble to that plan states:

Global demand (for energy) will increase by more than 50% between now and 2030 – and perhaps by as much as 30% here in the United States. We must develop new, affordable, diverse, and clean sources of energy that will underpin our nation's economy and keep us strong both at home and abroad. Our energy future must address growing shortfalls in infrastructure capacity and emerging environmental issues. . . . .And looking ahead, even the most optimistic among us must conclude that we are not well positioned to anticipate nor prepared to meet tomorrow's energy needs.

http://www.energyxxi.org/

Everyone should click on the foregoing link of the Institute and go to the Plan. We are indeed at a defining moment in our existence. If our government and leadership simply continue the status quo, life on this planet will become most unenviable in the days to come. The punch line is a lack of preparation for that tomorrow. Chants of "drill baby drill" will not cure the problem. Conversion of food stuffs to fuel for machines will not cure the problem. Providing public funds to financial institutions to permit continued lending (hopefully to qualified borrowers) will work only for awhile. Providing public funding to the automobile industry will put off today's misery of joblessness for awhile.

Eventually, this additional printing of government paper results in that hidden tax on all of us that we know as "inflation". Only when we realize that the issue is finite resources, and the axiomatic changes this realization dictates, will the problem become susceptible of resolution. There are but two alternatives for mankind: Sustainable living (getting by with less and living more cooperatively in a sense of community and mutual self respect); or discovery of a "magic bullet".

Sadly, the basic nature of mankind will prevent realization of the first alternative, sustainable living. As to the discovery of magic bullets that rewrite the laws of physics as we know them, such an event is unlikely. Our basic nature, however, is not limited just to greed and avarice. Many of us also hold deep within ourselves the hope for the discovery of new knowledge that will provide new avenues to economic growth and eventually to the stars.

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UP OR DOWN?

2008-11-30T06:28:00.001-08:00

Do not follow the siren of dissipation
    She will destroy you and your nation
    Licentiousness is her evil spun snare
     Only parsimoniousness defeats her dare
The practice of frugality frees us all
And spares us from the siren's maw
-don wayne davis

We have just completed the process of selecting new leadership for the future. That new leadership has promised change. Further, Barack Obama has told us that this change must come not from the top down, but from the bottom up.

The philosophical principle known as Occam's razor tells us that we should not assume the existence of more things than are logically necessary to resolve a question or issue. So, we shall keep assumptions very simple here on this matter of change and its up or down direction. Even then, the basic question cannot be ignored: What is Barack talking about? To get a clue, we should examine his statements regarding problems that our country and our world face. Notably, he has repeatedly stated that we in America are only five percent of the world's population, but we use 25 percent of the available energy!

If the suggestion is that available energy needs to be diverted to world populations in a fairer manner, the question must be why? Simply diverting more energy from America to other parts of the world as a matter of equity does not provide the answer to the question. In the present instance, equity is not a relevant question. Energy needs are, beyond population requirements for basic comforts, a reflection of economic growth in the market driven economy of the world. When the world's fossil fuel energy resources are plentiful, economic growth with an accompanying increase in population blooms where ever an economic advantage appears.

Recently the demand for consumption of energy resources reached a new high and the cost of that consumption sky rocketed even as resources dwindled. Those costs rose, and rose, until a large portion of world population could no longer afford the costs reflected in the products obtained by the use of those resources (Note that a significant component to the dramatic rise in the cost of energy and energy producing finite resources was also the greed that is rampant on Wall Street, in corporate board rooms and in the individuals seeking always to improve their position relative to others in society). As a consequence, energy usage fell in the face of faltering economic growth with a resultant drop in the cost of that energy. It is important to note that the fall in prices is only temporary. If we do not find adequate means to produce the energy we need, or find sufficient ways to reduce energy consumption, it is inevitable that prices will resume their upward climb..

The current economic downward spiral is not limited just to America. It is a worldwide phenomenon: A direct result of increasing and encroaching excessive growth beyond limited resources in a finite world. Financially, banks and similar institutions around the globe are unwilling to lend money to those who operate in the markets with a potentially narrower margin for success. This is understandable when you consider that loaning money to continue profligate ways is a sure path to losing the money so loaned. It is not understandable when we consider that these same financial institutions reaped huge profits during the run-up to the financial crisis and are now looking to the public for a "bail out" for their own irresponsible behavior. This is indeed what is meant by the adage "outsource the profits and socialize the losses."

Yet, we, by our nature, assume that only through continued economic growth will we be able to maintain our existing standard of living. The thought of sustainability rarely enters our lexicon. It is this type of thinking that drives us to seek yet more energy in competition with a growing population in the rest of the world for the remaining finite fossil fuel resources. It is a competition that has grievous costs for all. In fact, those costs almost dictate that none of the world's people will be winners. Nevertheless, it is the fossil fuels that we concentrate upon because that source of energy is the easiest to obtain and gives us the most potential for growth in the future. Just like the rat in a laboratory experiment, given the choice between cocaine and food (or even sex), elects to continue to consume the cocaine to its mortal detriment.

Basely on his previous pronouncements, it is a fair assumption that President-Elect Obama is well aware that the core of the problem is the disengagement of the population of our country from a course of licentious behavior in the consumption and use of fossil fuels and the acceptance of the virtues of frugality that will come with the increasing use of renewable energy derived from wind and solar sources. So, if change is to come from the bottom up, how do we implement this future where we behave with greater parsimoniousness?

Humans, as a group, do not seem to possess the ability to alter the core nature of the group, absent some incentive from the governing power. Then, whether that incentive is one that comes from a fear of reprisal or from a reward for appropriate conduct, change will happen. While many of us realize that "things" don't make us happy, we continue to engage in what, for lack of a better description, has been termed "soulless materialism". We will continue in that mode, knowing we should change, until we are led to carve a new path to a better world. Perhaps the role to be played by our new President is like that of the family practice physician who tells you in the initial interview that he will "be a lot like your mother-in-law "and nag you into adopting healthier life habits. If this is the style adopted by the new presidential administration, the outcome may be uncertain. Usually, history teaches us that it is negative personal consequences that spur an apathetic individual and collective populous to action.

Alternatively, we can be pretty well assured that Obama is unlikely to be a drill sergeant who will drive us in the proper direction through threats. Such conduct is not supportive of continued occupancy in public elective office. We need only look to what happened to a former president who encouraged spoiled citizens to turn down thermostats and wear sweaters to fight national dependence on imported fossil fuel. No, the lectures and the admonitions must wait for the second term of a presidential administration. We should expect, however, to receive the truth from the new administration in the first term, unlike the mendacity perpetuated upon us by the present administration.

This new president will be as successful as we allow him to be. We know what the problems of our country, our world and ourselves are. He will offer solutions and we should exam those solutions in the most intensive way. There will be a need for change from each of us to reach the goals that are not only possible of our grasp, but also essential to the continued survival of our planet and our species. Licentiousness or parsimoniousness; frugality or dissipation: Our species, to survive, must decide between these two very different behaviors. Come on, enough of the past and forward to a better, brighter and different day.

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America Rose

2008-11-08T04:06:00.001-08:00

America rose to her full majesty on Tuesday, November 4, 2008, with the election of Barack Obama to the Presidency of the United States. At a time when the country and the world found itself drifting without direction in the millstream of seemingly endless greed and selfishness, people came to the polls in record numbers to choose a different path.

Obama follows a long line of America's tradition-breaking elections when need is great and hope swells in the hearts of its citizens. From FDR bound to his wheel chair through JFK with his Catholicism, Obama's election brought down yet another political barrier; that of the candidate's race.

Without a doubt, much, much more is signaled with the election of the nation's first African-American president. Not only is Obama elected to office as a barrier-breaker candidate, he has been swept into office with a congress heavily weighted in favor of the Democratic Party. In the face of the rancorous discord of the past eight years, where greed and corruption grew to historical levels not seen in the lives of most Americans, the promise of national redemption looms large.

What has brought the American electorate to the realization that things must change?

Some would say that the national debt squandered on an unjustified pre-emptive war in Iraq played the most prominent role. Others would say that the power cliché that seized the government through surreptitious means, inclusive of disavowal of the elective choice of the voters by the supreme court in the election of 2000, brought about the people's response in this present election. Still others would point to the economy, along with the rampant greed and unethical actions practiced by high officials of giant corporations, banks and others as the force driving the present response of our people.

There can be no doubt that ALL these things combined to bring about the election victory of Obama and the democrats in 2008. It is just another stirring example of the power of democracy when the people are awakened from their normal state of apathy.

Now we go back to the promise of redemption for our nation and the world. What will it encompass? Elements include the acceptance by some of our citizenry that redemption mandates an admission, or confession if you please, that greed is bad; that the rights of the individual can only exist in a society where the road runs both ways—to have individual rights, all must accept, recognize and respect those rights for others. The narcissism of "rugged individualism" must yield to the ethical and rational directive that we are all in this boat together. That a world of finite resources in order to provide accommodation for all the people must be governed and administered for everyone in a spirit of cooperation. Competition to provide such cooperation is necessary, but competition to deny such an accommodation must be forgotten as we build a better future.

--Don W. Davis

--Nov 5, 2008

Our Individual Gardens

2008-09-13T12:23:00.001-07:00

A gloomy picture of the future emerges as we view a worsening global energy situation and grow acutely aware of the devastation caused by climate change on our world. Notably, the climate change results, at least in large part, from humankind's lack of stewardship of the earth. The continued use of fossil fuels, especially dirty coal, is particularly worrisome in the future.

All of the foregoing is doubly exacerbated by the unabated demands of an exponentially growing population driven by greed without regard to the future. Does Earth have a chance? A look at the growing demands of developing economies like India and China for more and more energy, coupled with the refusal of developed nations of the world to recognize these needs leads to a poor prognosis for the future of our species. An article illustrative of the problems that are coming up in India and other parts of Asia, shows that suicides are already increasing greatly in India as fertilizer supplies fail. This process is referred to as "die off" and will claim billions of people on the planet before it is through. See www.hindu.com/the hindu/holnus/001200808011140.htm

In my youth, I lived for a couple of years in India in the mid-60s during a bad time of famine and threat of war. I observed levels of poverty that would have been judged unacceptable in this country. At that time, the western world came to the rescue through the supply of surplus food grains and other assistance.

Later with the growing globalization of world trade, India and China, be rift of hard currency, found a market for the major asset they did possess: Labor or sweat equity. The trail has been rough, but both countries have become less impoverished as the global economy has grown. We all know the process. Labor in the industrial nations of the world became expensive compared to the price offered by the labor pools of third world nations. Capitalists reaped profits and destroyed jobs in America and other developed nations as they "out sourced" factories and service needs to what were viewed as "sweat shop" countries.

The energy crisis now looms for all nations big and small. Look at the following website for a perspective: http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/2962 and before you say that bio-fuels offer an escape, visit http://www.archive.org/details/Myths_of_Biofuels. We need strong leadership.

As children growing up in a vast land of what appeared to be infinite resources, we were taught that each of us could individually reach for the stars. Now in a world of 6.7 billion people, those dreams have to be revised. Some say that present circumstances portend the arrival of a more autocratic society regardless of protests. The "rugged individualism" that encouraged the greed and boundless appetites of the past will fall.

Others argue that the future is going to be one where we can't do it alone, no matter how hard we work in our individual gardens. We will need each other and the contributions of each other without the additional burden of competition. One thing is almost a certainty: The future will dictate a complete rethinking of how we organize our society. The old way of greed and consumerism is no more.

On a brighter note, into this void of gloom and doom come new ideas you should know about. Many say that vanity cannot be eradicated from human nature. A good compromise may be found at a nifty new shop in Tallahassee, Florida, where the emphasis is on a green world and the value of recycling. The name of the shop is Almost Exclusive. Their stock includes many innovative ideas for saving energy and finding new lives for products previously consigned to the junk pile. Visit the web site at www.almostexclusive.com for more details. Also, what do you think about a magic food to feed the world? Well, kinda like magic. Go to http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_can_save_the_world.html
for more details.

What Can I Do?

2008-07-20T12:30:00.001-07:00

A recent luncheon date with a couple of young people in fresh possession of their college degrees was very satisfying. They are regular readers of this blog. As we reviewed the world scene and the state of the many constraints that we face in the future to the continuation of our present life styles, one of the young folks asked the question that is on all of our minds. Okay, the world is going to be vastly different. What can I do as an individual for myself and others?

I contemplated the question. I remembered a good quote from my friend, Rube Cretin, who wrote:

Here's the plain truth, folks: Hope is not a consumer product. You have to generate your own hope. You do that by demonstrating to yourself that you are brave enough to face reality and competent enough to deal with the circumstances that it presents. How we will manage to uphold a decent society in the face of extraordinary change will depend on our creativity, our generosity, and our kindness, and I am confident that we can find these resources within our own hearts, and collectively in our communities.

A good starting point to dealing with the future may be found at: http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/list/C61/

As part of this discussion, we certainly should never lose sight of the quotation from Marion Zimmer Bradley, that "the road that is built in hope is more pleasant to the traveler than the road built in despair, even though they both lead to the same destination."

Some practical equipment options for use of solar energy is available at http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/ItemCategorySubPages/SurvivalStore.html also the home site http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/ should certainly not be ignored.

Be aware of the value of a good garden and get busy. A great deal of room is not needed. A small kitchen garden will provide more than an adequate amount of fresh vegetables for most of us. It is, however, essential to have good sunlight and a source of water. "Perma-Culture" farming is a good phrase to Google and learn how to proceed with this effort to make a better life in the future.

A wealth of information can be found on the internet at http://www.motherearthnews.com/ and similar sites.

In conclusion, remember that we are all in the same boat and together we will find greater meaning in exploring the immensity of this new sea than in the yearning for the seashore that may never be visible again.

Solar Energy At Brief Recess

2008-07-02T07:18:00.001-07:00

Brief Recess, my country home where I retreat from time to time, is the greatest place to read, reflect and review the happenings of the world "out there." Here, in the early morning, the wind sings in the pines, the deer and wild turkeys come up to feed and all is right with the world.

Unfortunately, this wonderful isolation is just that. The dial-up connection (remember those days?) to the internet is agonizingly slow. So, sometimes when isolated here at my retreat, I go for days blissfully unaware of breaking news except that which I can get in the evenings via rabbit ears on the ancient console TV that adorns my living room. And all that is fine. Except, when I am compelled to write, a compulsion not much different, I suspect, than a drug addict looking for a fix, the need to input facts and figures invariably rears its ugly head as I am addressing a particular esoteric subject. At such times, one needs to proceed to the "net" and to research.

All of which brings me to the subject of internet access. In contemplating the passing parade of humankind as it struggles to redefine its existence and make rapid adjustment to the manner of living that will be enjoyed by most members of our species in the future, the communication that will be afforded by the internet will become even more indispensable. If you have read this blog from its inception, you may be aware that I have referenced readers to http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/Index.html for an introduction to how we survive in those future changing times.

Well, we really do not have to wait for the truly bad, bad times to get here. I am discovering that the availability of fast internet connection through the use of satellite technology is becoming more and more economical. Assuming that access to the satellites will continue as long as they are up there and functioning, we have to consider the source of electrical power for the computer as costs for conventional grid electricity will soar upward and upward. The external power source which I am presently investigating is solar. Electricity from solar panels will hopefully provide the necessary energy to allow me to continue to connect with the world, make observations and absorb knowledge about what is happening. No doubt you will also want to investigate this alternative source of green energy for keeping up with what is happening in a rapidly changing world if you live in a rural area or just think your cable computer provider could do better.

Earthspirit

2008-06-20T13:44:00.001-07:00

A good book for dealing with the emergence of the present day circumstances has come my way. Earthspirit is termed by its author, Michael Dowd, as a "handbook for nurturing an Ecological Christianity." The book's message is written simply and to the point. Evolution is part of the religious experience. The all of existence, universe, galaxy, animated and unanimated life, continue that march of change to fit circumstances in a process called evolution.

In my way of looking at the doctrine postulated in this book, all living things are part and parcel of a collective existence that imposes individual responsibilities and grants individual freedoms. The story of Genesis is a wonderful tool for presenting the basic creation story to the developing mind. Light, thunder and life begins. The process of evolution on earth has started.

Borrowing heavily from the beliefs of Native Americans, Dowd, through this book seeks to bring the reader to an appreciation of the individual's responsibilities in fulfilling the duties of stewardship imposed by an increased level of consciousness. Particularly enlightening for me was the proposal that the increasing level of consciousness applies not only to us, living and breathing humans, but to the entire universe itself.

At the same time, the book calls attention to the deficiencies of organized religion and its failure to address God's charge to nurture our world and, indeed, our existence. Your attention to the issues set forth in the book is deserved. If given an opportunity, please read it and reflect. Consider whether the real issue is: Do ethical considerations have a place at the table of science? After all, opportunity is a universal desire and one which all of us have within us to create.

You Don’t Know How It Feels

2008-06-14T18:42:00.001-07:00

Tom Petty plaintively sings a lyric to a tune in his album, Wild Flowers, with the words "you don't know how it feels to be me." That phrase is so applicable to our world today. We are all individuals and, although we can empathize with each other in regard to a particular experience, we can never truly know the other's deepest feelings.

Unfortunately, some people take this essence of individualism and pervert it. The proponents of this perversion maintain a claim that our basic animalistic nature dictates our behavior; that this justifies the contortion of this essence of individualism to a rule that says our individualism dictates competition. Such an approach is suicidal for our species and, if we continue to follow it, we are lost. Our culture exalted the value of "rugged individualism" in the past during a day and time of what appeared to be a world full of inexhaustive natural resources.

Sadly, the realization is just dawning for some that the emphasis can no longer be on "me" instead of "us." Greed can no longer be justified with the Ann Rand slogan of "the only pure virtue." The tendency to turn to promotion of self interest first has always been wrong. From Buddha through Christ to Mohammed, the word that it is wrong has gone forth and fallen on deaf ears.

Soon now, the continued emphasis on self by an individual will mean that the individual is not only stupid, but will also signal the elimination of that individual's place in the gene pool. Years ago, Clyde Kluckhohn on page 41 of his book Mirror For Man noted the fatal flaw in the prevailing justification of greed or rugged individualism with these words:

Many people in our society feel that the best way to get people to work harder is to increase their profits or their wages. They feel that it is just "human nature" to want to increase one's material possessions. This sort of dogma might well go unchallenged if we had no knowledge of other cultures. In certain societies, however, it has been found that the profit motive is not an effective incentive. After contact with whites the Trobriand Islanders in Melanesia could have become fabulously rich from pearl diving. They would, however, work only long enough to satisfy their immediate wants.

And so, I urge that you consider the words from the disciple Thomas, particularly verse 113 of the "Scholars' Translation" of the Gospel of Thomas by Stephen Patterson and Marvin Meyer, wherein Thomas reports the words of Jesus that "the Father's kingdom is spread out upon the earth,
and people don't see it."

In that same vein, we should never forget the closing words of President Kennedy's inaugural address where he stressed "let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own."

We Didn’t Start the Fire

2008-06-07T10:29:00.001-07:00

The sound reverberated in my head as I walked. Billy Joel sang the lyrics to We Didn't Start the Fire. For the first time, I also deciphered the closing words. "We didn't start the fire, but we're fighting it." With that background, I finished my daily hike and went to my computer and the television where I watched the ominous climb of the price of crude oil rise and rise.

When the markets closed, the price of oil had set unheard of records with predictions of $150 per barrel crude oil by July 4, 2004. Finally the world was paying attention to the problem that so many of us have seen coming for a long time.

Why did this happen? Who do we blame? The "why" is not hard to answer; a finite resource has met an increasing population with increasing demands for energy. Energy derived primarily from oil. The "who" is even easier to answer. We need only walk over to our mirror and look. We must blame ourselves.

I remember my parents. Both my mother and my father were products of the great depression. They worked hard and had a nice home in the latter part of their lives. Somehow, they did not endorse the manner in which I spent my money. I was affronted that they did not share my ability to buy a new car, live in a nice home, and have as high a standard of living as theirs at a comparatively much earlier stage of life.

Now I understand why my parents constantly lectured on the value of frugality and of maintaining a constant vigil against waste of all of our resources. I still remember the constant reminders to turn off the lights when leaving a room. I still remember the "hand me down" clothing from older siblings who had outgrown them.

At this difficult time (and it will be difficult) in the history of our world, I think we take a page from the story of those who came before us. We turn to life in a simpler time. We conserve. We enter into a relationship of community with our neighbors. Only in this way can we preserve a social fabric in which we and our nation survive in a world that faces a truly dark time. My prediction is that hope will prevail. The things that change will enrich our lives not detract from them.

Some day in the future (and we hope it is soon) more efficient ways of utilizing the energy of the sun, the wind, and perhaps gravity itself will present humankind with the possibility of continued survival in an era of co-operation. The only way to stop the fire is to fight it and fight it we must.

Cannibalism For A Ride

2008-06-05T04:09:00.001-07:00

Over a billion people world-wide are threatened with starvation. The cause: Many fingers are pointing at bio-fuel production to wean folks off of oil to run their automobiles. http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL03622524

The issue arose at a United Nations food conference or summit which opened this week in Rome, Italy. Food is becoming too expensive. The increase in the price of food stuffs is apparent to all of us in this country. To observe it, you simply walk through the grocery stores on a periodic basis.

Yet, the leadership of the greatest country in the world sits quietly with hands folded as this crisis unfolds. Well, you could say that a solution cannot be found, but this is different. We are not talking about just anything. We are talking about a moral imperative that we do not engage in cannibalism. It is no more and no less than just that when we choose to put food in the form of ethanol in our gas tanks while the bellies of children stay empty and lead to their slow and agonizing death.

If urging food for the innocent and sacrifice by the more fortunate leads to my designation as a quack or a screaming liberal, then, although I am neither of those things, I shall wear the label if a solution to that problem can be found.

If humankind is determined to be nothing more than a species of animal, as a lot of folks believe, then we do not have to worry about the future. We have plenty of people, probably too many, and we may just turn to that resource eventually in a classic struggle of the strongest to survive. On the other hand, we can choose to be something greater than ourselves and dedicate our lives again to what our recent commenter Rube Cretin has termed "the greatest vanity." We can dedicate ourselves to making the world a better place and maybe, just maybe, save it.

Hope for Tomorrow

2008-05-30T03:29:00.001-07:00

Economic growth predicted for Europe this year will only reach 0.6 percent with a decline to 0.3 percent for 2009. Consumer confidence in the United States is at its lowest in 28 years. This and other dismal headlines are available courtesy of http://www.bloomberg.com/. These rumbling headlines bring to mind the life styles we practiced in that day and age. Times were not that bad. Unfortunately for us today who went through those yesterdays, we were younger, so much younger then. Plus we blissfully did not have the ability to make a comparison to what we would experience in the future.

Consequently, the whole matter resolves around making adjustments to life in an era where we will have to give up a considerable amount of ease. For the older folks, it means not having these good things to which we have grown accustomed. For the younger folks, it will be a more difficult passage to a place where they have never been.

But let us not despair. This new future, somewhat different from the one that most of us had contemplated, will not be that bad so long as economic growth does not leave some semblance of a positive figure. Even if growth "flat lines," folks will fare all right. We will adjust to public transportation and a simpler life style. Maybe even grow a garden and raise some chickens.

The fear comes, and it surely is lurking in the mind of this writer, as we contemplate a minus in the economic growth figure. Can such a thing happen? The answer hinges totally on the matter of energy availability in the future. Expensive energy, slower or little growth and life is merely simpler. No energy and we had better fasten our seat belts.

Doomers offer a stark picture of the eventuality of no energy. Somehow, that alternative seems unbelievable. Humankind is a versatile thing. Folks will find a way. For me, and my house, we will prepare for the worse and hope for something better. I know most of you will also choose this course. Hope is what it is all about.

Rube’s Perspective

2008-05-29T05:48:00.001-07:00

Are we there? Recession or not? Joe Public with his wife and 2.4 kids thinks it is here. Depending on which economist you read, we may be and we may not be approaching the bad times. A recent conversation with one hermit, Rube Cretin, yielded the following comments which I deem worthy of passing on to you, the reader, with the admonishment that no one knows the future, but it might be smart to start a garden. Rube has bewailed the lack of acceptance by humankind of solutions for the current world situation. Based on his reviews, he proposes that the population of the earth is analogous to wine yeast. Not an original idea, he admits. Read his comments:

**************

It is not my wine yeast analogy. Alfred Lotka in 1922 suggested the maximum power concept as a fundamental energy law. Rephrased it goes like this. "In the self-organizational process, systems develop those parts, processes, and relationships that capture the most energy and use it with the best efficiency possible without reducing power. " IMHO that's all that is going on. When the non renewable energy source is depleted and no longer available, fewer exosomatic humans will turn back to those more primitive strategies of survival which were found to be effective in sustaining life in the low energy budget past (If we don't blow our selves all the way back to the star dust from which we came).

Much of the information and technology available today, which give us our god like arrogance, will have no relevance in a future where only renewable resources, the sun, tides, and wind, are available. No, I think it is human vanity that leads us to think that we are on an evolutionary path to greater consciousness and greatness. I don't pretend to know which cultural strategies are the most effective and efficient for sustainability, surely there are more than one, but the ancients were simply adapting to their energy budget and passing their phenotypes on to future generations, which is what all life does, and it's what we are doing now.

It seems to me the noise emanating from the beast we call humanity is the argument taking place over the mythology of many accepted beliefs which govern our existence. Much is coming into focus. In the areas of life by which we divide our interests, discussions are taking place. These discussions are getting loud and violent in some quarters because as Senator Shelton Whitehouse stated the other day, "This is an existential matter." People are beginning to figure out that resources are running out and there isn't going to be enough for all 6.7 billion of us.

We humans are a species of greedy, narcissistic, violent bastards. Deep down many spend considerable time thinking how they can position themselves to past through the bottleneck that the swift currents tell us is ahead. Formal governmental alliances are restructuring throughout the world, and informal alliances among groups, families, and individuals are developing among the first to recognize the peril before us. The corporate owned and controlled news media is diverting the masses' attention from the situation by feeding them a steady diet of bullshit information and boredom killing entertainment. My god when one thinks about the potential of the total media to influence human activity there can be no other thing going on.

The large corporations are also vulnerable and the frantic struggle is beginning to prepare for and hopefully survive the rapids ahead which are certain to drown many. It is here where our future is probably going to be determined, because it is a well known fact that the people can be manipulated into positions useful for the sustainability of the large worldwide financial conglomerates. Perhaps they are after all the god we all serve, as they represent our evolved best efforts at governance. Few individuals can handle the fact that they are in reality valueless. The individual is just another item of inventory, stamped and bar-coded in this world of corporations.

Perhaps the brain like mechanisms of this thing we call life is being controlled by humans and its insidious effects are analogous to some garden variety mental illness.

No, it's just hogs at the trough, pushing and shoving to get the remaining feed. A slight majority believes more will arrive tomorrow, some have been left out and are hungry, a few have noticed that there is no more feed in barn and something is about to change.

Laugh If You Will

2008-05-21T19:55:00.001-07:00

Not only do some folks like to ignore the unsettling conditions of the world today and what it portends for their existence tomorrow, some folks like to actually giggle and deride those that they consider to be doomsayers. Intent upon their adherence to a method and form of livelihood that will be antiquated in the future, these folks bring to mind the ignorant masses that have sought to block the progress of humankind through the ages. Similar to the grasshopper who refused to store food for the winter, these members of the population will succumb early to die off (http://www.dieoff.org/ ) when the means of survival have to shift from competition to cooperation.

Let there be no mistake about it. Competition or greed is as different from cooperation as night from day. Captain John Smith, surveying the early settlers in his little colony, cut no slack for the greedy that would profit from the labors of others. He pronounced that all must work, if they wanted to eat. There were no special privileges permitted for the white collared folks that thought they should operate the bank and not dirty their hands. It may not have been what we today take for democracy, but it was certainly a more egalitarian way of proceeding than the fabricated untruths fed to folks today by their leadership. Untruths that now bring us to the brink of economic despair.

Because there have always been folks around who saw or imagined bad things coming, and without adequate data, tried to warn the populous, today many now refuse to even analyze or look at the data that undergird present prognostications. No less a personage than the renown Admiral Rickover tried to warn our society of the present energy situation in 1957, but few listened. See, http://energybulletin.net/23151.html . All that can be done now is to continue to present the word to everyone who will listen that things must change. Whether people will heed the knowledge that is presented is problematic. Like the old proverb, you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink.

Change Is Upon Us

2008-05-21T05:44:00.001-07:00

Elections continue. Elsewhere, all "normal" activities continue. There is nothing unusual going on, say most folks. Meanwhile in the background of our existence, there is an ominous something that is happening. It is not a happening that we can do anything about, but it will change our lives profoundly.

Yesterday, the cost of a barrel of oil crossed the $130 per barrel line. The question of peak oil is no longer an issue to be debated. The cost of a gallon of gasoline averages $3.80 per gallon. This, of course, is just the beginning. Like animals in the forest that sense the approach of danger, most folks are beginning to look around and attempt to discern what is wrong. Such change in the energy supply is danger, our instincts tell us. Maybe we still know deep down the fear of saber tooth tigers and other predators that concerned us until we found the miracle of fire which permitted our forbears to keep them at bay during the long cold night. The bulk of our population does not know what to expect in the future, although there is a rich bounty of information available upon which we can base some fairly accurate speculation. Begin if you will with an explanation of the problem available at http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/Index.html and then proceed with viewing http://energybulletin.net/23151.html for a historical perspective of an issue that we have for too long ignored.

Whatever you do, don't take my word for it. At the same time, I urge you to take someone's word for the state of things and begin the long journey that hopefully will be just that—long. Continuing to ignore this situation will surely bring on the news related to us in http://www.dieoff.org/ .

Human Kind Is Evolving?

2008-05-16T06:37:00.001-07:00

One of our readers, mustard seed, looks hopefully to the future with spiritual evolution as a by-product of the future. This is a good thing. The coming economic difficulties will be such only if we determine that to be the course. The pure physical suffering of others around the globe and here at home will certainly require a modification of mind set to cope with daily issues. Notably I can speak from personal knowledge here gained in the course of time lived in foreign lands as a young peace corps volunteer where I experienced first-hand the lack of sustenance to which I was accustomed here in the good ole USA. They were some of the best days of my life when viewed from the present vantage point.

If population increase and unbridled economic growth bring us to a simpler and more primitive time where there is little of either of them, then the thesis of Echart Tolle may well be valid and our evolvement to a higher level of spiritual consciousness is underway. Evolution is a gradual process that will be registered in the progeny of the future, however, and not in our own time. Perhaps we can fill the gap with The Power of the Collective as espoused by John Hagelin. Certainly meditation alone and with others may hasten the alleviation of strive and turmoil possibly prevailing now and later.

In the end the issue remains as to whether humankind can change the basic nature of itself. Can greed be eliminated and the suggestions of Christ, Buddha, and others adopted so that the world operates from a motivation of cooperation? Or will we continue to be bound to greed which sets soul against soul in a competition for survival? If not the former, then adoption of the latter will continue to lead to our extinction.

Why Things Have To Change

2008-05-15T04:09:00.001-07:00

No one appreciates being frightened about anything. So I have decided to switch tactics and ask everyone to be aware of some statistics that have been bandied about. Generally, some folks say, the world on which we live has resources to sustain only about seven percent of the current population. Well, that's a fine howdy do that should have been brought forward awhile back don't ya think? Truth of the matter is that this fact has been brought forward. But folks keep pushing it away. Prophets trying to enlighten the world do not fare well. A good piece of reading on this point is David Korten's presentation at the Seattle Green Festival in April of this year. His presentation is available at http://yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=2640 .

The facts, however, continue to stare us in the face whether we ignore them or not. We cannot get around the fact that there more folks living today than the world can sustain. Just go to http://www.poodwaddle.com/worldclock.swf
to see the clock there and watch time go by. It will get your attention. Note that the clock shows the number of deaths to be less than the number of births. Note that diseases are increasing. Couple this information with shrinking world resources and I suspect we shall eventually see a change in the rates of birth and the rates of death.

What should we make of this information, you may well ask? Korten says in the article at the site referenced above:

Well, we need to grow strong caring communities in which we get more of our human satisfaction from caring relationships and less from material goods. We will need to end war as a means of settling international disputes and dismantle our military establishment. We need to reclaim the American ideal of being a democratic middle class nation without extremes of wealth and poverty. And we need to encourage and support the rest of the world in doing the same. To do all this we will need [to] create democratically accountable governing institutions devoted to the well-being of people and nature.

It is road that we must travel. We dare not refuse the challenge of tomorrow, les soon there be no more tomorrows.

Look Around You

2008-05-14T10:12:00.000-07:00

In the previous post, I recommended the viewing of the most important video you will ever watch. The gravamen of that post was that population will outstrip the finite resources of the earth with an eventual lowering of living standards and ultimately the destruction of the species absent vital changes in the future.
One comment made to me by a friend regarding the lauded professor’s comments is worthy of partial quotation to illustrate the “head in the sand” position that most folks are assuming with regard to the current world problem. My friend wrote to me stating “predictions of eminent peril have been averted time and time again by the ingenuity of man and mother nature. I think only a fool would presume that we are very short on natural resources and very long on population.”
My friend is an educated person. Now many educated people, like my friend, just assume that a solution will be brought forward at some point. Education aside, one is reminded of the old saw that “assume” can make an “ass” out of you and “me.” My friend is committed to the correct goal, preservation of the species. Unfortunately, reaching that goal requires knowing what the problem is or whether there is a problem. One does not automatically assume that there is no problem. Unless we take the time to observe the world around us, we will be incapable of being a part of the solution in any fashion to any problem.
With regard to viewing the world around us, we recommend a very good site for your consideration which exams the need for conservation and recycling at http://www.storyofstuff.com/
To close on a humorous note, cut and paste the following into your browser and enjoy: http://www.kitchengardeners.org/2008/02/backyard_laying_hens.html

Survival Requires Reduction of Economic Growth

2008-05-12T06:11:00.000-07:00

The Most IMPORTANT Video You'll Ever See is located at the following address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY. I have just spent the past few hours watching all eight parts of the video. It is captivating and a must view for anyone who uses their head for anything other than a hat rack. If this lecturer is correct, and his math appears to be correct from my very elemental knowledge of mathematics, time is very, very short! Be afraid, be very afraid of what tomorrow, next week, or next year may bring. In a way, it is reassuring that there is definition to the level of existence in which we find ourselves today. The rub comes in the realization that such definition brings added emphasis on the quality of our existence through understanding ourselves and what drives us. We must slow down and ascertain the meaning of life. Our final judgment or conclusion in that regard must embrace simplicity in living and an appreciation for life.

The video referenced above is in eight parts. But I have no doubt that you will want to watch all eight segments after you have finished the first one.

In a previous life, I was the General Counsel for the Florida Department of Commerce. At that time, it became glaringly apparent to me that the key to continued economic growth/prosperity was increased population growth. I reckoned this without a complete understanding of the exponential factor's effect on resources to support that growth. As the lecturer in the video points out (back in 2000 at the time of the lecture), the average individual in the US uses 8 liters of gasoline per day. To have zero growth, he opined that 1.8 liters a day was the amount that was the real individual share.

Today, we rush to and fro in a vain attempt to discern a future of increased economic growth. It is unlikely to happen absent a miraculous break through in terms of energy discovery. Even so, continued growth also brings more pollution of our planet and eventual extinguishment of the species. So, is it hopeless to hope? Well, the thought crosses my mind that maybe our leadership, through devaluation of the dollar, is effectively taking us down from the proverbial 8 liters per day to 1.8 liters through the application of present inflationary policies. The result will be a commensurate increase in cost or, alternatively, a reduction in buying power, to reach "sustainability" or zero growth. It is certainly going to lead to a more simple existence for those who survive in that day

Is It Over?

2008-05-08T10:46:00.000-07:00

So here we have it. A world gone off the track? Or just a simple evolution to a newer level in accordance with divine direction? Are we headed for economic collapse, and, if so, are the causes "man made" or beyond our ability to change? In haste to construct this discussion post, I have probably omitted many central and important points. The goal, to quote the parlance of the life I am leaving as a judge, is to take a "brief recess" and permit anyone (who will take the time) an opportunity to express their views on the future of our existence.

Personally, I view a world that has its finite resources strained by too many people. People who choose not to value those finite resources and provide the stewardship required to sustain the life style we presently enjoy. We are past Peak Oil and the threat of global warming is increasing. Survival in the future, possibly the very near future, will require skills and knowledge that have been lost by many. Through the gateway of this blog, I encourage all who have hope for the future to take a moment and explain why we should not assume that we are simply lost and adrift on the sea of expectation without hope. This question is particularly pertinent in the face of rising oil prices, devaluation of the dollar through inflation, and a dirth of responsible national leadership willing to confront these matters.
I trust I will be reading responses that are lucid, insightful and give me cause to pause and ponder whether hope is truly gone.
Nodsavid