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.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
The Seeker Returns
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.
-30-
“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.
-30-
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Contortions, Contractions, Contradictions
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
We Should Care
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.
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.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
India: The Elusive, The Eloquent or Misery?
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.
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.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Energy Cannot Be Destroyed
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.
-30-
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.
-30-
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
The Future of Whale Bone Corsets
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.
-30-
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.
-30-
Monday, October 5, 2009
Resource Valuation
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.
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.
(30)
Monday, September 7, 2009
Does The Dream Live On?
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.”
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.”
(30)
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Relax, Don't Panic
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.
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.
-30-
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Life Energy
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.
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.
-30-
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Canada: Pointing The Way Forward?
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.
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.
-30-
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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Thursday, June 25, 2009
THE DAY THE MUSIC STOPPED: PART II
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.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
The Dock of the Bay
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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Thursday, April 16, 2009
Spring Has Sprung
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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Sunday, March 15, 2009
Earth from the Skies
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.
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Tuesday, February 3, 2009
The Crash and Predictions
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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Tuesday, December 23, 2008
The Year That Was
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. .
Friday, December 5, 2008
WHAT COMES NEXT?
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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Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Deflate or Inflate?
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 21st 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.
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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