The Obama administration's EPA is considering more stringent enforcement of the Clean Water Act and a crack down on the coal industry's mountaintop removal mining. It's about time. (Click on the title for a New York Times article on the subject.)
The mountains of West Virginia and Kentucky are being sacrificed to our need for electricity. While windmill farms in upstate New York are contested by environmentalists, entire mountains are disappearing, waterways are fouled, habitats are erased from existence to extract coal and feed our insatiable appetite for energy.
We have watched in breathless horror the destruction of wildlife, fishing and environment in the Gulf of Mexico. The mining industry's devastation of huge swathes of two Appalachian states has been ongoing for years, pretty much off the radar screen. From a window seat on a transcontinental flight, you occasionally get a shocking view of it, if you care to look. Apparently no one cares about these two rural states. Even many of their residents support mining -- for the same reason many Gulf State residents support offshore drilling operations -- their livelihoods. When does the tipping point occur when the jobs by which we make our livings and our obsession with an ever more complicated standard of living render human life itself unsustainable?
President Carter was ridiculed and criticized for urging Americans to adopt more conservative habits, including lowering thermostats in winter and wearing sweaters.
What is wrong with a little self sacrifice in our own self interest?
Here's what I think...
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Did he just call me DEAR?!
Sometime in the last six months, total strangers have started addressing me as "Dear." Do I LOOK like I'm 110? Cause that sure makes me FEEL like I am.
If I am not already a senior citizen (isn't 60 the new 40?), I see it approaching at warp speed -- sort of like a runaway semi barreling down a steep Colorado mountain, or the light at the end of the tunnel that is an oncoming train. More and more people ask me if I am retired (like THAT is possible after the financial meltdown). I have belonged to AARP for several years, but they start trying to enlist you when you turn 50.
Jim does a great job styling my hair and coloring it brown. Surely that counts for SOMETHING? I drive a nifty little sports sedan. SHOOT, does the fact it's a sedan weigh against me?
I used to hate being called "Hon" or "Honey" by people whose only connection to me was the line at the bank or the restaurant in which I was eating. The southern and western use of "Ma'am" always sounded so much better.
But DEAR?
That makes me want to go out in the garden and eat worms.
If I am not already a senior citizen (isn't 60 the new 40?), I see it approaching at warp speed -- sort of like a runaway semi barreling down a steep Colorado mountain, or the light at the end of the tunnel that is an oncoming train. More and more people ask me if I am retired (like THAT is possible after the financial meltdown). I have belonged to AARP for several years, but they start trying to enlist you when you turn 50.
Jim does a great job styling my hair and coloring it brown. Surely that counts for SOMETHING? I drive a nifty little sports sedan. SHOOT, does the fact it's a sedan weigh against me?
I used to hate being called "Hon" or "Honey" by people whose only connection to me was the line at the bank or the restaurant in which I was eating. The southern and western use of "Ma'am" always sounded so much better.
But DEAR?
That makes me want to go out in the garden and eat worms.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Up, Up and Away - The Solar Impulse
Last week the "Solar Impulse" made aviation history when it stayed aloft for 26 hours, at altitudes exceeding 28,000 feet, proving a solar-powered aircraft could fly through the night.
Pictures of the craft show a beautiful, fragile silhouette against the sky - the stuff that dreams are made of. (Click on the post title to see a picture gallery.)
While part of me wishes this extraordinary feat had been accomplished by a U. S. team, sponsored by U. S. companies, that cannot detract from my excitement and admiration for the visionaries that accomplished it.
According to UPI.com, "The plane has a wingspan of more than 208 feet. The wings are covered with 12,000 highly efficient solar panels that charge the craft's 880 pounds of batteries. The plan was flown...over western Switzerland during the test."
And Reuters.com, "The projects budget is $100 million Swiss francs ($94 million), 80 million francs of which has been secured from sponsors, according to spokeswoman Rachel de Bros. Belgian chemicals company Solvay, Swiss watchmaker Omega, part of the Swatch group, and German banking giant Deutsche Bank, are the three main sponsors. Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), one of two Swiss federal polytechnical universities, is scientific advisor."
The development team hopes last week's achievement will bring in additional funding for future plans for transoceanic and trans global flights.
Pictures of the craft show a beautiful, fragile silhouette against the sky - the stuff that dreams are made of. (Click on the post title to see a picture gallery.)
While part of me wishes this extraordinary feat had been accomplished by a U. S. team, sponsored by U. S. companies, that cannot detract from my excitement and admiration for the visionaries that accomplished it.
According to UPI.com, "The plane has a wingspan of more than 208 feet. The wings are covered with 12,000 highly efficient solar panels that charge the craft's 880 pounds of batteries. The plan was flown...over western Switzerland during the test."
And Reuters.com, "The projects budget is $100 million Swiss francs ($94 million), 80 million francs of which has been secured from sponsors, according to spokeswoman Rachel de Bros. Belgian chemicals company Solvay, Swiss watchmaker Omega, part of the Swatch group, and German banking giant Deutsche Bank, are the three main sponsors. Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), one of two Swiss federal polytechnical universities, is scientific advisor."
The development team hopes last week's achievement will bring in additional funding for future plans for transoceanic and trans global flights.
Monday, July 12, 2010
I Think, Therefore I am Human
Having a thinking brain is unsettling. Our thoughts turn to mysteries - how does the world work? How did we get here? What is death - is it the end or a new beginning? Why do some people hate other people? What are the rules - of nature, of behavior, of society? How can we live well? What is valuable to life and what is damaging to it? Why are some people healthy and some sickly? Why are there rich and poor, strong and weak? Why are some people survivors and some not? How can we make things better? What makes them worse?
In the absence of absolute answers, we supply our own theories or adopt those of others. To supply our own takes work. Adopting others' should also take work. Easy explanations are seductive, but often too simplistic. To accept them uncritically is a betrayal of our gift - a thinking brain.
Education should stretch the capacity of the thinking brain, not stifle it.
In the absence of absolute answers, we supply our own theories or adopt those of others. To supply our own takes work. Adopting others' should also take work. Easy explanations are seductive, but often too simplistic. To accept them uncritically is a betrayal of our gift - a thinking brain.
Education should stretch the capacity of the thinking brain, not stifle it.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Environmental Activism
It's not about saving the planet. It's about saving ourselves, our children and our grandchildren from indescribable pain and suffering. It's about preserving civilization and the wondrous science, technology, art, music and literature it produces.
Who wants to emulate the poor fool who cut down the last surviving tree on Easter Island?
Who wants to emulate the poor fool who cut down the last surviving tree on Easter Island?
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Where's the Beef?
Where does power reside in our society?
Unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed were allowed to lapse when Senate Republicans, abetted by nominal Democrat Ben Nelson of Nebraska, blocked the passage of an extension before they adjourned for Independence Day. Conservatives insist these benefits are a disincentive for looking for work... right -- folks prefer to struggle along on an income that does not even cover the essentials of food, shelter, utilities and transportation rather than work. Yeah, that must be the explanation for 15 million unemployed.
Meanwhile, massive layoffs of teachers, firemen, police and other public workers loom large on the horizon as states across the country face catastrophic budget cuts or insolvency.
Our government wages two wars on the credit card, while granting the highest tax exemptions in history to the wealthiest among us. The justification? This is the entrepreneurial class that produces the jobs. Sure they do. Of course those jobs are in China, India, Thailand, just about anywhere but the U. S. of A.
The Federal Reserve lends trillions to giant financial institutions at 0 percent interest. Institutions that turn around and invest those same funds in U. S. Treasuries, creating double-whammy raid on our country's assets. Almost NONE OF IT is used to extend credit to struggling small businesses or individuals. The same institutions that continue to place bets on credit default swaps and other indecipherable, esoteric financial instruments are terrified of the risk of lending to small business? Of course they are.
The clout wielded by the largest corporations, bolstered by the Supreme Court and unchecked by the government supposedly elected by the people, dwarfs the power of elected officials or the voters.
A good friend once explained her business success, "First, you need to understand that the laws are made by the rich, for the rich."
Unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed were allowed to lapse when Senate Republicans, abetted by nominal Democrat Ben Nelson of Nebraska, blocked the passage of an extension before they adjourned for Independence Day. Conservatives insist these benefits are a disincentive for looking for work... right -- folks prefer to struggle along on an income that does not even cover the essentials of food, shelter, utilities and transportation rather than work. Yeah, that must be the explanation for 15 million unemployed.
Meanwhile, massive layoffs of teachers, firemen, police and other public workers loom large on the horizon as states across the country face catastrophic budget cuts or insolvency.
Our government wages two wars on the credit card, while granting the highest tax exemptions in history to the wealthiest among us. The justification? This is the entrepreneurial class that produces the jobs. Sure they do. Of course those jobs are in China, India, Thailand, just about anywhere but the U. S. of A.
The Federal Reserve lends trillions to giant financial institutions at 0 percent interest. Institutions that turn around and invest those same funds in U. S. Treasuries, creating double-whammy raid on our country's assets. Almost NONE OF IT is used to extend credit to struggling small businesses or individuals. The same institutions that continue to place bets on credit default swaps and other indecipherable, esoteric financial instruments are terrified of the risk of lending to small business? Of course they are.
The clout wielded by the largest corporations, bolstered by the Supreme Court and unchecked by the government supposedly elected by the people, dwarfs the power of elected officials or the voters.
A good friend once explained her business success, "First, you need to understand that the laws are made by the rich, for the rich."
Friday, July 9, 2010
Size Matters
Why is it that...
Every time a conglomerate buys up another segment of its industry, we become further removed from controlling our lives?
The larger the institution, the more sluggish and ineffective its response to emergencies? And the less social responsibility it exercises as it conducts its daily business?
Goldman Sachs got a free ride on the TARP gravy train, while General Motors, a corporation trembling on the brink that provided real jobs to hard working people, was forced to grovel?
The quality of customer service deteriorates in direct proportion to the size of the company?
When a multinational corporation buys out a small company, competition is stifled, more jobs migrate to third world countries and technological advances made by the small company that might conceivably further the exploitation of renewable energy frequently are buried?
I am approaching a place where I see large, powerful institutions, be they corporate, bureaucratic/government, unions, or even charitable (yeah, them too) as ALL complicit in the erosion of our power over our own destiny. What is more, they trust us with ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
Note: I included labor unions above although, with the exception of public employees unions, most of them have had their teeth extracted over the past 30 years. The unions are often less about what is good for the membership than about the power of the union itself.
Every time a conglomerate buys up another segment of its industry, we become further removed from controlling our lives?
The larger the institution, the more sluggish and ineffective its response to emergencies? And the less social responsibility it exercises as it conducts its daily business?
Goldman Sachs got a free ride on the TARP gravy train, while General Motors, a corporation trembling on the brink that provided real jobs to hard working people, was forced to grovel?
The quality of customer service deteriorates in direct proportion to the size of the company?
When a multinational corporation buys out a small company, competition is stifled, more jobs migrate to third world countries and technological advances made by the small company that might conceivably further the exploitation of renewable energy frequently are buried?
I am approaching a place where I see large, powerful institutions, be they corporate, bureaucratic/government, unions, or even charitable (yeah, them too) as ALL complicit in the erosion of our power over our own destiny. What is more, they trust us with ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
Note: I included labor unions above although, with the exception of public employees unions, most of them have had their teeth extracted over the past 30 years. The unions are often less about what is good for the membership than about the power of the union itself.
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