An Optimistic Thought About These Horrific Times
When the Salem witch trials were over less than a year after they began in 1692, sanity was restored, the apologies were made–and most people had no idea how or why all this had started; some, within a period of just a few months, doubted that it had even taken place. All the savagery, treachery and hysteria had vanished just as fog lifts, just as quickly and mysteriously as it had rolled in.
We live in a time so bizarre and dystopian that one could say that it’s almost as hellish on a global scale as Salem was on a local scale. Our subjugation of women, religious persecution, hypocrisy, nonstop wars, mass incarceration, prosecution of whistleblowers, blaming the victims, cruelty to the world’s most desperate people, merciless treatment of the sick, the poor and aged, the lawlessness of our leaders, amity towards the world’s most sadistic tyrants, senseless disregard for our dying environment, indifference to the mass suffering of others, and our acceptance of a steady stream of bald-faced lies from the most powerful man on Earth…all makes Salem appear quite understandable, even normal, when looked at in this perspective.
What makes Salem look even more like it could have happened last month is that we’re still enacting key legislation that is based on our leaders’ conversations with God. While I’m loath to criticize people’s religious convictions, I’m totally cool on asserting that what happened a few days ago in Florida is not a route towards peace and enlightenment, and should not be taking place anywhere, anytime on the planet, and certainly not in the 21st Century United States.
Florida Rep. Mike Hill told a group in Pensacola on Thursday that God told him to sponsor a bill next year to ban nearly all abortions, much like the bill that passed in Alabama earlier this month. Hill sponsored a bill in the Florida Legislature this session that would have banned abortions if a fetal heartbeat was detected. “As plain as day, God spoke to me,” Hill said. He said, you remove those exceptions and you file it again. And I said yes Lord, I will. It’s coming back. It’s coming back. We are going to file that bill without any exceptions just like what we saw passed in Alabama.” The group of close to 20 people in the room applauded and cheered Hill’s remarks.
What happened in Salem, and, more importantly, what happened immediately after Salem, shows that, though we are capable of insanity and barbarism, we’re equally capable of letting all this go, and getting back to the business of treating one another with decency and kindness.
Here’s a thought: What if humankind simply comes to its senses, just as Salem did 330 years ago? What if we look back on 2019 a couple of decades hence and say, “Can you believe that the human race actually used to behave like that?”
Let it be so.
Hi Craig,
I read your first book several years ago. Great job! It helped me focus on growing our PV plus ESS business in CA. Appreciate your positive outlook on the future. I hope we can gain our sanity back as a nation soon. For the sake of our nation. Enjoy the long weekend.
The book entitled “BURN” is about using “Fire to Cool the Earth”
BURN is authored by Albert Bates and Kathleen Draper. It’s a very valuable publication in these final years of humanity’s time on Earth. The fact is it points the way to our salvation if we but know what to do to control our induced global warming and climate change, and as I’ve said before I understand what we need to do and I’ve known about the truth in the findings in BURN for two decades, and I’ve invented and developed a novel new concept in biomass and waste-to-energy technology, and I’ve developed and improved it to empower global human salvation. Search Google.com or search Facebook for Advanced Alternative Energy – or go to my firm’s website at aaecorp.com and email me for more info.
“We’re the first generation to feel the impact of climate change, and we’re the last generation that can do something about it. We only get one planet. There’s no Plan B.”
~ President Barack Obama
“Humanity has pushed the world’s climate system to the brink, leaving itself only scant time to act. We are at about five minutes before midnight.” ~Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2013
To change the world, we need to combine Ancient Wisdom with New Technologies
~ Paulo Coelheo (Warrior of the light)
A good Anthropocene demands that humans use their growing
social, economic, and technological powers to make life better
for people, stabilize the climate, and protect the natural world.
~ECO-MODERNIST MANIFESTO
“Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end.” ~Henry David Thoreau
“This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
“We are in danger of destroying ourselves by our greed and stupidity.
We cannot remain looking inwards at ourselves on a small and increasingly polluted and overcrowded planet.” ~Stephen Hawking
I don’t care what abortion opponents say, this issue should be left up to the pregnant woman and her doctor. In my view no person can claim to be pro-life and be a climate crisis denier. Saving the lives of the world’s billions of living and as yet unborns this century (in the ongoing 6th mass extinction we have initiated) is no less important than the lives of the unborns.
Les thank you for shharing some roots of wisdom to savor on a Windy Sun. Afternoon.
Very Thought provoking indeed.
Be well
Solent Running
This from a Reddit atheist’s chatroom:
Full Passage from the “Reply to Professor Haldane” recorded in the “Of Other Worlds” collection of essays:
“I am a democrat because I believe that no man or group of men is good enough to be trusted with uncontrolled power over others. And the higher the pretentions of such power, the more dangerous I think it both to the rulers and to the subjects. Hence Theocracy is the worst of all governments. If we must have a tyrant, a robber baron is far better than an inquisitor. The baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity as some point may be sated; and since he dimly knows he is doing wrong he may possibly repent. But the inquisitor who mistakes his own cruelty and lust of power and fear for the voice of Heaven will torment us infinitely because he torments us with the approval of his own conscience and his better impulses appear to him as temptations. And as Theocracy is the worst, the nearer any government approaches to a theocracy the worse it will be. A metaphysic, held by rulers with the force of religion, is a bad sign. It forbids them, like the inquisitor, to admit any grain of truth or good in their opponents.”
C. S. Lewis
This kind of absurd certainty helps people hang their own daughters and massacre others who don’t share their beliefs. Always go back to the prime sources of religions rather than their interpreters.
Dean: Wow, this is incredible. Thanks.
Yes it is Craig. Eccellent Uplifting words that transverse the darkness of the times.
Inspire us to continue to deploy technology that helps mother earth heal if possible.
Good Sunday Fare as nthey say in England. Thank you the others
As usual, you have “hit the nail on the head” with this article but one wonders if our “Trump-like leaders” will permit humankind to come to its senses. They (the world leaders) seem to dwell on maintaining the present state of chaos while promising to make changes for the better.
thank you Mr. Shields for this information,and I may add that climate change is real facts
Dear Craig,
Thank you for your thoughts and positive outlook on life. Refreshing and true. I too have observed that we are once again coming to our senses and I am glad others are as well.
Thanks again, Craig!
I thought 2 green energy was supposed to be about trying to build the approx 250,000 sq miles of solar power and the approx 100x current wind power capacity, globally, necessary to building a prosperous future for all countries. Molten Salt Fast Reactors (if needed) too!
I did NOT think this was about abortion…
There is no need for such when we live in a world where men and women have cheap and easy access to birth control. Killing animals with a heartbeat is considered inhumane in our culture, let alone human babies. Why are these future humans being tried and convicted for being inside of people that never heard of adoption?
And why is it that the people that promote clean energy HAVE to be associated with the pro-abortion side of this polarizing debate?
I am pro clean energy AND pro life!
Should we just give up on the INDUSTRIALIZATION of clean energy automation – and instead, just bow down to the religion of the far left? Now, I’m a Trump hater, because he hates clean energy (and, apparently, others). But that does not make the left correct – either!
They are prone to trade in our freedoms, rights and dreams on just plain old limitation (and some actually hate the free market). Many environmental group and other leaders hate the idea of MORE AND CLEAN energy!
Click on my link and you’ll see proof that they are only using “climate change” as an excuse to impose restrictions upon the United States of America. Needless, senseless restrictions! I understand the need for local environmentalists, who try to protect the biosphere from fossil fuels and other pollutants, though!
Note: Climate change is still unproven because it’s the future which is based upon the extra radiative forcing caused by the conversion of hundreds of CUBIC MILES of hydrocarbons into extra CO2, which IS proven (aka global warming). See the difference? The science is settled concerning GW. The biosphere WILL heat up! It is not settled concerning climate change, because of the trillion fold complexity.
Therefore, the need to get our priorities straight!
Robert. Me think that you may be protesting too much re abortion.
The commentor who referenced the gop zealot christian congressman in Florida was trying to make a more serious point.
Perhaps not but as I see it. The fundamentalists who are rising up due to hard times. They don t have their priotities right.
They dismiss all signs and causes
Of Global Warming.
They claim to care about fetuses but don t care about mother earth the home of the fetuses and babies they claim to live.
They dont seem to care about the baby after its born.
So in their contradictions they undermine their position.
Why bring new life into a burning world is the question I pose for serious contemplation.
So perhaps its a bit unfair to protest to Craig. Yes this is environmental forum. But I have found it full of creative serious people that can and have built solar and wind farms , wide range of technology and many a technical and financially, politically challenging projects.
So surely we possess the intellectual depth and mental capacity to gloss over abortion briefly. ???!!!???
Reflect on context the ignorant right wing So legislator and there are many. Some think the world may be flat.
As our Mate from down under Marco correctly states. Abortion is a complex subject. It has pitted folks of no ill will against each other.etc etc.
No its not the focus of this forum. You are correct.
My thoughts are simple and straightforward. As a man if I dont like abortion, then dont cause one. Keep ones zipper up. Lol
The history books are filled with the tragic consequences for women thru the ages when their civil rights have been denied by men.
Last weeks Time magazine had excellent summary of the pain, death. Poverty and strife.
So as Marco said its complex not black and white its like Renewable Energy simple yet complex.
I will let my Maker above pass judgement.
We humans need to double down on slowing down global warming before the tipping point is reachef. It looks like 9 or so more years. We are behind the curve…..time is short.
Long term embedded carbon investments continue offsetting the gains we are making with RE. But we are bailing water out of our lifeboats but more comes in.
Thats my focus peace to All
Hi Robert,
Thank you for you interesting viewpoint.
You are quite correct, there is a vast difference between computer modeling and real world practice. Computer modeling can only draw conclusions based on existing information. The accuracy, values and importance of that information is based largely on the assumptions of the person or team conducting the modelling.
There will always be a myriad factors not yet known and the effects of even known phenomena are yet to be fully comprehended. At the best most of the “science” is educated guesswork, at the worst, mere gibberish dressed up a “science” to fit into a particular ideological or political agenda.
Once again, thank you for your contribution, however, it might surprise you to learn the President is not opposed to “clean energy solutions” !
President Trump has spent considerable time and personal effort in establishing the world’s foremost Clean(er)Coal research facility in Wyoming.
This facility will enable the US to regain the lead in researching clean(er) coal and natural gas technologies, which had fallen far behind China and India.
The $2 Billion dollar facility is almost entirely privately funded, including a good deal of international funding, and has already attacked a number of renowned scientists and engineers.
The President simply requires clean energy technologies to work, be economically sustainable without having to either reorganize society to accommodate a technology, de-industrialize or rely on government subsidies.
The fear and hatred toward clean coal by the green-left is not based on the premise the technologies may not work, but a very real fear the technology will prove enormously valuable and render their activism largely irrelevant.
The retreat by the US from Clean Coal technology during the Obama era, left China and India a clear field in the developing world.
Beijing played the gullible Obama administration brilliantly.
With spectacular announcements of massive (but unverifiable) funding for renewables, Beijing lulled the Americans into the false belief that renewable energy could power an industrialised economy.
More importantly, Beijing propaganda convinced a large percentage of US citizens that an industrial economy was a bad thing, and industial employment and manufacture should be left to China.
Incredibly, it worked ! The US began to lose influence as the Chinese replaced the US and Europe in helping industrialize the developing world.
China grew stronger as the US grew weaker.
Beijing has been busy building coal installations abroad, not only across its sphere of influence but also in Europe.
Chinese companies are building over 740 new coal plants domestically and abroad for customers ranging from Indonesia to Pakistan to Turkey.
One Chinese energy conglomerate has commenced a $1.2 billion investment in a coal power scheme in Bosnia, one of the largest energy projects in Balkans.
Unfortunately, unlike China’s new domestic coal installations like the Waigaoqiao No 3 plant, \which uses highly efficient ultra-supercritical boilers, not all of these new coal projects leverage the newest technologies. Even so, for countries like Pakistan that rely on highly polluting sources like kerosene, they’re a definite improvement.
These projects are all funded by Beijing’s “Belt and Road” credit funding by the Chinese government.
President Trump is determined to reverse China’s growing influence and restore US initiatives before it’s too late.
Superior Clean(er) Coal technology is just one of his initiatives to prove the US can compete with China.
As an American, isn’t that what you expect of a US President ?
Clean coal wow and what is the expected price of the electricity provided by this pollution removal miracle?
Hi Roy,
Clean(er) Coal is not only rapidly becoming the most environmentally friendly form of industrial energy, but by far the most economical for the consumer!
New Coal by-products will have an enormous impact on the production of otherwise heavy pollution industries such as cement and concrete production.
Production cost of coal is increasingly offset by by-products created from what was once considered waste pollution.
Currently, Natural Gas is plentiful and relatively cheap in the US and oil rich nations, but with increasing demand from Asia for LPG, while the need to create fertilizer from NG will eventually make NG uneconomic for energy usage.
It’s worth learning about the astonishing new Clean(er) coal technologies which are being developed and not giving in to knee-jerk reactions.
Craig, you asked; “What if we look back on 2019 a couple of decades hence and say, “Can you believe that the human race actually used to behave like that?”
To this I ask; What if Guy McPherson and the few other climate scientists who are brave enough to tell it like it is are right and there are no more living humans a couple of decades from now?
That is one radical theory; I must say. I suppose I need to catch a presentation to understand it fully, buy it’s hard to imagine.
Craig,
Interesting topic, juxtaposing Salem, Climate Change, abortion and political ideology in a few short paragraphs !
Salem, (if my history is correct) did not last for “just a few months” !
The trails themselves ran between late January 1692 and the end of May 1693. At least 200 people were prosecuted resulting in the deaths of 28 people (14 women and 5 men were hanged, 3 were killed summarily, 1 man was crushed to death for refusing to plead and to death and at least five others died in jail).
Nor was this an act of sudden insanity which passed quickly ! It took 20 years, until 1712 for Governor Joseph Dudley of Massachusetts to sign a Bill of Attainder reversing the convictions.
No one “apologized”.
Nor was Salem a “one off” phenomenon. During the 17th century at least 35 people were executed or jailed for witchcraft in Massachusetts and Connecticut, mostly women.
The Puritans were a bunch of vicious fanatics who fled England after a brief period in authority (during which they burned and killed “witches”). They elected to leave when prevented from perusing their evil practices by the Restoration of king Charles the Second, so they could continue their wickedness of the unfortunate inhabitants of the New World.
All the world this sort of mania has broken out from time to time.
The hysterical frenzy can be seen wherever a new ideology, religion, political system grip the imagination of “true believers” .
” Eco-worrier fanatics” destroying installations, taking violent and “radical action” etc. Like the “Weathermen underground” of the late 1960’s and 1970″ who committed murderous and violent actions on behalf or “the People”, these groups only represent a number of self-deluded crazies.
Abortion is a difficult and controversial topic. Emotions run high with very little calm or objectivity on either side of the debate among the radical elements.
Social media is not helping bringing people together.
What hope is there for calm and compassionate resolutions in society, if commentators like yourself can’t even research the historical validity of your own claims ?
Thank you for reaching out beyond the green energy window.
While bees evolved during the last high-CO2 period, learning to work together as a super organism, converting sunlight to food, building structures to store and house the next generation, Humans weren’t around then, so we must learn now.
I believe global craziness is due to high CO2, a point that I haven’t seen much of. Quick to emotional judgement and action, failure to think rationally, these are CO2 overdose markers we are seeing globally. Future shock too, leads to fundamentalism.
We need to Breathe In- and Breathe Out deeply to capture all the O2 and sanity we can. With frontal lobes we have a choice,Choose love.
Craig, don’t you believe that we need an “all hands on deck” approach to climate change? Then we need pro-life people to be working on climate change too. We need to accept them as they are and welcome their contribution. Don’t you realize you are ridiculing people just because they have a broader view of who is human than you do? Better that you let them disagree with you on that issue and encourage them on environmental issues.