Strange Times
The author of the piece at left makes an excellent point. This is the first time in U.S. history that a rando multibillionaire stepped forward and began to make decisions that affect millions of American children.
Tagged with: Elon Musk rando multibillionaire
Young People and the Environment
A couple of comments:
Fortunately, “thousands” is off by several (probably five) orders of magnitude. There are approximately 2.3 billion people on this planet between the ages of 15 and 30. If 10% of them are “stepping up” in any real sense, that’s 230 million.
Primatologist Jane Goodall gives three reasons that she’s optimistic about Earth’s future, and one is the enthusiasm of young folks.
While I hesitate to challenge people of Goodall’s stature, it’s hard to know what fraction of young people are actually concerned about and getting involved in environmental stewardship. In the United States we have, to my shock and horror, an entire class of youngsters who will be my age in 50 years, who really don’t seem to care that, in half a century at the rate we’re going, this planet will be a hellish place to live.
What’s truly disgusting is the significant levels of support we see for Trump among young people. These are folks who stand behind “drill baby drill” and other slogans of propaganda of Big Oil and the far right.
Tagged with: drill baby drill, in half a century at the rate we're going this planet will be a hellish place to live, it's hard to know what fraction of young people are concerned about and getting involved in environmental stewardship, propaganda of Big Oil and the far right, the significant levels of support we see for Trump among young people, Young People and the Environment
The Role of Ketchup Packets in Our Children’s Lives
When I read the first sentence here, I guessed this kid was saving the ketchup packets to provide tiny bits of nutrition to hungry, homeless people.
I had forgotten what kids’ (and schoolteachers’) lives are really like nowadays, given the proliferation of weapons of war among the mentally ill.
Protecting Trump from Evil?
At left is something circulating on social media. Apparently, you and I are the “evil” that Trump needs protection from, the “radical left.”
It’s true that we, the folks who believe in rule of law, environmental responsibility, and human rights, actually do represent a threat to Trump’s position of power, though sane people don’t think of us as evil.
Tagged with: Protecting Trump from Evil?
No Intelligent Species Would …..
Several people commented on the meme here to the effect that perhaps we’re not really intelligent.
I offer this: Humankind is plenty intelligent, but we have other characteristics that impede our capacity to use this intelligence to our benefit. Greed, selfishness, tribalism, and an indifference to the well-being of others all conspire to create a civilization that features incredible amounts of suffering today, which can only amplify over the coming years.
Finland Has a Different Approach to Forming a Society, But Is It Worth Considering?
The United States is on an absolute frenzy to widen the wealth gap, and all the data suggests that the super-rich are being extremely successful in this endeavor. Today’s CEOs are making 287 times more than their typical worker, where in 1965, that ratio was 21:1. Almost all the new wealth that has entered the United States since the 1980s has gone to the top 1%.
As shown at left, Finland has an altogether different approach. It appears that they have somehow averted the “greed-is-our-only-priority” thing and opted for a totally different sort of society. This might not even be worth mentioning were it not for the fact that the Finnish people have wound up on top of the World Happiness Rankings for the last seven consecutive years.
Maybe being a nation led by selfish assholes is something we need to reconsider.
Tagged with: Wealth Gap
Thought: The Chief Glory of Man
What philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell said here is entirely correct, but sadly, the quality of our thinking seems to have taken a turn for the worse in recent years.
What was life like here in the U.S. in 1970, the year Russell left us? Well, we had recently landed the first man on the moon. Yes, we had elected Richard Nixon president, but we didn’t know he was a criminal at the time.
In fact, Nixon announced the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency in July of that year, demonstrating that the Republicans of the time were capable of caring for our planet and the people who lived on it.
Look at us now. Just look.
Tagged with: establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency
Consume!
The message here, obviously, is that the blind consumption of resources leads to the death of the planet.
While this is true, we need the developing world to consume more. More food, more of the energy required for things like refrigeration and the pumping and purification of water.
Hoping for the Best, Fearing the Worst
The retired actress to whom I referred in my earlier post Republican Moderates Stand No Chance Against Trump said something that resonated with me, “I guess we’re all trying to convince ourselves that the next four years aren’t going to be as terrible as we fear. Maybe, somehow, we’ll get off easy.”
Exactly. If we extrapolate out over a four-year period from our news feeds that have hit us since Trump won the election in November, all we can see is a morass of presidential lawlessness, attacks on journalists, the mass-pardoning of insurrectionists and other friends of Trump, institutionalized racism, cuts to Social Security, a federal ban on abortion, people kicked off healthcare and dying of treatable diseases, tax cuts for billionaires, corporate greed making the lives of working Americans miserable, cabinet positions filled by Trump megadonors who are ridiculously unqualified for their positions, the end of our nation’s meager commitment to climate change mitigation, the demolition of our public education systems, etc.
My new acquaintance asked me, “This seems to be a dwindling spiral. How do you ‘undwindle’ it?” My response: “Great question. Wish I had even a reasonable answer.”
And yes, it’s possible that not too many of these horrors will come to pass. We can only hope.
Tagged with: a federal ban on abortion, cabinet positions filled by Trump megadonors who are ridiculously unqualified for their positions, corporate greed making the lives of working Americans miserable, Cuts to Social Security, institutionalized racism, people kicked off healthcare and dying of treatable diseases, presidential lawlessness, tax cuts for billionaires, the demolition of our public education systems, the end of our nation's meager commitment to climate change mitigation
Elon Musk in the News: Nothing Short of Surreal
As demonstrated at left, American politics is getting stranger by the hour.
2GreenEnergy has an X account, but it lies dormant.
