Small post just for completeness – this chart must not be missing here!
Source: huffingtonpost.com, approximately 2011.
Thank you for shopping fair.
The Brands of Evil (please click to enlarge)
No need to say that we don’t buy all this stuff, isn’t it. But if you need some arguments: In all this stuff there is some alien-stuff that makes you stop thinking – be aware, I’ve told you!! 😉
Some serious arguments may be found here about bottled Water, by way of example, or money:
In der Zeit fand ich einen guten Artikel, der die monetären Hingergründe der «Klimakrieger» recherchiert: «Wie von der Industrie bezahlte PR-Manager der Welt seit Jahren einreden, die Erderwärmung finde nicht statt. Chronologie einer organisierten Lüge.» Sehr lesenswerter Beitrag auch zum Thema Mediokratie.
Stefan Rahmstorf betreibt auf den SciLogs den Blog «KlimaLounge – Nah dran am Wandel». Im Blogbeitrag «Am Puls der Klimakriese» geht es um «die grundlegenden Daten und Belege zur aktuellen globalen Erwärmung, zur Zunahme von Wetterextremen und zum Anstieg des Meeresspiegels. Der Vortrag spannt einen Bogen von den Eiszeiten bis zu der Frage, wie wir die Klimakrise bewältigen können.»
Der Video-Mitschnit des Vortrags liefert einen guten Überblick zur aktuellen Datenlage und die Kommentare scheinen sich auch interessant zu entwickeln.
Quickly this was the oldest article I found, from July 2007. Ironically an uranium dealer site. It seems the question mark in the title should be deleted. Who knows that sea level will not rise the 10 meters some time the next few thousand years, the amount 3 reactors are above sea level? How many meters will be disastrous?
If a new sarcophagus in Chernobyl costs billions, what about Fukushima? Will it be possible to fight rising ground water? To build a new sarcophagus under water? What if needed High Tech solutions go missing by the upcoming fossil fuel crisis or a possible new financial crisis? Who cares (what happens) when we are gone? If radioactivity goes into the sea, it will no more be locally like in Chernobyl.
Let’s hope Tepco’s engineers are more intelligent as I am…
Der vier jährige Eisbär Knut starb kürzlich im Berliner Zoo; wie es zur Zeit scheint, an einer Hirnerkrankung. Ich kann mir gut vorstellen, was der kleine Racker sich dachte:
«Da hänge ich hier nun fest auf der genetischen Reservebank. Bloss, wieso glotzen alle so dämlich? Geht mir echt auf’n Kecks! Erst rotten die Ärsche alles aus, was sie unter die Füsse kriegen, dann verseuchen sie Luft, Erde und Wasser, und, als ob das nicht reichte, machen sie aus dem Raumschiff Erde ein Treibhaus.
Vor lauter Frust kommen sie dann her, um ihre kranke und vergewaltigte Psyche vollends ins Koma zu glotzen. Ich meine, ich liebe das Leben, eigentlich, aber nicht hier. Ich bin weder Ersatzbaby noch Trostpflaster noch ein Narkosemittel.
Eigentlich könnte ich mich glücklich schätzen, so angebetet zu werden. Was ich so von draussen höre, da ist’s gar nicht mehr lustig, immer öfter gibt’s nichts mehr zu finden, zu fressen. Die müssen teilweise stundenlang schwimmen, voll der Scheiss!
All die Idioten sehen das in den News, finden, «oh jesses wie schlimm!», steigen in ihre Karre, kommen her und blöcken im Chor «uh schau mal da, jöhh!». Ist doch echt zum kotzen! Sofern ich mal lust hatte, hier zu sein, so ist sie mir inzwischen vergangen.
Bald gibt’s ja wieder Lachse mit drei Augen zu futtern. Irgendwie wäre ich trotzdem froh, wenn der Affentanz mal vorbei ist. Niemand von uns hat Lust, den ganzen Menschenscheiss aus zu baden. Das können die mal schön selber tun. Und tschüss.»
Nun ja, wiedersehn‘, ich wünsche eine gute Reise. Tut mir Leid, dass es so kommen musste. Dafür lässt sich daraus lesen, dass Evolution, das Universum, die Natur, dass Gott kaum eine proaktive, schon gar keine moralische Intelligenz besitzt. Gott ist eine Funktion, und zwar eine ziemlich perverse.
It is not science. It is not technology. It is not anything but us. It is the way we think and the way we react on and experience our environment. Up to now there were only a few smaller collectives of people who became witnesses of destructions of their environment. Otherwise we would collectively remember that and its consequences. But we don’t.
If it would be something like “Go and run against a spiky branch!” obviously nobody would follow. Nobody will sniff slurry for having fun I assume. We are programmed to protect us from harm.
Where the shit hits the fan
There are dangers where our protection algorithm breaks down: Changes, happening so slowly that we simply adapt to, and therefore overlook the upcoming situation. This is a pure failure in our modern consciousness because – for humanity as such – there was no need to learn this lesson, until now.
Different people react differently on situations like this and the following is no judgment but a kind of analysis. A zero-dimensional mind just sits on a point in the here and now, eats when hungry, sleeps when tired. A one-dimensional mind gets a way: If thirsty, it goes straight to the well. A two-dimensional mind sees the surrounding area and takes a longer way to the well because it may be less exhausting. A three-dimensional mind may be asking about what is up there in heaven and down here in hell, whereas a four-dimensional mind sees how time influences the fire which is trying to burn us.
We all know all of this conditions, more or less, it got nothing to do with our western-style intelligence. If you are sitting in a dock of a bay, you are a zero. If you put a water pot on ball bearing wheels, you are a three – and a four, if you share the water. The question is: What is your motivation?
If the situation brings comfort, you tend to be even a five. If it seems like a lot of work and hassle, you will be a big zero. This is the way Godmother has created us, it is our biological heritage. And it will be our downfall, because Godmother and the tree of evolution never thought of atom bombs, let alone of blowing all the carbon and cesium into the air. They are creators, not destroyers.
Since anyone got a kind of main character, fours tend to be leaders, which get the threes to build guns, which the twos will use, while the ones are singing Hallelujah, and the zeros play cannon fodder. This is true for secular and religious leaders.
Now I do not think we all need a rat-race to become the highest possible number. The New World needs autonomous thinkers and tinkers, who do it with all their hands, brains and hearts. Brains we have enough in the First World, hands we shipped to the Chinese, hearts we loosed some time ago.
My vision is to follow the numbers, put the pedal to the metal and BE, HERE and NOW. I’m sure, anyone likes this! Put the pedal to the metal and MOVE, mentally too, do not stop. Then put the pedal to the metal and LIVE TO SEE, explore. Put the pedal to the metal again and THINK, be an inventor. No stop, put the pedal to the metal once more and DECIDE whether you would like the others to do the same as you do.
If our decisions are not based on IQ, EQ and SQ (intelligence, emotional and soul quotient), we will neither save the climate nor anything other, not even our selves, obviously. But one cannot order people to be like that – you and me have to start! We need political pressure, civil and industrial disobedience, to stand together against our biological heritage of laziness. Every penny we spend is a vote for tomorrows productions. Every action leads to a reaction. You decide!
Do not wait for others, hurry! Time is running out! Good thing is we have the Star Trek and Babylon 5 Seasons – if we do not make it that far, we have at least dreamed about it…
Defective thinking
(If you do not think that it is that urgent, think again. Think of all the normal, poisoned or radioactive waste in the seas and everywhere, used depleted uranium munitions (google it), other poison everywhere, sick bodies, sick minds, sick souls, climate change, acquisitiveness, craving for power, economic growth, overfishing, extinction of species, you name it. To me it seems like a wonder that it did not got worse. Or maybe it had, but we still do not know… This is hard to face, but we have to. Let me assure you: putting the pedal to the metal is fun! Do it as long as possible.)
Have you ever bought a radio for € 7.50? Ever asked yourself how it is possible to pay for the high tech insides, the plastic housing, the disposal of toxic waste from production, the fees, the transport from China, the margins of producer, dealer and seller with out of this low amount?
Did you ever thought about what goes on before and after you buy stuff? In this 20 minute animation you’ll get a firm overview of the whole process: earn resources, production, distribution, selling and disposal of waste. Where does our consumption lead us?
Probably this is nothing new to you — nevertheless it’s fun to watch this piece of art, which shows in a surprisingly clear and funny manner the complex connections, the big picture of what is going on when you buy stuff.
You won’t feel sad after, because Annie don’t point a finger at you saying «You’re a dumb, mean destroyer». You’ll feel like «Wow, why don’t we change that, I want to».
This is great educational stuff! Show and talk about this with you children and everyone who wants to know or wonders. And them who don’t too! They will go 😯 !
On YouTube I stumbled upon this actual lecture about Climate Change. It is mainly in three parts:
Facts about climate change from an environmental point of view
Needs and possibilities to master the challenge
Economical views on the subject
The question of why America sends annual 300 Mrd $ to foreign countries for oil, which is answered with Lenin’s quote „The capitalists are so hungry for profits that they will sell us the rope to hang them with.“, and the addition „…and they will send us the money to buy the rope“ is a very typical view for Americans somehow, I think.
Nevertheless, with todays technics our vehicles could be 50 %, buildings 80 % more efficient without change in lifestyle. Acting is not a question of money or ideology, but of intelligence.
What not comes in numbers here is the benefit in public health due to better air and water quality. Nothing is really new here, but the arguments may help you out in the field…
(Dr. Lester Lave, Co-Director Carnegie Mellon Electrical Industry Center; Dr. M. Granger Morgan, Director of the Climate Decision Making Center; Edward Rubin, Professor in Engineering and Public Policy and Mechanical Engineering, 1:15)
If you wanna know it really exactly, watch the following video too, which outlines the research and the process behind the Global Climate Change Report to the Bush administration in 2002. So yes, they know: Global warming is fact, it’s due human activities, without sun activities being a reason etc.
(And yes, this is a very dry one, but gives an excellent overview on the complexity of the matter, if you’d like to be fed with data, numbers and formulas by Ralph Cicerone, Chancellor of the University of California at Irvine, 1:10)
Hello, today’s Blog Action Day! So here’s my post. Since it’s about environment and I thought there are so many experts better than me out there, I’ll write a nice little tale. Well, finally it got a bit oversized, because I tried to tell this and to tell that too, and those points seems important, and so on. There are no Karl-May-like lengthy descriptions, but our little friend stumbles from one adventure into the next before he reaches his destiny.
So I hope you take your time and enjoy the reading! However, I had fun writing it. And please leave a note. 🙂
A dollars wondrous journey
Once upon a time there was a lonesome Dollar. It was not very beautiful – more the average type of a green printed piece of paper. He was very ambitious and wanted to make more out of his live. So he decided to go out into the big, wide world to see it all – and to become more beautiful, as every dollar wants to be.
By chance he found himself in Indonesia. He remembered that rainforest is considered as a good place to become more beautiful – for the price of only one tree. «There are so many trees» he thought, «nobody will miss it if I’ll take one».
Short time later he felt more beautiful because it had taken the trees beauty and Dollar was very pleased with himself. But, on the other hand, he felt no longer independent. «Doesn’t matter» he told himself matter-of-factly, and was magically drawn along with the tree over the ocean to America.
He never looked behind and so he couldn’t see all the other dollars hunting for beauty in the woods and the trees vanishing one by one. Very quickly the rainforests was cleared of trees – which enhanced neatness and visibility of the environment enormously – and also in making Dollars more beautiful. Problem was, once the forests were deserted, no dollars came anymore. People in now raindesert-countries started to fight each other out of frustration and lack of education to free themselves from their anger. Many times their leaders told them to do so because they feared the powers from the poor. And as long as they fought each other, they wouldn’t fight the leaders.
In America, in the meantime, the tree had ended up as a door case. Our dollar was owned by an international habitation proprietor, now ten times more beautiful. Although he was not free anymore, he had a good life and enjoyed his beauty. To become even more beautiful, he was sent to Germany: There were low cost housings for sale and they promised much beauty. After some home-improvement projects that made the workers sweat, Dollar pocketed his first slice of beauty.
Then the buildings were sold again and our dollar got his second slice of beauty. He returned to America twenty times as beautiful as when he arrived in Europe. Again he didn’t look back and therefore couldn’t see the tears of families which didn’t find a payable flat anymore. And those who could afford high lease prices had to live in energy wasting houses full of toxic materials. It paid the most beauty – for Dollar.
