“In a world overflowing with riches, it is a outrageous scandal that more than 852 million people suffer hunger and malnutrition and that every year over 6 million children die of starvation and related causes. We must take urgent action now.” (Jean Ziegler, April 2008)
In other words, imagine every 7th human you see on street has nothing or not enough to eat. Sit on a shopping malls gallery, watch people passing by while thinking about this…
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.)
Went to watch this documentary last weekend and been deeply impressed! From an artistic point of view: It’s a piece of art! From a didactic point of view: It’s brilliant! Looking at it’s content: You simply hear the naked truth.
Now you might think this is a film where you’ll walk out and go to jump straight form the next bridge. You’ll not. Perhaps you’ll hesitate to buy your next comemercial ultra-cheap t-shirt in favor to a fair traded one — but I won’t consider that bad. 🙂
Furthermore you might start to see who’s working for your money which’s working for you. And you might ask yourself whether it is right to steal the persons produced overvalue, especially because best profit comes from places with blood on streets.
One could write a big pile of books about this, so I stop here. And it’s much easier for you to go and watch this movie than to read a pile of books! I promise you’ll see things differently afterwards — if you already do you’ll be glad to be part of a new species with open eyes. You’ll have pity on the ones who can’t see that their way had turned out a dead end, as some said since decades and even longer.
Just in case you missed it: America got a new president, and his middle name is Hussein. And he wants to talk with the world. He’s not a creationist. He’s not elitist. He seems to look for the root of problems. In a scientific manner. All this is just great I think.
But best of all, I think, is dear Michelle! What is the saying? Behind every great man there’s a greeat woman.
Michelle Obama
So watch out Barak, big sister is watching you, and she ain’t swimm with the tide! While everyone is talking on hope for change, this is my biggest hope: That, should Mister Obama be of two mind after talking to the Neocons, Mrs Obama will haul him over the coals.
Michelle Obama
Especially if the dumb boys start playing their old game of longer, bigger and thicker… Maybe they find out for themselves that there is no need to kill if one talks to each other. Tolerance and sharing is the key to peace!
In USA, between 1979 and 2005, the income of the poorest households increased by 1.3 % annually, the average income less than 1 %, the top revenues by 200 %. If you calculate the latter after tax it even grew 228 %.
The richest percent in the USA earned between 2002 and 2006 3/4 from the earnings growth. Statistically followed by Great Britain, Spain and Switzerland (oh my!).
In Germany, two tenth own about 80 % from the assets.
In 2007, top managers income grew 25 % in Germany.
In the 1920s we had about the same extraordinary mess, followed by the great depression in the 30s. As a consequence (also because WW II), in the middle 50s the highest US tax rate was 91 %, the one for corporate profits 45 %. But today?
We all know who is responsible for todays inequity. It’s not me, not you (well, the chances are about 1:10), it’s not God, it’s neither Mickey Mouse nor Dagobert Duck. It’s THEM! If one points at someone, three fingers point at yourself, so we know who is THEM: We ALL are.
We are in the advantageous situation where we all vote every day several times. Do you buy Nestlé or regional products? On which bank do you save your money? Do you use escalators and go to your fitness center by car? Who do you vote for, politically? Do you buy fast or organic food? Do you buy and travel fair?
Profit (or a real fair amount of) belongs to the one who spins the screw driver. Why let we the one who paid for the screw driver steal the profit? And, finally, why is this thefts income tax rate even lower than the one of them who are cleaning his office? Who is doing the real work here, the dollar?
We all know from our own inner temptation that everyone thinks of himself first. So why do we vote for the rich? Do we believe the rich must be wise? Or do we believe they do know to deal with crisis because they became rich? Have we all missed Dagobert Duck stories in our youth?
Everywhere you can read who and what is responsible for the actual crisis. The Neocons/-liberals have proofed themselves as not survivable without their hated, „over regulating“ governments and state banks paying for their mess. Why can’t we simply stop this behavior? What are we afraid of? Of loosing our employment? Todays production is in China because we vote for the thefts rules — we vote for our own crisis every day. Why is this so hard to understand?
:dontget:
Diversification is good for social stability — but it seems we don’t want a peaceful society. In the end we shoot ourselves in our homes, schools and on streets, out of frustration and fear. Sometimes this system is unbelievable: We vote for our own slavery while believing to be free, and when we check our misery, we execute ourselves. Is this the meaning of life? Or maybe an intermediate step in our evolution? Hopefully we will evolve a bit cleverer than lemmings…
This pic I found at www.igfm.de. It’s a german site from „international society for human rights“, on a subpage for notifications. From another subpage you can find some postcards and posters.
Are the Olympic Games good for chinese people? I’m not shure what to think of it. Boycott china means isolation and there would be no communication, no influence. Doing the Olympic Games in China means thousands of press people sniffing around and even China will not be able to control them all, wouldn’t they? Or will China simply throw in enough snitchers? 😕
China can censor the internet, but can hardly control all the informations exchanging between chinese people and foreigners. So if we go there, we have much more possibilities. In the meantime, we have to turn a blind eye or two to todays circumstances. Which is something I really hate!
I tend to belive that the KP somehow is of the same kind like the Bush administration and so many other: They want to rule, the more, the better. Others are bad, don’t know nothing, are doing wrong, in general are the enemies. This is thinking of the past millenniums, of our biological heritage, which will destroy us if we can’t get behind it.
If the average human would be this bad, we would have died off since long. I assume there are some 15 to 25 % us who are holding the rest back to do the next step – and in general they do it like this nowadays.
But we may realize that today humans are more economic on death: Most western systems tend to do less physical harms to its people to control them. The modern systemic pressure is more of psychological and economic kind. Human work power is understood as assets, it is understood that physical force leads to physical opposition – see todays Tibet, Iraq or Palestine, etc. This modern slavery seems perfect: People believe in being free, while they do drudgery and are cash cows themselves. But in counts of lives it could be considered as an advance. Nevertheless, many leaders didn’t got this change yet…
So are the Olympic Games good for chinese people? I think, they have nothing to loose. So they can only win.
Are the games good for Tibet? Running the torch through Tibet is one of the biggest affronts I can imagine, if you think of the original, symbolic meaning. This is so… it makes me want to be the boxer above! This is so pretentious! It’s the sheriff with the thickest gun, openly dealing with the gangsters, showing off in front of his office: «Look here, how I f*ck you people, and it feels daaamn goood!» But be sure must of his functionaries believe credulous they do help people…
I really don’t know. I dream of 25’000 olympic photographers rushing tibet on one day, occupying the occupiers to flood the KP-occupied chinese media, so chinese people can reoccupy their land, confound the sheriff. But usually men – and not women – just change roles in the above boxing match…
Wow, it’s definetly true: America is the country of the unlimited possibilities! President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney now may want to think twice about any vacation plans in the Green Mountain state, where the voters of Brattleboro today voted to seek an indictment of the president and vice president and arrest them if they show up in town.
Before I was reading this article from Deepak Chopra, «Why Jesus lost Nomination». The first comments are mostly evangelical, I only thought «oh my god, America is lost!». Later one Commenter wrote: To discuss with evangelicals is like kicking a big rock – no move, but your foot hurts. So you better go around and leave it.
How ever, on the other hand, there is now an indictment article on Bush and Cheney in Brattleboro. Nature tries to keep the balance, it seems. I can live with that… :peace:
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.
«The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.»
Watch this dissertation from Dr. Albert A. Bartlett, professor emeritus of physics at the university of Boulder, Colorado (8 parts, each approx. 9 min):
Mankind is growing with approx. 1.6 percent a year. This means, in 780 years we’ll have an one-squaremeter-society: on every squaremeter land is one person living. And in 2500 years mankind will weigh the same as the whole earth (dear Albert is a joker for shure).
Or think of bacteria living in a bottle. It’s eleven o’clock. They double their volume once a minute. What time is it, when they realize that the bottle is half full and they’re getting a place problem? Right, it’s exact 11:59. If they become aware of the fact when the bottle is one eighth full? It’s 11:57. Ok, they start a big search now and can find 3 more bottles by the time when the first is one fourth full, witch gives an amazing amount of space: 16 times the room they use now! Problem solved, you think? Wait until 12:02…
Click above – this is the most important video you’ll ever see! Find out why it seems that most politicians, economists and even scientists are unable to do simple math we all did back in school.
And while you are at it, asking yourselt why we should act today to save our tomorrow, have a quick look at this video (9 min).
Close your eyes (well, after reading) and imagine the following.
Sweet Mullah in chief would state:
We have no nuclear material to build weapons – come and see.
We have no plants to make poison gas – come and see.
We even have no missiles to transport such things – come and see.
We don’t treat our opposition like lifestock – come and see.
We respect human rights – come and see.
Everyone has one vote, everyone can campaign – come and see.
We’d like to be your host – come and test us.
And, finally, we’ll sell you our oil in Euros – come and buy!
(tell me some more ideas…)
This could change so many things. It would probably be good for European economics. Probably, many other countries would jump on the bandwagon. Surely, it would be bad for the American economy.
America would not be able to find a real reason for an attack to prevent this. Maybe it would fudge an excuse, but nobody would believe it. The ruler ruled out by his own rules!
But, hold on, what’s the saying? Kick an old dog long enough and it will turn around and bite. Also, what about power vacuum? How many inferiority-complex addled people will fill buckets with their drivel? If physics are to be trusted, gallons of the stuff will drool into place.
Then only holy metaphysics can repeal the laws, but on this score all the mystics men and women sucked, till today. Damn, I’m glad I don’t have to make the rules…
Well, yeah – open your eyes, a dream comes back to reality.
European heads of government agreed to get onward with climate protection. The ambition is to reduce one fifth of greenhouse gases from 1990 by 2020. (!)
In fact, this is not ambitious enough by far. But I see the fact that they are in consent about the need of such steps, even if very tardily. It seems they started to think about our future.
But about which ways to take there are the old inconsistencies. Is nuclear power renewable? Brave Angela Merkel (German President of the European Council at this time) stood tall and argued against this viewpoint. Big applause, please!
France and others won’t be happy with this. And in question is how earnest this statement will be realised. If I take a look at how far we are with the Kyoto-protocol. Still, the insight is here, and if it’s only for popularity. But the end justifies the means, when it results in clear decisions.
Hear I someone say «dream on» 🙂 ? As John Lennon said: I’m not the only one.
Maybe we should put some stuff in Brussels drinking water – it might teach the politicians to dream even further. If they sense life in the next tree they see; it could be inspiring.
Back to realism again I suggest you make sure with your vote, that some realistic and idealistic dreamers take place in the houses of governments – this is how dreams come true, isn’t it?
Wow, it’s definetly true: America is the country of the unlimited possibilities! President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney now may want to think twice about any vacation plans in the Green Mountain state, where the voters of Brattleboro today voted to seek an indictment of the president and vice president and arrest them if they show up in town.
Or think of bacteria living in a bottle. It’s eleven o’clock. They double their volume once a minute. What time is it, when they realize that the bottle is half full and they’re getting a place problem? Right, it’s exact 11:59. If they become aware of the fact when the bottle is one eighth full? It’s 11:57. Ok, they start a big search now and can find 3 more bottles by the time when the first is one fourth full, witch gives an amazing amount of space: 16 times the room they use now! Problem solved, you think? Wait until 12:02…
Well, yeah, two planets met somewhere at the edge of the universe.
European heads of government agreed to get onward with climate protection. The ambition is to reduce one fifth of greenhouse gases from 1990 by 2020. (!)