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Monday, January 13, 2003
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Timothy Wilken, MD writes: Today, most humans solve their problems as individuals or at best as nuclear families. They meet their individual needs with individual actions. At best they may meet the needs of their nuclear family through family actions, but this is rarely more than a husband and wife both working. The extended family is an organizational pattern rarely seen in modern society. This focus on individuality results in a massive loss of opportunity to co-Operative strategies that could result in greater efficiency and economy. Individual Actions Even though we humans are an interdependent class of life, we choose our actions based not on what we are, but on what we think we are. Today, modern humans are convinced they are an independent form of life. This deep belief in human independence means that most modern humans seek to meet their needs as individuals and make their choices independently of their fellow humans. In our present culture humans meet their needs by purchasing products and services as independent individuals. In today's fair market there are providers of products and services and there are consumers. Both the providers and the consumers for the most part think of themselves as independent and make their choices without great awareness of what others are doing. In today’s marketplace, the providers and consumers meet only in the retail space. They have little or no direct relationship with each other. In this ignorance, both are, for all extent and purposes, blind and ignorant. The provider doesn’t know his consumers, let alone what they might need or when they might need it. And often the consumer don’t know the providers. (01/13/03) | |
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David C. Korten writes: Empire or Earth Community? That is the choice before us. It is a choice defined by an epic struggle with deep roots in the human psyche that extends back to the earliest human experience. It is embedded in sharply contrasting world views. And it leads to dramatically different visions of the human possible. To understand this struggle is to understand the profound significance of the Earth Charter. To the forces of empire, the world is an inherently hostile and competitive place filled with human and natural enemies that must be controlled or destroyed by physical force. In the world of empire the only choice life offers is to be a winner or be a loser, rule or be ruled. So be a winner and go for the gold. Trust, compassion, and cooperation are for fools and cowards. Life is a competition in which the smartest, toughest, and most rational players seize and hold power by whatever means available to impose peace and order on the unruly — and it is just and proper that they be rewarded with wealth and privilege for their service. The values and worldview of empire find expression in the forces of corporate globalization and in the policies and military doctrine of the administration that currently commands military and police power in America — and that tragically poses a far greater threat to world freedom and democracy than any terrorist network. To the forces of community, the world is inherently nurturing, compassionate, and overflowing with creative abundance and opportunity. In the world of community we consider violence and conflict to be irrational, because they are self-destructive — a violation against the sacred spiritual unity that is the source of life and the ground of all being. Meaning and purpose are found in equitably sharing power and resources to secure the well-being of all as we engage in a cooperative exploration of life’s infinite creative possibilities. The values and worldview of community find eloquent expression in the Earth Charter and in the extraordinary social movement we know as global civil society. Individuals and societies differ as to which one of the competing tendencies — empire or community — is more dominant in their lives, but both tendencies reside in each of us. So we ask: Where lies truth? Is the world inherently hostile and dangerous or inherently caring and compassionate? The answer is — it depends on us — on we the people of planet Earth — because we have the knowledge, technology, and organizational capacity to create the world we choose. We need only the vision to see the possibility of a caring and compassionate Earth Community and choose to live it into being. This is an extraordinary insight — the insight that led thousands of us from all around the world to join in crafting the Earth Charter as a statement of our shared vision and commitment. (01/13/03) | |
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Seth Lloyd writes: My advice to our highest elected official is to keep science public. Secret knowledge, no matter how laboriously acquired, is less than science. Some knowledge, of course, must remain secret for the security of the nation. Do not have the National Security Administration publish its cryptographic keys. But unless there is a clear security risk, publish all else. Why? Science belongs to the public: they pay for it; they benefit from it. The benefits of scientific knowledge accrue far more rapidly when that knowledge lies open for all to see, to test, and to try. (01/13/03) | |
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From the Wilderness -- Stan Goff writes: Most of the polemical resistance to the so-called "War on Terrorism" has thus far been based on ethics and morality. And the moral dimension of the war is important. But we must take a more critical look at this war, at what is motivating the war, and what are the likely outcomes. While we can mount moral resistance to the war, if we fail to critically engage the real causes of it, we cannot mount an effective political resistance, which has to be an effective response to the motive forces behind the war. Here we will emphasize the dynamic between an American ruling class and its governing junta -- which has seized power and is in many ways out of control -- in an adverse historical circumstance that is not likely correctable, and cannot, therefore, guarantee the survival of U.S. imperialism. We have to study this dynamic concretely to understand it. ... Oil is the form of a deeper cycle of material reality than that on which radical theorists concentrated in the abstract with relation to the commodity and the vast social architecture they unfold from that enigma. It is the embodiment of inescapable physical laws related to energy and matter, and those are the laws, in conjunction with the laws of social motion, that we are bumping up against, not just as a society but as a species. Oil is a form of super-concentrated energy, originating as solar energy that formed over hundreds of millions of years in unique biological and geological conditions that cannot be replicated. Our species has used over half of the recoverable oil in approximately 100 years. World oil production is probably peaking right now, even as population continues to increase and the demands of a crumbling world economic infrastructure continue apace. (01/13/02) | |
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New York Times -- John Cole, an author, conservationist and co-founder of Maine Times, a spirited weekly newspaper that championed the environment and doggedly kept tabs on state and local government, died of cancer on Wednesday at his home in Brunswick, Me. He was 79. Maine Times, which Mr. Cole founded with Peter Cox in 1968, was an alternative weekly in a state not known for such upstart journalism. It veered away from the day-to-day routine, choosing instead the role of gadfly on issues that others had largely ignored, like the state's juvenile detention system. Mr. Cole engaged in a celebrated battle with the state's first independent governor, Jim Longley, constantly critiquing his performance. "'Augusta has become like a banana republic,' that's the kind of stuff that John would print," Mr. Cox said. Mr. Cole was perhaps best known as an environmental crusader. When officials wanted to open an oil refinery in Trenton, Me., a stone's throw from the entrance to Acadia National Park, Mr. Cole sent a reporter to a New Jersey refinery to describe its pollutant effects. He lobbied against deforestation and hunting, and sought to protect every inch of the state, from the rocky seashore to the roaring Allagash River. (01/13/02) | |
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From the Wilderness -- Dale Allen Pfeiffer writes: If it is true that an oil coup has taken control in this country and is seeking to consolidate its power throughout the world, based on the fact that world oil and natural gas production are set to go into decline, then what does this hold for the future? Using this as our hypothesis, we should be able to predict future military actions by comparing production profiles for various oil producing countries with the political climate within these same countries. For this purpose, we are using production profiles developed by Richard C. Duncan and Walter Youngquist through the use of their World Oil Forecasting Program in 1998.1 The data has changed very little since that time, except for a slight upgrade in projected Caspian Sea oil reserves and a slightly higher than projected oil demand. In addition to oil production there are also other factors which need to be taken into account, such as other resource deposits, demand, and population. Not all of these factors are as well documented as oil production, and so we will use this as our focal point, adding in other information where available. Finally, we have to wonder not only about the motives of this supposed oil coup, but we also need to speculate on whether the perpetrators fully understand the implications of energy depletion. In other words, will they be able to hold on to their power in the face of the breakdown of civilization? And what might they do if they thought they were losing control? (01/13/03) | |
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New York Times -- At a packed committee hearing, Senators John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and Joseph I. Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut, joined forces today to challenge the Bush administration on global warming. The two former — and possibly future — political rivals to President Bush and each other offered their bill to reduce the emissions of heat-trapping gases, saying the administration was stuck in neutral on that crucial environmental matter. "The United States is responsible for 25 percent of the worldwide greenhouse gas emissions," Mr. McCain, chairman of the Science, Commerce and Transportation Committee, said as he opened the hearing. "It is time for the United States government to do its part to address this global problem, and a discussion of mandatory reductions is the form of leadership that is required." That assertion was a direct challenge to Mr. Bush, whose approach relies on voluntary reductions, and it guaranteed that the McCain-Lieberman bill would face stiff opposition, particularly after next week, when Mr. Lieberman is to announce that he is seeking the Democratic nomination for president next year. (01/13/03) | |
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New York Times -- In a brief, low-key passage in his annual address to the Legislature, Gov. George E. Pataki yesterday electrified green-energy supporters and environmentalists who had hoped without much hope for years that New York would become a national leader in sustainable nonpolluting energy. Mr. Pataki said he would direct that, within the next decade, 25 percent of the state's electricity supply come from sources like solar and wind power. ... Thirteen states already have renewable energy goals, called portfolio standards, but environmentalists said that New York's would be among the most aggressive of all. New Jersey has pledged to get 6.5 percent of its electricity from green sources by 2012, and Texas is committed to 2.2 percent by 2009. Mr. Pataki's order also affects only energy bought on the statewide wholesale market, so it will not be felt by individual electricity customers who will continue to pay their bills as before. "It almost seemed like the golden fleece that we were striving for but could never achieve, and to have the governor come out and announce that he would have the Public Service Commission implement a portfolio standard is just an incredible piece of good news," said John L. Stouffer, legislative director for the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter. "It means that there will be new sources of renewable energy sited in New York." (01/13/03) | |
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New York Times -- Maurice Gibb, who with his brothers built the Bee Gees into a disco sensation that ruled the charts in the late '70s with hits like ``Stayin' Alive'' and ``More Than a Woman,'' died Sunday at the age of 53. The bass and keyboard player had been admitted to Mount Sinai Medical Center four days earlier to have emergency surgery for an intestinal blockage. He suffered cardiac arrest before the operation. ``To our extended family friends and fans, with great sadness and sorrow we regretfully announce the passing of Maurice Gibb this morning,'' Gibb's family said in a statement. ``His love, enthusiasm and energy for life remain an inspiration to all of us.'' The Bee Gees, short for the Brothers Gibb -- twins Maurice and Robin, and their older brother Barry -- were known for their tight, high harmonies and original sound. The brothers had nine No. 1 songs, wrote dozens of hits for other artists, and sold more than 110 million records -- placing them fifth in pop history behind Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney. (01/12/03) | |
1:51:21 AM 
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© TrustMark
2003
Timothy Wilken.
Last update:
2/2/2003; 7:50:36 AM.
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