My World of “Ought to Be”
by Timothy Wilken, MD










Subscribe to "My World of  “Ought to Be”" in Radio UserLand.

Click to see the XML version of this web page.

Click here to send an email to the editor of this weblog.
 

 

Friday, March 26, 2004
 

Trustegrities could change our Future

GoldenRuleTimothy Wilken, MD writes:  The Trustegrities will be three with separate but complimentary missions in service to humankind. The Earth Trustegrity will provide: 1) Access to land and natural resources for personal use at minimal or no cost, and 2) Access to land and natural resources for synergic production with appropriate charges payable to the Earth Trustegrity in lease or rental fees, licensing fees, and/or revenue shares. All rental fees, licensing fees, and/or revenue shares are entrusted to the Earth Trustegrity for Humanity as Community. The Life Trustegrity will provide: 3) Safety from crime and war, and full access to: 4) Comfortable, safe, healthy housing. 5) Good nutritious food 6) Good preventitive health services and comprehensive cradle to grave medical care, and access to the privilege of Reproduction based on fairness, equality, and mutual benefit to both humanity as Individuals and humanity as Community. This would include monitoring administrating, adjudicating the Trust privilege of Reproduction. 7) Access to animals and plants including native flora and wildlife for personal use at minimum or no cost. 8) Access to animals and plants including native flora and wildlife for synergic production with approriate charges payable to the Life Trustegrity in rental fees, licensing fees and/or revenue shares. All payments made are entrusted to the Earth Trustegrity for Humanity as Community. The Time-binding Trustegrity will provide: 9) Full education to an individual’s ability and interest regardless of age, 10) The opportunity to participate in synergic organization and invest their action and leverage to earn revenue shares and acquire property throughout their full lifetime. 11) Access to communication with humanity as individuals and to humanity as community for personal reasons, for synergic production and consumption, and for synergic consensus utilizing Unanimous Rule Democracy. 12) Protection of the intellectual discoveries and inventions of Time-binding whether they be in the Time-binding Trust, or the Property of living humans.  (03/26/04)


  b-future:

The Perfect Storm

Jeremy RifkinJeremy Rifkin writes: The average nationwide price of a gallon of gasoline in America reached a record high of $1.77 this month. The steady spike in prices has left analysts wondering if this is a harbinger of even more dramatic increases as motorists head into the spring and summer months. Get ready for what might become the economy's version of the perfect storm later this summer. The devastation could quickly spread to the UK and the rest of the world, with dire consequences for the global economy. The first hint of what might be in store came last month when Opec announced its decision to withdraw 1m barrels of crude oil a day from the market. Opec is worried about the weakening value of the dollar: it has lost one-third of its value in just under two years. Since Opec sells oil for dollars, the oil-producing countries are losing precious revenue as the value of the dollar continues to erode. And because oil-producing countries then turn around and purchase much of their goods and services from the EU and must pay in euros, their purchasing power continues to deteriorate. (The euro is currently valued at $1.23.) How will the weaker dollar affect oil prices? Philip K Verleger, the dean of US oil market analysts and a visiting fellow at the Institute for International Economics, suggests that "oil-exporting countries may decide to adjust their price band to reflect the falling value of the dollar". If the dollar continues to slide, he warns, we could see oil prices rising from the current $38.18 a barrel to a record high of $40 by midsummer. ... Verleger says gasoline could climb as high as $3.50 a gallon before leveling off at $2 by the autumn. How high prices eventually soar could depend on still other factors, including potential oil disruptions in Venezuela and the Middle East. There is also the prospect that one or two major refineries might fail during peak demand this summer - not that unusual when increased consumer pressure forces refineries to produce at peak capacity without taking the time for proper maintenance. ... As long as the US and global economy are increasingly dependent on an ever-dwindling supply of oil from the Middle East, the conditions for a perfect economic storm will continue to haunt us. (03/26/04)


  b-CommUnity:

Planting Trees

This tree was planted in Shane's Castle in the 1750sBBC Environment -- The acorns of a sustainable hardwood industry in Northern Ireland are being planted with the resurgence of broadleaf trees. Oak, ash, beech and rowan are some of the species being introduced by many landowners and farmers who have converted to forestry. Northern Ireland's total area of woodland is just 6% of the land area - the lowest in Europe. Of that 6%, 4% is state-owned and 2% is in private hands. However, that is a trend the Forest Service is keen to reverse. It is providing grants to landowners to plant trees, part-funded by the European Union under the Rural Development Regulation Plan and the Building Sustainable Prosperity Programme. The process of transforming intensively managed farmland into woodland increases biodiversity and provides a habitat for many forms of wildlife. But the establishment of a sustainable hardwood industry is not achievable in the short-term. Clarke Cunningham, who runs a tree maintenance and woodland management business near Killyleagh in County Down, says getting to that point could take between 90 and 200 years. "It is a plan for the future. There are so many countries ahead of us - France and Germany are exporting hardwood as hard as they can go because they have more than they need - it is going to be very hard to compete," he says. "What I have done is cover the small niche market of producing timber that the French don't produce, like elm and character grade oak." In the past 14 years, he has planted about 33,000 trees. Clarke has oaks lying in his timber yard which were planted at Shane's Castle on the shores of Lough Neagh in the 1750s. Now they have reached the end of their natural lives, they will be processed and made into quality flooring or furniture. Responsible for planting and maintaining Belfast's public trees, the tree surgeon began business in 1984 and now employs up to 40 people in the picturesque townland of Ballytrim. (03/26/04)


  b-theInternet:

Protecting Our Children

BBC Health -- The brains of children in many parts of Europe are suffering greater damage from environmental risks than previously recognised, scientists say. The World Health Organization claims lead continues to be a menace - up to 30% of urban children show high blood levels in some places. It says the emphasis from now on should be on the precautionary principle, putting safety first. The WHO says "the vested interests of industry and free trade" have worked against this approach so far. Its call for caution came at a meeting in Malta of European delegates preparing for a ministerial conference on environment and health, The Future For Our Children, being held in Budapest, the Hungarian capital, in June. The Malta meeting has been given preliminary results from a comprehensive study on environmental threats to children's health, being conducted by the WHO and the University of Udine, Italy. The full report is to be published at the Budapest conference. The findings suggest lead is the single most important damaging chemical for children. In 2001, the estimated percentage of European children in urban areas with elevated blood levels (above 10 mg per decilitre) ranged from 0.1% to 30.2%. Globally, the WHO says, 15 to 18 million children in developing countries suffer permanent brain damage from lead poisoning. Other threats to children's health include methylmercury, dioxins, furans, PCBs, pesticides, nitrites and nitrates, and benzene. Dr Marc Danzon, WHO regional director for Europe, said: "Evidence shows that reducing exposure to lead protects a child's intellectual potential. We should take action to make sure that our children are all protected from this and other environmental hazards." (03/26/04)


  b-theInternet:

U.S. seeks Exemption from Protecting the Earth

Ozone holeBBC Environment -- A plea by the United States and other developed countries to be allowed to go on using a gas that destroys ozone is being debated at an international meeting in Canada. They want the meeting of signatories to the ozone protection treaty, the Montreal Protocol, to allow continued use of methyl bromide. The gas, a pesticide for fumigating crops, damages the ozone layer. It was due to be phased out by 2005, and critics say reprieving it could badly damage the protocol. The Earth's thin layer of ozone protects all living things against harmful ultra-violet radiation from the Sun, which can cause cancer and blindness and damage the immune system. Industrial gases, including chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons, had been eating away at the layer until the ozone "hole" was discovered above Antarctica in the 1980s. But the protocol has succeeded in reducing the destruction, and on present trends the ozone layer should be returning to normal by about the middle of the century. The Montreal Protocol does allow continued use of ozone-destroying gases for purposes agreed to be "critical". The US is asking at the meeting, also in Montreal, for "critical use exemptions" which environmental groups say would in fact expand its use of methyl bromide. Other countries pressing for similar exemptions include Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the UK. The use of the gas had been cut to 30% of the high 1991 levels. (03/26/04)


  b-theInternet:


5:53:36 AM    


Click here to visit the Radio UserLand website. © TrustMark 2004 Timothy Wilken.
Last update: 3/31/2004; 6:04:11 AM.
This theme is based on the SoundWaves (blue) Manila theme.
March 2004
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
  1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31      
Feb   Apr


This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here.