Alt is New again

What is written below is paraphrased from Martin Niemöller’s
work to be found by following this link.

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Niem%C3%B6ller

In America, the Republicans came for the Muslims and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Muslim
and then the Republicans came for the Hispanics and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t an Hispanic
and then the Republicans came for the LGBT and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t an LGBT

and then … they came for me . . .

Are you going to wait until then to speak up  – until they come for you?
Kind of like global warming – isn’t it?

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Sometimes do not is better

From the smallest act of kindness can come a large problem. Apparently, some individual(s) dumped their pet goldfish in Lake Tahoe rather than feed them to the cat. Now they are taking over the ecosystem and growing to massive sizes. This not the only place where goldfish have become a problem. Vasse river in Australia is being overrun with them.

It is through seemingly innocent acts of humanity that problems crop up. Like feeding squirrels. This leads to over population and the potential for the spread of disease and the infestation of homes. Animals, like us, will do whatever it takes to stay alive.

Follow the link below to learn more about the ‘goldfish apocalypse’.

https://www.livescience.com/27309-monster-goldfish-lake-tahoe.html

Think Global – Act Local

Time Mechanic

If you could travel back in time would you try and make things right by taking some kind of action? Or, would you learn from what was done wrong and not do it again? I know this has been written about by many people over the last 200 years but just go with me for awhile.

If you went back would you try and right the great wrongs of history by – say … killing Hitler’s mother before he was born and the same for Stalin, Pol Pot and Genghis Khan to name a few? Would their nonexistence then be filled by someone else we don’t know about? Their positions in time just being shadows of systems of thought in the greater population.

There are other people who have caused far greater damage to Earth and Humanity by the massive negative impacts of their work on the environment than these other men ever did. Their work was done with the best of intentions and hailed as breakthroughs but the long term negative results we have seen and will be seeing for centuries.

One of these men is Thomas Midgley. He was the inventor of Freon and tetraethyllead (which is used in leaded gasoline). These inventions are two of the greatest environmental threats of the twentieth century. It was never his intention to cause environmental disasters and human suffering but rather to help the world. Midgley’s work has “had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth’s history.” The results were millions of tons of lead released into the air and the Earth’s ozone layer depleted.

What would I do? I don’t think I could leave my principles behind me when I went through time but I might try and turn a young Midgley’s mind in the direction of becoming an insurance salesman.

What would you do?

Follow the link to learn more about Midgley.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr.

Act Local – Think Global!

River on fire – Frack it!

Fracking in Australia has caused the release of methane gas into a river one mile from the site of the mining.

The gas was set alight by an Australian politician using a stove lighter to make the point that fracking is not good for the environment. DUH! He gets burned a bit with the usual expletives uttered.

What do you think?

Think Global – Act Local!

Zen and art of Earth maintenance

If sirens rang, bells clanged and whistle blasts pierced the night but no one was listening  – would they be heard? Apparently, we’re not listening as the Earth’s average temperature jumped 1.21 degrees Celsius last month (February, 2016). This is a HUGE increase! The temperature broke records everywhere on the planet except Antarctica.

Tick, tick – tick …

Think Global – Act Local!

Silence in the coal mine

Years ago, I remember – so it wasn’t that far back, coal was mined underground by men with picks and shovels. It could be dangerous work with the ever present threat of cave-ins. Besides tunnel collapses another danger was poisonous gases like methane, carbon monoxide and dioxide. Back then electronic detection devices weren’t available to check for deadly gases so what we now call old school indicators were used – canaries.

Canaries were brought down into the mine in cages which were set in places where toxic gases were likely to accumulate. The canaries were normally singing or actively moving around in their cages. When a canary was doing these things all was good in the mine relative to gas buildup. When the birds weren’t doing any of these things or had died, and they would died quickly from toxic gases, it was time to leave the mine quickly before the miners passed out or there was an explosion.

Like the canaries there are many warning signs in our daily lives. Some examples being – yellow traffic lights, shortness of breath and the weight reading on our bathroom scale to name a few. The majority of us heed these warnings and if there’s are established protocols for dealing with the problems we follow them. These help us to live longer and healthier lives.

As a species we have been ignoring the warning signs of climate change for many years. Signs including: more hurricanes and typhoons; spring starting sooner; distributions of animals, plants and insects changing and global temperatures hitting new highs year after year.

The miners were always listening for the canaries’ song.
Are YOU listening?

Think Global – Act Local!