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Monthly Archives: April 2015

Climate Disruption: Thought of the Week

29 Wednesday Apr 2015

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Anthropogenic Climate Disruption

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Climate Change, Climate disruption, Naomi Klein

Naomi Klein - This Changes Everything

Naomi Klein with front cover of her book, This Changes Everything
Photo Credit: Climate & Capitalism

Capitalism vs The Climate

Fundamentally, the task is to articulate not just an alternative set of policy proposals but an alternative worldview to rival the one at the heart of the ecological crisis—embedded in interdependence rather than hyper-individualism, reciprocity rather than dominance, and cooperation rather than hierarchy.
~ Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs The Climate, Simon & Schuster, New York, USA, 2014

Success or Failure: Which is More Destructive?

26 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Human Behavior, United States

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

"Free Market" Capitalist Economic System, Corruption, Fame, Lao-tzu, Success and Failure, Tao Te Ching (The Book of the Way)

Feeding America - Map the Meal Gap - Food Insecurity in Your County

Feeding America – Map the Meal Gap – Food Insecurity in Your County
[Click on link below to view Interactive Map]
Source: Feeding America

Success or failure: which is more destructive? This is a question raised by Lao-tzu in the Tao Te Ching, simply translated as The Book of the Way. For a society that views success as a goal in life, such a question seems ridiculous. Coming from the Ancient Chinese philosopher, it’s a question that merits consideration.

Like me, I’m sure you’ve had your share of failure along this journey of life. The second novel I’m currently working on is inspired by a period along the way when I messed up big time. It changed the direction of my life, eventually bringing me to this place and moment in time.

Through our failures, we learn what works and what doesn’t. We become more discerning in our relationships. We grow. We become stronger as individuals. Sure, we can allow our failures to destroy us by taking refuge in alcohol, drugs, gambling, or some other self-destructive behavior.

In other words, our failures lead us to success. Seen in this way, failure and success are two sides of the same coin. We can’t have one without the other.

We all want success of some sort: the American Dream, financial security, status, fame. For writers, having a novel on the New York bestseller list would be a definite indication of success. The Pulitzer Prize would be the ultimate success! Some of us set our sights on being the next President of the United States.

Success is the pinnacle of a life well lived, of obstacles overcome, of rivals defeated. The scars, losses, and sacrifices along the way are all part of the game. But the price of success can lead to self-destruction.

Success with fame kills. I think of Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Robin Williams. I’m sure you can think of many other celebrities whose lives were destroyed by fame.

Success with power corrupts. Corruption among the power elite on Wall Street, CEOs of transnational corporations, politicians, and world leaders has become endemic across our planet.

Humankind’s greatest success story is the progress we have made through industrialization and technological advancements. We have paid a steep price for the quality of life that our successful “free market” capitalist economies afford us. While enriching the lives of a few, our way of doing business has impoverished billions of people worldwide. In the United States, the world’s most successful economy, Feeding America provided 46.5 million hungry Americans with meals in 2014 (see captioned Map of Meal Gap).

Our exploitation of Earth’s natural resources is destroying the ecosystems on which we depend for our survival. Industries that maintain our comfortable lifestyles have disrupted the complex balance of our global climatic system.

The success of our global “free market” capitalist system of continual economic growth has been the most destructive force on our planet, for all living species, including our own.

If we are to change course, we will have to rethink the meaning of success in our individual lives.

Earth Day 2015: It’s Our Turn to Lead

19 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Nature and the Environment, United States

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

California Drought, Divesting from fossil fuels, Earth Day 2015, Earth Day Network, Global Poverty and Climate Change, Green Cities Campaign, Transition to clean renewable energy, Two Billion Acts of Green, United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21)

Earth Day 2015 - It's Our Turn to Lead

Earth Day 2015: It’s Our Turn to Lead
Image Credit: Earth Day Network

Wednesday, April 22, is Earth Day 2015. The theme this year is “It’s our turn to lead.” Our leaders worldwide are dragging their feet in addressing global poverty and climate change. While they debate and make pledges they don’t keep, the degradation of Earth’s ecosystems won’t take a timeout.

In December 2015, around 40,000 world leaders and other participants will meet in Paris at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP21). [Their] aim is to reach, for the first time, a universal, legally binding agreement that will enable us to combat climate change effectively and boost the transition towards resilient, low-carbon societies and economies. The stakes are high. To make this happen, we have to lead the way by raising our voices as one. Continue reading →

Climate Disruption: Thought of the Week

15 Wednesday Apr 2015

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Anthropogenic Climate Disruption

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

#whoseside, Climate Change, Climate disruption, Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement, Go Fossil Free

University students demand fossil free investments

University students demand fossil-free investments
Add Your Voice

Fossil Free USA: #whoseside

On April 9th, 48 students launched a sit-in at Yale University to demand their administration divest from fossil fuels, and [in the] evening 19 were arrested for refusing to leave the building. Students asked their administration to pick a side: the people or the fossil fuel industry wrecking our climate.
~ Katie McChesney & the Go Fossil Free Team

“My Final Gift to Life” – Poem by Mahadai Das

12 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Poetry

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

Guyana-born poet Mahadai Das, In Memory of Courtney Crum-Ewing, My Final Gift to Life by Mahadai Das

Courtney Crum-Ewing

Guyana-born Courtney Crum-Ewing
Political activist assassinated in Guyana on March 10, 2015

In memory of Courtney Crum-Ewing, Guyana-born political activist assassinated on March 10, 2015, I dedicate the poem “My Final Gift to Life” by Indo-Guyanese poet, Mahadai Das (1954-2003).

Like the other poems in her poetry collection My Finer Steel Will Grow, published in 1982, “My Final Gift to Life” was written at a time of civil rebellion in Guyana, culminating in the assassination of Dr. Walter Rodney, co-founder of the Working People’s Alliance of which Mahadai Das was a staunch supporter. Her awareness of the risk of overtly opposing the then autocratic government is evident in the opening lines of the poem.

Death would be my final gift to life.
Then: if I must die, I must.
Continue reading →

Climate Disruption: Thought of the Week

08 Wednesday Apr 2015

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Anthropogenic Climate Disruption

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Climate Change, Climate disruption, Nature & Environment, US Solar Ready Vets, US Solar Workers Training Program

US Solar Ready Vets Training Program

US Solar Ready Vets Training Program
Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in California
Photo Credit: Energy.gov (Courtesy of Solar Energy International)

President Obama Announces Plan to Train 75,000 Solar Workers by 2020

As part of President Obama’s plans to combat climate change, the White House has announced a program for the U.S. Department of Energy to train 75,000 people to enter the solar workforce by 2020, many of whom will be part of a military veterans jobs initiative called Solar Ready Vets.

~ Administration Announces Actions To Drive Growth In Solar Energy And Train Workers For Clean-Energy Jobs, The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, April 3, 2015

Junta: A Novel by Ken Puddicombe

05 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Recommended Reading

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Caribbean Region, Guyanese-Canadian author, Ken Puddicombe, Military coups, Struggle against oppression, The Junta

Front Cover of Junta A Novel by Ken Puddicombe

Front Cover of Junta: A Novel by Ken Puddicombe

What can we do when the armed forces seize power from our democratically elected government, however corrupt?

In Junta: A Novel, set in 1979 on the Caribbean Island of Saint Anglia, Ken Puddicombe explores this question. Taking us within the inner circle of the Junta, he introduces us to General Marks, chief of the armed forces, and his second-in-command, Colonel Stevenson. On a tranquil Sunday morning, while their Prime Minister is away in Barbados attending a conference of Caribbean leaders, the general executes his meticulously planned and bloodless coup.

Opposition to the military takeover comes from Melanie Sanderson, a university student in her twenties who calls on students, faculty members, and the people of Saint Anglia to join her and her friends on a peaceful, protest march to the legislative center.

History Professor Marcus Jacobson, whom she admires, rejects her plan of action, viewing her as naïve: “What chance do you think you really have against them? They haven’t come this far to allow anyone to stop them, much less a band of idealistic students who don’t have any idea of the concept of power and how it’s exercised.”

As Melanie and her supporters set out on their unauthorized protest march, she sets into motion events that will force Marcus to reconsider his position and bring them closer together.

Joining the ranks of the dissidents are Father Bert and Clarence Baptiste, important voices among the people of Saint Anglia. Father Bert, who runs an orphanage in the city’s poor district, is a thorn in the side of the church’s hierarchy for his socialist ideals and his struggle for the rights of the poor that he serves.

As editor and owner of a local newspaper, Clarence Baptiste is not a man easily muzzled. His failure to comply with directives to desist from criticizing the Junta—“that the media gives [them] a chance to fix the problems created by the last [corrupt] government”—results in an anonymous bomb threat.

Puddicombe weaves an action-packed plot heightened by the undercover activities of a criminal gang, led by The Reverend, recruited by Colonel Stevenson to foment unrest and silence the opposition. A self-proclaimed religious leader, The Reverend invokes God’s name while selling his soul to the Junta.

Kentish, Marcus’ driver, gives voice to the hopelessness of the working people: “Nothing ever change. At the end of the day, I still have to work for a living. Voting don’t put food on me table or put clothes on me back. It don’t send me children to school or buy schoolbooks. All them people you vote for, they all just looking out for themselves.”

Are we powerless against military might? Can we make a difference? Melanie Sanderson is hopeful: “Maybe we don’t stand much of a chance. Maybe we will make a big difference. I don’t exactly know, Professor [Jacobson]. But I do know that doing nothing is just as bad as if we were supporting them.”

Our struggle against oppression goes on.

Ken Puddicombe

Ken Puddicombe, a Guyanese-Canadian, was an accountant by profession before retiring to pursue his love of writing. His work has since appeared in newspapers and literary journals. His first novel, Racing With The Rain, was published in 2012.

Climate Disruption: Thought of the Week

01 Wednesday Apr 2015

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Anthropogenic Climate Disruption

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Bulletin of Atomic Scientists Science and Security Board, Climate Change, Climate disruption, Doomsday Clock, Nature & Environment, Nuclear tensions

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists - It is 3 minutes to midnight

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: It is 3 minutes to midnight
Photo Credit: PR Newswire

Climate Change and Nuclear Tensions Push Doomsday Clock Hands Forward

“In 2015, unchecked climate change, global nuclear weapons modernizations, and outsized nuclear weapons arsenals pose extraordinary and undeniable threats to the continued existence of humanity, and world leaders have failed to act with the speed or on the scale required to protect citizens from potential catastrophe. These failures of political leadership endanger every person on Earth.”

~ Opening paragraph of Statement from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists Science and Security Board, Washington D.C., January 22, 2015.

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