Category Archives: Nature and the Environment

Working together to sustain life on Planet Earth

27 Sunday Aug 2017

Posted by in Nature and the Environment

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I’m always heartened to come in contact with young people who are pro-active in changing humanity’s path towards a sustainable future for life on our planet. Here’s one such young woman, an undergraduate in Mississippi, who realizes that our success in achieving this aim depends upon collective action and connection with like-minded individuals.

As y’all know, I was selected as an Eco Rep Leader at my university. Yesterday was our official training for the year. We had our training at Strawberry Plains Audubon Center. I had only been there once and it was for their well-known Hummingbird Festival. The center is one of Mississippi’s finest yet lesser known treasures. With […]

via The Importance of Connecting with Like-Minded Individuals — Erdling mit Fernweh

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Earth Day 2017: Environmental & Climate Science Literacy

22 Saturday Apr 2017

Posted by in Nature and the Environment, United States

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Earth Day 2017 - Adopt the Planet - NASA

Saturday, April 22nd, is Earth Day 2017. The theme is: Environmental & Climate Science Literacy. The three-year campaign begins with a March for Science rally on the National Mall in Washington D.C. It will bring together scientists and supporters to demand that our leaders recognize the scientific truths across all disciplines, including climate change and other environmental issues.

“We need to build a global citizenry fluent in the concepts of climate change and aware of its unprecedented threat to our planet,” says Kathleen Rogers, President of Earth Day Network. “Environmental and climate literacy is the engine not only for creating green voters and advancing environmental and climate laws and policies but also for accelerating green technologies and jobs.”

Earth Day Network is publishing Earth Day and Teach-In toolkits online that lay out steps for holding a successful event. To learn more about Earth Day Network and March for Science go to www.earthday.org.

Jobs vs The Environment

12 Sunday Feb 2017

Posted by in Nature and the Environment, United States

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headquarters-of-the-us-environmental-protection-agency-federal-triangle-facilities-washington-dc-usa

Headquarters of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Federal Triangle facilities – Washington DC – USA

Our global capitalist economic system has brought us to the edge of an abyss. If we want more jobs, the corporate capitalist elite tells us, we must reduce environmental regulations that increase their operational costs and make their products less competitive in the global marketplace. They say the same about financial regulations and employee wages. But those are other interrelated issues. I want to focus here on the environment.

The word “environment” seems to have lost its meaning for those of us, like myself, who live in large urban centers and have a greater say in state and federal policies, regulating our environmental protections. Far removed from our natural world, we can control the temperature within our homes, offices, and commercial and entertainment centers. We obtain our food and beverages, including purified bottled water, at our local farmers’ market, grocery store, or wholesale and retail supermarkets. The “environment” upon which our lives depend may seem distant and of little importance to urban dwellers.

Let’s gut the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the corporate capitalists or their puppets in government tell us. Let’s slash its workforce and budget. Its strangling the U.S. economy and impeding job growth. (What they really mean is that the EPA regulations hamper their growth and reduce their profits.) Continue reading →

Our Sacred Responsibility as Human Beings

27 Sunday Nov 2016

Posted by in Nature and the Environment, United States

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protestors-at-standing-rock-north-dakota-access-pipeline-september-2016

Protesters demonstrate against the Dakota Access oil pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation
North Dakota – United States – September 9, 2016
Photo Credit: Andrew Cullen / Reuters

 

My third quote for the ‘Three Quotes for Three Days’ challenge – an invitation from British author and blogger Frank Parker – comes from Tom Goldtooth, a Native American environmental leader and executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) since 1996. It’s an excerpt from his keynote address, “The Sacredness of Mother Earth,” at the Bioneers National Conference held on October 18-20, 2013.

The European concept of the natural world which has become a dominant concept worldwide – where knowledge and culture are property, with the attitude that commodities are to be exploited freely and bought and sold at will – has resulted in disharmony between beings and the natural world, as well as the current environmental crisis threatening all life. This concept is totally incompatible with the traditional indigenous worldview… Our sacred responsibility is to safeguard and protect this world. Human beings are not separate from the natural world but were created to live in an integral relationship with it. That’s what we have to offer. Continue reading →

Earth Day 2016: Trees for the Earth

20 Wednesday Apr 2016

Posted by in Nature and the Environment, United States

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Earth Day 2016: Trees for the Earth
Image Credit: Earth Day Network

Friday, April 22nd, is Earth Day 2016. The theme is: Trees for the Earth. In the five-year countdown to their 50th anniversary, the Earth Day network has initiated an ambitious goal of planting 7.8 billion trees by 2020. In planting a tree for every person on our planet, we will contribute to:
~ mitigating climate change and pollution;
~ protecting our planet’s biodiversity; and
~ supporting communities and their livelihoods.

With our superior technological tools and weapons, we humans continue to kill trees and entire forests in the name of human progress and economic growth. Rooted to the ground, trees are helpless against our onslaught.

Like so much in our lives, we take trees for granted. We forget or ignore their vital role in storing the carbon dioxide we produce and releasing the oxygen we breathe. Earth without trees will not sustain human life.

I like to think of trees as quiet, reliable heroes. Do you have a relative or friend that’s always there when you need a shoulder to cry on, a lending hand, an attentive ear, a generous heart? Trees are like that. When they see us coming, they don’t run away or hide. They are well grounded and face whatever adversity comes their way. They provide shade, shelter, and security to all creatures seeking refuge.

Avenue in Georgetown - Guyana

Tree-lined Avenue – Georgetown – Guyana

Plant a tree today and it will outlive you and your grandchildren. The trees that line the avenues in the main streets of Georgetown, Guyana, where I was born and grew up, existed before I was born. If not destroyed to build parking lots, they will still be providing beauty and shade long after I’m gone.

Methuselah - California - Oldest Living Tree in the World

Methuselah – California – USA

The world’s oldest living tree is a bristle-cone pine, named Methuselah, in California’s White Mountains. Over 4800 years old, it was around when the Egyptians were busy building pyramids. To think we consider ourselves the crown of creation!

Hyperion - California Redwood Forest - World Tallest Tree

Hyperion – California Redwood Forest – USA

When it comes to height and built, trees also outdo us. Rooted in California’s Redwood Forest, the giant sequoia named Hyperion towers over us at 379.1 feet. That’s nearly six times taller than the Statue of Liberty! Next to such trees, we humans are puny.

We need trees for our survival on Earth. Lots of trees. Plant a tree. It’s easier than you think.

Earth Day 2015: It’s Our Turn to Lead

19 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by in Nature and the Environment, United States

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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

11 Wednesday Feb 2015

Posted by in Anthropogenic Climate Disruption, Nature and the Environment

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Global Average Temperature Anomaly 1850-2014Warming Trends Continue in 2014
Photo Credit: World Meteorological Organization

“Fourteen of the fifteen hottest years have all been this century. We expect global warming to continue, given that rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the increasing heat content of the oceans are committing us to a warmer future.”

~ Secretary-General Michel Jarraud, World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, February 2, 2015

State of Chronic Crisis

18 Sunday Jan 2015

Posted by in Human Behavior, Nature and the Environment, United States, Urban Violence

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Police Special Force - Manhunt for Charlie Hebdo assailants - France - January 2015Police Special Forces – Manhunt for Charlie Hebdo assailants
Northern France – January 8, 2015
Photo Credit: Francois Lo Presti / AFP

 

Terror struck Parisians on January 8, 2015, when jihadist gunmen targeted the cartoonists and writers of the French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo for their profane depictions of the Prophet Muhammad.

We continue to kill each other in defense of our gods and our freedom.

How long will we persist in feeding on half-truths and fabrications dished out by the global minority power elite? How long will we persist in allowing them to manipulate tragic events to perpetuate fear of The Other? How long will we persist in responding to violence with more violence that makes our lives more insecure?

Our global “War on Terror” foments terror in distant regions under fire and propagates new generations of terrorists. In the name of our homeland security, we in the West now live in militarized police states under electronic surveillance of our movements and communications. Only those freedoms that serve the agenda of the global power elite are tolerated and promoted.

When are we going to wake up from our stupor? When are we going to realize that we are disposable pawns of the global power elite? When are we going to take action to end our state of chronic crisis?

While we are manipulated to fear, hate, and kill The Other, the profit-driven transnational corporations, run by the global power elite, are destroying our planet’s ecosystems that support human life. In pursuit of continual economic growth – which means more money in their coffers – they destroy natural habitats and contaminate our air, water, and soils. We are not without guilt. As voracious consumers, we are collaborators in their plunder and destruction.

We delude ourselves that we can continue on the path of our globalized capitalist economic system without self-destructing. We delude ourselves that we are not responsible for Earth’s climate disruption. We delude ourselves that we are separate and above the natural world.

We have come to a period in our civilization when we must end dumping greenhouse gases into our atmosphere. We urgently need to come together as members of the human species to work towards transitioning to life-sustaining societies. We cannot allow the power elite of the fossil fuel industry to frame laws intended to phase out our use of fossil fuels and transition to clean renewable energy resources.

In February, I will introduce a new weekly blog feature: Climate Disruption – Thought of the Week (up to 50 words). My goal is to spread awareness of the greatest challenge of our times, share success stories at home and abroad in addressing anthropogenic climate disruption (ACD), and offer resources for individual involvement in making the transition.

To fail to act now is to condemn our children, grandchildren, and future survivors (if any) to a world of widespread chaos.

 

U.S. Midterm Elections: Vote Wisely

26 Sunday Oct 2014

Posted by in Human Behavior, Nature and the Environment, United States

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Homeless in the USAHomeless in the USA
Photo Credit: Ed Yourdon / Paltalk News Network

 

November 4 is Midterm Elections in the United States. Americans will be choosing their representatives for the United States Congress, state governors, and their state legislatures. A number of citizen initiatives also have their place on the ballots.

While we’re busy pursuing our individual goals and dreams or simply struggling to survive, the rich and powerful One Percent are buying our government representatives and, through them, changing the laws in their favor.

America is no longer the nation that our Founding Fathers had envisaged. We have lost our way. Continue reading →

Brazil’s Stand at the UN 2014 Climate Summit

28 Sunday Sep 2014

Posted by in Brazil, Nature and the Environment

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Deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest - BrazilDeforestation in the Amazon Rainforest – Brazil
Photo Credit: Manchete Online

 

On September 23, over 900 leaders from government, business, finance, and civil society came together at the United Nations Headquarters in New York for the 2014 Climate Summit. Judging from the Summary of their most significant announcements, they issued more promises “to galvanize transformative action in all countries to reduce emissions and build resilience to the adverse impacts of climate change.”

Promises are easy. Following them through is another story.

The pledge to halve deforestation by 2020 and reach zero deforestation by 2030 is ambitious. Since trees release carbon when burned, such a move would secure an additional 4.5 to 8.8 billion tons of carbon yearly. This is equivalent to carbon emissions from one billion cars on the roads worldwide.
 Continue reading →