Tag Archives: Mother Earth

On giving this Christmas

08 Sunday Dec 2019

Posted by in Anthropogenic Climate Disruption, Festivals, Human Behavior, Nature and the Environment

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Christmas Cactus – Gift of Mother Earth – My succulent garden
Photo taken November 23, 2019

 

Our climate emergency is for real. In his address at the opening of the United Nations Climate Change Conference held on December 2 to 13, 2019, in Madrid, Spain, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said:

The latest, just-released data from the World Meteorological Organization show that levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have reached another new record high. Global average levels of carbon dioxide reached 407.8 parts per million in 2018. And I remember, not long ago, 400 parts per million was seen as an unthinkable tipping point. We are well over it. The last time there was a comparable concentration of CO2 was between 3 and 5 million years ago, when the temperature was between 2 and 3 degrees Celsius warmer than now and sea levels were 10 to 20 metres higher than today.

Yet our collective behavior indicate that we humans are still in denial. Here in the United States, beginning on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, commercial activity has exploded with preparations for the Christmas festivities. Whether we’re Christians or not, Christmas traditions permeate our lives.

Christmas tree lighting ceremonies, organized by our town and city halls, mark the beginning of the season. We decorate our homes. In some neighborhoods, homeowners seem to outdo each other in decorating their front yards. Our children take part in Christmas pageants that enact the birth of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the cause of joyful celebrations among Christians worldwide. Traditional Christmas carols lift our spirits. Another important part of our Christmas traditions is Santa Claus with his workshop of elves, toiling year-round to make gifts for children for delivery during the wee hours on Christmas Day. Continue reading →

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 →

The Illusion of Independence

06 Sunday Jul 2014

Posted by in Human Behavior, United States

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Declaration of Independence - 4 July 1776 - Detail of Painting by John TrumbullDeclaration of Independence – 4 July 1776
Detail of Painting by John Trumbull in the U.S. Capitol
Photo Credit: U.S. Library of Congress

 

This Fourth of July, I joined the people of America in celebrating 238 years since the nation’s Declaration of Independence from the British Empire. In 1966, when my native land, Guyana, gained its independence from Great Britain, the British Empire was already in decline. The United States was in ascendance.

Growing to adulthood in a young independent nation, I learned that the word independence was a misnomer. We were still tied by our navel string to our former colonial masters. With a struggling economy, we endured power outages, water cutoffs, and food shortages. Help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) brought more austerity. Independence had led to new forms of dependency on international bankers and on other masters. Continue reading →