Set Asides

The age of nations is past, it remains for us now, if we do not wish to perish, to set aside the ancient prejudices and build the earth.
—    Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.
[I am not at all sure the “age of nations” is past, but I do believe we are reaching the stage of diminishing returns on its benefits and, without an obvious impetus to agree on a path forward, humanity may struggle for decades (if not centuries) to move forward.  IMHO climate change is THAT obvious imperative / impetus, but I remain unconvinced the majority of my fellow humanity agrees with my assessment / opinion.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	I Love Flowers
	Hope And Fear: Global Warming / Climate Change
2021	I Should Have Started Earlier
	To Soothe Your Soul
2020	Let’s Make It So
2019	Today’s Question
2018	A Moment Of Union
2016	Symptoms
2016	Tossers
2015	Hunger
2014	Outside Dependence
2013	Doing Right
2012	A Short Course In Human Relations
	If Death Be My Future
	Strive
	Such A Fool
2011	I’m Working For A Living

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Honor, Balance And Beauty

Honor the sacred.  Honor the Earth, our Mother.  Honor the Elders.  Honor all with whom we share the Earth:  -Four-leggeds, two-leggeds, winged ones, Swimmers, crawlers, plant and rock people.  Walk in balance and beauty.
—     Native American Elder
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On This Day In:
2022	Keep Playing
2021	The False Stereotype
	Extraordinary LOVE
2020	Fate, Agency And Dumb Luck
2019	You Too Can Choose
2018	In Line
2017	Just Get It Right
2016	In Support Of Common Core
2015	Oscillation
2014	Truth Shift
2013	Real Heroes
2012	Controlling The Beast
2011	1,002

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Once Upon A Time There Was Air You Couldn’t See…

In fact, the thickness of the Earth’s atmosphere, compared with the size of the Earth, is in about the same ratio as the thickness of a coat of shellac on a schoolroom globe is to the diameter of the globe.  That’s the air that nurtures us and almost all other life on Earth, that protects us from deadly ultraviolet light from the sun, that through the greenhouse effect brings the surface temperature above the freezing point.  (Without the greenhouse effect, the entire Earth would plunge below the freezing point of water and we’d all be dead.)  Now that atmosphere, so thin and fragile, is under assault by our technology.  We are pumping all kinds of stuff into it.  You know about the concern that chlorofluorocarbons are depleting the ozone layer;  and that carbon dioxide and methane and other greenhouse gases are producing global warming, a steady trend amidst fluctuations produced by volcanic eruptions and other sources.  Who knows what other challenges we are posing to this vulnerable layer of air that we haven’t been wise enough to foresee?
—    Carl Sagan
[The title for this post is a line from a TV series (“Room 222“) which aired from the late 1960’s to mid-1970’s.  One episode on the show dealt with air pollution in Southern California.  The “message” was that if environmental damage “only” kills half the human population, the other half will be able to tell their children:  “Once upon a time…”    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	A Wonderful Tension
2021	Little And Large Choices
	I Got Something To Say
	Alternate Reality
2020	When?
2019	Two Guides
2018	A Call For You
2017	Because I Read
2016	On What Matters…
2015	Social Security
2014	Bewitching
2013	Visiting Joy
2012	Dedication To Today
2011	Project Second Chance – Adult Literacy
	Turning Coal Into Diamonds

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Near The Heart Of The World

As long as I live, I’ll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing.  I’ll interpret the rocks, learn the language of flood, storm, and the avalanche.  I’ll acquaint myself with the glaciers and wild gardens, and get as near the heart of the world as I can.
—    John Muir
[Found at one of the blogs / sites I follow:  A Pondering Mind   (https://aponderingmind.org/)
The specific link is:  https://aponderingmind.org/2022/12/06/nature-9/
Please give the site a visit if you have a few spare moments.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	Limited Knowledge And No Control
2021	Gifts
	Look Inside Your Heart
2020	A Strength Of Science
2019	A Higher Standard
	Make Two Calls
2018	Irreplaceable Sparks
2017	Saving For April 15th
2016	First Wish
2015	Tracing Shadows
2014	One Thing
2013	More Is Less
2012	The Screw-Up Gene

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Reversing Climate Change Before It’s Too Late

I believe that you control your destiny, that you can be what you want to be.  You can also stop and say, ‘No, I won’t do it, I won’t behave this way anymore.  I’m lonely and I need people around me, maybe I have to change my methods of behaving,’ and then you do it.
—    Dr. Leo F. Buscaglia
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On This Day In:
2021	Said The Anti-Vaxxer
	Ceiling Mash
2020	Is #45 In Good Spirits?
	Alone With My Tears
2019	Learning To…
	Day 15: Die By The Scale
2018	Just Wondering
2017	Until I Think Of Something Better
2016	Who Are You?
2015	Renaissance Reptiles
2014	Book Return
2013	Keep Writing Your Truths
	Perilous Times For The U.S. Military
2012	The Victor
2011	Forging Away At My Deadlines
2010	Try This With Your Shoes…

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Salaam Alaikum, Pakistan

As we in the United States are currently experiencing terrible flooding in our South – South / East and extreme deadly heat in our South – South / West, let us take a moment to think about our fellow humanity suffering equally devastating weather related catastrophes in other parts of the world.
Tonight, as I am thinking of / praying for my fellow Americans in Mississippi, I am doing the same for Pakistan where there are estimates of over 1,100 people having lost their lives and over 20 million are homeless due to rain and flooding.
May God / Allah assist you in your time of need…
Salaam Alaikum for and from the people of America.
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On This Day In:
2021	Why Republicans Are Unhappy
	I Guess It’s True
2020	A Tiny And Fragile World
	Your Lyin’ Eyes
2019	Day 1: Done
	#IncompetentDonald Fails On All Three
2018	I Put It Down To Bad Teachers
	Day 34: In And Out
2017	And The Future Is Now
2016	I Am
2015	Positively Aiming Higher
2014	Suspicious Minds
2013	We Are Not Alone
2012	Lawyer, n.
2011	Each Day Remember…
2010	Impossible Dreams of Camelot

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Get Outdoors More

The trees and stones will teach you what you never learn from the masters.
—     Bernard of Clairvaux
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On This Day In:
2022	Get Outdoors More
2021	Re-institute The Wall Between Church And State
	Once In My Life
2020	Early Knowledge
	Seen Any Messages Lately?
2019	I Don’t Think We’ll Be Serving Them Cake
2018	New And Old
2017	Ever
2016	At The Center
2015	True Value In Life
2014	A Potential To Be Concerned
2013	Fine No More
2012	Have You Checked Your Height Lately?
2011	Are You Convinced?

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Looking For Solutions To Climate Change

It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.
—     William James
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On This Day In:
2022	Looking For Solutions To Climate Change
	4 – 40hrs
2021	Our Identity Crisis Continues
	There’s No Hiding Place
2020	In Need Of Concerted Action
2019	Anything / Everything
2018	Touching A Nerve
	Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
	I Have Realities In My Past
2017	Did I See You In Chapter 13?
2016	As I Recall
2015	Less And More Irritation
2014	That Marvelous Feeling
2013	Exceptional
2012	A Wild And Crazy Believer
2011	A Lack Of Scarcity
	The Joy Of Prevention

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Hope And Fear: Global Warming / Climate Change

The limit of your present understanding is not the limit of your possibilities.
—    Guy Finley
In these times – where social appearance is more important than spiritual substance – what has become our longing to change is really the unconscious desire to control not just the shape of our bodies (according to prevailing values) but to dominate our environment as well, regardless of the cost.
—    Guy Finley
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On This Day In:
2022	I Love Flowers
	Hope And Fear: Global Warming / Climate Change
2021	I Should Have Started Earlier
	To Soothe Your Soul
2020	Let’s Make It So
2019	Today’s Question
2018	A Moment Of Union
2016	Symptoms
2016	Tossers
2015	Hunger
2014	Outside Dependence
2013	Doing Right
2012	A Short Course In Human Relations
	If Death Be My Future
	Strive
	Such A Fool
2011	I’m Working For A Living

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This Dot – Our Home

Consider again that dot.  That’s here.  That’s home.  That’s us.  On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.  The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar”, every “supreme leader”, every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena.  Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.  Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.  Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark.  In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life.  There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate.  Visit, yes.  Settle, not yet.  Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience.  There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world.  To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.
—    Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2022	This Dot – Our Home
2021	The Imposition Of Position
	Rainin’ Fire In The Sky
2020	Stand Up!
	Crowd Sourced Scouting Report
2019	Only One Direction
2018	Respect Is Long Gone
2017	Dream Of Dreamers
2016	Dear Automakers
2015	And Some Not So Brave Too
2014	In My Lifetime…
2013	Democracy
2012	Borrowed Expectations
2011	Not Necessarily True

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One World (Our Only Place)…

Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.
―     J.K. Rowling
[While the world is currently (and rightly) obsessed by the war / humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, we should not “forget” the many other people all around the world who are suffering at the hands of “indifferent” (if not hostile) governments / societies and the global climate crisis which will effect humanity as much as any nuclear war might.
We have no shortage of minority haters here in the United States – from those subject to government indifference (the poor, the homeless and racial minorities), to anti-Semites, anti-Asians, and anti-Native Americans.  America has a LONG history of racist / nationalistic hatred which includes many who are now in more privileged classes (Irish, Italians, etc) and who seem to have forgotten their own not too distant past when they were the hated.
Outside of our own country there are Palestinians (and Christians) in the Middle East, the Uyghurs (Muslims) in China, Shiites in various Sunni countries and Sunni in various Shiite countries, non-Hindus in India, and the list goes on and on…  And, yes, I recognize this “short” list is biased to “just” the Northern Hemisphere…  I am reminded of the saying:  “Justice delayed is justice denied.“
And while we spend all this time, effort and attention on what are truly minor differences, the world is cooking.  The polar icecaps are receding and the northern tundras are thawing.  And, then there is COVID and global pandemics…
I am in no way making light of the war (and war crimes) happening in Ukraine, but time is running out on civilization as we know it.  We – the people of Earth – individuals and nations – need to wake up and take responsibility for the planet we are leaving to our children’s children.  Think globally;  act locally!  Do what you can personally where you live to spread tolerance, peace and hope and help elect representatives who will spur community / societal action to save the planet.  This is the ONLY place in the universe where we know humanity can live.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	One World (Our Only Place)…
2021	Move The Heart
	Join Hands
2020	He Broke Even
	Whoever / Whatever
2019	The Right Anger
	Another P&P Review
2018	Does Fatalism Equal Mental Health?
2017	Choice
2016	Growing Worlds
2015	Change The Tide
	Martyr, n.
2014	You, Too!
2013	Bitter Stand
2012	Lost For Words
2011	On Market Reactions…

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Climate Change Is Already Raising Sea Levels

The only thing that stops God from sending another flood is that the first one was useless.
—     Nicolas Chamfort
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On This Day In:
2021	Climate Change Is Already Raising Sea Levels
	Running From You
2020	Speaking For Us
	Tears Don’t Wash Away
2019	Foundational Pillar Of Civilized Discourse
2018	Seven Minutes. Not Six, Not Eight
2017	Falling Forward One Step At A Time
2016	And Without Expectation
2015	Just Do It
	I Am A Runner
2014	Some Things I Learned (Mostly) In The Army:
2013	Who You Are
2012	Mine Stands
2011	Aversions

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If You Do Nothing About Climate Change

It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important.  You have to do the right thing.  It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit.  But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing.  You may never know what results come from your action.  But if you do nothing, there will be no result.
—     Mahatma Gandhi
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On This Day In:
2021	If You Do Nothing About Climate Change
	Standing By
2020	Each Over All
	Rollin’ Along
2019	And Integrity For Today’s Elected Republicans
2018	A Faulty Start, Too
	Honorable Resignation And Syria
2017	Beneath The Tree Of Wisdom
	The Republican Rape Of The American Middle Class
2016	Something Authentic Happened
2015	Back On The Bricks
	On, Rocinante!!
2014	Changing Frequently
2013	Trifles
2012	Simple, Ordinary And Wonderous
2011	Humane Writers

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Sustainable Development

“We cannot ignore the effect of rapid development of the local economy on the loss of wildlife habitat,” Professor Zhang Li, a renowned expert on Asian elephant migration at Beijing Normal University, wrote on his Weibo page.  “Clear waters and green mountains are as valuable as mountains of gold and silver.  A healthy and complete ecosystem is the cornerstone of sustainable economic development.”
—     Charlie Campbell
From his article:  “China’s herd of wandering elephants may be climate-change migrants“
Appearing in:  Time Magazine;  dtd:  2-9 August 2021
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On This Day In:
2021	Sustainable Development
	Duke, Duke, Duke
2020	#IncompetentDonald Is A Clear And Present Danger
	VOTE – “We The People” Can Save America
2019	Why #45 Is Fated To Endanger Our National Security
2018	Dehydrated
	Dehydrated II
2017	And Some Of Us Have Books
2016	I See No Proof
2015	Whither Tea Party?
2014	Nothing Is Known Absolutely
2013	Decoration Time
2012	The Beatitudes
2011	Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
2010	Back On The Asphalt
	No Sweep – Rangers Win Game 3 by 4 to 2
	Greek Myths For Kids

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Creation Without Reservation

Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets, but humbler folk may circumvent this restriction if they know how.  To plant a pine, for example, one need be neither god nor poet;  one need only own a shovel.
―     Aldo Leopold
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On This Day In:
2021	Creation Without Reservation
	From The Tiniest Embers
2020	Listening To The Trees
	Your Mind’s Made Up?
2019	In Silence
	Not Much Light Here
2018	A Gift
2017	Unless You Genuinely Are Small
2016	B1
2015	Five Things
2014	Have Faith
2013	Found In A Mine
2012	Two-Sided Coin
2011	Passionately Scorned Rules

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