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Posts Tagged ‘Environment’

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 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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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“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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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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