Saturday
By: John Allen
Tags: Environment, Recommendations, Ecology, Activism, Climate Change

“Reality has a habit of intruding and revealing one’s fantasies for what they are: fantasies.” Derrick Jensen~What We Leave Behind

“It is impossible for capitalism to survive, primarily because the system needs some blood to suck. (…) Now it has become more cowardly, like the vulture, and can only suck the blood of the helpless. (…) , and it becomes weaker and weaker. It’s only a matter of time in my opinion before it will collapse completely.” ~ ~ Malcolm X

A Short Glimpse of Reality

As Washington, along with the President’s antics implode with absurdities and spectacle that do nothing but amuse the well informed, the ‘woke’; the planet is experiencing an unfolding crisis, environmentally speaking, that is, that the the leaders of the world fail to realize as to how bad things are to become in a very short time frame. The US leadership won’t even consider the facts as they stare them in the face on a daily basis. There is a considerable anti-science bias as the oligarchs amass more wealth at the expense of the small in ways that will inevitably doom humankind. I want to symbolically strangle these imbeciles, shake them until they wake up and do something. As it stands now ol’ Malcolm X buddy is correct, industrial capitalism will collapse. Soon, too, as I’ve come to conclude.

Fantasies

Yes, fantasies. Disneyland ethos has infected Americans, from the wealthiest oligarch to the struggling worker at two part-time jobs, a seemingly Disneyland type fantasy has replaced concrete reality. I can’t blame them. Why would anybody want to face the fact that things will drastically change? The media, almost all media ,— from the corporate, the individual, the film, the political, the indy publishers in many cases, etc —again, almost all media has been used to subvert the minds of the peoples of the world, just so all the things that need changing, don’t. Ads on TV show movie stars driving big luxury cars with status being the selling point. Drive car X or Y and impress your friends or neighbors. You are the Brand you wear, drive or display. Branding is so important these days. Nothing worth having can’t be without that all important brand name or designer’s label. I too have some clothing with names displayed, like Dickies or Wrangler, but I feel as if I should be paid for wearing those labels. Besides they were the cheapest items I could purchase at the time.

I like to fantasize, as do most folks; I just don’t fantasize about the deteriorating shape of Earth and what industrialized, globalized, marketed, foreign produced junk, does to the environment. Reality slaps me in the face on a daily basis. If, say, a TV or printer goes on the fritz, no worry, just get a new one, after all they’re really cheap. Just toss them out and pay to have them moved to the nearest landfill. Nothing is ever ‘thrown away’, it’s just moved to some other location, less obvious to the more affluent. Trash still exists here on Earth, somewhere. Until rockets can be flown carrying barges of garbage into the Sun it will be stored here on our home, Earth.

I also fantasize about a world without wars. A certain way of living where petty annoyances don’t lead to wars. Perhaps an epiphany on a world-wide scale where humans are raised into a higher realm of consciousness. Where property isn’t fought over any longer. A sharing, resource based, economy, without the need for competition to get things accomplished; a way to benefit all, not just the ones that have ownership or rights to extract profit. A horrible way to do things. This is very juvenile; think junior high or middle school, ya know, kids. Time to grow up and worry about survival. My fantasy in a succinct nutshell.

A Species on the Precipice

I sometimes see things in broad, impressionistic strokes. So my impression is that humans are behaving in ways almost indistinguishable from other higher animal forms. Territory, sex, reproduction, property, power, control; some of the many ways humans order their lives. Capable of rational thinking, even greater ways of distinguishing mankind from the other animals is possible. But it’s not happening. There are still breakouts of extreme violence where any of the above areas are broached by a perceived rival. And this very problem is the crux to survival. Solve what I call, male pride syndrome(MPS) — and women too, are equally able to fall into this syndrome — and save humankind. MPS is the cause of almost all the wars, violence, ownership in an extremely dysfunctional way, deaths and downright murder. Upset pride, disrespect if you will, and suffer the wrath or the upset pride of the other. So help my fantasy and come to terms with this juvenile, lizard-brain, way of living and thinking.

I’ve just touched on a few items that need addressing and eventual solving to continue as a species. I’ve found a few links alluding to how bad environmental systems are becoming. There will be a point where nothing can be done to avert a total disaster. No fixers from the movies to swoop in a save the day. No skyhooks from the heavens to save Earth as we know it. Technology can’t be used to solve the problems that technological innovation has caused. Flying to Disneyland or the Ark Encounters won’t save a darn thing. All you’ll do is forget about how bad things will become in short order. Here’s a few links that get to some specifics of the matters as they stand these days. \/

And especially concerning: https://dissidentvoice.org/2019/10/methane-sos/

Or even, from Pakistan : https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/528588-capitalism-and-climate-change

So here’s the rub. Earth and her systems that keep us all healthy and alive are collapsing in ways not fully understood. Understood enough however to know we all have to change if humankind is to survive more than a few generations or so. And other that write I don’t know what else to do as I’m disabled and don’t own a car even, to get out, and do more than write. My generation failed to act in time for complete or even partial mitigation on the unfolding disaster- in- slow-motion we find ourselves in. The 6th Mass Extinction Event is gathering steam and where it halts depends upon actions today, not next year or decade, now. So get busy and start something, an action, to get folks on board to save Earth and her children, even people-children, that need a push to let go of childish ways, to survive. Peace, The Ol’ Hippy