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Covid-19 PanICdemic/Plague:  The Country Is Moving From The City To The Country (August 17, 2020)

Posted in Climate, Covid / Coronavirus, Population, Society, Voting on August 17, 2020 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “The exodus over the last century from the fertile farm, verdant field to the bright lights, big city is now reversing direction.”

J          “In my neck of the woods out at the cabin, the prices of rural property are sky rocketing as people flee the sky high prices and confined life in skyscrapers.”

. . .

J          “With aerosolization of the Virus, the skies may not yet be safe to fly.  Instead of flying in an aluminum aircraft tube in the jet stream, folks are driving around towing an aluminum Airstream.”

K          “You can camp and stream at all the wi-fi hot spots while avoiding the Covid-19(84) hot spots in a mobile cave.  Driving around in a recreational vehicle or towable camper allows you to cover substantial distances while practicing social distancing.”

. . .

K          “Blue cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles in blue states are bleeding population to the red towns and red states.  This tectonic movement is profound for both the city and the country.”

J          “And the great migration is triggered not by global climate change as everyone surmised but by even more immediate economic and epidemiological threats.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “‘Peak Land’: The Exodus Toward The Equator . . . or the North Pole? (April 4, 2011)” on the population shifts triggered by climate change.  See “Bugging Out To N.Z.:  The Movie (June 26, 2017)” and “Bugging Out To N.Z.:  The Movie, Part 2.  Oh, And Happy Valentine’s Day (February 12, 2018)” on the escape plans of the jet set who will take to the jet stream.  See “Living In The “Peoplocene Age”.  The Inconvenient Truth:  Renewable Energy Is Not Sustainable; The Population Must Be Restrainable.  (December 12, 2016” and “Over Over-Population:  10 Billion Little Miracles (And Counting) (And Costing) (January 26, 2015)” on population challenges.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Two is one; one is none

See the USA

“Le temps du loup”

19th Amendment

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Man v. Nature. Who Should Win? Who Will Win? Oh, And Happy Victoria Day! (May 20, 2019)

Posted in Climate, Collapse, Plastic, Population on May 20, 2019 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “I think of someone cold and alone lost in the woods at night with only a match engaged in a match of wits with the howling winds and the howling wolves.  The real war today is Man not trying to survive Nature or to subsist with Nature but to subjugate Nature.  The two cannot co-exist.  We must cheer for Nature to win, prevail and dominate Man.”

J          “‘This Planet ain’t big enough for the two of us.’”

. . .

K          “The departure of a million members of one species will not leave the one apex species in any jeopardy of continuing as a species.  The Great Departure is the only way to save a million individual species from extinction.”

. . . 

K          “There is one and only one and no more than one solution.  Listen to the physicists and the electricians not to the e-con-omists and the politicians.  Reduce the load.  There must be a quantum level reduction in the number of homo sapiens on the Planet.  That will not be undertaken by humans.  That will be undertaken by Nature.”

J          “Nature will prevail because Nature prevails.  Predicting the future is so easy.  Pursuing the change is so elusive.”

. . .

K          “Is it immoral to breed?”

J          “Is it a moral duty not to breed?”

. . .

[See the “Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services” prepared by the “Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)” at the seventh session of the IPBES Plenary meeting from April 29 – May 4 in Paris discussing the loss of a million species.  See another analysis of our plastic predicament in a Report titled “Plastic & Climate The Hidden Costs of a Plastic Planet” by lead authors Lisa Anne Hamilton and Steven Feit and others at “The Center for International Environment Law” discussing our friend Plastic.]

[See the e-commentary at “Save The Planet; Save The People?  Oh, And Happy Earth Day! (April 23, 2018)”, “Stealing Resources . . . Through Time . . . and Across Space (February 20, 2017)” and “‘It’s Only A Rental.’  The Earth As a Cosmic Doormat.  De-Immanentizing The Eschaton. (September 28, 2015)”.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

“This Planet ain’t big enough for the two of us.”

There is no PLANet B

Homo sapiens are not really that wise

Listen to the physicists and the electricians not to the e-con-omists and the politicians. 

When is the best time to plant a shade tree?  Thirty years ago.  When is the second best time?  Now.

Building a solar panel requires barrels of coal!

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Debt Insouciance.  Does Debt Really Matter In The “Debt Age”? (February 25, 2019)

Posted in Debt/Deficits, National Security, Noble Prize in Eco-nomics, Petrodollar, Population, Supernova Dollar on February 25, 2019 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “A billion a day, they say, in interest alone.”

J          “Folks should show more interest in this development, I’m just saying.”

. . .

J          “The National Debt is now officially over twenty two Trillion dollars ($22,000,000,000,000.00).  And we spent the electrons producing plastic and plundering the Planet.”

K          “Most of it was spent bombing countries and killing people.  I suspect that if we could sub poena God to testify and muse on the situation, we would discover that the real National Debt accurately calculated is over sixty six Trillion dollars ($66,000,000,000,000.00).”

. . .

K          “Twenty two Trillion dollars ($22,000,000,000,000.00) in Debt are on the books and an additional twenty two Trillion dollars ($22,000,000,000,000.00) are not on the books but were devoured by just two Departments (DoD and HUD).  I suspect there are probably another twenty two Trillion dollars ($22,000,000,000,000.00) off the books at other Departments.”

J          “So what do we make of the economic theories that correlate debt and domestic product if the real Debt-to-GDP ratio is not hovering at 100+% but really exceeds 300+%?”

K          “Or way above 400+%, if there is another twenty two Trillion dollars ($22,000,000,000,000.00) in ‘dark money’ that is additionally off the books.”

. . .

K          “There are at least a dozen ‘ten’ets that provide the only perspective on debt, public and private, and should be memorized by heart:

1. Debt matters.

2. Debt matters.

3. Debt matters.

4. Debt matters.

5. Debt matters.

6. Debt matters.

7. Debt matters.

8. Debt matters.

9. Debt matters.

10. Debt matters.

11. Debt matters.

Reagan was wrong.  Cheney was wrong.  Most babblers are wrong.  In the private and public sectors alike, Deficit – the rate – and Debt – the total – spending serve to accelerate, yank and suck ‘consumption’ from the future into the present.  No one polls those whose future consumption is being stolen.  However, the unborn are saddled with the debt.  This amounts to the greatest inter-generational crime in history.”

J          “That may be the only acceptable tattoo.  ‘Debt matters.’  Those who opine on the greatest threat to our national security do not understand the greatest threat to our national security but are nonetheless allowed to opine on the greatest threat to our national security.  Despite almost complete silence by those who are allowed to make public noise, the greatest threat to our national security is . . . the unsustainable national Deficit and Debt.”

K          “Unless the Federal Reserve keeps interest rates near zero, the Debt will not even be paid in part.  Low interest rates devastate the lives of millions of those at the other end of the life cycle who have been born for a long time – retirees – who reasonably anticipated a rate of return of 6 to 8 percent on their money in their final years.” 

J          “The unborn and long born are the targets and the victims in America today.”

. . .

J          “To explain the growing cacophony of Debt insouciance, explore the sub-sub-conscious.  Most comment makers across the political and economic spectrum are unable to admit that the Debt will never be repaid, so they contend instead that the Debt does not really matter.”

. . .

[On page 136 of Andrew McCabe’s book, recounting a 2017 Oval Office meeting, he observes:  “Then the president talked about Venezuela.  That’s the country we should be going to war with, he said.  They have all that oil and they’re right on our back door.”]

[See the e-commentary at “Over Over-Population:  10 Billion Little Miracles (And Counting) (And Costing) (January 26, 2015)” observing that accelerating consumption from the future to the present results in a much greater “effective world population” today that is closer to 10 billion miracles effectively punishing and pummeling the Planet even more ruthlessly than the 8 billion miracles of record.  “Deficits Do Matter (January 7, 2008)” discusses the concern with Debt and Deficits in more clinical detail.  “Forgiving American Debt? (March 3, 2008)” eleven years ago notes that the United States will never pay off the national Debt and yet all economic models and forecasts assume that the national Debt will be paid off.  “America The Bankrupt:  Economics 210 in the Land of the Freeway and the Home of the Wave (January 17, 2005)” more than fourteen years ago addresses the impending bankruptcy of the United States.  “National Financial Literacy Month: Teaching Financial Literacy In The ‘Debt Age’ (April 25, 2016)” asks whether there is any serious interest in teaching financial literacy in the “Debt Age”.  “Venturing A Few Unfounded And Unwarranted Predictions (July 13, 2015)” provides some further analysis and discussion of the ”Supernova Dollar” and other concerns.  “Third Annual Noble Prize In Eco-nomics (October 8, 2019)” discusses the missing money in the federal budget, among other concerns.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Past, present and future walk into a bar.  It was tense.

Debt matters.

Not all debt is repaid, but all debt is paid.

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Salvaging Our Blue Marble (July 24, 2017)

Posted in Environment, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Plastic, Population on July 24, 2017 by e-commentary.org

. . .    

K          “We need to salvage our Blue Marble.  Even if we are required to sacrifice humanity.”

J          “The great challenge is creating an appreciation of our planetary circumstance without overwhelming the person.  Someone can easily shut off emotionally and shut down intellectually.”

. . .

K          “Leaving the planet in better shape than I found it . . . is getting vexing.”

. . .

[See “The Immense, Eternal Footprint Humanity Leaves on Earth:  Plastics” in “The New York Times” by Tatiana Schlossberg dated July 19, 2017.]

[See “The Uninhabitable Earth:  Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us:  What climate change could wreak — sooner than you think” in New York “Magazine” by David Wallace-Wells dated July 10, 2017.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Save The Blue Marble

Save the Marble

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Stealing Resources . . . Through Time . . . and Across Space (February 20, 2017)

Posted in Carbon Surcharge & Dividend, Climate, Climate Leadership Council, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Population, Sustainability on February 20, 2017 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Growth is death, yet when the population is growing the thing call the economy must grow or we die.”

J          “Or you need to not grow the population so that you do not need to grow and die.  At that point in the discussion, everyone’s head, without exception, explodes and makes a mess of the room.  And no one is willing to talk about reducing the population.”

K          “Always a bummer.  You end up forfeiting the room security deposit.”

. . .

K          “The theft keeps moving through time.  The current generation swiped the ‘consumption’ of the children and then swiped the ‘consumption’ of the grandchildren.  Now the current generation is swiping the ‘consumption’ of the great grandchildren.  Even if you explain it slowly and without a scintilla of condescension or impatience, few get it.”

J          “Or want to get it.  If those in power cannot reach into the future, they are trying to move across space to loot resources.  However, theft cannot move across space forever.  We are acting as if we can tap another planet.  We cannot.  As they say, there is no PLANet B.”

K          “And yet we as a society are producing more children and grandchildren who do not have a chance or a choice.”

J          “With the mess bequeathed to them, the kids may not be alright.”

. . .

K          “Last week, some Republican players endorsed the pricing of carbon and established the Climate Leadership Council.”

. . .

[See “‘A Conservative Climate Solution’:  Republican Group Calls for Carbon Tax” in “The New York Times” by John Schwartz dated February 7, 2017.]

[And in this corner, the master gardener of ‘team sustainable living’ advocating less demand on our finite resources, Professor Albert Allen Bartlett.  And in that corner, the captain of the confused cornucopians, Professor Julian Lincoln Simon.]

[See the e-commentary at “Global Climate Change.”]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Save the Planet:  Price Carbon:  Now

Save the Marble:  Price Carbon:  Now

Tax what we burn not what we earn.

There is no PLANet B.

We are living on this planet as if we had another one to go to.

“Men argue.  Nature acts.”  Voltaire.  Nature is acting while man is arguing.

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Women’s March On Washington (Woodstock With Conviction) / Coronation (January 23, 2017)

Posted in Abortion, Bush, First Amendment, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Journalism, Newspapers, O'Bama, Police, Population, Press/Media, Society, Trumpi on January 23, 2017 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Rarely have as many citizens peaceably assembled – most sporting pink knit caps with ears – and confronted an equally peaceful assemblage of police.”

J          “By my best wild ass guess, at the Coronation on Friday, there was about one (1) security person from the Metropolitan Police Department / U.S. Marshal’s Service / Capitol Hill Police / Transportation Security Administration / National Guard / Coast Guard / National Park Service Police / Secret Service / Uniformed Secret Service / Supreme Court Police / Federal Bureau of Investigation and National Security Administration per twenty-five (25) attendees.  At the community gathering on Saturday, there was about one (1) traffic division cop per two hundred fifty (250) attendees.  The vibe changed radically in twenty-four hours.” 

K          “The authorities only expected 100,000 to 200,000 participants to wander by and then over 500,000 citizens decided something had to be done.  Because of budgetary concerns and sequestration, someone said they may be required to cancel the public sector Coronation in 2020 and allow the private sector to organize and orchestrate a ‘People’s March 2020’ in its stead.”

J          “The people can do it.  I watched a Black female police officer and a White female police officer surrounded by and talking to participants who took group pictures under a hand-lettered sign that ventured the notion:  ‘The future is female’.”

K          “I don’t believe there were any arrests at the March.”

. . .

K          “The Metro ridership statistics are revealing.  O’Bama 2009 took gold, O’Bama 2013 took silver, Women’s March 2017 took bronze, Bushy 2005 took honorable mention and Trumpi 2017 also ran.”[1]

J          “What were Andrew Jackson’s numbers?”                         

. . .

K          “The crass and coarse missive delivered at the Trumpi Show on Friday continued the campaign.  The commentators almost uniformly dismissed the speech as ‘dark’ and ‘dystopian’, yet for most of the Trump supporters life is indeed accurately depicted as dark and dystopic.  Trumpi revealed a kernel of truth about the desperate lives of mostly rural folk, but it was not the pretty city talk the journalists and pundits wanted to hear.”

J          “For most journalists, the system is working for them, so they report that the system works.”

K          “The system is not working.  Ordinary folks are not working.” 

J          “Trumpi is threatening and challenging many individuals and institutions that do not know kindness and do not take kindly to a threat or a challenge.”

K          “For both terms, I was concerned that O’Bama would be dispatched like Kennedy.”

J          “When it comes down to policy, however, Trumpi’s band of bankers and billionaires will do little if anything to improve the plight of the little people.  He’s safe from enhanced retribution.”

K          “Some of the riders rolling with the ‘Bikers for Trump’ articulated some of the real economic problems plaguing America.  Yet they don’t realize they are being played for chumps by Trumps.”

J          “Trumpi is ditching the ‘Bikers for Trump’ and riding off into the sunset with ‘Bankers for Trump’ and ‘Trillionaires for Trump.’  Both the latter two gangs sport the same colors – Green – and the same logo – $.”

. . .

K          “A Trumpi supporter said he did not understand what they wanted.  Dignity, parity, equality, etc.  I suggested that he read and reflect on the signs as a start.  The patriot-participants collectively championed the single greatest challenge of our time – saving the Planet – and the single greatest plan – planning parenthood and allowing women to control their biological and economic destiny.”

J          “They are right, there is no PLANet B, there is no other planet to plunder.  The March was akin to and will be regarded as a ‘Woodstock’ event.”

K          “The patriot-participants undertook a peaceful and powerful pilgrimage for the people.”

J          “Now the hard work.  They must stay focused, organize locally and work hard.”

. . .

[1]  Attendance is measured by the number of trips by 11:00 a.m. on the Metro rail system on the day of the event:

O’Bama 2009:                   513,000

O’Bama 2013:                    317,000

Women’s March 2017:   275,000

Bushy 2005:                       197,000

Trumpi 2017:                     193,000

Motorcycle jacket of the week:

If you can read this message on the back of my [Langlitz] motorcycle jacket, my President has fallen off.

Bumper stickers of the week / Signs of the times on the Washington Mall:

Dear Mr. President:  Am I beautiful enough and young enough to rape?

Keep your rosaries off my ovaries

Keep your theology off my biology

If men could get pregnant, you would be able to get an abortion at an ATM

If I incorporate my uterus, will you stop regulating it?

Nasty

Not my President

Trump is a chump

This pussy riots

I stand with Planned Parenthood

Feminism rocks

Tired of history, try herstory

Queers against Islamophobia

No one is free if anyone is oppressed

Not my President

Love still trumps hate

Grab ‘em by the legislative balls

Be a President for everyone

Planned Parenthood

Women are humans too

Love your Mother Earth

Nasty women rule

Our rights are not up for grabs and neither are we

Education matters

Fight sexism

Where do I start?

Our bodies Our minds Our power

I may survive rape, but I may not survive this

Not usually a sign guy, but geez

Save the Nest, Price Carbon, Now

Queer feminist southerner against racism

Don’t forget to set your clocks back 300 years

We are living on this planet as if we had another one to go to

Girls just want to destroy the imperialist white-supremacist capitalist patrimony

Switch the patrimony.  Jane Austen Fight Club

Empathize and mobilize

President Trump, I did Nazi that coming

I’m afraid

Make America kind again

Pussy lives matter

Resist

Predator in chief

A woman’s place is in your face

Clean the cabinet

Stronger than fear

Women’s rights are human rights

My rights are not wrong

This pussy has claws and is not up for grabs

No human is illegal

Make American fact-check again

We are the noisy majority

Keep your paws off my body

Rapist in chief

Pussy power

You ain’t seen nasty yet

Blame rape on rapists not women

Nyet means nyet

We count

Respect my existence or expect my resistance

Our rights are not up for grabs

You cannot love America when you hate so many Americans

An immigrant did not take your job

Don’t tread on my [anatomical uterus]

Girls just want to have fun-damental rights

Keep your hands off my [silhouette of pussy cat]

Free Melania

Not my President

Validate Putin

Nasty women vote

Hate will not make great

This pussy fights back

She’s someone’s daughter sister mother 

I served for better than this

History has its eyes on us

A woman’s place is in the House . . . and in the Senate

I’m with her.  And her.  And her.  And her.  And her.  And her.

<- I’m with her ->  [Arrows emanating in all directions]

Nasty and united for equality

Electile dysfunction

I can’t believe I have to protest this shit again

Nasty women make history

I am a woman not a womb

We the people, not the college, should not that be, common knowledge

Lean the fuck in

No mandate to oppress

Men of quality don’t fear equality

Russian prostitutes for Trump

Now that you are in subsidized housing, show us your tax returns

Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud

Keep calm and democracy will die

Bad hair administration

Respecto mi existence o espera resistencia

Life begins when you stand up to feeble-minded fascists

If you stand for nothing, what will you fall for?

You can’t comb over misogyny

My pussy, my choice

There is no PLANet B

Time to grab patrimony by the balls

Super callous fascist racist extra braggadocious

The power is in our pussies

We shall overcomb

Gender rules are a sham

Respect science, study history, don’t be a jerk

You know what?  Bitches get stuff done

Fight like a girl

We will not change the world by behaving nicely

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Living In The “Peoplocene Age”.  The Inconvenient Truth:  Renewable Energy Is Not Sustainable; The Population Must Be Restrainable.  (December 12, 2016)

Posted in Book Reference, Carbon Surcharge & Dividend, Climate, Collapse, Consumerism, Environment, Gas/Fossil Fuel, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Overpopulation, Peoplocene Age, Population, Society, Taxation, Technology, Water on December 12, 2016 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “It’s too late?”

J          “It is too late.”

. . .

J          “But we pretend and extend.”

K          “Get up, put on your socks, and soldier on.”

. . .

J          “We are producing far more babies than solar panels.  That scenario is not changing under any scenario.  There is very little hope, there is only collective delusion within the collective.”

K          “Ironic that so many will not acknowledge our global plight and others who will acknowledge our situation do not even acknowledge the underlying and overriding problem.  The ‘Peoplocene Age’ is upon us and we do not know it.”

J          “The ‘Peoplobscene Age’?  Too many people, too little planet.”

. . .

K          “The plebiscite on global climate destruction takes place in the specialized voting booths known as the maternity wards of the world one new voter at a time.  The votes are tallied every day, the voting booth never closes and the decision is unanimous and uncontested.  Everyone endorses global climate devastation one baby at a time.”

J          “We need to reduce the load.  Period.  The only viable solution is to produce fewer people not to delude ourselves into thinking we can produce more panels and power.”

. . .

K          “The inconvenient truth is that renewable energy is not the answer, now or in the long run.  If one honestly calculates all the costs including every opportunity cost, the total cost of renewable energy does not and never will pencil out.”

J          “My concern is that we are not allowed to provide that answer, so we are not allowed even to ask the question.”

. . .

K          “We are in the flood right now.  I don’t recall anyone in the movie even once mentioning overpopulation.  Go through the flick and replace the phrase ‘reduce fossil fuels’ with ‘reduce world population.’  The only sustainable energy policy is a people policy.”

. . .

J          “There are more neurosurgeons than skilled solar panel installers.  Americans contend in response that they can simply wave a wand and the problem is solved.  If the government – or the private sector with generous tax breaks, credits and deductions  – commits to training more solar panel installers, voila, we will have more solar panel installers.  But at what real cost?”   

. . .

J          “Those people who are here must reduce their load.  Period.  Everyone wants to live like they do in Bethesda-Chevy Chase; no one can sustainably live like they do in Bethesda-Chevy Chase.  The Republicans delude the populace that they can live the Bethesda-Chevy Chase lifestyle simply by demanding to live the Bethesda-Chevy Chase lifestyle.”

. . .

K          “The planet will support 500,000,000 souls comfortably and 5,000,000,000 souls uncomfortably.  We are grossly over gross.  Overpopulation is at the headwaters of all of our problems.”

J          “And first and foremost among the downstream problems is our growing inability to provide clean, available and affordable water.”

K          “We need to reverse the two trends.  We need to quit depositing more humans on the planet and quit removing other species off the planet.”

. . .

J          “Yet, by definition, it cannot be the biggest problem confronting humanity unless you use the word ‘terrorist’ to describe it.”

K          “Okay.  Fair enough.  We have overpopulated the planet with almost 7.5 billion precious little miracle . . . terrorists.  And the numbers are growing.  There you go.”

J          “That should work.”

K          “Almost 7.5 billion precious little miracle terrorists are pummeling Mother Nature with poison.  Then we sprinkle nuclear reactors around the planet that are finicky nuclear bombs waiting to be detonated by default.  Pull the plug on electricity, pull the pin on the reactors.  The nuclear reactors are weapons of mass destruction that will go off when they cannot get the electricity to stay on.”

J          “The mutant shall inherent the earth.  We allow one country to pour radiation into the Pacific Ocean day in and day out for over five years and create the world’s largest Superfund Site.  The grazing ground for sea critters is toxic.”

K          “The Pacific Ocean Superfund site and other ocean Superfund Sites also have massive gyres of poisonous plastic and detritus spinning around.”

J          “The ultimate inconvenient truth is that the entire Earth is now a Superfund Site.”

. . .

K          “What if the government only provided a tax deduction of ‘x’ for the first child and ‘1/2 x’ for the second child?  Or no deduction?”

J          “The hard simple truth is that little can be done to slow population growth.  The load has overloaded us.”

K          “A carbon fee and dividend program?” 

. . .

J          “With so many available bodies, there are so many opportunities for corporations to exploit the vast pool of desperate workers.”

. . .

K          “We have met the enemy and it is a little miracle terrorist.  It is us.”

J          “Mother Nature is the only adult on the planet.  She is growing impatient.  Soon she will intercede.”

. . .

[See Daniel Quinn from “What a Way to Go:  Life at the End of Empire” and his “Advice for Young People” at minute 48.  Try to find some joy in this life without deluding yourself.]

[See the e-commentary at “On Overpopulation (June 14, 2010)”, “Kids As Consumer Durables (August 6, 2007)”, “Global Environmental Something (February 16, 2009)”, “A Gentle Landing On Earth (August 1, 2016)”, “‘It’s Only A Rental.’ The Earth As A Cosmic Doormat.  De-Immanentizing The Eschation. (September 28, 2015), “Global Climate Craziness (GCC) and Taxation (March 23, 2015)”, “On Roiling And Rolling Collapse (March 9, 2015)” and “Over Over-Population:  10 Billion Little Miracles (And Counting) (And Costing) (January 26, 2015)”.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

“We have met the enemy and it is a little miracle terrorist.  It is us.”  Nogo

We need to reduce the load.  Period. 

Be fruitful and don’t multiply; multiple fruit fruitfully

Slow climate destruction; practice birth control

Too many live people; too few dead dinosaurs.  To say nothing of the too chilling consequences of burning the few available dead dinosaurs (or whatever spawns gas and oil).

Price carbon

Stay calm and price carbon

Panic and price carbon

Better never than late?

Preserve the Nest; at all costs.

The mutant shall inherent the earth. 

Too many people, too little planet

“Can you think of any problem in any area of human endeavor on any scale, from microscopic to global, whose long-term solution is in any demonstrable way aided, assisted, or advanced by further increases in population, locally, nationally or globally?”  Albert Allen Bartlett, Great Challenge

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A Gentle Landing On Earth (August 1, 2016)

Posted in Carbon Surcharge & Dividend, Climate, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Population on August 1, 2016 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “‘Humankind, we have a problem.’  Us.  We be the problem.  There are too many of us.  Mother Nature is kind, patient and understanding, yet she is starting to demur.”

J          “Of all people, Mother Nature too must adhere to the laws of Nature.  She is law-abiding, you know.”

K          “The most gentle landing may be for her to dispatch many of us as quickly and as painlessly as possible.”

J          “We cannot take it personally.  She is only following the law.” 

K          “True.  However, the process is rarely quick and is not painless.  Then those who remain can treat the Downsize as a learning experience.  And then pay proper heed to the far too many nuclear reactors littering the planet and the plastic explosives hurled relentlessly at the Earth every day.” 

 . . .

[See the e-commentary at “‘It’s Only A Rental.’  The Earth As a Cosmic Doormat.  De-Immanentizing The Eschaton (September 28, 2015)”, “Lights Out:  Renegade Nuclear Plants (September 21, 2015)” and “Over Over-Population:  10 Billion Little Miracles (And Counting) (And Costing) (January 26, 2015).”]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Keep calm and price carbon.

Produce less of everything.

Wrap the rascal.

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Prepping: Public And Private Perspectives (April 27, 2015)

Posted in Bail In, Bailout/Bribe, Bankruptcy, Banks and Banking System, Collapse, Debt/Deficits, Depression, Economics, Global Climate Change, Guns, Population, Recession on April 27, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

C          “A system that cannot go on forever will not go on forever.  The System in its current incarnation cannot go on forever.  Thus, the debate shifts fundamentally from ‘if’ to ‘when.’  The syllogism suggests that fundamental change is in store.  Do we have the stores?”

D          “‘When’ not ‘if’ and also ‘what.’  Plan B is by definition less desirable than Plan A or presumably it would be Plan A.  The most desirable plan is failing.  What is Plan B?”

C          “The other systemic challenge is weather.  That problem like the financial machinations is also substantially man-made and man-modified.  Mother Nature allocates every region a specially-tailored natural catastrophe.  Florida and the Southeast get hurricanes, the Midwest gets tornadoes, the West Coast gets earthquakes, other regions get typhoons and cyclones.  And Mother Nature is shifting the script so that some areas get floods and some get drought.  The jet streams and the gulf streams are working in tandem to change things on the ground.”

D          “Leaves you wondering what is Plan B?”

. . .

C          “The script never varies.  The public Emergency Preparedness offices provide detailed lists of necessary supplies and valuable advice yet always unfailingly avoid even hinting that a gun, even one for hunting squirrels or pigeons, is a wise and prudent investment.  Some of them are reluctant even to mention acquiring a knife other than a pocket knife or perhaps a scalpel.”

D          “And the private sector prepper sites go to the other extreme and focus the entire discussion around guns and ammo and ammo and guns and guns and ammo.  The alpha, the bravo, the charlie and the delta of preparation for the Great Omega.”

C          “Get a gun.  We have a moral duty to protect our family and friends.  And get an LED flashlight.  And extra batteries.”

D          “And beans and bullets.  My personal Plan B combines public and private sector suggestions.”

. . .

C          “Going it alone is a failure from the start, yet desperately few humans have the intellectual and emotional software to engage others cooperatively.  Finding others who have resources, skills and tools is not promising.”

D          “At heart, the most prudent preparation is to restrain the dragons in our soul to free our mind.”

. . .

[And this past weekend, earthquakes in Nepal.]

[National PrepareAthon! Day on April 30 is a grassroots campaign for action to increase community preparedness and resilience.]

[See the e-commentary at Beans and Bullets (April 6, 2009), We Ain’t Ants; We Are Grasshoppers (April 9, 2012), On Community (June 3, 2013) and On Roiling And Rolling Collapse (March 9, 2015).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Get a garden rake, get a gun, get a grip

“If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself; if you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself. Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation.” Attributed by some to Lao Tzu, but who knows.

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Global Climate Craziness (GCC) And Taxation (March 23, 2015)

Posted in Carbon Surcharge & Dividend, Gas/Fossil Fuel, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Greece, Market Solutions, Population, Taxation on March 23, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

A          “Global climate change is the most accurate and neutral description of the mess.  The globe is warming in some places and cooling in other places.  And the boundaries are neither certain nor stable.  And the contours are changing and shifting like a lava lamp.”

B          “Global climate craziness, I say.  The changes also involve geopolitical considerations.  In the warmer climates, tax participation is more relaxed.  In Italy, speed limits and tax obligations are purely advisory.  In Greece, tax obligations hardly rise to a nuisance or an inconvenience.  Why bother.  By contrast, in Sweden, Norway, Finland and other cooler climates, tax rates are much higher and tax participation is much greater.  Global climate craziness may have a greater impact on the fiscal health of a nation than the pundits have acknowledged.”

A          “And the Fins finish first in math.”

. . .

B          “The ‘Sunburnt Country’ adopted a celebrated ‘carbon cap and trade program’ for two years before the reactionaries and wankers rejected it.  In the next go round, Australia should take the lead, adopt a ‘carbon fee and dividend program’ and skewer the notion that hot countries are against rational taxes.  It is getting crazy out there.”

A          “Seems that their situation could be described by the outmoded term – global warming.”

. . .

Bumper sticker of the week:

“I worry about the world I am leaving to my five children and my twelve grandchildren.”  “Imagine the world you should be leaving to your two children and your four grandchildren.”

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