Silent Spring

Kristof seems to be toxic hound at the NYT. His latest piece highlights many of the same arguments from Silent Spring.

“There are diseases that are increasing in the population that we have no known cause for,” said Alan M. Goldberg, a professor of toxicology at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. “Breast cancer, prostate cancer, autism are three examples. The potential is for these diseases to be on the rise because of chemicals in the environment.”

"And now we are in trouble."

Little kids believe ghost stories because in part, they don't enough for it to be not true and two, because they haven't been around enough people to tell them it isn't as well. Peak Oil is like a ghost story for adults except adult ghost stories usually are true, i.e. STD's, divorce settlement's, etc. The Oil Drum has a nice article on how the poorly educated (only men can read) Italian gypsies get Peak Oil while the "gadje" are indifferent to the truth after being told by so many folks that technology, "they", will save us.

The closing quote is particularly and hauntingly poignant.

You see, professor, I think you were right with your lesson. Yeah, you told us that things are not going to be so easy as they used to be. Right, we saw that, too. It is what's happening. You know, I remember when we came here from Yugoslavia. I was a child; I was 10 years old but I remember that very well. It was so different, here. We saw so much wealth: lights and cars and houses and stuff in the supermarkets. Yeah, we had never seen anything like that.

In Yugoslavia there was nothing. And so, we were all very happy, but I think we made a big mistake. You know; I remember my grandfather. He was a good man; he could work metals; he could fix pots and pans and sharpen knives. So, he told me that I should learn his job; but I didn't want to. I was very young; I wasn't that smart but, see, professor, I think we all made the same mistake. Many of the old folks could do things. Like singing or playing instruments, buying and selling horses.

But we can't do that any more. We didn't want to learn. We saw all this wealth, here, and we thought that there was no need of working so hard. If there was so much wealth; why couldn't we share a little of it? We didn't want to be rich; we just wanted a little - enough to live in peace. And we thought it would last forever. But, you are right, professor, it is not going to last forever. And now we are in trouble.

Pictures of Collapse

Here's a glimpse of what the world might look like as the abundant, cheap energy so prevelent today fades into oblivion. Spookily awesome.

Is It Worth Saving?

Haiti was one the countries Jared Diamond chose to highlight in his book Collapse along with China, Australia and a few others. It's basically deforested most of it's half of the island to add to it's incredible over-population problem. Some people think this latest disaster is a wake-up call to the Haitians imminent extinction. With a population density 10x the U.S., will this mass destruction of Haiti's infrastructure allow them to survive? Is it even worth it.

They Are Rolling in Their Graves

Look at how far we've fallen. 51% of Americans would give up some liberties for security. I can only see this as a clear indictment of the media's portrayal of terrorist events causing Americans to abandon all rational thought on the matter. There's even a book about it.

Who makes up this 51%? It would have to be folks from both blue and red states and would have to include some "Tea Party'ers" (or it is Partiers?). This is what makes it truly astonishing. Our country was founded by a collective of rationalist, Deist thinkers yet this fact seems to be lost on most Americans. The founding fathers real ideas and goals have been dashed upon the shit pile that most Americans root from to achieve an "education". We love the line, "Give me liberty or give me death", which we only apply to injustices (gun control, increased taxes, etc) that haven't actually happened yet seem to ignore quotes like Ben Franklin's,"Those who give up their liberty for security deserve neither liberty or security." Yes, it's widely used post-9/11 and is something I feel falls too far into the problems of civilization to be something humans should follow but the fact that people calmly neglect this truth from the cries of patriotism is full proof the level of ignorance that encases most Americans view of reality.

The reality is that terror attacks in the world, let alone on American civilians, and even more so on American soil are incredibly rare. Yes, there are plotters our there and yes, there are weekly bombings in Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan but nearly all of that was brought upon by U.S. encroachment in those countries. But the fact is that 9/11's or WTC '93 bombings or even Richard Reid shoe bombers are statistically insignificant. People are afraid to fly but willingly drive in cars daily though car fatalities are way more common than plane crashes. Toss terror-influenced plan crashes into the mix and the ration is even more lopsided. We do need to keep an ever-watching eye on our enemies but at the same time we don't have to cut off the leg for an infection on the pinkie toe.

The Cost of Community

John Michael Greer, my favorite Druid, has a great post on community. It's something I think a lot about. His point about cherry-picking a community of like minded folks to start a community still doesn't allow you to evade the emotional and time sacrifices needed for a community to actually be a community. You can start by showing up, shaking hands and a smile. Then doing that at each meeting and turning off Lost a few minutes early to spend some time working on it.

I'd have posted the excerpt but I'm having technical difficulties.

Scary Speech

Michael Ruppert has a scary documentary that I believe it out of theaters already. (who would have thought?!) But he gives a scarier speech. Here's some snippets from 2005.

From Grandpa Dick Cheney:

“…For the world as a whole, oil companies are expected to keep finding and developing enough oil to offset our 71 million-plus barrel a day of oil depletion [today it’s 84 million], but also to meet new demand. By some estimates there will be an average of two percent annual growth in global oil demand over the years ahead along with conservatively a three percent natural decline in production from existing reserves. That means by 2010 we will need on the order of an additional 50 million barrels a day… So where is the oil going to come from? ....

Yikes, he also basically admits that we went into Iraq for oil the second time too.

“… Energy is truly fundamental to the world’s economy. The Gulf War was a reflection of that reality… It is the basic, fundamental building block of the world’s economy…

But Ruppert gets scary when he talks about the real government solution. That sounds about exactly how they'd handle it.

We are witnessing government response to Peak Oil now. In my earlier
presentation I have made it clear that that response will include only measures
which protect the financial elites and major corporations.

They include:

1. Rationing

2. More Coal and Nuclear – Emphasis on Fisher-Tropsch Coal-to-Liquids
Conversion.

3. Suspended Environmental and Drilling Restrictions

4. Protection of Critical Infrastructure

5. Strengthening and Reinforcing Domestic Military
Operations – Suspension of Posse Comitatus

6. Suspension and Relaxation of Labor and Minimum Wage Laws.

7. Changing and Tightening the Bankruptcy Laws Allowing Fewer Distressed Consumers to Discharge Debts.

8. Allowing and Facilitating Population Reduction through Famine and Disease.

9. Strengthening and Giving More Power to FEMA. (this Fema)

10. Destroying Demand Through Economic Collapse and Allocating Scarce Resources – by Force if Necessary – to Protect the Interests of the Wealthiest Communities and Interests in the Country.

Sounds about right.