There is a lot of hype and promise, some of it even real, with regards to alternative energy technologies. Heralded as the next best thing to sliced bread, alternative energy “promises” to replace petroleum dependency and even carbon emissions with something “clean”.

Fact or fiction? You be the judge. Any technology developed requires energy to create the actual hardware. Minerals are mined, the ore is extracted, factories are powered up to processing the metals, silicon and glass required, production facilities are built and manned, the actual hardware is produced and assembled, distribution networks are built, parts and pieces are transported and finally, the entire apparatus arrives at the end of this process and is assembled, tested and finally, switched on.

To produce what?

Power. Electricity. Which in turn is utilized by yet something else. A motor, a battery, a car, an appliance. Something, another manmade creation, is at the end of the entire process saving labor for a human, somewhere.

But at what cost? The hidden costs are almost always overlooked as if they don’t matter, don’t count. And moreover, does alternative energy mean just switching from one type of dependency to another? And what about all of the energy required to mine, extract, manufacture, transport, build and operate the thing? And what about all of the plundered resources that were required in the manufacturing and assembly, including the assembly and processing plants, the distribution networks, trucking and even international shipping themselves?

What exactly are we really gaining here? And at what price?

Technology is being heralded as some of the greatest inventions and “advancements” of mankind. I don’t agree with this assessment. I think technology has become one of our slave masters, making entire continents of people slaves to the demands of technology.

It’s not technology itself that is inherently bad, its how we utilize it and singularily fail to count its actual cost in resource, political and social control, dependency and insatiable demand for further advancement, which is just another way of saying it’s a self-sustaining feedback loop, which will last as long as the resources do.

Technology breeds dependency, dependency upon resources (which require ownership or control), extraction (which requires equipment), processing (even more equipment), manufacturing (production plants requiring even more resources), transportation (more equipment, more resources), and the incredible accumulative energy requirements to make this all happen. It’s easy to see how the dependency and the demands of technology, any technology, creates gigantic resource and energy demands.

Alternative energy technologies are no different. They suffer from exactly these same set of negative characteristics, or rather, we continue to foster these same set of negative characteristics, because we refuse to control the use of the technology and come to understand its true price on human and planetary existence.

Technology also affect all of the rest of non-human world. The extraction of resources seriously disrupts the planetary balance of global ecosystems worldwide. Entire species destructions are the “norm” because of the human demand for technology. The toxic pollutions and wasted dumps generated as part of the extraction, creation, usage and disposal of our technology is now threatening the very survival of all life on Earth. Our land fills throughout the globe are filled with billions of tons of our “technological castoffs”. Our oceans are polluted with it, our groundwater is contaminated with it, even our near-earth orbits are cluttered with it.

And yet there is still no recognition of these simple facts. Increasing complexity and rising dependency on technology, both conventional and “alternative” is the battle cry of the human race. It should be our mourning cry, as we come to recognize that we have embarked upon the wrong path.

The problem with technology should be obvious. Humans, using their technology, have utterly failed to come into harmony with the planet they live on. Instead, they exploit its natural resources to the point of total collapse and depletion, then moving on to yet another unexploited resource leaving behind toxic waste dumps the world over. This cycle of voracious consumption is a cancerous attack upon the very elements of the planet itself and cannot last forever. Eventually, exhausting all known natural resources, humans will wonder in stupid bewilderment “what went wrong?” while they stand among a pile of their own excrement and technological castoffs.

Yesterday, I had to make one of my dreaded day trips into the city. As I looked at all the glass, steel, concrete and paint I saw, I wondered about the process of human evolution and technology. The human body has not kept up with the demands (or lack thereof) that technology has supplanted. We were not meant to sit in cubicles and stare out of windows, excluded and isolated and insulated from our environment. We develop back problems, neck problems and poor posture. Our legs weren’t meant to remain barely used as we cross from chair to coffee pot and back again.

Most of the modern ills of mankind can be attributed directly to the application of technology and how it has been used to “save” us from “back-breaking” labor. But are we really better off? As a species, we are unhealthy, overweight, underexercised and underutilized according to our natural capacity for work and exertion. We are sickly, diseased, tumorous, cancerous, crippled, arthritic and plagued with a whole host of human-induced afflictions.

And this is supposed to be the “good life”. I call foul - I don’t think it is at all. I think we are on the highway to hell and partying like there is no tomorrow, heading ourselves, our planet and our future to ruin.

I don’t hate technology - not at all. I don’t like being a slave to it. I like electricty and what it does for me, but I also like very much being non-electric. The quiet and peace that this brings is unsurpassed by anything that technology offers.

But it isn’t technology that is at fault here - it’s us. It’s how we use it and what we expect of it and the unfullfilled dreams of how technology is going to somehow “save” us. This is exactly the promise that alternative energy technologies are promising yet again. This is a false promise that has been hyped for generations, yet to be realized. Technology cannot save us when it is actively destroying us. How could it be otherwise?

Our job would be to find ways where (and a great big IF) technology could be used for benefit (not just for humans, we are not the only species living on this planet). Right now, unbridled competition and demand for profits is causing the application of technology to be utilized for these reasons - and be damned everything else. This has caused incredible environmental damage and widespread species destruction. There has GOT to be a way humans can live on this planet without destroying everything in sight. If that is not true - then we do not deserve to be here.

That may be the case, although I think not. The rise of civilization and the use of technology, from the simple grinding stone to ICBM’s have overtaken traditional methods of living. The few surviving indigenous cultures today give living evidence that real alternatives exist. But they are considered oddities and the modern world is fast trying to change their “strange” behavior and traditional existence. It is we that need to change. Nothing about modern living is healthy, beneficial, productive, peaceful, sustainable, quiet, calm, contented or tranquil. It is our very way of life that is at fault, as we wrestle with the very elements themselves attempting to forge a better existence.

We have failed, miserably so and it is obvious as hell how far off the mark we are. We insist with our concepts of ownership that we alone have charge of the earth and it is ours alone to determine what is to be done with it. The bacteria would not agree. Nor would the viruses. Even the cockroaches would disagree. And the rats. While we could probably eradicate all life forms on earth, we would leave many of the lower life forms as our successors after we irradiated the place to hell and gone.

And for what? What good does it do mankind to destroy everything he touches? What’s the point? Greed? Profit? Instatiable lust for power and control? This type of behaviour is sickening and ultimately, self-defeating, but it doesn’t affect just humans, but the entire planet and all life forms upon it. Either we learn to control our own selves, instead of trying to control the planet (which can take care of itself as it always has), or it will be the lower life forms that become the inheritors of the earth after we die out from our own stupidity and pollution.

Right now, we don’t deserve to be here. Nothing that humans are doing on and to the planet can justify our existence as being a fully-qualified species living on this planet. Our exploitation of each other, the land, the sea, the plant and animal kingdom and the very elements themselves demonstrates the fact that we are unfit to live on this planet. Alternative energy is only trying to continue this party a little longer. Harsh words, but that’s nothing compared to what we’ve actually done to the place. We’re well on the road to self-extinction, with humans being the last remaining survivor (temporarily) at the top of the food chain while we first devour and eliminate all other life forms. That’s the reality, and that’s the truth.

If we’re going to live here, then we must learn to co-exist with everything else and this will require an entirely new earth ethic, one which does not put humans first. If we’re “first”, then everything else is secondary and that is exactly the kind of thinking that got us into this predicament in the first place.

We assume our “first” placeness because of our concepts of ownership, when we in reality, own nothing. It is the Earth that own us, cradles us, nurtures us and sustains us. But we reject that notion, deeming it ridiculous and archaic. But the reality is very different, humans do not own the earth, nor anything within it. Our attempts to exert ownership and control has now resulting in the rejection of homo sapiens. However, it is not the earth that is rejecting us, it is us rejecting the Earth.

When we abuse and reject that which supports and sustains us, we are in reality rejecting each other, because we are rejecting life itself. Life comes from the earth, not from humans. There is nothing humans can do without the earth. When we destroy the life of the earth, we are in effect, destroying each other as we destroy everything else. The evidence of this fact abounds all around us with our depleted and polluted world, our overcrowded cities, our sicknesses and disease as we attempt to exert greater and greater control and ownership on what isn’t ours.

A new ethic must be embraced, rejecting the old and abandoning what clearly does not work and is only leading to our destruction. This ethic must embrace a new set of ideals and cultural values, which in truth, are not really new at all, but have been long since abandoned by modern man. We have much to learn from the indigenious cultures that have left their faint marks upon the planetary surface, we would do well to do the same.

Alternative energy proposals do not embrace this new ethic, but seek to further the continued “dominance” of mankind over life on earth. The hidden costs to alternative energy development and usage is being deliberately overlooked, but it is important for us to realize that mankind does not need a continuance of his party on earth, but rather a revocation of assumed ownership. We are neither deserving nor worthy to be deemed the rightful masters of this planet. We can pretend otherwise all that we want, but the facts are now clear. Our stewardship is woefully lacking and we are not worthy of the task. the roaches would do better. Alternative energy is one such proposal that falls into this same category of irresponsibility. If we cannot reign in all of our demands upon the planet, coming up with a “clean” energy source will only ensure the continued destruction of the planet and ultimately, oursleves.

We can do better. In fact, we have to. What other real choice is there?

Time Magazine Cover Story - Global Warming

Be worried, be very worried. The climate is crashing, and global warming is to blame.

Read the article first. Time Magazine is featuring this article here (if you’re a subscriber).

“Lawmakers” are quite clueless as to the the global significance of this. There is not stopping global climate change, it’s now a runaway freight train as evidence has shown around the world. You can’t “stop” a melting glacier - or continent. What has taken decades to develop can’t be stopped by just eliminating emissions now, it’s far, far too late for this.

When the tipping points were reached is guessable, but does it really matter now? From here on out, it’s downhill into a holocaustic hell.

What is needed is massive global emergency contingency planning to deal with the developing crisis. But guess what lawmakers want to do?

Pass more laws.

That is the extent of their reactive capability, which is stupid as hell. Necessary perhaps, but the wrong response and too little, too late as already in evidence.

I stand by my earlier comments that you’re going to have to save yourselves. If you live in a drought plagued area, it’s just going to get worse to the point where there simply won’t be any more water (probably). Drought, wildfires and even flooding in some areas are going to be “normal” conditions.

It’s not only going to affect regions, but entire nations, and cause massive disruptions and economic devastation. Start thinking no food, no water, no jobs, no economy, no opportunities. Business as “usual” will be a thing of the past. Your kids are going to inherit and dying planet and if you’re not making preparations for them to survive it, they probably won’t.

Here’s another great article revealing just how serious this is: Global Climate Change & Peak Oil - Part III

This is a story that I have been following for years, although I’ve never once written about it. Terminator seed technology is an insidious plan to control the world’s food supply. Keeping people starving and hungry makes it so much easier to exploit them and the resources that they own.

Terminators, or GURTS (Genetic Use Restriction Technologies), are a class of genetic engineering technologies which allow companies to introduce seeds whose sterile offspring cannot reproduce, preventing farmers from re-planting seeds from their harvest. The seeds could also be used to introduce specific traits which would only be triggered by the application of proprietary chemicals by the same companies.

The seeds are genetically engineered to produce only infertile seeds which farmers cannot replant. The Terminator seed was developed ostensiously to protect the big corporations patented technology of genetically modified plant seeds.

The patent is broad applying to plants and seeds of all species including both transgenic (genetically engineered) and conventionally-bred seeds.

Without the ability to replant crops from last year’s saved seeds, farmers are forced to buy seeds from the corporations that control this monstrosity. If you can control a nations seed supply, you can control the nations food supply. The goal is to become the source of life itself, where “more than a billion farm families are at risk”, are forced to buy both seeds and petrochemicals from giant corporations - or starve.

Except it’s more then a billion farm families - it’s also the families that depend upon these farmers for their locally grown produce and grain to feed themselves and their livestock.

An elaborate shell game is being played out by the corporations behind this, who facing a world wide storm of protest, are trying to assuage our justified fears that they are demanding too much:

“The announcement recently by Monsanto, the giant American chemical company, that it will disavow use of the ‘terminator’ seed sterility technology is a welcome step toward assuaging some of these concerns, particularly in developing countries. Terminator technology prevents plants from producing fertile seeds, forcing farmers to buy more seed from a multinational corporation rather than using seed from the previous year’s crop.”
???Gordon Conway, “World is better served by the fruits of biotech seeds,” The Houston Chronicle, October 25, 1999

In a major victory for activists and protestors around the world, Monsanto, a major investor in this technology has decided not to market it. However, it will still look into sterility research, which, as the Guardian newspaper points out, could mean that Monsanto’s announcement just a public relations exercise and that they are waiting until the current attention on the negativity surrounding terminator technology has reduced.

We didn’t have to wait long. The Terminator is back and this time with government backing:

Monsanto and other GM companies which were developing similar technologies voluntarily pulled out of research after concerns were also raised about the “terminator” genes spreading to non-GM crops, and international outrage that poor farmers would not be able to use seeds from their crops, as they have always done.

But leaked instructions to Canadian government negotiators at the Bangkok meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, a group which advises the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity, show that Canada will request today that all countries open their doors to the technology. February 9, 2005

It didn’t die a well-deserved death in 1999, just changed it’s spots, now getting official government backing. But the real source of the technology is right from the US government:

USDA molecular biologist Melvin J. Oliver, the primary inventor of the technology, explained why the US developed a technology that prohibits farmers from saving seeds: “Our mission is to protect US agriculture and to make us competitive in the face of foreign competition. Without this, there is no way of protecting the patented seed technology.”

The Terminator is “good for business”. The never ending quest to gain the advantage over other nations is exemplified in this attempt to control a nations food supply. “With the patent announcement, the world’s two most critical food crops - rice and wheat, staple crops for three-quarters of the world’s poor - potentially enter the realm of private monopoly.”

Some genetic engineering companies, such as Monsanto spend large amounts on public relations to extort the facts. Monsanto brought us NutraSweet (aspartame is a poison used to kill rats). They also created Agent Orange, a chemical weapon used in Vietnam to defoliate entire rainforest ecosystems.

Monsanto is primarily a chemical and pesticide company. It is getting bigger as they buy up various biotech firms and is also one of the largest biotechnology companies in the world. They also exert a huge amount of influence in Washington D.C. which prevents any large-scale meaningful debate. So while they present themselves as a “life science” or biotechnology firm, they are really a chemical firm.

Even though there have been world wide protests over this technology, the corporations are adamant about making it’s use mandatory. Can it it be only profits that they are after? I doubt it very much.# Their attempt to market its genetically engineered products as organic in the United States came under criticism and was fought back — for now.
# But that did not stop them trying it in India, using an Indian seed company that they bought in order to use the term “Organic” as a Trojan Horse to enter the huge Indian market, amidst huge protest.
# In Europe, they launched an advertising campaign attempting to promote the use of genetically engineered crops and this has led to African scientists expressing their concern as well.
# They are also accused of creating products that will withstand more pesticide use and therefore allow more sales of their pesticide products. (Note, as mentioned above, they are largely a chemical and pesticide company.) Genetically engineered Roundup Ready Soybeans, for example, are engineered to be more resistant to its Roundup weed killer. That weed killer also kills many beneficial “weeds” and insects. This doesn’t have much to do with increasing yields as studies have shown but more about increased sales. The following quote reveals a lot:

“Many of you have heard of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide. And it’s very effective at killing weeds — so effective, in fact, that Roundup would control soybeans as well as weeds if it should come into contact as both. … [Until that is,] Monsanto developed Roundup Ready Soybeans … [that] express a novel protein that allows them to survive, even when sprayed with enough Roundup to control competing weeds.” — from the International Association of Plant Breeders, quoted by Vanadana Shiva, Stolen Harvest (South End Press, 2000), p.98

Monsanto would like for you to believe that it’s interest are purely financial and that “Monsanto has asked us to point out that the company has never held a patent on the sterilised seeds referred to in our report headlined Canada backs terminator seeds”. Maybe so, but in May 1999, “Monsanto announced it would acquire Delta & Pine Land Company for $1.8 billion. This means that seed-sterilizing technology is now in the hands of the world’s third-largest seed corporation and second largest agrochemical corporation.”

Yet this effort reportedly failed: “Although Monsanto tried to acquire Delta & Pine Land in 1999, the takeover bid collapsed, in large part due to public controversy over Terminator.” However, this article states that Monsanto, among others, does hold patents:

Delta & Pine Land and the US Department of Agriculture; Syngenta, DuPont, Monsanto, BASF, and Purdue, Iowa State and Cornell universities. (For details, see chart, p. 7).

Not to be outclassed by the mere people whom they “serve”, the “Gene Giants” pressed onward, now targeting governments (who are extremely susceptible to bribes and kickbacks):

While claiming not to have reversed their position against commercialization of Terminator seeds, some Gene Giants are continuing to seek new patents on genetic seed sterilization and others are boldly advocating in favor of GURTs (genetic use restriction technology) in intergovernmental negotiations.

The risk to the world’s 1 billion small farmers and the families they support is enormous. Terminator seeds can represent starvation conditions for hundreds of millions, billions of people. Why? Because they risk accidentally sowing the modified terminator seeds with their yearly planting. Poor farmers often buy seeds destined for consumption and plant them. Without access to the chemicals designed to produce proper yields for these seeds, the harvests will be smaller (or non-existent). And the seeds to plant for the next harvest won’t even exist. The ongoing yield loss represents starvation for billions.

I have to ask myself, why would multi-billion dollar corporations really want to control the world’s food supply? Is it only about making even more money? With all of the opportunities available for billion dollar corporations to make profits, why pick on this one?

If you already control most of the world’s resource, what left? People. Economic manipulation of people through essential resource control. What can be more essential then food? Water of course, but besides that? Food control, of course. If they could patent the air that we breathe, they would. I’m suprised they haven’t put a patent on the oxygen produced by corporate owned trees yet.

What’s really at work here is the Hegellian Dialect (again), now found everywhere. The manufactured problem is the pereceived property rights of the seed stocks owned by the Gene Giants. Poor farmers are able to replant saved seeds from the present harvest for the next harvest and the giants are complaining that “they” own the resulting plants.

But the Dialect isn’t ever so obvious as that, there is another reason that the worlds food supply must now fall under the total control of the multi-nationals. Critical resources consumed by billions of people have taxed the carrying capacity of the planet. The real goal is to force people to buy sees (food) from the Gene Giants - who are also petro-chemical giants. The seeds require the application of their chemicals to germinate properly. They will quite literally be able to control the outcome of entire nations by doing so.

Starving nations is nothing new, particularly for the United States, which as starved Cuba, Russia, Iraq, North Korea and other nations under “economic sanctions” specifically designed to withhold food, medicine and other goods. The death toll by such measures is nearly incaculable. While the targets of such measures are meant (allegedly) to be the political landscape and governments of such countries, the real people hurt are people just like you and me, families, individuals, women, children. Malnourished and unmedicated for needed essentials, millions have died as a result.

Sanctions such as this are population control measures. They don’t work well as anything else. Cuba thumbed it’s nose at the US and has reverted back to a sustainable agricultural lifestyle after losing it’s food shipments from Russia. They were quite successful too. Harpers Magazine had a great article on how they pulled this off.

But the US is not happy about the one-upmanship by one of it’s closest foreign neighbors. Nor are the multi-nationals who believe that they have the right to control what people eat, who eats and how much. Of course there will be people who refuse to pay the Gene Giants, but there have already been a number of cases prosecuted sucessfully against farmers that do this. The end result is obvious - it is a prosecutable crime to grow your own food if by chance, you happen to plant genetically modified seeds.

Non-hybrid seeds are the local solution to this problem, bypassing the multi-nationals altogether (for now). However, the world wide use of non-hybrid seeds would negate the mega-farms in current production today. Additionaly, severely depleted soils are only usuable for massive farming practices by applying hundreds of millions of tons of petro-chemicals. The Gene Giants know this and are perfectly positioned (of course) to take advantage of this dependency.

The Terminator seeds are most definitely the Gene Giants wet dream for planetary control of human populations. There are a lot of technologies like this being falsely labeled as the “salvation” of mankind to cure our multiple self-induced ills. Not one of them are really intended to “help” us, only control us, regulate us, manage us and track us. They are all insidiously evil at the very core and will only benefit our controllers. Our only recourse is total resistance.

I could write on this subject for weeks (but won’t). Few people are truly aware of the insidious plot to track everything via biochip implants. Most are aware of the pet tracking technology, but don’t seem to think that this will apply to them.

Building you up to the real facts, is this story regarding biochip implants on every livestock animal in America (including fish):

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is promoting a system that would have farm animal owners and livestock handlers attach microchips or other ID tags to their furry and feathered charges so they could be monitored throughout their lifetimes by a centralized computer network. The National Animal Identification System, as it’s known, has been in development by the department since 2002, with help from an agribusiness industry group that represents bigwigs like Cargill and Monsanto.

There are tons and tons of articles and information dealing with biochip implants, which I hope you take the time to read (Google biochip implants). Technology such as chip implant and satellite tracking is being heralded as the “salvation” of many of our problems.

Who’s problems? Not mine surely. I’ve never had need for my catfish to be implanted. Nor my dog, cat, neighbors or myself. So who’s “need” are we trying to address here anyway?

That answer is self-evident. The Controllers who seek to control every nuance of life itself believe that they “need” to have this level of tracking technology so that your chicken fillet only comes from an authorized source.

I doubt that the critters they hope to tag really care (I haven’t asked them), but I care - very much because I know what this means. The final nail in the coffin of liberty will be pounded down if they manage to get these kinds of programs implemented where they now track humans. You will be branded and managed like so much cattle. You already are, but most people don’t complain, never realizing their slave status.

ALL of the resources will be locked up and available only to those who are tagged and tracked. Want a Pepsi? How about a hamburger? Or a roll of toilet paper?

Controlling the ability to buy and sell is the manipulators wet dream. What a great way to get extremely filthy rich. And what a great way to weed out those nasty no-good dissenters that are still able to blend in right now.

Biochip satellite tracking technology will answer a great many issues, not the least is that irritating “privacy” question that some American’s seem to still cherish. Every nuance of your life will be recorded, monitored and managed. Buying too much fuel? Liquour? You might discover a “sin” tax automatically deducted from bank account.

Technologies such as this and a soon to come Terminator blog article, only emphasis my points what the future holds for human kind. Mixed in with these Orwellian power grabs are the global climate changes, declining resources and unsustainable populations all seeking an answer. That answer will be fascist control of everything, with even the areas you live in falling prey to the corporate controllers.

Bioregional living zones with every resource controlled will be the ultimate outcome. Will you join one of these (forcibly or not) and be a part of the the death of liberty? Or will you resist and learn to live without the authoritarian dictatorship?

It looks like the (s)election of the candidates is starting early.

How in the world, in this day and age of advanced electronic computing, can they possibly have so many obvious and stupid errors in these machines? There are tens of thousands of reported errors with electronic vote machines. I’d be out of business if I had these kinds of problems. And we’re supposed to believe that this is all accidental?

I have another take on all this electronic vote-rigging. Besides being used to dupe the people into believing that George was actually elected, the snafu’s that are cropping up with alarming frequency from all over the country are probably another Hegellian Dialect meant to be solved with a “better” solution, but first, we’ve got to have problems! Lot’s and lot’s of problems!

What fixes electronic voting problems? Clearly it’s not “touch screens”. Or even “hanging chads”. No, we need something better… Something foolproof. Something available to everyone, something that can eliminate all the problems we’ve had with voting before.

Why microchip implants, of course!

You can verify the voter as being both registered and authorized to vote, including address verification, thereby avoiding claims of disenfranchisement. You can also track exactly who actually voted - and who did not. You could even allow the tagged and tracked voter to “cast” his or her ballot with the utmost security and avoid claims of fraud.

No more touch screens. No more long lines. No more crowded and stuffed ballot boxes. You could even allow voting over the Internet!

Instant real poll results, second by second. Instant verification of voters. Instant election results. No more hand-recounts and recounts-of-recounts. No more election-result challenges. No more paper ballots, lost ballots, faked ballots, missed ballots and absentee ballots.

You vote - you get chipped. It’s not rocket science. The micro-level control now being “tested” on a gulliable public with “black box voting” will go one step better. Just wait and see.

I never lack for news to report, but I lack for readers who believe what I write. I think even in the midst of disaster, there will be naysayers who will argue against the facts while giant chunks of ice are crashing on their heads. Whatever, I can’t help this type of person who refuses to step outside of the cubicle and look around and see what is happening to our planet.

I have decided to post the following article in it’s entirety instead of just a link, maybe this will wake up a few more people. If you haven’t thought about moving yet, there’s no time like the present to get a jump on things. This article underscores exactly what I have been saying for the past few months. I also suggest you read between the lines and you will understand The Source and The Answer blog posts even better.

Now the Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us

· Secret report warns of rioting and nuclear war
· Britain will be ‘Siberian’ in less than 20 years
· Threat to the world is greater than terrorism

Mark Townsend and Paul Harris in New York
Sunday February 22, 2004
The Observer

Climate change over the next 20 years could result in a global catastrophe costing millions of lives in wars and natural disasters..

A secret report, suppressed by US defence chiefs and obtained by The Observer, warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a ‘Siberian’ climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world.

The document predicts that abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy as countries develop a nuclear threat to defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies. The threat to global stability vastly eclipses that of terrorism, say the few experts privy to its contents.

‘Disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life,’ concludes the Pentagon analysis. ‘Once again, warfare would define human life.’

The findings will prove humiliating to the Bush administration, which has repeatedly denied that climate change even exists. Experts said that they will also make unsettling reading for a President who has insisted national defence is a priority.

The report was commissioned by influential Pentagon defence adviser Andrew Marshall, who has held considerable sway on US military thinking over the past three decades. He was the man behind a sweeping recent review aimed at transforming the American military under Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Climate change ’should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a US national security concern’, say the authors, Peter Schwartz, CIA consultant and former head of planning at Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and Doug Randall of the California-based Global Business Network.

An imminent scenario of catastrophic climate change is ‘plausible and would challenge United States national security in ways that should be considered immediately’, they conclude. As early as next year widespread flooding by a rise in sea levels will create major upheaval for millions.

Last week the Bush administration came under heavy fire from a large body of respected scientists who claimed that it cherry-picked science to suit its policy agenda and suppressed studies that it did not like. Jeremy Symons, a former whistleblower at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said that suppression of the report for four months was a further example of the White House trying to bury the threat of climate change.

Senior climatologists, however, believe that their verdicts could prove the catalyst in forcing Bush to accept climate change as a real and happening phenomenon. They also hope it will convince the United States to sign up to global treaties to reduce the rate of climatic change.

A group of eminent UK scientists recently visited the White House to voice their fears over global warming, part of an intensifying drive to get the US to treat the issue seriously. Sources have told The Observer that American officials appeared extremely sensitive about the issue when faced with complaints that America’s public stance appeared increasingly out of touch.

One even alleged that the White House had written to complain about some of the comments attributed to Professor Sir David King, Tony Blair’s chief scientific adviser, after he branded the President’s position on the issue as indefensible.

Among those scientists present at the White House talks were Professor John Schellnhuber, former chief environmental adviser to the German government and head of the UK’s leading group of climate scientists at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. He said that the Pentagon’s internal fears should prove the ‘tipping point’ in persuading Bush to accept climatic change.

Sir John Houghton, former chief executive of the Meteorological Office - and the first senior figure to liken the threat of climate change to that of terrorism - said: ‘If the Pentagon is sending out that sort of message, then this is an important document indeed.’

Bob Watson, chief scientist for the World Bank and former chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, added that the Pentagon’s dire warnings could no longer be ignored.

‘Can Bush ignore the Pentagon? It’s going be hard to blow off this sort of document. Its hugely embarrassing. After all, Bush’s single highest priority is national defence. The Pentagon is no wacko, liberal group, generally speaking it is conservative. If climate change is a threat to national security and the economy, then he has to act. There are two groups the Bush Administration tend to listen to, the oil lobby and the Pentagon,’ added Watson.

‘You’ve got a President who says global warming is a hoax, and across the Potomac river you’ve got a Pentagon preparing for climate wars. It’s pretty scary when Bush starts to ignore his own government on this issue,’ said Rob Gueterbock of Greenpeace.

Already, according to Randall and Schwartz, the planet is carrying a higher population than it can sustain. By 2020 ‘catastrophic’ shortages of water and energy supply will become increasingly harder to overcome, plunging the planet into war. They warn that 8,200 years ago climatic conditions brought widespread crop failure, famine, disease and mass migration of populations that could soon be repeated.

Randall told The Observer that the potential ramifications of rapid climate change would create global chaos. ‘This is depressing stuff,’ he said. ‘It is a national security threat that is unique because there is no enemy to point your guns at and we have no control over the threat.’

Randall added that it was already possibly too late to prevent a disaster happening. ‘We don’t know exactly where we are in the process. It could start tomorrow and we would not know for another five years,’ he said.

‘The consequences for some nations of the climate change are unbelievable. It seems obvious that cutting the use of fossil fuels would be worthwhile.’

So dramatic are the report’s scenarios, Watson said, that they may prove vital in the US elections. Democratic frontrunner John Kerry is known to accept climate change as a real problem. Scientists disillusioned with Bush’s stance are threatening to make sure Kerry uses the Pentagon report in his campaign.

The fact that Marshall is behind its scathing findings will aid Kerry’s cause. Marshall, 82, is a Pentagon legend who heads a secretive think-tank dedicated to weighing risks to national security called the Office of Net Assessment. Dubbed ‘Yoda’ by Pentagon insiders who respect his vast experience, he is credited with being behind the Department of Defence’s push on ballistic-missile defence.

Symons, who left the EPA in protest at political interference, said that the suppression of the report was a further instance of the White House trying to bury evidence of climate change. ‘It is yet another example of why this government should stop burying its head in the sand on this issue.’

Symons said the Bush administration’s close links to high-powered energy and oil companies was vital in understanding why climate change was received sceptically in the Oval Office. ‘This administration is ignoring the evidence in order to placate a handful of large energy and oil companies,’ he added.

It has been my intention in the writing of this blog to take my ‘efforts’ into a specific direction. An ongoing essay in bits and pieces that deals with life, liberty and the future. Only by understanding the past does the present make any sense. I’ve been documenting the collapse of the near past and present to more or less come up with a view of the future.

My goal has been two-fold, self-education as I read and research the issues of importance (to me) and to share these observations and results with you.

As such, I have come to some conclusions, what I have called ‘the answer’, the defining end-point to the purpose of this blog and my constant quest for understanding.

The final push for global domination is now underway. The worlds remaining resources have been carved up into smaller and smaller pieces, while burgeoning populations have caused devastating environmental impacts. A desperate scramble for control and global domination is now being implemented. This will last for at least another entire generation (40 years) or more. Already the dunderheads are bragging of “100 years of war”, which has nothing to do with real terrorists, but fascist corporate-state domination of nations and control of resources.

As previously stated on this blog, nothing can stop the forward momentum of planetary insanity. Nothing. All human scaled efforts are miniscule compared to the existing momentum. Moreover, the planetary ecological response will overwhelm any human scaled response possible.

Nor will the “sea change” needed and necessary happen. It wouldn’t really matter in the greater scheme of things if it did, because as previously noted, if 3 billion people were suddenly vaporized, the sustaining feedback loops of planetary changes are already underway. No human intervention on any scale can now prevent this and the resulting negative consequences for human habitation and sustainability.

I am convinced that many governments and their corporate slave owners already know these things. There is indeed a lot of evidence that they are well aware of the seriousness of the situation. If I can figure this out, they already did, a long time ago, resulting in a Machiavellian chess game of global proportions as they align themselves for the remaining resources. They’ve come up with a solution with horrible consequences, that must be tried. Massive population reduction on a global scale.

This is understandable, considering the need to scale back human destruction and resource demand. Civilization is human induced planetary entropy with defined limits of sustainability. Immediate and drastic actions are necessary to reduce human caused environmental consequences by the demands of 6+ billion people. Self-regulation isn’t working, nor are the alleged declining birth rates. The world’s population is projected to increase to over 9 billion by 2050. If 6 billion are unsustainable, 9 billion is not even an option.

On a national level, it is extremely self-evident that the flag-waving Bushbots are incapable of acknowledging hard facts (of any kind). Their embracement of a fairy tale America and by blind and ignorant extension, a unlimited world to be exploited by goons with guns, is a case of diseased self-absorption and xenophobia. There really isn’t much to be done that hasn’t already been tried to wake Americans up.

Continued beating of one’s head against the wall is not accomplishing anything. This statement (poorly) underscores the level of apathy, ignorance, willful disbelief and arrogant stupidity exhibited by most Americans. For all intents and purposes, they are lost causes, useless eaters, fit to be slaves and sombulent zombies for the rest of their miserable lives.

I really don’t have any sympathy for them. Why should I? Why should anyone? Their ignorance is learned by their willing participation. There is no point at all in trying to convince them of anything, they are already self-convinced and deluded into believing that the American party of global gluttony can continue forever. Nothing is going to change that fact - not before disaster, not even after disaster.

Don’t believe me? Then why are they rebuilding New Orleans below sea level? Why do they keep building multimillion dollar homes on sliding and burning hillsides in California? Stupid is as stupid does. There are million questions like this that could be posed resulting in the same answer.

The severe strain that has been put upon the environment by the stupid human population is not going to change, whether there are 6 billion, 3 billion, or God forbid, 9 billion. Self sustaining feedback loops are now already triggered and there is nothing that can be done to change this fact.

The consequences are already clear - Earth is under mounting stress from human activities, with its climate changing and its ecosystems failing. But recognition that we must act urgently to preserve our natural habitat has been undermined by persistent failure to admit the multiplier effect of human numbers. Without policies to reduce world population, efforts to save our environment cannot succeed. With smaller populations, living in greater harmony with nature, our horizons may stretch far into the future. Optimum Population Trust

This is woefully optimistic. Policies can’t fix our problems, not even close. This is one of those “tried and tried again” kind of responses that never works. At a time when Peak Oil is going to be the most severe (2050), world populations are projected to increase to over 9 billion. That these numbers are totally unacceptable and unrealistic is without question (it won’t happen). However, the 7 billion that will be alive will have their numbers cut by over 50% between now and then. Violently.

As dehumanizing as this sounds, population reduction is essential and overdue. Environmentalist and planetary scientist agree, present populations are unsustainable (to say nothing of future population levels). The truth is, we really don’t know what the future ecosystems will support, since we do not know the severity of the devastation and collapse. We’re not going to know in actuality until we or our survivors actually get there.

The failing ecosystems, global climate change and overtaxed resources have proven that our world cannot sustain it’s present status quo much longer. In fact, the situation is so serious that a global collapse is definitely in the works. In addition to this, we are on the rise of fascisim in America, which as the world greatest “superpower” (war machine), the rise of fascism means that we will suffer here in America - terribly. Suffering will come in many ways as the fascist corporate-state attempts to take total control of individual lives.

This isn’t limited to America of course. Fascism is now found everywhere, England, Australia, Canada, Italy, France, Russia - in every developed nation of the world. State “control” is becoming more and more crucial as the instability of the population explosion and crucial resources become overextended and overtaxed.

I think it is important to recognize the momentum within politics and entrenched institutions, which is very similar to the momentum I’ve referenced above. Remember that the environmental conditions are a reflection of our social condition. Increased sociological stress factors are in evidence everywhere. The Bush admininstration will expire (hopefully), but the rise of fascism will not. There is tremendous momentum to dictate and legislate every aspect of human life (not just in America), but all over the planet. The rise of techo-fascism is making this not only possible, but extremely likely (I give it a solid 100%) with advanced technologies, implantable microchips, satellite tracking and surveillance, video surveillance, increased “security” apparatus and agencies, and a whole host of advanced technologies all designed to monitor your every living moment (even when asleep).

This isn’t going to change with the cashing in of the Bush or Blair administrations (which can’t come soon enough), because the drive for this type of control is coming from the corporate controllers that govern our governments. They’re the ones that are pushing for this garbage, consider the quotations made by Larry Ellison of Oracle corporation, or Applied Digital Solutions. They’re leading the charge to monitor individual human lives. They seek to make gigantic profits by doing so, while tracking every ounce of water, every consumed product from it’s inception as raw materials to it’s final disposal in a land fill.

The military industrial complex also seeks to make enemies out of the common man, those who would even question the machinations and evil actions of our allegedly (s)elected leaders. They’re very busy naming new enemies of the State with a very broad brush. This is leading somewhere, not hard to imagine. But it isn’t fantasy that we’re talking about, we’re talking about real facts, real events, real situations.

Never forget - the corporate elite aren’t even elected, they are the real untouchables who are controlling the domination of nations and resources. They are beyond our control of “the people” who have been regulated to nave status, destined to labor and work for the corporate plantation in one form or another for the rest of our lives.

At best, you are simply a nave consumer to them - at worst, you are an enemy combatant deserving of a gulag (for a profit) or worse. Soon, they’ll be selling off your body parts since even your own body won’t be considered your own.

It’s extremely profitable for the entire apparatus to create enemies whether they really are or not. Every possible avenue of leverage is being exploited to ensure that those controlling the outcomes of millions, billions of lives are the ones who benefit the most. Individuals don’t matter, people don’t matter, entire nations and cultures don’t matter. As an example, if they had their way, they would simply destroy all Arabs world wide, confiscate the land and the oil and turn it all over to the the oil corporations and private contractors. They’d do the same in Venezuela, Alaska and anywhere else there are ‘resources’ which represent power and profits and control.

Realizing just how insignificant we really are, as individuals, families and even entire towns and nations, is an extremely sobering thought. Imagine living in Iraq and realizing your nation was never, ever going to be returned to your people as long as the resources continue to flow out of the ground. America will toss Iraq away the instant the oil is gone.

The rape and the pillage of the planet continues unabated, we people are simply getting “in the way” if we object. Tremendous strides have been made in recent months to make sure that simple dissent (of anything) is no longer even lawful. The purpose and reasons for this is very clear - get out of the way while the pillage continues.

This planet is where we live. It is also where we will all die. We will all be buried here. It is our home, our life source, the very sustenance of our souls. Humans are the only species on the planet that fail to realize this, seeking to control it, modify it, change it and own it. We don’t own anything. It’s simply here for our use, passed on to later generations for their use, and so on. But nobody believes this. More importantly, nobody lives like this.

We’re all going to need to deliberately buck the prevailing trends and “social contracts”, something that I can tell you from personal experience isn’t popular. In fact, it’s downright dangerous if you take this very far.

All of these evil devices and plans are leading up to a single, singular point and that is simply this - global population reduction and control at a microchip level of management and “pre-approval”. Even your thoughts are not to be your own (look at the rise in “hate” crimes if you don’t believe this). Comply and go along with all these evils - or else you will die a death by a thousand different ways and degrees.

Driving all of this is the ecological response to human habitation on the surface of the planet. It’s too late now to change any of this and the human response is now to desperately wrest some level of control over a declining world.

I’m going to jump ahead a few years (on purpose) to depict what this all means. This then, is what your future is going to look like:

Bio Regional Zones

The best chance for future human survival is going to be within bio-regional survival zones. These will be established according to natural boundaries and existing climatic conditions conducive to human life. These areas will be where the majority of the surviving population will congregate, exists, live and die. If you’re planning on playing along, this will be where you will go and live.

They will be feudal zones ruled with militant ruthlessness by necessity and a supporting labor population (possibly slave labor), highly controlled environments of “civilization”. Those that prepare for this now will be best prepared, physically, mentally and financially. Most of these areas will be ruled by governmental goons, err, “officials”. The rise of fascism in America will continue and worsen of course, with these areas being State run centers for human survival.

One of the myths I reject is that people believe governmental control and authority will collapse along with everything else. This is extremely unlikely, who do you think controls the resources now? Government is of course the public arm of the corporate monopoly, which will also (unfortunately) survive the collapse (and continue to prosper). There will be Coca-Cola in the future. This will happen because they have the power, leverage, money and control over the existing resources. This won’t change in collapse. The elite always manage to survive.

Outside the Zone

Outside of the bio regional zones will be the remaining population which will be relatively uncontrolled and unregulated. This human population actually exists today, except that the “uncontrolled and unregulated” blend in fairly well with the existing population. There are now at least 20 - 50 million of these people in the United States right now. This won’t happen in the future since even living in the bioregional zone will require a chip implant. Those living outside the zones, “Outsiders”, will suffer from deprivations, including water, food, medicine, essential goods and supplies, transportation and security.

Die-off will ensure that these populations levels drop down to an ecological balance with the scavanged and remaining resources that can be gleaned. Bandits will prey upon these outsiders, taking advantage of their apparent helplessness and the only recourse will be to become just as ruthless as they and band together in groups.

In all likelihood, this will all happen within the next 50 years, with serious dislocations, massive population reduction, war, plague, and other fun horrors as part of the future events. You’re going to have to make a choice as to how you’re going to live and where, in our out of the Zone, or simply lay down and die. But the world you know today will not exist in the world of tomorrow.

In essence, these scenarios are actual reflections of the state of the world today, except extremely excaberated. That’s not going to change. The declining environment and scarce resources (water, food, energy) will make these a unavoidable reality. We already have ‘habitable zones’ scattered all over the planet, and inhabitable zones, but as environmental conditions continue to deteriorate, the habitable zones will become fewer and smaller in number, causing higher concentrations of people in smaller areas. Clusters will develop and I also expect that some will be somewhat isolated due to natural geographic features.

That global collapse is coming is without question. The time to prepare for this is now. You will be best prepared if you are:

a) mobile
b) self-reliant
c) self-sufficient
d) homesteading
e) well supplied
f) mentally and physically adjusted
g) military trained
h) ruthless
i) well armed
j) grouped with others
k) financially secure
l) debt free
m) single
n) young

This doesn’t describe very many people, with c) and f) requiring the greatest degree of effort. Most people could get debt free by liquidating assets (and not creating any more). Everyone is capable of being ruthless. Military training (combat and discipline) will be helpful to maintain vigilance and to deal with problems. This will all be easier if your single with no attachments (for many reasons).

In our Out of the Zone?

Where do you place yourself? Many survivors will have absolutely no choice, they’ll be inducted into a Zone whether they like it or not as ‘essential personnel’ (slaves) or administrator types. Escaping these Zones won’t be easy once you’ve been implanted with a microchip. I suggest you avoid this if at all possible (now you know my personal choice).

Aligning yourself with the growing underground movement (in existence today) will be advantageous to avoiding the future forced relocations, but that is not without it’s drawbacks. The best thing you could do today is to go ahead and relocate and undergo an extensive self-discipline / training / education regime to maintain your freedom, self sufficiency and preparedness level, teaching others to do the same. Finding others of simliar persuasions that aren’t federal agents will be useful. Advertising your intentions is a bad idea.

Simply moving to a likely area will expose you to others already there, or also moving into the area. The only way you will be able to come to know if they are for real is by what they do, not what they say. You can pretty much ignore this in all people. They’ll either be demonstrating who they really are, or running off at the mouth of who they claim to be.

If you plan to live outside of the Zones, you’ll need to think this through pretty carefully. There will be a great many disadvantages to doing so, but you’ll also have the only remaining semblance of freedom left in the world.

There will be areas of the world that will be pretty much left alone, lacking desirable resources in sufficient quantities. These will be good areas to live in so as to avoid the techno-fascists with their army of goons and forced labor in the Zones. You’ll need to gear up adequately for living in these areas of course and learn how to make do with a lot less.

A bleak future, but extremely likely.

End Point

Part of understanding the ‘answer’ is going to be realizing that the human ‘end point’ is now being reached. The next century, if we last that long, is going to be dramatically different then the last. Nothing that exists today except the very elements will be found in the future. What American accept as a standard of living for example, will be very much different. Where you live will in all likelihood, be very much different. What you do for a living will be very different. What freedoms you have, rights of travel, right to work, rights to eat, rights to relocate, rights to children, education, everything, will be very different.

The past century saw an incredible boom in the rise of civilization and the global spread of human populations - the next will be just the opposite as civilization contracts and contorts itself in a survival mode brought about by ecological devastation and resource depletion. Technology will continue to make rapid advancements (human knowledge is still rising), and will unfortunately be used for the total enslavement of mankind as the quest for resource control (including humans) continues unabated.

A massive resistance will arise from all points of the globe, which will ultimately fail as being outclassed, overmatched, under-supported and betrayed by human and environmental factors. This will give proof to the alleged need to make further assaults against the non-compliant nations and people (already happening today).

In time, if the planetary conditions allow for it, a uneasy balance will be reached by the remaining human populations, in and out of the Zone. While this won’t be peace, there is a possibility that trade and exchange for certain goods and supplies might ensue. I won’t live to see it. Neither will you.

Another part of understanding the ‘answer’ is figuring out how you going to get from “here” to “there”. Gigantic roadblocks are already being or have been setup to prevent you from doing just that, which are only increasing as we approach closer and closer to the ‘end point’.

I’ll write more on this subject in future posts.

I apparently missed all the fuss lately. Since I don’t watch television, all of the bird flu stories have just “flown” right by me. But I’ve been absolutely buried trying to get the new shopping cart shipping module fully functional, so I’ve not yet seen or even read the stories regarding these MSM reports.

I don’t suppose I’ve missed anything. I’ve been keeping up with the bird flu as the stories are being posted on the Net. But here is something interesting: I’m now tracking the site visitors to my website (food store). This is averaging well in excess of 120 - 160 visitors per hour right now. I’ve never seen anything like it. You’d think my phone would be ringing off the hook, but it’s not. Apparently, lots and lots of people are taking a look around on the site and then leaving.

This could mean many different things.

a) they didn’t find what they wanted
b) they didn’t like what they saw
c) they were just window shopping
d) their having problems accessing the site
e) they don’t have any money
f) they’re really not serious about preparations
g) they’ll order elsewhere
h) ??

Having done price comparisms, I know that we still have the best prices around. So I opt for c, e, and f. But the sheer numbers is rather staggering, my ISP is already complaining.

If I’m right, if people are just window shopping, and they don’t have any money, and they’re really not serious about taking measures for self-preservation, then comparing this to the actual completed orders I’m seeing (far less then 1%), this means that in the face of bad news, more bad news and repeated warnings, people still “don’t get it”. And aren’t likely to either.

Don’t get me wrong - I’m not complaining or worry about getting orders right now, I’m busy enough, but I am really pondering the significance of the numbers I’m seeing. These numbers represent over 2,000 people per day, or using a very conservative estimate of 75 visitors per hour, 75 x 24 = 1800 visitors per day.

Let’s drop that number a little bit just for discussion purposes. I could check the logs and pick apart the actual unique visitor traffic, but don’t really have the time to do that just now. The numbers are what the numbers are. The real proof of the pudding is what are people actually doing? Are they just window shopping? Is that what you are seeing? Are they just checking things out but are still not making their individual preparations?

The danger here should be obvious. My site is only one of hundreds that are out there. Using a very conservative estimate of 1200 visitors per day x 200 sites, this is 240,000 people. That’s a quarter of a million people per day. Not 1% of them “get it”, even though they are “kicking tires”, looking around, checking things out, etc.

I’m not sure expolating the numbers over a week is the least bit accurate, but we could be talking about at least 1 - 2 million people per week who are window shopping. Does that sound about right? I know the MSM reaches a far, far larger audience then this, but how many are taking the time to get serious enough to simply window shop?

I don’t know. I don’t think there is any easy way to find out. But here is what I do know:

I’m still seeing serious “disbelief” that personal preparations are a smart idea. I have received plenty of phone calls that husbands and wives and family members think “you’re crazy” for wanting to stock up, “just in case”. Some callers have revealed that simply discussing the issues is causing major fights, disagreements and anger. I can believe it.

But the state of denial that is obviously evident is representative of a far more serious problem and that is dependency. People in vast, vast numbers prefer the dependency of the system and what it represents for them (the good AND the bad points). They’re simply not willing to take charge for their own lives. The very thought of doing so brings about resentment, anger, fear and upset and sometimes, they lash out. This has caused more then one divorce. I know of many divorced couples who have reached the “irreconcilable difference” stage because one spouse vehemently disagreed with the other over these things.

This is sad and terribly tragic and when you come right down to it, it makes no sense at all. It’s insensible and illogical to fail to take care of oneself. This doesn’t have anything to do with me and buying food stuffs - I’m talking about how people come to severe disagreement over something as logical and sensible as taking responsibility for their own future. When you wipe away all the dross and all the heated arguments, it comes down to this: are you responsible for your own welfare, or is someone else?

The answer to that is self-evident, if you possess reasonable mental faculties. Which means, since so many reject this simple answer, they are neither reasonable nor in charge of their mental faculties. This as tragic as it is, is probably the case.

People have long since given up their “independence” and instead are highly dependent upon the existing infrastructure and system to keep them alive. And why not? It was easier that way (and still is). But this over-dependence has created an entire culture of mentally handicapped people who are incapable of simply thinking and understanding what their dependency really means. They will be (are) victims of their own lack of self-interest. In other words, the lack of self awareness and self discipline to take care of their own needs, even something as simple as being prepared for bad times, makes them victims to everything that could and does happen in their lives, everything that is outside of the “norm” or outside of what they system is designed to support.

I’ve written about the Katrina victims who exhibited this same dependency and “victim status”. This is prevelant in the general population, it’s everwhere. With millions upon millions of people in America alone that embrace and live by this code of dependency, this all by itself is a cataclysmic disaster of uncountable proportions. They will simply be totally unable to cope with any sort of disruption or disaster because they have failed in one especially crucial area : mental preparation.

There are other crucial areas, but a mental attitude towards “taking care of oneself” is the most crucial. From this begets emotional preparation, physical preparations and planning (financial, physical, etc.).

If they won’t prepare now, when there is time, opportunity, abundance and threads of “properity” (money), what do you suppose will happen when disaster actually strikes? Answer: chaos.

What I find the most disturbing of all is the lack of self-awareness this all signifies. The “dependency” conditioning that is so pervasive, so permeating and so saturating the very thought processes of millions of people. This is surrounded by tripwires and alarm bells, so that if you even simply discuss some of these issues, it’s instant verbal war and conflict, even divorce.

How do these people live? Well, I know the answer to that already. It’s a world I “left behind” in a sense by rejecting the commonly accepted reasoning and corresponding dependency that is found everywhere today. I’m not seeking to compare myself to anyone else, but I am trying to convey just how very strange this dependency lifestyle is to me - in the face of tons and tons of bad news, more bad news and even more expected bad news.

I’m not the one who making up this news - I’m just “reporting” it as I do on this blog. These are events that are happening now all around the world yet it still fails to register in the cognitive thought processes of people, which makes me think they are sombulent zombies - they’re not awake at all.

One person told me to stop selling food and quit trying to save people. The thought has crossed my mind. It’s going to be bad enough with dealing with the survivors of post-crash, post-peak, post-global warming (that doesn’t exist), post-economic depression and on and on. People who did “get it”, people who prepped, prepared and who cognizant of the dire need to wake the hell up, realize what was happening in our world and were prepared to take charge of their own lives and do something about it.

Wow! Getting distracted here. Just checked this hour’s shopping cart activity, there are 266 active connections right now (no sales). Now I’ve NEVER seen numbers that high. But this is only proving what this blog post is about.

They don’t get it. And they probably won’t either - ever.

Why? Because what people do is what really “proves” anything. Got a pet desire? Prove it (do it). Believe in what you say? Then do it. Believe in what someone else say’s? Then do it. It’s not what is being said - it’s what is being done that counts. This is why we can safely call Shrub a liar and a murderer (and all of his henchmen).

This is why the “get it’s” will be easily demonstratable by their actions, even though they don’t have all the answers (nobody does).

This ties into my blog post, The Source. The party continues, even in the face of repeated warnings. As expected.

I also hinted in that post as to “the answer”, which isn’t a single answer (I hope you weren’t expecting that), but a multi-faceted, multi-layered conclusion-response to an equally torturous global crisis and mass consumer conditioning.

It will probably prove to be the hardest thing you have ever done. But I see no other way for the (potential) survival of the human race unless this is undertaken. More to come.

Many of the ideas and commentary presented on this blog aren’t very popular. This is not surprising in the least. However, it bears mentioning for some extremely important reasons.

The general idea of reduced consumption, reduced development and reduced population isn’t on people’s minds. Instead, they are looking foward to a sense of “growth” in their own lives; a promotion, a vacation, maybe a relocation or just the coming weekend, when they’ll let their hair down and live it up a little. Or they’re looking forward to something else. But the idea of scaling back, living simpler and using less on all fronts, is pretty far from their minds.

Most people are too busy trying to survive in an increasingly complex world to really even care about what happens in ten years. This is unfortunate in the extreme, but understandable. I’ve been there myself, but I “withdrew” some years back from the corporate world and simplified my life as a response to what I saw going on around me. It helped a lot (imo) in shaping my ideas and viewpoints. But not everyone can do this, or even wants to, so it’s expected that people just aren’t connecting to what happening.

I was sitting in a restaurant today listening to these two guys talk about TIVO at a nearby table, and how to program their VCR’s. To my way of thinking, it was a bit surreal, but it reminded me of the fact that nobody really believes that things can change drastically for the worse. Or that they don’t want to dwell on it like I do!

But there is something else here I want to focus on and that is the opportunity that remains to create a sustainable future for self, family, community, country or world is fast slipping away, while we are worried about how to program our Tivo machines so we can record the last episode of Desperate Housewives. People are pretty blase when it comes to considering just how fragile their world really is. They’ve abused it for so long it seems like it will just last forever. Which is exactly why nothing is really changing. The weekends come and go and the general population is blithely unaware of the seriousness of the global situation and it’s progression.

Even simply telling them doesn’t work. It’s not real, it has no meaning, no impact, no measurable value, no significance in their daily lives. Most of the changes that are occuring on the planet are out of sight and out of mind. The stores are still stocked, the gas is still available, the paychecks for most people still arrive and they’re just not thinking on a much bigger level then living week to week. The concern and ultimately, lifestyle changes simply aren’t there.

I think it’s also important how people can be shown facts and circumstances, and still deny the significance of the evidence. Have you ever returned “home” to where you grew up? I have, at least twice. It’s not the same place, not even close. What was once rural countryside and vineyards is now completely covered with houses, pavements, strip malls and horrible ugliness The trees are gone, the vineyards are gone, it’s not the same place at all. But even this type of evidence doesn’t carry the impact and meaning that it should.

It should make us weep and cry, to see how much our world is changing in just one generation. Sometimes it does, but more often then not, it’s just a wistfulness that we feel when we see the changes wrought.

It should be obvious that our world is changing and we are quite literally, paving over what used to be where we lived. Places that used to be home, familiar and secure, places where family grew, lived and experienced life. Now these places are Burger Kings and 7/11’s, horrible eyesores, ugly examples of “modern civilization” that are meant to mean “progress”.

The unchecked growth of this past generation is considered by economist to be “good”, but by someone who longs passionately for a rural pastoral life, these changes are quite horrible. I’m in good company, the planet itself agrees with me, because every new strip mall, housing development or burgeoning city represents an incredible jump in wrested resources stolen from the land and the sea, torn from their “home” to rest in articial construction in a strange and foreign place.

All of which took energy to mine, log, manufacture, produce, transport, erect and build, pave and paint over. All so a few more people can pile up on top of each other in crowded containers of human engineering to ogle at the girls buying baubles and trinkets at the new shopping malls.

This cycle of “civilization” is extremely destructive, not only to the environment, but to our very way of life. What we once cherished as a favorite fishing hole is now a 4 lane bridge with polluted water running undernearth it. We’re losing our roots, the ties to the past that provide us with a sense of history, connection and togetherness. It’s sad and it’s tragic, that’s what it is.

Now to my point.

Expecting people to change for the health of the planet and ultimately, themselves is proving to be foolish. That is, people aren’t going to change, they simply don’t want to. They don’t know how. We’ve lost something of tremendous significance in the past forty years. We’ve become disconnected from everything that was once important to us. The world changed - and we went along with it, hook, line and sinker.

This is evidence by everything going on around us right now. We have warning signs everywhere, all over the planet, but what’s really on people’s minds? How to get ahead, how to move up ladder, how to make more money, how to get laid, anything but the really important issues that are global in scale. The sense of togetherness, roots, family, tradition and culture are distorted fragments of what they once were.

People are not thinking about their own personal impact on the planet, or even on their own city or neighborhood, it’s not important, it’s not significant. They’re thinking about buying a new car, or that new restaurant, or their new girlfriend. In other words, they’re emeshed in “life”, this modern artificial construct of glass and steel and plastic and electronic gizmos that is gripping the planet in a death-spiral.

This means that the party of capitalism, consumption, consumerism, whatever fits your ticket, is the defining focus for millions, billions of people. The momentum that these billions and billions of people create is quite frankly - unstoppable. There is nothing that can be done on a human level to change this. Nothing.

I have been hoping for a “sea change” which has been written about by people like Jan Lundberg, but I do not see any true evidence of this to be honest. It’s simply not there. Even when people do discuss (rarely) a change of lifestyle, consider what they are really asking for. Usually it’s just a modest change with a minimal impact upon the ultimate outcome. After the “discussion”, it’s time to order out and get a pizza. Or a Big Mac. Nothing changes. Even now, the Peak Oilers are guilty of looking for alternative energy sources, and “more fuel efficient cars” which means they also hope to continue the party as long as possible.

What people are not looking for is a real change, a lasting change that really represents a reverting back. A change that would have a global impact for the better - for all of the remaining life forms on Earth. People still want their fresh catch fish in their favorite restaurants, overstuffed grocery stores with zillions of choices, all packaged, wrapped and presentable and made neat and clean from the real slaughter, and everything else that comes with modern living. Modern madness is more like it. The insanity of it all is mind boggling. Where does it stop? More importantly, how can it continue?

The reason that the human race is in such trouble today is because of the way in which we live, which is based on consumption, a “taker” viewpoint of constant consumption. This voracious appetite is like bacteria in a petri dish. When the available food supply is depleted, then what?

What was required of us was to be caretakers, planetary citizens, caring and sustaining the planet and all of its lifeforms so that we could ensure our own survival. This planetary symbiosis was necessary by the only species of the planet that had both the means and the power to sustain life - or destroy it utterly.

I am fully persuaded that there is NO hope for humanity to make the necessary changes in time. This would require at least two generations, and a complete turnover of the world’s population to burn out the consumptive lifestyle we presently have. We don’t have that kind of time, which would span at least 50 years. More like 75 or 80, or even 100 years.

In fact, I’m beginning to believe that trying to tell other humans about what is necessary is a complete waste of time. Time that would be much better spent developing your own contigency plans.

An example of this is made clear here: If ALL of Los Angeles, a city of umpteen millions suddenly stopped driving today, what difference would it really make? Ultimately, none. The existing momentum in the world would continue, even increase, consuming the now unused resources no longer needed by those in Los Angeles.

Now, what are the chance that we could get all of Los Angeles to stop driving? Or even a lousy 10% to stop driving? You see? It’s not possible - it’s ludicrous to even believe that it’s within our grasp.

The reality is, we’d need hundreds of millions of people to stop what they are doing right now in order to affect any meaningful change. Maybe at least a billion people. A billion Westerners to be exact, since we are the most wasteful and consumptive group of all.

What are the chances of that? Zero. Zip. None. None at all. Which just might explain the reason so little is actually being done in the face of dire and repeated warnings by planetary scientist the world over. It’s not only too late, it’s far, far too late. The population itself is simply too big, too much momentum is now underway, no effective measures or protocols could possibly be implemented in time to forestall global disaster.

This may indeed be the reason we are seeing so little interest and so little meaningful progress on world levels. This then, has some really serious ramifications.

Number One: we’re wasting our time on the general population. We’re simply not going to affect enough of them in the time that remains. We already know that within 10 years, we are going have gigantic oil problems of such serious magnitude that it will plunge the world into a perpetual state of warfare for the remaining resources. This chess game is already being played out right now, and this is only a part of the equation. Global warming is considered by some to be past the tipping point already. Even an instantaneous vaporization of 3 billion people wouldn’t stop it now.

Number Two: This then means that a serious reassessment of priorities and tasks is needed. If the changes necessary cannot be implemented in time, what then can we do? Anything? Nothing?

The Village

The ecovillage is a working, functional concept that is being embraced as the answer for future sustainability. But is it? Nothwithstanding some of the concerns I have previously voiced on this blog, the village does offer some hope. But only for a few. Using our Los Angeles example, how many villages would be necessary for a city the size of Los Angeles to survive? I simply cannot count that high. And even if I could, how would this really affect the planet?

It wouldn’t be enough. Not even close. Not even fractionally close. It just wouldn’t be enough. Not if we had a million villages, which could only represent a tiny fraction of the total population. If each village was truly sustainable, they’d have to be managed on a small enough scale to not require massive outside energy inputs. The very concept of scale then becomes something that isn’t achievable. Not on a level required.

And to say that we couldn’t get a million people to suddenly change their lives and lives sustainably, let alone 15 million or 20 million, is an understatement. Try and find 100,000. Good luck.

No, this isn’t possible, it’s absolutely ludicrous for us to even think so. I see a lot of writing to this effect, the idea that “we’ll tear up the pavement and plant gardens”. Yeah, right. I don’t think so. People will hang onto this present lifestyle right up to the very end because they are very much married to this way of life, till the bitter end. If they really wanted to change - they would. But look around. Where do you see widespread, sweeping changes being made on a significant scale? You don’t. Nowhere. Not anywhere in the entire world.

This is yet another reason that the village is a failed concept. It simply cannot meet enough of the needs in time. It’s not even possible. The general idea is sound - but the requirements necessary for global impact aren’t being met on a broad enough scale to be meaningful.

What does this mean? It means that all of the energy and effort that is now being expended towards all of the present efforts to save the planet are miniscule compared to what is really needed. All of it. Global conferences on global warming, world forums on planetary changes, scientific meetings and warnings, greenhouse gas reductions, Kyoto protocol, ecovillages, all of it.

I’m not arguing that the ecovillage is bad, not at all, it’s just not enough. None of it is enough, nor can it be.

The significance of this is and it’s meaning is you are going to need to implement your own plans for future sustainability. I don’t like using the word “survival” with all of it’s negative connotations, but it’s appropriate here. No “global” program will - or can be implemented in time to ensure your own survival. Not even on a national level.

During World War II, the nation underwent rationing, with most of the young men off to the war. We are now a nation of at least double the size - and of a much higher complexity and a far, far higher sense of dependency and interconnectedness. We’re not going to make it this time - not as a group. How could we? We simply couldn’t implement enough changes fast enough as a group to make a difference. Not enough measures, not enough ecovillages, not enough anything to be perfectly honest.

These are some more reasons why collapse will be guaranteed. It can be no other way. Momentum, in this case, ensures a self-sustaining feedback loop that will be impossible to overcome in time.

If our energies are at present, misdirected, then a “consolidation of effort” needs to be implemented to take best advantage of the available time, resources and the remaining opportunities that remain. This consolidation would also mean to quit beating at the air regarding the general population.

I’ve written to this point, on this entire blog of the course of it’s Net life, to get exactly to this point, which is this: with all the various issues now taking place in the world, what is the best course of action that can now be undertaken? It is the fundamental question that I have been seeking on a personal level to answer. The question that drive me to even writing this blog and to “document the collapse”, something I have doing for over ten years.

I’ve not even begun to cover all of the issue that peturb me, but I have covered a few of them. But what I find more important is what can be done about any of these things. Blogs seem to be filled with commentary, but no real answers. I doubt very much that I am any different. But I readily admit that I am seeking answers, if there are any to be found.

I like to write. I suppose it’s an exegesis of sorts, expunging and examining my own thoughts, thinking and direction in life. Years and years before I discovered blog software, I wrote in a journal. I really don’t feel that this is any different, except that I acknowledge that there is (now) a public audience. I think that there are a lot of people looking for the same answers I am, which is really the only reason I blog.

The truth is, I keep coming up with the same answer, every time. Whether I document the failed presidency, the war, the environment, sustainable living, the collapsing ecosystems, global warming, politics, culture, all of it, the answer I sense deep down in my soul is the same irregardless.

And do you know what that is?

Quotes for Today:

For many of the world???s people, America has reduced their reality to piles of broken rubble; lonely hours of endless terror called Shock and Awe; the filth and stench of secret gulags where torture is implemented on a scale known only to the CIA. The disquieting loss of life and its impact upon families is beyond the pale of comprehension. Genocide and ethnic cleansing are not democracy and they never will be. Externalizing the Cost of War

Reality has been so altered here that speaking truth is akin to living in an insane asylum.

Most of us are good and decent people who do not believe in world domination or the subjugation of others. Many of us realize that we have more in common with the average world citizen — the Iraqi, the Iranian, the Chinese, the Brazilian and the Russian, than we have with our own political leaders. It is the rulers who send their servants to do horrible things to people who have never done us harm — people with the same needs and desires that we have. Working people should not wage war with other working people. We should wage war with the plutocrats that have hijacked our country. If the rulers want war, let them have it; but let them be the ones to do the fighting and the dying. War making is easy for those who are insulated from its consequences. We must make war as costly for our leaders as it is for us. To internalize the cost of war upon those who wage it is to end war.