It’s highly doubtful the sleeping public understands the extreme significance of the coming collapse. If they did, they would probably be screaming in the streets (justifiably so). What will probably happen is our kids will wind up cursing us in their sleep (justifiably so) in their prison camps.

The coming collapse of civilization, which is in reality, already well underway, will be most felt within 50 years. By then, the global problems that have accumulated into unsolvable crisis will become extremely acute, right about the time when Junior is about your age right now. These problems (today) are:

Destruction of natural habitat - forests, oceans, ocean bottoms, coral reefs, wetlands. Already, over 50% of the worlds forest have already been converted, depleted or destroyed. The remaining percentage will be wiped out within 50 years. Deforestation was THE major factor in all previous collapses of civilizations. And even larger percentage of the wetlands has been destroyed, damaged or converted. Over one-third of the worlds coral reefs have collapsed. Less then one-half are expected to survive past 2030 (24 years away).

The loss of forest, reefs, wetlands and the ocean bottom (scraped clean by trawlers) represent a gigantic loss in biodiversity and species, and a huge irreplaceable loss in fresh water (the normal hydration cycle has been severely disrupted).

The resulting loss of wild foods, primarily from ocean stocks cannot be replaced by any means. “Free food” from the ocean (fish and crustaceans) feed over 2 billion people today. The greater majority of fisheries have either already collapsed or are in steep decline. Aquaculture is increasing the loss of wild-species due to interbreeding (escaped fish) and genetic decline and required feeding (using wild fish).

Soil erosion from wind and water is destroying topsoil at 10 - 40 times the rates of soil formation and between 500 and 10,000 times soil erosion rates on forested land, all due to human caused activity. The net loss of soil, carried away by wind and water represents a stupendous loss in soil fertility and resulting biodiversity (plants and animals that depend upon the plants, including human farmland). Salinization, soil fertility, acidification, and alkalinization have already accounted for severe soil losses ranging from 20% - 80% today. Within 50 years, soil losses will be directly attributable to widespread starvation and species extinctions. Examples of this are already evident in the Sudan, Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia, the Middle East and many other parts of the world (once fertile land).

Energy sources (wood, coal, oil, natural gas and uranium) are being depleted at faster and faster rates from human activity. The end of the age of oil is already within sight and as the world turns to other forms of energy sources, an increasing amount of environmental damage from mining, logging, drilling and transportation networks (roads, pipelines and infrastructure) will create an ever increasing amount of damage. Most lands once damaged, can never be used again (for all practical purposes, unless you’re willing to wait ten thousand years or so).

Similiar damage is being done by the constant expansion of urban and suburban areas, which all require an increasing amount of extracted natural resources and energy for building, maintenance and function. This land too is lost for all practical purposes for humans and non-humans alike, contributing nothing back towards the natural biodiversity and requires continued habitat destruction for construction.

Chemicals, toxins, poisons, pesticides, insecticides, herbacides and man-made synthesized chemicals are continuing to be released in larger and larger quantities into the environment. Stream run off, ocean dumping, agriculture, industrial waste, war pollutions, plastics, sludge ponds, landfills, and a huge array of airborne toxins from manufacturing, automobiles, industry, mining, production and airplanes is being released into the environment at an increasing rate (the amount released yearly is billions of tons of toxins). These toxins break down extremely slowly with devastating effects upon humans, bird, animals, reptiles, fish and plant species, causing long term genetic disorders, birth defects, abnormalities, lowered sperm counts and retardation.

Alien species deliberately or inadverdantly introduced into the environment have caused billions of dollars in damage to crops, animal and plant species, with many successfully establishing themselves and expand their territory despite massive efforts at their eradication. The resulting destruction of natural habitat and native species eradication now exceeds 30% of the worlds remaining species on the planet.

Global warming, now finally recognized by most of the worlds leading scientists, is an unstoppable freight train that will cause billions of human deaths. A few degrees may not seem like much, but at the height of the last ice age, the average temperature was “only” 5 degrees cooler then it is today. Global warming will cause sea levels to rise, indunuating all of the low-lying coastal cities of the world, massive flooding, climate shift (droughts in some areas, massive flooding in others) and displace billions of people due to starvation (crop failures) and drought. Causes of global warming are directly attributable to human emissions and human activity.

Overpopulation will continue to increase, potentially at double the present number of nearly 7 billion humans. More people means more environmental demands and impacts and more damage. The desire for Third-World countries to achieve First-World living standards and status is already causing extensive damage to the worlds remaining forests, oceans, fisheries, soils, and greenhouse gasses released into the atmosphere.

The reality is, our present world cannot possibly sustain 7 billion at First-World living standards, and the future world with its increased depletion rates and remaining resources stands no chance of supporting 12 or 14 billion First-Worlders for longer then a month or so. But this fact does not deter these nations from trying anyway, nor teach the First-World nations to reduce their rates of consumption. The result will be massive global conflicts from the remaining world’s resources of water, oil, food, fuel, wood, cropland, fish and other resources.

This in a nutshell, is the “inheritance” we are passing on to our kids - a depleted and destroyed world where “survival of the fittest” will depend upon the control of the world’s remaining natural resources being withheld from everyone else while each nation desperately tries to improve its living conditions.

The nations best suited for this sustenance race for survival will be equipped with the an infinite level of control and manipulation of the people, press, armies and their government. That the United States and Britian is advancing this terror technology is no accident. In order to survive into the future, if even for a few more decades, the nations will need to become ruthless in their quest for domination and control - or face starvation and annihilation.

The disconnect in most people minds between their living conditions and living standards will continue to be distorted and twisted from its root source and causes as the rates of depletion and environmental destruction continue and increase. That our environment enables us to have what we enjoy today is irrefutable, but the present and accelerating rates of extraction, destruction and devastation caused by humans is totally unsustainable and will eventually result in a complete collapse of civilization.

Fifty years may not seem like a long time to some or to others, it’s a long ways off, but between now and then, the ongoing collapse will be felt more and more until eventually, each of us will pass on this inheritance to our own kids, who will have to bear the brunt of our shortsightedness and extreme selfishness. Their world won’t be anything like our world and they will rightly curse us in their sleep.

Civilizations are built in accordance to the cultural values embraced and practiced by its people. These values are developed over long periods of time, cultured and nourished from many sources, from their combined history, traditional, religious and geographical and environmental factors. These are “evolutionary conditions” which cause the evolving changes in cultural values.

The aggregation of cultural values is what we often refer to as “civilization”, a representation of human activity meant to exemplify the best of human endeavor. Civilization is a mirrored reflection of the cultural values held (stop for a moment and think about our present civilization and how it reflects our true values).

Over time, these cultural values change and hence, civilization itself changes. This evolutionary process is traceable to several factors, including industrialization, technological advancement and even religious leadership. Any of these factors can create a massive upswell in cultural values, both good and bad, resulting in civilization taking a turn for the better or for the worse. In any case, these values continue to be represented by the civilization itself within its culture until when and if, they are replaced with something else.

Cultures motivated by money exhibit some of the worst forms of human behavior possible. Exploitation of people, places and things is the result, as temporary exchange of (ultimately) natural resources is exploited for human gratification at the expense of everything else, including natural ecosystems and resources.

The American Indian was wiped out because of a clash of cultural values. The intrinsic value of the land and the animals was recognized as being common to all Indians, but the white man saw the value of the land and animals in a much different light. The result was genocide as the improved technological advancements overruled the primitive defenses employed by the Indians. The motivation for the land and it’s value by both sides was very different. The “superior” culture “won” those wars in its quest for control and ownership of the natural resources. The result was the subjugation and control of every living thing on earth.

Since that time, the cultural values of the new Americans has changed very little. The imported Western culture to the New World has remained the same for quite some time, evolving only slightly with industrialization and technology, but essentially remaining the same.

It’s extremely important to note Western culture is at odds with the entire earth - people, places, land, resources, plants, animals, fish, even the air, minerals and space itself. The cultural values embraced by Westerners is based upon the concepts of ownership, control, profits and manipulation (exploitation). This is in a direct and dangerous contrast to the cultural values that were long practiced on the planet by indigenous cultures, most of where were exterminated. That many of these indigenous cultures survived for tens of thousands of years gives strong proof to the fact that their way of life and cultural values were sustainable, while ours as Westerners are not, as discussed below.

But even this fact regarding the former civilizations is widely ignored as the Western world (now most of the globe) continues to embrace the same cultural values as ever. The Western world believes that its values are “best” and insists upon importing its values by force upon the rest of the world. The result is always genocide, including cultural, human and environmental, which can be summed up as planetary ecocide.

That is not to say however, that other former cultures are not without their examples of ecocide and genocide. Many previous civilizations have collapsed for exactly the same reasons our civilization is now collapsing. They also chose the wrong path with their cultural values and resulting civilizations and eventually, wiped themselves out. They failed to adapt (evolve). We can learn a great deal from these former examples, but it remains doubtful that we can learn enough, fast enough and widely enough to avoid our own collapse because of our continued insistence upon our present cultural values.

Values that are in direct conflict with the supporting natural earthly systems are destined for failure. Technology can never replace natural systems (although this is the implied, but failed promise), neither can civilization itself. Agriculture for example in its many varied forms can never replace the natural cycle of life and death in the plant world. Agriculture is a exploitive and forceful method of plant production, destroying unwanted species (right down to the microbe level), soil nutrients and the natural hydration of entire regions, in an effort to create certain crops and high yields.

Even “natural” gardens are not natural at all, but planned (cooercive) approaches to coexist desired plant growth amongst natural plant growth for human consumption (usually, although some are purely decorative).

It’s nearly pointless to discuss the “why” this occurs, we all know why. The purpose is ultimately, food production (versus food harvesting). Even commericial forestry (logging) is ultimately based upon the demand food production. Supporting billions requires coercive production - natural systems are no longer able to support natural harvesting and have long since been “replaced” by coercive agricultural methods.

However, this replacement methodology as practiced by civilization is at the very heart of what is wrong with our cultural values. Industrialization and technology, including agriculture, aquaculture and all othe forms of “x-culture”, deemed so necessary for food production, are the replacement methodologies for natural food production. This is essentially what all of civilization is for - food production.

Artificial food production (as practiced today) is an exploitive, coercive process, rather then cooperative. The natural abundance of the earth has been supplanted by the industrial and technological aspects of our civilization, which in turn, are the result of our cultural values. We all know the result of this collage of coercion - overpopulation, pollution, resource depletion, collapsing ecosystems, extinct species and a world full of crime, war, disease and widespread destruction.

Civilization created all of these things, or more aptly put, our cultural values caused all of these things. These root reasons for our common collapse and impending self-destruction must be acknowledged if we are to have any hope for a course correction before our extinction.

Money is the driving force behind much of the cultural values of “worth”. Worth doesn’t necessarily mean control or ownership, but the intrinsic worth of natural resources (what we call “assets” in today’s capitalized society) was replaced by its relationship to civilizations worth. That is, if civilization deemed a resource a value (even a single human individual could do this), then that resource had to be controlled or owned. These resources then became “possessions” which had value in context of the existing civilization at that time. What was once “valueless” became valuable as the evolving civilization identified a way to exploit or utilize that resource.

Of course, the ultimate result was far more then this as the earth itself became divided up into tinier and tinier possessions, through a unending series of wars and conquests, extracted of its cultural “values” (resources) and sometimes, eventually discarded (meaning disused or disposed of) - until the next evolutionary change within civilization occurs and discovers an even further use for those idle possessions.

There are many examples of this all over the world, such as oil, uranium, natural gas, plants, animals, oceans, forests, deserts (good places to build casinos), etc., all unused and ignored at one time until the evolutionary changes within civilization occured that suddenly discovered the value in its natural possessions. Actual ownership or control of these natural resources never proved to be a problem, since wars could always be fought to take control as required. The result was (and always is) further exploitation, wars and conflicts, which of course in turn creates even more planetary damage on humans and ecosystems alike.

It’s pretty easy to see where this is all leading as evolutionary changes take place within civilization itself. The entire process is self-defeating and self-eliminating as artifical “systems” are employed to replace natural systems all over the world. The ongoing exploitation of natural systems and resources has already reached above and below the planet. The goal is to strip mine the stars apparently, but this is deemed necessary simple because there’s nothing left on earth to easily exploit. That is the driving reason why space exploration is deemed “essential”.

The question of whether our civilization should even be evolving in this direction of ongoing self-destruction is most often never even asked. But if the stars or the asteroids are are not available to us for exploitation (and they may well not be), then we need to seriously question our very way of life - our cultural values, our concepts of ownership, control and possessions and the fabric of civilization itself.

Personally, I am stunned with disbelief that this is the best we can do. As a product of Western civilization, I acknowledge my own extremely limited understanding of how things could be much different. But even I can identify the dangerous path that we are on and that we do indeed need to be living much differently. We need to embrace an entirely new set of cultural values and “rebuild” our civilizations and way of life in accordance to these values. However, I strongly suspect that such values would not be “new” at all, but rather rediscovered values that were once held and practiced by many ancient peoples before us. We need an evolutionary cultural value change as soon as possible.

That our values replaced the ancient values once held is without a doubt (otherwise, we’d not be here today with these values), but it is also without a doubt that our cultural values are horrifyingly terrible for sustaining life on this planet. We’ve only “gotten away with it” because of the fantastic abundance that the earth once offered, but now that we have thoroughly plundered that abundance, it’s evident that our values must change if we hope to survive.

We’re dinosaurs in effect, so far unable to cope with the environmental changes and now facing our own self-caused extinction. But unlike the dinosaurs - we do have a choice. Evolve or die. Adapt or perish. Cultural values that are only increasing the planetary extinction of any species must be discarded immediately.

As a timely follow up to my last post -

Mr Gore said the world faced a stark choice between the end of civilisation and a future for its children.

Nobody listens to the former Vice President, however, I think he’s right about all of these issues reported in the British news (wonder if any American media will carry this?).

He stressed the problem was moral, not political, and said he hoped the current US government would re-think its environmental strategy and sign up to the successor to the Kyoto treaty.

The reasons why societies collapse are almost always moral reasons. In essence, societies make immoral choices for selfish reasons and purposes and cumulatively, they add up to gargantuan blunders. This is the case with our society and civilization.

We can safely say then, that our society and civilization is immoral and irresponsible. Continuing to do all the wrongs things for the wrong reasons cannot be justified for any reason. The fact that we keep doing them anyway points to how deeply flawed we really are.

It would take far, far more then “Bush and Cheney” being forced to change their positions to rectify this moral problem. This is laughable when you consider the gross misjudgement, mismanagement and stupendous blunders by these two, then for them to suddenly do an about face and try to lead the nation into righteousness and morality. And even if they could, they won’t.

You can’t change your spots. As much as we like to believe that we can either be reformed or achieve reform in someone else, the reality is, it rarely works. Our habits, patterns, beliefs, attitudes and points of view are deeply ingrained in our pyche and are not subject to lasting changes. To think that the Liar in Chief would grow a conscience, become responsible and an authoritive “leader” in any sense of the word is truly laughable. It’s not in him to do it and never will be.

Gore should have been President. We’d be in a totally different place if the black robed Supreme’s hadn’t shortchanged the election process. It’s extremely doubtful Gore could have been worse. Right now, I’d vote for Mickey Mouse, anybody but Bush. Staunch Bush supporters have left the President in the dust, fleeing the sinking ship of State to its fate, which is really what’s at issue here.

The President, whoever she or he might be, is a figurehead that can make or break a nation by the influence of the persona, power and wielding of authority. That Bush had done incalculable damage to the economy, government, the Constitution, national sovereignty and foreign affairs is without question. His “leadership” has been like a temper-tantrum of fits and starts of incompetent mismanagement and ill-guided intervention.

Whoever (or whatever) inherits this ship of State in the next few months or years (we can always hope Bush will simply quit) will be saddled with a gigantic insolvable problem that has taken generations to develop. I am of course, taking about the subject which Gore was referring to - global warming. It’s real, deadly, unstoppable, immutable and utterly and totally indifferent to our plight as its victims. We are faced with the future of civilization and even human survival as the climate shift takes its toll upon our crops, economy, livelihoods and ability to simply exist on this planet.

Mother Nature may be slow in getting started, but she’s sure to complete the job once started. We’re dealing with an enraged giant that cannot be appeased by simply embracing a new treaty or a new policy or “going green”. Whatever nature dishes out, we’re going to have to succumb and survive it. Or maybe not. There are certainly no guarantees or solutions. We made this bed and now we’re going to have to sleep in it, come hail or high water.

There are some historical and factual reasons that societies collapse, a question (and the answers) which should concern everyone. Regrettably, the United States is exhibiting all of these characteristics, thus making its future survival in serious doubt:

a) failing to anticipate a problem before it arrives;
b) reasoning by false analogy that there either is no problem, or it’s not serious;
c) failing to remember historical events;
d) distant management;
e) failing to perceive the problem(s) when they actually arrive;
f) failing to understand the “creeping normalcy”;
g) failing to understand the common interest;
h) conflict of interest;
i) self absorption;
j) advanced technology;
k) religous values.

Failing to anticipate a problem before it arrives is characterized by gross mismanagement, poor judgement, lack of foresight and even, hidden issues that are impossible to perceive adequately in advance, such as the loss of soil fertility or the introduction of alien (non-native) species, deliberately or otherwise. In first example, the lush growth on the surface of the land indicates (wrongly) that the soil is fertile, when in fact, most of the nutrients are found not in the soil anymore, but in the plants themselves, which took a very long time to develop. When the plant growth is removed, nothing or next to nothing can grow back. This has been the cause of desertification all over the world. In the second example, introduction of alien species has often caused devastating effects on native plants and animals, wiping out entire species and ecosystems as a result.

Reasoning by false analogy gives a sense of false comfort and security to its proponents and advocates. A classic (and current) example of this is how technology is “going to fix our problems”, simply because technology has managed to fix some problems in the past (the many side effects of technology are also ignored by these same people). Therefore, a “techno-fix” is going to save us. This analogy is false on many fronts, in particular (and often overlooked) because technology cannot and does not replace the natural biological cycle of anything. Technology interupts it (and usually destroys it). There are many other false analogies, but this is a primary one found today among those that believe in a techno-fix.

Failing to remember historical events denies facts, logic and reasoning. Societal collapse has happened many time before for many reasons, the likes of which we are witnessing today. Some of these collapses are too far back in our collective memories to seem important (and they’re not taught as being important either). Yet the same factors that cause previous societies and civilization to collapse are still in existent today - indeed, they are in many case, much, must worse then before, with globalization, massive overpopulation and widespread environmental destruction. The lack of rememberance gives a false sense of security that “it’s always been this way” when in fact, the opposite is much more true with widespread death, devastation and destruction existing for hundreds or even thousands of years. Our civilization is quite young in reality, past civilizations have ceased to exist primarily because of environmental factors (self-destruction).

Distant managers are ineffective in dealing with problems or even perceiving that the problems exist, or the extent of their severity. Their also slow, inefficient and oftentimes uninterested (unless paid). Managers are also often replaced, as in the case of politicians, and are subject to special interest groups and lobbyist, thus making their management highly ineffective and inefficient. The lack of vested interest almost guarantees an outcome that is not in the best interest of the local populace and species living in the region at stake and year by year, the situation continues to deteriorate due to management oversight, disinterest or lobbyist pressures.

Many societies simply fail to perceive the problem(s) even when they arrive. Even though the evidence is staring them in the face, they deny they are either responsible or even affected by the facts. A simple example would be the destruction caused by recreational off-road vehicles. Afficionados deny the damage being done, even though the deeply rutted soils, destroyed plant life, soil erosion and muddied streams give strong proof that they were responsible. A larger example is clearcutting, with the resulting forest fires, soil erosion, stream sediments and destroyed spawning. An even larger example is overfishing of the oceans, which once yielded bountiful harvest from the choicest fish, which now depleted, has forced the fishing fleets to harvest lower quality fish and crustaceans, ultimately trolling the very bottom of the ocean for the remaining proteins. Denial of overfishing is rampant, yet the proof is clearly evident in the declining standard of the catch.

Irrational behavior is characterized by these conditions (among humans) who believe that if “they” don’t do these things, then someone else will, so why shouldn’t they just keep on doing it? This of course, leads to even more destruction, even though the perpetrators are fully aware of what they are doing. They’re reasoning is “better them” then someone else. This selfish behavior is widespread throughout all of society.

Creeping normalcy refers to slow trends that aren’t easily detectable year by year, but accumulate over decades into extremely serious problems. Perception is altered because the gradual decline is constantly adjusted as being “normal”, when the situation is actually serious decline. “Landscape amnesia” is also a sign of creeping normalcy, forgetting how the landscape looked 50 years ago. Soil salinity is a problem that affects huge portions of the world, but has taken generations to manifest itself. Lower and lower crop yeild are the result until nothing can be grown there at all.

Other signs of creeping normalcy is the slow trends on which society is degenerating with cultural values, attitudes and beliefs. And of course, there’s global warming, spanning hundreds and thousands of years, difficult to detect because of yearly fluctuactions and changes, but there all the same.

Many individuals, groups and even nations, fail to understand the common interest in land (and ocean) stewardship, deeming the earth their “private resource” for pillage and profits. An example would be Japanese fishing fleets, or American domination of other nations for exploit and extraction of resources. They deem their actions justifiable since they are seeking to meet their own internal needs, while failing to recognize the larger issue of common usage. They can do this because of lack of international law, military superiority or simply, flagrant violations of laws and treaties. The rhinocerous poacher and the mega-corporation share the same attitude (and disinterest) in this regard.

Serious conflicts of interest arise from land owners, goverments and corporations (and all stages in between) when the principle parties disagree on the land (or ocean) usage. Insulated elite “owners” have far more leverage and power then individuals, groups and even governments, and can dictate the continued destruction and depletion of natural resources far beyond their sustainable capacities. Such organizations exhibit little care or concern for the resources or the people affected and can quickly deplete entire ecosystems in a matter of months. Rainforest logging, ocean fishing, mineral extraction and many other examples exist where the “untouchables” do whatever they want, seeking higher profits and bigger margins despite clear proof of severe damage. The motivations between the opposing groups is immaterial - society often sides with money and power, thus ensuring the ongoing destruction even in the face of extinction.

Self absorption is the result of society being disconnected with reality and engaged in trivial interest and temporal pleasures and entertainment. The existing sports culture in America is a good example, as is the entire entertainment industry, both of which are extremely resource intensive and give little in return for the damage that they do. Auto racing, football, baseball (spectators sports) Hollywood, movies, arts and film, most forms of media programming (entertainment), and in particular, fast food (a form of entertainment).

Societies that have highly evolved forms of such temporary and trivial pursuits are characterized by a disinterested and distracted population with a high level of resource destruction and depletion. Efforts to gain the public attention and participation and gain the support of the leadership of such countries, who pander to the voting public are ineffective and result in little change or action, thus the society at stake edges ever close to its own destruction while being entertained.

Societies with advanced technology have the capability to destroy (or potentially, restore) the environment faster and faster with giant machines, huge factories and global distribution networks. For all of the reasons already outlined above, the motivation for the use of such technology isn’t restoration, but exploitation, resulting in global destruction on an unprecedented scale, even though the society responsible may actually exist many thousands of miles away. The other issue with advanced technology is how such technology requires increasing levels of complexity, productivity, manufacturing and distribution, all of which results in even faster and faster extraction and depletion rates, far exceeding the natural levels of sustainability.

Many such technologies are used to “mine the resources” (remove the resources faster then they can be replenished). This of course, applies to non-renewable resources, such as oil and minerals, but many renewable resources are now being mined far beyond their capacity and resilance to be replenished. This is a very long list if I were to itemize it, but the categories include water, fishes, trees, plants, soils, species and even air. The inability to restore these renewable resources without gigantic (and perhaps impossible) spans of time (thousands of years), or in some case, to never be able to renew these renewable resources because of pollution or erosion.

Religous values oftentimes have resulted in widespread destruction and devastation because of deeply seated and widespread beliefs from king to commoner. These beliefs are based upon exploitation and “ownership” (versus stewardship) of the land, plants and animals and a “kingdom complex” that teaches that the establishment of a “earthly” kingdom must be undertaken as part of their religous beliefs. Such beliefs are oftentimes very closely knitted with their cultural identity and society. Religious disagreements have led to thousands of conflicts and wars and widespread ecological damage of every living thing, including both global wars. It’s deemed perfectly acceptable in such conflicts to destroy the very land itself (poisoning the air, water and soil) in the effort to eradicate one’s “enemies”. The conflict in Iraq is a prime example, with depleted uranium now poisoning the land and the people and all all other life forms for thousands of years. The cancerous effects of such actions are well documented, with thousands and thousands of deformed human births, but are being stonewalled as being “serious” for civilians and soldiers alike on both sides of the conflict.

Making the land intentionally “uninhabitable” is an ancient practice, which would include chopping down all of the forest, salting the ground, poisoning the wells and exterminating every living thing. Such practices are found in the Bible and other ancient records of religous texts and were repeated around the world.

The United States is not alone of course, in all of these factors or excesses, such are found throughout the world in all societies, thus making the future survival of mankind somewhat in doubt. A great deal of evidence exist that while these reasons may be well known and understood, that does not prevent societies from continuing on their pathways to self-annihilation. In fact, as shown, “proof” isn’t what is required, as there is ample proof and a preponderance of evidence. Deeply held cultural beliefs, identity, practices, religion and attitudes are the root causes for societal collapses in almost all cases, and such are cherished even “to the end” as the last tree is cut down and starvation sets in. History reveals that no society is immune to these very human flaws of character, affecting entire nations. With globalization now fully embrace and all of it’s resulting and devastating side effects, the world is now at serious risk of failing to understand the reasons for its own decline and probably destruction.

The extreme danger the world now finds itself has a very human cause which cannot be solved by simply embracing a new program or “going green”. Much more then that is needed if we hope to survive (at all) into the next millineum. My estimate is that we have less then 200 years left of human life on this planet because the extent of the damage now done is far worse then we realize. The evidence we are now seeing and measuring with our instruments took decades or even hundreds of years to reveal itself, reversing this downward trend is simply not possible with any technology or program that we might devise. We are now living on the last vestiges of the earth abundance, when this is depleted and destroyed, we will have nothing left for us to live on, except each other.

Immediate crisis management should be begun, the likes of which, the world has never seen. If we fail to understand our common predicament, then anything we could have done would of course be far too late, as the evidence of our common failure as a species rises above us like a crashing tide of destruction, unstoppable, immutable and indifferent to our fate.

The title says it all. They ruin it for everybody. I get my fair share and spend too much time deleting their comments, updating the “blacklist” and banning their IP addresses.

You only get one chance on this blog to fuck up and then I’ll ban you, permanently, forever. Spammers that have done this in the past have been instantly and permanently banned. Go play in your own backyard you lazy scum and stop trying to live off the work of others.

So let this serve as the one and only warning and notice.

From here on out, no external links to outside articles will be permitted unless I first pre-approve the comment / link. For the regulars who post here and those that might - I’ve no problem at all with you posting valid links and will probably approve your comments if they contain such a link.

But for the spammers that want to improve my sex life or increase my muscle mass, GET LOST and get a real life. I will deal with you ruthlessly.

Side note - this is only a small example of what is wrong with our society in general. People taking advantage of other people, seeking to gain something, oftentimes for nothing. Not only are these companies selling useless crap, they’re not even trying to do it in an ethical manner. No surprise there, what would you expect from the dumbed down freeloaders in life?

It’s hardly worth commenting on the “news’ these days. We’ve heard, seen it, digested and spewed most of it out as pure garbage, although an awful lot of it sticks to us like plaque in our veins. We know it’s bad for us, but we do it anyway.

Who cares how high the poll numbers are for Bush? Or whether the DaVinci Code gets good or bad reviews? It’s just all fluff these days, meaningless, pointless and pure drivel.

Unless of course, you’re one of the moronic idiots that gets wrapped up around this kind of crap. I’ll go watch the movie, but I don’t give a rats ass what Bush’s numbers are. I’m suprised that their still double digit at all, but there no accounting for intelligence among the public.

The movie will be far more entertaining (and worthwhile). Almost everything put out there these days is exactly that - entertainment, passed off as news, “information” and often as not, “crisis”. Bullshit. Most of it is all crap, fluff and fabrication. Mindless distraction, brain-junk neuron clutter. The stuff we really should be concerned about isn’t making the news, it’s still lying on the cutting room floor. Editors, journalists and media moguls are making sure that the fantasy in Disneyland continues as long as posslble. So why should I care?

Here’s the rub. If the American people (or the Canadians, or the English, or whoever) don’t care about the important stuff that is going on, why should that bother me? Or you?

Because we’re in this lifeboat together, that’s why. Because a billion mindless morons make a hell of a mess. Because the issues that affect us all are being swept up underneath the rug and Paris Hilton’s dress. Because infotainment is public perception and public response. Because all by my lonely self, I can’t make much of a difference in anything.

That pretty well sums it up why I care. It’s easier of course, not to give a shit, and not to pay any attention at all, just go with the flow and blow my mind with drugs, drink, instant McDonalds style happiness and drive through pleasures. To do that would be pretty easy, the path of least resistance, the road most traveled. But you’d have to really hate yourself, deep down inside to do it.

Self-awareness isn’t something you can buy on the shelf, or learn from a television commercial. This soft-suds approach to understanding what makes us tick is also being commericalized and marketed by famous names these days. You see these faces on the tube, in the churches and on the promotion trail, promoting their guru-glops of regurgitated nonsense. Their all missing the point and are offering unproven substitutes for what is real, proven and very, very ancient.

We tend to believe that our civilization is “how it’s always been” with it’s glass, steel, concrete, rubber and textiles. Our frame of reference to each other and to the world around us is twisted by this metallic viewpoint, which in reality, is very recent, very new and of course, entirely artificial and contrived. Moreover, our inability to grasp the simple profound truths to our existence and our purpose for being here on this planet are criminally overlooked by these purveyors of “wisdom” lining their pockets with more metal…

I’ve made the journey from respecting a lot of public speakers, figures and luminaries (years and years ago), to coming to realize that none of them know what the hell they are talking about. They stopped somewhere along the way in their search for understanding, cashiering their quest into the gold standard. Yet even this standard is patently false. Money can’t buy everything, in fact, money can’t buy hardly anything you really need.

When I speak of needs, I’m not speaking of material goods, which are still free for the taking if you’re willing to do it (dumpster dive if you need a hint). I’m speaking of the needs of the human condition, the mental, physical and metaphysical needs we all have. Turning to today’s culture of sound-byte living to satisfy these needs is like making a cup of instant coffee. There’s no investment in the process and what you get taste like shit.

It took millions of years for humans to learn how to live in their environment. This is a serious investment in time and energy. But it’s only taken a few hundred years since the industrial revolution to totally replace this amassed historical knowledge. Wisdom today comes from the Limbaughs of this world dispensing quips and comments at $2000 a minute. We’d have to be pretty damned stupid to go along with this - which we are, apparently.

Examine the “teachings” that these talking heads dispense. Look closely at the “logic and reasoning” they extoll. Listen carefully to the infotainment being presented by the media outlets. Scrutinize the “issues” that are deemed “important” for public discussion. Pay close attention to the political posturing and public manipulation practiced by our “leaders”. Teachers, educators, institutions, governments, industry moguls, media manipulators, all of them, they’ve all got their hooks and investments into this culture, this civilization and quite simply “know no other”. Their “investment” is clear (self interest).

What you won’t find, in any of this, in an entire world full of billions and billions of conversations, media programming, newspaper articles and magazine periodicals, is the real issues that are truly and fundamentally important to us (or should be). And that issue is quite simply, how to live on this planet without destroying everything in the process.

Nobody wants to really talk about this or deal with it (nobody paid that is). The goal is to dumb down the populace and keep you dependent, depraved and dejected, and totally under their control and influence.

It’s wrongly assumed that we already know “how” to live, which of course, isn’t the case at all. We know how to consume, but we don’t know how to stop consuming. We know how to build, but we don’t know how to stop building. We know how to fight and make wars, but we don’t know how to stop and make peace. We know how to exploit and make profits, but we don’t know how to live without profitability. We know how to entertain ourselves, but we don’t know how to be entertained without expecting something in return. We know how to grow up, get married, raise our children, grow old and die, but we don’t know how grow.

Instead, we’re getting dumber and dumber all of the time. Farther and farther away from the source that makes us all what we are. The effort to increase our stupidity and overall ignorance is increasing, by those who should be doing the exact opposite, leading by example. However, it’s highly doubtful that they “know any better” since they are just as totally immersed and emeshed with this present culture and civilization as we are. To them (and most of us), this seems “normal”, when it is actually highly abnormal, abberant behaviour with it’s sordid history of degradation, destruction, depravity and desperation.

It’s no accident that our culture is considered “sick”. However, identifying the disease does not effect a cure, not when the disease carriers don’t want to be cured. Instead, these plague victims are insisting that their disease is the cure, infecting even more people. The disease they promote is killing all of us, causing even more sickness, more disease and hopelessly enslaving the entire human race with all of its ravages and destruction.

The “why” this is all happening is also something that isn’t openly discussed. Why are they seeking to reduce us to chattel? Why are they ensuring we don’t know how to live? Why is even discussing this considered heresy? Why can’t we have open and honest debate? It is because we are challenging the very foundations of our culture and our civilization. We are challenging our religions, our institutions, our belief structures, our economy, our very existence and reason for being here. That this is a serious threat to the status quo cannot be overemphasized (they burned people at the stake for far less).

Challenging our “vaunted institutions” has always been fraught with perils. But not challenging them carries a more serious danger, which is ultimatetely, our extinction.

This might be something worth listening to:

Clear the Air (CTA), partner organization of the National Environmental Trust, will host a press conference call Monday, May 22 at 12:15 p.m. EDT to discuss the newest information on global warming’s contribution to increased hurricane intensity, what it means for future hurricane seasons and how a dramatic increase in storm damage has the insurance industry looking for a risk policy of it own.

There’s more at the link above.

There are a lot of things wrong with our culture. Simply listening to a radio news report or watching television (yech!) will reveal quite a few of these issues. The mindless programming that we are assaulted with by the media portrays a world of vast consumption, violence, murder, control, fascism, sex and seduction. We’re supposed to believe that this is the “real world” and the normal way in which humans live, which is of course, not true.

One important, but often blithely accepted issue, is people are constantly seeking ways to take advantage of other people, even when the ultimate outcome is harm to both people (and society in general). Humans are a predatory species, except that our predatory actions (versus instincts) aren’t restrained, at all. Our predatory actions go far beyond the natural boundaries found in all other species.

In nature, natural selection is a process that has proven to work. The strong eat the weak - but only when their hungry. They don’t commit genocide or destroy the very elements when an invasive (or predatory) species “moves in”. In time, these species themselves are replaced with new species and new growth. This happens because of the evolutionary and life-cycles of species.

What is important to remember is that what we find in the natural world exists because it works. And it’s worked for millions of years. If it didn’t work - that species wouldn’t be here. That’s not to say that it is static, because is most certainly isn’t. Evolutionary changes are taking place all of the time. The natural selection of the species is constantly changing. Species adapt to their environments - or perish.

The same however, cannot be said of the human species. Modern humans are here because of manipulation.

Humans have tried to force the environment to adapt to them, reversing the natural process of environmental control, something unique to our species alone. The goal of adapting the environment to us has proven to be a miserable failure of global destruction. The concept of control of our environment still eludes us. Quite simply, we really don’t know what we are doing. We fail to understand the complex interactions and workings of a highly evolved and intricate world. Our efforts to manipulate the world to our liking have severely undermined our own ability to continue to exist - to say nothing at all of the millions of species we have now exterminated.

The “best” we have been able to do is to insulate ourselves from the environment - but our chosen methods (there are alternatives) have come at a terrible price. Our own extinction is now within sight. When the planetary ecosystems collapse, we will too.

Evolutionary changes however, with or without us and any other extinct species, will continue as it always has. Environmental factors will cause new species to come forth, adapting to the environmental conditions. I’m of course, making the assumption that something will survive (just not us). Bacteria, viruses, rats, cockroaches, whatever. They will adapt - or perish.

This adaption is something that humans have chosen to ignore to our own peril, through manipulation. Although mammal, we believe we are exempt somehow from the effects of planetary conditions. We’ve turned to technology, science and inventions to enable us to live quite literally, where we shouldn’t be living. The journey to make this all happened is now threatening the very fabric of life itself.

Gross denial of our collapsing society is found everywhere. It’s not a subject people like to deal with, because it brings into question the fundemental issues regarding our civilization, culture and existence. It makes us uncomfortable to deal with these issues because we really do prefer things “the way they are” and cannot imagine them being much different. In other words, we’re refusing to adapt, to acknowledge the evidence and the growing alarms and are being recalcitrant to the point of gross stupidity (and extinction). We’re choosing instead to continue to rely upon the false promises of technology to keep enabling our vast numbers to continue to exist. This is a sure-fired recipe for disaster:

Setting the industrialized world off toward unforgiving petrocollapse could be the politically volatile Middle East or other sources of oil-supply interruption (Venezuela, Iran or Russia), China’s bidding up the price of fast-dwindling oil, or haywire “natural” disasters. But these are external manifestations of our deeply flawed culture. This culture both spawned and sprang forth from Western Civilization, and is characterized by domination and exploitation that the Earth never witnessed before - certainly not on any scale resembling this historical period.

The culture that paves over the best farmland - constantly driving species extinct, so it can import food from other continents - cannot endure.

Natural selection for humans was pre-empted a long time ago and replaced with civilization, technology and science. These factors were meant to insulate us and protect us from natural selection, but have proven utterly unable to do so. We will either adapt - or perish. But the longer we insist that there isn’t a serious problem, the less likelihood there is that we will survive.

The United States is continuing to insist that they alone have the right to dictate to other nations what they should do, what they should buy, and what they should sell. They even go so far as to dictate their ideological beliefs, measuring everything up against the demands of Empire.

I’ve been following the rising tensions between Venezuela and the US for some time now. As in all things, there are two sides to every story. This story isn’t hard to follow, or understand where it’s going. The goal in Venezuela is the same goal as in Iraq - oil. To get there, the US rhetoric towards Venezuela, specifically Hugo Chavez is continually being ratched up to justify a military takeover or perhaps a coup with a US installed puppet regime.

This typical CIA psyops behavior isn’t anything new of course, having long since been practiced by the United States government repeatedly around the world. Chavez’s claim that the US has tried to kill him is true. But assassinating heads of state is par for the course the world calls “democracy”. If we can’t get rid of him through the vote (Chavez was repeatedly chosen by Venezuelan elections), then that gives the US the right to kill him. Especially if they don’t kowtow to the US mandates, “our way, or else”.

It’s fun sometimes to read the news bytes and change the names and see if this makes more sense (and fact) then what the speaker originally intended. Here’s one such quote. This is the orginal version first:

“The hostility shown by the Venezuelan leadership towards the United States along with its efforts to sow totalitarianism in the hemisphere, at the expense of the Venezuelan people, should be alarming to everyone. We must remain vigilant against Venezuela’s efforts to spread anti-Americanism in Central and Latin America and the opening it provides for terrorists seeking to operate in our own backyard,” Hoekstra said.

Now with the name changes inserted:

“The hostility shown by the US leadership towards Venezuela along with its efforts to sow totalitarianism in the hemisphere, at the expense of the American people, should be alarming to everyone. We must remain vigilant against the US efforts to spread anti-Venezualen sentiments in Central and Latin America and the opening it provides for US sponsored terrorists seeking to operate in our own backyard,” Hoekstra said.

Empire declares all of Central and Latin America it’s “own backyard”. Amazing feat of ownership if you ask me. The totalitarinaism employed by the United States is second to none in the world. Chavez’s comment that the US is an “irrational empire” is dead on. In fact, almost everything Chavez states makes far more sense the the rhetoric coming out of the White House these days. The rash and brash attitudes of the American government on the national soveriegnty itself demands is strangely absent when it comes to US dealings and interventions in other nations. This duplicity is exemplified by the current crop of cloned boys and girls in the Bush stable of sycophants.

Personally, I think the US is getting desperate for more conquests, which are only a coverup for failed domestic and foreign policies. The foundation of Empire cracking to the core with stress fractures everywhere. In the thrashing throes to save itself, the United States is lashing out in typical schoolyard bully behavior against anyone they can. This includes nations, governments and even Americans.

Our nations is relatively young, built upon the bones of the genocidal massacres of the Native Americans. This “democracy” exists soley because it stoled whatever it could, both here and abroad. We are the world largest arms exporters - and the world biggest terrorists. We do all of this to justify the very basis and fabric of our society, which is all war based and war profited - gross materialism, greed, consumerism and commerce. We’ve been following the path of other nations before us, with conquest, dominion, demands and dictatorships. And we’ll follow the same path of self-destruction, despair and desolation.

Of this I have no doubt. The historical imprint left upon the world by civilizations such as ours isn’t hard to follow. Civilizations based upon continued expansion, total domination and I dare say, “democracy” all fail, collapsing in a ruinous heap of absolute destruction and desolation. Our brand of democracy isn’t “mob rule” (as many have erroneously called it, including myself), but an ironhanded fist smashing down on all dissenters and dissedents worldwide. It’s just another form of rulership, complete with the chosen few and the rich and powerful, with gigantic stratifications throughout society. It’s identical to the kingdoms of serfs and slaves, knights and knaves before us.

Democracy creates the facade of a level playing field, which isn’t level at all. What’s good for us, isn’t good for them, easily proven by the US insistence the we alone have the right to dictate which nations have nuclear power. Closer to home, we find the special privileged class of elitist Americans who claim special status backed up by self-enacted laws and privileges designed to benefit them and them alone. The entire operation of government is geared towards the seperation of the classes and protecting the privileged elite and special classes. “Justice” is a gross fabrication and facade that caters to money, power and privilege. If you aren’t one of these, you already know deep down in your bones that you’re not one of the chosen.

But this facade is allow to continue as being somehow “better” then the rest of the world. A side by side comparism however, reveals some startling facts that American don’t like to hear because it shakes their foundational beliefs in Empire. Meanwhile, the rumblings of Empire continue to grow with the ominous tones of self-inflicted collapse, desolation and destruction getting louder every year.

Such is the course of nations that have built their civilizations upon falsehood, fables and flights of fancy. 230 years isn’t a very long time, many nations existed for far, far longer before collapsing in ruin. But I don’t think that this is possible for the United States because we are far too overtaxed to support the ambitions of Empire. We’re also facing many other catacalysmic events to prevent this Empire from lasting much longer. This would include the energy crisis, global climate change, the growing global resistance to Empire’s ambitions both here and abroad, the collapsing environment, and the world wide economic crisis.

At our foundation lies the broken dreams, shattered lives and deaths of millions of soveriegn people, displaced, dispossessed and destroyed by the ambitions of Empire. This is the “normal” course for civilizations based upon the concepts of abundance, expansion and greed, but it’s not right. It’s extremely doubtful in my mind, that we’re ready to make the change back to a better way of life and living which rejects these grotesque notions. Someday, perhaps, but certainly not today and not in my lifetime. Or yours.

Expect the unthinkable. The religious zealots in the drivers seat right now are hoping to fulfill their own personal Armegeddon. They’ve got less then a thousand days left to do it.

I’ve been scanning the news today and found a number of real “gems”. But this one takes the cake. This guy, a professor at the Boston College, quit his job because Secretary Condeleeza Rice was coming to town. Hurrah for him!

It’s not often you see people put their money where their mouth is. Or back up their beliefs with taking actions that will cause themselves personal harm. Most people just “go with the flow”, especially if it affects their pocket book. This guy quit his tenured position!

I can’t applaud this action enough to be honest. This is exactly what is needed today - a “opt-out” of all things that are wrong, evil and wicked with this current government. But it will come at a price that you have to be willing to pay.

The thing is, this guy is right about Rice. She’s a consumate liar, evil to the bone and is nothing more then a yes girl to the antichrist in chief, George Bush.

But Rice has defended the practice of rendition, saying it was a vital tool in the war on terror. However, she has said the U.S. does not “send anyone to a country to be tortured.”

“The United States has not transported anyone, and will not transport anyone, to a country when we believe he will be tortured,” she said. “Where appropriate, the United States seeks assurances that transferred persons will not be tortured.”

But most human rights and foreign affairs experts believe that such “diplomatic assurances” are worthless. They say there is ample evidence that detainees who are “rendered” to other countries are frequently subjected to torture. The US has rendered prisoners to a number of countries that have notoriously poor human rights records, including Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Afghanistan and Algeria, as well as to suspected CIA secret prisons in Eastern Europe.

The existence of the Eastern European prisons was revealed by the Washington Post. The Post reported that prisoners were routinely tortured, using such techniques as “waterboarding” - submerging a prisoner in restraints in water to convince him he was drowning — mock execution, prolonged shackling, being threatened with dogs, and “cold cell,” in which prisoners are held naked in low temperatures and doused with cold water.

There are a lot of quotes available (if you care to look) regarding Rice’s duplicity. But Rice isn’t the real issue that I’d like to focus on. The real issue is us. What are you willing to do to live according to your beliefs?

I write about a lot of issues that I deem to be important, affecting everyone. And I strongly advocate taking actions that will at least matter to you. Such actions may be pointless, but certainly not meaningless. For example, the professor quit his job, but that will (probably) not stop Rice from coming to town. Or make her quit her job as troublemaker extra ordinaire. But for the professor, he’s taking action, action that he feels he is compelled to do so if he is to live according to his beliefs.

There are a lot of issues like this surrounding us all everyday, and a lot of us find ways to protest against them, but it must be admitted, such protests rarely work. Marches, letter writing, faxing your congressman and standing on a street corner holding a sign - none of these activities actually serve any other purpose then to bring attention to an issue (publicity) and not much else. Little or nothing ever changes and the participants get to go home, return to jobs, family and careers and get on with their lives. In other words, it really didn’t cost them anything to protest, which is exactly what “they” want.

Such forms of protest are nothing more then steam valves to permit the people to vent off built up frustrations and anger. But vented steam is ineffective, powerless, ultimately useless and causes no real action or activity to take place. Steam can be quite powerful, as our early industrial era demonstrated. Entire civilizations were built using steam. But that was directed and channeled steam, into specific focused areas of endeavor.

I think the analogy today applies as well. The Cindy Sheehan protest outside of the Shrub’s ranch brought a lot of media and public attention - but it didn’t stop the war. Not even close. And a lot of Americans are quite willing to settle for this, since it doesn’t realy cost them anything to side with Sheehan. We see this type of example everywhere, with the marches on Washington, the protesters at campaign speeches, the picketing of public officials. The only thing these activities do is create public awareness (both good and bad) and rarely, if ever, change anything.

The goal here of course is to get a “groundswell” of public opinion that is supposed to “pressure” our leaders into the changes we want. However, as a technique for venting our anger and causing change, it’s an extremely poor and ineffective method. In fact, it should be the choice of last resort (or no resort), since it’s proven to be so terrible at making changes.

What really needs to be done is to withdraw your support. All of it. Do like the professor did - quit. Imagine what that would do if millions of people stopped playing around with the hated system (or whatever parts you don’t like) and just quit participating!

Opting out (or shooting the bastards) is about the only real choices we have. Voting doesn’t work and hasn’t for a long time. Not only are the candidates unworthy in almost all elections, the vote is rigged, making voting a dubious outcome at best.

If real change is what we want - it’s going to cost YOU something, personally. Otherwise, we can just “go with the flow” like we always have, accepting whatever we get and ineffectively and inefficiently voicing our protests with the same old tired and tried steam valves we’ve always used. And we’ll get exactly what we’ve always gotten, because we’ll have done what we’ve always done.

Nothing.