Blogging from the Bog

   Caged canaries were once brought deep into the coal mines to act as an early warning system for the workers.  If the bird fell off its perch and died the miners knew the air was becoming unfit to breathe.  Around the world men, women, and children are being subjected to this same fate.  Today, in our battle for survival, as in any other war, the decision makers are far removed from the danger.  Ira Rennert is one such decision maker. 

   If you’ve never heard of him you are not alone, he likes his privacy.  He hides behind dozens of corporations and lives on a 60 acre sanctuary in New York state next to the Atlantic Ocean. 

   Rennert is the man behind the curtain at Renco Group, a private holding company, that owns the Doe Run mining concern who were expelled from Peru recently for the ongoing environmental abuses attributed to them since 1997.  In an article published yesterday titled "US Firm kicked out of Peru mining group for pollution." and carried by Yahoo news, the author relates that the La Oroya mining operation is one of the top ten most polluted sites in the world.  What the article does not cover though is the suffering inflicted upon the townspeople of La Oroya 150 kilometers east of Lima.

   In order to correct that oversite I would kindly ask you to watch this video.

   Ira Rennert may be the worlds worst polluter.

   In July of 2009, one month before President Obama and his family visited the Grand Canyon, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced a two year moratorium on new mining ventures encompassing one million acres of public lands around the canyon.  The key word here is "new". 

  For over five decades reckless uranium mining has left a catostrophic impact on the environment and the people living in the southwest region.  Guided by the antiquated Mining Act of 1872, which states that for anyone with the right paperwork and a fee of $5 an acre, they can lease the mineral rights from the government and can control and extract precious metals for personal profit.  This law was instituted under President Ullysses S. Grant to encourage westward expansion and allow individual prospectors to stake claims on public lands to mine for gold and silver.

   Corporations have taken over from the grizzly faced gold panners of yesteryear and have wreaked havoc ever since, as evidenced by the movie "Poison Wind",  here’s the trailer.  Because of a decline in uranium prices many mines have been left dormant for years; but, the pollution from those activites and the residual radioactive waste left behind is still problematic.

   According to Cyndy Cole, reporting on January 13, 2010 for the Arizona Daily Sun, things are about to change.  She writes "It’s expected that six uranium mines could open on federal lands bordering the Grand Canyon, according to estimates by the Bureau of Land Management, and more than 7,500 claims have been filed in northern Arizona".  In the article Cyndy relates that Denison Mines resumed mining activites 10 miles from the Grand Canyon National Park in December 2009, six months after Obama’s family trip.  Denison Mines also has several uranium extracting sites on the Colorado Plateau near the source of the Colorado River which runs through the Grand Canyon and supplies fresh drinking water to over 25 million residents in the desert southwest.

   H.R. 644 was sponsored by Arizona Representative Raul Grijalva and would make Salazar’s temporary halt on mining permanent.  The bill is not expected to be acted upon until late in the year (after the elections) and will no doubt be met by opposition from Senate Majority leader Harry Reid because of his ties to the mining industry.

   In the new John Cameron blockbuster, the 3D fantasy "Avatar", a foreign corporation swoops down on an indigenous forest peoples to plunder their resources. Armed with mercenaries, a business plan, and an insatiable desire for shareholder profits, they will stop at nothing to feed their greed. The fantasy part of the story is it’s location.

   For thirty years Texaco, now owned by Chevron, profited from cheap oil extracted from the forests of the Amazon (known as the "lungs" of our planet) leaving behind an environmental disaster for the people of Equador. Following the logic expressed by Ann Coulter in her quote "God said so: Go forth, be fruitful, multiply, and rape the planet–it’s yours. That’s our job: drilling, mining, and stripping.", many corporations, including Hunt Oil in Peru, are doing just that.

   Since 2003 the Equadorians have been seeking justice for this crime against the earth in the courts of the United States and Equador. Isn’t there a moral obligation by these corporations to preserve the planet despite whatever legal liabilities are assessed? A movie of this struggle was recently released called "Crude" and the trailer is posted below as well as a video of the "60 Minutes" expose on the subject.

Link to the trailer here.

60 Minutes News show report here.

   What started out as school project a few years ago has grown into an international effort of creativity, forward thinking, and co-operation among individuals and groups with a view to the future.  Not satisfied with the rhetoric of government, big business, or doomsday theorists these visionaries are proactively making a concerted effort to prepare their communities for the inevitable.  They are not passing judgement, they are not getting entangled in spurious debates or mudslinging, and they are not promising miracles.  They are creating Transition Towns.

   In 2005 Rob Hopkins was teaching a class in the world’s first two-year program of permaculture at a college in Kinsale, County Cork a seaside community on the southern coast of Ireland.  Permaculture, in theory and practice, is the idea of sustainable living and as part of his lecture series Hopkins showed the movie The End of Suburbia to his class.  At a time when the price of oil was still around the $35 per barrel stage the implications of peak oil were not lost on the students and a proposal was drafted designing the Transition Town concept.  The cleaner, greener, community based initiative was adopted by the Kinsale Town Council as proposed by student Louise Rooney and the project was underway.

   The Transition Town concept is becoming more and more relavent, as the price of oil is now $135 a barrel, and deals with how communities will adapt, adjust, and flourish despite being faced with declining natural resources, rising fuel and energy prices or shortages, and climate change.  There are currently 50 towns actively participating in this project and hundreds of others contemplating the idea of getting involved.  Is your town or city considering the prospect?  Check this list of communities around the globe.

   A quote from Rob Hopkins’ website reads, "We are communities, a society, a world in transition, and to do that we need a culture of transition, but also we need the tools for manifesting it."  Indeed we do Rob, indeed we do.

Rob

   In our globalised economy and lifestyle many things have changed here in Ireland.  The increase in discretionary income has allowed for more frequent travel, a larger variety of exotic food and beverages on our grocery shelves, and some changes in our consumption patterns.  One notable item features high on our new shopping list, wine, the Irish are now in love with the nectar of the vine. 

   Amid all the controversy with global warming, fuel prices, and a slumping world economy the French wine growers, Irish truckers, UK and Scottish fisherman, and others around Europe are reacting to rising costs, EU controls and dwindling profits by holding strikes, slow downs and riots.  Is this a sign of the times and a preview of what is to come?  Or, will we take a pro-active stance, adapt as humans are capable of, and rise to the challenges we face as we approach peak oil?

   In late July a ship will quietly leave a dock in France bound for Irish shores, it’s hold will contain 12,000 bottles of wine for the thirsty Irish market, and it will be using free fuel.  A three-masted schooner, the Kathleen & May, is scheduled to deliver her cargo to the Dublin port on the 25th of July.  Over one hundred years old, the sailing vessel is one of many operated by the Compagnie de Transport Maritime a la Voile, and according to company executives will save nearly 5 ounces of carbon emissions per bottle. 

   Will we again see horse drawn wagons and a return of the canal barges in Dublin?  We can only hope! 

   Nearly 40 years ago Alvin Toffler wrote a sociological discourse in the form of a book called Future Shock, and although I read it some time back with only casual interest, these two themes have stuck with me:  data overload, and too much change too soon.  What way will our lives, cultures, and societies deal with and change during this age of informational and technological onslaught?  What role does affluence, globalisation, and the internet play in the evolution of our species?

   We like to consider ourselves social creatures; but, how social are we becoming?  Where once we banded together in groups or clans who shared the tasks, joys, and disappointments of day to day life we have now become independent, isolated, and intolerant of others.  It is becoming evident by recent news that we cannot handle stress, financial pressures, or misfortune without acting out in violence and abuse or some other offensive/defensive manner.

   The family is of course the basic social group or clan and instead of building on that solid structure it seems to be diminishing in importance to this new human.  Are the successes of Social Networking sites the proof that there is a void in our need to belong? somewhere, anywhere?  I wonder.  Once we have acquired some wealth, or in the process of seeking it, we tend to leave those who have nurtured us, taught us, and shared our burdens.  Do we spend the rest of our lives in search of that sense of belonging? 

   A wealthy, well travelled, and high-tech populace is growing on all continents and within all cultures.  We can communicate instantaneously to all regions of the earth and physically travel to any point on the globe within 24 hours.  We may take these marvels for granted today; but, this is only a recent phenomenon in human history.  Toffler’s future is our present.  How will we change or adapt to handle these changes?  Euro Yank offers the theory that Eastern and Western cultures are fundamentally different in that the West focuses on the independence of man while the East is more concerned with the interdependence of man.  Will one culture surpass the other in it’s ability to adapt?  Or, will the cultures of the world become more homogenous and grow so much alike as to become indistinguishable from one another?

   What price will technology extract from the social, cultural, and emotional qualities of human nature?

   Is there an idea, concept or belief that is more valuable than a human life?  Are ideas, concepts, or beliefs, even considered reality?

   Throughout history we have heard of people risking and losing their lives for ideals and principles; but, these were people who were able to rationalise for themselves what the consequences and outcomes might be.  What is the proper consideration for us to take with regards to people who are not competent, who may be children, or even infants?

   There was a discussion on this very topic at Ash’s place over at Into the Rabbit Hole as to what the community responsibility should be when an eleven year old girl was allowed to die because her parents refused to get her the medical care she needed to live.  At what point does a person have a unique presence on this earth and the right to life?  In the womb? at birth? at eighteen or twenty-one?  If pre-natal abortions can be legalised how about post-natal ones?  The threat of post-natal abortions would go a long way in controlling the Anti-Social Behaviour problem with modern teenagers wouldn’t it?  *that was sarcasm ok?*

   There is a case here in Ireland that will be heard in the court system within the next few days.  Parents of unborn twins are trying to prevent medical intervention and blood transfusions, that doctors feel necessary to save the childrens lives, because of their beliefs.  In this country, I believe, that the State can intervene and declare the newborns to be Wards of the State because of the sanctity of life provisions within the Constitution and in doing so can approve of any necessary medical treatment regardless of the parents wishes.  Would it be morally feasible to have the courts allow the medical staff to treat the infants while they are still in the womb?

   Should we as a community take the responsibility to care for each and every life even if it goes against the wishes of the parents?

   What is all the fuss about?  What is there to know about the Lisbon Treaty referendum?  The answer to this Euro-riddle is as plain as Irish stew!  And for all the eejits out there having a great auld chinwagging session on the pros and cons of our future economy, neutrality, or our small voice in the greater European scheme of things answer me this one question will ya?

   Why, if voting yes for this treaty will make the EU 27 a more democratic union, are they not allowing all citizens to vote in a democratic electoral process throughout the member States?  If this passes in June do you think they will ever allow us to vote on anything again?  Why should they?  For Heaven’s Sake people wake the feck up will ya?

   Only a flock of bloody sheep would vote yes for this shite.  Off ya go!

   View this video, posted by Jazz Biscuit, before you vote!

   The ongoing discussions concerning global warming, peak oil, and sustainability come to us in a variety of mediums and by a plethora of experts, many of whom cannot agree and some hold completely opposing views to one another.  They talk about carbon footprints, carbon credits, conservation, and the adverse effects of globalisation.  Food miles is a calculation of how much petroleum it takes to get Brazilian bananas or Spanish strawberries to your breakfast table.  We are inundated with information, opinions, and predictions, is there any way to make any sense of all this?  Who do we believe, who can we trust? 

   It is a good policy to try to get to the core, the essence, of a situation in order to find the truth.  With so much data available where can we begin?  Why not begin with yourself?  You are a bright and intelligent person.  If you were to avail yourself of a logical, systematic, and irrefutable method of divining the truth out of a myriad of conjecture and hyberbole you would have the power of discerning the data into useable material by which you could draw your own informed conclusions.  You do not need to be told by others if you think for yourself, believe in your decision making, and trust your instincts.

   Our energy usage, and our natural resources, and the concepts to conserve or sustain their availability is a hot political topic.  It is discussed daily in every country.  It was also important enough for the UN Secretary General to highlight the problems, that shortages can cause, at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland last month.  He asserted that "conflicts over scarce supplies" were triggered in areas of the Middle East and Africa, and that it was his hope that water shortages in these regions could be eliminated by 2015.  Surprisingly enough he also touched on a subject of much controversy which is the fact that population growth is becoming a recognised detriment to sustainability.  Most criticism is directed at developing nations; but, in fact the un-checked population explosions in the developed countries are where the greatest problems lie.

   Professor Chris Ripley raised the debate in this article by Charles Glover in the Telegraph last summer.  He says that the most disturbing aspect of the debate on overpopulation, as a inhibiting factor on environmental issues, is the fact that no one is willing to talk about it.

   James, over at The Good Life, has 40 posts concerning overpopulation and the effects it has and will have on society.  Politicians are duplicitous in their discussions and uninformed in their opinions of the real nature of population growth.  The "zero population growth" concepts of the 70’s fell on deaf ears, and China’s "one-child" per family proclamation was condemned from every political pulpit in the world.  You will not see a politician tackling this issue with any conviction.  If you would like a pragmatic explanation of the fundamental issue at the heart of our resource requirements go to this site.  It is a series of videos in which Dr. Albert A. Bartlett explains the dilemma of population and energy.  Arm yourself with the innate, core facts of the situation and draw your own conclusions.

   Broadband has just arrived in the bog!  And I want to thank my good friend Maireid for sending me the link to Dr. Bartlett’s video, and although she sent it some time ago, I was only able to view it today.