Saturday 29 October 2016

Shattered Dreams: Limits To Growth Or Nightmares



What exactly is this thing nice-ly named "growth". It sounds wonder-full. Like a seed sprouting from the soil and bringing forth life to all.But that is the good type of growth.

Today, growth means more highways, more shopping malls, bigger box stores, bigger factory/prison farms [you know where the animals are literally/figuratively locked up inside and eating food that acidifies their stomachs leading to e-coli growth, etc.], more surveillance [i.e. less privacy], bigger houses [for the few who can afford them - for example: the average house in Toronto is going for $1,200,000 today!]. Shall I continue?

It's a big definition that is far from exhausted here. So what are the "costs". Well, less green-space, which means less clean air, water, soil. Forests being wiped out by the second with bigger machines [that employ less people!]...farms turning into deserts through industrial agriculture's rapist act-i-on-s....land being ripped up for resources such as oil, precious minerals to make i-phones and solar panels...Where can you go to hear "silence" or the absence of cars? Where can you go and see stars at night and darkness all around? Where can you go and be afraid of bears and cougars revealing some eco-systems still intact?

What happens to the workers? In the drive for higher profits, the workers lose rights, jobs, security. No longer does daddy have the same job his whole life. Women still don't get equal pay today! If you speak up you lose your job. Without any representation, be it a union or some form of collectivization, the worker is evermore a cog in the face-less machine. S/he doesn't matter. When the employer doesn't want you anymore, s/he will hire people to tell you to gather your stuff and leave - no notice - no face-to-face. Security guards will be there to assist you - especially in case you want to show some emotion, other than a smile.How dare you?!!!

With almost 9,000,000,000 arriving - the land, water, and air cannot sustain/survive. With most of the world living in cities now, where do people expect the land, water, air to come from? Who even wonders what happens to the exhaust from their car goes?  Does the investment holder care about the above being wiped out/polluted/taken from the peasants living there? And these are the ones called "ethical funds". 

Over 1,000,000,000 are starving right now. Yet we see food in the stores literally taken from their homelands to supply Europe and North America. Along with the food goes the labour, soil nutrients and water necessary to grow these. Banned chemicals are exported from the U.S. and applied by workers without any protective gear nor rights. The workers, the water, and the land are poisoned. And look at those huge grapes from Chile! The produce coming out of Mexico is huge - as are breasts of  little girls who have been poisoned by the chemicals. The chemicals alter the hormones of girls too young to grow breasts. So enjoy those avocados!

Isn't it time to end the nightmare? With  $100-170,000,000,000 in taxes not being paid in Canada alone, we see who is en-joy-ing the sweet dreams and who are living the night-mare [and don't forget the non-humans]! So what are you, us, all of us going to do?

Thursday 17 March 2016

Electric Cars Un-Plugger: They Devour!





Some run to their electric cars pro-claiming they are “saving the world”. I ask from what?! Are these cars better than their gasoline counterparts?


·         The operating of them is only as “clean” as the source of electricity they use. In Ontario, 61% of the electricity comes from nuclear. Radiation and the issue of waste disposal are sure hazards.


·         All cars kill. They are the #1 killer of kids! In the U.S. there are more than 6,000,000 accidents per year, on average; over 2,000,000 injuries and about 50,000 deaths! Electric car resolve nothing in this respect.


·         The pollution to MAKE any car is immense.So if you think buying a new car will reduce pollution, keep dreaming.


·         The operation of any car pollutes: even the particular matter coming off the tires is a serious air pollutant. 


·         All vehicles result in more traffic. More traffic results in more lost time due to just sitting there – and, driving them! Billions are lost in productivity. 


·         People are fat and out of shape – and stressed! Driving does wonders for the body, heart and mind!


·         Eco-systems are wiped out for cars. The habitats of all life forms, including humans are wiped out and degraded for highways and roads to plow through.


·         Noise from cars causes great stress that leads to chronic health issues – including cancer. Perhaps electric cars are quieter but they do not sound like little chirpy birds that could be there instead!


·         Corporate control of our lives continues. The governments in Canada and the U.S. have bailed out – handed out – huge sums of money on “our behalf”. Has this really helped the average citizen? Are we really “free” or chained to our cars [or the illusion of need]?


·         Ever wonder why there is immense flooding? Well, let’s see….you wipe out the trees, swamps,…and put in concrete or pavement that doesn’t absorb the water as the forest/swamp does…and wham-o! 


·         Turtles are fighting a losing battle: one of the major causes for their decline is people intentionally hitting them! So if the road through their swamp isn’t enough to disrupt/kill them, stupid car drivers – including electric car drivers – will get them! Many die crossing roads also – along with many other nonhumans [and humans].


·         Cars and roads separate people from people and from nonhumans. Studies have shown that the busier the road, the less people cross the street – preventing people from developing community and having mobility. 


·         Cars stop community. How often do you get a smile, a hug, a handshake while driving? Instead you get a clenched fist, scornful looks, curses, even blows. But when walking or biking people oft say hi, chat, hug, make new friends and feel happier. They feel part of a community that cares – not of one that is selfishly just out for them-selves – and willing to hurt you emotionally or even physically, if it comes to that!


·         Cars are very expensive and depreciate greatly. Bank loans, insurance, fuel, maintenance, depreciation…are just some of the outrageous expenses! The myth that it’s cheaper than taking the bus is false. It’s estimated the true costs are about $1 per kilometer! And that is not including the wars fought to get materials to operate/build them! Even electric cars use fossil fuels in their construction. And guess what materials are used to make the roads?


So get out of the car “mode”! Get some exercise and meet and greet those around you. And do something good for the world now and find alternatives to this insane [destroying our habitat!] way of living/dying/taking lives.

Monday 25 January 2016

"Science: Anti-Organic"



While there are organic and inorganic compounds in the chemical world, these are not what most think of when they hear the word "organic". There was much opposition from "Science" when people started making and using long-standing organic methods like composting. The challenge was to an industry that trans-formed war-time killing chemicals like "agent orange" into pesticides, herbicides and even chemical manures or fertilizers.

The late Sir Albert Howard was a well-know proponent of natural, organic methods like composting. Fighting invalidation from those making fossil fuel based products, and a bundle from them - Howard knew the corporate media, research stations, agriculture universities/colleges, professors - would beckon their savior Science to save them.

And "Science" ran to their defense!  That was back in 1947. Ironically we see much the same now. Yet the mass has caught onto organic so it's "organic" is not such a bad word now. But it has been a long struggle. And while Howard saw the need for people to compost, few still do. Either they have the city do it for them, or just ignore it altogether.

Composting saves about 1/3 of all "waste" from going to the land-fill. But what is more important is that it is magic! To see some discarded bits of food become soil in a short time is awe-some! Then to apply it to the ground and watch more food grow! What an amazing process.

Sadly basically no-one, but this author and a few others, talk about composting the "waste" from our own bodies. Watch for a post on this, likewise, amazing process.

Howard saw "science" and the whole apparatus of corporate owner-ship of our world as detrimental to this world. Each part justifying the other. Science has taken on an even more "magic" role today. Still it is very oft the corporate world using it to support making its products. Let's remember the destructiveness of these chemicals, the atomic bomb, all bombs, and the list goes on. This is why we need independently funded science that searches for truth - not things to sell! But when many, if not most, "scientists" work for corporately funded universities, drug companies, arms manufacturers, etc., is it suitable to both call them scientists and to trust them?