Obviously “Less Is More!” We must be advocates for and practitioners of degrowth. … (Moreover, “’Green’ growth is a ‘fantasy’ with ‘no empirical support.’” [Economic anthropologist Jason Hickel])

We DESPERATELY need “Positively Ethical Applied Community Ecology”/PEACE across the curricula & campuses of all human organizational entities in order to realize critical thinking, decision-making, and appropriate individual & collective actions.

Industrial agriculture, neoliberal capitalism, and growth are responsible for loss of topsoil, quality air and quality water, loss of biodiversity & photosynthesizers … and net primary primary productivity, and loss of effective capture and useful transformation of daily solar energy.

The use of automobiles as we do in the U.S., and more and more in other parts of Eaarth (whether they be gasoline, diesel, natural gas, or electricity), is simply not right. We need to be doing more walking, and using bicycles and/or efficient mass transport.

The amount and type of gun ownership in the U.S. (and reason for it, i.e. largely growth dependent neoliberal capitalism) is morally & ethically wrong and a major factor in these currently regular mass shootings (circa 2023).

War is insane and a mortal sin. Militarism, soldiering, and production of armaments should be abolished.

Trumpism, MAGAism, its right-wing authoritarian populism and nationalism, neofascism, collective narcissim, Trumpian falsehoods and effective conning (inequities, walls, fences, political border boundaries) run counter to the “Golden Rule” and are not good for quality life for all for as long as possible. Trumpism has little to do with the realization of socio-ecological justice. (And I don’t mind “bashing” it [Trumpism] and the Trumpsters who support it … even if Trumpster-support of Trumpism might be a result of [self-imposed] ignorance.)

There can always be repentance, forgiveness, … and … reparations!

“God” is a mystery. That is why I (and in Truth, everyone) am (is) an ignostic … or agnostic. … Do not try to blame “God” for your shortcomings relative to growth, use of inappropriate technologies, War, Trumpism, etc.

I do love all living things … including Trump, Bolsonaro, Orbán, Erdoğan, and others of their ilk. … And it is possible to fight very, very strongly and passionately against their corrupt plans, policies, and actions and still love them.

Profanity can be a succinctly effective communication tool. (“Screw you! We’re from Texas!”
(45) Ray Wylie Hubbard “Screw You, We’re From Texas” – YouTube )

************************

ALL OF THIS I WOULD SHOUT FROM THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN! and I fervently hope my siblings, family, and true friends will join me in my desired change from this Eaarth to a neo-Earth.

(If you are complacently & apathetically shouting [or whispering under your breath] … that War & militarism, ubiquitous ownership of guns & automobiles, and growth are inevitable, that “All I can worry about is self & family!” and that “We can’t save the whole world!,” that “I am blessed and God will care for me!!!,” that all we need to do is pray to the Lord, or that you will soon pass and you aren’t going to worry about soio-ecological justice …

then I [and Jesus of Nazareth and the many other humanitarians who were on Earth in the past or currently exist] have little use for you.)

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Learning Call_03-21-23_Sustainability-Video.mp4 – Google Drive

Small Steps in Sustainability OC Call Resources 3-21-2023 – Google Drive

This was a rewarding learning process for me to facilitate … and an honor. (And tonight, April 18, 2023 it happens again with Blaze Diamond, regional Coordinator for Ogallala Commons
Staff – Ogallala Commons doing the facilitating!)

****************************

My outline for our program on March 21st follows:

“Ogallala Commons One Sustainability Thing” (ZOOM Mar 21, 7-8 pm CDT)

Play … (140) Wonder If The World Can Wait That Long by Adam Wright (lyric video). – YouTube

1.Props in the background … Bicycle, disposable plastic bags/reusable plastic bags/homemade cloth bag, plastic bottle of water/cup, reusable bowl/utensils, clothesline w/ pins, turnips/nopales/Smilax tendrils/ Amaranthus/ stinging  nettles, venison/dandelions, food scraps/leaf compost, native grass, power strip, blkbrd & chalk. (I am here just as you, fellow OC alumni, … to learn in our life journey, in solidarity, from each other about how to decision-make & act toward a better world [Please do challenge me, speak out, comment, & do ask questions!]).

2.  Life = Matter (from “nature”) + energy (solar including fossil /”photosynthesizers in nature”)

Illustration of ecological footprint of humans   (QUESTIONS???)

3.  Stewardship of nature and one simple thing for a more sustainable life.  What is stewardship, nature, and sustainable life?  …  In your head.  Now share.

4.  Low hanging fruit for sustainable actions. … In your head.  Now each share your number one!

5.  Some tougher actions toward sustainability.  …  In your head.  Now each share your number one!

6.  Read over pp. 235-7 , pp. 22-5, pp.168-70, pp. 198 from  Games We Play (kite.pub) for homework.

Play … (125) Josh Grider – Good People (Official Music Video) 4k – YouTube

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i am happy … many of us humans are relatively comfortable and satisfied

my immediate family & extended family and friends are relatively contented … they have considerable power … especially the whites, the anglos, the males, the heterosexuals, the Haves, the U.S. citizens, … “the Blessed”

…………………………

but what about those necessarily leaving their loved homes and places … traveling many hard miles, wagering their resources & little power possessed, and futilely knocking at the barriered borders of the u.s. and western europe (which as a result of an ill-deserved superpower of militarism & corporate capitalism globally, powerfully suck the natural resources from Eaarth, much of it from south of the tropic of cancer from where many of those knocking on their walls came)

and those who regularly lose loved ones to suicide & mass shootings and other gun violence as a result of our worshiping at the altar of a misinterpreted second amendment and a crazy free-market of far, far too many guns, including high-powered assault rifles, … with little regulation concerning marketing & possession

and those being devastated in so many way as indivduals, families, populations, & ecological community by Wars in Ukraine, Sudan, Yemen, Syria, Somalia, central Africa, Mexico (drug wars), … largely with armaments and policy-vitriol produced respectively by our U.S. transnational armaments manufacturers and so-called “statesmen” (frequently bought by these aforementioned transnationals)

and the many suffering from starvation & malnuturiton because of capitalistic industrial ag and poor distribution of food and destruction of the local social & ecological fabrics which can produce, process, & distribute food sustainably

and the many suffering as a result of poorly realized (not preventative or holistic)/corrupt health care systems, including in this u.s. nation of an undeserved/inordinate amount of power over the world’s resources … and a very, very expensive largely ad-driven corporate health care structure which is not user-friendly (or composed of good listeners who are generalists), especially for the poor and some skin colors and ethnicities

the indigenous populations/gene pools on eaarth with the souls of their culture & ecological communities torn by introduced disease, genocide, Christianity, slavery, capitalism & militarism … and War/War/War???

(and what about the many native species of life … suffering … and losing population numbers … and going extinct)

are there really any humans on this neoliberal capitalistic, consuming, artificialized Earth

who are truly “Woke” … truly Pro-Life, Franciscan, Jesus of Nazareth-christian???

…………………..

human population numbers and the population numbers of their associated domesticated species and individual and collective artificial consumption of “stuff” including plastics, guns, & various biocides–and the fossil energy & material for which stuff is made–must be regulated

God can be comforting and satisfying in many ways and can be the most important part of sense of place & community for humans

but often He is a mysterious opiate inducing Blessed complacency & apathy, cop out, and a very inappropriate diversion & (ever-enduring) delay tactic

our continuing rampant artificialization is destroying dynamic homeostatic symbioses (“nature”), including Homo sapiens

and the culprit is largely de facto-Gods of: consumerism; stuff-stuff-stuff; the process of relatively unregulated neoliberal capitalism; fossil energy; walls & fences, big closed-in conventionally-airconditioned homes; monstrosities called cars & pickups with a couple of humans within connected to inappropriate technologies which wall them in even more … in a virtual isolation … and the life-destroying barriers of concrete/asphalt roads on which cars & pickups travel; airplanes & cruise ships; and other built structure, inappropriate technologies, and toxic algorithms;

and …

militarism & War

…………………….

War, a terrible Evil, seems necessary

but it is not

“Warfare Is Only an Invention—Not a Biological Necessity.”*

“Land, religion, flag, and ethnicity MAY be triggers?”

more likely War begets War. War “is a self-perpetuating, contagious meme, which can propagate independently of other social and environmental factors.”

militarism, police, armaments, arms for individuals … War! … should be totally replaced with postitively ethical applied community ecology/PEACEmaking across curricula & campuses of all human organizational entities, (humanitarians and social workers), and pacifism

***************************

*Footnote: To End War, Focus on Culture Rather than “Root Causes” – Scientific American Blog Network (published 2014): “Margaret Mead’s war theory kicks butt of neo-Darwinian and Malthusian models.”

Also from the Scientific American blog cited above … “One of my favorite examples of a nation that has renounced militarism is Costa Rica. Like many of its neighbors in Central American, Costa was once wracked by terrible violence. But after a bloody civil war in the 1940s, Costa Rica disbanded its army, freeing up more funds for education, health care, transportation and tourism. It is often ranked as one of the most peaceful, healthy, ‘happy’ nations in the world.” … “But to my mind, the U.S. remains the key to fostering peace today, both in the Mideast and worldwide. The U.S. preaches peace to the Israelis and Palestinians, just as it preaches to the Russians, Ukrainians, Iranians, North Koreans and other people around the world. But the preaching of the U.S. rings hollow.

To adopt Kloor’s language, the U.S.–more than any other nation or group–sows “the seeds of war” around the world through its militaristic behavior. Just look at the “cycles of violence and death” we have triggered in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have become breeding grounds for ISIS and other violent groups. The U.S. has the potential to become a moral exemplar and lead the world to peace. But if we want to rid the world of lethal extremism, we should start with ourselves.”

(I would also recommend reading “What About Hitler” by Robert W. Brimlow.
What about Hitler? | Baker Publishing Group )

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• 

Picasso was a genius—and a beast. Can the two be separated? | The Economist

“No one is entirely a monster.” …

Not Picasso, not Hitler, not Caligula, not Bolsonaro, … not Trump.

Not paul bain martin.

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I (I suppose obviously?) am happy with … my never-satisfied self, … my loving wife who is so much more accepting of status quo than I, and all of the others around me … from my wonderful grandkids that I see regularly to those I haven’t seen in years, to those I have the utmost respect for the good they do socially/ecologically like Marvel Maddox, Peggy Maddox & Mum Dickson, Darryl Birkenfield et al., to my leftist & right-wing tennis buddies, to my youngest brother (who thinks so very differently than I) as well as Trump/DeSantis/Marjorie Taylor Greene, Putin, Bolsonaro, Duterte, Netanyahu, Orban … et al.

(Even though these last sorts mentioned are currently more numerous than in the past, they have always existed and to be happy is to accept this “inevitable” situation … at least in some sense and to a certain extent.)

Still … we can do much, much better. Therefore I do speak out again the ignorance, hypocrisy, and actions of the latter individuals mentioned. My genetics, epigenetics and my village in which I was formed along with other past enviromental influences demand this. Lately even my dreams while sleeping demand that a neo-Earth and peoples of socio-ecological justice develop from this current Eaarth.

I do wish that rather than being simply a hysterical ranter, tree-hugger, bleeding-heart Liberal,Totalitarian-Communist sympathizer, irresponsible (night & day)-dreamer, pitiful adult with white guilt, or toxic-uncaring grandpa*, I will begin to make better use of this blog, poetry, classic and contemporary pieces of scholarly writings and art which are solid analysis of human nature (from a socio-ecological perspective). I hope that I will continue my current collaborative volunteer efforts toward quality life for all on this Eaarth (ecological-learning activities with youth, service activities in Latin America mostly to communicate & better understand their status here on Eaarth, and work with Luiza Rosa to realize better versions of Games We Play. More Than 200,000 Years of Living Truthfully and 5,000 of Searching For Truth [and better titles for these versions]).

…………………………

*I have been called all of these. Because of the contrarian life-style of my humble, frugal, honest parents of integrity and similar characteristics and behaviors in many of my village of Devine during my formative years, these labels truly don’t bother me. In fact, I wear some of them, or aspects of some of them, proudly!

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Mostly I want to help direct change toward socio-ecological justice, i.e., real & constructive communication, pacifism, “Caring and Sharing”, and lowering our individual & collective ecological footprints through a “Less Is More” attitude and lifestyle … in solidarity.

I came to this not through faith in a mysterious God of Mystery. It was through formative years in a good household of wonderful/loving/pragmatic/frugal/humble parents and in a very decent village, through opportunities each day to experience “natural Nature”, and through recognizing the necessity of profoundly & holistically abiding by the Golden Rule while also realizing the hypocrisy and fallacy of religions which espouse this ethic of reciprocity (and de facto recognition of this by some progressive religious leaders) and experiencing the amazing civil rights, ecological, and anti-War movements and actions of the ca. 1960’s-70’s.

Moreover, I realized that we may (will) always fail in various degrees of realizing the goal of justice for all, including other species. Nevertheless, I also realized that a life-long journey of attempting to reach that goal here on Eaarth is what makes for a life of love, joy, and real satisfaction … rather than a complacency of satisfaction that: if we will only have blind faith in a God of Mystery, we will be in a Glorious Heaven after we pass from this life and pass from the form of a living human being.

Finally, for all of us addicted to tangible Gods of fossil energy and material (e.g. plastics), guns, War and militarism, neoliberal capitalism, industrial agriculture, cars, and various inappropriate technologies including most of all, for yours truly, … let’s kick these Gods/habits … and soon! We must do this for the sake of the many (including other species) who suffer tremendously because of these habits and for the sake of those who come after us.

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7 S’s / VV->^^

My thoughts constantly ping in this empty head … wanting to get out … for better or worse … for good or for toxicity!

But the mornings are always of knee stiffness and chronic but slight aches (not pain!) and worry about falling … and stomach queasiness. Not serious hurt, but nags in getting the day started. (Cortisone injections do help tremendously, but they last only about three weeks or so.)

And then on this particular morn it was tidying up a bit after a busy weekend, taking out the supposed-recyclables on city pickup-day, pulling a few “weeds” in a raised bed, cleaning out the bed of this old pickup truck and getting Betsy ready for: her work in her pasture in far-away Rio Medina, Texas (70 miles or so), taking her wonderful 94-year-old Mom (who still lives alone “in the country”) to the doctors in San Antonio, delivering some turnips for her Mom, & visiting.

I have scribbled down some of the chaotic thoughts in this brain of limited capacity on the backs of old envelopes. However, now it’s time to hand-grind venison chili-meat for the meal I’ll prepare for plus or minus 35 Lions at McQueeney Lions Club-facility tomorrow night (and prep for cooking the side-foods of pinto beans with cured pork, okra with sausage, rice, turnips and cornbread). And I have to get in push-ups, bicycling, and a swim … or this going-on 77-year-old body will deteriorate even faster.

Electronic/algorithmic organization of most of the jewels of thought bouncing around in my head will have to wait!!!

(As I drank coffee earlier and watched more of the never-ending saga of our Lord and Savior Donald J. Trump on CNN, and thought of the NRA-gathering this weekend at the McQueeney Lions’ site [I do mingle with right-wing friends here in Texas; if I didn’t friends would be very, very few and far between.], I did thumb through each of the 259-pages of our 2021-published Games We Play (kite.pub) … published largely thanks to Dra. Ana Maria Gonzalez & Michael Godeck. After doing this, it confirmed that most of my daily “jewels” were already fairly thoroughly covered in Games We Play. More Than 200,000 Years of Living Truthfully and 5,000 of Searching for Truth. Moreover, I do often revisit the same thoughts in this blog, www.paulpeaceparables.com .)

In small talk this weekend, my loving son John Alton lightly teased me about being a capitalist as well as suggested (perhaps tongue in cheek) that “AI/IT-generated” correspondence might be used very effectively to coax key/significantly-influential “conservatives” (true conservatives conserve sustaining socio-ecological fabrics) or right-wing politicians toward a journey in solidarity of socio-ecological justice and quality life for all, including other species. ( A New AI Lexicon: Sustainability. From Tech to Justice: A Call for… | by AI Now Institute | A New AI Lexicon | Medium ) My thoughts quickly arrived to a point that is common in my little head lately. I will continue to try to do some drop-in-the-bucket actions toward socio-ecological justice through living relatively lightly on the Land, in ecological activities with youth here in the Seguin area, with Kids On the Land on Texas ranches out west, and Generations Indigenous Ways on Pine Ridge Reservation, through volunteer service activities in Central America, and by taking advantage of oral and written presentation-opportunities afforded … but also through attempts to make small talk transcend to BIG TALK.

However, my time … my body and mind … are rapidly coming to the end! Moreover, as with most individuals of the species Homo sapiens, I have done little in these 76+ years and have frequently dropped the baton.

Therefore, I would hope that my kids and grandkids, and other youth, will pick up the baton and carry it forth in a sustainable direction (of socio-ecological justice) … mostly through realization and promotion, promotion and realization, of “Less Is More”. … O Less Is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World by Kofi Klu | Goodreads O Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth review – forget growth, think survival | Economics | The Guardian O This Pioneering Economist Says Our Obsession With Growth Must End – The New York Times (nytimes.com) O University Press of Colorado – A Prosperous Way Down (upcolorado.com) O Small is beautiful – an economic idea that has sadly been forgotten | Madeleine Bunting | The Guardian

………………………

(YES! “LESS IS MORE!” … BUT MORE ON “THIS” LATER.)

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7 S’s / VV->^^ (Important things to remember as we strive toward action of quality life for all: 1.The Golden Rule & pacifism which should be applied profoundly & holistically throughout Nature, 2. “Less Is More” especially with regard to the food component of our ecological footprint (produce locally; less “artificial/synthetic”, processing, packaging, transport, water. fossil energy; more efficient capture of solar energy), 3. “Positively Ethical Applied Community Ecology/PEACE” across the curricula & campuses of all human organizational entities, 4. Always remember that “Today is the first day of the rest of your life!” and that music and art is the key to quality human life for the rest of your life, 5. Radically/”naturally” think out of the box!!!

Care! And Share!!!)

on an Eaarth of much prejudice

i have benefited as an anglo, a u. s. citizen, a heterosexual male

born healthy into a middle-class family

from being a recipient of a Texas A&M University Opportunity Award Scholarship

based in part on need

and from the GI Bill

and as a capitalistic ecosocialist …

i am not … xenophobic or generally phobic otherwise, a patriot or a nationalist

catholic … but by most standards, i am not religious!

i simply, quite simply … strongly feel we need to all strive for a world with more climax ecological communities

communities in a dynamic homeostatic symbioses

a nature which includes caring and sharing humans

with small ecological footprints and sustainable livelihoods

mostly working to achieve socio-ecological justice

*************

the goal should be climax* ecological communities

(including fire climax ecological communities)

ecological communities which by the way are never set in concrete

many are in stages of very dynamic succession*

and there should be many ecotones and effects from edges

……………………..

you must start here … with this goal of climax ecological community

in central texas blackland prairie, for example, such a climax ecological community

might consist of great soil cover with little & big bluestem, indian grass, eastern grama, switch grass, and additional various vegetation- and other biotic-types

including american bison (or exotic domesticated cattle managed to “behave” more like bison populations*)

but also with grasshoppers, and many other herbivores including birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, segmented and roundworms, .. other arthropods … and a diversity of others up the trophic levels and in the food webs

(moreover, the goal of climax biota in dynamic homeostatic symbioses* can not preclude lower successional species like wildflowers and amaranthus and lambsquarters, etc.)

………………………

a climax ecological community in concert with

a good soil of seven percent organic matter (texas blacklands) rich with a good diversity of deep roots, microbes, mesofauna, and mycorrhizae

excellent water infiltration capacity and water-holding capacity

including a healthy protection from vegetation in various processes of being biotically recycled

and of great net primary productivity

this should be a goal and a strategy

………………………

therefore, start with a goal in your whole(s) and develop a strategic plan under guidelines … in this example of texas blackland prairie where there are currently many holes … and monitor well, analyze and evaluate, and replan after critical thinking, decison-making, and cautious collective actions in solidarity toward meeting maslow’s needs for all

in this time of 2023+ and a texas blackland prairie including many humans with maslow’s needs dependent on it …

seriously consider working with wes jackson’s and the land institute’s perennial grains*, legumes, and oilseed crops in a sustainable local community (milling around) approach

and with honeybees and dandelions and sheep and goats and poultry and even the porcine species

and easy to grow vegetables and herbs

even though they are invasive species!

…………………………..

impossible you say!

with eight billion humans on Eaarth* going on ten

and one percent having more power

(“horsepower/watts/BTUs, joules, or calories over a time period”)

than the poorest fifty percent* …

and seeking even more power

……………………………

impossible you say!

with a destructive u.s. global-military, u.s. super-overproduction of arms for the globe … feeding War machines and War

with neoliberal capitalism … and entrepreneurial businesspeople, rather than sustainable livelihoods

with conspicuous consumption running rampant

with high-input/-throughput systems

with cars/big not-needed pick ’em up trucks/”monstrous” campers and planes and cruise ships as transportation

with humongous mcmansions and personal swimming pools

with a global over-abundance of exotic foods

with manicured, heavily-fertilized, -watered, and -biocided golf courses and large domed playing fields of plastic turf

with such a fossil-plastic economy overwhelming nature’s economy

(and yes!

despite the rhetoric and propaganda of pro-growthers,

and some neoliberal capitalistic pseudo-ecologists

what we are in is basically a zero-sum game; if artificial gains, “Natural Nature” loses)

………………………………

a goal of climax ecological community is impossible to communicate about and discuss … you say

because of the noise of so much information, untruths, misinformation, disinformation, negative propaganda

from the news media and other ubiquitous electronic inputs to all the senses and more

which does not lead to a collective learning in solidarity of “positively ethical applied community ecology/PEACE”

which does not lead to knowledge, wisdom, prudence, critical thinking and decision-making

(largely because of out-of-control consumerism, neoliberal capitalism

and war… war … war … … War … War … War …

and little time to individually & collectively think … unless it is a toxic groupthink)

………………………..

impossible?  perhaps???

nevertheless, “one small thing” as a start for sustainability is: “less is more*” toward reaching climax ecological communities

………………………..

(an aside which is really not an aside but central to good lives for all

is that heaven away from Eaarth is not the goal

nor is a highly fossil energy/matter dependent, high energy- and synthetic-Eaarth

the goal is a neo-Earth of dynamic homeostatic symbioses

including sustainable demes of caring/sharing humans working toward climax ecological communities

collective beauty and happiness in nature [or dynamic homeostatic symbioses] is the desired goal

not individual/selective  “beauty” and “happiness” in the extremely noisy artificial

sustainable happiness is in natural nature, not in artificial chaos)

………………………….

therefore, i repeat …

The Way is “less is more” toward climax ecological communities

************************

*yes!

the hard science and rhetoric i heard from and read of:

e.j. dyksterhuis, eugene odum, frederic clements, timothy morton, allan savory, wes jackson, bill mckibben, david pimentel, h.t. odum, vaclav smil, e.f. schumacher, herman daly, jason hickel

were obviously compelling to me during my journey to date here on Eaarth of going on 77 years!!!

pbm 7 S’s / VV->^^

sotten

………………..

sure! i am totally rotten

but how can YOU be so very, very rotten?

your loved ones de facto forgotten

and your lovely loving children tambem taught to be also “rotten”

yes, they have “gotten ‘rotten'”

why are so many of us on this manmade-sorry Eaarth so goldurn rotten???

and to have forgotten???

sure! i am totally rotten

but how can YOU be so very, very rotten?

………………..

sotten

(ahhh well. life goes on. let’s go ahead and eat some delicious new potatoes au gratin!!!)

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…………………….

(come see us please when you get out of this state of sotten.

e é a época do ano para o futebol.

venha ver seus entes queridos tão de perto; venha vê-los jogar)