it is okay to pray and read the bible and other religious stuff and go to church
and travel & hunt for fun and go to taylor swift concerts and attend a professional football game (including current university professional football games) … and buy a useless christmas gift on black friday (“buy nothing day”) …
as long as you are mostly caring or sharing (toward pacifism)
and abiding by the second law of thermodynamics and the precautionary principle and “less is more!”
all of the above can be important in the very important processes of communication & building bridges/connections and solidarity
……………..
but what is most importamt are …
o profound & holistic ecological literacy toward sustainability and socio-ecological justice … and deep humility
o eliminating the process of Warring, demilitarization, disarmament and actively practicing pacifism
o degrowth and seriously reining in neoliberal capitalism and consumerism & stuff and entrepreneurism and information/disinformation/misinformation (versus knowledge/wisdom/prudence)
o replacing patriarchal capitalism and industrialization and conventional agriculture with quasimatriarchal agrarianism (within dynamic homeostatic symbioses/Nature) and
o equity with all of humanity and all of biota (with plenty of space, sense of place, health for all, Commons, Nature)
…………………..
all is perhaps ok (though not War … including War on biota and Nature)
as long as it is not in excessive
because it has to be sufficiency rather than efficiency … that is,
My christianity is definitely not a Trumpian/Trumpster or Ted Cruz or Greg Abbott or Jair Bolsonaro or Viktor Orban Christianity!
My christianity is more Franciscan, including Pope Franciscan!
My christianity and christmas spirit is one not so much of prayer and being Blessed or Holy or church-going, but rather one of taking a strong visible stance of integrity in solidarity with others of a similar ethos, speaking out and taking individual & collective action toward ecological literacy, deweaponization & demilitarization, degrowth, and comprehensive local & global low-energetic-throughput agrarianism … and sharing and caring toward equity of power and resources and “positively” ethical applied ecological learning and quality of living for ALL of humanity/ALL biota.
This December 2nd morning I am reading carefully through “Who Is Afraid of Degrowth?” by Celine Keller (over in Germany) … up on a hill in a late-1800s-Alsatian limestone home in Rio Medina, Texas (looking over the Medina Valley).
(My wife Betsy is out in the pasture harvesting Whitetail deer venison.)
********
I guess I am happy that Mom (St. Louise [Kneuper]) & Dad Martin, the village of Devine, those ecology books from the late 1800s/early 1900s back in the non-air conditioned library stacks at Texas A&M in the mid to late 1960s, & the teachings of E.J. Dysterhuis, Will Whitcomb, David Pimentel, H.T. Odum, Herman Daly, Jim Hightower & Susan DeMarco, Wendell Berry, et al. and travels to Latin America & Poland/Ukraine, etc. … created a WOKE paul bain martin (pbm).
But not a “Smug-WOKE” pbm, but rather one who could recognizes the wrongs (& the very difficult, intrenched complexities) of disparity, hubristic human-decision-driven/inappropriate-technology-driven/Growth-driven overshoot, and drawdown of the natural resource base & anthropogenic global climate change … and the need for systematic system change from destructive neoliberal capitalism/consumerism/miltarism and the current wave of socio-ecologically destructive Trump-cultism & its compelling but TOXIC!!!, flimflammery (and associated global toxic Right-wing “shenanigans”).
Perhaps a WOKE pbm who hopefully humbly continues to struggle … learnedly, “critical-thinkingly”, sharingly, & cooperatively, and in solidarity with those of John Lewis’ “Good Trouble” … toward:
1. universal, profoundly comprehensive ecological literacy (continued work in outdoor ecological learning activities w/ youth such as w/ Generations Indigenous Ways )
2. banning nuclear weapons & deweaponization/demilitarization (efforts w/ Veterans For Peace w/ which pbm is a member)
I stand pretty firm in my shout-out of the desperate need for all of us to focus on taking action as individuals and in global-group solidarity in the very most important areas listed in the photo immediately below (posted herein).
Nevertheless, the complexities of diverse individual ethoses and wide variation of group-thinking (more often than not with the ethoses or group-thinking NOT being on a route toward resilient sustainable ecological communty & socio-ecological justice) … here on this Eaarth of a very arrogant, but also very ignorant, humanity of 8 billion including 195+ major leaders of 195 sovereign nations … is made clear in Celine Keller’s “Who Is Afraid of Degrowth?”.
Nevertheless, although we will never reach a utopia of resilient sustainable ecological community of quality living for all of humanity & biota, we should heed Henry David Thoreau’s, Murray Bookchin’s, Fernando Birri’s, Eduardo Galeano’s, Wes Jackson’s, and Celine Keller’s suggestions to keep smartly & actively “walking” and “milling around” toward utopia.
paul bain martin
7 Ss / VV->^^
(No. 4 in the attached [immediately below] photo should read, “Sustainable agrarian systems, locally & globally”.)
I know some or all of you think I “lost it” long ago. Nevertheless, with so many around me my age or younger “losing it” or passing … I do think quite a bit about such happening to me (more completely) in the near future (0 to 20 years).
I am certain that many of Y’ALL have left great legacies … and I too am trying to do a bit of good before “I de facto pass.”
*******
I do have the Seguin Central Park Bench which Bets’ & I funded with Pope John Paul II’s quote about the ecological crisis being a moral issue, Seguin community gardens I helped get started, the “Games We Play” book & numerous ecological pieces published, some ecological t-shirts distributed, maybe memories in some minds of some of ecological activities over many years with youth & others, etc., etc.
I am not at all pleased with us deplorables voting in the horrific, corrupt, flimflam regime (even comparatively-speaking) of the Trump-God. On the other hand I am selfishly pleased that coming up soon will be …
o Betsy’s ecological Seguin-squirrel to be placed on city land at the corner of our lot,
o a published Portuguese version of “Games We Play” (much better than the English version of which I am really proud for the editor/writer/ researcher/translator Luiza Rosa) … with hopefully a Spanish version followup!,
o Bets’ & my tombstone which will be going to the little St. Joseph’s Cemetery between New Braunfels & San Antonio where our Paul & Amalia Kneuper grandparents lie … with ecological mantras on this pbm-Betsy tombstone,
o a “state of Eaarth’s ecological systems … & alternatives” mural painted by your truly, &
o my continued promotion of the case for the desperate need for …
(Now I am going to spend some continuous hours reviewing the applied ecology illustrations developed through the fantastic efforts of Brazilian Luiza Rosa.)
I woke up this mornin’ with the sundown shinin’ in I found my mind in a brown paper bag within I tripped on a cloud and fell an eight miles high I tore my mind on a jagged sky I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in
… What condition my condition was in
I pushed my soul in a deep dark hole, and then I followed it in I watched myself crawlin’ out as I was crawlin’ in, yeah, yeah I got up so tight, I couldn’t unwind, I saw so much, I broke my mind I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in
… What condition my condition was in
Someone painted “April fool” in big black letters on a dead end sign … I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in I said I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in”*
…………………………………
War. Military. Armaments. Guns. Soldiers. … Neoliberal capitalism/”mindless” consumerism … SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL DESTRUCTION from transnational corporations, industrial agriculture, Growth of humanity & domesticated species & stuff and artificialization.
The chaos and inhumaneness and dreadful UNNECESSARY PAINS & DEATH & SOULLESSNESS
in Haiti, Gaza, Zacatecas, Ciudad Juarez, Sudan, Yemen, Myanmar … the favelas of Rio … the “slums” of Newark, Houston, Robbins, Oakland, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc. …
Of the death penalty and rampant incarceration and numerous prisons & imprisoned and UNNECESSARY PAINS & DEATH & SOULLESSNESS in the U.S.
Of the toxic attitude toward undocumented immigrants and transexuals and those of undesirable pregnacies in Texas, the U.S., and other areas of Eaarth …
and toward those who battle for ecological literacy/WOKEness and diversity, equity, & inclusion …
and unbridled reading & ecological learning in a public square
Of trashing & polluting of Ghana and Honduras and Seguin … and of Mount Everest … and streams, aquifers, rivers, lakes, oceans, etc., etc, etc., etc., etc., etc. …
Of flimflam demagogue Trump, his cronies, and adoring &/or hypocritical Trumpsters … and MAGAism.
Of Blessed “Holier than thou” Christian nationalists and other Christians …
Christians (but not “Jesus of Nazareth christians”) who Pray for a better world selfishly for themselves and theirs
…………………………
I (perhaps “of course”) prefer to think that I am not (at least “totally’) one of these deplorables
One of these of UNNECESSARY PAINS & DEATH & SOULLESSNESS
Nevertheless, I helped let Trump, and MAGAism, and Republican Party politics “come”
And Gaetz and RFK, Jr. and Zeldin and Noem and Oz and Hegsseth and Linda McMahon
(Look! … I really could care less about Trump’s and Gaetz’s and Hegseth’s “coming.” It is a natural process.
However, they must have humility and be respectful & empathetic …
and become somewhat ecologically literate and do some critical thining & decision-making in the process.
My problem is that they COME to “Make ‘America’ Great ‘Again’!”
and the process thereof.)
Anyway, fellow humans, humanity, … and other biota …
I will confess, repent, and ask for forgiveness
for being one of those dealing UNNECESSARY PAINS & DEATH & SOULLESSNESS
(though I realize I will keep on sinning as a Homo sapiens
[or Homo saphead … as a retired US Marine who became a wildlife biologist once called us in a wonderful gathering in Alpine, Texas many moons ago]
I only ask of you to help me do less of it
through solidarity in beginning to realize “‘Positively’ Ethical Apllied Community Ecology”/PEACEmaking)
…………………………………
Bless me Father for I have sinned.
I too am a dreadfully deplorable human being.
paul bain martin
( 7 Ss / VV->^^ )
(As poet-folk singer Eliza Gilkyson suggested one recent evening
at the Devil’s Backbone Tavern, Fischer, Texas,
I can “embrace” all of this human, and other, pain & sorrow on Eaarth
but still necessarily love self & all of the other deplorables …
toward a goal and process of making it all better,
i.e., an desired end of quality life for all humans & biota …
*Micky Newbury. Soulfully sung by Kenny Rogers, Steve Earle, Willie Nelson et al. (I first heard Kenny Rogers perform this song in about 1967 at G. Rollie White Colesium, Texas A&M University. Much later in the 1990s or early 2000s I heard an even better interpretation by Steve Earle–with Lloyd Maines also on the stage over a steel guitar–at La Zona Rosa, Austin, Texas. … Of course Willie’s version which I have heard numerous times over Mattson Rainer’s amazing 92.1/KNBT New Braunfels Americana station, is always heartfelt!)
This IS a very messed up complicated Eaarth of too much (mis-/dis-)information, neoliberal capitalism/rampant entrepreneural business/consumerism & militaristic socio-ecological destruction!!! …
and who really knows??? how these crazy MAGA-rolls of Trumpian-dice will play out in terms which of two definite routes WILL be taken:
1. that of maintaining the status quo of artificialization & destruction??? … or
2. that of worsening it severely???
Neverthless, I am absolutely certain that despite my craziness … my ignorance & lack of experience & few reins on speaking out “toxically” about what I fervently believe, …
… I am brighter, more experienced, more sane, even more level-headed when placed in positions desperately needing science-based critical thinking & decision-making, and wiser than several high-level picks by Trump to run federal department/entities, … picks which will have in very serious national & global consequences!!!
Yes … I do personally cry out loudly for REVOLUTIONARY real and profoundly holistic & comprehensive change with VERY LONG-TERM GOALS …
o of “total” ecological literacy,
o banning of nuclear weapons/ demilitarization/deweaponization,
o Degrowth & steady-state economic,
o a quasi-matriarchal agrarian world socio-economic system, and
o equity.
However, the process of this good change toward quality life for all including other species must involve GOOD SCIENCE-/academic/scholarly research-informed SYSTEMATIC-system change (including efforts toward ecological literacy across all human organizational entities) done in accordance with the Golden Rule/Jesus of Nazareth-, Gandhian-, MLK, Jr.-, Berta Caceres-, John McCain-, John Lewis-, Wendell Berry-, Pope Francis-, etc.-type values/the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics/the need for Degrowth & steady-state economics … AND the Precautionary Principle.
I am very sure that this deteriorating 78-year old, hog-farmer’s son educated in a rural village in south central Texas & at Land-Grant universities (& who did publish research-work within 3 of these university systems & w/IICA, Organization of American States … & who published numerous scientific papers, & a little applied ecology book), w/ a few months of experiences in Naval Air as an ensign & student pilot in 1969 & 70 & some days to wks to months to 2 yrs to 50+ yrs of ecological activities in various regions of Latin America, Poland, Ukraine, & across Europe, & in quite a few areas of Texas & the US (and who [somewhat tongue- in-cheek] speaks 4+ languages [mostly poor English & Portanhol]), …
and who worked as IPM Specialist, Director (acting) of Pest Management & Sustainable Ag Coordinator for an amazingly well-educated & progressively active Commissioner of Texas Agriculture who very effectively employed a diversity of very intelligent & experienced folk from the populace (Hispanics, Jews, Blacks, Indians from India, homosexuals, conservatives, leftists, lawyers, journalists, sociologists, “crop-dusters”, wildlife biologists, ecologists, astute statespersons, agriculturalists, etc.) …
I, paul bain martin, phd agricultual entomologist/wannabe good applied community ecologist, would do much better as a selection for the prestigious & consequential positions Trump is now filling.
************
Come on “Right-wing” friends & family, Catholics, supposed-christians, Trumpsters who voted for Trump, … all others in demos. Pleeaaase!!! speak out against what is apparently going to be …
–a “continuing wrecking” on this Anthropocene Eaarth …
–OR a wreck like never before!!!
Speak out loudly and actively protest, write letters & post against selections like …
INTRODUCTION. Humans have been for some time and are currently … causing tremendous socio-ecological destruction at an unprecedented rate. We’ve destroyed climax natural ecological communities & rampantly replaced sustainable agrarian ecological communities, … and we have decimated … topsoil, … quality air … and quality water, … net primary productivity, … photosynthesizers & biodiversity … and … we have even made climates unsuitable for living systems. All of this is a serious & immediate threat to the existence of humans. And Trump, MAGAs, and Republicans in general, have no plans to rectify these threats to the existence of humans or for the quality life for my grandchildren and humans of the near future, or for insuring quality life for all living things across the globe. For these folk, it is just full steam ahead and over the cliff … “bidness” as usual ‘til we fizzle out.
And even though I am far from entirely being satisfied with the policies & actions of the Democratic Party, … the party of Franklin Roosevelt & Lyndon Baines Johnson & Jimmy Carter & Barack Obama & Joe Biden & Kamala Harris has been effective in the past in pushing through some good legislation conducive to quality life for all … such as the 19th Amendment (women’s right to vote), social security and minimum wage, the Marshall Plan, the G.I. Bill, Civil & Voting Rights Acts, the Peace Corps, Medicare & Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, Head Start and the school lunch programs, the recent Inflation Reduction Act … and on & on. Nevertheless, I am not happy with weak efforts at nuclear disarmament and virtually no efforts at demilitarization or degrowth of the global economy.
And now back to Republican efforts, or some past Republican initiatives which were positive.
I must say that to his credit, Republican Richard Nixon was largely responsible for EPA and OSHA. … Trump and his enablers & supporters on the other hand are radical climate-change deniers and crusaders for deregulation. They are trying to gut EPA … and OSHA! Per Project 2025, Trump and MAGAism will be a disaster for our precious essential needs-providing ecological systems. … Trump & his Trumpians & Trumpsters are and will be a denier of women’s rights and rights of many other sectors of humanity.
My major point now would be that one would think that we could truly begin to get along and deal with growth and overshoot of the Eaarth’s carrying capacity … locally, regionally, national, and internationally and move toward quality life for all … now … and into the future!
Finally (for the most part for this introduction), the Golden Rule … proposed early on in the written history of Homo sapiens by Confucius, and then by Judaism in concert with Zoroastriaism & othe religions, and thereafter Jesus of Nazareth and many others … the Golden Rule should rule! Moreover, we should work in humble communitarian solidarity (not hubristic MAGAism or individualistic libertarian survivalism) with Trumpsters, Libertarians, Fascists, Marxists, Sikhs, Putins, Uns, Lulas, Starmers, Ortegas, Salehs, Modis, Harrises, nudists, nuns, etc., etc. to take us from a dying Eaarth to a neo-Earth of true vibrance and deep beauty.
……………………….
Now I am going to switch gears a bit and present some very important points (perhaps somewhat intentionally cryptic) through posters (immediately below) my wonderful wife Betsy and my friends at the Seguin Print Shop prepared.
SOME OF THE QUESTIONS MODERATORS SELECTED FROMIN ADDITION TO THEIR OWN (GIVEN TO THE PRESENTERS PRIOR TO THE EVENT.
For Ron Colunga& paul bain martin:
1.What makes for an educated/learned person who can critically think & decision-make?
2. Do you have issues with unTruths & mis/disinformation in politics & other aspects of today’s world?
3. What are your ideas about continued use of fossil energy & materials?
4. What about climate change & global warming? Is this something to worry about? If so, what do we do?
5. Defend/critique militarism. What about nuclear disarmament?
6. Do you have hope for humanity? For Nicaragua? For Sudan? For India?
7. What are your qualifications as a leader in humanity here in 2024?
8. How do MAGA positions/knowledge of applied community ecology make a better world for all peoples of the globe, and other living species?
For Adam Ticknor:
1.In what areas of the world, the globe, do you, and have you worked? How many languages do you speak? Would you consider yourself to be a historian? A sociologist? An applied ecologist?
2. A communitarianism philosophy of solidarity is “based on the belief that a person’s social identity and personality are largely molded by community relationships, with a smaller degree of development being placed on individualism”. Why is relatively individualisticLibertarian Survivalism & Militarism perhaps a better approach than communitarianism?
3. We humans are a political species according to Aristotle & other scientists & scholars. Could you comment on some of the political parties in the U.S. and the possible good or bad they do for humanity & the ecological community in which it exists? What about democratic eco-socialists?
4 Are you concerned about destruction of the natural resource base (topsoil, quality air & water, biodiversity & photosynthesizers, and sustainable transformation of daily solar energy) … and global climate change? Explain and discuss briefly your major concerns.
5. Is “degrowth (of the human economy)” a viable and good approach toward a sustainable “Nature’s Economy”?
6. Switching the topic a bit, but connected to the human economy of neoliberal capitalism & consumerism, what are your thoughts about militarism, production of armaments, and constant Warring? (“Neoliberalism is contemporarily used to refer to market-oriented reform policies such as “eliminating price controls, deregulating capital markets, lowering trade barriers” and reducing, especially through privatization and austerity, state influence in the economy.)
7. paul martin who asked you to make this presentation today is a “wannabe pacifist”. Please critique pacifism.
8. What does your Libertarian Survivalism do for humanity?
ZOOM RECORDINGS OF THE DISCUSSIONS.
Oct 20th, MAGAism vs. a process of resilient/sustainable ecological community
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS SUBMITTED FROM THE AUDIENCE ON INDEX CARDS … from paul bain martin.
Discussion of MAGAsim vs.
Sustainable Ecological Community-Approach,
Oct 20th
Truth? For me most “Gods” are a mystery & intangible. Therefore, God’s truths are a mystery, intangible, not meaningful.
My “God” is a mysterious, but more tangible & meaningful dynamic homeostatic symbioses, or “nature”. And real & tangible Truths are inequity/disparity & overshoot Earth’s carrying capacity for humans and drawdown of the natural resource base, etc. That “War is never a good thing” and “If you have nuclear & other arms for killing, you will eventually use them for killing” are Truths. Moreover, “good, ethical ecological scientists are the real seekers of knowledge & Truths.”
(*In today’s world we are inundated with (dis/mis)information (including ads) which is generally not knowledge, wise, or prudent. The best-selling author, Yuval Harari has a new book out on this … Nexus.)
(That lies our simply “in the eyes of the beholders” is obviously nonsense! And Trump has lied much more than Kamala Harris, with the Washington Post reporting four times more false or suspect claims than Harris in their presidential race-debate.)
A sperm is life. An egg is life. A fertilized egg is life. Etc., etc.
Human life is more difficult to define. Is a human sperm or egg fully human life? Or a zygote or a few cells of a developing embryo? Or a “human’ of more or less than 46 chromosomes per cell? Or what might be called a very abnormal human fetus which is just an amorphous mass of cells. Etc., etc.
Moreover, life on Earth is a Zero sum game! There is only so much room for life, and various forms of life.
Also, is a less than 100-cell blastula more important than a convicted murderer on death row? Etc., etc.
Hopefully we all fight for life in a dynamic homeostatic symbioses, or “nature”, including humans. That includes fights for babies, including other animal babies & plants, etc. babies … & prisoners on death row. (And it includes fighting for the rights of non-documented, have-not immigrants.)
For the most part, it is the Mother’s decision to make concerning an abortion … and not the state. In the case of a fully developed human out of the womb, I do not believe the State has the right to kill anyone.
Abortion? Life & human life and living is complicated and difficult to distinctly define. Nevertheless, few love the idea of abortion, including me. However, for many “quality of life”- and “the Zero sum of life on Eaarth”-reasons, sometimes abortion will be a (hopefully a critically-thought out) decision, The decision should be left up ultimately the mother carrying the zygote, blastula, gastrula, embryo, or fetus … or abnormal mass of human cells … in consultation with her doctor and loved ones. (This runs beautifully contrary to what the Republican Party is currently imposing on women in a process of taking away women’s rights.)
Women’s rights. We all should realize that women have been historically discriminated against up to & including the present time. “We are all entitled to human rights. These include the right to live free from violence and discrimination; to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; to be educated; to own property; to vote; and to earn an equal wage.
Capitalism wouldn’t be so bad if it were appropriately regulated. Neither Democrats nor Republicans have done well with this, though the Democrats have generally tried harder in an effort to regulate inappropriate results of capitalism.
De-militarism, Banning Nuclear Arms, De-weaponization*? War, soldiering, & weapons are inherently evil and very disruptive to sustainable ecological community and socio-ecological justice. I don’t propose that we can wave a magic wand and get rid of militaries, soldiers, weapons, & War instantly (if ever). However, if we do not set goals for ridding humanity/ecological communities of getting rid of these evils, most certainly we never will. We must begin to use real communication, ecological literacy, & true diplomacy to stop & prevent War & crime, and eventually rid ourselves of nuclear arms, guns, other armaments, soldiers, military, & police. It would be a “Christian” Way.
(*I will add that we didn’t have police in schools when I was a kid. Moreover, at almost 78, and having traveled quite a bit in North America, South American, Europe and on several long bicycle rides alone of up to 2500-miles, I have never cared a gun, nor have I had my life seriously threatened … except by automobiles.
Also, in a number of more progressive countries, police do not carry guns, and the per capita gun ownership of most countries is one-tenth or less than that of the U.S. which is the highest)
If we all communicated & learned about each other toward a more universal love … and caring & sharing … if we all truly practiced a profoundly holistic Golden Rule … then we would not need to worry about protect of “the innocent” and selves. We truly protect ourselves through ecological literacy which includes a comprehensive and profound understanding of & abidance by the Golden Rule!
Scientists attribute recent climate change primarily to human-generated greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide because the rapidly increasing concentration of these gases in the atmosphere, largely due to burning fossil fuels, directly enhances the greenhouse effect, trapping more heat from the sun and causing global temperatures to rise; this coincides with observed warming trends that cannot be adequately explained by natural factors alone. https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/causes/
Degrowth? The resources and daily solar energy of Eaarth is limited.* Our carrying capacity on a neo-Earth of sustainable ecological community is 2-4 billion. We are predicted to level off at 10 billion before 2100.
(*Even though the Eaarth is 71% covered with water, 97% is saltwater … and fresh quality water is very limited on Eaarth particularly because of artificialization, industrial ag, & pollution.)
The main thing we need to do is for “We Haves” to get our energy transformation (usage) down to 70,000 kilocalories per capita per day from what is as high as 300,000+ per day. We Haves must have less housing space, cars, clothing, luxury items, exotic foodstuffs, recreation, & lifestyles, etc., etc. Moreover, we need to be practicing smart human & domesticated animal population control.
If we are going to have quality life for humanity on a neo-Earth of dynamic homeostatic symbioses, we must choose degrowth!
(On pages 235-7 of our book Games We Play I list many little things each of us can do to reduce our ecological footprints and limit growth.)
Free Energy on the Way? Our problem is already too much artificial transformation of free, available energy. We don’t need more.
Migration Issues. 1. Because we are such a Powerful nation with control of so many resources, in our book Games We Play, I write “Open borders (but with regulation and caution in realizing this in order to not have net harm to have-not humans and other species. ) 2. An appropriate strategy for managing migration would be “implementing targeted economic development initiatives in those source countries to create more job opportunities and improve living standards.” 3. This year, Trump killed a start at decent U.S. immigration action. https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/25/politics/gop-senators-angry-trump-immigration-deal/index.html
Separation of Church and State? “The separation of church and state is important because it protects religious liberty and individual rights, and prevents the government from favoring one religion over another.” https://www.freedomforum.org/separation-of-church-and-state/ It was another effort of regulation of Power and the striving for freedom in the U.S. Constitution.
Hope? According to Merriam-Webster hope is a “desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment.” And faith is a “firm belief in something for which there is no proof.”
According to the real tellers of Truths, real and good ecological scientists, humans are a unique species which, in a relatively short period of time (ca. 12,000 years of the 13.8 billion years of the Cosmos), have to a large extent made it’s homeland uninhabitable to its life form due to destruction of: the natural resource base of top soil, quality air & water, and biodiversity and photosynthesis and sustainable transformation of solar energy … and due to War AND anthropocentric climate change. This was done through agriculture, capitalism, the industrial & chemical revolution, and the information revolution.
Unless Homo sapiens changes its course of action very soon*, it is over the cliff we go. (Perhaps we all have “failed humanity!”)
(*A large part of the answer is degrowth and living in concert with “nature” … and avoiding attmeps to control nature and artificially “produce” more per acre.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS GIVEN TO THE AUDIENCE TO “WARM UP” THEIR THINKING.
If you wish, please quickly jot out a short knee-jerk response to the following:
What is life? (Is it a “Zero Sum” game?)
What is the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics? What does it have to do with neoliberal capitalistic-/consumer-/growth-economics … and artificialization and “Nature”?
What is the Precautionary Principle?
Ecologically, morally & ethically, shouldn’t all Texans be vegetarians?
In what biome do you live?
If very catastrophic weather, occurred, a total government local/national/global government breakdown happened suddenly, or we had widespread nuclear destruction, etc. … what could you (perhaps) forage to eat here locally around Seguin (from the wild)?
In the immediate few square yards of where we are sitting in this building, are we producing or consuming? What is the impact of this artificial structure on the four (4) major ecosystem blocks?
Why is the evapotranspiration rate so very important in the Seguin area?
From where does Seguin get its drinking water? Whose water, is it? Do future generations of biota have a right to water? Do other species have a right to water? Should water be a commodity … or a right?
What is ecological community succession?
What is a common pioneer (edible) plant, or “weed” (some Mexican Americans use the Náhuatl/“Aztec” language word “quelite” for it) growing all across Seguin during much of the year?
Explain human appropriated net primary productivity?
What is the most important ecosystem block to consider … Soil & air? Water? Biota & biodiversity including photosynthesizers? or the Sun?
Could the world operate without fossil energy & materials?
Which is more efficient/better … a pre-WW II agrarianism producing one (1) calorie of food with 3 artificial energy inputs & with up to 60% of the folk at least more or less directly associated with that agrarianism, or our current industrial agriculture needing 10—30 calories of artificial energy to produce food and with much less than 20% of the populace involved in agriculture?
Does capital punishment or War violate the 1st Commandment?
Human beings have 46 chromosomes. Is a being with 44 or 47 chromosomes, etc. a human being?
Human beings have + or – 37 trillion cells each with 46 chromosomes(or + – 1700 trillion chromosomes). Is a one-cell zygote with 46 chromosomes a human being? Is a mass of very amorphous cells each with 46 chromosomes carried 4+ months in a woman’s womb a human being?
Is it OK to put a humane embryo on ice for years & years?
Would a cloned human (not conceived) a human being?
Is not the military basically an extremely socialistic system?
Could we exist without military, armaments, & War?
Ultimately, which economic system is more doable toward christian equity on an Earth of limits … Democratic Socialism, or Plutocratic Capitalism?
christian Golden Rule caring & sharing? Or walls, razor-sharp barbed wire, buoy-barriers, landmines, guns and tanks?
What is more important, Faith? Or Science?
Other comments on “sustainable ecological community”.
(Some of these do have a relatively absolute answer. However, most do cry for answers which are scientifically-based, but are also, “simply” thought provoking.)
RESPONSES FROM ADAM TICKNOR (LIBERTARIAN SURVIVALIST) TO QUESTIONS ON INDEX CARDS FROM THE AUDIENCE.
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(Preface from paul bain martin …
Adam is a very sharp young man with many experiences from global interactions … and he does considerable reading! However, as with all of us in 2024, his mind is super-cluttered and he does have some considerable trouble in communicating “Truths.”
Concerning what is written below by Adam …
1.Vaccines are an important & useful tool for quality life on today’s Eaarth. Moreover, for the most part, “true” research & applied scientists in sustainable livelihoods (in contrast to technologists & engineers doing jobs) are some of the best of humanity. (Science is the quest for knowledge & Truth, and hopefully wisdom & prudence. Technology & engineering is the application of accumulated information … and in this very artificial world with humanity worshipping at the altars of Growth, technology & engineering is all-too-often inappropriate!)
2. “War is never a good idea!” (Alice Walker of The Color Purple)
3. Bayer doesn’t write the Farm Bill. “‘We the people’ (of the plutocracy) do!”
4. We need less artificial transformation of (nuclear, Green/”renewable”, etc.) energy, not more!!!
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Thank you for coming to the talk. I will try and offer some answers and links to the points I made. I am also going to try to offer supplemental data. Covid: Claims:
We were lied to and not given consent. a. We were told that it was safe and effective. i. How can you ensure safe and effective when there is no time to research. You can not speed up time and speed up observation of how a drug effects a population. It would have been safer to have a rollout, Give it to the community that is that most at risk. ii. Without even looking at mRNA we can see that many drugs can be FDA approved and make it to market and then have to get pulled and declared unsafe.
NIH failed to support, allow alternative options from the narrative a. The NIH, which is the research arm of the Nations health and wellness failed to do any or allow for any research that did not fall in line with the mandatory messaging. i. https://c19early.org/
https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/322cv184-three-doctors-sue-fda-over-ivermectin.pdf ii. Vitamin D 1. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347199746_Vitamin_D_I nsufficiency_May_Account_for_Almost_Nine_of_Ten_COVID- 19_Deaths_Time_to_Act_Comment_on_Vitamin_D_Deficiency_a nd_Outcome_of_COVID-19_Patients_Nutrients_2020_12_2757
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8541492/
There was no more research on this as an effective potential treatment iii. No need for kids to receive the vaccine, why is it on the list for infants?
17,400 humans under the age of 20 across the globe have died of covid. That does not need a vaccine a. https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-survival/covid-19/ b. And obesity is the largest predictor of kids being put into the ICU and risk dying. i. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8832134/
ii. Instead of vaccines we should fix the comorbidity issue.
Experts were deplatformed, threatened and lost jobs/work for questioning the narraitve a. https://stanfordreview.org/stanfords-censorship-an-interview-with-dr-jay- bhattacharya/ i. https://www.todayville.com/edmonton/how-the-government-collapsed- public-trust-in-public-health/ ii. https://www.aol.com/news/anthony-fauci-man-thought-science 100011658.html
This was not a vaccine, it was gene therapy that was able and designed to access the human gene line. There was excess DNA in the doeses · https://oversight.house.gov/landing/covid-origins/ · Pfizer used SV40 in the vaccine and purposely left this out of the documentation o https://anandamide.substack.com/p/sv40-origin-of-replication-in-mammalian · Excess DNA o https://anandamide.substack.com/p/sv40-origin-of-replication-in-mammalian o https://news.rebekahbarnett.com.au/p/addressing-allegations-that-dna- contamination?
· In response to fact checkers saying that excess DNA in Vaccines was false o https://news.rebekahbarnett.com.au/p/addressing-allegations-that-dna- contamination?
· In the concept of 6 feet and masks o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EETzkOjpyg o https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/03/politics/fauci-testimony-house-hearing-covid- 19/index.html
· It is hard to trust science when they purposefully hide the truth and then redact some of it when they get caught o https://usrtk.org/covid-19-origins/francis-collins-and-anthony-fauci-worried-about-nih-funding-wuhan-lab/ o https://oversight.house.gov/release/new-covid-select-memo-details-allegations- of-wrongdoing-and-illegal-activity-by-dr-faucis-senior-scientific-advisor/
· https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by8sEVTrqkY · Why vaccinate o https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10482361/
US, Afghanistan, Iran
The US left billions of dollars in Afghanistan that is now in the hands of the Taliban. The relationship between Taliban and Iran although tenuous appears that they are beginning to work together.
a. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-supplied-military-equipment-seen-iran- following-afghanistan-withdrawal-report b. https://taskandpurpose.com/news/taliban-iran-captured-us-military-vehicles/ c. https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/07/05/taliban-afghanistan-arms-dealers-weapons-sales-terrorism/ d. https://nationalinterest.org/feature/iran-benefit-us-equipment-military-left- afghanistan-193272
US and the UK left biometric devices to the Taliban that has allowed for the exploitation of the potential Afghan resistance forces. a. https://theconversation.com/afghanistans-taliban-reportedly-have-control-of-us-biometric-devices-a-lesson-in-life-and-death-consequences-of-data-privacy-166465 b. https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/08/30/1033941/afghanistan-biometric-databases-us-military-40-data-points/ c. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/news/cyber-vault/2021-08-20/cyber-brief-us-biometric-devices-captured-taliban-according-report d. https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/30/new-evidence-biometric-data-systems-imperil-afghans
Taliban will employ or murder former Afghan Special Operation Soldiers. So, Russias most famous Private Military Contracotr, PMC, is recruiting them for the Ukraine War. The Afghans that the American taxpayers funded to train, fight next to, are now being employed to fight next to Russia against US interests. a. https://taskandpurpose.com/news/afghanistan-special-forces-russia-ukraine/
The profits from war and the ability to demonstrate a reason to spend so much money on Military Industrial Complex means that the US government does not want to stop. At the same time the current US Administration stated we are now a country that is no longer at war. As this statement was made we had US service members in Iraq, and Syria, as well as running/funding a proxy war in Ukraine. We were doing this while at the same time paying the Taliban 40-80 million a week. We have been doing that since our withdrawl and continue to do so. a. https://taskandpurpose.com/news/marine-raider-elliot-ackerman-interview-the-fifth-act-book/ b. https://burchett.house.gov/media/burchett-opinions/rep-tim-burchett-your-tax-dollars-are-going-taliban
Agriculture
Why does Bayer get to protect itself by writing the Farm Bill? This would insulate themselves from any damage that has been delivered at the hands of Glyphosate/Roundup
a. https://farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2024/06/house-farm-bill-provision-could-block-roundup-lawsuits/ b. https://www.ehn.org/bayer-pushes-congress-to-block-glyphosate-lawsuits-in-the-farm-bill-2669007093.html c. https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/es/news/news-articles/bayer-seeks-protection- from-lawsuits-over-roundup-in-the-latest-version-of-the-farm-bill/
Nuclear as the “green” option
Google purchases nuclear and by 2030 will own their own reactors
Thorium a. http://www.ncpathinktank.org/pdfs/ib149.pdf i. 1000x more of it compared to uranium ii. easier to mine iii. thorioum is fertile meaning that it needs something else, a fissile material to initate its reaction. iv. CERn estimates 1 ton of Th is capable of making the same energy as 200 tons of uranium or 3.5 million tons of coal v. produces 100x less nuclear waste compared to uranium
Current green systems can not meet current demands a. https://thoriumenergyalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Ben-Heard-Jacobson-Burden-of-Proof.pdf
Regenerative Farming · Sacred Cow by Diana Rogers and Robb Wolf o https://www.sacredcow.info/helpful-resources
Plutocracy
30% of bills are passed no matter how we as a population feel about them a. (Princeton) https://www.princeton.edu/~mgilens/idr.pdf b. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tu32CCA_Ig
Wealthy controls the country a. Blackrock, Vanguard, State Street i. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/business-and- politics/article/hidden-power-of-the-big-three-passive-index-funds- reconcentration-of-corporate-ownership-and-new-financial- risk/30AD689509AAD62F5B677E916C28C4B6 ii. https://techstartups.com/2024/07/12/these-3-companies-control-88-of-the- largest-corporations-in-america/ iii. https://theconversation.com/these-three-firms-own-corporate- america-77072
DOD and US military permissions · The only saving grace for this is that it is a directive not a law. However anytime we give the US gov more power it takes more. If we look at the Patriot Act or if we look at FISA warrants o https://dodsioo.defense.gov/Portals/46/Documents/DoDD_5240.01_DoD_Intel_Intel-Related_Assist_to_LE_and_Civil_Authorities_27_Sep_24.pdf?ver=5mL1ROn5buFBpQmcUsG3ig%3d%3d o https://thedispatch.com/article/no-the-military-cannot-use-lethal-force-on-political-protesters/
· We can see how the CIA is not allowed to spy on US citizens but according to the Snowden revalations we see this is true o CIA Vault 7
§ https://wikileaks.org/ciav7p1/ o AT&T and Room 641A § https://kb.osu.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/8c9d191d-5293-53a9-b305- 619582f42b36/content
Harris This is the MOST un-democratic event in modern history. The DNC installed Kamala Harris without her having a single vote from the public to choose her to run. Trump
Abraham accords a. https://2017-2021.state.gov/the-abraham-accords/
Also undemocratic. He did not debate one republican candidate to secure his position as Presidential nominee.
Where my information was wrong with the liberal professor comment · I stated: o “Johnathon Haidt, a liberal professor at U. Penn, wrote in his book, “The Coddling of the American Mind” performed a study that shows 98% of all professors are liberal.” o In a public venue had asked folks to raise their hands and he counted them. · The “study” claims a higher percentage than what is truth. That said, I feel the percentage is still much to far one direction for a balanced approach to education. o https://econjwatch.org/articles/faculty-voter-registration-in-economics-history- journalism-communications-law-and-psychology § https://www.natcom.org/sites/default/files/publications/NCA_C- Brief_2017_March.pdf
o https://www.kpcnews.com/opinions/article_72a36307-576f-517e-8a43- 64eb7f024e27.html § “The closest any school came was Northwestern University, where 80 percent of faculty were registered Democrats and 20 percent registered Republicans. At Brown University the ratio was 30 to 1. The researchers could not identify a single Republican on the faculty at Williams, Oberlin, MIT or Haverford College.”
o https://www.realcleareducation.com/articles/2023/03/23/conservative_faculty_are_outliers_on_campus_today_110844.html
as journalists darren dunn, tess coody, & felicia frazer recently “de facto said” …
and quite a few others in my life of 78 years (this month of november 2024) have pointed out
i like most other individual humans or other life forms am relatively insignificant
especially as a hog-farmer’s son, relatively superficial thinker with mostly a rural & land grant university education … and a person of relatively little responsiblity, an ignostic & non-patriot & wannabe pacifist & wannabe Positively Ethical Applied Community Ecologist/PEACEmaker … and sometimes a very stone face depicting an empty mind
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nevertheless i am certain of these things in the moment
(and my moments of such certainty down these lines began perhaps 52 years ago from influences of good biologists & ecologists & ethicists
with some modification in this moment of 2024, of course, based on additional wisdom from other academicians, scholars, intellectuals … and lots of common have-nots of amazing intelligence & life experiences whom i have encountered in the americas over these 78 years ) …
eric norman & joanna, jesse trinidad, michelle vallejo, colin allred & kamala harris & tim walz and the democratic and green- and cornel west- “choices” are the best choices in this election … and those specifically named up-front are actually by far the finest statespersons in our local guadalupe county, texas elections
2. however, in order to change this deplorable Eaarth & eight to going-on ten billion pendejos to a neo-Earth of really good life-forms
the goal & policies & action plan & actions must be much more radical profound, comprehensive & holistic (while also employing the precautionary principle)
we do desperately need revolutionary systematic system change on this Eaarth … locally & globally
away from neoliberal capitalism, consumerism, and militarism & War, and inappropriate technology and socio-ecological injustice and
toward a neo-Earth of dynamic homeostatic symbioses (“natural nature of more near-climax ecologicial communites &/or in robust ecological succession “) with human & domesticated species populations closer to carrying capacity, steady-state economics & quasi-matriarchal sustainable agrarianism, and
caring & sharing for equity and pacifism and quality life for all including other species
