Maybe if you’re not scared, you’re not paying attention… Like this video? SUBSCRIBE to Hot Mess! ►► http://bit.ly/hotmess_sub Climate change is scary, because it will negatively impact just about every part of our lives. But the conventional wisdom on how to talk about climate change and inspire people to do something about it has always been “don’t scare people”. At least until recently. In the past couple years climate scientists and climate journalists have started talking in scarier and more worst case terms than ever before. Why? And is this a good thing? I talked to author David Wallace-Wells, author of “The Uninhabitable Earth” to learn more. #climate #climatechange #globalwarming Read more: Wallace-Wells, David. The uninhabitable earth: Life after warming. Tim Duggan Books, 2019.
Month: October 2019
Wildfires: Planet emergency BY OAKLANDSOCIALIST ON JULY 30, 2018
Wildfires burning throughout California
In this Planet Emergency article the following question is asked:
“Human” caused or capitalism caused?
“We all know what is happening: Global climate disruption. And, no, it’s not caused by god, nor by “people”; it’s caused by capitalism. Unable to do anything but strive for the quickest, most immediate short term profits, capitalism is destroying the environment and taking the future of all life on the planet with it. And the representatives of capitalism are burying the issue.”
Global warming, “grass” farming and a planned economy
“. . . 60% of the corn produced in the US goes to feed cattle on the feed lots, known as “Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations” or CAFO’s.” You say: “CAFO – an environmental disaster and cruel to the animals.” Finding out about these methods, you may perhaps want to stop eating beef?
As the Global Climate Strike date (Sept. 20) approaches, the question that will be on the minds of millions will be: “Is there a possible way to avoid a disaster that could threaten the existence of life on earth?” Michael Pollan’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma helps provide an answer, and that answer is “yes”, but with some qualifications. Here’s why:
Teosinte, the plant that was evolved into corn
A short history of corn
Pollan starts with an explanation of corn, which is the largest crop grown in the United States.Corn seems to have evolved from the grass called teosinte. It is a most unusual plant, starting with the unusual way in which it recruits carbon from the atmosphere, also known as photosynthesis. Most plants create carbon compounds that have three carbon atoms. Corn has a simple trick: It creates compounds with four such atoms. That sounds like a…
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Greta Thunberg’s enemies are right to be scared. Her new political allies should be too
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/30/greta-thunberg-enemies-inaction-climate-crisis
Liberal leaders line up to praise her, yet their inaction on the climate crisis shows they are not really listening to her message. . . .
Stephen Buranyi is a writer in London and a former researcher in immunology
Attack of the clones: Australia’s reign by older white men is an offence on us all
by Richard Dennis
“If our most important institutions were more reflective of the population, it’s hard to believe climate denial, racism and sexism would be so readily accepted.”
Uta’s Diary
I found in ‘The Land Destroyer Report’ some articles that interested me very much. And I just published copies of some items in these articles:
https://auntyuta.com/2019/10/02/these-items-i-did-copy-from-the-land-destroyer-report/
As far as Greta Thunberg is concerned, I can only say that I feel as emotional as she does about the establishment’s inaction about climate change. Yesterday I did look through a number of YouTube videos that give great information about scientist’s view in regard to the crisis for humanity and the urgency to do something about climate change. I cannot, absolutely cannot understand, why the economy always has priority in our leaders’ thinking over issues to do with climate change. How dare our leaders tell young people ‘not to worry’!!
Here are some examples what scientists say about climate change. These facts, that are stated in these videos, all of us should know about:
These Items I did copy from “The Land Destroyer Report”
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html
The Land Destroyer Report is maintained by Tony Cartalucci, an independent American geopolitical analyst based in Thailand.
Land Destroyer can be followed on Twitter here and Facebook here. Comments, questions, corrections, and article submissions should be sent to cartalucci@gmail.com, or through the Contact LD page.
http://altthainews.blogspot.com/ . . . .
Friday, September 27, 2019
Hong Kong Protests: Fading Foreign Tantrum, Not Genuine Revolution
September 27, 2019 (Joseph Thomas – NEO) – Just as unfolded in 2014 during the so-called “Umbrella protests” or “Occupy Central” movement, a growing backlash has begun across Hong Kong against US-funded protests that have attempted to disrupt governance and commerce as part of a floundering movement to maintain Western influence in the region.
Self-Sufficiency: A Local Solution to a Global Problem
Reposted & edited for new site: Alternative Thai News Network (ATNN).
Tony Cartalucci
ATNN – LD
October 28, 2012
For an extreme in-depth look at Thailand’s “Sufficiency Economy” and “New Theory” economics, please see, “Wisdom from the Orient: Self-Sufficiency.”
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Thailand’s Answer to Globalization
Thailand’s answer to the IMF, and globalization in general was profound in both implications as well as in its understanding of globalization’s end game. Fiercely independent and nationalistic, and being the only nation in Southeast Asia to avoid colonization, Thailand’s sovereignty has been protected for over 800 years by its revered monarchy. The current dynasty, the House of Chakri, has reigned nearly as long as America has existed as a nation and the current king is regarded as the equivalent of a living “Founding Father.” And just as it has for 800 years, the Thai Monarchy today provides the most provocative and meaningful answer to the threats facing the Kingdom.
The answer of course is self-sufficiency. Self-sufficiency as a nation, as a province, as a community and as a household. This concept is enshrined in the Thai King’s “New Theory” or “self-sufficiency economy” and mirrors similar efforts found throughout the world to break the back of the oppression and exploitation that results from dependence on an interdependent globalized system.
Image: A vision of self-sufficiency in Thailand. Agrarian values and the self-reliance they engender are the hallmarks of real freedom.
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The foundation of the self-sufficiency economy is simply growing your own garden and providing yourself with your own food. This is portrayed on the back right-hand side of every 1,000 baht Thai banknote as a picture of a woman tending her garden. The next step is producing surplus that can be traded for income, which in turn can be used to purchase technology to further enhance your ability to sustain yourself and improve your life-style.
Image: The Thai 1000 baht banknote. Left is one of the many dams controlling floods and producing electricity throughout the Kingdom. Center is the current King of Thailand. Right is a depiction of a local garden providing food in a self-sufficient manner.
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The New Theory aims at preserving traditional agrarian values in the hands of the people. It also aims at preventing a migration from the countryside into the cities. Preventing such migrations would prevent big agricultural cartels from moving in, swallowing up farming land, corrupting and even jeopardizing entire national food supplies (see Monsanto). Those familiar with the UN’s Agenda 21, and the more recent UN “Climate Change Program,” may understand the deeper implications and dangers of such a migration and why it needs to be stopped.
By moving to the city, people give up private property, cease pursuing productive occupations, and end up being folded into a consumerist paradigm. Within such a paradigm, problems like overpopulation, pollution, crime, and economic crises can only be handled by a centralized government and generally yield political solutions such as quotas, taxes, micromanagement, and regulations rather than meaningful technical solutions.
Also, such problems inevitably lead to a centralized government increasing its own power, always at the expense of the people and their freedom. The effects of economic catastrophe are also greater in a centralized, interdependent society, where everyone is subject to the overall health of the economy for even simple necessities like food, water, and electricity.
Image: A slide presenting the “New Theory” depicting a manifestation of greed leading the people from their rural private property and into a “city of extravagance.” If Agenda 21 had an illustrated cover, this could be it.
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Image: The goal of the “New Theory” is to have people return to the countryside from the cities and develop their communities in a self-reliant manner. It is, in other words, Agenda 21 in reverse.
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Under the “New Theory,” demonstration stations all across Thailand have been created promoting education in matters of agriculture and self-sufficient living. The program is competing against the contemporary globalization system, which as of now, is mired in many parts of the world with economic meltdown. The relatively self-sufficient nature of Thais in general has weathered this economic chaos fairly well. In 10 years, a plate of food still costs the same amount of money, as do many everyday commodities. This only further vindicates the value of being self-sufficient and now more than ever, in both Thailand, and abroad, it is a good time to get involved and get self-sufficient.
Western corporate-financier interests know what’s going on already and they are moving against it while the majority of humanity still sleeps in ignorance and apathy. Thailand is but one nation of many, in China’s “String of Pearls” that is targeted for destabilization and US State Department sponsored “liberation.”
The key to stopping these foreign interests dead in their tracks is seizing back from them the mechanisms of civilization – and we have done that already in terms of the alternative media. Such success is necessary in all aspects of our life, and as the King in Thailand suggests, it can start with something as simple as growing your own garden.
Today and Into the Future
Of course in Thailand, agricultural self-sufficiency is coupled with technology to enhance efficiency and improve the quality of life. Even in the city, small independent businesses are adopting the latest technology to improve their production, increase their profits, and even out-compete larger corporations. Computer controlled machining equipment can be found in small workshops crammed into old shop-houses, automatic embroidering machines allow a single woman to fulfill orders for name tags on new school uniforms – rather than both businesses sending off orders to factories owned by a handful of wealthy investors. A multitude of examples can be seen walking around any city block in Thailand’s capital of Bangkok.
Image: MIT’s Dr. Neil Gershenfeld inside his “Fab Lab,” arguably the birthplace of the personal fabrication revolution.
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Bringing this sort of technology to rural people, even enabling people to create their own technology rather than just employ it, is not just science fiction but is a reality of today. MIT Professor Dr. Neil Gershenfeld has developed the “fabrication laboratory” or “Fab Lab.” The Fab Lab is a microfactory that can “make almost anything.” His Fab Lab has since been replicated all over the world in what he calls the personal fabrication revolution. It aims at turning a world of dependent consumers into independent designers and producers.’
Video: Dr. Neil Gershenfeld presents his Fab Lab at TED.
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Dr. Gershenfeld in his own words articulates the problem of finding support amongst institutions and governments, stating that individuals are very enthusiastic about this revolution “but it breaks their organizational boundaries. In fact it is illegal for them, in many cases, to equip ordinary people to create rather than consume technology.”
This indeed not only encapsulates Dr. Gershenfeld’s dilemma, but describes to a “t” the mentality of oligarchs and the fears they harbor about empowering the people, a fear reflected in the “organizational boundaries” of their corporations and governmental institutions. This is a feature of oligarchy described as early as 300 B.C. in ancient Greece in “The Athenian Constitution.” In it, a character referred to as “the Old Oligarch” describes his contempt for the social mobility the technology of the Athenian navy affords the lower echelons of Athenian society.
Dr. Gershenfeld goes on to encapsulate the true potential of his Fab Labs by stating, “the other 5 billion people on the planet aren’t just technical “sinks,” they are “sources.” The real opportunity is to harness the inventive power of the world to locally design and produce solutions to local problems.” Dr. Gershenfeld concludes by conceding he thought such a possibility was 20 years off, but “it’s where we are today,” noting the success his Fab Labs are already having around the world.
Image: The interior of a “Fab Lab” in Amsterdam, featuring a array of personal manufacturing technology.
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Dr. Gershenfeld’s message resonates with the current culture of Thailand and the ambitions of the “self-sufficiency economy.” In many ways, Thailand’s patchwork of micro-businesses, already successfully by-passing capital intensive centralized production, vindicates the work and optimism of Dr. Gershenfeld. It also, however, resonates strongly with the self-reliant traditions that had made America great. The technical possibility for this to change the world is already a reality, but Dr. Gershenfeld himself concedes that the biggest obstacle is overcoming social engineering – in other words – creating a paradigm shift in the minds of the population to meet the technical paradigm shift that has already taken place.
Self-sufficiency and the harnessing of technology in the hands of the people are the greatest fears of the corporate-financier oligarchy – fears that oligarchs throughout the centuries have harbored. Simply boycotting multinational corporations and replacing them with local solutions is something everyone can afford to do starting today. And by simply looking into Dr. Neil Gershenfeld’s “Fab Lab,” similar ideas such as “hackerspaces,” raising awareness of the personal fabrication revolution, and even in the smallest way participating can help overcome the obstacle of social-engineering and spur a profound paradigm shift. We have begun to seize back the media, now it is time to seize back the other levers of power. Now is the time to recognize true freedom as being self-sufficient as a nation, as a community, and as a household, and start living it everyday.
AuntyUta 