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Dying of Consumption While Guzzling Snake Oil: The Environment Crisis Requires Overhauling Our Corporate Industrial Civilization

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#1

Dying of Consumption While Guzzling Snake Oil: The Environment Crisis Requires Overhauling Our Corporate Industrial Civilization

Kristine Mattis

We’re an egoistical, delusional lot, us humans. We’re the only species on the planet who despoils its own life support system and who does not live within biological limits. Does that make us the most intelligent or least intelligent species?

Charlatan academics, ecomodernists, and tech giants would have you believe that we are living in the greatest era known to man and that our human intelligence and innovation—particularly of the technological sort—will carry us through these perilous ecological times.

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#3

The goal of comfort, longevity and health have long been subplnated by greed as the motive for innovation.

It is not just the third world arrivals to America that find revulsion in the excess, but those truly connected to mother everywhere that have been retching for the past one hundred and fifty years.

Those who had been around the original kerosene lamp and have suffered profoundly from the fumes, had been marginalized for being the canaries in the coal mine. That is where the descent began.

The psyche that cannot see our privileged position in the universe and uses any innate intelligence for narcissistic self enrichment is the true genocidal maniac. This malaise is not limited by culture, race or gender. The media has done a supernova- esque job of reducing the amygdala and ensuring the demise of civilization.

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#5

I support the writer’s contention that a major shift in values must occur to remedy our problems. That is a no-brainer, as it is undeniable that the ‘values’ in power for many decades are well documented to be the major cause of many serious issues. These corrupted values pervade the capitalist economic/political order, and, they pervade the society that successfully teaches so many to blindly follow traditions of unexamined, socially dysfunctional conformity. Connect the dots!
Let us make great efforts to point out that structural system change is a necessity, because the values in our dominating system cannot be slightly modified and resolve our problems.
Key targets - justice system (made by Romans, inherited and weaponized by wealthy elites), monetary/economic system (a secretive, all-powerful weapon against equality, living wages and democracy), political structures (inherently anti democratic, secretive and unaccountable), and the MIC, with its vast power and unrestrained tendencies to fraudulent aggression.
Yup, dying of consumption and ignorance of the actual nature of our predicament leads to endless misdirected ‘fixes’ that do not cure the illness at all. Isn’t that cultured superstition?

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#6

Another root cause is planned obsolesence and designed in failure. Time was TV shops used to be everywhere where one could take in a Television to get repaired. My parents first Television was used for 18 years before it was no longer worth fixing and that final failure was due to a lightning strike coming down the rooftop attennae and frying the insides.

Today companies that make these things will not even issue schematics let alone sell the parts and the things are designed so as to make it next to impossible to remove a failing component. When they fail they are tossed and failure is built into the design. Added to that legislation allows them to stop supporting older product earlier and earlier meaning something more then a handful of years old will not even have parts made available should someone want to repair it.

Henry Ford had the concept of the Model T where all the models would be the same making them easy to repair and fix as a part from one would work on the other. Chevrolet came on the scene and saw there more money in making vehicles that had unique parts and that were always replaced with “newer models” so as to encourage more purchases.

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#8

Pretty much what i logged in to write, thanks Tom. Great article, connects a lot of dots, but Mattis entirely omits a critique of capitalists and their exercise of power. Capital will escalate the exercise of power stupendously to protect its position, if we begin to effectively withdraw en masse as “consumers.” Which we should certainly do, but with awareness of the powerful social and economic forces that will oppose us.

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#9

i’m still using the decades-old Vitamixer Maxi-4000 blender i inherited from my mother. Have had it repaired twice, contacted the company and they still proudly support all their old products. A total anomaly as a for-profit corporation. The toaster i grew up with lasted for decades. Today’s toasters last a couple years. Planned obsolescence should be a crime.

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#11

When books about murder by chemicals where immensely popular, millions of chemicals were being created by humans. Many of these were created for no other reason than that they could be.

Many were created with the full knowledge of their toxicity, and many were created without full knowledge about the extent of the possible damage even if their toxicity was known.

Those of us who protested in any fashion were immediately sidelined and mushroomed.

#12

I try to make things last a minimum of five years, with full knowledge about how the objects I buy are designed.

My car has 225 000 miles on it,It is easily capable of another 200k. I am now able to afford an electric car which I will purchase within a month. I have offered my car to many of my karaoke buddies who are without a vehicle when they have needed one. I donot intend to dispense of it.

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#13

for those of us who have labored for years with a heavy conscience under the system that barely lets us breathe, this article, although welcome, may give rise to the told you so anger.

Legitimization of this view point is critical. I am afraid of such items being relegated to the echo chamber.

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#14

But the worst is that this planned obsolescence doesn’t stop with products… evil Disneyland was blocked for their awfulness. The IT people in Florida Disney were told they had to train people from other nations to do their Disney jobs. They were told not to tell or they could lose pensions…who knew that Cruella Da Ville had taken over Disney. Fortunately, employees did talk and the Disney plot was foiled … but isn’t this the worst sadness ----when Employees are subject to Planned Obsolescence just like products are too : (

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#15

The biggest crime disney commits is the number of items it creates for its parks and merchandise that do not last even a year. These are bound for the landfill even before they are out of the manufacturing plant.

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#17

Exactly! I really think this is an important enough issue it needs to be built into a progressive platform as much as some of the other major planks (peace, health care, education, etc.). What we really need is an entire rethink on what is possible in terms of regulation and taxation to get to a different consumer world. I desperately want the type of world where if my toaster breaks (as it did recently), I can do some basic diagnostics and replace parts as needed. I want as many parts as possible standardized and available at the hardware store, I want electronics to be slightly bulkier but filled with daughter boards that can be shown to be at fault and replaced (I’m not looking to solder an individual capacitor though I know many who will go that far). There is so much improvement we can do to make life SO much better for the typical consumer, it really isn’t funny. Yet we rarely hear from our politicians on this issue.

Also with regard to composting mentioned in the story, this is another area we need regulation. We need EVERY single disposable fork, plate, napkin, fast food container, etc. to be biodegradable and you can always throw it all in the “green” bin along with yard waste. For something not to go in the green bin, it needs to be painfully obvious (no recyclables, no e-waste, etc.).

I understand that consumer drive - I have some of it myself, sometimes I want the new better thing in a particular area. But more often then not, I just want to keep all the stuff I have working, and not have to go to through some heroics just to fix a basic item like a toilet or a bad battery in a phone. More regulation!

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#18

Unfortunately few if any cons or other ignorant people will read this, the ones who need to. She is preaching to the choir.

Polls show that most people would pay more for a healthy environment. Politicians and a conservative money-power minority stand in the way. Only democracy, direct and decentralized, can devolve the power to the 99%.

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#19

Just imagine if you had access to information from a more evolved society who lived on a planet similar to Earth and they went through exactly the same prediciments as we do .How did they survive and thrive with all the asscociated problems stated above in this excellent article .

We are not without HELP …In the book Awaken The Species ,we have been given 16 differences between Highly Evolved Being’s and our primitive race called humanity,the toddlers of the universe really. This is not an excuse for us we have to take resonsibility for where we are ,this is our burninig building moment.

#20

The beings that create all this hazerdous stuff the stuff of nightmares are still asleep. They have to WAKE UP.

#21

16 Differences Between Highly Evolved Beings (HEBs) and Humans Living in an Unawakened State

In Conversations with God-Book 4: Awaken the Species we are told that there are Highly Evolved Beings who live in another dimension in our universe who are assisting human civilization in its evolutionary process. When asked, “What is the difference in their behaviors and those of humans?”, God replied. “I can give you a list of them.” Here, from the text, is that list. These are the common behaviors of Highly Evolved Beings, as compared to the behaviors of those humans who are living in an unawakened state.

  1. An awakened species sees the Unity of All Life and lives into it. Humans in an unawakened state often deny it or ignore it.

  2. An awakened species tells the truth, always. Humans in an unawakened state too often lie, to themselves as well as others.

  3. An awakened species says one thing and will do what they say. Humans in an unawakened state often say one thing and do another.

  4. An awakened species, having seen and acknowledged what is so, will always do what works. Humans in an unawakened state often do the opposite.

  5. An awakened species does not embrace a principle in its civilization that correlates with the concepts that humans refer to as “justice” and “punishment.”

  6. An awakened species does not embrace a principle in its civilization that correlates with the concept that humans refer to as “insufficiency”

  7. An awakened species does not embrace a principle in its civilization that correlates with the concept that humans refer to as “ownership.”

  8. An awakened species shares everything with everyone all the time. Humans in an unawakened state often do not, only sharing with others in limited circumstances.

  9. An awakened species creates a balance between technology and cosmology; between machines and nature. Humans in an unawakened state often do not.

  10. An awakened species would never under any circumstances terminate the current physical expression of another sentient being unless asked directly by that other being to do so. Humans in an unawakened state often kill other humans without that other human requesting them to.

  11. An awakened species would never do anything that could potentially damage or harm the physical environment that supports the members of the species when they are physicalized. Humans in an unawakened state often do so.

  12. An awakened species never poisons itself. Humans in an unawakened state often do so.

  13. An awakened species never competes. Humans in an unawakened state are often in competition with each other.

  14. An awakened species is clear that it needs nothing. Humans in an unawakened state often create a need-based experience.

  15. An awakened species experiences and expresses unconditional love for everyone. Humans in an unawakened state often cannot imagine even a Deity who does this, much less do they do it themselves.

  16. An awakened species has harnessed the power of metaphysics. Humans in an unawakened state often largely ignore it.

=================================

(Each item on the above list is fully explained in the text of CWG-Book 4: Awaken the Species.)

Asked if we might have just a brief example of what is meant by Item #4 , the dialogue offers this, in God’s voice:

If your objective is to live a life of peace, joy, and love, violence does not work. This has already been demonstrated.

Tell the last sentance to the makers of war who get to kill with impunity, including children as we have recently seen in Yemen ,its time to Wake Up and stop all this insane behaviour before we end the planets ability to support humanitys existense.

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#22

The technology of the 21st century far, far, surpasses, in it’s over all impact, the comprehension of the users. Civilization’s tools have evolved much faster than society has.

#24

There is a saying in the cosmos ,eternal life brings eternal peace.
Humans on the other hand perceive life as a once off , trying to get all they can in a limited time span.
Get out off your mind and into your Soul.

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#25

Thank you Kristine Mattis, you are verging on the approach of a medical style social doctor examining the health of Earth and humanity.

Push on a bit, round out the symptoms and look for a cure. Survival is not assured. Note that every representative democracy on Earth is struggling to accelerate their economy to full throttle growth and more jobs. Imagine every person on Earth with a full-time job making plastic fantastics; Humans die out sooner than later.

So what kind of government should we create to replace representative democracies that represent capital growth instead of living human beings?

Maybe six or seven branches? With a seventh autonomous branch that focuses distributed intelligence and is safely outside formal government? Another branch to adjust prices to match environmental damage so money actually measures something? Kilocalorie based money in the metric system? A branch to inspect legislative output for justice? A branch for ensuring accurate press and school texts?

How do we actually get there and survive? Go for it with gusto; Think green. Live Green. And vote green. Vote for a candidate that might as well be green, if one is on the ballot. Otherwise, write in None of the Above.

Those who don’t vote because they see it doesn’t make much difference; change course. Register to vote by the tens of millions. Imagine tens of millions register as un enrolled non partisan and write in None of the Above if there is no green or might as well be green on the ballot.

Polls will be closed. Laws will be written to keep people from knowing what they did. Stand in long lines and discuss what the new government should look like. Six branches? Seven branches? No supreme court for life?

Cosmic powered biology manifest as human can focus distributed intelligence and find a probably simple solution that no existing government is looking for and no group or individual can see alone. We have the tools. Register by the tens of millions and discuss it all in the lines old governments create to discourage the vote.

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#26

Any chance you could give us curious readers a list of all the stuff you have that makes you so happy. Thanks.