Originally published at http://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/04/19/earth-abuse-and-next-pandemic
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Get ready folks, your Dr. Fauci and his friends in the Pharmaceutical Industry are going to require vaccinations once or twice a year.
From now on.
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Homo sap may have the capability to change its ways, but does it have the will? Methinks not. I listened to the various budget proposals from the Canadian federal government, about funding elder care, health care, child care, paid sick leaveâŠall things a true comity already provides. Things Indigenous communities provided in the past before the Invaders came. The Lakota word for such a group is tiopspaye.
We donât even have neighbors anymore in the old meaning of the word. I donât think weâll be able to do a 180 even to save some of our grandchildren. So weâll continue to abuse animals, women, children, GaiaâŠuntil the blowback seems to catch us by surprise. We have only one breed of turkey being raised, one or two breeds of cattle, one or two breeds of pigs. They go down, so does Big Agriculture.
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I donât think we can do a 180 either, but we might be able to become, all of us, ecologists - sort of like many of us are amateur weathermen (or is it weather people)).
A lot seems to depend on education, both formal and especially informal, do it yourself learning.
I started out as a geologist, but I then morphed into a planetologist, and then an exoplanet/astrobiologist, and who knows where it will end ?
When I look up at the daytime sky - I see weather patterns for sure - but I also see the atmosphere of a habitable planet - with its spectacularly important trace gases, and if one delves further, the atmosphere has a history too - just like people.
There was a time when the atmosphere was mostly carbon dioxide and methane, and the Sun was 25% or so less bright. Then along came oxygenic photosynthesis and the Great Oxygenation - also known as the Oxygen Holocaust, because it drove untold numbers of lifeforms to extinction or to hiding out from this most toxic and reactive gas.
Maybe we could refocus early education on themes like this - Earth Ecology - and compare t to the thousands of exoplanets we have already discovered, and whose atmospheres we will soon be able to characterize accurately.
The there is Europa, and Enceladus, and even Titan - possibly even the atmosphere of Venus, harboring phosphine - and upper atmospheric life ??
Maybe forward is our destiny - for better or worse ?
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People have a long history of hatred of both wolves and bats (werewolves and vampires). Following the established pattern of people; I see the bat being treated, even more, like the wolf of European and American history. These are the people that have colonized the planet. If, the planet does not spontaneously combust, I expect the bat will be reduced to a few controlled populations in zoos, museum exhibits, research facilities, and the history books.
People will destroy everything in pursuit of domination.
This is how people think. You can look it up.
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By letting the abuse happen, we are infact abusing the abuser. What has the abuser learned if we let the abuse continue.
What would Love do ?
talking about ecological limits without mentioning relentless human population growth (another billion in about 12 years, then anotherâŠ) shows the power and foolishness of party line thinking of both the left and right that refuse to face the limits on a finite planet for fear of offending some religious, ethnic, or racial zealots
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And coyotes, crows (and on and on and on)
Not sure if it is across the board âpeopleâ that hate and want to eradicate these creatures.
~https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/04/16/the-indefensible-violence-of-wildlife-killing-contests/
It would be helpful (?) to see the demographics of who participates in these killing contests . . . . who orchestrated the slaughter of the wolves recently in Wisconsin. I see a pattern . . .
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This is an excellent piece that outlines clearly, concisely in an accessible manner, how pandemics are linked to human behaviors, more specifically humanâs destruction of ecosystems----well done.
It did come as a surprise that Dr. Fauci co-authored the piece in the journal Cell that concludes with:
âCOVID-19 is among the most vivid wake-up calls in over a century. It should force us to begin to think in earnest and collectively about living in more thoughtful and creative harmony with nature, even as we plan for natureâs inevitable, and always unexpected, surprises.â
Iâve not heard Fauci mention this extremely important (critical) information in his countless briefing and interviews he has given and continues to give to the public.
Of course if people wonât even wear masks to protect each other from viruses, how are they going to take the message that human behaviors, are the cause of pandemics and thus we must drastically change said behaviors?
But that doesnât mean these facts should not be heralded loudly, clearly and repeatedly.
Based on what we are seeing with covid-19, too many humans clearly do not want to change their behaviors and are, in fact*, (*see articles linked below) giving a huge collective message of: âfuck you nature and fuck you who tell us there must be restrictions on our freedoms and rightsâ
Stan Cox writes (my bold): "Earth abuse is also at the root of the Covid-19 pandemic and the grim likelihood that new pathogens will continue to emerge from other animal species to infect humans."
âWhatâs good for the ecosphere is good for human health, and we are not helpless victims. Escaping ecological catastrophe and reducing the frequency of pandemics that might be lurking in the decades ahead is well within our capability, but it will require assiduous respect for ecological limits and great restraint in our interactions with nature.â
Unless Iâm missing something we are NOT seeing âgreat restraint in our interactions with natureâ -----we are seeing the opposite.
Ok . . . Stan Cox (or anyone?):
How can those of us who have minimal carbon footprint (vegan, donât fly, tiny home, donât do long distance travel, donât shop except for essentials etc.) and who have been activists feel like they can actually do something (and NOT be victims) about this news below?
This is huge, this is much bigger than individual action. And it is clear that our vote is not going to get us where we need to be in time . . . and reducing our carbon footprint is not going to help with this:
~https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/20/carbon-emissions-to-soar-in-2021-by-second-highest-rate-in-history
"The increase in emissions this year is set to be the second biggest in history, second only to the rebound from the financial crisis"
As an aside: What the hell is a âfinancial crisisâ REALLY?
The above article in The Guardian, along with countless others, make clear that a critical mass of power (countries) and people are choosing the path of acceleration toward collapse.
âCiting economic stimulus programs and a further easing of COVID-19 lockdown measures, OPEC said global oil demand was projected to grow 5.95 million bpd in 2021, compared with its 5.89 million bpd forecast in March.â
Apr 14, 2021,01:26pm EDT ~https://www.forbes.com/sites/gauravsharma/2021/04/14/oil-futures-rise-by-5-on-brighter-covid-vaccinations-outlook-chinese-data/?sh=101024081fbc
~https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/las-vegas-new-casinos-attractions-covid/index.html
~https://www.cnn.com/travel/specials/unlocking-the-world)
Las Vegas is set to come out of Covid-19 better than ever
~https://www.huffpost.com/entry/revenge-travel-future_l_6052b724c5b638881d29a416
âRevenge Travel: How to Prepare for Post-COVID Travel Boomâ
âNational Parks Are Getting Trashed During COVID-19, Endangering Surrounding Communitiesâ
~https://news.yahoo.com/national-parks-getting-trashed-during-191905825.html
Iâm seeing evidence of this all around me with ramped up shopping/spending, home remodeling, planning trips, buying new cars, trashing the parks, lakes, streams.
This is another very important question ----how many people are capable of love---- factoring in Maslowâs hierarchy of needs?
Iâm leaning more toward acceptance as a essential to love and this may be the answer to the question, âwhat would love doâ?
Accepting that we are on the path of destruction (itâs too late----it may really be too late) and not let bitterness eat us alive. Still doing what we can, where we can with compassion and empathy for all life.
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We are already in the second lockdown. Gaia has always already had us in lockdown.
Let me explain this ground breaking talk.
The Critical Zone is the small onion skin of the earth. It goes down a few miles into the earth and up a few miles up to the atmosphere. All life has always been in the critical zone. Humans are attacking the critical zone through production and waste.
If you put the critical zone around the glob, it is so thin that it disappears. If you look out the infinite universe in the sky it is probable that you are not realizing that you are in the critical zone depending on air, water, bacteria, virus (we have 350 trillion in our bodies), nor thinking about how much humans have done to the planet.
In this talk by a French polymath, Bruno Latour, he brings together many areas of science, social science and art with a way to picture the critical zone.
A series of concentric circles. The small inner one is Air, the next one is Soil, and on and on. On the outside of all the circles is the deep earth.
Thus we are already locked down in the critical zone. Are humans going to react, or continue the full speed ahead effort of de-civilization.
Bruno Latour has been working on these issues for 50 years and has outstanding collaborators from around the world. Here is his April 8, 2021 talk at McGill University in Canada. It was a zoom presentation and has closed captions, CC in the video.
Bruno Latour, âFrom One Lockdown to the Next: A Change in Cosmology.â
The video is available from the Y. P. Lin Center, McGill University
Note the term: Cosmology. Gaia changes everything.
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etc.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/-cide-cide
a learned borrowing from Latin meaning âkiller,â âact of killing,â used in the formation of compound words:
pesticide, homicide.
While it is obviously a disgusting read, a warning of the graphic images would be warranted. A picture is worth a thousand words. I was brought to tears and refused to read.
I offer a glimpse at the history being repeated.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_wolf#Decline
I agree with your sentiment.
The fact is âpeopleâ also implies all of us, as a group. We must all come to terms with each others behaviors and accept them as our own. Perhaps, when we arenât pointing fingers, we can have a grown up conversation about our issues and change ourselves.
The facts are we have situations to resolve. Many of us are doing our part but it is irrelevant to the facts that more is needed. We need everyone working towards the same goal, together. We need better leaders. Those of us that do, simply must do more.
If you want it done right, (or, at all, as the joke goes) you have to do it yourself.
Thank you.
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Yeah, booster shots.
If this were the movie âItâs a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Worldâ in the scene with the Beech model C-18S flying out of controlâ
Air traffic control tower staffer: âIf you can, give us your position. Who is flying the plane?â [Benji is at the controls] âWhat do you mean âwhoâs flying the planeâ? Nobodyâs flying the plane!â
âRancho Conejo air traffic controller (played by Jesse White) responds: âShoot it down, and get it over with.â
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Interestingly, there was only one species of mammal living on Las Malvinas (the Falkland Islands) at the time of European contact (late 1600s). This was the warrah, also known as the Falkland Islands Wolf. The warrah wasnât really a wolf at all; it was a large fox that weighed 20 to 25 kilos. As soon as British sheep herders began grazing their sheep on the islands, they set out to exterminate the warrah. The last one was killed in 1876. Itâs an interesting story, though of course it is further confirmation of the deep dis-ease, the psychosis, of the European mind-set. The question of how the warrah arrived on Las Islas Malvinas is a great evolutionary & ecological mystery.
The fifty- or sixty-year period between about 1870 and 1930 was a period of predator extermination all over the world. In addition to the warrah, several wolf subspecies were deliberately exterminated, including the Honshu wolf and the Hokkaido wolf of the Japanese archipelago, as well as several subspecies of North American wolf.
Added note: So weird, I didnât mention the thylacine. She was exterminated during this same time period. Thank you to Elcil for mentioning the thylacine. Sigh. What a cool animal.
^https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnT5vNE7LMI
^https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacine
^https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_wolf
^https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokkaido_wolf
^https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkland_Islands_wolf
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Just like your moniker.
Thank you for adding so much.
The name Ćkami (wolf) is derived from the Old Japanese öpö-kamĂŻ, meaning âgreat-spiritâ.[4] In the Shinto religion, wild animals were associated with the mountain spirit Yama-no-kami.[3]
I look forward to learning much more tomorrow morning.
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Extinction is our future.
Iâm sorry, should have given a warning about the images.
Thanks for your post.
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McGill - my first University !
Here is the link to the lecture I believe - and thank you for that !!
Bruno Latour, âFrom One Lockdown to the Next: A Change in Cosmology.â
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UptWBquPtiE
Eventually, but who knows - there are possibilities still in the offing.
@fern described the situation very succinctly I believe on another thread:
"It is the beginning of a new age, Aquarius, that is suppose to be a time of renaissance. I think it is like moving to a new location, we keep opening the wrong drawer for awhile."
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/04/20/dire-warning-iea-says-world-track-nearly-wipe-out-covid-related-emissions-drop
I have long had this little gem - and here is a chance to share it:
@Elcil @thylacine13 @Caroline @Hemp
Vyadh (The Story of the Hunter)
This is an excerpt, taken with the permission of the author, Vidyavachaspati Amaranath Shukla, from âThe Encyclopedia of Indian Mythologyâ (Subhkamma Publishers, New Delhi, 2002). According to the author, the original source of this episode is the Brahma Purana.
===========
Hunting is the livelihood of a hunter, by which he supports himself and his family. There was once a hunter who went into the forest to hunt. He spread his net to ensnare birds or animals. But on this day, up until sunset, no animal or bird was caught in it. He was about to roll up the net when a she-pigeon became trapped in it. Thinking that this was divine dispensation, he put the pigeon in the cage.
Then suddenly the weather changed. The sky became overcast; it started raining heavily and storming. The hunter was caught, trapped himself in the bad weather. He was hungry and completely drenched, shivering and grinding his teeth from the cold. What to do now, the children would be waiting for him at home.
He took shelter under a tree. By coincidence it was the very tree that was the home of the pigeon trapped in his cage. She had made her nest in that tree and her mate was waiting there for her to return. The she-pigeon recognized the tree and heard the cooing of her husband. She called out to her husband, "I am trapped in the cage of this hunter. But donât worry for me. He is a guest who has come to our door.
He is going to die due to hunger and cold. He is also worried that his children are hungry at home. His wife and children would be waiting for his return as you are waiting for me. It will be a sin if a guest dies due to hunger and cold at our door. He is our enemy but he is in a very miserable condition.
He has trapped me, but it is the outcome of my previous deeds which I will have to face. You must do your duty. Guests should be treated in the same way as the gods, and the forefathers. Hospitality toward the guest makes all happy and satiated.
He is not begging from us himself but it is our duty to look after him. Though he has harmed you by trapping your wife, yet he is our guest. I am happy that my life would be meaningful by offering myself to the hungry family of the hunter."
Hearing such words from his wife, the good spirit aroused in the mind of the pigeon. He set aside his own problems and sorrows, came down from the tree and said to the hunter. âYou are my guest. You are afflicted with cold and hunger; it is my duty to help you even at the cost of my life. Have patience while I make some arrangements for your relief.â
With that, the pigeon flew up into the sky and returned with a burning twig. He put the burning twig on a heap of dry leaves and it caught fire giving the hunter relief from the cold. So that he was no longer shivering with cold.
Then pigeon circled around the fire and said to the hunter, âO hunter, you have got relief from the cold, now satiate your hunger by eating my roasted meat.â And it immediately jumped into the fire.
The hunter was surprised and said, "Oh, you have sacrificed your life for me. I am a sinner who kills innocent birds and animals to fill my belly. Curses on me. "He opened the door of the cage to free the she-pigeon.
But the hunter was even more surprised when the she-pigeon said, âMy husband has sacrificed himself to satiate your hunger. This tree was our dwelling place. You took shelter under this tree to save yourself from the storm and the cold. In this way you became our guest. It is the duty of the host to look after and provide hospitality to the guest. My husband has performed his duty. You need not worry for us. It was predestined. Take the roasted meat of my husband. There is no use in my living without the husband. I will follow his path. Use my meat for your starving family.â And with that, she also leaped into the fire.
The hunter was stupefied. He had no time to resist or do anything. He folded his hands in gratitude. All of a sudden two fire fire-flames ascended high from the fire and flew into the sky.
The hunter abandoned his profession and took a pledge to bring up his family by good means and to perform the duty of a good host throughout his life.
The place where this incident occurred is known as âKapot Tirthâ (Pigeon-shrine) near the bank of the river Godvari.
- 30 -
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Web - I think this Zoom lecture from McGill is right in your zone ?
Bruno Latour, âFrom One Lockdown to the Next: A Change in Cosmology.â
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UptWBquPtiE
Iâm tired of chicken. Pigs are too cute.
Cow farts r killinâ us. Fish are plastic.
Insects. Iâve never liked bugs. Maybe I could learn.
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