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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

In response to the question posed at left, a reader remarks:  No, it makes you restless.

That’s a fine answer, and it’s true that a blind certainty provides better peace of mind than living in a constant state of doubt, searching for something that appears to be elusive.

There is another side to the coin however, in that science is the only method we have to get at the truth.

It’s not that science is always right; in fact, it would be more proper to say that it’s always wrong.   Think of how little of what we believed about the world 400 years ago we still hold true today.  And this is only likely to get worse in the future, as the pace of our investigations continues to increase.

That said, there is a certain comfort to knowing that we’re employing the only good tool for the job.

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

It would be interesting to know what percentage of religious people think according to the Hindu proverb at left.

To take a guess:

Of the Eastern religions like Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, and Jainism, it’s probably fairly high, possibly close to 100%.  Of the monotheistic belief systems of the West, it’s very close to zero.

That’s what makes the latter group so dangerous.  Not only are people from differing religions “other,” they’re wrong on the most important principle of our existence.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Question: In my recent post: Young People and the Environment, I noted that Primatologist Jane Goodall gives three reasons that she’s optimistic about Earth’s future.  One is the enthusiasm of young folks. What are the other two?

Answer: Can be found at Clean Energy Answers.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

The assertion at left is, of course, completely false.  If starvation cured disease, the poverty in places like central Africa would make these children among the healthiest on Earth.

So who’s creating and disseminating lies like this one?

And why?  What’s the satisfaction in making this planet an even more ignorant place than it’s ever been before?

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Uncategorized

The author of the piece at left makes an excellent point.  This is the first time in U.S. history that a rando multibillionaire stepped forward and began to make decisions that affect millions of American children.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

A couple of comments:

Fortunately, “thousands” is off by several (probably five) orders of magnitude.  There are approximately 2.3 billion people on this planet between the ages of 15 and 30.  If 10% of them are “stepping up” in any real sense, that’s 230 million.

Primatologist Jane Goodall gives three reasons that she’s optimistic about Earth’s future, and one is the enthusiasm of young folks.

While I hesitate to challenge people of Goodall’s stature, it’s hard to know what fraction of young people are actually concerned about and getting involved in environmental stewardship. In the United States we have, to my shock and horror, an entire class of youngsters who will be my age in 50 years, who really don’t seem to care that, in half a century at the rate we’re going, this planet will be a hellish place to live.

What’s truly disgusting is the significant levels of support we see for Trump among young people.  These are folks who stand behind “drill baby drill” and other slogans of propaganda of Big Oil and the far right.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

When I read the first sentence here, I guessed this kid was saving the ketchup packets to provide tiny bits of nutrition to hungry, homeless people.

I had forgotten what kids’ (and schoolteachers’) lives are really like nowadays, given the proliferation of weapons of war among the mentally ill.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

At left is something circulating on social media.  Apparently, you and I are the “evil” that Trump needs protection from, the “radical left.”

It’s true that we, the folks who believe in rule of law, environmental responsibility, and human rights, actually do represent a threat to Trump’s position of power, though sane people don’t think of us as evil.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Several people commented on the meme here to the effect that perhaps we’re not really intelligent.

I offer this: Humankind is plenty intelligent, but we have other characteristics that impede our capacity to use this intelligence to our benefit.  Greed, selfishness, tribalism, and an indifference to the well-being of others all conspire to create a civilization that features incredible amounts of suffering today, which can only amplify over the coming years.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

The United States is on an absolute frenzy to widen the wealth gap, and all the data suggests that the super-rich are being extremely successful in this endeavor.  Today’s CEOs are making 287 times more than their typical worker, where in 1965, that ratio was 21:1.  Almost all the new wealth that has entered the United States since the 1980s has gone to the top 1%.

As shown at left, Finland has an altogether different approach.  It appears that they have somehow averted the “greed-is-our-only-priority” thing and opted for a totally different sort of society.  This might not even be worth mentioning were it not for the fact that the Finnish people have wound up on top of the World Happiness Rankings for the last seven consecutive years.

Maybe being a nation led by selfish assholes is something we need to reconsider.

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