Once a country is habituated to liars, it takes generations to bring the truth back. -Gore Vidal, writer (3 Oct 1925-2012)
Well, that’s not exactly cheery news, is it?
In any case, I wouldn’t say that the United States is “habituated to liars.” Rather, about 40% of its population have cognitive biases, rooted in hate and fear, which are so powerful that these folks have trouble distinguishing truth from fiction.
We have a president who makes gaffes.
We do not have a president who stole classified documents (including nuclear secrets) and tried to overthrow the U.S. government.
Speaking strictly for myself, I can live with that.
No one who understands the subject doubts that the growth of renewables is a good thing. Yet the eight billion people on this planet right now are increasingly hungry for energy, and most of them live in areas where their electricity comes almost exclusively from fossil fuels.
India is the best example. Above we see how its 1.41 billion people, especially those in the northeastern part of the country, have ramped up their energy use in the last nine years alone, most of this increase coming from new coal-fired power plants.
It is for this reason that we are forced into a single imperative here is the technologically advanced world: we either create a solution to decarbonizing our energy and export to the developing world, or we are all doomed to suffer the ravages of climate change.
This, by the way, is why nuclear energy must be an important part of the global grid-mix; there is no way to ramp solar and wind in time to avert catastrophe. Unfortunately, too many people who self-identify as environmentalists don’t get this.
Many of us had trouble with the concepts of heaven and hell since we were three or four years old. Is it plausible that a loving God sent the souls of everyone who lived before the resurrection of Christ, or those whose birthplace meant their complete ignorance of Christ, to suffer eternal torture?
My advice if I may offer it: Think for yourself.
Anyone looking for a little inspiration may find it in this work from Joan Baez calling for justice for Iranian women. Brings tears to my eyes.
Based on the lives of many artists, of which Baez is just one, those who think artists don’t matter in the trajectory of our society should reconsider their positions.
At a conference on sustainability a few years ago I learned that, on average, a cordless drill is used for nine minutes between the time it comes off the shelf at the hardware store until finds its way into a landfill.
That’s just sickening. Especially so, when we consider how easy it is to slow down the wasteful consumption of our physical resources by offering all manner of consumer items in a library setting.
Here’s a good example of the appeal to hatred and indifference to human suffering that lies at the very core of the Republican Party platform.
Re: the piece at left, a reader notes: I love your optimism “should end his career” but … I would imagine such a suggestion is exactly the “solution” the “conservatives” have up their sleeve.
Exactly. Bitter and hateful statements always ended political careers …until they became the way the GOP conducts itself and appeals to its base of hateful, misogynistic idiots.
Here’s something to look forward to.
Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor from 161 to 180 CE, was an adherent of the Stoic philosophy, which I would summarize as valuing our limited time of Earth, and making ourselves the best people possible by focusing on long-term virtues rather than short-term pleasure.
What he wrote here couldn’t apply more directly to current-day American society. We seem to have lost our minds when it comes to virtues like compassion for others, reason, justice, and, above all, long-term sustainability.
