Jane Goodall’s Undying Optimism
From this:
Happy Birthday to the incomparable Dr. Jane Goodall! Today, we celebrate the 88th birthday of a changemaker who has inspired millions of people around the world to take action on behalf of the planet we share.
Dr. Goodall is indeed an inspiration, if only for her reason-guided and full-throated optimism. She is absolutely convinced that the commitment of young people, the pace of technology development, and the resilience of nature will team together to reverse the ecological damage we see all around us.
As an example of the last of these three ingredients, she points to the River Thames, which for decades was a toxic waste dump, but now is teeming with fish and other life forms. What did the British government do to make this happen? Nothing. They simply stopped releasing poisons into it.
This reversal really can happen.
We actually do have a few senators and representatives who seem to measure up to what Dr. King is looking for here, but they stand among a slim minority. American elections are driven by enormous sums of money that are donated to the campaigns of fundamentally dishonest people, who return political favors in exchange.
Here’s something from a local woman.
Thought I’d share the cartoon here, because it certainly does seem that this is what’s happening.
A reader answers the question above, followed by my comments in italics:
From Energy Analyst Robert Rapier:
The question here is remarkable in that it could have been posed at any time since humankind formed its first agrarian societies about 10,000 years ago, and that this concern has recently intensified with what has happened in Russia, China, Turkey, Brazil, Hungary, the Philippines, and, most recently of course, the United States.
This is a hot topic right now, and there are numerous perspectives. According to some jackass on Sunday morning news TV, that’s “up to the American people, and they don’t care.”
When I came across this meme on India’s roadways, I wrote: “Does this represent a legitimate path to sustainability, via a new use of waste plastic?”
