I agree, the left is a complete fail, too. Both parties have been complicit in creating a situation that is neither left nor right. It's class warfare, democracy sold to the highest bidder.
The culture wars were manufactured by the media to distract from the very real class war the rich just won. This is the best, most ckear eyed article I have seen describing how fucked we are. I don't see a good path forward, personally, but I will still hope for the best.
Yes, I'm still processing the horror of the election results. Who would have ever thought that the greatest country in the world is being taken over by a narcissistic sociopath? I took in all you said about the Amazon, beef, the turncoats at Cup of Joe, all of it. Brilliant. It's so brilliant that I'm a bit intimidated to respond with more than this. But putting the fear of God into us works. I'm behind you and can't wait for what else you have to say.
Hi Cindy, since writing this article, my father passed, so I have been slow to respond to your comment. Thank you, and don't be intimidated. I'm looking for answers, just like most of us. Often readers and comments lead me to new ideas. These articles are meant to be an exchange, not a lecture.
A minority of U.S. voters, encouraged by the antimedia forces you mention, gave world-ruining power to a person with zero ability to think of others or the earth. Young people who didn't vote or cast a protest vote for trump have lost hope. They can't imagine a world where climate change doesn't bring catastrophe. I'm not young, but I've lost hope, too.
Beef is NOT the problem. If we farmed sustainably and mimicked the carbon-sequestering actions of large herbivores, cattle could be a big part of the solution. See Allan Savory. My sister was able to use his theories to turn her organic dairy farm into a carbon sink (sequestering more carbon than the cows produced) and brought back an abundance of wildlife that hadn't been seen for decades.
Corporate media is unbelievably bad. Spending time with my mother who has CNN on all day, it makes me crazy. This election feels like we lost our last chance, but I will continue to fight.
Everything I've read about beef has been damning from methane emissions to deforestation. I'll try to check out Alan, but right now I have a family emergency on my hands. I may need a reminder!
We have extirpated some 50,000,000 bison from the Great Plains. They used to sequester immense amounts of carbon.
People like Alan Savory and Joel Salatin seek to use quick-rotation grazing to mimic the actions of the missing bison.
I ran a raw, organic, grazed goat micro-dairy for fifteen years. During that time, we rotated them through four paddocks on two acres of a ten acre field, a field that had been intensely hayed for decades without any returned nutrients or local animal involvement.
During that time we doubled the organic matter content (as measured in simple "shake tests") of our paddocks over that of the remaining eight "control" acres. That's farmer-talk for "carbon sequestration".
We operated our small farm as a net carbon sink. But think we could get any backing for that? I tried — all the so-called "carbon credits" that people gather when they use "responsible" airlines goes into suit pockets of the administrators first, then a pittance is paid out to huge, dubious "mega projects".
I've seen the future, and it is powered by current photosynthesis. I'm just not sure I see any humans in that future.
I get it. Our only hope is outside this country and by maneuvering around end-stage capitalism. Imagine how much of a difference Africans could make if these practices were taught to poor family farmers all over the continent. It will take a level of crisis we never want to experience, but we can never solve a problem such as this with the same thinking that created it
It only takes a quick google to find out that Alan Savory’s ‘science’ is complete BS. I’m sorry to say that even the most regenerative grazing practices would have to work in conjunction with a HUGE reduction in red meat intake. HUGE. Like, you’d get to eat hardly any.
I quit beef at least 15 years ago, and everything I know about beef points to it being the biggest agricultural problem from methane emissions and deforestation. I have a special folder for people like Alan. Grasslands do not replace forests.
On this point: “Reality is the Earth and her limits that we have now exceeded to the precipice of human extinction”…sometimes I think that we humans deserve extinction. Our stupidity outpaces our compassion and comprehension. The problem is that in racing towards our own extinction, we are taking the rest of the planet down with us.
Sometimes I think we deserve extinction, too, but that seems too sweeping. Industrial white societies bear most of the blame. The planet will go on, but the species we most admire and should be care taking will succumb with us which is incredibly sad to me.
Thank you Geoffrey! Yes, we need to stand as in Solidarność, arms linked across the land, in defiance of Evil. On the back of a dime, the bundle of sticks: united we stand. Remember the original: "When in the course of human events..." the unwelcome necessity of resistance or if necessary, turning the bucket over... We stand together or lose everything.
This kind of writing was never my original intent. I'm still figuring it out, but there is no hope for humanity without resistance now. Sadly, where resistance could be most effective is corrupt. The worst contributors to this crisis, and the ones who could actually make a profound change, refuse to do so. I know you know this. Confronting it is a serious and probably losing task, but I prefer to be on the right side of a dying cause, and faintly hoping I am proven wrong.
Geoff: You have such a command of writing and the English language that censorship or harm to you and your Sane Thoughts for Insane Times substack articles would be very unsettling for us readers! It's frightening to think freedom of expression could be taken away more than it currently is by the control of the wealthy. Thank you for your thoughts.
Thank for the kind words. They’re all built on the work of others. I never forget that fact. Reality is threatened by many forces right now and I doubt that much of the public understands that.
It is my opinion (having taught college for 24 years) that critical thinking cannot be taught.
Can a person who is capable of critical thinking be steered off track and become a willfully ignorant jerk? Absolutely.
But for those (and they are many) who do not have the innate cognitive resources to think in a clear and critical scientific manner, no amount of instruction will produce the desired effect.
Teachers are expected to overcome too much. This society doesn’t inculcate a love for reading and excitement for learning when kids are young. Reading to children is essential. My father was also a college educator. The state of freshmen was often deplorable. Teachers can’t be expected to fix snowballing problems at the root of society.
It’s so completely gratifying to hear you say “out loud” the precise contents of my mind. Now when I’m at pains to share with friends everything that has been weighing me down and filling my brain and heart, I can just have them read this perfectly expressed article!
The bad news is exactly as you say. I am another Normal Joe who writes Substack essays (98 so far), but between the impending financialization of Substack (I don't even try for paid subscribers) and the ease with which even the tiniest of voices can be silenced (imprisoned?), I suspect my efforts will soon be shut down.
The 'good' news is that the people who really could transform the landscape don't even know folks like you and me exist and probably wouldn't understand a word of what we write. But their 'evolutionary instincts' for stability, predictability and connection are reawakening, even if they don't recognize it. But 'soon,' when industrial civilization collapses, a few of them will step up and demonstrate our species' adaptability. Most of these people are among the un/minimally contacted in areas like the Amazon, Pacific Islands, etc. The USAians with a chance are those with basic survival skills.
I share your concern for the dangers of speaking out. Dictators such as Pinochet sometime bring the hammer down on the peasants first to instill fear in the populace and the plug on platforms like this could be pulled. Organizing people locally with diverse skills is essential. You're right, people who live the simplest lives have the best chance of survival in terms of their knowledge, but with increasing heat and more severe weather and agricultural conditions will struggle, too.
As usual, I thoroughly enjoy reading your enlightened thoughts. Speaking of media control, I wonder if the fascists plan to attack the internet with more price controls and censorship.
My good luck to speak here, all of our ability for free and fair expression on the internet is in jeopardy. It always has been and always will be. The advent of the printing press didn't set truth free, and obviously the promise of the internet didn't either. Human behavior is human behavior, a few always learning, but most falling well short of wisdom. It's profoundly disappointing. Thank you for your comment.
You forgot one important detail. There’s 8 billion of us on the planet all aspiring to consume like Ken and Barbie. Two child limit for every married couple on the planet. No child limit for the unwed. Screw conservatives promoting drill, drill, drill to have more rich kids as well as liberal hand out guvment money for as many poor kids as you can pop-out politics. If China practiced sustainability -minded population management (and somewhat still does it), the world can as well.
Overpopulation is a huge problem. So is overconsumption, as you point out, and I would add longevity. Overconsumption particularly riles me — corporations use every dirty trick in the book to keep people buying unnecessary products designed to be obsolete and unfixable in a matter of months. Fast fashion and electronic waste are smothering the poorest nations that are desperate enough to take our trash. Perhaps fast fashion is the current poster child.
This is dreary, but a population crash IS coming. Droughts, floods and changing weather patterns are already taking a toll on agriculture. Wet bulb temperature deaths are rising. Add the nearing decline of economically viable oil, which determines everything from inflation to supply chains, and it's easy to see the writing on the wall. The corporate overlords will keep this going until the system suffers complete collapse.
The industrial age has been a bubble, and we have no plan.
A triumvirate is required, then. Population control. Health care reform. And consumption management. Don’t avoid mentioning the first two for fear of cancellation and you’ll be on better geo-ethical ground. Thanks for the reply.
Have a look at my articles when you get time. I suggest that you start with the first one, Rebirth of Reason. Renaissance 2.0 is a Global Project Plan, and Rebirth of Reason is the beginning. I looked at your Degrowth article and think it is very relevant. We can make a difference! I am looking forward to your comments.
One addition. I should have written that it’s not just getting us rare thinkers about what to do to think together, but for all those like you, who are convinced of how dire things are, to get exposed to and hopefully helpful with thinking about the best we could do to deal with the mess we are in.
I'm with you Geoffrey, trying my best to devote more time to writing about Reality & Sanity. It's been a lifelong pursuit for me. Here is my latest for those who are inclined to the deeper psychological reasons for our plight. https://iamtsebastian.substack.com/p/americas-collective-shadow-climbs?r=36ewx
Yes, absolute agreement, our psychology is the root of our trouble. Read your article and restacked.
Now do the Left.
I agree, the left is a complete fail, too. Both parties have been complicit in creating a situation that is neither left nor right. It's class warfare, democracy sold to the highest bidder.
The culture wars were manufactured by the media to distract from the very real class war the rich just won. This is the best, most ckear eyed article I have seen describing how fucked we are. I don't see a good path forward, personally, but I will still hope for the best.
Absolutely right, it's always class warfare in one guise or another. And thank you, I work hard at this.
Yes, I'm still processing the horror of the election results. Who would have ever thought that the greatest country in the world is being taken over by a narcissistic sociopath? I took in all you said about the Amazon, beef, the turncoats at Cup of Joe, all of it. Brilliant. It's so brilliant that I'm a bit intimidated to respond with more than this. But putting the fear of God into us works. I'm behind you and can't wait for what else you have to say.
Hi Cindy, since writing this article, my father passed, so I have been slow to respond to your comment. Thank you, and don't be intimidated. I'm looking for answers, just like most of us. Often readers and comments lead me to new ideas. These articles are meant to be an exchange, not a lecture.
Thank you, Ante. December between the death and the holidays looks limited, but after the 1st I should be getting back to normal.
A minority of U.S. voters, encouraged by the antimedia forces you mention, gave world-ruining power to a person with zero ability to think of others or the earth. Young people who didn't vote or cast a protest vote for trump have lost hope. They can't imagine a world where climate change doesn't bring catastrophe. I'm not young, but I've lost hope, too.
Beef is NOT the problem. If we farmed sustainably and mimicked the carbon-sequestering actions of large herbivores, cattle could be a big part of the solution. See Allan Savory. My sister was able to use his theories to turn her organic dairy farm into a carbon sink (sequestering more carbon than the cows produced) and brought back an abundance of wildlife that hadn't been seen for decades.
Corporate media is unbelievably bad. Spending time with my mother who has CNN on all day, it makes me crazy. This election feels like we lost our last chance, but I will continue to fight.
Everything I've read about beef has been damning from methane emissions to deforestation. I'll try to check out Alan, but right now I have a family emergency on my hands. I may need a reminder!
Good luck with your emergency
We have extirpated some 50,000,000 bison from the Great Plains. They used to sequester immense amounts of carbon.
People like Alan Savory and Joel Salatin seek to use quick-rotation grazing to mimic the actions of the missing bison.
I ran a raw, organic, grazed goat micro-dairy for fifteen years. During that time, we rotated them through four paddocks on two acres of a ten acre field, a field that had been intensely hayed for decades without any returned nutrients or local animal involvement.
During that time we doubled the organic matter content (as measured in simple "shake tests") of our paddocks over that of the remaining eight "control" acres. That's farmer-talk for "carbon sequestration".
We operated our small farm as a net carbon sink. But think we could get any backing for that? I tried — all the so-called "carbon credits" that people gather when they use "responsible" airlines goes into suit pockets of the administrators first, then a pittance is paid out to huge, dubious "mega projects".
I've seen the future, and it is powered by current photosynthesis. I'm just not sure I see any humans in that future.
1 .
I get it. Our only hope is outside this country and by maneuvering around end-stage capitalism. Imagine how much of a difference Africans could make if these practices were taught to poor family farmers all over the continent. It will take a level of crisis we never want to experience, but we can never solve a problem such as this with the same thinking that created it
It only takes a quick google to find out that Alan Savory’s ‘science’ is complete BS. I’m sorry to say that even the most regenerative grazing practices would have to work in conjunction with a HUGE reduction in red meat intake. HUGE. Like, you’d get to eat hardly any.
I quit beef at least 15 years ago, and everything I know about beef points to it being the biggest agricultural problem from methane emissions and deforestation. I have a special folder for people like Alan. Grasslands do not replace forests.
Awesome article. Thank you! Subscribed!
On this point: “Reality is the Earth and her limits that we have now exceeded to the precipice of human extinction”…sometimes I think that we humans deserve extinction. Our stupidity outpaces our compassion and comprehension. The problem is that in racing towards our own extinction, we are taking the rest of the planet down with us.
Sometimes I think we deserve extinction, too, but that seems too sweeping. Industrial white societies bear most of the blame. The planet will go on, but the species we most admire and should be care taking will succumb with us which is incredibly sad to me.
Thank you Geoffrey! Yes, we need to stand as in Solidarność, arms linked across the land, in defiance of Evil. On the back of a dime, the bundle of sticks: united we stand. Remember the original: "When in the course of human events..." the unwelcome necessity of resistance or if necessary, turning the bucket over... We stand together or lose everything.
This kind of writing was never my original intent. I'm still figuring it out, but there is no hope for humanity without resistance now. Sadly, where resistance could be most effective is corrupt. The worst contributors to this crisis, and the ones who could actually make a profound change, refuse to do so. I know you know this. Confronting it is a serious and probably losing task, but I prefer to be on the right side of a dying cause, and faintly hoping I am proven wrong.
Geoff: You have such a command of writing and the English language that censorship or harm to you and your Sane Thoughts for Insane Times substack articles would be very unsettling for us readers! It's frightening to think freedom of expression could be taken away more than it currently is by the control of the wealthy. Thank you for your thoughts.
.
Thank for the kind words. They’re all built on the work of others. I never forget that fact. Reality is threatened by many forces right now and I doubt that much of the public understands that.
It is my opinion (having taught college for 24 years) that critical thinking cannot be taught.
Can a person who is capable of critical thinking be steered off track and become a willfully ignorant jerk? Absolutely.
But for those (and they are many) who do not have the innate cognitive resources to think in a clear and critical scientific manner, no amount of instruction will produce the desired effect.
Teachers are expected to overcome too much. This society doesn’t inculcate a love for reading and excitement for learning when kids are young. Reading to children is essential. My father was also a college educator. The state of freshmen was often deplorable. Teachers can’t be expected to fix snowballing problems at the root of society.
Geoffrey,
It’s so completely gratifying to hear you say “out loud” the precise contents of my mind. Now when I’m at pains to share with friends everything that has been weighing me down and filling my brain and heart, I can just have them read this perfectly expressed article!
I’m grateful for you.
How wonderful to hear, thank you! That’s exactly one of the things I hope my work does. It’s only as good as it carried forward.
The bad news is exactly as you say. I am another Normal Joe who writes Substack essays (98 so far), but between the impending financialization of Substack (I don't even try for paid subscribers) and the ease with which even the tiniest of voices can be silenced (imprisoned?), I suspect my efforts will soon be shut down.
The 'good' news is that the people who really could transform the landscape don't even know folks like you and me exist and probably wouldn't understand a word of what we write. But their 'evolutionary instincts' for stability, predictability and connection are reawakening, even if they don't recognize it. But 'soon,' when industrial civilization collapses, a few of them will step up and demonstrate our species' adaptability. Most of these people are among the un/minimally contacted in areas like the Amazon, Pacific Islands, etc. The USAians with a chance are those with basic survival skills.
I share your concern for the dangers of speaking out. Dictators such as Pinochet sometime bring the hammer down on the peasants first to instill fear in the populace and the plug on platforms like this could be pulled. Organizing people locally with diverse skills is essential. You're right, people who live the simplest lives have the best chance of survival in terms of their knowledge, but with increasing heat and more severe weather and agricultural conditions will struggle, too.
As usual, I thoroughly enjoy reading your enlightened thoughts. Speaking of media control, I wonder if the fascists plan to attack the internet with more price controls and censorship.
My good luck to speak here, all of our ability for free and fair expression on the internet is in jeopardy. It always has been and always will be. The advent of the printing press didn't set truth free, and obviously the promise of the internet didn't either. Human behavior is human behavior, a few always learning, but most falling well short of wisdom. It's profoundly disappointing. Thank you for your comment.
The more MAGA we befriend the more will defect if they have support.
I hope for that. As they feel the pain, some may double down, but some may become more reachable.
You forgot one important detail. There’s 8 billion of us on the planet all aspiring to consume like Ken and Barbie. Two child limit for every married couple on the planet. No child limit for the unwed. Screw conservatives promoting drill, drill, drill to have more rich kids as well as liberal hand out guvment money for as many poor kids as you can pop-out politics. If China practiced sustainability -minded population management (and somewhat still does it), the world can as well.
Overpopulation is a huge problem. So is overconsumption, as you point out, and I would add longevity. Overconsumption particularly riles me — corporations use every dirty trick in the book to keep people buying unnecessary products designed to be obsolete and unfixable in a matter of months. Fast fashion and electronic waste are smothering the poorest nations that are desperate enough to take our trash. Perhaps fast fashion is the current poster child.
This is dreary, but a population crash IS coming. Droughts, floods and changing weather patterns are already taking a toll on agriculture. Wet bulb temperature deaths are rising. Add the nearing decline of economically viable oil, which determines everything from inflation to supply chains, and it's easy to see the writing on the wall. The corporate overlords will keep this going until the system suffers complete collapse.
The industrial age has been a bubble, and we have no plan.
A triumvirate is required, then. Population control. Health care reform. And consumption management. Don’t avoid mentioning the first two for fear of cancellation and you’ll be on better geo-ethical ground. Thanks for the reply.
Geoffrey,
I am sorry about your loss; my condolences.
Have a look at my articles when you get time. I suggest that you start with the first one, Rebirth of Reason. Renaissance 2.0 is a Global Project Plan, and Rebirth of Reason is the beginning. I looked at your Degrowth article and think it is very relevant. We can make a difference! I am looking forward to your comments.
Thank you. December is looking like a wipe out, but I'll be back strong after the 1st.
One addition. I should have written that it’s not just getting us rare thinkers about what to do to think together, but for all those like you, who are convinced of how dire things are, to get exposed to and hopefully helpful with thinking about the best we could do to deal with the mess we are in.