Aliens, UFOs and Me

From the title of this blog I'm sure some of you are expecting me to reveal my alien abduction experience in all it's horrifying and gruesome detail. How I was dragged from my bed one night by a pair of smelly, slimy little gray men and beamed aboard a giant mothership where I was poked and probed in unthinkable places by large bug-like creatures until I begged for mercy.

Well sorry but I can't reveal that because it's not true. At least I think it's not true. Of course I could be wrong, perhaps it did happen but all my memory of it has been erased...which would help explain some of the pains that I'm feeling lately in unthinkable places....then again maybe I'm just getting old and like Leonard Cohen said, "I ache in the places I used to play"....but forgive me, I digress.

The purpose of this post is not to talk about the crumbling condition of my mind or my body. It's actually to have a serious discussion about aliens,UFOs and ETs from all different parts of the galaxy and all possible dimensions of space and time.

I've never believed that we were the only intelligent life in the universe. First of all our degree of intelligence is debatable. I mean look around you. Do you see all the mess we have made of a once beautiful planet? Just the audacity of that idea itself is enough to call our intelligence into question. So yes, I believe there is intelligent life throughout all creation. And I do believe that these life forms have come to visit us both in the past and in the present and it is likely we will be seeing more of them in the future, maybe even up close and personal. In fact I would go so far as to say that there are likely some that have been walking among us for some time. I have long believed that cats are actually warm and fuzzy monitoring devices placed here by some alien intelligence to keep an eye on us humans.


The all seeing eye.

There have been so many spottings of UFOs that it's absurd to claim they don't exist. When I was about ten years old I remember sitting in our backyard on Long Island with my Dad and we were looking at the stars. Suddenly there was a huge flash followed by what looked like a green circular object appearing in the sky and rapidly expanding until the entire sky was a luminescent green. From where we were sitting it looked like something very large was very rapidly descending upon us. Then as it appeared to be dissipating we realized that we had just witnessed a huge explosion, one that had occurred far outside the atmosphere of the planet as it was not accompanied by any sound or shock wave. Later we turned on the nightly TV newscast to find out what it was that we had witnessed. They did indeed report on it and announced that that big green thing that we saw in the sky was nothing to be concerned about, it was simply a weather balloon...a weather balloon...A WEATHER BALLOON!!!??? That was no goddamn weather balloon! Anyone who would believe that could also believe that two airplanes caused three steel framed skyscrapers to collapse at free fall speed, in other words don't believe what you saw with your own eyes, only believe what you are told about it by the authorities, but oh I digress again. So this event stuck in my mind as a nagging mystery until a few years ago when I decided to google "Huge explosion over Long Island in 1967" and discovered a report of an extra terrestrial space battle that had occurred resulting in huge green flashes that were observed along the east coast. I wish I had saved that report because I just googled that again and can find no trace of that information now....hmmmm, interesting how things can be made to just disappear like that... Well anyway I find that a far more plausible explanation for what I had witnessed than a frickin weather balloon.

Other things I have seen include little fast moving orbs flicking back and forth between clouds and several years ago shortly after setting up an unusual energy device in my back yard I walked out one morning to find a HUGE cloudship over my house. Just a cloud? Maybe, but it sure looked and FELT like something more than just an unusual natural phenomena.

So I wish I could say that I have actually seen a very clear and obvious ET craft and some definitely identifiable aliens, but I can't do that honestly. However I did have the opportunity and great pleasure to meet someone this weekend who has been there and done that and she delivered a message that touched my heart and soul and that I think needs to be heard by everyone on this planet. Her name is Miriam Delicado. She appeared at the "Project Camelot Awake and Aware in LA" conference along with many other interesting and thought provoking speakers. You can actually watch this whole two day event here.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/2189565 (Sorry for some reason I can't get a live link inserted here. Please copy and paste.)
This link is part one of Miriam's talk but you can access all of the presentations from there. Miriam doesn't go into her story too much there because it was told in great detail in an interview that she did with Project Camelot last year. You can see it below.



Her story is also told in her book(which I am currently reading and can't wait to get back to as soon as I finish this blog), which is available at her website.
http://www.bluestarprophecy.com/


So please give a listen to what this honest and wise woman has to say. Even if you cannot go along with the alien stuff, her message is still of immense value.

I will end off with a quote from her website which sums up what it is that she is dedicating her life to and it is a concept to which I totally and wholeheartedly agree.

One voice, one people, one Earth. Be responsible and others will follow.
Remember who you are, we are all connected. Speak from your heart, speak clearly and together we will create the change we need in the world.

The Big Lie

It's ironic that people who seek the truth, who have acquired the nickname of "Truthers" should be villified as the most evil, dangerous,insane lunatics, anti-american scum of the earth, etc...I actually heard this today on "conservative" talk host's Michael Medved's national radio show! While he may be the most venomous towards the truthers he is by no means the only one. Virtually all the mainstream media mouthpieces be they liberal or conservative spout the same party line. And they must because what happened on 911 is the linchpin to the entire scenario that is unfolding in front of our eyes.(Or behind our backs!) The official story cannot be denied, for if it were allowed to be questioned then everything we have been so carefully taught to believe about this country and the world, falls apart. The official party line must be held no matter what the cost. George Orwell's got nothin' on these motherfuckers.

The truth is more than inconvenient. It's uncomfortable, it's painful and downright terrifying. And that's the point now isn't it my dears, we are all supposed to be terrified, but we are supposed to be terrified of those guys over there with the turbans and the beards and the dark complexions. Not the leaders of the greatest country on god's green earth, who always have our best interests in mind as they carry out ever more atrocious plans to kill and maim millions of innocent people as well as destroy the very earth itself. No they would never lie to you and anyone who doesn't believe that should head on down to room 101 for a bit of loving correction.

Here is the latest in a series of movies produced by people who seek the truth. It's long, you don't have to sit through the whole thing if you don't want. Just watch it until you break out in a cold sweat or feel sick to your stomach or maybe until you see your whole belief system collapse around, you just like those buildings did on 911.

War on Ourselves

Reading the article posted below did not make me feel good. Perhaps that's the point. Do we really have a right to feel good about ourselves as we merrily go about decimating the planet? As I feel my existential crisis kicking in again I am compelled to resort to poetry. The title, War on Ourselves is a phrase taken from the article.


I kill you, you kill me, this goes on for eternity
Violence and destruction is nothing new
You'ld think after all this time we would find a way to break free
by now our chances seem very few

Will we wake up before it's too late
While the planet is ravaged by our weapons of hate
Time's running out, god's patience depleted
our unchanging behavior too often repeated

If we could only find the courage to put the guns back on the shelves
and end this un-winnable war on ourselves.

No no no I've got to pay the rent
Many bills coming due
All the money got spent
I don't have time to think about
the damage being done
the world may go to hell
but I have nowhere to run
So I just have to keep playing the game
And pray that god doesn't find my excuses lame

I should have woken up long ago
I had plenty of chances
But I can never seem to get beyond
my circumstances
I need to find the resolve to put this game back on the shelf
and put an end to this unwinnable war on myself.




JUST GIVE US THE FACTS





By Rosalind Peterson
September 9, 2009
NewsWithViews.com

We find ourselves in the middle of crisis-driven facts and fiction. It is no longer the bare facts reported down the middle of the line by the media…it is now news opinions. Walter Cronkite was labeled “the most trusted man in America ” because he brought us, for the most part, unvarnished news reporting. And he trusted us to make our own decisions.

Now every event that is deemed “important” by the media is dissected, fought over, delivered with opinions from every side, even though there no “side” to take. The President gives a speech and no sooner has he completed his speech than the media varnishes what he said in great detail, telling us what we should think and what he really meant. And so it is with each significant or insignificant event…we, the people are not trusted to be given “just the facts” and allowed to make our own judgments. The media thinks we must be driven by the opinions of the media about what it really all means. Politicians work along the same lines with events and opinions. If you lie enough people believe it to be true especially when embellished with confusion.

If the media thinks you are cute, like ex-Governor Palin, she is resurrected with each media cycle which uses her statements and cuteness to sell advertising. If she was not cute, older, had lines in her face, squat, and didn’t wink at men, you would not see her at all in the media cycles. If the media thinks you are not electable or doesn’t like your views they use any method to delete you from the news…if they like you…every cycle, every picture on the media-news shows has a picture of you in the promos or on screen even when others are talking.

Today “Shock & Awe” is being practiced against all ocean life. Now a story that needs to be told on every major media news program is being ignored. The United States Navy has started live-fire and sonar warfare practice in the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Gulf of Mexico with more 5-year warfare programs waiting in the wings to be used on land areas and in the oceans surrounding the United States . These programs will decimate more than 11.7 million marine mammals over five years, according to U.S. Congressman Henry Waxman, and disrupt marine habitats, pollute our air and water with toxic chemicals, and blast our oceans and sea life into oblivion. It is “shock and awe” all over again except “the enemy” is our oceans and its inhabitants…our fish and our fishing industry…our ocean tourism industry…our air and water quality…human health is not even considered…as we are considered “expendable”.

KTVU Channel 2, Oakland/San Francisco, John Fowler, had the courage to cover this story. No other major television stations, large newspapers, or large radio stations will cover this story. It is not a cute story that will sell advertising or raise ratings. It means blowing the whistle on a current warfare testing expansion that will make everyone uncomfortable...war on ourselves. The new motto of the media is to ignore stories that they don’t want to tell even though they know the telling could save our oceans and millions of marine mammals from disaster.

With the exception of the NRDC taking action against the Navy, few environmental groups are making any effort to let the public know what is happening, preferring instead to send out cute animal pictures to raise money for their corporate coffers. The new motto of most environmental groups is to ignore sticky, uncomfortable subjects, even when an environmental disaster is eminent. Money has overridden ethics for many of these groups. Another environmental group motto, which has been around for years: “We only take on causes we can win”…thus ensuring that money is raised, without generating too much controversy, for their corporate headquarters.


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A wonderful teacher and a good friend wrote “Choices” in 2008, which we, the people, all need to make in the face of media and political fear mongering, opinion driven media, and a lack of reporting important news most of the time. I am sharing this with you because I believe that we, the people, can be trusted to make our own decisions and take a higher path. No one says it better.


CHOICES

Words are written, words are spoken, yet truth is laced half way, loose ends, which eventually force us to stumble and fall. Explanations handed out like warm taffy, a quick, gooey fix, a pacifier to keep us quiet for the moment. A sweet, empty treat, but without nourishment of truth, we will no doubt grow weak, unhealthy and controlled.

We are living in a world which we have created, which has ventured so far away from nature, I am afraid we can no longer turn back, find our way home, for all the poisonous bread crumbs we have scattered along our misguided way, have been consumed by the innocent creatures we have forced into extinction. The path is left empty, barren and contaminated. Lost our way, burned our bridges.

We praise yet fool ourselves into believing we are the most intelligent, most beautiful, most divine creatures upon this sick planet, all the while drifting so extremely far off our natural course. We have fouled and poisoned the very Mother that has given us birth, whom has asked nothing of us but to take care of Her, nurture Her and protect Her other natural children. She asks only for Her health and we deny Her plea.

Yet, we, Her children, with all our wisdom and technology mustered in the last 100 years, have harmed, have injured, have pushed our Mother Earth to the very brink of death. We have chosen our own vanity over stewardship. Our own selfish material desires over common, natural sense. Our own grotesque death by poisoning over a simpler life, filled with natural beauty and purity. Our Mother Earth has always offered us this avenue of health and clean environment, yet we have strayed so far, far away, we may never again be able to partake in Her offer.

Pesticide. Herbicide. Fungicide. Insecticide. Homicide. Genocide. Suicide. Which side are you on?

We find more artificial pleasure in the printed green of the dollar than we find from the pure green of a healthy forest glade. We seek a false joy from tiny electronic screens which pull us inward and isolate us. We are told we must own and possess these new inventions and that they will bring us happiness, until they breakdown or are stolen, then we rage against the manufacturer or seek revenge on the thief.

Why is it that we do not possess the same emotions when our fresh, clean air is stolen from our lungs and our waters become rivers of poison? Why is it that we do not possess these same emotions when our forests die before our stinging eyes or bees no longer pollinate our crops and disappear, to never return to their hives? Why do we not raise our voices in unison about these thefts from our natural world of life?

The joy of communications between human beings slips further away, denied within the confines of small, electronic gadgets. Our bodies and minds thirst for the exhilaration of our senses, to rejoice in a simple stroll along an ocean beach, breathe in deeply the fresh salt sea air, feel the cool sands caress our toes and be consumed by the powerful song of sea waves which engulfs our hearts and souls, far removed from the noise of ring tones and scattered, artificial songs, their isolation and separation from natural harmony quite apparent.

We have poisoned our Mother’s lungs, and in doing so, have poisoned our lungs and our children’s lungs. The very chemicals of our genius have become our doom. We must stop in our tracks and use our ingenuity to create a new path. The bread crumbs are gone. We can no longer turn back and hope to rebuild poisoned bridges which have rotted away from our ignorance and arrogance. But we can also not run forward in blind, reckless desire and greed for self-gratification.

We must ALL STOP! Put down the I-Pod, the Blackberry, the Cell phone. Turn off the computer, the TV, the SUV. We must stop and reflect - all of us; take time to truly reflect on what is important, set our priorities. Every adult must escape the ego and bring compassion and true care within their hearts for the children and the elderly, for they are the ones who need our help and strength. We do have a choice. We have always had a choice, and that choice has been the one pure truth of our intelligence and how we choose to use it.


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We must make a conscious choice to stop the activities which poison us, and our only home, The Earth. Plain and complex, not simple. And sometimes painful, but the pain which rises from our current path will be much more severe and eternal. Every adult must educate themselves and with that education, enlighten and energize and guide our children. The information is available, you just have to investigate and research. Read, learn, open your mind and find the truth about the chemicals that rule and control our lives. Find out who the corporations are that produce these poisons and demand their production be stopped immediately. Help find natural solutions. Eat, grow and promote organic foods and drinks. Advocate for solar, wind and hydro power. The technology has been present since the 1980’s for ALL of us to drive electric vehicles. Ask WHY we are not allowed that technology. Rise up and demand an end to fossil fuel addiction and the affordable creation of pollution free vehicles.

Demand that your domestic water supplies be tested for a variety of chemicals and heavy metals and demand the true data from those tests. Demand that our air quality be improved, that chemicals and poisons in the air be eliminated and the health of our world’s lungs, the Trees, our Forests, become a top priority.

Advocate for your human and environmental rights. Advocate for the Earth’s rights and advocate for the rights of all living beings on the planet to live and exist in a pure, safe and poison-free atmosphere.

We do have a choice. We have an obligation to the children we bring into this sick and unhealthy world to clean up our decades long mess. To stop the madness of self-destruction and begin the long, tough and painful journey forward. Education, clarity, truth and community, locally, nationally and globally. Our governments will not do it for us. Our multi-national corporations will not do it for us. The CEO’s of oil companies, pharmaceutical and chemical companies, and GMO companies will not assist us.

Without us, without our buying power and our weaknesses, these control corporations do not exist. We, The People, create the governments of the world, create the existence of chemical and pharmaceutical mega-giants. And We The People can and must rise up and demand that these companies either help us clean up our environment and restore the health to the planet or they must not be supported. Any corporate or government officials who do not work with us to restore and renew this planet must be boycotted and asked to leave office. This is beyond argument or discussion or negotiations.

Pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, genocide, suicide, homicide. The words ring of horrid truths of evil which penetrate our societies. We must bring a halt to the sicknesses which grip our beings and control our lives and the lives of the innocent, silent beings, whose only joy is to BE.

We do not have 10, 15 or 20 years. We must make a conscious choice and act. We must open our eyes and minds and look up to the sky and not bury our heads in the poisonous sands. We have now experienced two weeks of intense smoke from fires burning in our sick and dying forests. Our air quality has been drastically reduced to a sickening brown haze, filled with chemicals and particulates. We must now recognize that we can never allow this to become “the norm”.

We must not accept the poisons which we are told will help us, assist us in agriculture and health. We must return to nature, for in natural things we find all the answers we require. Artificial and synthetic remedies can only harm our environment, our bodies, our children’s bodies and the health of all ecosystems. Nature supplies us with the remedies, the medicines, and our health; spiritually, physically and emotionally. All we need to do is educate ourselves and act.

If we sit back and wait, for government or corporate assistance, we shall Never get better; Never return to natural health. It is our choice indeed. Live healthy, upon a healthy Earth or die poisoned from the chemicals which corporations profess will assist us.

Pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, homicide, genocide or suicide? Our choice.

Creativity, critical thinking, self-confidence, compassion, stewardship and love.

Your choice. -Len Greenwood July, 9 2008

If you would like to learn more about the U.S. Navy Warfare Testing programs that are ongoing, with more 5 years programs to follow, the following link will give you more information. It is your choice to standup or stand down and only have pictures of “what it was like” for your children to see in old pictures and books. Choices…

For More Information & Links to Government Documents.

© 2009 - Rosalind Peterson - All Rights Reserved

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In 1995, Rosalind, now retired, became a certified California United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency Agriculture Crop Loss Adjustor working in more than ten counties throughout California. Rosalind has a BA degree from Sonoma State University in Environmental Studies & Planning (ENSP), with emphasis on using solar power, photosynthesis, agriculture, and crop production.

Between 1989 and 1993 Rosalind worked as an Agricultural Technologist for the Mendocino County Department of Agriculture. After leaving Mendocino County she took a position with the USDA Farm Service Agency as a Program Assistant in Mendocino, Sonoma, and the Salinas County Offices, where she worked until becoming certified as a crop loss adjustor for the State.

E-Mail: info@californiaskywatch.com

Miscellaneous Musings about Magic, Music, Madness and Mortality...

It's been a while since I've had time to post and several subjects have been piling up in my head trying to find the way out, so even though I may be biting off more than I can chew in trying to keep this interesting and coherent, here it goes. (I started this 3 days ago but it's taken a while to finish it between all the other things I've had to do in addition to watching the mountains explode into flames not all too far from where I'm sitting.)

Many bloggers use their blogs as daily reports of what they did that day, where they went, what they ate, what they bought, who they screwed, you know, the mundane crap that nobody cares about. I never wanted this blog to sink to that level but this post may send it in that direction. This ones gonna be about where I went the other night, a recent book I've read and some other stuff that got attached to those topics while agitating around in my head.

The first topic for tonight's ramblings is Magic. A few nights ago I took my family to the Magic Castle in Hollywood.. This is a place we have been wanting to go for a long time but it is not open to the general public. You have to be invited by a magician member. One of our musician friends, who also happens to be a great magician, Phil Van Tee, had us as his guests. http://philvantee.com/ (For some reason the link feature is not working tonight so please just copy and paste the address into your browser.) Thanks Phil!!! I've never experienced so much magic up close. It really got me thinking about the nature of this universe and the creation of illusion. Well actually I'm always thinkin about that but it sort of intensified my thinkingness for a while there. What do these guys know about the nature of reality that the average guy does not? How much of reality are we actually perceiving or conversely how much of what we perceive is actually real? You look at a guy like Chris Angel and you have to wonder if he's even human! Perhaps a holographic image? I don't know...

Well at least I know Phil is human. If you ever need a magician for anything, hire Phil. You won't be disappointed. Here's a clip of him in action...



Next on the list is music, I'm kinda moving though the "M"s tonight. Actually this is connected to the book I just finished entitled "The Death of a Rebel", the story of Phil Ochs. This is the first book written by Marc Elliot back in 1979, who has gone on to write many books about icons of popular culture such as Springsteen, The Eagles, Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant. I've always been a fan of Phil Ochs but lately he's been on my mind quite a bit because of all the insanity going on in the world today. I wish he was still around to provide his commentary, but actually many of his songs written some 40 odd years ago are still quite appropriate today. They are just not being heard on the corporate controlled media.
Now I'm gonna slip from music to madness because that is what the book covers, Phil's attempt to ascend to stardom followed by his decent into alcoholism, schizophrenia, leading finally to suicide.

As Phil wrote in the song "Chords of Fame", "God help the troubadour that tries to be a star". Being a star can be a dangerous profession, especially if you say and do things that oppose the system. Actually I believe the music business itself is not what it appears to be. Artists are very easy targets and people with evil intentions designed the business to use and control them for their own benefit and agenda.
A recent book by Michael Walker entitled "Laurel Canyon- The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Legendary Neighborhood" is a great read that tells the story of all of the musicians that happened to come together in the '60s and made Laurel Canyon their home. It focuses on the people and their lifestyles and the music that was created during that magic time and place. But we are expected to believe the idea that all this came together simply as a matter of an amazing number of coincidences along with a healthy heaping of serendipity. For those not so sure about that and who have a more open mind may I suggest " Inside The LC-The Strange but mostly true story of Laurel Canyon and the Birth of the Hippie Generation" by Dave McGowan. This online story is still being written but there are enough chapters already done to completely blow your mind and change the way you look at pop culture and world events. http://www.davesweb.cnchost.com/nwsltr93.html (again, copy and paste into browser. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
So I was talking about Phil Ochs and I seemed to have gotten sidetracked but I really haven't because Phil spent a lot of time in LA and hung out in Laurel Canyon. And he became just another casualty of the star machine. Madness is just another product of that machine and when it leads to the demise of the artist, well then all the better for the business because there is nothing more easily profitable than a dead pop star.
Here is a video of Phil's only network TV appearance. This should be the National Anthem!



Mortality is another subject frequently demanding attention lately. What's up with everybody dying recently. Is it just me, being that I'm getting to the age where I could keel over with no warning, or are any of you noticing that people are checking out at an alarming rate. Famous people, artists, musicians, writers. The latest loss to the music world was Ellie Greenwich, who was a songwriter of many early 60s hits, many recorded by Phil Spector like "Be My Baby" and "Leader of the Pack". She was one of the lucky ones who managed to be successful and avoid the star making meat grinder. Although I was a little too young to be emotionally connected to her music as I am to say, the Beatles, what really caught my attention was that she grew up in Levittown, Long Island, my home town! Her house was on the corner of Springtime and Starlight Lanes. How many times did I ride my bike past there when I was a kid and never knew....

So what is death anyway and why are we so afraid of it? There are a whole lot more people dead than there are alive so can it really be that bad? I'm wondering if it's not just like being in another room in the universe. All us people who think we are alive could actually be locked in a relatively small room totally absorbed in playing like this giant complex video game and we are oblivious to the big festival and feast going on on the other side of the door. In a world so full of lies and deceit, nothing would suprise me.

Not that I'm planning on checking out anytime soon but I wanted to put together a list of songs that I'd like to be played at my funeral. Really, it's ok, they can be played anytime, you don't have to wait for me to croak to listen to them. I've got most of them on my IPOD. These are a group of songs that I consider important and believe should be heard and listened to, because they reflect wisdom and insight and sometimes the sense of humor of the artist who created them. If I could figure out how to put a player on my blog I would load them all in there so that anyone who wishes to could hear them. But I haven't figured that out yet so I'm just going to put them up one at a time in whatever form I can post them. So to bring this long, rambling blog entry to a close, I'll leave you with this, which just coincidentally happens to come from someone who is dead. Go figure...

Movie Night

I don't feel that I really need to comment on what's going on in the world right now. It's so bizarre, absurd and obscene that it really defies comment. No sense in contributing to the noise. Let's all just go to the movies, shall we?

In fact we don't even have to "go" to the movies, I'll just bring them here. Tonight's picks are rather short so I'm gonna make it a double feature. The first selection is a short,happy little tale of animal love.



This second selection explains in 9 minutes the reason behind why the world is as it is right now and has an optimistic outlook for the future. You can find more short and informative videos at this authors website.
http://rushkoff.com/books/life-incorporated/life-inc-movies/

Enjoy! Oh and by the way, don't eat the popcorn. It's most likely genetically modified.

Life Inc. The Movie from Douglas Rushkoff on Vimeo.

Speaking with Integrity

I am posting this video of a speech given by Larken Rose on July 4th in front of Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed. His words will make many uncomfortable, but the truth often is.

I personally do not endorse using guns or violence as a way to sort out disagreements and nor do I believe does he. It is especially not a good idea to use such a tactic when you are in a disagreement with a government, since nobody has at their disposal more guns or violence than they do. But it is precisely because of the willingness of the government to use guns and violence that the disagreements continue. When a man can get thrown in jail for expressing his disagreements with the government and pleading with them to simply clarify some questions of law, then you have to wonder where this country is headed. When speaking and asking questions becomes a crime, there are only two choices left, submit to your "masters" or fight back. I believe in the power of ideas and free communication. But it is a question of numbers. If it's just Larken rabble rousing, then he can easily be ostracized and ignored and if he squeaks too loudly, he can be thrown back in a cage. Single targets are easily picked off. But if more people can be made aware of the issues that are affecting their freedom day by day, and millions become willing to speak up and not always, simply doing unquestioningly as they are told, then perhaps a peaceful revolution is possible.

Love him or hate him, agree or disagree, it's nevertheless refreshing to see a man speak from the heart, with integrity and with out the aid of a teleprompter!

Repeating Mistakes

This is an excerpt from a new book by Lester R. Brown that is available for download. Certainly something we need to consider as we watch our world crumble around us. In the past when civilizations failed it was a more isolated problem. The natives of other continents were not affected. Today however our civilization has spread like a cancer throughout the world and as we fall, so goes the planet.

Earth Policy Institute
Plan B 3.0 Book Byte
July 29, 2009

LEARNING FROM PAST CIVILIZATIONS

http://www.earthpol icy.org/Books/ Seg/PB3ch01_ ss3.htm

Lester R. Brown

To understand our current environmental dilemma, it helps to look at earlier civilizations that also got into environmental trouble. Our early twenty-first century civilization is not the first to face the prospect of environmentally induced economic decline. The question is how we will respond.

As Jared Diamond points out in his book Collapse, some of the early societies that were in environmental trouble were able to change their ways in time to avoid decline and collapse. Six centuries ago, for example, Icelanders realized that overgrazing on their grass-covered highlands was leading to extensive soil loss from the inherently thin soils of the region. Rather than lose the grasslands and face economic decline, farmers joined together to determine how many sheep the highlands could sustain and then allocated quotas among themselves, thus preserving their grasslands. Their wool production and woolen goods industry continue to thrive today.

Not all societies have fared as well as the Icelanders. The early Sumerian civilization of the fourth millennium BC had advanced far beyond any that had existed before. Its carefully engineered irrigation system gave rise to a highly productive agriculture, one that enabled farmers to produce a food surplus, supporting formation of the first cities and the first written language, cuneiform.

By any measure it was an extraordinary civilization, but there was an environmental flaw in the design of its irrigation system, one that would eventually undermine its food supply. The water that backed up behind dams built across the Euphrates was diverted onto the land through a network of gravity-fed canals. As with most irrigation systems, some irrigation water percolated downward. In this region, where underground drainage was weak, this slowly raised the water table. As the water climbed to within inches of the surface, it began to evaporate into the atmosphere, leaving behind salt. Over time, the accumulation of salt on the soil surface lowered the land's productivity.

Shifting from wheat to barley, a more salt-tolerant plant, postponed Sumer's decline, but it was treating the symptoms, not the cause, of their falling crop yields. As salt concentrations continued to build, the yields of barley eventually declined also. The resultant shrinkage of the food supply undermined this once-great civilization. As land productivity declined, so did the civilization.

The New World counterpart to Sumer is the Mayan civilization that developed in the lowlands of what is now Guatemala. It flourished from AD 250 until its collapse around AD 900. Like the Sumerians, the Mayans had developed a sophisticated, highly productive agriculture, this one based on raised plots of earth surrounded by canals that supplied water.

As with Sumer, the Mayan demise was apparently linked to a failing food supply. For this New World civilization, it was deforestation and soil erosion, likely on top of a series of droughts, that undermined agriculture. Food shortages apparently triggered civil conflict among various Mayan cities as they competed for something to eat. Today this region is covered by jungle, reclaimed by nature.

The Icelanders crossed a political tipping point that enabled them to come together and limit grazing before grassland deterioration reached the point of no return. The Sumerians and Mayans failed to do so. Time ran out.

Today, our successes and problems flow from the extraordinary growth in the world economy over the last century. The economy's annual growth, once measured in billions of dollars, is now measured in the trillions. Indeed, just the annual growth in the output of goods and services in recent years exceeded the total output of the world economy in 1900.

While the economy is growing exponentially, the earth's natural capacities, such as its ability to supply fresh water, forest products, and seafood, have not increased. Humanity's collective demands first surpassed the earth's regenerative capacity around 1980. Today, global demands on natural systems exceed their sustainable yield capacity by nearly 30 percent. We are meeting current demands by consuming the earth's natural assets, setting the stage for decline and collapse.

In our modern high-tech civilization, it is easy to forget that the economy, indeed our existence, is wholly dependent on the earth's natural systems and resources. We depend, for example, on the earth's climate system for an environment hospitable to agriculture, on the hydrological cycle to provide us with fresh water, and on long-term geological processes to convert rocks into the soil that has made the earth such a biologically productive planet.

There are now so many of us placing such heavy demands on the earth that we are overwhelming its natural capacities to meet our needs. Forests are shrinking. Each year overgrazing converts vast areas of grassland into desert. The pumping of underground water exceeds natural recharge in countries containing half the world's people, leaving many without adequate water.

Each of us depends on the products and services provided by the earth's ecosystems, ranging from forest to wetlands, from coral reefs to grasslands. Among the services these ecosystems provide are water purification, pollination, carbon sequestration, flood control, and soil conservation. A four-year study of the world's ecosystems by 1,360 scientists, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, reported that 15 of 24 primary ecosystem services are being degraded or pushed beyond their limits. For example, three quarters of oceanic fisheries, a major source of protein in the human diet, are being fished at or beyond their limits, and many are headed toward collapse.

Tropical rainforests are another ecosystem under severe stress, including the vast Amazon rainforest. Thus far roughly 20 percent of the rainforest has been cleared either for cattle ranching or soybean farming. Another 22 percent has been weakened by logging and road building, letting sunlight reach the forest floor, drying it out, and turning it into kindling. When it reaches this point, the rainforest loses its resistance to fire and begins to burn when ignited by lightning strikes. Scientists believe that if half the Amazon is cleared or weakened, this may be the tipping point, the threshold beyond which the rainforest cannot be saved. Daniel Nepstad, an Amazon-based senior scientist from the Woods Hole Research Center, sees a future of "megafires" sweeping through the drying jungle. He notes that the carbon stored in the Amazon's trees equals roughly 15 years of human-induced carbon emissions in the atmosphere. If we reach this tipping point we will have triggered a major climate feedback, another step that could help seal our fate as a civilization.

The excessive pressures on a given resource typically begin in a few countries and then slowly spread to others. Nigeria and the Philippines, once net exporters of forest products, are now importers. Thailand, now largely deforested, has banned logging. So has China, which is turning to Siberia and to the few remaining forested countries in Southeast Asia, such as Myanmar and Papua New Guinea, for the logs it needs.

As wells go dry, as grasslands are converted into desert, as fisheries are depleted, and as soils erode, people are forced to migrate elsewhere, either within their country or across national boundaries. As the earth's natural capacities at the local level are exceeded, the declining economic possibilities generate a flow of environmental refugees.

Countries today are facing several negative environmental trends simultaneously, some of which reinforce each other. The earlier civilizations such as the Sumerians and Mayans were often local, rising and falling in isolation from the rest of the world. In contrast, we will either mobilize together to save our global civilization, or we will all be potential victims of its disintegration.

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Adapted from Chapter 1, "Entering a New World," in Lester R. Brown, Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008), available for free downloading and purchase at www.earthpolicy. org/Books/ PB3/index. htm.

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