Planet Earth Forever

Song of Ordinary Being

G-. The whole life seems to be a journey of learning. Learning to praise You. Before, I didn’t know You. And will never know You fully. But am learning to praise You. Even when tied up in a desert, under a scorching sun, lips dried up to crisped cracked skin. And a thirsty eagle’s beak fiercely strikes into the heart.

why often about either indonesia or afrika, much common with pres. Obam?; excessively strong spatial thinking.

baobab tree and the sun

at the edge of the earth

 

Rhapsody of Tidal Marshes

Jacque Fresco: the Venus Project, Future Cities

I have not been aware of “The Venus Project” until recently somebody left its link to the previous post of “Dreaming of New City: Rough Draft of Future City (5/6/2011).” I am not good at paying attention to all of the details unless have ppplenty of time, often pay attention to limited subjects or only the big framework of them. I am impressed at and respect people who have actually worked on visioning the world to come.

I can not, should not form any opinion/judgement if I don’t know/understand all the details. Everybody may form their own opinions on the below project (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8eYZkAuxsI&feature=player_embedded). But it is definitely worthy, interesting concept that deserves our attention:

“the Venus Project”

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8eYZkAuxsI&feature=player_embedded)

The Venus Project ( http://www.thevenusproject.com/ ) was started around 1975 (formally called “Sociocyberneering”) by Jacque Fresco and founded on the idea that poverty is caused by the stifling of progress in technology, which itself is caused by the present world’s profit-driven economic system. Presenting a bold, new direction for humanity that entails nothing less than the total redesign of our culture, resolving the serious problems of unemployment, violent crime, replacement of humans by technology, over-population and a decline in the Earth’s ecosystems. According to Fresco, poverty, crime, corruption and war are the result of scarcity created by the present world’s profit-based economic system.
The Venus Project is dedicated to confronting these problems by actively engaging in the research, development, and application of workable solutions through the use of innovative approaches to social awareness, educational incentives, and the consistent application of the best that science and technology can offer directly to the social system, The Venus Project offers a comprehensive plan for social reclamation in which human beings, technology, and nature will be able to coexist in a long-term, sustainable state of dynamic equilibrium. Fundamental to the project is what Fresco calls a “resource-based economy”. Such a system uses existing resources, rather than money, to provide an equitable method of distribution in the most humane and efficient manner. It is a system in which all goods and services are available to everyone without the use of money, credits, barter, or any other form of debt or servitude.
Fresco argues that the world is rich in natural resources and energy and that, with modern technology and judicious efficiency, the needs of the global population can be met with abundance, while at the same time removing the current limits of what is deemed possible because of notions of economic viability. Fresco provides an example of this confusion in the following quote: “At the beginning of World War II the U.S. had a mere 600 or so first-class fighting aircraft. We rapidly overcame this short supply by turning out more than 90,000 planes a year. The question at the start of World War II was: Do we have enough funds to produce the required implements of war? The answer was No, we did not have enough money, nor did we have enough gold; but we did have more than enough resources. It was the available resources that enabled the US to achieve the high production and efficiency required to win the war. Unfortunately this is only considered in times of war.”
Fresco states that for this to work, all of Earth’s resources must be held as the common heritage of all people and not just a select few; and the practice of rationing resources through monetary methods is irrelevant and counter-productive to the survival of human civilization.

The Venus Project was featured prominently in the 2008 documentary film Zeitgeist: Addendum, as a possible solution to the global problems explained in the first film and first half of the second film. Following the movie, an organization called the Zeitgeist Movement was established to promote the aims of the Venus Project.
JOIN THE VENUS PROJECT HERE; ( http://www.thevenusproject.com/en/get-involved/global-activism-teams )

thesedays, not sure am in real world or not real world.

U.S. Snowstorm Seen From Space: Wild Weather Captured By NASA (PHOTOS)

The Earth is beautiful, no matter what. Grandiose. Same as President Obama is the current One to be President, no matter what.
How do we know whether this weather condition is the outcome of natural weather cycle or that of extreme weather condition of global warming?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Earth, Climate, Poverty

(reposting earlier version)

Since the creation of earth, there have been several mass extinctions of living species. Human beings, which came to exist in the very late stage of earth’s evolution, have undergone numerous crises. Among them, an old article of Time magazine asserted that, “Climate Change” is the most dire crisis of human existence since the beginning of human civilization. Climate change is believed to be more dangerous than any wars, natural disasters, and/or epidemics throughout history

Since the late 2008, we have undergone the most severe economic recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s: crisis with health care system and the meltdowns of housing and financial sector. These are tragic social, political problems that we have encountered cyclically but can be solved depending on what kind of politicians voters chose to put in power. But none of these problems are as fundamental as the current challenge posed by “the Crisis of Climate Change.”

Sadly, poor people always seem to be the targets of natural or man-made disasters or any kind of misfortunes. For example, recent political history showed that health care crisis, housing market meltdown, recession and unemployment hit the less privileged, poor people hardest while the rich always seem to find ways to avoid any kind misfortunes. Even “Global Warming” is expected to hit the poorest people in poor or developing countries or those in the United States of America instead of rich people, rich countries.

The future victims of climate change will include not only those poor people in Asia or Africa but also the American poors who live in poor rural areas or disindustrializing US cities and towns. Now they are suffering from job losses and fewer jobs available due to their declining home town industrial bases and growing poverty. Their problems are not only increasing poverty, hunger, and homelessness but also their inability to cope with drastic weather changes including heat waves, droughts, flooding, water shortage, spread of diseases and so on that will drive them to near or actual death.

There have been severe criticism that rich developed and developing countries have caused “Global Warming” in the chorological order of industrial revolutions; the phases of industrialization ofWestern Europe, the United States, China, and India have been directly related to their amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, causing extreme weather changes and general warming of global climate. However, it is most poor people in the most poor countries in the world who have suffered and will suffer from the direst consequences of “Global Warming” without their part of contribution to or awareness of the phenomenon. These people have endured, will endure their small countries to disappear under rising sea levels, their farmlands or pastures to dry out or flooded due to severe frequent droughts or floods, and/or loss of their properties or lives or starvation due to more frequent tornadoes, droughts, floods, hurricanes. In the meantime, the responsible countries of these warming disasters have not taken their share of cleaning up these messes to curb, reverse “the speed of climate warming.”

International, multilateral negotiations of political issues, no matter whether it is about trade or climate issues, have always been slow-moving, often dissolving into endless arguments with few effective agreements. It’s countries’ national policies that can be quickly agreed upon within shorter time into smaller scale action plans while waiting for the progress of multilateral talks. In this regard, I respect people who relentlessly tackle on “Climate Issues” or any kinds of efforts to curb and reverse Climate Change. And it is important to raise future generation that are environmentally smart and natural problem-solvers of environmental problems, unlike their parents’ generations.

History of Earth: Earth in Peril

From outer space, the Earth looks gorgeous. A sparkling blue marble planet stirred with strips of white clouds, snows, and icebergs. Here, the history of earth starts.

The close-up of this blue beauty reveals its hidden scars and destruction that it has been enduring since the beginning of human civilization. According to reports, human civilization/industrialization, rising earth temperature and sea level, cutting rainforests, and frequent droughts and raining have turned the Earth – from Greenland in north, Tibet Plateau, Siberia to Australian Outback, Antarctica – hotter, drier,  and colder, transforming wet/ grasslands into drier lands, deserts, or inhabitable places and increasing the starvation, disappearance or relocation of human and living creatures.

picture source: http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/brutal-harsh-environments-on-earth-0344/1

ye…basketball reminds… ; c. eb.; what with d.s.n.; evening basket severe mass info.

Cesca’s American Temper Tantrum, Center-Leftness

Mr. Cesca has interesting, insightful view of defining Americans as Center-Left in place of Center-Right in below  post.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/despite-americas-temper-t_b_735466.html

According to the numbers shown in the below excerpt, America definitely sounds like “Center-Left” nation.

“A majority of Americans, 54 percent, believe abortion should remain legal. (The pro-life label is also misleading, so we’d do well to ignore polls containing that frame. After all, who in their right mind would admit to a pollster they’re “anti-life?”)

A super-majority, 65 percent, of Americans refuse to sacrifice civil liberties for additional anti-terrorism measures.

50 percent of Americans, even in this slow recovery, believe the environment should be given priority over economic issues.

Americans are now solidly in favor of same-sex marriage. 58 percent.

A massive 87 percent of Americans believe gun laws should remain as they are now or become stricter.

A majority of Americans support embryonic stem cell research. A majority of Americans support allowing open LGBT service in the military. Overwhelming majorities of Americans support social welfare programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Americans support the progressive income tax, and we support allowing the Bush tax cuts for the super rich to expire.”  – Bob Cesca-

I am glad to hear that “50 percent of Americans, even in this slow recovery, believe the environment should be given priority over economic issues.” At this tipping point of earth, the issue of environment should be the umbrella issue that incorporate economic issue as one of its subcategory issues. Without livable environment, the issue of economy doesn’t exist in our horizon.

And I find Mr. Cesca’s below view very interesting.

“Unfortunately, there’s a good chance a Republican Congress will try to freeze spending or force a government shutdown, risking an economic backslide at the worst possible time. Congress and the press, meanwhile, are mistaking inchoate tantrums for a “center-right” shift and that’s simply not the case. We have anger management issues here, and I’m still hopeful that we’ll snap out of it and grow up before we put the recovery in jeopardy…”

America needs tantrum/anger management to mature.