The Weekly Watch

Escaping Capitalism?

Human survival requires escaping capitalism according the latest United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report … “The world’s top scientists just gave rigorous backing to systematically dismantle capitalism as a key requirement to maintaining civilization and a habitable planet.” Capitalism has never factored in the environmental costs of our activities. It has one goal - profit. It is past time for a broader look at priorities. Not only do we need to stop the degradation of our ecosystems, but we must begin the long term task of restoration. We have much to do, and that's one reason I support Bernie's guaranteed jobs program over Yang's UBI. Today I want to touch on the role agriculture can play in reversing our climate catastrophe, and touch on the insanity of a capitalist health care (or better stated -disease and perscription) system. We'll also take a stroll through some of this weeks news cycle.

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Climate change isn’t your fault. It’s capitalism’s fault. 70% of carbon emissions come from 100 companies. Let me translate that. The world’s giant corporations are effectively turning the skies, oceans, forests, and mountains into cold, hard cash. So much money so fast they literally don’t know what do with it, because there’s nothing left to do with it. So much inequality has resulted that it’s destabilizing societies like America and Britain by creating classes of new poor. As result, societies don’t have the resources left to fight problems like…climate change. Capitalism is sucking in nature, turning it into insane, needless, pointless profit — and destroying democracy, the planet, and life as we know it on it along the way.

Reflecting that huge power imbalance between people and corporations, corporate profits have never been higher than they are today — at the exact same time that life on the planet is dying, and so is the planet itself. That’s not a coincidence — it’s a causal relationship. It’s that system of profit-maximization, of exploitation, of abusing everything in the name of more, more, more money, that’s really killing the planet and life on it.

https://eand.co/climate-change-isnt-your-fault-it-s-capitalism-s-c7cf340...

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The climate catastrophe is interwoven with many social and environmental crises, including oppression, corporate power, hunger, water depletion, biodiversity loss and deforestation. At its heart sits an unsustainable economic system, the sole aim of which is endless growth and profit. This system concentrates wealth, power, and obscene privilege with the few.
...
We must tackle climate change and the associated social and environmental crises by taking rapid and bold action to address the common root causes; privatization, financialization and commodification of nature and societies, and unsustainable production and consumption systems.

The magnitude of the crises we face demands system change.

https://popularresistance.org/no-capitalism-will-not-save-the-climate/

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Why is capitalism so bad for the climate and ecosystem?

This can be understood by looking at some of the details GDP measurement. The work of subsistence workers in agriculture (or women working in the household) is not included in GDP since their production is outside the commodity market. If an oil tanker hits an iceberg causing an oil spill, GDP increases, due to all the cleanup costs, insurance payments, and lawyer fees. However, there is no deduction in GDP for the effects of the oil spill on the environment. Social and environmental costs, in this sense, are treated as “externalities,” that is to say, they are excluded from national-income accounting. The growth of a forest adds nothing to economic growth. But the cutting down of the same forest (viewed as so many millions of board feet of standing timber) for sale on the market counts as growth. A war that kills millions drives up economic growth, and leads to faster growth afterwards because of the need to replace capital destroyed. The lives lost in the war, however, count for nothing in economic growth terms.

The problem here is not GDP accounting itself. Rather this way of measuring growth accurately reflects how the capitalist system works. It conceives progress only in terms of the cash nexus (whatever passes through the market), as opposed to what benefits people or the planet

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Ecosocialism thus emerged as a radical movement both in capitalist and “actually existing socialist” societies. Unlike mainstream Green theory, it recognizes that to overcome the greatest historical challenge humanity has ever faced it will be necessary to carry out a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large. More and more people, especially in the global South, are concluding, as a result of their own material experiences, that the degradation of the environment and the exploitation of human beings have a common basis in an alienated system that needs to be transcended. This takes us back to the classical historical-materialist tradition associated with Marx and Engels, which emerged at a time when struggles over the workplace, the urban environment, and the land were seen as inextricably connected. Understood in these terms, ecosocialism, is based on the dual necessity of substantive equality and ecological sustainability.

https://globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/19/11/2018/interview-climate-change...

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So if we accept the notion that we must change our capitalist system in order for our species and the current ecosystem to survive, just how can we do that? XR (extinction rebellion) recommends citizen assemblies and the UK government has issued 30,000 random invitations. https://www.edie.net/news/11/Government-to-send-30-000-invites-for-citiz... XR has had other successes too. The government has called a halt to shale gas extraction - or fracking - in England amid fears about earthquakes.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50267454
For more on XR check out this weeks newsletter on actions around the globe

I don't think we can nor should wait for government action in the US. We must begin our own plan. Citizen groups like these in Ireland are gathering to begin work on a Manifesto of EcoSocialism. In the US there are organizations and chapters around the country.

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The great irony here is the dirty fracked gas in the US is NOT profitable, but the banks are over-extended on them as they were in the housing market a decade or so ago.

over the last year and a half, the shale oil and gas industry, which has driven the recent boom in American oil and gas production, has been on a more than decade-long money-losing streak, with estimated losses of approximately a quarter trillion dollars. Those losses have continued in 2019.

https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/10/03/fracking-revolution-peak-without-p...

Max and Stacy went so far this week as to compare investing in fracked gas as literally burning money. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRAPlJ1_gR4 (1st 15 min)

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So here we are extracting the dirtiest abrasive oil and pumping it through pipelines destined to fail. Just this week...

The 383,000-gallon crude oil spill occurred in North Dakota, about 50 miles from the Canadian border, The New York Times reported. The spill covered about a half-acre of wetland,

This is really insane. Allowing the elites to poison our water, collapse our climate, and drive a mass extinction of lifeforms we are dependent upon for our own survival. All to cover for their bad investments. It is past time to re-invent our system.

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This week The editor of “A Better Planet: Forty Big Ideas for a Sustainable Future,” which covers 40 contributors’ proposals for combating climate change, joined Truthdig Editor in Chief Robert Scheer to discuss our environmental challenges.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-center-cannot-hold-off-climate-cat...

So what do we demand and work toward? I think step one is no new wells...Period The End. Then use existing wells to cushion the transition to solar, wind, geothermal, even hydrogen could have a place. And those wells and mines should be nationalized on the Norway model. We should create a mass transit system of solar powered electric trains. We could use one side of the interstate system and make the other side two way for local traffic. We need to develop local communities that are easily accessed by walking and biking. Let's face it, we will all have to change our lifestyles....and we need a healthier one. In fact we need a food revolution. Evidence based doctors are trying, but they face the power of big pharma and a for profit disease care system.

Both our health system and agricultural systems are capitalist profit based. The outcomes have been as devastating to people as the capitalist fossil fuel industry is to the ecosystem.

Let's go to a few sessions of Public Health Collaboration Conference at the Royal College of General Practitioners in London. These are good presentations mostly by doctors to doctors.
Corporate wealth or public health? by Prof. Robert Lustig
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tijv_T4BpSc (1 hour - the last 20 min focuses on corporate influence, but the whole presentation is good. There's some biochem midway that you can fast forward through if you want.) This presentation is well worth your time.

Dr Andreas Eendfeldt explains to other doctors the well reasoned need for a Food Revolution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b5IBGbnmMs (39 min)
This is also an excellent evidence based presentation.

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Part of a food revolution is producing local sustainable food products. Here's a UK dairy farmer explaining his ideas of sustainable farming and food production.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK-si6osccc (29 min)
I include this clip because his path and mine have been similar...
both 70's back to the landers influenced by 30's vintage farmers/philosophers.

We need to do more than just sustain. We need to capture carbon, restore ecosystems, and regenerate a diverse biota.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7Cs24SNfmw (6 min)

Virginia farmer Joel Salatin is a premier restoration practitioner. This is a student/intern of his describing the operation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCGUzgYDoqQ (9 min)
If you want the full farm tour here's Justin Rhodes walking the farm with Joel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-zaAie8UZs (42 min)

So in addition to health/diet myths there are also many myths in agriculture. Among them is the idea that animal production is bad. It is true CAFO meat production is horrid for the animals. our health, and the ecosystem too. However using animals to build diverse grasslands is a better approach than these massive chemically driven monocrop systems of corn and soybeans. Remember those crop fields were once prairie with giant herds of Bison. That is a more natural sustainable system. Check out Allen Savory's work for visual evidence of restoring healthy ecosystems with grazing animals. https://www.savory.global/

Richard Perkins is a UK farmer located on 25 acres in Sweden. He has an excellent approach combining animal and vegetable production. His channel is here -
https://www.youtube.com/user/mrintegralpermanence
And here's a general description of his operation -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5iJYVnw4ns (56 min)

So Joel's farm illustrates healthy animal production. Richard's is a mixed production aiming toward a perennial permaculture system. The next clip shows how to raise veggies in a market garden. My vision involves operations like these...imagine one of these in every community. Josh Sattin takes the full tour with Elliot Seldner of Fair Share Farm in Pfafftown, NC (just outside Winstom-Salem). They are thinking about climate chaos with their approach.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbSW45AmGiQ (25 min)
I think these leafy greens should be the base/bulk of our diet....eaten with plenty of organic olive oil and grassfed butter.

Personal Blows to the Capitalist State...

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First take control of your health. My path has led me to a simple diet recipe... No sugar, little to no grain, no vegetable or seed oils, and perhaps most important - a narrow eating window...typically one meal a day with a snack (like nuts or homemade yogurt). Three years ago I would have thought that this was insane advice, but it is amazing how once you break out of hyperinsulinemia and become a fat burner (metabolically flexible) your hunger abates. I dropped about 60 pounds, brought my blood pressure way down, all joint pain disappeared, and I feel better than I have in years.

So how is that a blow to capitalism? I have no prescriptions nor need to go to the doctor. I have medicare, but only use it to get blood work every couple of years to see where my markers are.

The other piece of the puzzle is the quality of the food you eat. I've come to see what is on the end of my fork as my medicine. This time of year it is so nice to gather fresh salad almost daily. Every food item I grow is one less to buy from corporate agriculture. I understand many of you are not in a situation to garden. In many communities there is a rising generation of young ecological farmers...support their work. We buy our meat from local grassfed operations. I do buy some tropical fruits like avocados that typically come from Mexico, so I'm not a total locavore.

Lustig's presentation above explains that the idea "we should take personal responsibility for our health" came right from the tobacco industry. He goes on the explain how the corporations both big Pharma and big Ag have corrupted diet and health advice to maximize profit. The AARP bulletin this month has an article about inflammation as the cause of all our modern disease. Yet, they never mention sugar nor grains nor vegetable and seed oils as the likely cause. In fact the AARP advise eating whole grain breads to slow your inflammation. Lustig and Andreas Eendfeldt in the clips above shatter that concept.

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So can we escape this capitalist system? I don't know. We need to do so. However, I'm a soil scientist not a political scientist. Ralph suggests that the world is waiting on the US to rise up and throw the bums out. https://www.truthdig.com/articles/ralph-nader-the-world-is-waiting-for-a...

Brazil is fighting back against the fascists.
https://therealnews.com/stories/brazilians-march-against-bolsonaro-ties-...
Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was released from prison after a key Supreme Court ruling. https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/lula-could-be-freed-after-surprise-...
Recent damning reports by the Intercept Brasil and journalist Glenn Greenwald exposing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and his administration culminated in personal attacks on Greenwald’s family and a slap in the face.
https://citizentruth.org/glenn-greenwald-slapped-in-the-face-by-pro-bols...

I like this idea of citizen assemblies, but they will need accurate information to make good decisions. I fear corporate interests will wiggle their way in to corrupt the process or just outright disrupt it. All over the world people are standing up to TPTB to demand a better system focused on people and planet rather than profit. We need to act collectively and as individuals to bring about this shift in our system...because despite the rhetoric, capitalism is not self-correcting.

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Rather capitalism is self-destructive to people and the ecosystem. I look forward to your ideas and comments below. I think this is an important question about the nature of a new system designed for people and planet.

As a final note today I regret I didn't cover more news, but I want to leave you with a Bernie Rally in Iowa. In 2016 I went to almost every Bernie rally (on youtube that is). This year not so much, but I did catch the big rally in NYC and this one. I enjoyed it and those who have an interest might like it too. I'm cutting to the speeches, the first part is music which you might enjoy. It is a first nations woman, AOC, then Bernie.

I think someone has already posted their climate crisis summit in Iowa with Naomi Klein, AOC, Bernie, and several others https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSc7qYpCWp8 (3.3 hours)
It starts with a farmer.

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Wally's picture

Naomi Klein starts a little after 1:28:00.

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Lookout's picture

@Wally

I've not watched all of the climate summit, but did listen to all of the rally yesterday while cooking and house cleaning.

Hope you're doing well and having nice weather. It is chilly but sunny and beautiful here in NE AL. Colors are still nice through the forests.

Glad you came by!

PS learned a new trick for posting youtube clips. At the end of the URL address for the clip add &t=#m#s Where # means the minute and second mark. That take you right to the spot. So using your timestamp for Naomi...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSc7qYpCWp8&t=1h28m0s
Will take you right to her.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Raggedy Ann's picture

Great run-down on what a dire effect capitalism has wrought on society.

We got a permit for our new well. Thank goodness because we need water, especially with what's happening in our world. We will be able to become more self sustaining with a greenhouse, garden, etc. We will have 3 acre feet of water/year at our disposal. This is music to our ears!

We already capture rain water and will continue to do so and probably put up gutters leading water to storage containers on the out-buildings. Lots of work to do ahead.

Thanks for all the information. I always find it valuable to my well-being.

Enjoy your Sunday, everyone! Pleasantry

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

Lookout's picture

@Raggedy Ann

Glad you got your permit. We added a new pump, pipes, and tanks to our well in the well house re-build. We're very pleased and think it should see us through since the old system lasted over 30 years with little to no maintenance.

I think we're in a pattern of flood and drought as the polar temperatures have warmed and weakened the drive of the jet stream. Collecting water during the flood time to use in drought times is good planning from my view point.

All the best to you both. Wishing you great success in your homesteading venture!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Cassiodorus's picture

is in specifying the alternative to capitalism. What does a globally sustainable society not based on the domination of "value" over human beings look like?

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

Lookout's picture

@Cassiodorus

...in the citizen assemblies. As I said I'm a soil scientist not a political scientist nor a economist. I know how to use agriculture to capture carbon, I can contribute in that respect.

If I was world tsar I would transfer means of production ownership to the workers in that production facility...or at least most of it. With a guaranteed job and a living wage/salary we could hire people to work for the public good, ie restoration projects, schools, park staff, green energy establishment and so on.

So workers owning their on business as a coop and public workers for public good. That is my thinking anyway. You have ideas of how to get there? You ask an important question.

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Cassiodorus's picture

@Lookout until the citizens' assemblies form to discuss this topic. I don't think it's a matter of "expertise," either. It's going to take a lot of effort to overcome the commonly-held notion that there's no alternative to capitalism. There's no time like the present to start thinking about this.

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

This we've know for eons. Money can't buy you health either, especially in the US. Apparently money can buy politicians and a ticket to heaven thru your local church franchise. The disconnect between real social needs and capital solutions is vast. This is the void we must seek to bridge. It is a demanding path, tho no less necessary for our survival.

Great essay LO!

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Lookout's picture

@QMS

This piece of paper with no intrinsic value, no longer backed by gold, and printed as fast as possible to fund our own extinction.

You can't make this shit up.

Hope your world is a productive and peaceful this Sunday. Thanks for the visit!

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ggersh's picture

@Lookout @Lookout

"The enormous gap between what US leaders do in the world and what Americans think their leaders are doing is one of the great propaganda accomplishments."

Michael Parenti

EDIT: https://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

Lookout's picture

@ggersh

Sure has poisoned minds.

Countries around the world are bailing on the US dollar. Russia is selling its oil in euros. China, Russia, India, and Iran all trade their currency without dollar translation. When the petrodollar dies...and its day I believe is coming... perhaps sooner rather than later...the empire will topple. Could be a good thing, but there will be pain for many.

edit to add: thanks for the link and the visit!

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ggersh's picture

@Lookout selling ameriKa out should be a
bestseller once written, i.e deregulating
telecom's, media, banking, etc.etc.etc.

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

magiamma's picture

Thanks for the great roundup. Greta is on this too with “Stop Shop”. Though I’ve only seen a couple of articles on it. I would like to see many more. Also now, Jane Fonda is talking about not buying more stuff. Many people will listen to them. It’s a start.

The cartoon at the beginning is the best I’ve seen yet. Thanks for all you do.

I saw this and thought you would be interested...

Iowa’s Farmers & American Eaters Need a National Discussion on Transforming US Agriculture –

https://consortiumnews.com/2019/11/07/iowas-farmers-american-eaters-need...

Be well...

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Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

Lookout's picture

@magiamma

That's exactly right. We need that conversation. I like the promotion of native prairie in the piece as well. Similar to my thoughts today.

So we grow huge fields of corn and soybeans to primarily feed livestock that are healthier on native prairie which was plowed under thereby releasing its carbon. Not very smart.

I've been into stop shop for years. When I do shop it is at a thrift or goodwill. I do buy new shoes when needed. That is another reason to garden. I mean you will still have to buy food, but less and less as you progress as a gardener. Instead of victory gardens as in WWII, we need a healthy food and ecosystem garden movement.

Always nice to see you. Hope all is well on the left coast.

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Lookout's picture

The Lustig presentation in today's column does a great job of revealing the corporate influence on diet. However I never dreamed there was a religious influence....primary from an alliance of coke and the 7th day Adventists? Live and learn...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTe-eitOJGA (23 min)

...and they will come after you if you don't toe the line.
From the blurb...

Belinda Fettke is a former Registered Nurse, photographer and the proud co-founder of 'Nutrition For Life' in Launceston which provides medically based nutritional care around Tasmania and Australia.
Belinda is a staunch supporter of the health benefits of Low Carb, Healthy Fat eating and in recent years has taken a more central role in advocating LCHF following the investigation of her husband, Dr. Gary Fettke, by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). The investigation focused on Gary’s qualifications to give nutritional advice.

This investigation (which lasted for more than two years) resulted in Gary being issued a ‘caution’ and being advised; ”In particular, that he does not provide specific advice or recommendations on the subject of nutrition and how it relates to the management of diabetes or the treatment and/or prevention of cancer.” Gary was later cleared of all charges and issued a formal apology from AHPRA.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

To escape capitalism we must escape work. Yang's UBI is designed specifically to perpetuate capitalism. To quote Yang, "Give then (money, but not enough to live on) and they will buy stuff." But a guaranteed jobs program is little better. It still accepts the necessity of wage slavery. Instead a guaranteed minimum income will guarantee a minimum consumption. Give people enough money to live on if they give up destructive consumption and they will give up destructive consumption and be happier for it.

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On to Biden since 1973

Lookout's picture

@doh1304

Give people enough money to live on if they give up destructive consumption and they will give up destructive consumption and be happier for it.

How would we pay people to decrease their consumption?

I think incentive is important. That's why I like the notion of worker owned businesses. I once worked in a small business with profit sharing and that's a good model too.

Speaking for myself, working should be a rewarding experience. I had plenty of frustration as a teacher, but that daily exchange with fellow humans enriched my life. I'm happy to be retired at this point. Now I get to work for myself around the homestead which is also sometimes a challenge but also provide those same sorts of rewards. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a puritan. but I want everyone to have an opportunity for a rewarding career that builds their life with skills and pleasure.

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@Lookout
Give people a personal deduction of $25,000 (equal to $15/hr after taxes)and make it refundable. $25k is enough for a low budget life without a shit job but it isn't enough for food, clothing and shelter and geegaws.
Minimum wage jobs would have to pay significantly more than $15/hr or people would just stay home and collect the GMI.
People would stop working or at least stop being trapped in lousy jobs, and people would go without silly purchases because they would not have the money to waste. People would only work to afford things they really wanted or because they really wanted to.

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On to Biden since 1973

Azazello's picture

Good morning all ...
Remember that movie Blade Runner ?
It was set in November 2019.
From LAist: An Oral History Of Blade Runner's 2019 Los Angeles, Because The Future Has Arrived

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

@Azazello But maybe it is always 2019? (HT to Orwell)

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Lookout's picture

@Azazello

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Lookout's picture

Sounds wild. Just quickly scanned the interview. Thanks for the link.

Saw the original when it came out, and maybe saw it again a decade or so ago. I went on a spate of those future films from our youth.

Have a nice Sunday and a good week!

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Daenerys's picture

The capitalists have won by turning everything that makes life worth living into a luxury. Bad

I really wish to be a part of the EcoSocialists and climate strike, but there aren't any where I live. Sad

I think education is the most important thing, but how to make people listen? I've talked about it with my therapist--you can teach people, but you can't make them give a shit. I don't know how we bridge the gap between education and compassion. How do we undo the brainwashing?
And didn't Jesus say something about not worshiping money??

I wish everybody could be gainfully self-employed; we'd all be much better off.

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This shit is bananas.

@Daenerys
The media machine will turn that phrase 'ecosocialist' into 'ecoterrorist' in a heart beat. Wink

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Lookout's picture

@Daenerys

I think education is the most important thing, but how to make people listen? I've talked about it with my therapist--you can teach people, but you can't make them give a shit. I don't know how we bridge the gap between education and compassion. How do we undo the brainwashing?
And didn't Jesus say something about not worshiping money??

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mimi's picture

is the catalyst to the planet's destruction. Therefore I believe that any of the suggested solutions will be just like a bandaid put on a cancerous organ.

There needs to be a financial crash that wipes out the value of all currencies. A billionaire with billions of dollars or another currency will not be able to save his behind, if the billions can't buy anything.

I also believe that the world's poulation has not enough time to save us from the destruction of the environment without resorting to radical solutions, which will certainly lead to tremendous civil warfare and unrest globally.

As humans don't react to reason, there has to be the pressure of a financial and environmental collapse, so that humans are forced to leave the capitalistic system behind in order to survive.

The great hope I have is based on the fact that nature restores itself fantastically, if you leave it in peace and do not disturb it.

So, may be the best thing would be to do nothing and let all the collapses happen as they come. Wink

My uneducated guess of 0.000000 cents. Thank you for your Weekly Watch.

Hope all is well on your nice patch of land you live on. We start to feel a little bit like it is getting a little bit colder and a little bit darker and a little bit more wet. We call it here typical "Hamburger Schietwetter". Have a nice remainder of the last hours of your Sunday.

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Lookout's picture

@mimi

I also believe that the world's population has not enough time to save us from the destruction of the environment without resorting to radical solutions, which will certainly lead to tremendous civil warfare and unrest globally.

As humans don't react to reason, there has to be the pressure of a financial and environmental collapse, so that humans are forced to leave the capitalistic system behind in order to survive...it is based on the fact that nature restores itself fantastically, if you leave it in peace and do not disturb it.

The great hope I have is based on the fact that nature restores itself fantastically, if you leave it in peace and do not disturb it.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

You are right. There is so much we must do as individuals to try to save this space we live in. The easy part for me is not buying new stuff except as you say, shoes. Thrift stores are my favorite place to shop and am working steadily at getting rid of some of the stuff that we accumulated over the past 48 years.

When I am back down in the Austin area will try my hand at some of the gardening ideas you are always writing about. Think my growing season will be much longer. Will try not to get too ambitious. I also want to look into having the cistern I have on my property lined so I can collect rainwater. At present there is a area that allows for leakage.

Went to a talk today in Santa Fe on the past, present and future of the forests here in northern New Mexico. Was a fascinating talk but things look pretty grim for our future because of what the man presenting called the era of hotter droughts we are experiencing now.

Lot to think about and plan what part I can bring to the conversation about survival on this planet. Have a good week.

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Life is what you make it, so make it something worthwhile.

This ain't no dress rehearsal!

@jakkalbessie @jakkalbessie No matter how much I love Austin, I never seem to get there unless I am under subpoena to testify against a judge for doing something in violation of the code of judicial conduct.
That is likely to happen sometime in 2020, so I will pm you, and maybe we can have a dinner on me.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Lookout's picture

@jakkalbessie

...lord knows Alabama is a challenge too. We do what we can in the environment in which we live.

Wishing you the best!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Dawn's Meta's picture

In the last couple of days thanks to C99, I have watched excited younger farmers working on smaller holdings, and trying to work with nature, to improve soils, water, and diversity along with making a small farm work well.

It is so inspiring. It seems the experiments in this small scale more natural farming is taking off more quickly than first envisaged several years ago. There are some disagreements about the approaches, but my take is that depending on basic farm-ability, water, climate, the variations might all be helpful especially in 'regeneration' which goes beyond sustainability.

The thing I notice most is the speed at which degradation can be turned around.

One more item I wonder about is whether the use of manure as a fertilizer is free of anti worm medication such as Ivermectin. The soil beneath cow pats or spread manure which has percolated anti wormers, becomes sterile. Several of the films I watched don't address this issue.

Dung beetles would indicate that somehow the anti worming medication common in domestic ruminate herds is not required.

To add to your list I include my favorite model: The Knepp Estate
Soil Health at Knepp

Biodiversity at Knepp

Wilding is Regeneration

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A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.

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Lookout's picture

@Dawn's Meta

I'm not sure about the worm medicine. I'm familiar with Ivermectin, but since I don't raise livestock that's something I've not researched. Sure is an interesting point. Lots of operations will follow cows with chickens to dig and spread the manure as well as eat the fly larva.

So glad you've been doing some farm visits. It is going and growing quickly. The NC farm I featured this week is only a couple of years old. Amazing really.

Well keep growing and going yourself. Glad you came by!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”