A system of values and beliefs that organize a society and result in various practices and artifacts that are associated with the general characteristics of that society.
Searching for Certainty in a Complex World People often get caught up in the ideas that have come to define their identity, especially when they have little else to guide them. That is when they begin to lose their balance. We live in a complex world, much more complex and ever changing than before the … More Going the Wrong Way on a Two-Way Street
It was not only very disappointing that the United Nations 2021 “Conference of the Parties,” COP26, failed to reach beyond some new and some stronger “commitments” and “pledges” to reach various carbon emissions targets by certain dates. I among many others was even more disappointed with the struggle of some of the big environmental NGOs … More Words and Deeds: Platitudes vs. Action
Bronwen Morgan and Erin Remblance have written an excellent article for the Australian website, http://www.crikey.com, which is so on target, that I urge everyone to read it. They not only predicted the failure of “world leaders” to commit to actual climate action at COP26, but they also identify the key difference between the terminal trajectory … More The COP26 Grift versus Our Survival
Either way, history will judge you in Climate Change — by Greta Thunberg — 31/10/2021 TITLE PHOTO: Vanessa Nakate (R) cries after her speech as Greta Thunberg comforts her during the opening plenary session of the Youth4Climate pre-COP 26 event. The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP 26, is being held in the city of Glasgow, Scotland … More Blah, Blah, Blah: An Open Letter to the Global Media by Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Nakate
My enthusiasm and hope for the prospects for the growing Extinction Rebellion to raise awareness of the converging Earth Systems crises got me to read its founder Roger Hallam’s book, Common Sense for the 21st Century. I had been studying what I call “The New Great Transformation” for my own book, At the Edge of … More Why the Extinction Rebellion is Needed, and So Much More
One thing about the present condition of American culture that cannot be denied is the escalating levels of hostility, nastiness, and even violence expressed in all sorts of public venues from restaurants to school boards. We have seen more violence in the political arena because the vitriol has steadily escalated over more than the last … More Yes, Virginia, There Are Deplorables
So many people I’ve talked with in the last several years have commented that politics has become so crazy that they try to avoid listening to the news or even discussing politics with friends or family. One might argue that they have hit bottom on the scale of civic responsibility. But can we blame them? … More Political Psychiatry: Is It a Thing?
Thom Hartman wrote such a great article in Salon.com on the takeover of the GOP by political grifters that I just had to cite it here and tell everyone to read it if they want to understand why the our nation has slid so far down the slippery slope to total political corruption. The article … More The Grifting Of America
I didn’t know much about General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Pentagon’s Joint ‘Chiefs of Staff, appointed by Trump. I saw him marching from the White House in his fatigues with the Fake President and a number of his lackeys on their way to St. John’s church where Trump would hold a bible upside … More Mark Milley and Me: Saving the Nation from an Autocratic Attempt
The COVID-19 pandemic is not so much about the characteristics of a virus as it is about the organization of modern societies. The modern infrastructure of hyper-mobility allowed the virus to move rapidly all over the world. Without that infrastructure, the pandemic could not have happened. The Black Plague in the Middle Ages, when mobility … More Rethinking Modern Infrastructure: The Vulnerability of Complex Systems
Robert MacNeil Christie, Author 