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
It is about time we reflect on the distorted industrial-consumer culture and the “…isms” that propagandists use to confuse reality. The idea of individualism is certainly an American cultural icon as much as socialism has been a cultural red flag. If you like something, tag it as an instance of good old American individualism. If … More Individualism, Socialism, and Sanity: Can We Choose to Live as Humans?
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
Just about everyone now knows that Senator Joe Manchin is courted by and takes significant donations from oil and gas industry lobbyists. Yet, his blatant though somewhat subtle gaming of the legislative negotiating process clearly smells like quid quo pro. Virtually no other senator who is asked will directly confront that fact. They all dodge … More Corruption Nation: Acceptance Becomes a Norm
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 tension between the economy and the people has never been quite as intense as it is now. I hear all sorts of explanations, and speculations as to why many people are not returning to low-wage jobs where they must confront the public—especially in the restaurant and hospitality industries. Even hiring bonuses don’t seem to … More Did the Rat Race take a Hit from the Virus?
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
Brian Tokar has written an excellent synopsis of the IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report (AR6) on the state of Earth’s climate. The latest findings of climate science clearly delineate the worsening conditions that are forcing us into today’s generally unacknowledged deep human predicament. The report just released is the first of three parts. The IPCC has … More No More Time to Kid Ourselves: The Climate Emergency is Now
Robert MacNeil Christie, Author 