INTRODUCTION. Humans have been for some time and are currently … causing tremendous socio-ecological destruction at an unprecedented rate. We’ve destroyed climax natural ecological communities & rampantly replaced sustainable agrarian ecological communities, … and we have decimated … topsoil, … quality air … and quality water, … net primary productivity, … photosynthesizers & biodiversity … and … we have even made climates unsuitable for living systems. All of this is a serious & immediate threat to the existence of humans. And Trump, MAGAs, and Republicans in general, have no plans to rectify these threats to the existence of humans or for the quality life for my grandchildren and humans of the near future, or for insuring quality life for all living things across the globe. For these folk, it is just full steam ahead and over the cliff … “bidness” as usual ‘til we fizzle out.
And even though I am far from entirely being satisfied with the policies & actions of the Democratic Party, … the party of Franklin Roosevelt & Lyndon Baines Johnson & Jimmy Carter & Barack Obama & Joe Biden & Kamala Harris has been effective in the past in pushing through some good legislation conducive to quality life for all … such as the 19th Amendment (women’s right to vote), social security and minimum wage, the Marshall Plan, the G.I. Bill, Civil & Voting Rights Acts, the Peace Corps, Medicare & Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, Head Start and the school lunch programs, the recent Inflation Reduction Act … and on & on. Nevertheless, I am not happy with weak efforts at nuclear disarmament and virtually no efforts at demilitarization or degrowth of the global economy.
And now back to Republican efforts, or some past Republican initiatives which were positive.
I must say that to his credit, Republican Richard Nixon was largely responsible for EPA and OSHA. … Trump and his enablers & supporters on the other hand are radical climate-change deniers and crusaders for deregulation. They are trying to gut EPA … and OSHA! Per Project 2025, Trump and MAGAism will be a disaster for our precious essential needs-providing ecological systems. … Trump & his Trumpians & Trumpsters are and will be a denier of women’s rights and rights of many other sectors of humanity.
My major point now would be that one would think that we could truly begin to get along and deal with growth and overshoot of the Eaarth’s carrying capacity … locally, regionally, national, and internationally and move toward quality life for all … now … and into the future!
Finally (for the most part for this introduction), the Golden Rule … proposed early on in the written history of Homo sapiens by Confucius, and then by Judaism in concert with Zoroastriaism & othe religions, and thereafter Jesus of Nazareth and many others … the Golden Rule should rule! Moreover, we should work in humble communitarian solidarity (not hubristic MAGAism or individualistic libertarian survivalism) with Trumpsters, Libertarians, Fascists, Communists, Shiks, Putins, Uns, Lulas, Starmers, Ortegas, Salehs, Modis, Harrises, nudists, nuns, etc., etc. to take us from a dying Eaarth to a neo-Earth of true vibrance and deep beauty.
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Now I am going to switch gears a bit and present some very important points (perhaps somewhat intentionally cryptic) through posters (immediately below) my wonderful wife Betsy and my friends at the Seguin Print Shop prepared.
SOME OF THE QUESTIONS MODERATORS SELECTED FROM IN ADDITION TO THEIR OWN (GIVEN TO THE PRESENTERS PRIOR TO THE EVENT.
For Ron Colunga:
1.What makes for an educated/learned person who can critically think & decision-make?
2. Do you have issues with unTruths & mis/disinformation in politics & other aspects of today’s world?
3. What are your ideas about continued use of fossil energy & materials?
4. What about climate change & global warming? Is this something to worry about? If so, what do we do?
5. Defend/critique militarism. What about nuclear disarmament?
6. Do you have hope for humanity? For Nicaragua? For Sudan? For India?
7. What are your qualifications as a leader in humanity here in 2024?
8. How does MAGA positions/knowledge of applied community ecology make a better world for all peoples of the globe, and other living species?
For Adam Ticknor:
1.In what areas of the world, the globe, do you, and have you worked? How many languages do you speak? Would you consider yourself to be a historian? A sociologist? An applied ecologist?
2. A communitarianism philosophy of solidarity is “based on the belief that a person’s social identity and personality are largely molded by community relationships, with a smaller degree of development being placed on individualism”. Why is relatively individualistic Libertarian Survivalism & Militarism perhaps a better approach than communitarianism?
3. We humans are a political species according to Aristotle & other scientists & scholars. Could you comment on some of the political parties in the U.S. and the possible good or bad they do for humanity & the ecological community in which it exists? What about democratic eco-socialists?
4 Are you concerned about destruction of the natural resource base (topsoil, quality air & water, biodiversity & photosynthesizers, and sustainable transformation of daily solar energy) … and global climate change? Explain and discuss briefly your major concerns.
5. Is “degrowth (of the human economy)” a viable and good approach toward a sustainable “Nature’s Economy”?
6. Switching the topic a bit, but connected to the human economy of neoliberal capitalism & consumerism, what are your thoughts about militarism, production of armaments, and constant Warring? (“Neoliberalism is contemporarily used to refer to market-oriented reform policies such as “eliminating price controls, deregulating capital markets, lowering trade barriers” and reducing, especially through privatization and austerity, state influence in the economy.)
7. paul martin who asked you to make this presentation today is a “wannabe pacifist”. Please critique pacifism.
8. What does your Libertarian Survivalism do for humanity?
ZOOM RECORDINGS OF THE DISCUSSIONS.
Oct 20th, MAGAism vs. a process of resilient/sustainable ecological community
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fnnijZQiF3pIT0tNdeq3oHXYGoAGsjjM/view
Nov 2nd, Libertarian Survivalism (NOT a communitarian, pacifist approach to solidarity in resilient sustainable community)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z55X4Was1Uz7YubbkP5C_4cJ6XZUg0N_
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS SUBMITTED FROM THE AUDIENCE ON INDEX CARDS.
Discussion of MAGAsim vs.
Sustainable Ecological Community-Approach,
Oct 20th
Truth? For me most “Gods” are a mystery & intangible. Therefore, God’s truths are a mystery, intangible, not meaningful.
My “God” is a mysterious, but more tangible & meaningful dynamic homeostatic symbioses, or “nature”. And real & tangible Truths are inequity/disparity & overshoot Earth’s carrying capacity for humans and drawdown of the natural resource base, etc. That “War is never a good thing” and “If you have nuclear & other arms for killing, you will eventually use them for killing” are Truths. Moreover, “good, ethical ecological scientists are the real seekers of knowledge & Truths.”
(*In today’s world we are inundated with (dis/mis)information (including ads) which is generally not knowledge, wise, or prudent. The best-selling author, Yuval Harari has a new book out on this … Nexus.)
(That lies our simply “in the eyes of the beholders” is obviously nonsense! And Trump has lied much more than Kamala Harris, with the Washington Post reporting four times more false or suspect claims than Harris in their presidential race-debate.)
(One big Trump lie? … That he won the election of 2020! … But there are soooo many others … for example, Trump’s bleach & hydroxychloroquine & ivermectin as a cure for Covid 19 and his life of lies of being a successful businessman of integrity, rather than a conman who was very unscrupulous. https://www.newyorker.com/news/swamp-chronicles/is-fraud-part-of-the-trump-organizations-business-model https://time.com/3988970/donald-trump-business/ )
Fairy tales? https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/2024-republican-party-platform … In 2015, “Donald Trump promised to build a border wall and make Mexico pay for it. That didn’t happen.” https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/trumpometer/promise/1397/build-wall-and-make-mexico-pay-it/ “Neither civil nor criminal immunity is explicitly granted in the Constitution or any federal statute.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_immunity_in_the_United_States#:~:text=Neither%20civil%20nor%20criminal%20immunity,outer%20perimeter%22%20of%20their%20duties. Electric vehicles. I personally am not high on automobiles … period! … & have written the Biden administration a number of letters to that effect. (We need to use more bicycles and mass transport! https://www.investopedia.com/inflation-rate-by-year-7253832
Life?* Life Is matter organized with free, available energy that can demonstrate responsiveness, growth, metabolism, energy transformation, & reproduction.
A sperm is life. An egg is life. A fertilized egg is life. Etc., etc.
Human life is more difficult to define. Is a human sperm or egg fully human life. Or a zygote or a few cells of a developing embryo? Or a “human’ of more or less than 46 chromosomes per cell? Or what might be called a very abnormal human fetus which is just an amorphous mass of cells. Etc., etc.
Moreover, life on Earth is a Zero sum game! There is only so much room for life, and various forms of life.
Also, is a less than 100-cell blastula more important than a convicted murderer on death row? Etc., etc.
Hopefully we all fight for life in a dynamic homeostatic symbioses, or “nature”, including humans. That includes fights for babies, including other animal babies & plants, etc. babies … & prisoners on death row. (And it includes fighting for the rights of non-documented, have-not immigrants.)
For the most part, it is the Mother’s decision to make concerning an abortion … and not the state. In the case of a fully developed human out of the womb, I do not believe the State has the right to kill anyone.
Abortion? Life & human life and living is complicated and difficult to distinctly define. Nevertheless, few love the idea of abortion, including me. However, for many “quality of life”- and “the Zero sum of life on Eaarth”-reasons, sometimes abortion will be a (hopefully a critically-thought out) decision, The decision should be left up ultimately the mother carrying the zygote, blastula, gastrula, embryo, or fetus … or abnormal mass of human cells … in consultation with her doctor and loved ones. (This runs beautifully contrary to what the Republican Party is currently imposing on women in a process of taking away women’s rights.)
Women’s rights. We all should realize that women have been historically discriminated against up to & including the present time. “We are all entitled to human rights. These include the right to live free from violence and discrimination; to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; to be educated; to own property; to vote; and to earn an equal wage.
But across the globe many women and girls still face discrimination on the basis of sex and gender. Gender inequality underpins many problems which disproportionately affect women and girls, such as domestic and sexual violence, lower pay, lack of access to education, and inadequate healthcare.” https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/discrimination/womens-rights/#:~:text=These%20include%20the%20right%20to,basis%20of%20sex%20and%20gender
This needs to be corrected now. And Trump is not likely to be helpful in this arena. https://www.vox.com/2016/10/8/13110734/donald-trump-leaked-audio-recording-billy-bush-sexism
Gender. Biology (& ecology) are complicated. And there are multiple gender variants resulting from varying chromosome numbers, the interplay of this DNA, RNAs, proteins & hormones, etc. and epigenetics & “environments”. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sex-redefined-the-idea-of-2-sexes-is-overly-simplistic1/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5824932/
(By the way, gender change is common in the animal kingdom!)
Neoliberal capitalism (& resultant consumerism & militarism). “Neoliberalism is contemporarily used to refer to market-oriented reform policies such as ‘eliminating price controls, deregulating capital markets, lowering trade barriers’ and reducing, especially through privatization and austerity, state influence in the economy.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism#:~:text=Neoliberalism%20is%20contemporarily%20used%20to,state%20influence%20in%20the%20economy
Capitalism wouldn’t be so bad if it were appropriately regulated. Neither Democrats nor Republicans have done well with this, though the Democrats have generally tried harder in an effort to regulate inappropriate results of capitalism.
De-militarism, Banning Nuclear Arms, De-weaponization*? War, soldiering, & weapons are inherently evil and very disruptive to sustainable ecological community and socio-ecological justice. I don’t propose that we can wave a magic wand and get rid of militaries, soldiers, weapons, & War instantly (if ever). However, if we do not set goals for ridding humanity/ecological communities of getting rid of these evils, most certainly we never will. We must begin to use real communication, ecological literacy, & true diplomacy to stop & prevent War & crime, and eventually rid ourselves of nuclear arms, guns, other armaments, soldiers, military, & police. It would be a “Christian” Way.
(*I will add that we didn’t have police in schools when I was a kid. Moreover, at almost 78, and having traveled quite a bit in North America, South American, Europe and on several long bicycle rides alone of up to 2500-miles, I have never cared a gun, nor have I had my life seriously threatened except by automobiles.
Also, in a number of more progressive countries, police do not carry guns, and the per capita gun ownership of most countries is one-tenth or less than that of the U.S. which is the highest)
If we all communicated & learned about each other toward a more universal love … and caring & sharing … if we all truly practiced a profoundly holistic Golden Rule … then we would not need to worry about protect of “the innocent” and selves. We truly protect ourselves through ecological literacy which includes a comprehensive and profound understanding of & abidance by the Golden Rule!
(January 6th, 2021. Trump, Trumpians, Trumpsters, MAGAs, and many Republicans ended up being worse than deplorable re January 6. https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-fact-check-trump-biden-rioters-0b3406e02c86bd057e15c9d8c16ccd51 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/05/us/politics/jan-6-capitol-deaths.html )
Republican Support of a Convicted Felon Who Even Threatens to Use Power on His Opponents? I believe the reason for this has been …
1. That they have been smoothly flimflammed, and many ignorant indoctrinated cultish Republicans pretty much believe Trump!!??!!
2. Indoctrination & “patriotism” is often quite lasting.
3.. The lust for Power, even among the populace, is very addictive. And it feels good to “Be Great” even if is “just so much b.s.”
Global Climate Change/Global Warming. “Past reasons for climate change on Earth include natural factors like variations in the Earth’s orbit, changes in solar radiation, volcanic eruptions, shifts in tectonic plates, and fluctuations in greenhouse gas levels, all of which can influence the planet’s temperature over long periods of time, sometimes causing warming or cooling cycles like ice ages.” https://www.bgs.ac.uk/discovering-geology/climate-change/what-causes-the-earths-climate-to change/#:~:text=Geological%20records%20show%20that%20there,carbon%20dioxide%20(CO2).
Scientists attribute recent climate change primarily to human-generated greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide because the rapidly increasing concentration of these gases in the atmosphere, largely due to burning fossil fuels, directly enhances the greenhouse effect, trapping more heat from the sun and causing global temperatures to rise; this coincides with observed warming trends that cannot be adequately explained by natural factors alone. https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/causes/
Degrowth? The resources and daily solar energy of Eaarth is limited.* Our carrying capacity on a neo-Earth of sustainable ecological community is 2-4 billion. We are predicted to level off at 10 billion before 2100.
(*Even though the Eaarth is 71% covered with water, 97% is saltwater … and fresh quality water is very limited on Eaarth particularly because of artificialization, industrial ag, & pollution.)
The main thing we need to do is for “We Haves” to get our energy transformation (usage) down to 70,000 kilocalories per capita per day from what is as high as 300,000+ per day. We Haves must have less housing space, cars, clothing, luxury items, exotic foodstuffs, recreation, & lifestyles, etc., etc. Moreover, we need to be practicing smart human & domesticated animal population control.
If we are going to have quality life for humanity on a neo-Earth of dynamic homeostatic symbioses, we must choose degrowth!
(On pages 235-7 of our book Games We Play I list many little things each of us can do to reduce our ecological footprints and limit growth.)
Free Energy on the Way? Our problem is already too much artificial transformation of free, available energy. We don’t need more.
Electroculture. There are lots of snake oils “out there”! There was no real proof that electricity improved yield or plant growth in any measurable way https://www.realsimple.com/electroculture-gardening-8654584#:~:text=The%20USDA%20also%20did%20extensive,growth%20in%20any%20measurable%20way.
Migration Issues. 1. Because we are such a Powerful nation with control of so many resources, in our book Games We Play, I write “Open borders (but with regulation and caution in realizing this in order to not have net harm to have-not humans and other species. ) 2. An appropriate strategy for managing migration would be “implementing targeted economic development initiatives in those source countries to create more job opportunities and improve living standards.” 3. This year, Trump killed a start at decent U.S. immigration action. https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/25/politics/gop-senators-angry-trump-immigration-deal/index.html
Separation of Church and State? “The separation of church and state is important because it protects religious liberty and individual rights, and prevents the government from favoring one religion over another.” https://www.freedomforum.org/separation-of-church-and-state/ It was another effort of regulation of Power and the striving for freedom in the U.S. Constitution.
Hope? According to Merriam-Webster hope is a “desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment.” And faith is a “firm belief in something for which there is no proof.”
According to the real tellers of Truths, real and good ecological scientists, humans are a unique species which, in a relatively short period of time (ca. 12,000 years of the 13.8 billion years of the Cosmos), have to a large extent made it’s homeland uninhabitable to its life form due to destruction of: the natural resource base of top soil, quality air & water, and biodiversity and photosynthesis and sustainable transformation of solar energy … and due to War AND anthropocentric climate change. This was done through agriculture, capitalism, the industrial & chemical revolution, and the information revolution.
Unless Homo sapiens changes its course of action very soon*, it is over the cliff we go. (Perhaps we all have “failed humanity!”)
(*A large part of the answer is degrowth and living in concert with “nature” … and avoiding attmeps to control nature and artificially “produce” more per acre.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS GIVEN TO THE AUDIENCE TO “WARM UP” THEIR THINKING.
If you wish, please quickly jot out a short knee-jerk response to the following:
- What is life? (Is it a “Zero Sum” game?)
- What is the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics? What does it have to do with neoliberal capitalistic-/consumer-/growth-economics … and artificialization and “Nature”?
- What is the Precautionary Principle?
- Ecologically, morally & ethically, shouldn’t all Texans be vegetarians?
- In what biome do you live?
- If very catastrophic weather, occurred, a total government local/national/global government breakdown happened suddenly, or we had widespread nuclear destruction, etc. … what could you (perhaps) forage to eat here locally around Seguin (from the wild)?
- In the immediate few square yards of where we are sitting in this building, are we producing or consuming? What is the impact of this artificial structure on the four (4) major ecosystem blocks?
- Why is the evapotranspiration rate so very important in the Seguin area?
- From where does Seguin get its drinking water? Whose water, is it? Do future generations of biota have a right to water? Do other species have a right to water? Should water be a commodity … or a right?
- What is ecological community succession?
- What is a common pioneer (edible) plant, or “weed” (some Mexican Americans use the Náhuatl/“Aztec” language word “quelite” for it) growing all across Seguin during much of the year?
- Explain human appropriated net primary productivity?
- What is the most important ecosystem block to consider … Soil & air? Water? Biota & biodiversity including photosynthesizers? or the Sun?
- Could the world operate without fossil energy & materials?
- Which is more efficient/better … a pre-WW II agrarianism producing one (1) calorie of food with 3 artificial energy inputs & with up to 60% of the folk at least more or less directly associated with that agrarianism, or our current industrial agriculture needing 10—30 calories of artificial energy to produce food and with much less than 20% of the populace involved in agriculture?
- Does capital punishment or War violate the 1st Commandment?
- Human beings have 46 chromosomes. Is a being with 44 or 47 chromosomes, etc. a human being?
- Human beings have + or – 37 trillion cells each with 46 chromosomes(or + – 1700 trillion chromosomes). Is a one-cell zygote with 46 chromosomes a human being? Is a mass of very amorphous cells each with 46 chromosomes carried 4+ months in a woman’s womb a human being?
- Is it OK to put a humane embryo on ice for years & years?
- Would a cloned human (not conceived) a human being?
- Is not the military basically an extremely socialistic system?
- Could we exist without military, armaments, & War?
- Ultimately, which economic system is more doable toward christian equity on an Earth of limits … Democratic Socialism, or Plutocratic Capitalism?
- christian Golden Rule caring & sharing? Or walls, razor-sharp barbed wire, buoy-barriers, landmines, guns and tanks?
- What is more important, Faith? Or Science?
- Other comments on “sustainable ecological community”.
(Some of these do have a relatively absolute answer. However, most do cry for answers which are scientifically-based, but are also, “simply” thought provoking.)
Thanks!!!
paul bain martin ( 7 Ss / VV->^^ )
