in the 1970’s with speed limits at 55
and a curbing of christmas lighting
i was somewhat elated
that we’d finally begun to realize some socio-ecological sanity
(my dad loved it!
he drove 45
and went around turning out lights)
……………………
deaf ears. blind eyes. lack of real feeling
deaf, blind, oblivious
the parade on july fourth was de facto celebrating unbridled growth and War
celebrating what cannot be
and doing some celebrating of what was/is truly quite criminal
look … i can truly enjoy & appreciate all the hoopla & fireworks
and the smiling faces of joy and fun antics of mayor donna & mary jane windle & linda duncan
and city manager steve
and others
nevertheless i do not wish for us to get too joyful & complacent*
my hope is that
sometime soon after i pass
we seguinites, texans, citizens of los estados unidos & do mundo
will wake and realize what we did and are doing
through our terrible addiction to growth
“growth (and associated militarism) isn’t freedom” for many reasons
obviously our economic growth and ecological destruction
supported by tropical/south-of-the-tropics’ exploitations, invasions, and socio-ecological disruptions
are not freedom for the undocumented nicaraguan workers–
in legal limbo and slaving in a deep socio-political/economic rut
at cheese & pizza factories in Wisconsin– …
folk with whom I recently stayed with and visited
(by the way, we unfortunately have a similar despairing situation at tyson in seguin)
obviously growth was not/is not freedom** for the indigenous human beings of Pine Ridge Reservation
with whom i volunteered in an ecology camp for youth a few days past
and from whom we ripped Land, their natural world; Tatanka, their foodshed, their renewable energy;
language, culture, spiritually, stability; sense of place and community
who we, including our “revered” forefathers, genocidally killed toward annihilation
with germs, guns, ecological devastaion, and starvation …***
and despite our sacred flag and constitution and amendments and rule of law
and so-called Christianity
we broke treaty after treaty after treaty after treaty
(yeah! … MAGA!!!)
………………………………..
now …
my schedule for these five-minute presentations to local governmental entities
in my effort to PERHAPS tweak your interest toward ecology & critical thinking
dictates that i begin say something about the Net Primary Productivity & Human Appropriated Net Primary Productivity
that we really depend on for energy and perpetual life
and that are key indicators of sustainability
or quality life & equity for all, including other species, for as long as possible****
Net Primary Productivity is what is left over from photosynthesis for consumers
after the real producers on Eaarth, or photosynthesizers
have their needs of solar energy
Human Appropriated Net Productivity is what the currently most powerful consumers, humans,
especially those of los estados unidos
(often greedily) utilize
(as I have stressed before in these presentations
we citizens of los estados unidos, as four percent of Eaarth’s human population
consume twenty plus percent of eaarth’s resources)
and we humans appropriate a lion’s share, or twenty-five plus percent, of net primary productivity
i’ll let your inquisitive, rational, moral & ethical minds take it from here
to cogitate and deliberate on why continued growth (including military power and manufacture of guns and other armaments)
is not only immoral and ecologically destructive
but “in the end” … even impossible
pbm
7 S’s / VV->^^
*****************************************
*Mom’s Kneuper side of our Louise & Alton Martin family settled in what is now Guadalupe County in the 1840s and 100 years later, my Mom and Dad had their first home near Mary B. Eskine School and bought furniture at Starcke’s. (I have an old historical booklet from the 1940’s sponsored by Starcke’s which Mom gave me.) Grandpa Paul Kneuper used to stay at the Aumont when doing governmental and political business. The Martins from Stockdale traded in Seguin from in the early 1900’s. Brother Dr. John Russell Martin, MD was born in the small hospital which later housed the Head Start program. My beautiful & delightful first cousin Wanda Jo Dinklage visited where her grandparents lived on Jefferson Street and she lived in Seguin off and on over many years. My father-in-law, Johnny Hoffmann–a good cowboy & excellent roper–used to rodeo in Seguin, and he thought the prettiest women in the world were from here in Seguin (other than his wife Florence (Sachtleben). I swam in & thoroughly enjoyed the old swimming pool at Starcke Park on occasion. My wife Betsy and I moved here in 1985 and taught school here, and our children spent most of their formative years in Seguin and Seguin schools.
Mostly via bicycling … I have enjoyed the pecans and pecan trees, and Guadalupe River, and Isaac Horta, Sam Ramos, Frank Woods, & Jim Monkerud et al. and tennis, the KC Hall dances, and Pete’s HEB camps, and the SOLC, and Davila’s barbeque, and our Lady of Guadalupe, and Jeep Kiel & his beers, and LULAC and its community garden, and Marvel Maddox & Bobbie, … and all the people of Seguin … and more! … for many years!
I love this place/this ecological community as much as anyone!!!
**(2557) The Freedom Song – YouTube … written by the amazing & savvy artist, Andy Wilkinson!
***Floyd McGee’s “Indian” stories in the Seguin Gazette are illustrative of this, even though they are mostly written under some considerable influence of a white man’s European colonial/Christian/Manifest Destiny perspective.
****From pages 146 & 198 of our little book, Games We Play (kite.pub) .
