Canada

                                                                                          written 26 July, 2026

                                                                                   published 2 August, 2026

 

            While the MAGA cult is fond of accusing critics of "Trump Derangement Syndrome", the entire world now sees true derangement in action: the president wants to punish Canada for "exporting" toxic wildfire smoke, claiming Canada hasn't managed their forests well.

            Canada currently has over 2,000 active fires, of which more than 700 are listed as large and critical, mostly in the wilderness of their northern provinces, far from human habitation.  Heavy smoke has been blowing out of Canada into the upper Midwest and Northeast of the U.S., at levels hazardous to health.  The smoke blows downwind, driven by global patterns that sane people know nobody controls.  

            The flammability of the forest has been increased by extensive heat waves, prolonged droughts, and increased tree death due to insect infestations, which are blown down by stronger storms, then ignited by lightning strikes.  These factors are amplified by the growing climate crisis.  But the president is not concerned with facts, only with blame, because he never takes responsibility.

            In the last 250 years, human industrial combustion has increased long lasting atmospheric carbon dioxide levels by one half, added almost 2 trillion tons.  This has modified atmospheric chemistry, acting as insulation, warming the planet, changing the climactic impact on the surface where we all live.  Of the total added, the U.S. economy contributed 25 percent, while the Canadian economy contributed only 2 percent.  If anyone is responsible, it is not primarily the Canadians.

            But the president says the climate crisis is a hoax.  He lies to dodge any responsibility for what is unfolding.  In Congress, his Republican faithful are rushing to create legislation punishing Canada, while at the same time preparing to grant climate immunity to the oil companies, who knowingly created the problem while profiting immensely.  Beyond the obvious hypocrisy of these actions, another important consequence is the continued destruction of the long-standing relationship between our two countries.

            Upon entering office this term, the president imposed a 25 percent tariff on all Canadian imports.  While most of those tariffs were soon declared unconstitutional and repealed, but the relationship was damaged.  Canadian Prime Minister Carney said "Trump is trying to break us so America can own us.  That will never ever happen."

            Canada reacted swiftly, with reduced consumption of imported American goods, and reduced sales of Canadian goods to the U.S., which dropped 7 percent, the lowest since 1980's, and expanded exports to the rest of the world by 17 percent, an all-time high.  Individual Canadians responded as well.  From being the top foreign visitors in 36 states, spending $20 billion annually, tourism from Canada fell an average of 42 percent, and as much as 65 percent in some locations.  

            At the January, 2026 World Economic Forum, Prime Minister Carney called what America had done to the global order a "rupture, not a transition, not a realignment, but a rupture.  The rules-based international order that America built and led for 80 years is under threat, crumbling, no longer fit for the purpose".  The room stood and applauded. 

            More American goods are purchased by Canada than China, Japan and Germany combined, making it the top export destination for 36 U.S. states.  $3.6 billion in Canadian goods and services cross our border every day, including 85 percent of U.S. electricity imports, the energy equivalent of ten Hoover Dams, and 60 percent of U.S. crude oil imports.  Canada is our largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum, and uranium, which fuels 20 percent of U.S. nuclear plants.  Canada supplies 34 critical minerals and metals the Pentagon has identified as essential to national security.  Every one of these imports is something Washington cannot replace quickly, or at all in some cases.

            Prime Minister Carney said, "That’s not a trade relationship.  That’s a lifeline.  And America has been treating it like a bargaining chip."

            Our country does not exist alone, but is part of a massively interconnected economy and environment.  The president acts in total denial of that fact, adrift from reality, driven by personal aggrandizement and greed, risking our national economic and strategic alliance with our nearest neighbor, and the fate of the entire global economy.  His war of choice on Iran has returned to a destructive phase, expanding now into the Red Sea, and the price of oil has jumped 30 percent since fighting renewed.  With no solution in sight, he is flailing, his inadequacy obvious to the whole world.  

            Will any Republicans find the spine to say "enough", before he goes nuclear?

 

Our Choices

                                                                                          written 19 July, 2026

                                                                                      published 26 July, 2026

  

            On Tuesday, July 14th, Sonoma Clean Power held a ribbon cutting ceremony at a solar array on Redemeyer Road, northeast of Ukiah.  This 4 megawatt array, with storage, is now the largest wholesale solar array operating in the county.  The power will support Sonoma Clean Power's Evergreen program, which provides 100 percent non carbon energy to their customers.

            Owned by Renewable Properties, which installs this kind of grid scale power system for publicly owned power companies, the array sits on 20 acres, leased for 20 years from a local landowner.  Financing was arranged in conjunction with the Saving Bank of Mendocino.  The system was designed and constructed by regional companies, using local labor wherever possible.

            This is a step toward a local sustainable future, albeit a relatively small step.  To put things in perspective, on average, this array will produce about 5 percent of what Ukiah consumes every day, although this power goes to SCP customers in the valley.  China just announced the completion of another 1,000 megawatt solar array.  Around the globe, 1,000 megawatts of solar are installed every day.  Some of the fastest solar growth is in Africa and Pakistan.  

            Even as heat waves cook the southwest, toxic smoke blankets the northeast, and damaging floods kill people in Texas, our president insanely denies the climate crisis.  Despite this, solar projects accounted for almost three quarters of new domestic grid scale electrical systems installed in 2025.  This is not because the power industry is concerned about the adverse climate impact of combustion fuels, but because solar and storage are the cheapest and quickest power to install, with prices continuing to fall every year.  The oil industry acknowledges this fact, understanding the inevitable transformation will be driven by economics.  Consequently, the actions of this administration seem doubly absurd.  

            As the stalemate with Iran accelerats the global shift away from fossil fuels, the president uses taxpayer funds to keep uneconomic coal plants operating, pay developers to NOT build wind arrays, and pours billions into developing untested small modular reactors (SMR).  The nuclear resurgence excites the investor class, but material reality hinders progress.

            Several domestic SMR's have now broken ground, but the fuel for these is problematic.  Unlike the larger standard fission reactors which use 5 percent enriched uranium fuel, these new systems will use more highly enriched uranium, and some have expensive exotic fuels.  Since most enriched uranium comes from Russia, billions are being invested to build new domestic enrichment factories, an expensive, time-consuming process.

            Nuclear in general has a problem with their "spent fuel", which is hazardous to life for a hundred thousand years.  Since the nuclear industry began 80 years ago, no country except Finland has as yet built a long-term spent fuel depository.  Instead, like crazy people keeping their urine in jars in the garage, nuclear power plants keep their lethal waste in special casks on site.  Each year the 94 U.S. reactors produce over 2,000 tons of spent fuel, and storage space is getting limited.  Japan recently announced they are running out of space, yet they are restarting some of the reactors that were shut after Fukushima.  Building more reactors makes the problem worse.

            To speed development, the president has streamlined nuclear permitting and fired people at the Nuclear Regulatory Agency who monitor the design process.  Nuclear history shows prioritizing speed and cost over safety is dangerous.  Chernobyl resulted from flawed design and the cost saving exclusion of a containment structure: a failure that effected all Europe.  Fukushima resulted from contractor's cost saving decisions to place emergency generators at sea level and build a 30 foot sea wall for protection, even though historic tsunamis had exceeded 45 feet: a failure that created a trillion dollar problem. 

            The financial industry likes the massive funding nuclear requires, and corporations like the centralized control that results, so it makes sense that the president should push nuclear, over and above his anti-climate fetish.  However, the global appeal of solar is driven in part by how easily is can be transformative and diversified down to very small applications.  Bringing electricity to a rural village in Africa, or even to individual households, is part of why solar installations are exploding in even the poorer portions of the world, something nuclear can never accomplish.  By pushing nuclear and trying to kill solar, the president has abandoned the future to China.  

            We can have a sustainable civilization that doesn't kill the climate, create intractable waste, or bankrupt the economy.

Out Of Time

                                                                                          written 12 July, 2026

                                                                                      published 19 July, 2026

 

            "Out of time" can mean "running out of time", which is what the Republicans are facing right now.

            Three weeks ago, with the triumphant announcement that the war on Iran was "over" and the Strait of Hormuz was open, the economic system responded like the worries were over: oil prices dropped and stocks rose every day.  We now see that reaction was premature.  Even during that brief pause, shipping traffic was only a quarter of prewar levels, which means the world has at least 10 percent less oil every day.  With no real solution, we are living on borrowed time, daily depleting strategic reserves, ignoring the continued shortfall of the energy source that powers most of the global economy.

            The president started this war as a distraction from his personal political problems, expecting a quick victory, much like Putin did when he invaded Ukraine over four years ago.  Instead, having spent billions of dollars and depleting critical weapons stockpiles, we have a stalemate in the war, a ticking clock on when energy shortages hit home, broken trust with our allies in the region, and only 16 weeks before the midterm election.  

            Even if the Democrats take the House, and possibly the Senate, this president has destroyed so much in America that it will take a long time to repair the damage.  It looks like everything is falling apart, or being corrupted: unaffordable health care, housing, food, fuel, pandemic unpreparedness, disastrous public infrastructure upgrades, defunded national parks and energy efficiency standards.  The list is long, and new disasters make the news each week.  Even Republicans are getting concerned.  It's enough to make people despair. 

            But perspective affects conclusions.  Consider a caterpillar's metamorphosis in the cocoon into a butterfly.  From one perspective, it is death and decomposition, from the other it is assembly and birth, both part of a complete cycle of life.  This can be viewed as the falling away of one form, naturally making room for a new one.

            What is unfolding globally looks like a similar process.  The old pattern is separation, exclusive gain, and domination.  Having existed for thousands of years, it looks like "that's the way it is".  It has failed repeatedly, because the long-term trend is toward inclusion.   

            The miracle of America is the aspiration that all people are equal under the law.  We know this is still a long way from being universally true, but in just 250 years we have included more people: women, non-whites, and the original inhabitants of this continent.  Some still fight to get back to when only white men of property set the rules, but this is so retrograde the country will tear itself apart before that happens again.  The driving force here is not just the ideals of our founders, but the power of the natural world, just like the force that changes the caterpillar into the butterfly.

            The core of all spiritual traditions, as opposed to the dogmas of their religious organizations, recognizes the unity of nature.  Beginning a century ago, even western science came to understand this truth, with the rise of quantum mechanics.  Matter, the foundation for all things, is a form of resonant energy, appearing as individual energy peaks arising out of a vast ocean of energy.  Even though we don't normally experience that truth directly, the resulting powerful technologies have transformed our world.   

            One of the mind twisting elements of quantum mechanics is the concept of non-locality: matter is not bounded by the four-dimensional limitations of space/time.  Sunlight, consisting of photons which have no mass, can only exist at the speed of light, and therefore experience no time or distance, yet is fundamental to all material life.  Reality seems to exist everywhere all at once.

            The antidotal evidence that consciousness is non local has existed for centuries.  While not included in the dominant western culture, it has been part of aboriginal cultures everywhere.

            This current period has been foretold as a time when consciousness evolves, awakening to its unity nature.  Our culture of separation, in the name of ignorant dogma and economic profit, is killing the planet and all life living here.  This exhibits no more wisdom than beer yeast, which overpopulates and dies in its own waste.  

            We can do better.  By consciously choosing love and gratitude in every moment, and opening to non-local processes, such as synchronicity and inspiration, we can experience our unity reality.  We begin to step "out of time".  

 

An Inconvenient Truth

                                                                                            written 5 July, 2026

                                                                                      published 12 July, 2026

 

            On July 1st, 2026, the Ukiah Daily Journal published a critique of Al Gore's movie, "An Inconvenient Truth", written by Bjorn Lomborg, president of the Copenhagen Consensus, a visiting fellow at the Stanford Hoover Institute.  The Hoover Institute is an American public policy think tank which promotes personal and economic liberty, free enterprise, and limited government.  The Copenhagen Consensus seeks to establish priorities based on rational prioritization by economic analysis, assuming the validity of free markets to achieve the best outcomes.

            The article stated that Gore's climate concern was fear based, leading to wasted climate investment, which has produced no discernable benefit.  It acknowledged there is some change in climate, but proposed solutions like sea walls, drought tolerant crops, and early warning systems, while investing in "advanced nuclear" and fusion to be able to undercut fossil fuel prices.  It touted as fact that climate change might reduce global GDP by a few percent by 2100, and a UN report that by that time an average person will be 450% richer.  Nothing to worry about here.

            However, money is a societal convention, while the environment is the reality we inhabit.  It is understandable that monied interests downplay climate concerns, because money is easily divorced from reality, as the long history of financial bubbles demonstrates.  Consider the concept of a "limited liability corporation", which makes financial sense for the corporate owners, but allows unlimited damages to be pushed off onto others, who don't gain any profit from the business.

             It should be remembered these are the folks where gushing about Enron right up until a few weeks before it declared complete bankruptcy in October, 2001.  These were also the people driving the subprime housing boom that crashed in 2007.  That little mistake cost about 40% of GDP in production and income losses, and took 7 years to regain job losses.

            Even if wealth for the average person grows, there is no indication it will be evenly distributed.  With a trillionaire and almost 500 billionaires, income inequity in the U.S. is now 3 times greater than the Gilded Age in the late 1800's, while 60 percent now live pay check to pay check.  

            Furthermore, stock market levels don't tell the whole economic story.  Almost half of S&P 500 valuation comes from AI companies, most of which have yet to show a profit.  In the last 4 years, AI power demands have increased by 40 percent, much faster than the grid can expand production.  The AI economic bubble is vulnerable, running up against real world power and water limitations.  

            Beyond the questionable economics presented as the foundation of the article, we have real world information about the increasing climate impact.  Last week, extreme heat made global headlines.  Europe, now warming faster than other parts of the inhabited planet, had two heat waves so far this summer.  The last one killed 1,300 people and forced several nuclear power plants to close during the peak power demand.

            In the U.S., fourth of July was the hottest on record, with half the country experiencing extreme heat.  The heat index (temperature and humidity impact) was 113°F in Washington, DC, forcing the Great American State Fair to close midday, and extreme rains delayed the fireworks by two hours.

             Fire dangers are increasing, along with fire insurance bills.  This year in the U.S., over 35,000 fires burned 4,700 square miles, exceeding the 10 year average.  The atmospheric content of carbon dioxide keeps increasing every year, guaranteeing this kind of fire damage will get worse over time.  

            This is a direct consequence of the big money interests focusing only on short term profit, with no regard for larger impacts or long-term consequences.  Within economic thinking, the future is devalued relative to the present.

            There was a recent report that the worst case scenario for future climate impact had been downgrade a bit.  The president, in his infinite wisdom, claimed this proved the entire climate crisis is a hoax.  However, what the report actually recognized was the impact of the global investments away from fossil fuels.  Despite American's head in the sand approach to the issue, the world sees renewables as the path forward, not primarily because of the climate crisis, but because renewables with storage are already cheaper than fossil fuels.  By renewables I mean wind, solar, geothermal, and storage, not the still fictional fusion, nor any form of nuclear, which has a waste problem that hasn't been addressed for 80 years.

 

Lurking In The Depths

                                                                                          written 28 June, 2026

                                                                                         published 5 July, 2026

 

            Once upon a time, a king commanded the tide to halt.  The king knew the limits to his power, and was trying to teach his foolish advisors about those limits.  However, our "king" is the fool, believing he is the boss of reality.  Perhaps this comes from his upbringing by a sociopathic father, or a life of being catered to as a very rich man, or his decades as a reality TV character.  He acts like he is playing president in a reality show, where he gets to decide all the plot twists, just on his say so.

            In fact, our distractor in chief is skilled.  Witness the still unresolved war on Iran, the "vandals" in the reflecting pool, the "taxpayer free" multi-billion dollar ballroom, the constant effort to restrict voters, the quest to fund his goon squad, and the new fear of "godless communist Democrats".  These are all efforts to hide his pedophile involvement with Epstein, and his massive family corruption.  However, behind all the political posturing, there is an even a more profound issue being ignored: the growing climate crisis.

            With the foolish idea that what you don't know can't hurt him, the president has devastated most of the climate science systems in the U.S., pushing climate out of the daily news cycle.  Despite this, there have been a few small victories.  His defunding of the Global Ocean Monitoring network, a valuable, decade long system of tracking what is happening out of sight of land, was reinstated by judicial order.  Motivated individuals have saved vital climate data sets from destruction.  

            The AI economic frenzy, which is driving the stock market to new highs every day, proposes construction of hundreds of data centers.  Whatever the eventual social benefits, if any, the demands for massive amounts of electrical power and cooling water have created public pushback across the country.  The power demands are supposed to be solved by onsite natural gas, or diesel, generators, accelerating the climate crisis, assuming the AI bubble doesn't pop soon.

            But reality doesn't care what foolish humans think or do.  This summer could be an extreme fire hazard.  U.S. acres currently burned are ahead of normal.  Locally, the June like heat in March dried things out, disrupting the normal spring cycle of flowers budding and pollinators hatching.  Last week, temperatures in London were 97°F and France reached 111°F.  Most of Europe doesn't have air conditioners.  Several hundred people have already died of the heat.  The oceans are warmer, stressing food chains, adding more moisture to any storms, and fueling stronger hurricanes.

            The Arctic Ocean has less summer sea ice now than ever previously recorded.  Northern nations are positioning themselves to take economic advantage of newly available Arctic resources, and quicker shipping across the top of the planet.  But less sea ice has decreased the nutrition of that ocean basin, adversely affecting global fish stocks.  

            A more serious concern is lurking in the Arctic Ocean floor: 200-10,000 gigatons of frozen methane.  Dark open ocean water absorbs more solar heat than reflective white ice.  The Arctic basin is relatively shallow, meaning heat can more easily reach the sea floor.  Methane changes directly from solid to gas at -32°F.  Methane is 100 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, over the time frame of a decade.  When enough heat warms the Arctic Ocean floor, massive amounts of methane will be released into the atmosphere, rapidly heating the air, increasing the methane release, potentially building to a catastrophic heat pulse.

            Over the last 200 years, combustion from the industrial revolution has added about 1,500 gigatons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, raising the global temperature almost 3°F.  If just one percent of the frozen Arctic methane is released, we would experience double that additional heat rise in a few months.  New reporting is that the Arctic could be ice free next summer, much sooner than previously expected, as planetary heating is increasing.  That isn't to say the methane burst will happen that soon, but having no summer sea ice is a worrying precondition.

            We just celebrated 250 years of American existence, founded on the radical aspiration that all people deserve respect, not just wealthy men.  Today we are challenged to embrace another radical aspiration that all living systems deserve respect, not just wealthy humans.  If our country, or even our species, expects to survive another 50 years, we need new leadership, not another self-centered rich man.

 

The "Deal"

                                                                                          written 21 June, 2026

                                                                                                for 28 June, 2026

 

            Decades ago, when one of my nephews was a very little boy, he played with matches on his bed, setting it on fire.  Being immature, his response was to quietly close the door, returning to the living room to watch TV with his folks.  Eventually, the adults realized the house was on fire and evacuated everyone in time, but their home was gutted. 

            Our president is just as irresponsible.  He unilaterally welched on an international agreement in 2018, when he withdrew from the nuclear deal with Iran.  Eight years later, after four months of war and economic stagnation in the Strait of Hormuz, the president announced a new "deal" had been reached.  Claiming it was almost total surrender by Iran, the president promised the Strait of Hormuz is open again, oil would immediately begin to flow again, and gas prices will drop very soon.  Just in time for the mid-term elections.

            Stocks values rose and oil prices dropped upon this joyous news, as the global economy believed we have avoided an energy shock not seen in half a century.  Even the president acknowledged this concern as justification for the "deal". 

            After days of secrecy surround the details, last week the world saw the actual document: a two page, 14 point Memorandum Of Understanding, with further negotiations expected to follow.  

            There is to be a regional ceasefire.  The U.S. promises to immediately remove their blockade of Iranian shipping.  Iran promises to allow toll-free shipping through the Strait for the next 60 days, but expects to collect tolls after that.  Iran gets some financial rewards immediately upon signing, and the promise of removal of all economic sanctions and hundreds of billions in rebuilding funds.  There is no mention of regime change, Iranian missiles, or proxy groups.  The entire uranium issue is pushed down the road.  This is a world away from the president's boasts early in the war, yet he is claiming victory.  His style is to take credit, but never any responsibility.   

            The "deal" expects Israel and Lebanon to end all fighting, yet Israel wasn't involved in the process.  Within 24 hours, Hezbollah and Israel had attacked each other again.  The Iranians claimed this was a breach of the "deal", withdrawing from further negotiations for the moment.  As I write this, the Strait is closed again.

            Even assuming the "deal" will eventually hold, experts who know the reality of the world say the flow of oil will not resume immediately.  It will be weeks, or even months, before oil shipments return to prewar levels.  Clearing the Strait of mines will take time.  Moving ships stalled in the Persian Gulf for four months will take time.  Restoring the production facilities that have been war damaged or shut down during the stalemate will take time.  Restoring confidence in the shipping insurance industry will take time.  Meanwhile, the world is living on rapidly depleting stored oil reserves.

            Among the kindest responses to the "deal" were concerns that it is far from a final agreement.  Critics of this "deal", many of them Republicans, say this is a surrender by the U.S. to Iran.  The London School of Economics reported, "there is a relative consensus worldwide, even in the U.S., that Iran won the war and President Trump lost the war."

            In 2015, the nuclear agreement was working, as verified by international inspectors.  Traffic in the Strait of Hormuz was free flowing.  We now have no nuclear deal.  Iran knows the U.S. won't honor treaties.  The Strait is under Iranian economic control.  All this "gain" at the cost of almost ten thousand lives, and over $130 billion dollars.

            But people still believe the president, whatever insanity he spouts.  

            My primary issue is the changing climate.  I trust the science.  The president, by his own admission, doesn't feel secure around people smarter than himself, which explains the cast of characters in his administration.  It also explains his complete denial of the climate crisis, and his war on science.  He believes that if nobody knows what is going on, he is safe.

            Since I know he lies about the climate, I distrust most of what he says.  His claims about the Iran war are more of the same.  But now people close to him, or who expected him to enrich them, are losing trust.  His only loyalty is to himself.  Not to them.  Not to this country.  He is not a leader, but a dangerous reality TV character.

 

 

Ukiah's Annexation

                                                                                          written 14 June, 2026

                                                                                      published 21 June, 2026

            

            Last week I attended the recent presentation of the proposed annexation for Ukiah.  It was a modest turnout, less than 75 people.  The City staff opened with several requests that everyone be respectful and not interrupt, shout down, or disparage other speakers.  I went to learn about the subject, and to experience the mood of the crowd, many of whom have been adamantly opposed to annexation since the first effort was presented over a year ago.

            The City of Ukiah has ground water rights to the abundant geologic water reserves under the City.  Adjacent water districts to the north and south didn't, and struggled to serve their customers during drought years.  Under pressure from the State to address regional ground water resiliency, the Ukiah Valley Water Authority was formed 2 years ago, joining the City of Ukiah with the Willow, Millview, and Redwood Valley water systems.  The current coordinated water system means everyone has access to sufficient water.   

            For decades, the City of Ukiah has owned and operated the only sewer plant in the valley, servicing the customers within the city limits, while contracting for treatment of sewage from customers outside the city limits.  

            Nine years ago, the City of Ukiah fire department signed a joint powers agreement with the Ukiah Valley Fire Protection District to become the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority, covering the needs of the entire Ukiah valley.

            The parcels proposed for annexation are already served by the expanded water and sewer districts.  The annexation will bring in revenues from those areas to help support services they already receive.  This also shifts some responsibilities from the County budget to the City budget, specifically road maintenance, police protection, and planning decisions.  While the County will lose some revenue, it also loses some obligations.

            The revenues from the annexed areas are: property taxes, sales taxes, and Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT).  The annexation plan spreads revenue changes over time, accruing short term City loses to ease the County pain, modifying the fiscal shock.

            Property taxes are a large part of the County income.  The County will keep 100% of the existing property tax income, but portions of the future increases will be shifted to the City, starting at about 3% the first year, increasing each year to a cap of 50% 15 years from now.  Property tax rates are set by the State, and fixed at a 2% per year increase, which will be unaffected by the annexation.

            Sales taxes are a minor part of the County income, but a significant portion of the City income.  That revenue will be shifted over 5 years, with little citizen impact.  TOT taxes mostly affect travelers, not local residents.

            Despite those reassurances, many attendees voiced concerns annexation would increase their taxes.  Others feared unrestrained development, but were told zoning for the area will stay the same and County and City development procedures are similar.  Some were just resistant to any change, yearning for the "good old days".  A common unstated assumption was that government of any kind is a problem to be avoided.

            In my opinion, good government balances the social needs of the whole with the needs of individuals.  Without a doubt, bad government is appalling, just look how one man's inflated ego has damaged our entire economy through his ill-advised war of choice in the Middle East.  But local government is more accessible.  Here in Ukiah, we can personally know all of the decision makers in the City, and we each have direct impact through election of the entire City Council.  Even the County is too big for that level of connection.  If the people of this small city can't come together for a workable solution, how can we expect much from our larger society?

            We have massive threats to our way of life.  Despite presidential denial, climate change is real.  This summer is projected to be a bad fire season.  Fire insurance is getting more expensive, if even available.  Water determines where life flourishes, and the rain patterns that deliver that water are changing.  The county economy was built on a resource extraction, but most of those resources have been depleted. 

            Make no mistake, we are all in this together, like it or not.  Only fools think they exist completely independently.  At the very least, we all breath oxygen that none of us make ourselves.  Local resilience is becoming more important every year. 

            It's trite but true.  United we stand, divided we fall.