The GOP Changed

                                                                                 written 17 September 2023

                                                                             published 24 September 2023

 

            Last week, rain flooded Hong Cong (6 inches in one hour), Massachusetts and Rhode Island (9 inches), northeastern Libya (16 inches, 3/4 of the annual average, in 6 hours, bursting burst 2 dams, destroying 1/4 of Derna, killing at least 6,000), and southern China (18 inches).  For the first time in history, all seven of the cyclone basins have produced category 5 storms in the same year.  Farmers Insurance is fourth major company to leave Florida, citing climate risks.

            A local columnist recently wrote that Democratic party goals have degenerated over time while Republican party goals have stayed the same: strong military, lower taxes, and smaller government.  In addition to these traditional GOP goals, the party supported family values, the rule of law, and personal integrity.  The GOP has changed. 

            Strong military: Senator Tuberville is single handedly threatening national security and degrading military readiness by stalling 300 top level military promotions, included Joint Chief of Staff, because of his personal abortion opinion.  No Republican Senator is willing to publicly pressure him to change his stance.

            Lower taxes: Republicans continue to push for lower taxes, but only for the very wealthy.  Not being satisfied with just lower taxes, the IRS was defunded to the point where high value tax cheats weren't being audited because they were too labor intensive.  Under Trump's rule, the national debt was increased by $7T to give tax cuts to the wealthiest, while social services were cut.  Incomes over $160,000 don't contribute to the Social Security system.

            Smaller government: Republicans assert government is a problem, with no social value.  The chaos in the Republican "controlled" House shows no interest in actually governing, choosing political posturing instead, which IS a problem.  The Republican abortion agenda now includes government intrusion into everyone's sex life.  People driving across state lines will be investigated to make sure no abortion is intended.  Miscarriages will be investigated for blood evidence of abortion pills.  Medical procedures around women's health are legally scrutinized.

            Family values: No longer even "pro-life" (now "pro-baby"), the GOP canceled a child tax credit, doubling child poverty in a stroke.  Once a baby is born, the GOP wants nothing to do with it, unless you are rich.

            Rule of law: The party now supports a candidate who has been indicted 4 times for 91 felonies, yet the GOP rallies around him.  Many Republicans feel the Constitution is irrelevant.  One of the standards of our Constitutional system is accepting the outcome of elections and a peaceful transfer of power.  Trump has been described as malignant narcissist, so it is understandable that he is mentally incapable of accepting the reality he lost, but most of the GOP leaders have supported this delusion of a "stolen election", and the insurrection on the Capitol that followed.  Recent evidence shows that Republican leaders have acquiesced out of fear of threats of violence against their families.  Rather than accept responsibility for actions taken, and be tried as an equal under the law, the entire justice system is being is being demonized, accused of being weaponized.   

            Personal integrity: Fox News, an avid Republican supporter and significant in the conservative media landscape, has been found in a court of law to have lied, known about it, and didn't care.  Honesty has no place in the modern GOP if it stands in the way of keeping power.  Shutting down the entire government, reneging on commitments, is acceptable if it makes difficulty for the opposition party.  Anyone who stands up for what they believe, if it is contrary to the "cult of Trump", is demonized, swarmed with hate mail and threats, primaried out of the party, and eliminated for consideration.

            Whatever principles the Republican party once had are long gone.  They have no policy plans that have support of the majority of voters, so they gerrymander the districts, purge the voter rolls, change the rules, lie, and mobilize violence, just to stay in power.  These are the traits of an authoritarian regime.  

            The climate crisis is real, and continues to erode our material civilization as surely as being repeated attacked by an adversary in war.  This is not a malevolent force, but the natural imbalance of our entire way of living on the planet.  These times demand we mature, become part of life on the planet, not just parasitic consumers.  The unity of the world demands recognition.  The modern GOP has nothing to offer.

 

 

 

 

 

What Will It Take?

                                                                                 written 10 September 2023

                                                                             published 17 September 2023

  

            Last week, Atlantic hurricane Lee doubled in intensity, from category 1 to category 5, in 18 hours.  Lake Titicaca in the Andes, the world's highest navigable lake, is drying out.  France hits 104°F, India had the driest August in more than 100 years, 60 million Americans were under heat alerts, Phoenix broke an annual record of 53 days with temperatures over 110°F, and snow was on the ground in Utah mountains.  Intense storms flooded southern Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Istanbul (5 inches of rain in one hour), central Spain (7 inches of rain), southeast Taiwan (11 inches of rain), and central Greece (21 inches of rain in 10 hours), while northeastern Greece still burns.

            Think about that last item for a moment.  Imagine the impact of 21 inches of rain in half a day on your home, or your community.  

            A disaster like this not only devastates individual lives, but entire communities, ecosystems, and major infrastructures are damaged or destroyed as well.  Search and rescue efforts take time and resources, before the cleanup and disposal of debris can even begin, let alone actual rebuilding.  All this has to happen with no functioning local or regional economy, perhaps no electricity, communications, water, sewage disposal, food and material supply, or even road access.  Emergency services, like hospitals, police, and fire services, that weren't damaged, are overloaded, and their personnel might be homeless.  These local impacts strain the larger society, demanding money and resources in order to recover.

            Even if the resources are available, recovery can take years to get back to where things were before the disaster.  After hurricane Sandy hit New York, some systems took a decade to return.  Five years after their fire, Paradise, California, has about 1/3 its former population.  After hurricane Idalia blew through Florida, over 1000 bridges needed assessment.  Flooding cuts into agricultural production and drives insurance rates higher.  Each of these extensive climate events affects the larger economy, adding unexpected costs. 

            This summer was the hottest on record, a mark that will not stand long.  The information is clear and climate impact defines the daily news feed, yet we still dig the hole deeper, making matters worse.  Atmospheric carbon dioxide content increased 2.5ppm this year.  

            Some aren't even willing to try keeping up with disaster response.  FEMA funds have been depleted by flooding in the east and northeast and wildfires like Maui, and need to be replenished to deal with Florida's hurricane recovery. The economic power of the collective society is needed, but Republican leadership has decided the climate crisis is a liberal hoax, and are standing in the way of even helping their Republican voters in Florida.

             In a recent TED talk, Al Gore described the main boulder in the stream hindering effective human response to the climate crisis: the fossil fuel industry.  Fossil fuels, a multi trillion dollar industry, have been a powerful engine for the growth of human civilization, with an externalized cost that is now killing that same civilization.  Those few who control, and massively benefit from, the industry, have no incentive to make any changes, because they are embedded in the idea of "profit over people": their profit versus other people's lives.  They have known about the problem for decades, but don't care, believing only "other people" will be affected.  Addiction to money is a global problem, and the fossil fuel industry applies its power for its own ends, stalling any effective climate response. 

            Despite whatever "greenwashing" you hear, last year fossil fuel companies put just 1 percent of spending into green alternatives, and 40 percent into stock buybacks for investors, while funding climate denial and disinformation.  In the Glasgow COP22, fossil fuel lobbyists outnumbered the combined representatives of the ten most affected countries.  

            The climate crisis is only a symptom of a deeper problem: the illusion of separation.  This illusion is also the root of racism, misogyny, religious bigotry, economic inequity, and rabid nationalism.  All of these problems are centuries old, and have caused lifetimes of suffering.  But the climate crisis is more recent, and will sweep everything in its path, because despite the entrenched illusion, we are all in this together, and any effective climate solution requires helping everyone.  Republicans obviously have no plan, or intention, to match this challenge, preferring denial and traditional divisiveness to unity.  This next election will tell the tale.  Are human's wise enough to survive much longer?

Cost of Electricity

                                                                                   written 3 September 2023

                                                                             published 10 September 2023

   

            Last week, Louisiana wildfires became largest in state history, and Greece has the largest fires in the EU.  6 inches of rain flooded parts of West Virginia.  Hurricane Idalia intensified from category 1 to category 4 (briefly) within 24 hours, before making landfall.  Heat in Texas pushed electricity prices to $1.599/kilowatt hour, compared to long term average of $0.066/kilowatt hour.  Exxon, which actively works to undermine climate change efforts, declared climate will warm over 2°C by 2050, a level never previously experienced by humanity, yet called for more oil and gas investment.    

            The climate crisis has been known about for 50 years, but fossil fuel companies poured billions of dollars into denying the truth, confusing the populace, and buying compliant politicians, effectively stalling functional response.  Consequently, the crisis has built to the point that gradual changes are no longer sufficient.  As we have seen in Texas, the result is rising prices.

            In Mendocino county, three companies provide electricity.  Within Ukiah City limits, publicly owned Ukiah Electric has a residential retail rate of $0.185/kilowatt hour, the cheapest in the county, and 80 percent is non carbon.  The next cheapest is provided by Sonoma Clean Power (SCP), at a retail rate of $0.29/kilowatt hour, with 91 percent non carbon power, servicing 80 percent of the rest of Mendocino county.  The most expensive power is provided by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), with a retail rate of $0.31/kilowatt hour.  PG&E claims their power is 96 percent non carbon, but 40 percent is nuclear generated, which is not renewable power.

            Each company offers a 100 percent renewable power option, for an additional premium.  Ukiah Electric charges an extra $0.02/kilowatt hour (11 percent), Sonoma Clean Power's EverGreen charges an extra $0.025/kilowatt hour (8.6 percent), and PG&E Solar Choice Program adds $0.09/kilowatt hour (29 percent).  If you want to leave a habitable planet for our children, then you have the option of 100 percent renewable power for a modest fee increase, except for PG&E customers, who could change over to SCP and sign up for the EverGreen option.

            But some people are concerned that even a 10 percent increase is too much.  To them I would ask that they consider the cost of NOT making the shift, by including the "externalized" costs of continued burning of fossil fuels. These are actual expenses already being paid by society, but not included in the costs of producing electricity.  This is fraudulent accounting, but standard in our economy.  

            One example is the cost of damages caused by a steadily heating planet.  The hurricane Idalia in Florida was one of several recent storms that "rapidly intensified" as a result of very warm ocean water in the Gulf.  This gave folks on land less time to prepare for, or evacuate from, the magnitude of storm that hit them.  The storm was large, very wet, and drove a significant storm surge, causing between $10B and $20B in damages that will be paid by insurance companies, federal and state disaster aid, or bourn by the uninsured home and business owners.  Last year climate damages added up to $170B in the US, and the total keeps increasing every year as the crisis builds.

            Those damage estimates seriously under report the complete economic impact.  It can take years to fully replace everything that is destroyed, which consumes money, time, and resources that would otherwise be supporting and expanding the economy.  Some people never recover, further hurting the community.  

            The International Monetary Fund recently reported that fossil fuels annually received $1.3T in explicit global subsidies, rising to $7T when implicit support is included, such as undercharging for air pollution and other unaccounted adverse climate impacts.  The US is a quarter of the global economy, so our share would be $1.75T, and when damage costs are added, almost $2T.  The population of Ukiah is 16,000, with about 6,000 homes.  On a per capita basis, our city's share of that annual bill is about $94M, or about $1,300 per month per household!

            Since most of Mendocino county carbon footprint comes transportation and heating, shifting away from those energy sources is more expensive that shifting all of our electricity to renewables.  But let's at least begin.  

            To sign up for Ukiah's program of 100 percent renewable power call 707-463-6747, and ask for Lori.  To sign up for Sonoma Clean Power's EverGreen program, call 855-202-2139.  Our children will thank you.

 

 

 

Considering the Unseen

                                                                                       written 25 August 2023

                                                                               published 3 September 2023

  

            Last week, over 3 inches of rain fell in a few hours in Ohio, 8 inches of rain created flash floods in Las Vegas, and floods devastated 2/3 of Slovenia.  Heat index in Lawrence Kansas hit 134°F, and Greenland was 27°F above normal for this time of year.  Wildfires ravaged northeastern Greece, British Columbia, Canary Islands, Tenerife Spain, and eastern Washington, displacing thousands near Spokane.  Fires in Canada already burned three times the previous seasonal record, set just last year

            Mathematically, a point has zero dimensions, and the quality of existence.  A line has 1 dimension, and the quality of length.  A plane has 2 dimensions, and the quality of area.  A cube has 3 dimensions, and the qualities of volume and density.  Each increase in dimension adds new qualities, not possible in the previous dimensions.  Einstein added time as a dimension, with the quality of endurance.  We now describe material reality as 4 dimensional "space-time".

            We tend to think in terms of integer dimensions (0, 1, 2, 3, 4), but picture a squiggly line on a piece of paper.  If the line never crosses itself, it could be considered a 1.2 dimensional shape, as the line extends into the next higher dimension. If it almost completely covered the paper, it might even be a 1.8 dimensional shape.  Another example is the 2 dimensional surface of the ocean, extending into the third dimension as what we call waves.  The choppier the surface becomes, the more it can be considered greater than just two dimensional.  

            We mostly experience the world as four dimensional.  However, we don't seem to fully experience the fourth dimension of time, but live eternally in the NOW, inexecrable transitioning from the remembered past to the unknown future.

            In mathematics, there are no limits to dimensions, inviting consideration of what higher orders might be.  Quantum physics shows that matter is "non-local", operating within systems that transcend space-time.  A photon, with no mass, travels at the speed of light, which means it experiences no time or distance, arriving when it sets off.  String theory physics postulates 10 or more, dimensions, most of which are curled so tightly that they can't be perceived.  Chaos theory, which describes apparently random complex physical systems, has strange attractors, orderly functions in higher dimensions.  All this suggests that material four-space actually extends into higher dimensions, mostly unseen.

            One of the fundamental assumptions of western rational materialistic science is that matter is the ground of reality, and consciousness arises only within sufficiently complex material form.  This scientific limitation comes from being forced to evolve from under the lethal spiritual dogma of the Church, and leads to viewing matter as "dead" and life as "meaningless".  It presents a significant problem explaining how dead matter can become alive.

            An alternate view is that consciousness is the ground of reality, a quality of an all-encompassing dimension higher than the space-time continuum.  In this view all material form is an expression within consciousness, similar to seeing all waves on the surface of the ocean being part of the same ocean.  If we view consciousness as awareness and volition, we can see it expressed in all living forms, from simple bacteria, which is aware of its environment and moves toward nutrients, on up to humans.  What we conventionally call human consciousness is really self-consciousness, a subset of general consciousness.  Examples of self-consciousness have been documented in many species other than human. 

            Consciousness has also been shown to be "non-local", not limited to space-time, existing in a higher dimension. Australian aboriginal "dreamtime" is a cultural practice of intentionally communicating across space-time. Reincarnation, near death experiences, and all psychic phenomenon demonstrates this as well.  

            Rupert Sheldrake's book "Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home", demonstrates this quality is not limited to humans.  Parrots have reported dreams their owners are having.  Sheldrake postulates morphic resonance, higher dimensional orthogentic fields, which hold information relevant to the formation of growing living systems.  These fields also aid formation of mineral forms, and even information systems.  The more a particular form, or information, exists, the easier it is for that form, or information, to express again.  Inspiration and creativity are individual experiences of 

connecting with this larger, connected consciousness.

            As we open ourselves to the experience of already being part of a conscious, inclusive whole, even if unseen, our lives change and possibilities bloom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reason For Hope

                                                                                       written 20 August 2023

                                                                                   published 27 August 2023

                                                                                                  

            Last week Minnesota experienced baseball sized hail, twice.  Ottawa, Frankfurt, Clermont-Ferrand, France, and Washington DC all had flooding.  200 ships wait in line as drought slows passage through the Panama Canal.  A third heatwave hit southern Europe.  Portland experienced 108°F, Qeshm Dayrestan, Iran reported 178°F heat index, and the ocean off southern Florida was above 100°F again.  Canadian fires, their largest on record, forced evacuation of Yellowknife, and Kelowna.

            The climate crisis is already here and accelerating, yet Republican dogma remains "climate change is a liberal hoax".  The war on "woke" is by folks who are asleep, stuck in a nightmare, yearning for a world that no longer exists.  While everyone has to awaken at their own pace, I choose to talk to those already engaging with the accelerating avalanche of change.

            In 2005, Jared Diamond wrote "Collapse", which describes the failure of three historic societies out of synch with their regional climate change.  He identified three precursors of a civilization on the verge of collapse: a persistent pattern of environmental change for the worse; signs that existing modes of agriculture or industrial production were aggravating the crisis; and an elite failure to abandon harmful practices and adopt new means of production.  At some point, a critical threshold is crossed and collapse invariably follows.  

            Concerns about the climate crisis have grown over the last few decades, and what has been foretold as future possibilities are now making daily news.  More alarming is the magnitude and speed with which they are appearing.

            While apocalypse has come to be used popularly as a synonym for catastrophe, or end of the world, the Greek word from which it is derived also means a revelation, a great unveiling or disclosure of knowledge (from Wikipedia).  Our most fundamental problems are caused by the growth-orientated, technological society, and cannot be solved by just more or better technology.  We have to change our fundamental story of life. 

            The new story must be planetary.  It is emerging, but unfinished, being made up collectively as we all go along.  Humanity must evolve past the separation of "us versus them" into experiencing the global connectivity of reality, uncharted territory.  But there are metaphors, rooted in living systems, that help open the mind from obsolete limitations of our upbring. 

            Despair is an ego trip, which goes like this.  "I see everything that is going on, and it is all terrible and hopeless."  While it may be true that all that I see is terrible, it is arrogant to believe I see "everything".  As a finite being, contemplating the infinite universe, everything I "know" is either wrong, or, at best, incomplete.  Acceptance of humility opens a door to peace of mind.  Seemingly, a miracle will be required to resolve the totality of our problems, but a miracle is only the operation of a system I do not currently perceive or deploy. 

            "Spontaneous Evolution", by Lipton and Bhaerman, describes "punctuated equilibrium".  Life on Earth has been confronted with an extinction challenge many times, and then evolved a whole new way of doing business.  For example, the first life forms were simple bacteria, living off the abundant chemical energy of the recently cooled Earth. Over time, robust population growth began to exhaust these limited chemical resources and extinction threated.  Then photosynthesis appeared, drawing energy directly from sunlight.

            The evolution from individuals in lethal competition (our current state of civilization), to collectives in cooperation, has been accomplished by life at least twice.  First when individual cells cooperated to become nucleated cells and second when nucleated cells cooperated to become multi-celled organisms.  Humans are the beneficiaries of both these jumps, so each of us are living proof life knows how to do this.  

            Consider a chicken egg as it grows from fertilization.  Starting from a single cell, in total isolation, it thrives on the stored energy and nutrition of the yolk.  Eventually the yolk is exhausted and the finite volume of the shell allows no more room to grow.  The old order of business faces extinction.  At that point the chick hatches out into the larger world. 

            Our egos, experienced as personalities, are our shells, once beneficial, now lethal.  The time has come to "hatch" out into experiencing the larger connected world of life.  We are each called to make progress on this journey, and every success builds toward a transformational global "tipping point".  Imagine what that might be!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Living With Life

                                                                                       written 12 August 2023

                                                                                   published 20 August 2023

                                                                                                  

            Last week, Reutlingen, Germany experienced a foot of hail.  A glacial lake outburst flood destroyed homes in Alaska, and flooding impacted parts of central Europe, Slovenia, Norway, and Sweden.  Strong storms hit eastern US, with wide spread damage, and hundreds of thousands without power, including flash floods and a tornado in Massachusetts.  Fire devastated western Maui, destroying at least 2,200 buildings, including historic downtown Lahaina, driven by 80 mph wind gusts.  The official count is currently 93 dead, which is expected to rise significantly. Siberian fires are larger than the rest of the world combined.  In Iran, the heat index hit 158°F.

            "The Marsh Builders", by Sharon Levy, describes historic human impact on water quality, and the struggle by Arcata to build alternative sewage treatment in Humboldt Bay.  

            Booming post war industrial growth left American's waterways in terrible condition.  Capitalism treats the natural world as a consumable resource, or a trash dump.  Money is made by ignoring toxic waste.  Consequently, most people were forced to drink polluted water, rivers burned periodically, and lakes became lethal to fish.  Public outrage eventually forced a federal response.  Nixon signed the Clean Water Act in 1972, and created the Environmental Protection Agency to enforce it.

            As urban densities increase, sewage disposal becomes a significant human impact on water quality.  For centuries, untreated sewage was dumped into rivers or oceans, with the philosophy that "pollution dilution is the solution".  Over time, the "dilution" became inadequate, and actual treatment became essential.  The primary phase is physical removal of chunks and trash, leaving a hazardous sludge.  Secondary treatment cultivates bacteria to digests everything organic, beginning to work with other life forms.  

            By the 70's, the accepted method was activated sludge, an energy intensive process forcing oxygen into the sludge, stimulating rapid bacteria growth, resulting in cleaner water.  Under the Clean Water Act, federal grants help communities build centralized sewage systems, and engineering companies flourished by charging a percentage of the huge project cost.

            California had set water quality standards not met by the numerous aging sewer systems around the Humboldt Bay.  The Humboldt Bay Wastewater Authority planned a regional sewer system which would gather all the effluent, pipe it under the Bay, treat it in a central plant on the western edge, and dump the output into deep ocean water.  This expensive system, very energy intensive at a time of increasing awareness of the need for energy conservation, had a vulnerable under-bay pipe, and would open vast areas to suburban sprawl.

            Arcata, which had just elected a progressive majority to the City Council, proposed an alternative treatment method, using engineered marsh construction to clean the water sufficiently to be beneficially dumped in the Bay, not piped to the ocean for disposal.  This enlisted more life forms than simple bacteria, mimicking how nature cleans water.  It was much less energy intensive, scaled to suit the local needs, and would create rich local biodiversity, replacing some of the diminishing marshlands.  

            After years of effort, the State eventually allowed Arcata to remove themselves from the regional wastewater plan, and build their biodynamic system.  The result not only succeeded, but thrived, expanding to become more than a sewage treatment system: a birder's paradise with thriving biodiversity.  It became a model for thousands of systems all over the planet, especially relevant in low-income areas of the world. 

            What I found interesting in this story was how an environmentally good goal, clean water, became limited by institutionalized scientific dogma, regulatory inertia, and the economic blinkers of entrenched construction industrialization, to stymy an even better environmental goal of using living systems to sustain human health.

            The book also helped explain why the Republican party, and big businesses that fund it, hates the EPA.  Corporate capitalism, as practiced these days, depends on not taking responsibility for the messes created in the industrial process.  They expect to profit from the product, but require "others" to pay for the cleanup, ignoring that we are all in this together.  As companies have gotten larger, only the federal government has the financial and legal clout to force accountability.  But rather than take responsibility, corporations cry "regulatory burden".

            In the 60's, the crisis was pollution in the water, and national public pressure forced governmental response.  Today's climate crisis is atmospheric carbon pollution.  As the world heating accelerates, the only question is: how much has to be destroyed before a global response says ENOUGH!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Separation Manifested in Politics

                                                                                       written 6 August 2023

                                                                                 published 13 August 2023

                                                                                                 

            Last week, saw 11 inches of rain in Kentucky and Tennessee, 12 inches in Okinawa, and 25 inches in 24 hours in Beijing, creating torrential floods.  After a 2-day respite, Phoenix faces weeks more above 110°F, Tunisia hit 120°F, southern Iran hit 123°F, shutting down the country for 2 days, while Algeria hit 135°F.  Canada now has 1,000 fires and Italy has 1,400.  Despite being winter in the southern hemisphere, Chile hit 102°F, surpassing summer records, the second largest lake in Bolivia has gone dry, and Antarctic winter sea ice levels are at record low.  AAA quit writing new insurance in Florida, the fifth company this year. 

            The climate crisis is a symptom of the deeper cultural illusion of separation.  Nowhere is the expression of separation more obvious than the increasingly polarized political arena.

            The American democratic system, despite its limitations, was a step away from previous politics of separation.  The ideal of democracy is that everyone has a say in making the rules, which then apply to everyone.  The system originally enfranchised just white men, but grew to include women and people of color.  As more are included, those that previously held control feel threatened.

            The GOP has traditionally been the party of big business, and, in the last few decades, aligned with the Christian Right to support their limited goals as well.  While these groups (religious extremists and the outrageously wealthy) are relative powerful, they are minorities in the voter base, and demographic changes have been working against the GOP. In addition, the party has aggressively pushed more extreme policies supporting wealth inequity, misogyny, racism, and religious intolerance, which are increasingly unpopular with the voting public.  

            Rather than change those policies, the response has been to dismantle the structure of our democracy to retain power, using extreme gerrymandering, voter restrictions, fear mongering, and blatant lies.  The extremely conservative Supreme Court has legalized unlimited campaign funding.  Propaganda, such as the steady stream from Fox News, sways folks and muddies the water. 

            "Republican-controlled “Red” states, almost across the board, have higher rates of: spousal abuse, obesity, smoking, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, abortion (now “forced births”), bankruptcies and poverty, homicide and suicide, infant mortality, maternal mortality, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault, dropouts from high school, divorce, contaminated air and water, opiate addiction and deaths, unskilled workers, parasitic infections, income and wealth inequality, covid deaths and unvaccinated people, federal subsidies to states (“Red State Welfare”), people on welfare, child poverty, homelessness, spousal murder, unemployment, deaths from auto accidents, people living on disability, and gun deaths."  (Daily Kos 29Jun23)

            If Republicans return to power in 2024, they promise to remake the country, eliminating decades of cultural progress.  Rights of women, gays, and workers, religious tolerance, and support of democratic institutions globally, are all on the chopping block.  

            For the last two months, I have been reporting weather extremes of the previous week.  This is already a record-breaking summer, and we have months to go, including the hurricane season.  Despite the increasing impact of an over-heated climate, climate denial is well funded by the fossil fuel industry, which still thinks their massive short-term profits are more important than the risk of toasting the entire economy.  Consequently, Republican leadership denies there is a problem, plans to stop every effort to address the issue, and aggressively expand fossil fuel extraction and usage,  

            Their "Project 2025" plan would "block wind and solar power from being added to the electrical grid; gut funding for the Environmental Protection Agency; eliminate the Department of Energy’s renewable energy offices; prohibit states from adopting California’s tailpipe pollution standards, transfer many federal environmental regulatory duties to Republican state officials; and prop up the fossil fuel industry."  (Inside Climate News 1Aug23)

             Not only would our national climate response halt, but the US is a quarter of the global economy, so the planetary effort would be hampered as well, risking the survival of our species.  Of course, this assumes a Republican, and specifically Trump, wins the 2024 presidential election.  

            The question becomes, how bad does it have to get before general voter self-preservation kicks in?  For thousands of years, humanity has lived the belief of "us versus them", despite increasing evidence that we are all "us".  Consequently, any war on "them" also destroys "us", and we are on track to collective suicide.  As this truth sinks in, we have to act accordingly.