Bobbing Around
Volume Twelve, Number Four
December, 2012
bobswriting.com/ anxietyanddepression-help.com/ mudsmith.net/ other issues
Bobbing AroundVolume Twelve, Number Four
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*About Bobbing Around
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May EVERY DAY
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Bob Rich I am responsible for anything I have written. However, where I reproduce contributions from other people, I do not necessarily endorse their opinions. I may or may not agree with them, but give them the courtesy of a forum. Bobbing Around is COPYRIGHTED. No part of it may be reproduced in any form, at any venue, without the express permission of the publisher (ME!) and the author if that is another person. You may forward the entire magazine to anyone else. |
Robin Hood tax isn't news from Fair.com
If the rhetoric about the so-called "fiscal cliff" is to believed, the United States is faced with monumental budget problems--short-term deficits and a long-term debt crisis.
Though there are good reasons to question those assumptions (Dean Baker, Guardian, 12/3/12; Paul Krugman, New York Times, 12/6/12), the consensus in the elite press is that these are indeed serious concerns, and that the solution to them must include cutting government spending and increasing revenue.
But one way to do the latter is mostly left out of the conversation: A small tax on financial transactions--otherwise known as a "speculation tax" or a Robin Hood tax. The idea has been discussed among activists and economists, especially since the financial crash. Such a tax could raise between $170-$350 billion annually, according to the Center for Economic & Policy Research (CEPR) and the Political Economy Research Institute (12/21/09). An analysis of the bill written by Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon and Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin found it could generate a more modest $353 billion over 10 years. Aside from the revenue argument, proponents argue that it could serve as a check on some of the riskier forms of high-frequency, high-volume trading.
So where is the Robin Hood tax in the media discussion about increasing revenues? Almost nowhere. Since the 2012 election, the concept has received a handful of passing mentions. It appeared just once in the New York Times (11/28/12)--only because several ACT UP activists staged a protest in House speaker John Boehner's office, chanting "End AIDS with a Robin Hood Tax." The Times explained that as "ostensibly a tax on the rich for AIDS research and treatment." The financial tax was mentioned in passing by the Washington Post (11/8/12) because Rep. DeFazio was targeted by a New York hedge fund manager's super PAC. The tax has come up twice on MSNBC's Up with Chris Hayes ( 11/17/12, 12/9/12), and once on CNN (12/1/12). It does not appear to have been discussed on any of the broadcast networks. The most extensive discussion came on the Washington Post's op-ed page, in a December 2 column by veteran activist Ralph Nader, who wrote that "both sides are unwilling to consider a minuscule tax on financial transactions that could be a major source of income."
If "both sides" are ignoring the idea, the same is certainly true for the nation's press. But this hasn't always been the case. As CEPR noted (11/12), several major papers like the Boston Globe, the New York Times and USA Today have voiced editorial support for the tax idea in recent years, as have columnists like the Times' Nicholas Kristof. The amount of potential revenue, Nader pointed out, makes a transaction tax a more attractive option than other fiscal proposals that receive significantly more coverage.
One thing is certain: It is decidedly unpopular among the "Fix the Debt" CEOs who many in the press consider important voices in the discussion of the nation's finances--and are the people who bankroll political careers. So it's understandable that politicians aren't eager to talk about this. What's the media's excuse?
Source: Fair.com
About 5 years left Dr Gideon Polya
Health is the most important motivation for climate action from Fiona Armstrong
World's Largest Mining Company Admits Climate Change is Real by Rosana Francescato
I have submitted an entry to this year's WOLFoundation environmental writing contest titled "But there is no need for despair." The theme is that we have at the most 5 years before global civilisation will collapse, and perhaps humanity join the dodo. Gideon's essay provides the maths for my conclusion. I must add that almost every day, new factors are found, so in my opinion 5 years is an OPTIMISTIC estimate.
I am happy to email this essay to anyone who asks for it.
Our warming world is badly running out of time to deal with man-made climate change and keep temperature rise to within 2 degrees Centigrade (2C) -- but how much time have we left? Answer: 5.3 years. The basis for this appalling conclusion is summarized below (for details see Gideon Polya, Doha climate change inaction. Only 5 years left to Act, MWC News, 9 December 2012).
In a 2009 report entitled "Solving the climate dilemma: a budget Approach," the WBGU, which advises the German Government on climate change, estimated that for a 75% chance of avoiding a 2C temperature rise (EU policy and majority global policy since the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Conference), the world can emit no more than 600 billion tonnes CO2 (carbon dioxide) between 2010, and zero emissions in 2050. Since CO2 is the most important greenhouse gas, we could roughly set the world's terminal greenhouse gas pollution budget at 600 Gt CO2-equivalent (this term allows for the effect of other greenhouse gases). Relative to commencement in 2010, how many years have we left before we exceed this terminal CO2 pollution budget of 600 Gt CO2-equivalent?
The Global Warming Potential of CH4 relative to that if CO2 is 21 on a 100 year time frame, but on a 20 year time frame and taking aerosol impacts into account, it is 105. This re-assessment of the Global Warming Potential of CH4 becomes of great importance in assessing how many years we have left to tackle GREENHOUSE GAS pollution (see Drew T. Shindell , Greg Faluvegi, Dorothy M. Koch , Gavin A. Schmidt , Nadine Unger and Susanne E. Bauer , "Improved Attribution of Climate Forcing to Emissions", Science, 30 October 2009: Vol. 326 no. 5953 pp. 716-718 ). Thus the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) provides estimates of CH4 emissions from the US alone that total about 0.67 Gt CH4 annually. This is 70.35 Gt CO2-equivalent annually. If we set the terminal GREENHOUSE GAS pollution budget to 600 Gt CO2-equivalent, then the US alone has a mere 600 Gt CO2-equivalent/(70.35 Gt CO2-equivalent per year) = 8.5 years of such pollution of this single GREENHOUSE GAS before this terminal GREENHOUSE GAS pollution budget is exceeded (see "Greenhouse gas emissions", US EPA).
In 2009, World Bank analysts used an estimate of a GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL of 72 for CH4 on a 20 year time frame to re-assess the contribution of livestock to man-made GREENHOUSE GAS pollution as over 32.564 Gt CO2-equivalent/year of which 5.047 GT CO2-equivalent/year is due to undercounted methane. This re-assessment lifts the annual GREENHOUSE GAS pollution from 41.744 Gt CO2-equivalent to 63.803 Gt CO2-equivalent. Assuming that live-stock-related GREENHOUSE GAS pollution increases in direct proportion to energy-related CO2 emissions, one can estimate that the world will reach 551.738 Gt CO2-equivalent in 2017 and 624.363 Gt CO2-equivalent in 2018, i.e. the World has 5.8 years at present rates before it exceeds the terminal CO2-equivalent budget.
However one can re-assess the World Bank re-assessment by considering that CH4 has a GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL relative to CO2 of 105. This re-assessment indicates that the World will reach 573.167 Gt CO2-equivalent in 2017 and 648.547 Gt CO2-equivalent in 2018 i.e. the World has 5.3 years at present rates before it exceeds the terminal CO2-equivalent budget. of 600 Gt CO2-equivalent.
Health and medical groups in Australia have joined international colleagues in calling for health to be central to the international climate talks, saying "human health is profoundly threatened by our global failure to halt emissions growth and curb climate change."
The Climate and Health Alliance, a national coalition of Australian health groups, along with its members the Public Health Association of Australia, the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association, Doctors Reform Society, Australian Association of Social Workers, and the Australian Medical Students Association have signed the Doha Declaration for Climate, Health and Wellbeing.
The Doha Declaration calls for health to be central to climate action, and highlights the opportunities to improve health through emissions reductions -- pointing out that reducing fossil fuel consumption and moving to low carbon energy systems can deliver many benefits to health worldwide.
"The impact of climate change on health is one of the most significant measures of harm associated with our warming planet," the Declaration says. "Protecting health is therefore one of the most important motivations for climate action."
The Declaration calls for:
International signatories to the Doha Declaration on Climate Health and Wellbeing include the World Medical Association, the International Council of Nurses, International Federation of Medical Students, Health Care Without Harm, European Public Health Association, Royal College of General Practitioners (UK), Climate and Health Council, OraTaiao: The New Zealand Climate & Health Council, NHS Sustainable Development Unit, Ume Center for Global Health Research, and many others.
"As representatives of health communities around the world, we argue that strategies to achieve rapid and sustained emissions reductions and protect health must be implemented in a time frame to avert further loss and damage," the health and medical groups declare.
"We recognise that this will require exceptional courage and leadership from our political, business and civil society leaders, including the health sector; acceptance from the global community about the threats to health posed by our current path; and a willingness to act to realise the many benefits of creating low carbon, healthy, sustainable and resilient societies."
For media enquiries and background resources: Fiona Armstrong media@caha.org.au or 0438900005.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that fossil fuels cause climate change and the extreme weather we've been seeing -- and that the world needs to wake up and kick the fossil fuel habit.
Sure, those of us who call ourselves environmentalists take those as truths, but a major coal company? Yet that's exactly what the Australian BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company, has just copped to.
Explaining the company's decision to retrofit one if its coal-exporting facilities against significant weather events, BHP Billiton executive Marcus Randolph was quoted as saying, "As we see more cyclone-related events ... the vulnerability of one of these facilities to a cyclone is quite high. So we built a model saying this is how we see this impacting what the economics would be and used that with our board of directors to rebuild the facility to be more durable to climate change."
Yes, you read that right: climate change. You gotta love the irony. Not only is this major coal company acknowledging that climate change is real, but they're investing in protections against the effects of said climate change -- which they helped cause. They're making a significant investment to protect themselves -- from themselves.
At what point will a company like this decide that the costs of producing coal and other fossil fuels are no longer worth the return on investment? Weak prices have already led some coal companies, including BHP Billiton, to cut jobs. Add to this the cost of protecting their facilities from storms, and the ROI diminishes even more.
And there are other costs, as we've seen recently with Superstorm Sandy. We can't put a value on people's lives, the damage to communities, and the emotional effects of the storm. In pure financial terms, though, Sandy could cost $50 billion. What amount of retrofitting would it take to make cities like New York safe? Won't we get a better ROI by investing in prevention?
Prevention would mean moving from fossil fuels to renewables. And Randolph seems to agree that we must at least limit fossil fuels. Referring to Australia's carbon tax, he says, "there is not a qualifier saying it is okay to emit more greenhouse gases if the carbon tax is eliminated. An absolute ceiling is an absolute ceiling. Even if there isn't a carbon tax, it still needs to be an issue we devote a lot of attention to."
Randolph has even gone so far as to state, "In a carbon constrained world where energy coal is the biggest contributor to a carbon problem, how do you think this is going to evolve over a 30- to 40-year time horizon? You'd have to look at that and say on balance, I suspect, the usage of thermal coal is going to decline. And frankly it should."
Strong words from a major contributor to the "carbon problem." Why is BHP Billiton taking this position? Because climate change is affecting what the company cares about the most: their bottom line. Their main concern is profitability. Climate change is a threat to profits. So they're doing what any sensible hard-nosed ballsy capitalist would do: they're protecting their profits by investing in more durable facilities.
Could that same concern for profits lead beyond protecting against the effects of climate change to actually trying to prevent it? Maybe the lesson for environmentalists and policy makers is to understand what motivates fossil fuel companies. Forget about appealing to a green economy, solving world energy needs, and so forth. Tell them climate change is going to rob you blind unless you invest against it. And that means first admitting that climate change is real -- real enough to affect your profits and maybe even put you out of business.
Randolph's statements, and the company's actions, are already making news -- and they're sure to make waves. If a large coal company like this one acknowledges the effects of fossil fuels, who are the climate deniers to turn to? Perhaps it's time they faced reality and started working to reverse climate change. Perhaps concern for profits will force them to do so.
Source: http://www.care2.com/causes/worlds-largest-mining-company-admits-climate-change-is-real.html#ixzz2FLwukFSF
Export-Import Bank sued
Washington State Declares War on Ocean Acidification by Beth Buczynski
2 million donation to help build a sustainable future from eSydney Alumni News
Victoria won't get fracked, for now
Right a wrong
For Immediate Release, December 13, 2012
Contact: Sarah Uhlemann, Center for Biological Diversity, (206) 327-2344
Doug Norlen, Pacific Environment, (202) 465-1650
Teri Shore, Turtle Island Restoration Network, (707) 934-7081
SAN FRANCISCO -- Conservation groups filed a lawsuit today challenging the U.S. Export-Import Bank's nearly $3 billion in financing for a massive Australian fossil fuel facility in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. Construction and operation of the liquefied natural gas facility will threaten sea turtles, dugongs and many other protected marine species, as well as the Great Barrier Reef itself.
"Dirty fossil fuel facilities don't belong in a world-famous marine sanctuary like the Great Barrier Reef," said Sarah Uhlemann, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. "This liquefied natural gas project doesn't meet U.S. standards, and we shouldn't be subsidizing the world's fossil fuel dependence or the destruction of a natural wonder like the Great Barrier Reef."
The Export-Import Bank, a federal agency that funds international projects to promote U.S. exports, provided a $3 billion loan in May 2012 for the project, which will be located in Queensland, northeast Australia. The Australia Pacific LNG project will include drilling 10,000 coal-seam gas wells in interior Queensland using controversial "fracking" techniques, digging nearly 300 miles of gas pipelines and constructing a massive natural-gas processing facility and export terminal. To provide access to the new terminal, the project requires dredging the adjacent harbor and its seagrass beds. Increased tanker traffic will eventually ship the fuel across the Great Barrier Reef to ports in Asia and around the world.
"The Export-Import Bank has a sad history of funding environmental damage, but a fossil fuel project inside one of the world's most important marine reserves is a new low. Ex-Im Bank should focus on renewable energy and stop worsening the world's addiction to fossil fuels," said Doug Norlen, policy director with Pacific Environment.
The Great Barrier Reef was given World Heritage status to preserve its remarkable natural beauty, coral reefs and rare dugong and sea turtle habitat; the new liquid natural gas plant will be located within the boundaries of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. UNESCO, the international body charged with overseeing implementation of the World Heritage Convention, issued a report in June expressing "extreme concern" over the project's impacts on the reef. UNESCO has threatened to add the reef to the "In Danger" list, a designation made when activities of a host country or outside entities threaten a world heritage area.
The natural gas project will also harm several species protected by the U.S. Endangered Species Act, including dugongs and green and loggerhead sea turtles; it will degrade seagrass and other habitats, diminish water clarity and quality, and increase the risk of ship strikes.
"Sea turtles and dugongs are already imperiled due to the fossil fuel frenzy now underway across Australia," said Teri Shore, program director of Turtle Island Restoration Network. "To allow oil companies to industrialize this critical nesting and feeding haven in the Great Barrier Reef will push these vulnerable marine animals ever closer to the brink."
The lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of California, asserts violations of the U.S. Endangered Species Act and the National Historic Preservation Act, which implements U.S. obligations under the World Heritage Convention. The case raises the unresolved legal issue of whether the Endangered Species Act applies to U.S. agency actions taken outside of U.S. borders.
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2012/export-import-bank-12-13-2012.html
As one of the largest producers of U.S.-farmed shellfish, Washington state has a lot to lose if ocean acidification continues. Rather than denying the reality of climate change like some other states, Washington has decided to take action to protect its natural resources.
The state recently launched a $3.3-million, science-based plan to slow ocean acidification on its own shores, and around the world. The strategy -- detailed in a report by a governor-appointed panel of scientists, policy-makers and shellfish industry representatives -- marks the first US state-funded effort to tackle ocean acidification, a growing problem for both the region and the globe, reports Nature Magazine.
According to the Washington Department of Ecology, shellfish growers in Washington and Oregon became the first to discover that ocean acidification was undercutting their jobs and businesses around 2007, when corrosive seawater began killing off tiny young oysters by the billions in Pacific Northwest hatcheries. For Governor Christine Gregoire and many in the state's government, to surrender this profitable industry to the consequences of human-accelerated climate change is unthinkable.
The detailed report titled "Sweetening The Waters" [PDF], outlines 42 different strategies Washington can undertake to adapt to, remediate, and mitigate the effects of ocean acidification on the state's coastline. Possible actions include relatively well-established approaches such as buffering sediments in shellfish beds with recycled shell hash and cultivating seagrass to protect nearby larvae by absorbing CO2; as well as less-recognized tactics like breeding OA-resistent strains of vulnerable marine species.
In late November, Gov. Gregoire signed an executive order underscoring the importance of these recommendations from her Blue Ribbon Panel on ocean acidification. "A healthy ocean is critical to our health and our coastal economies," said Gregoire. "We have learned that human caused emissions of carbon dioxide are dramatically altering the ocean's chemistry at an alarming rate. These emissions, mostly resulting from burning fossil fuels, are now threatening our ocean ecosystems. Ocean acidification is yet another reason to quickly and significantly reduce emissions of carbon dioxide across the planet."
Source: http://www.care2.com/causes/washington-state-declares-war-on-ocean-acidification.html#ixzz2ESXIdzt6
A generous $2 million gift has been donated to the University this week to establish the Judith and David Coffey Life Lab at the Charles Perkins Centre.
A generous $2 million gift has been donated to the University this week to establish the Judith and David Coffey Life Lab at the Charles Perkins Centre.
The first of its kind in the world, the Life Lab will create a unique graduate and postgraduate training environment where diverse life, social, economic and physical sciences will be studied for their connections to each other.
Professor John Crawford, who holds the Judith and David Coffey Chair in Sustainability and Complex Systems at the Charles Perkins Centre, said the lab would focus on the significant challenges created by an unsustainable food system, which degrades the environment it depends on and creates significant societal health problems.
"A better understanding of the complexity of the environment-food-health nexus is critical," Professor Crawford said.
"It is fundamental to building a sustainable society, and one that is more robust to face future uncertainties. Our unique approach will be a world-first in shifting research on these growing challenges from treating symptoms to prevention."
David and Judith Coffey, who previously donated $4 million to establish a chair in sustainable agriculture at the University of Sydney, are passionate about finding solutions to the world's most pressing problems.
Dear friends,
This is a final message to everyone who signed our petition on Change.org calling for a moratorium on new CSG and coal operations in Victoria and chose to receive updates from us.
Thanks for your support. As you will probably know, we have managed to get a moratorium on the process of fracking in Victoria and a ban on the use of the dangerous BTEX chemicals. This is a great start to what will be a long campaign, and happened with only about 10 months of serious campaigning.
In 2013 we will need to ramp things up considerably. It would be great if you want to stay on board with the campaign.
If you would like a monthly email newsletter on our work, just email me: cam.walker@foe.org.au with 'subscribe Renewables' in the subject line.
Please stay tuned for a new campaign launch in January.
All the best,
Wishing you a great summer
Regards
Cam Walker
Friends of the Earth
Dear friends,
This is a really amazing story from Shanker, an Avaaz member in India:
"My brother was lured to Bahrain by an employer who exploited him, took away his passport and banned him from coming home. He had no way out, and he killed himself. I've missed him so much, wished so much I could have helped him. And when I found out 100 of his fellow workers and friends were still trapped there -- I knew I had to do something.
"I started a petition on the Avaaz website calling on his employer to let my brother's friends come home to India. All I did was tell my story, and then it was sent to thousands of Avaaz members. In a few days 20,000 people signed my petition, the media and the company's business partners started asking questions, and the corporation was forced to free all my brother's co-workers. And they were forced to promise to never again block people from returning home to their families."
The Times of India hailed Shanker as a "lone voice earning support from thousands on the internet" to rescue 100 men and right this wrong. His story is another inspiring example of how people all over the world are using Avaaz's new petition website to stand up for what's right, and win. Over 20,000 campaigns have been started and counting. It's really easy -- click to start your own petition on the Avaaz website now.
We all have things we wish 'someone' would do something about. If one man could save a hundred of his brother's friends from a powerful corporation across an ocean, what could each of us do? Start a campaign, and let's find out!
With hope and excitement,
Ricken Patel
Great apes suffer mid-life crisis too by Jeremy Hance
Become a leader toward a sustainable culture from Andrew Gaines
"Homo sapiens are not alone in experiencing a dip in happiness during middle age (often referred to as a mid-life crisis) since great apes suffer the same according to new research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). A new study of over 500 great apes (336 chimpanzees and 172 orangutans) found that well-being patterns in primates are similar to those experience by humans. This doesn't mean that middle age apes seek out the sportiest trees or hit-on younger apes inappropriately, but rather that their well-being starts high in youth, dips in middle age, and rises again in old age.
"We hoped to understand a famous scientific puzzle: why does human happiness follow an approximate U-shape through life? We ended up showing that it cannot be because of mortgages, marital breakup, mobile phones, or any of the other paraphernalia of modern life. Apes also have a pronounced midlife low, and they have none of those," explains co-author Andrew J. Oswald in a press statement.
Scientists interviewed zookeepers, volunteers, and researchers working closely with chimps and orangutans in order to assess the apes' well-being. Using a questionnaire that measures human well-being, but was modified for great apes, the scientists found that apes experience a fall in their well-being in their late twenties or early thirties, comparable to human middle age, which is around 45-50. The simple questionnaire included questions on mood, how much enjoyment the subject gets out of socializing, and how successful they are on completing their goals.
"Our results imply that human wellbeing's curved shape is not uniquely human and that, although it may be partly explained by aspects of human life and society, its origins may lie partly in the biology we share with great apes," the scientists write. "These findings have implications across scientific and social-scientific disciplines, and may help to identify ways of enhancing human and ape well-being."
The scientists write that they do not know yet why these changes occur, but current theories include changes in the brain during middle age or an evolutionary cause that selects for well-being in youth and old age.
"[Old and young] individuals, being satisfied at stages of their life where they have fewer resources to improve their lot, would be less likely to encounter situations that could be harmful to them or their kin," the researchers theorize, but call for more studies to unpack why humans--and great apes--experience mid-life depressions.
CITATION: Alexander Weiss, James E. King, Miho Inoue-Murayama, Tetsuro Matsuzawa, Andrew J. Oswald. Evidence for a midlife crisis in great apes consistent with the U-shape in human well-being. PNAS. 2012.
http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1119-hance-apes-midlife-crisis.html#i1LjmbWV3WMllSGX.99
Jeremy Hance lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with his wife Tiffany (who is the more skilled photographer), their young daughter Aurelia, and their miniature Schnauzer, Oz. When Jeremy is not writing for mongabay.com, he likes to drink tea, spend time with friends, go hiking, and read and write fiction.
Most recently, mongabay.com has published a book by Jeremy Hance, including some of his best writing from the site. Life is Good: Conservation in an Age of Mass Extinction focuses on the global challenge of biodiversity decline and highlights how conservationists, with limited support and funds, are fighting back. The book is available in paperback and in Kindle on Amazon.com.
Hi everybody,
Consistent with my original intent in organising the Creative Thinking Forum on Transitioning to a Viable Society, I have been working on a platform for the rapid expansion of a national whole system change educational initiative. By 'education' I mean helping people connect-the-dots and think things through for themselves. The platform is now operational. It is the Transition Leader Network. This e-mail is to let you know about it.
The changes needed for things to come right are so pervasive, and so good hearted, that we may speak of whole system change (WSC), or whole system transformation.
The Transition Leader Network is a community of practice for people championing whole system change. As a community of practice there is no organisation to join. People self identify as Transition Leaders, and initiate their own activities without asking for authority or permission from anybody else.
Aspiration without a path to success counts for little. The precondition for rapidly reorganising our society is that 'everyone' from ordinary folks to senior decision-makers sees the need for rapid change, and becomes committed to contributing to the change within their sphere of interest and influence.
Therefore we need an innovative national educational initiative that can spread rapidly. Such an initiative needs:
Although whole system change requires a more expansive mode of thinking than many of us are used to, in principle it is not that hard. It is a matter of connecting the dots with things we already know, and putting them into a systemic context. Understanding Whole System Change covers the ground.
The Transition Leader Network website currently has two sets of thought starter tools. These are designed to facilitate one-on-one conversations.
One is Tabletop Presentations, a set of physical markers that enable people to keep track of the conversation. They make abstract ideas seem tangible.
The other is the Kitchen Table Conversations Manual, a guide to four structured conversations that enable people to develop a big picture mental map of whole system change. Topics include the core values of a healthy society, the essence of ecological sustainability, and how the system as a whole works, including economics.
Both of these are turnkey approaches. They are not polished, but they are to the point and serviceable. People can download and use them right away.
Whole system change is different from anything we've ever attempted before. Therefore just the aspiration is not sufficient. We need ways to engage people in actively thinking. This is central to what Transition Leaders do.
A Transition Leader is someone who
The first step is to use the thought starter tools with people we know. When we feel confident in conducting these conversations, a next step is to conduct them (by appointment) with influential decision-makers.
A valuable outcome of the conversations would be that some of the people we talk with feel moved to act as Transition Leaders themselves. We are aiming for a spreading wave of engagement.
How can we scale up rapidly to reach a critical mass of Australians? The process will not be linear. But to start with a few of us will qualify ourselves as Transition Leaders by using the whole system change thought starter tools. We will begin to engage others, and also run workshops.
One approach will be to do workshops for members of large organisations, with the view that some of them will become active Transition Leaders themselves. We will also engage, one-on-one, with influential decision-makers.
In time we will put on a large events, even as grass roots conversations continue.
This active engagement in thinking will be complemented by messages of all sorts -- articles, You Tube videos, lectures, and the like. Such messages will have two purposes.
Therefore Transition Leaders can pop up everywhere... a guerrilla army with no commander and no need for a commander!
The basis of a national initiative is in place. Two three-day events have been held: the 2010 Creative Thinking Forum on Transitioning to a Viable Society and the 2011 National Summit on Whole System Change
As a result, the idea of whole system change has been seeded into the Australian NGO community. Some international people are in the conversation as well, including Jon Symes of the Pachamama Alliance in San Francisco.
And we have a pool of people who are already starting to act as Transition Leaders.
If it is true that we are in an ecological emergency requiring a rapid shift in consciousness, then the ordinary growth curve for initiatives such as this will not suffice. Starting with the small base that we currently have, those of us who care need to devise imaginative ways to scale up.
If we succeed in changing the direction of Australia (or whatever country we happen to live in), future generations will thank us -- profoundly.
Andrew Gaines
Whole system change for a viable society
(02) 8005-8382
andrew.gaines@transform-australia.net
www.transform-australia.net
Paul Bishop responded to Andrew's message with the following links:
UK & Local Transition Towns:
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/
USA
BALLE: http://bealocalist.org/
Brisbane:
NeighboursWeb: http://neighboursweb.wordpress.com/2012/12/01/the-wisdom-of-the-crowd/
Global:
Cynthia Duval's new venture: http://newintelligentsia.com/intimalente-online-festival/
Australia:
Costa Georgiades on The People's Food Plan http://vimeo.com/52932087
Paul Bishop
Actor for Change,
Creative Innovation & Ecological Entrepreneurship
ARTS EVOLUTION
'the future is creative'
How can I forgive? by Judith Orloff
I can't get over my father's death
My girl left me, so my life is over
I hate my adult daughter!
I know you can't help me
1. Emotional Action Step. Be Bigger Than Anger -- Practice Forgiveness Now
Identify one person you're angry with. Start with someone low on your list, not your rage-alcoholic father. Then you can get a taste of forgiveness quickly. After that you can proceed to tackle more challenging targets.
2. Honestly address your feelings. Talk to friends, your therapist, or other supportive people, but get the anger out. I also recommend writing your feelings down in a journal to purge negativity. Then, decide whether you want to raise the issue with someone.
3. Begin to forgive. Hold the person you're angry with clearly in your mind. Then ask yourself, "What emotional shortcomings caused him or her to treat me poorly?" This is what you want to have compassion for, the area to forgive. Definitely, don't subject yourself to shabby treatment, but reach for compassion for the person's emotional blindness or cold heart.
HI My name is Tracey.
My parents separated when I was 3 so I don't really remember living in one house always went back and forth.
The last couple of weeks I haven't been myself, I am very sensitive to what people say and do. I have been snapping at my mom when she tries to help me, and also my friends. When I was fourteen I watched my father die. I was the one taking care of him. now two years later I can't sleep because I see it over and over when I close my eyes.
Tracey my dear,
You haven't given me much information to work on, but at least one aspect of your problem is clear: you are not only grieving for your father, but were also traumatised by his death.
So, let's deal with these two issues.
Your father is still around. He, as a person, is able to think and feel and be aware of what goes on with you.
This is no longer a matter of religious belief. I don't know what your religion is, if any, but there is scientific evidence that when a person leaves the body, the personality, soul, call it what you like, continues.
I am guessing your father was suffering before he died. He is not suffering any more, except that he is almost certainly very sad that his death has affected you like this. If he could, he would reassure you, let you know that he is OK.
Actually, some people seem to be sensitive to such things. Maybe you can ask him to send you some signal, some form of direct or indirect communication. Who knows what might happen.
Second, you were with him when he died, and being a caring, sensitive person, this has traumatised you. You see it whenever you close your eyes.
You can do something about this. Easiest is if you can have a few sessions with a psychologist who is competent at using hypnosis. However, if necessary, you can do it without.
Find a photo of your father at his best.
Until now, you have been repelled and horrified by flashbacks to his death. You have wanted these experiences to stop.
This is why they keep coming back. "I want this to stop!" focuses attention on the flashback. Attention is energy. So, you have been giving your distress energy to continue.
You need to do the opposite. Preferably when hypnotised (because that works faster and better), actually INVITE the flashback. Then calmly watch your distress. It is OK to feel terrible, Simply observe how bad it makes you feel. Put a number out of 10 on how strong it is. "I can see father just like then, and it's 9/10 terrible."
Go over and over the memory, and you will find that the distress fades. After the 2nd, 3rd or 10th repetition, it will be maybe 3/10 or even less.
The next step is, either with your open eyes looking at the photo or in imagination, see your father as he was then. Say to yourself "This is father." Keep doing this a number of times too.
After this, whenever you think of him, you will see him at his best, the way he was when that photo was taken.
And you will be able to progress with your grieving.
Have a good life (you can),
My name is Arthur and I'm going through the roughest time of my life and I feel like I had no reason to go on living please help me. Everything was going great for me until a few days after I joined the Army, my girlfriend at the time just left me for another man and since then I've felt depressed and I just don't wanna go on living. I based my life around this girl and now I'm locked into a 6 year contract with the military and once I get back/out I'll be 27 that's way told to start dating again so what point is there to life anymore?
Dear Arthur,
Of course at the moment you feel as if your life had ended, as if it has no meaning any more. That is a natural part of grieving for lost love. And, for the moment, you can't see past this feeling because you are so caught up in it.
So, the trick is to step out of the situation, and look at it from the outside. Let's invent your twin brother Andrew. He is the one who enlisted in the military, to have his girlfriend leave him, and all upset, he comes to you for advice and support. What will you tell him? Whatever it is applies to you.
I don't know what you would say to Andrew, but chances are you'd point out to him that once he got over this girl, he'll find another. You might tell him to look around at all the people who have survived broken relationships and then built a wonderful life with another partner.
Actually, I am an example of this. I got my first girlfriend when I was 23 (I know, late starter). I asked her to marry me. She turned me down, and for awhile I felt like you feel now. 6 months later, I was married to another girl. That was nearly 46 years ago, and we are still together. So, you don't know what's around the corner.
Your second point is that when you come out of the army at 27 years of age, you'll be too old to start dating again. You are kidding, right? I know a 74 year old lady who got herself a boyfriend (a young guy of 60).
At 27, you will be more mature, with a collection of skills, abilities and wisdom that military discipline and training will have given you, the self-confidence from many achievements -- far more attractive to the ladies than a 20 year old.
What's more, you can find a lady to love while you are a soldier. My granddaughter, aged 21, has married a soldier a year ago, and now they are expecting their first child.
So, don't let despair blind you to possibilities. We don't know what's around the corner.
Be confident that you'll get through this time of despair, and life will be worth living again.
Bob My almost 38 year old daughter feels it's okay to raise her voice and argue her point with me in my own home. The last time was today...Thanksgiving. She is fact yelled and screamed at me and all I could do was tell her to leave and take her kids with her. Her eldest son who is 16, and came to live with me about a month ago, due to issues with his mom, put on a great show of drama for all including his mom, crying and acting like a 4 year old and begging his mom to take him home to her house, and this happened right before she went off on me.
Am I wrong to feel she is no longer welcome in my house? What do I do? This is not the first time she has done this.
Please help me, I am desperate.
Callie.
Dear Callie,
You, like everyone else, has the right to be treated with respect and decency, whether in your house or anywhere else. No one has the right to abusive behavior aimed at anyone else, whatever the relationship.
I think you can choose between three courses of action:
1. Keep in contact, and put up with occasional bursts of abuse.
2. Organize some mediation by a suitable professional, where the two of you can talk out your issues and differences, and aim for a future of mutual respect.
3. Sever contact with your daughter, at least for the time being.
Each of these possible choices has positives and negatives. A good trick is to set up 2 columns for each option: one listing its advantages, the other its disadvantages. This way, you can be calm and logical about making your choice, instead of being caught up in the emotion and perhaps doing something you'll later regret.
For the same reason, don't hurry your decision. Think about it, talk with people you respect, research possibilities (like availability and cost of mediation services in your area).
It may be helpful for both you and your daughter to read http://anxietyanddepression-help.com/relationships.html for how to have a good relationship of any kind.
All the best with your decision,
I don't believe you can help me, and I don't blame you I won't either. I can't go on living (if you can say this is living) anymore. I can't function, just can't do anything but just lie there and cry most of the time. I can't stand to be around myself. I don't take a shower or get dressed for days. I've isolated myself and don't want to be around people, cause I don't know how to act. I scare myself.
Mollie my dear,
On the information you sent me, all I know is that you feel terribly depressed. Certainly, given my lack of knowledge about your story and circumstances I can't help you -- but you can help yourself.
Go to http://anxietyanddepression-help.com/firstaid.html and follow the suggestions there. They work.
Depression is something you are DOING. You can do things differently. Imagine that some monster has taken you over. Its aim is to kill you, as slowly and with as much misery as possible. So, it whispers lies into your mind, in a perfect imitation of your voice.
When it says, "I just can't be bothered to get out of bed," defy it and get out of bed. Or if it says, "I don't even deserve to be clean, why have a shower?" then have a shower. You'll find that only the first step is hard, and when you do what you would be doing if you didn't feel depressed, then you will feel good.
The same for all the other lies depression has been making you believe.
I don't like antidepressants as a universal tool, but in a situation like yours, they can be a very good temporary measure. Go to your doctor and get a prescription. The pill will take a couple of weeks to kick in, and it may be uncomfortable during this time. But then, with luck the misery will ease enough that you can work on your thoughts and other habits. It would be good to seek out a good psychologist, making your first appointment when the drug has started working.
As soon as the therapy starts to have an effect, get your doctor to wean you off the antidepressant. It is then no longer needed, but coming off it needs to be done gradually, under medical supervision.
It may help you to know that I've been where you are, and have completely overcome my depression. If I could do it, so can you.
Love,
Rising Food Allergies Blamed on Chlorine by Brandi
New research published in the Journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology has revealed that our exposure to chlorine through our tap water, our pesticides, and even some of our household items may be responsible for the abundance of food allergies, at their highest level in history, in our society today. The UK site, Mail Online, reported that the study concluded the chemical may simply weaken food tolerance for many people. While tap water can be a common source of chlorine, researchers pointed out that the chemical triclosan can break down to form a by-product of chlorine. Triclosan can be found in lipstick, face washes, toothpaste, and even kitchen utensils. It's fair to argue that our exposure is high.
Out of 2,211 Americans with the chemical found in their urine, 411 were found to have food allergies, while 1,016 were found to have an environmental allergy. The most common food allergies reported were reactions to cow's milk, wheat, soy, eggs, and even kiwi -- all some of the most common food allergies.
It's suggested by healthfitnessexperts.com to avoid the absorption and ingestion of chlorine by avoiding laundry and cleaning products with chlorine, getting a shower filter, drinking filtered water, and avoiding long stints in hot tubs and swimming pools.
Furthermore, if pesticides are a growing source of ingestion, buying organic ameliorates this problem, too.
Unless you're a daily swimmer, most of these options are pretty simple. Just do a little label reading at the store and perhaps invest in a few filters for the home.
It doesn't seem fair that the issue of food allergies is growing. It seems more and more people are experiencing issues than ever before, meanwhile our food sources seem more compromised than ever. The coincidence is obvious. While we may not be able to change the system that is pumping chlorine into our water and food sources, we can take steps to go around them in attempts to keep ourselves as healthy as possible.
Source: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/rising-food-allergies-blamed-on-chlorine.html#ixzz2EDczGHur
OK, you want to write a book, or even your next book, or enter a story in a contest. All you need is inspiration, and it doesn't come. What can you do to tickle the muse?
Here are three strategies that have worked for me.
They say, necessity is the mother of invention. Maybe so, but peace in the heart is the mother of inspiration.
Years ago, I'd just received the latest rejection from a publisher. Sophie Cunningham, the boss at the large Australian publishing house Allen & Unwin, said in an interview with The Age newspaper that she placed considerable weight on the results of short story competitions. And a major competition sent me a brochure, inviting an entry. The judge was a person who wrote detective stories for young people.
So, I decided to try my hand at a detective story for young people, in 3000 words. Inspiration failed to come for over a week. The more I worried about it, the worse it got. Then, I went to bed, did some meditation, and ended up with a phrase in my mind: "Nobody notices an ugly little girl with glasses."
I started writing on the next morning, about 12 year old Lindy who solved the crime her father the policeman was not doing so well on.
Although I didn't win the contest, the story, The Scarlet Pimple Gives a Nudge, was fun to write. You can find it in my anthology Striking Back from Down Under.
A second point is, who are you writing for? There is no problem with inspiration if all you want to do is to follow a formula, write what you know sells. That is as pedestrian as writing advertisements. However, if you want to write something that will be remembered, returned to by the reader again and again, recommended through word of mouth, then you need to be different.
I think this means that you have to write for yourself. Write what you will find memorable and worthwhile. If others like it too, great, but be your own audience. Then the ideas will flow, and you'll write with passion.
The third way to find out what you want to write is to realise that there are always messages under the message. Even a shopping list has hidden content. My shopping list will be sparse and utilitarian, because I hate consumerism and only buy what I can't do without. A gourmet cook's shopping list will reflect very different needs and values from a working single mother's desire for cheap yet nutritious food.
How much truer is this for creative writing? When you write a story, you are creating a world. It may be very similar to the "world out there," but it will reflect your beliefs, hopes and hates. If you think heaven is love forever, you'll write a romance.
Incidentally, this is why I DON'T write romance, although I like a romantic element in a story about something else. The Romantic Myth ("If I could only find the right partner, I'd be happy ever after") is one of the most damaging beliefs of our crazy culture.
But, if you know the kind of world you would like to live in, then that world will come to vibrant life in your writing. Your problem may no longer be lack of ideas, but Winston Churchill's conundrum: "The problem is not to find a solution, but to choose from among the dozen possibilities."
Double impact of giving to the Tibet Fund
Dear Bob,
Now that the holiday season is upon us we hope you will consider including The Tibet Fund in your giving plans. We have three exciting opportunities described below: one where your gift will be matched, immediately doubling the impact of your gift, one where you can support the Professional Scholarship Program by buying a special Mala, and supporting a child. After 50 years in exile, the Tibetan people are facing a myriad of challenges to their continued existence as a cohesive community with their identity and culture intact. "What can I do to help?" you ask yourself.
We believe His Holiness's words are right: The true path to helping yourself is through helping others.
I hope that you will consider continuing your unity with the people of Tibet by making a donation to The Tibet Fund. Whether you can give $25 or $25,000, your gift goes directly to work for the people of Tibet, making a real difference in their lives. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us at development@tibetfund.org if you have further questions about the match, or our programs.
The Tibet Fund received top ratings from both GuideStar and Charity Navigator, demonstrating our commitment to donor transparency. Remember to ask about your company's matching gift plan so you can double the impact of your gift in the Tibetan community.
With thanks and friendship,
This year our generous donors, the Tides Foundation, L.P. Brown Foundation, and the Isdell Foundation, have agreed to match one-to-one all new single gifts of $1,000 made before December 31, 2012 up to $65,000. Your gift to The Tibet Fund will go twice as far if made before this date! You will become a Tibet Fund Leaping Tiger, and be part of a community of like minded individuals giving a legacy of hope to the people of Tibet.
Your donations will help us to:
Created especially for The Tibet Fund education programs by designer Konstantina Mahlia (creator of the Silk Road Collection). This bracelet has been produced, by hand, by Tibetan artisans living in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is a significant part of their income and 10% of the proceeds from the sale of the Karma bracelet goes to The Tibet Fund education programs. Click here to order.
You, your child, or their class can change the life of refugee children in Tibet, India or Nepal. For less than a dollar a day you can provide food, shelter, education, and healthcare. Click here to sponsor a child.
The December issue of Bainstorming is now live at http://www.darrellbain.com/
Subjects This Month: Christmas presents for readers, Lies and damned lies, Children of the Sex Gates, Day Dreams, Book reviews, Roman Empire and America, State of America series: An incoherent energy policy, Excerpts from Life On Santa Claus Lane, Laughing All The Way and Doggie Biscuit
Darrell Bain
One of the good news items above is the success FOE has achieved in Victoria, Australia in getting the environmental vandal State government to back off from its most damaging plans.
FOE runs on the shadow of a shoestring. I know, because I have been a member for over 30 years. Perhaps the most effective way you can work for a sustainable future in this State is to be involved with them, or at least to make a donation.
What does a donation achieve? A general donation helps simply to keep going. You can also direct your donation (add a note in the relevant section when you are filling out the form).
Some examples: $1,000 gets us a major post card campaign in a marginal seat on renewables and fossil fuel projects. $800 gets us a series of ads on the energy futures campaign in regional newspapers. $1,200 gives us the ability to do opinion polling in Gippsland on community attitudes to new coal and gas operations. $70 gets us to planning meetings in Gippsland. $120 allows us to run a 'listening post' and do community outreach in regional Victoria.
You can become a member of Friends of the Earth, or make a donation.
If you see the need to change to an economic system that doesn't destroy what keeps it going, you will be interested in CASSE.
Their latest newsletter [PDF] can be found here.
My poetry partner Magdalena Ball and I figure nothing is more meaningful at any holiday than a poem -- a real poem, not sing-songy impersonal verse from the shelves of card shops. We also noticed that many folks remember to add many people to their gift lists when it may be too late to do a darn thing about it.
Ta Da! We have are offering you our "rational" Christmas chapbook to procrastinators free. Enter the KDP Select free e-book feature. All you do is go to http://amzn.to/BloomingRedKind on Dec. 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 and click.
Anyone can send it free to anyone they'd like to have a thoughtful -- and fast -- Christmas gift with a click of a mouse (no not the same mouse that's in "The Night Before Christmas" poem!). The booklet Blooming Red: Christmas Poetry for the Rational was honored by the Military Writers Society of America and USA Book News award.
It's a mini gift and greeting card in one!
Blooming Red includes Maggie's science-inspired and Carolyn's nostalgic poetry. It also includes some humorous poems for fair measure.
Magdalena Ball runs the highly respected CompulsiveReader.com review site. She is the author of the poetry book Repulsion Thrust, which was published to unanimous 5-star reviews. Her novel Sleep Before Evening was a Next Generation Indie Book Awards finalist and she just released a new novel set in Australia, Black Cow.
My poetry appears frequently in review journal and, yes! I'm listed in Poets & Writers. My chapbook of poetry, Tracings was given the Award of Excellence by the Military Writers Society of America and She Wore Emerald Then won its highest honor of gold. One of my poems recently won the Franklin Christoph Poetry Prize. So I promise you, you can feel secure in sending this chapbook at an e-greeting card to even picky writers and poets among your friends -- or to recommend that others use it as a last minute gift!
For more information on any of the chapbooks in the Celebration series, contact either of us, or visit media rooms at http://howtodoitfrugally.com or http://magdalenaball.com. To learn more about artist Vicki Thomas and to see her selections of her work, go to http://www.vickithomasartist.com.
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
The Climate and Health Alliance seeks your support for its work through its Healthy Futures Appeal.
Please Give Now to keep health on the agenda!
The Climate and Health Alliance receives no government funding and operates on the basis of donations and in-kind support.
Please support this important work through a one-off or recurring donation.
www.caha.org.au
This was one of the entries in the WOLFoundation contest of last year. In my opinion it should have won, and I laughed right through reading it.
Few people have read the dense volumes published by the economist Milton Mountebank, but his work has affected you, me and every single person on the planet. Dr. Mountebank has revolutionized economic thought, and now he has been recognized for his singular efforts. Yesterday at a gala reception in Stockholm, Sweden, the chairman of Sveriges Riksbank, Peter Norborg, presented Dr. Mountebank with the Nobel Prize in Economics for his lifetime of work on infinite planet theory.
In his presentation of the award, Mr. Norborg stated, "Dr. Mountebank has demonstrated imagination and inventiveness beyond what the rational mind can comprehend." Indeed, it is because of his theories that we all do what we do economically. Nations strive for continuous GDP growth and endless expansion of consumption thanks to infinite planet theory. Mr. Norborg went on to say, "All of our banks, including Sveriges Riksbank, owe him a huge debt. We finance economic expansion. Our actions and decisions would be morally suspect if we lived on a finite planet."
In a light-hearted moment during the presentation, Mr. Norborg asserted that Dr. Mountebank had provided an even greater service to humanity by reducing stress on individuals. "Best of all," he said, "is that we can extract, consume and digest resources guilt-free. Planetary constraints have been conquered. They have gone the way of the dodo, the Roman Empire and the world's major fisheries."
Although Dr. Mountebank's books have failed to reach mainstream audiences, his work has been highly influential among elite political and corporate leaders. Ronald Reagan is a prominent example. President Reagan once famously said, "There are no limits to growth and human progress when men and women are free to follow their dreams." That's a close paraphrasing of Dr. Mountebank's conclusion to his magnum opus, Infinity and Beyond: The Magical Triumph of Economics over Physics. Phillip van Uppington, former vice president at Lehman Brothers, asserts that Dr. Mountebank was a huge influence on his firm. "We used to quote him all the time. One of the highlights of my career was the symposium I arranged a few years back with Mountebank and Milton Friedman. We called it 'Double Milton Day.' It really opened our minds to the possibilities of innovative finance. Once we implemented the double Milton doctrines, we made more cash than most small nations."
In his acceptance speech, Dr. Mountebank told the story of how he developed infinite planet theory. "Equations, equations, equations," he said, "I would see them dancing across my eyelids as I laid down to sleep. In the morning I would wake up and write them out. I did this for three straight years until I finally put it all together." The centerpiece of Mountebank's mathematical demonstration of the feasibility of infinite growth is his conjury equation, a recondite multivariate differential expression that, by common agreement, is understood by fewer than four economists in the world. "It's why I'm standing on this stage today," Mountebank said. "Unfortunately the equation is too long to fit on the screen behind me, but it's the key to infinite economic growth. Fortunately, though, you don't have to be an economist or a statistician to use it as a guide for your daily actions." Dr. Mountebank continued by holding up a globe in his hand and stating, "We all recognize that the earth is a sphere, and from basic geometry, we all understand that a sphere has no beginning and no end. If you set out in one direction on the surface of a sphere, there is no stopping point -- it's infinite." He spun the globe and walked his fingers around it to prove his point. "Q.E.D. No end. And that means it can be infinitely exploited for economic gains."
Infinite planet theory has gained almost unanimous acceptance in economic circles, but there have been some vocal critics. On the day of the award ceremony, a small band of protestors formed a picket line outside Sveriges Riksbank. One protestor was carrying a sign that said "Steady State." When asked why she was protesting, she said, "Mountebank? You can't be serious. They should give the Nobel to Herman Daly." Dr. Daly is known for his work on the limits to growth and the steady state economy, concepts which fly in the face of infinite planet theory. The Club of Rome provided the original critique of the theory when it published its bestselling book, The Limits to Growth. In his writings, however, Dr. Mountebank has dismissed the notion of limits. One of the passages in Infinity and Beyond says:
The end of cheap oil, species extinctions, climate change, deforestation, resource depletion, crippling poverty, loss of ecosystem services, soil and aquifer degradation -- these are trifling problems, so long as we continue to grow the economy toward its ultimate size: infinity and beyond. Under no circumstances should we allow creeping thoughts about a finite planet or constraints handed down by universal physical laws to get in the way of building a bigger economy. And certainly we should shut our ears to the dreary doomsayers who continue to rain their inane facts upon our parade of growth. Growth, alone, is the moral and political ideal.
Dr. Mountebank ended his acceptance speech on a personal note, observing how infinite planet theory had soothed the fears of his young grandchildren. He said, "They told me they were scared about what was happening to the environment. I patted their little heads and told them not to worry. After all, you can't harm nature on an infinite planet. By definition, there's always more."
Dr. Mountebank is the eighth Nobel laureate in economics from Fantasia University.
Originally published at http://steadystate.org/mountebank-nobel/.
I once answered a cry from help from Tim, who was then a terribly distressed teenager. He has now put his life in order, and is attending university, has a steady girl, and knows where he is going.
He has become one of my honorary grandchildren, and we keep exchanging emails.
His new hobby is writing poetry. Here is his latest offering:
It's profound
What I have written
It started of with my creative writing when it turned poetic. And then, I enjoyed its mystery and meaning. This way, you can write something meaningful simply.
To be or not to be
Not Greek. Shakespeare.
I shall say one thing
Aim and flow will strike the final blow.
If you received a copy of Bobbing Around and don't want a repeat, it's simple. Drop me a line and I'll drop you from my list.
You may know someone who would enjoy reading my rave.
Bobbing Around is being archived at http://mudsmith.net/bobbing.html, or you can forward a copy to your friend. However, you are NOT ALLOWED to pass on parts of the newsletter, without express permission of the article's author and the Editor (hey, the second one is me.)
If you are not a subscriber but want to be, email me. Subject should be 'subscribe Bobbing Around' (it will be if you click the link in this paragraph). In the body, please state your name, email address (get it right!), your country and something about yourself. I also want to know how you found your way to my newsletter. I hope we can become friends.
Contributions are welcome, although I reserve the right to ecline anything, or to request changes before acceptance. Welcome are:
It is a FALSE RUMOUR that you need to buy one of my books before your submission is accepted. Not that I cry when someone does so.
Above all, contributions should be brief. I may shorten them if necessary.
Content should be non-discriminatory, polite and relevant. Announcements should be 100 to 200 words, shorter if possible. Book reviews, essays and stories should be at the very most 500 words, poems up to 30 lines.
Author bios should be about 50 words, and if possible include a web address.
BobMy girl left me, so my life is over
I hate my adult daughter!
Bob
I know you can't help me
Bob
Health
Rising Food Allergies Blamed on Chlorine
by Brandi
Writing
But what will I write ABOUT?
What my friends want you to know
December Bainstorming
Save a future for Victoria: support FOE
The SteadyStater newsletter of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy
A free book from Carolyn and Magdalena
The Healthy Futures appeal
Double impact of giving to the Tibet Fund
Rinchen Dharlo
President of The Tibet Fund
Support the Professional Scholarship Program by buying a special Mala
Sponsor a Child
December Bainstorming
Fictionwise Author of the Year
Multiple Dream Realm and Eppie awards
See all my books at http://www.darrellbain.com/
Save a future for Victoria: support FOE
The SteadyStater: newsletter of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy
Outreach Highlights
A free book from Carolyn and Magdalena
Instructor for nearly a decade at the renowned UCLA Extension Writers' Program.
Author of the multi award-winning series of HowToDoItFrugally books including the second edition honored by USA BOOK NEWS
The Frugal Book Promoter
The Healthy Futures appeal
Just this year we have...
Next year we plan to
info@caha.org.au
PO BOX 523, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia
Humour
Mountebank Wins Nobel for Infinite Planet Theory
by Rob Dietz
Poetry
Free Association
by Tim Knight
And it pains me that it is so
All I have thought
I want a conclusion.
It pains me that it
Is true;
Meaning, Purpose, Nature, Perception, Self, Knowledge, Rational and Irrational, and Love and Beauty.
In contentment I do not rise above.
Fair is foul and foul is fair
Double double toil and trouble
and mean another
I shall say two things
and mean one
I shall say three things
and mean none
About Bobbing Around
Submission Guidelines
