Reverence for the natural world

This video with biologist Janine Benyus is worth revisiting periodically in order to inspire and get us to think about how to solve problems no matter how seemingly intractable. While we humans have been around for only about 200,000 years, planet Earth has existed for more than 3 billion years.

The Biomimicry Network Effect

It's the cows, baby

It is the monster in the room but we're very, very afraid to talk about it, including all the traditional, well known and well established environmental organizations: Animal agriculture is the primary cause of environmental devastation on this planet and leading us to extinction--period! 
Everything else is largely an exercise in denial.

Cowspiracy The Sustainability Secret

A MOVIE YOU SHOULD WATCH

The Inspiring

Yellowstone Northern Range

Can we humans get beyond our miserable narcissism?

May humans be kept out forever

The result of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 in the old Soviet Union was that humans could not live in the region. This is a story of nature without the influence of Homo-sapiens. This film first appeared in 2014.

Truth is clearly overrated among our kind (7)

It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.

(Ansel Adams)

We cannot win this battle to save species and environments without forging an emotional bond between ourselves and nature as well—for we will not fight to save what we do not love.

(Jay Gould, evolutionary biologist)

Being that change

I read a recent National Geographic article (Feb. 2016) about the Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska, a preserve of some 6 million acres, a breathtaking area that is visited by 500,000 people a year. In additional to the astonishing pictures that the magazine has always been noted for, the article itself, in my opinion, provides a glimpse of the land use conflicts, the views of wildlife and the natural world in general that is occurring throughout the country today.

They come here to snap a few pictures and get some bragging rights about being 50 feet from a grizzly. In the course of experiencing this natural drama, something clicks. They go away wanting to protect places like this.

(Park Superintendent Don Striker)

Regarding wolf culls and removal of Denali's buffer zones: It's the state standing up to an overreaching federal government and libtard environmentalists.

(Coke Wallace, trapper and hunting guide)

Don't feel like it, not in the mood

The Washington Post conducted a survey that attempted to find out why Americans do not vote. It turned out that the primary reason was because they were “to busy” or they “lacked” interest. Yeah, they weren't motivated to vote.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported that only 41.9 percent of eligible voters voted in the 2014 congressional election, a record low. The percentage of voters increase during presidential years but is still only about 62 percent. Overall, Americans don't vote. Well, not exactly true. Those making over $150,000 manage to make the effort and do a little better. They want their benefits.

It's so hard

Agriculture is probably the one most environmentally destructive human activity we have established.

Instead of forcing nature to give us what we think we want, we ask nature what it is producing and then turn it in to something valuable and delicious to eat.

(Fred Kirschenmann, farmer and educator)

The following is a video worth watching. Even if you live in the middle of a city and have never seen a real farm, learn about your role in changing our food system in any way you can.

Not to worry, the climate changes slowly

Hm-m. Perhaps not. Even the climatologists were surprised. We just had, globally, the hottest winter ever. The month of February was really warm and, yes, the conclusion was that is was primarily caused by humans. But the good news, sort of, is that the latest Gallup poll determined that 41 percent of Americans now believe global warming will be a “serious threat” in their lifetimes.

Yes, climate change, it could mean more rain or less rain for different parts of the planet. Food supplies could be in jeopardy and don't count on industrial agriculture to keep your stomachs full. Of course, mosquito-borne diseases will likely increase, millions of people might attempt to migrate to other locations in search of food and jobs, and political instability … beware of political “guarantees.” The Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization said recently that, “The future is happening now.”

Improving the numbers

Interview with activist Tim DeChristophrer

Both facts and passion required

While these seven articles have been primarily focused on public lands, their history and wildlife in America, we could have created a laundry list of issues the United States will have to face one way or the other, likely sooner than many of us would like to think about.

The national park idea goes back to the early decades of the 19^th century and some of its supporters included George Catlin, James Fenimore Cooper, Henry David Thoreau, Abraham Lincoln, Senator John Conners of California and many others. Areas were set aside as public lands and to protect the wildlife in the 19^th century, but it was President Theodore Roosevelt, a man of supreme contradiction regarding the environment, at the turn of the 20^th century, who got legislation passed to establish a national park system. It is arguably one of the finest examples of public policy that this country ever established.

There is a great deal we can all do; it is not obscure or requires years of specialized training. The first thing is knowing the basic actual facts and the basic actual history of public lands in the United States. Then we can begin to separate the truth from the myths regarding wildlife, along with all the “freedom” and “liberty” buffoonery that is uttered. We're now ready to make more and more people understand the importance of public space and public lands, their value and their legacy at both the state and national level.

Some people may be able to demonstrate why a person in Brooklyn, New York ought to care about a national sanctuary in an isolated corner of Oregon. Or, for that matter, a hiker in the American Southwest being able to grasp the importance of clean air in Detroit, Michigan. It's the connections that have to be established across the entire country to diverse groups of people.

Now we can talk about political corruption, the ignorance regarding wildlife, and the outdated mentality that sees nature as a mere commodity, to be bought and sold and with little regard for the consequences. The last basic step is that we must find, encourage and support individuals who will represent us and stand firm in defending public lands and wildlife. Then we go out and vote at every level all the time.

In 2016 we have an actual chance to be part of the change, a change that does not exclude nor destroy nor take a future away. The change is all of us, not some shining knight appearing over the horizon to make things better.

Additional Information

Knowing your opponents is important. Ultimately we have to know who they are at the national, state and local level. The following are some of the key players in the U.S. House of Representatives. Their goal is to starve public lands by taking away the funds to maintain them. Their real objective is to privatize all public lands and turn them over to corporate interests. Help end the political careers of the following members of Congress: Rep. Greg Walden, R-OR; Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-UT; Rep. Scott Tipton, R-CO; Rep. Steve Pearce, R-NM; Rep. Mark Amodei, R-NV; Rep. Cynthis Lummis, R-WY, Rep. Raul Labrador, R-ID

Communal rituals and caringabout the environment

Land:

Fairy tales about the West

4 myths about America'sparks and public lands

Congress should confrontextremism on America's public lands

An experiment in privatization of public lands fails

Wildlife:

2014 Elk Harvest Data

The Rogue Agency

U.S. Agency charged withkilling animals

How killing wolves toprotect livestock may backfire

Climate Change:

Global warming taking placeat alarming rate

Agriculture:

Plant pure nation

El nino upsets seasons andupends lives

The Politics:

GOP politicians planned andparticipated in key aspects of refuge occupation

Why our government works forprivate interests not the public interest

It's where I live

Continue to contaminate your own bed, and you will one night suffocate in your own waste.

(Chief Seattle, 1786-1866, Suqwamish and Duwamish)

https://www.facebook.com/mercyforanimals/videos/10153539359379475/

Truth is clearly overrated among our kind (6)

After the last tree is felled, Christ will come back.

(James G. Watt, Interior Secretary under President Ronald Reagan)

The white men were roused by a mere instinct of self-preservation—until at last there had sprung into existence a great Ku Klux Klan, a veritable empire of the South, to protect the Southern country.

(President Woodrow Wilson, 1913-1921)

A bunch of cowboys camping

(Michele Fiore, Nevada Assemblywoman, and self-appointed defender of white terrorists who occupied Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon)

The short explanation continued

D. It's called the Wise Use doctrine (mentioned in “The problem with America is...”) and has been around for some 30 years. It's anything but “wise.” It is part and parcel of Libertarian philosophy. The central tenant is that private ownership is always better than public ownership.

The white terrorists who occupied the Malheur Refuge claimed that they believed in the Wise Use doctrine. The livestock industry, oil and gas and various developers will often profess to be supporters of Wise Use, but it would not be overly cynical to think that philosophical doctrine is not what guides many of these bottom feeders.

For the Wise Use true believer, land is worth only what people will pay for it. If you can't make a buck in some way it has no value. The private market by its very nature exists to commodify natural resources and turn them into consumer goods. Most important, it attempts to externalize expenses.

By some estimates, if the world's largest corporations were actually responsible for their costs of pollution and other damages to the environment, something like one-third of their profits would disappear. Another study estimated that the combined world damage to the environment in 2008 was something like $22 trillion!

Land management in the U.S. is important and in need of intelligent changes and modifications that reflects a 21^st century reality, but the Wise Use movement is largely another dreary American hustle that has the stench of the 19^th century and the Gilded Age. A number of years ago I wrote a series of articles about one of America's best scams, entitled America's Turf Terror (I). Time to put a stake in the heart of the Wise Use scam.

E. Even though meat consumption in the United States has decreased, it is increasing in the developing world because of rising standards of living. It has been devastating to the planet's rainforests and wildlife.

If one were to take the agricultural business in general in the U.S., billions of dollars is subsidies go exclusively to corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, much of which ends up feeding animals. Western ranchers are one of the largest recipients of federal welfare programs. Something like $500 million in taxpayer money in 2014 went to ranchers getting below-market value leases to graze their cattle on public lands.

F. The Ammon Bundy gang that occupied the Oregon wildlife sanctuary this past January could end up costing the taxpayers several millions of dollars. These ignorant thugs, as we've learned, desecrated sacred Native American sites at Malheur, built roads through Paiute Indian grounds, and trenches dug adjacent to sacred ground contained human feces. So much for the professed respect.

Cliven Bundy, the patriarch of this family, whose ranch in Nevada adjoins thousands of acres of public lands, allows his cattle to graze wherever they wish. He lets them run wild until he decides to trap and kill one. He apparently does not vaccinate or treat his cattle for disease and seemingly does not manage or control breeding. Yup, we'll let Cliven Bundy be the poster child for privatization and welfare capitalism.

Oh yes, not discussed is the progress that could be lost between ranchers and environmentalists because of the occupation, possible revenue and job losses to the county and, last, the wildlife itself. The many birds arrive in the spring to breed. Much work still remains to be done in preparation for their arrival.

Which way to the Emerald City

Prohibition in the 1920s was probably one of the worst examples of public policy that the country ever implemented. But, like today, America was undergoing huge changes.

The W.A.S.P. establishment was losing political power, people were moving to urban areas, immigrants were becoming citizens, African-Americans were going north looking for a better life, women had the vote, and a great many Americans were simply frightened and angry at the speed of these changes.

A backlash occurred. The membership of the Ku Klux Klan grew enormously, especially in the north, religious fundamentalism attempted to push back against science and evolution and politicians railed against the “other.” “I want my country back,” and “it's the government's fault” were heard in the 1920s as well.

Yes, we Americans are mad at the present time, even if in some cases we can't actually explain who or what we're mad at. For many Americans, especially a large segment of white America, there is a sense that they've been duped and manipulated for generations. Well, they have. So what's the strategy?

Sell a country! Why not sell the air, the great sea, as well as the earth?

(Tecumseh, 1768-1813, Shawnee)

TO BE CONTINUED

Additional

https://farm.ewg.org/ Farm Subsidity Data

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/07/donald-trump-why-americans-support  The anger supporting Donald Trump, by Thomas Frank

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/03/opinions/kayyem-oregon-building-takeover-terrorism/  Yes they are actual terrorists

NO JOB

Truth is clearly overrated among our kind (5)

Climate change is real. It is the most urgent threat affecting our species. We need to work together and stop procrastinating.

(Leonardo DiCaprio, Oscar winner for best actor, The Revenant, 2016)

Indians and wolves are both beasts of prey, though they differ in shape.

(George Washington)

To the Great Plains Indians, nature was the center of our way of life. To whites, nature was the enemy to be conquered.

(Dr. Leo Killsback, citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Nation)

It ultimately matters a hell of a lot, regardless of whether or not you live in Ferguson, Missouri, rural Idaho or along the Connecticut “gold coast.” They're all connected even if for some it's difficult to grasp that connection. Of course, you don't have to frame it in terms of morality, stewardship of the Earth or the sacredness of all life on the planet, if you're uncomfortable or contemptuous with those terms.

One of the really good post-apocalyptic nightmares is The Road, a novel by Cormac McCarthy. We never really learn how it happened, how it all became the planet of the damned. If you are now of a certain age you will likely pass away remembering blue skies, chirping birds and the possibility of a living future. Your children, on the other hand, could start seeing both small and large occurrences. Now your grandchildren, well, do we really care about them? After all, we're dead.

The short explanation

A. A large number of countries in the world today have “protected areas.” The number of reserves on land amount to approximately 161,000. The number over marine waters globally is around 6,500. In 2015 this represented 15% of the Earth's land area and 2.8% of the planet's ocean area. Is this enough?

Edward O. Wilson, the renown biologist, believes it doesn't come close to being enough. In fact, he thinks one-half of the Earth's surface must be devoted to nature in order to save the life forms that compose it. One of the life forms is us. No it doesn't mean that one-half of Earth is to become a global sanctuary devoid of humans but it does mean that we must learn how to reduce our ecological footprint. Wilson thinks it is possible and believes it is through biology, nanotechnology and robotics that we can learn how.

Large plots of land connected to smaller plots contain more eco-systems and maintain them at sustainable levels. Smaller reserves reduce our diversity and thus our existence. Edward Wilson thinks there are still choices that we can make, but the crucial factor in the life and death of all species is the amount of habitable land we can maintain.

B. Although many still refuse to admit it, more and more of us now understand that we cannot take more out of the eco-system than we put in. The good news is that we're now beginning to be able to put a direct cash value on what has been called “natural capital,” that is what humans do not have to spend on services that nature supplies for free, such as water purification, crop pollination, coastal protection by wetlands, sand banks and reefs and groundwater.

We've heard, for example, about the importance of the honeybee, which in fact generates some $57 billion dollars annually in revenue. But few people probably know that the dung beetle generates some $380 million annually by getting rid of manure that would attract parasites.

The Ogallala Aquifer located in the Great Plains, covering some 8 states, is one of the largest aquifers in the world. Suffice it to say that groundwater depletion is occurring at faster rates and replenishment rates are relatively slow. In fact, the Ogallala provides freshwater for about one-fifth of the wheat, corn, cattle and cotton in the U.S. as well as across the globe.

Scientists can demonstrate that this aquifer could run dry as soon as 2040 if we don't make necessary changes … and we do know right now how to make a lot of these changes. If we wanted to keep the aquifer from going dry beyond 2070, we would have to initiate drastic changes, like a steep reduction in corn and cattle production—heavy users of water. Oh yes, the political decisions can be put off only so long.

C. What has been referred to as “Big Data” has helped us to measure Natural Capital. Computers have accelerated our ability to take action. We are able to measure and quantify huge amounts of data, discover patterns and understand how we humans are participants in a larger system. Yes, marketing people can learn what color boxes toothpaste users like best, but we are now able to decipher really important things that could help our planet survive.

Nearing the end and starting the beginning.

TO BE CONTINUED

Truth is clearly overrated among our kind (4) An Addendum

The quite real global water crisis is likely to be the next reason that we humans will start killing each other. It relates directly to "Truth." The video is worth watching and then forcing changes. Where I live the dwindling ground water may, in the not too distant future, become a very big crisis.

Truth is clearly overrated among our kind (4)

In the end, our society will be defined not only by what we create but by what we refuse to destroy.

(John Sawhill, former president of The Nature Conservancy)

A reflection of ourselves

Our national parks and preserves are located in all regions of the country (Our NationalParks), but they are in need of help. From budget cuts, discussed previously, to climate change this remarkable American creation, which goes back more than 100 years, is under threat in the 21^st century.

Shrinking available water supplies affects ecosystems and species survival. Non-native plants, insects, snakes and reptiles encroach on native plants and animal ecosystems and ultimately can result in extinction. It's estimated that approximately 6,500 non-native species are now intruding on native plants and animals.

Air pollution has no boundaries. Such things as coal plants and automobiles affect both air quality and visibility, which over time poisons plants, fouls water resources and threatens vulnerable species. A warming planet is affecting glaciers in our national parks, fire season is becoming longer and more severe, food production could decrease and eco-patterns may change more quickly and threaten numerous species … including humans.

Because of budget cuts deferred maintenance is increasing rapidly, estimated to be well over $7 billion at the present time. Roads are in disrepair, trails closed, restrooms shut and “out of order” signs appearing everywhere. At the same time, more visitors are arriving at our national parks, an estimated 45 million annually. The difficulty is that more visitors mean more problems requiring better service and upkeep.

Beware of the big bad wolf

You can take your tree hugging, granola eating politically correct, earth worshiping, subaru driving, pony tailed sandals in the winter, wolf loving butt somewhere else!

(A sign near Salmon, Idaho, home of the annual Coyote and Wolf Derby)

In old European superstitions it is believed to be unlucky to say the word “wolf” in the month of December, for you run the risk of being attacked by one. On the other hand, wolves are prominent in Native American mythology and many Indians oppose the hunting of wolves. It is believed by some tribes that wolves are family members and the human spirit comes from wolves.

In general, European-Americans from the very beginning have had a total disregard for wildlife. We have slaughtered and butchered animals with abandon from the moment we set foot on the North American continent. We pretty much have belonged to the school of “dominion over” rather than “stewardship of.”

Even in the late 19^th century there were reports of the day time sky darkening because of the migration of millions of passenger pigeons flying overhead. The bird tasted good and was easy to kill. On September 1, 1914 Martha, the last captive passenger pigeon, died at the Cincinnati Zoo. We rarely know the specific date that a species goes extinct, an extinction we humans caused.

Kill 'em all and then some

Salmon, Idaho holds a four day Coyote and Wolf Derby every year. Salmon is a rural ranching community and in its own way reflects a dark part of an American past that should be in the Museum of Natural History but still exists today in small pockets throughout the country. Keep in mind that the livestock industry “hates” predators of every kind and always has. Science and objective observation have little to do with it.

The object of the hunt is to kill coyotes and wolves as fast as possible. It is killing for the sake of killing. Prizes of $1,000 are awarded for the most animals killed. Special awards are also given to children who demonstrate prowess in this slaughter.

Of particular interest is that part of the hunt takes place on federal lands—meaning public. Supposedly, oversight responsibility rests with the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, who seemingly vanish shortly before and during this cultural celebration of human blood-lust.

The steak tastes bad

Climatologists are telling us with a “high level” of certainty that our warming planet, since 1950 at least, is caused primarily because of what we humans have been doing to the Earth. Yes, it's us.

In terms of global warming, meat production is especially harmful and beef production may be the most damaging form of meat. Cows produce methane emissions, a powerful greenhouse gas. Many methods of cattle production demand large tracts of land, contribute to the destruction of forests and trees are burned releasing CO2. Cattle production more often than not requires huge amounts of water and fertilizer.

If the whole world ate beef at the rate of Americans and produced by methods that are usual in the U.S., we'd likely have little chance of staying below internationally agreed limits on global warming.

So what, why it matters for every one of us, and what can really be done about it?

TO BE CONTINUED

The Ethos of Death

These two articles in particular tell us something about the political reality in America, the cult of death and the on-going land swindle that continues currently. The disease can be cured if we choose.

Wyoming, Montana and Idahoand Killing Grizzly Bears

House Republicans Seek toOpen National Forests to Mining and Logging

THE RIGHTS of NATURE

Truth is clearly overrated among our kind (3)

The lesson should be constantly enforced that, though the people support the government, the government should not support the people.

(President Grover Cleveland, while vetoing a bill offering financial aid to the poor, 1887)

Collyfoxing

By coincidence I happened to see a YouTube video put up by Jon Ritzheimer a few weeks back, one of the gang leaders that occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and who is now in jail. He stood in front of a table piled high with dozens of dildos that his detractors had sent. What struck me, however, was the seeming bewilderment on his face as he swept them off the table and onto the floor.

“Let us do something, while we have the chance!”

(Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot)

But, if you live in a world of paranoia, United Nations' black helicopters invading the U.S., FEMA concentration camps, a dash of apocalyptic Christianity and a distorted understanding of American history, rational thinking is likely to be difficult. You can, nevertheless, serve as a very useful tool for others. (The word collyfoxing is old English and means 'misleading and making a fool of one.')

If you know how it's easy

No, it's not a collection of sociopaths, crazed zealots and the merely pathetic that are the true problem. The real threat to our national parks, sanctuaries, recreation programs, enforcement and sound land management throughout the U.S. comes first and foremost from a loud and powerful segment of the the U.S. Congress, who know quite well who they work for.

The “grand strategy” is to starve all these programs until they collapse. It is not just public lands in the West that are threatened but community parks in both rural and urban areas, historic sites like Civil War battlefields, upkeep on popular hiking trails, dealing with invasive species and maintaining, for example, redwood forests in California to conserve water. Appropriations have been cut in important programs like the Land and Water Conservation Fund, popular programs allowed to expire and funds diverted back to the oil and gas industry.

In my state of Missouri, hardly a bastion of enlightenment at the present time, the state legislature wants to prevent the Department of Natural Resources from creating a new State Park that would benefit all the residents of the state, keeping in mind that our parks in Missouri attract millions of visitors annually, bring in an estimated billion dollars and support some 15,000 jobs. Most important, it would protect natural resources and be a legacy for future generations. This is an issue that is common throughout the country.

In the West the livestock industry, oil and gas, mining and land developers have always known how to conjure up the cowboy fairy tales about freedom, liberty and the “sacredness” of private property. They certainly know how to purchase politicians at the national, state and local level. When needed they can, of course, always find a bunch of terrorist thugs to break windows, wave guns and yell about government overreach. It's nothing new; they've been doing it for a long time.

To put names and faces to some of the worst elected officials in the U.S. Congress in terms of our national sanctuaries, wildlife and the determination to privatize all public lands, you can probably begin with five in particular. Collectively they have received millions of dollars in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry and agribusiness. They are in the House of Representatives Ken Calvert of California, Don Young of Alaska and Rob Bishop of Utah. In the Senate they are Mike Lee of Utah and John Cornyn of Texas. They all happen to be Republicans—at the moment.

So what does it all mean, what can be done about it and who cares?

TO BE CONTINUED

Truth is clearly overrated among our kind (2)

They're making people everyday, but they ain't makin' any more dirt.

(Will Rogers)

Trespassers will be shot or worse

In July 2015 the United Nations estimated a global population of 7.349 billion people. Right now (2016) we are currently at 7.4 billion and increasing.

In 1700, only 316 years ago, the human population of the entire planet was approximately 600 million. In what we now call the United States the population (Europeans) was approximately 250,000 people. The industrial revolution in Europe wouldn't begin for another 80 years or so. The human footprint across the globe was still relatively benign in 1700.

A momentous change in agriculture had begun in Europe, starting in England in the late 17^th century. It had a profound effect on the lives of people and one of the key factor in the global demographic explosion that would take place in the next 300 years.

The first change was the enclosure movement. Hedges began encircling more and more farmland. Before, land had been largely communal; everyone could graze their animals and raise crops on community land. But as new crops, new methods of breeding, and new cultivation techniques developed pressure grew to enclose the land, in order to improve both the yield and the quality and insure better management. While the farming system was undoubtedly revolutionized, many people lost their land, became dispossessed and had to find work in the cities.

With the spreading enclosure of land and the rising power of the landowners, the Norfolk Four-Course System was established. Throughout the Middle Ages and up to the late seventeenth century, field lay fallow every three years; farmers slaughtered their farm animals in the fall because they had no forage crops to feed them in the winter. The Norfolk system changed all this.

The fallow year disappeared and fodder crops, such as cornstalks, hay, and straw were fed to animals. This produced a lot of manure and urine, enriching the soil and ultimately increasing the harvests.

These new methods and techniques spread to the rest of Europe and ultimately moved in one form or another to the United States, where Europeans found some of the most fertile and productive land on the planet with few human obstacle to stop them from claiming it. For landless Europeans who could only dream of possessing property of their own, the world to the west seemed like a Garden of Eden with infinite abundance.

A book was published in England in 1776, arguably one of the most influential books ever written. The author was Adam Smith and the title of his work was An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. He defined the free-market, what it was and its value in creating wealth.

Politicians in America, in particular, have always loved to talk about the free-market, its central role in America's greatness and “exceptionalism” and, not surprisingly, government must not be allowed to impose regulations on that “invisible hand” that knows best.

Well, not often stated, even the venerable Adam Smith in the 18^th century told us to beware of capitalists because they could manipulate the “sanctity” of the market. In fact, he said, “The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from [capitalists] ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined...” America, however, was going to demonstrate how the big swindle ought to be played on a continental scale.

You cannot solve the problem with the same kind of thinking that has created the problem.

( Albert Einstein )

The idea that human beings are better off acting selfishly would have been laughable to Shakespeare, anathema to Jesus, absurd to Darwin and insane to Freud. Even Adam Smith, the father of capitalism, would have recoiled from the crass self-interest philosophy promoted by Ayn Rand....

(Lynn Parramore, Institute for New Economic Thinking and founding editor of New Deal 2.0)

TO BE CONTINUED

Truth is clearly overrated among our kind (1)

Orcs hate Elves with a passion.

(from Lord of the Rings by J. R.R. Tolkien)

“Home home on the range, where the deer and the antelope play”

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, Wildlife Services, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has killed, through gassing, poisoning and strangulation by snare, 27 million native animals since 1996, including more than 1 million in 2014. The animals have included prairie dogs, gray wolves, mountain lions, black bears, foxes, coyotes and even bald eagles, and possibly a few domestic cats.

The mission of the USDA APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) Wildlife Services “is to provide Federal leadership and expertise to resolve wildlife conflicts to allow people and wildlife to coexist.” The WS is a government agency, its programs paid for by the taxpayers and supposedly answerable to all the citizens.

Yet most people, including the politicians responsible for oversight, have little understanding of the seemingly secret activities of this agency. What are the causes for each killing? Why is there a large variation from one year to the next? Is it merely a perception of a threat offered up by a farmer or rancher that causes the WS to kill wildlife? What role does corporate agriculture in general have in setting the “killing” priorities ... or, is it merely part of something much more corrupt and ultimately harmful to all of us?

Piling up the cow manure

In 1885 William A.J. Sparks, commissioner of the General Land Office, in his report to Congress, said

that “unscrupulous speculation resulted in the worst forms of land monopoly … throughout regions dominated by cattle-raising interests.” It has been said often enough that it's more than likely that land in the western states was acquired originally by assorted types of fraud.

The swindle, updated for the 21^st century and more efficient, is still a swindle, with the possible consequences far worse today and affecting those that have never seen a real cow.

When a character like Cliven Bundy and his fellow travelers, the very essence of “welfare parasites,” state they will not pay a grazing fee for their cattle, keep in mind that the taxpayers of the United States are providing millions of dollars in indirect subsidies for private land ranchers. The actual federal grazing fee is approximately $1.35 a month per cow-calf pair in 2015, but the market rate on private land averages around $12.00.

One of the more colorful quotations comes from Brian Ertz, chairperson of Sierra Club's National Grazing Team, who said in 2014 in reference to an area on the Idaho-Nevada border: “One of the most cattle-fucked landscapes you'll ever see.”

Actual climate science tells us that one of the main contributors of greenhouse gases comes from meat production. It's also in the realm of possibility that the butchering of wildlife brought to you by the Wildlife Services has been decided by the livestock industry.

Today, desertification, pollution of water, destruction of cover for birds and mammals, mono-culturing of grasslands, deforestation and the destruction of native plants comes to us through poorly regulated grazing. In 1934 in congressional testimony the Forest Service referred to “ cancer-like growth” because of unregulated grazing. More than 70 years later we're still dealing with cancer-like growth and it's not because we don't understand the science today.

In 1946 The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was created, a merger between Grazing Service and the General Land Office. Today it administers more than 247 million acres of public lands, mostly located in the western states. The BLM has sometimes been referred to, with a touch of bitterness, as the Bureau of Livestock and Mines. The question of course is who exactly does the BLM really work for. TO BE CONTINUED

10,000 biological generations

It is not that nature lacks intelligence but our own concepts do

(Jeremy Narby, anthropologist )

I saw the movie The Revenant this past week and it was good, not because of the acting and cinematography, which was excellent, but because of how the story was told. It's loosely based on the life of an actual fur trader Hugh Glass, who was supposedly almost killed by a grizzly bear in 1823. It is ostensibly a tale of human survival, but to the credit of the director, it reveals more than a man-vs-nature adventure film.

Seeing ourselves

Depredation, race, class, predatory capitalism are certainly revealed in the film but we also see human relationships with what can be called the natural world, as well as respect and understanding of the “other,” both human and non-human But I did find myself at times during the movie thinking about the criminal occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by our modern day white terrorists grifters.

For those who have not seen the 2013 talk by Jeremy Narby, Intelligence in Nature, the following video is outstanding. He poses the question: How can we [humans] transform ourselves into intelligent predators?

The title of this article, “10,000 biological generations” refers to the fact that Homo-sapien-sapiens—us-- have only been around some 200,000 years, a drop in the evolutionary bucket. Whether or not we humans in our present form will be around 200 years from now is, in my opinion, questionable at best. But we have survived by the “skin of our teeth” in the past....

Our last common ancestor with the chimpanzee (See “Remembering uncle Sah” ) likely lived in what is now the country of Chad in Africa. Approximately 7 million years ago we went our separate ways. Now, the more than 7 billion(!) of us in the 21^st century need to somehow radically change just who and what we are.

Malheur Refuge once again

Land use policy in the United States is worthy of serious discussion and debate at the local, state and national level, but the feverish, narcissistic fantasy of a segment of America to hand over all our national sanctuaries to the “private property” crowd because they think it's some sort of right they have acquired is on par with the old, nonsensical “divine right of kings.”

What is at stake, as humans, is changing the “concepts” about the world we live in and our place in it. In the meantime, in one small corner of Oregon, all of us collectively need to confront the idiocy of white entitlement accompanied by the usual threats of violence. Get out. Yeah, it's non-negotiable. We need to get on with solving genuine problems in the 21^st century.

The problem with America is....

Once again it's “Deja vu all over again.” Never ending white entitlement, delusional history and the usual threats of violence are now playing out at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Eastern Oregon, one of the more important bird and wildlife sanctuaries in the country and located in an isolated corner of Oregon.

Malheur is being occupied by a handful of white (Christian?) terrorists with the apparent and enthusiastic support of ISIS no less. The Refuge, however, happens to belong to all the people of the United States.

But like a shopworn morality play our wild-wild-West has a familiar ring to it, going back to when the Europeans claimed ownership of those “empty” spaces following the American Civil War. The through-line or theme, nevertheless, has remained the same right up to the present time.

As early as 1805 two different creation stories appeared in an attempt to explain the founding of the United States. One was, later to be called the “Jeffersonian interpretation,” and the other known as the “natural” outcome of the Revolution of 1776. These versions of America's creation have been swirling around, re-imagined, and debated and argued about for more than 200 years.

It's all ours

At the end of the Civil War European-American turned their gaze toward our western frontier. It was now time for our pent up ambitions to be fulfilled—our (white) Manifest Destiny.

Coincidentally, the philosophy of Social Darwinism first appeared in Great Britain in the 1870s, which had little to do with evolution or Darwin, but did provide a justification and underpinning for white supremacy across the globe. It was adopted enthusiastically by America's elite, but for the average white American it merely confirmed what had been felt, culturally and socially, from the very start of the Republic.

The final piece in the “occupation” of the West was the railroad, the cutting edge technology of the 19^th century. By the end of the century the railroad had helped make America a global trading partner, and by the end of World War I in 1918 the United States had become the premier economic power in the world. The start, however, was quite different from the fairy tales found in the average history book or the backs of cereal boxes.

“....the triumph of the unfit...”

For a fascinating and detailed history of the transcontinental railroad it's worth reading Richard White's book Railroaded. You'd recognize the Bernie Madoffs of the 19^th century, the assorted speculators and those that created the 19^th century equivalent of sub-prime loans and credit default swaps.

But the making of the West had little to do with the fanciful rugged individual or some 19^th century libertarian John Gault wearing chaps and armed to the teeth. It had much more to do with large corporation colluding with the government, for private gains at public expense. It is a remarkable story of greed, incompetence and welfare capitalism at its supreme worst. Abraham Lincoln in 1864 said that, “Corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow.” He was most certainly right.

Unfortunately, along with the laughable business “tycoon” and corrupt government official and politician, there was a very dark side. It is a dismal story of genocide, racism, environmental destruction and overall depravity, which even by 19^th century standards was simply barbaric.

Last but certainly not least is the iconic oil painting of cattle and cowboys adorning the boardroom walls of cattlemen associations, offices of western politicians—and the pages of comic strips.

Like the railroads, large cattle corporations were created, frequently by people that knew absolutely nothing about cows, cowboys and ranching. It was a kind of learning by doing, the ends of course justifying any means. Cattle corporations just like the railroads were often accused of violating anti-monopoly laws. There were numerous examples of unlawful enclosure of public lands, fraudulent attempts at controlling water resources, overgrazing and the cruelty of mass starvation of cattle.

Very much like the railroad corporations the cattle industry lived by financial illusion, where the numbers had virtually nothing to do with reality. As Richard White has said, in reference to the cattle business, “These land grabs were attempts by a classic nineteenth-century monopoly to claim a public resource for a privileged few.”

The cowboy himself was largely a myth even after the short-lived cattle drives ended. More often than not the average cowboy was underpaid, exploited, illiterate and old or dead by the time he was thirty-five.

Land belongs to (some of) us because we're the people

The short version is that the land around the current Malheur National Wildlife Refuge had originally belonged to the Northern Paiute Indian tribe, who had probably lived in the area for hundreds of years. They of course were eventually “removed” from the land by European-Americans in the 1870s.

President Theodore Roosevelt ( himself part of white American mythology) in 1908 created the Malheur refuge, one of the first sanctuaries in the United States, which was at that time unclaimed government lands, which consists today of more than 187,700 acres, including 120,000 acres of wetlands. The reason Roosevelt created this national wildlife refuge is because photographers in the 1880s discovered that plume hunters had decimated many North American birds. Feathers for ladies hats were popular at the time. Just your average American entrepreneur meeting a demand.

Not to worry, plenty of everything

B.J. Soper, a resident of the county where the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is located, while not a supporter of the illegal occupation of the refuge, nevertheless probably expressed the view of many westerners when he said to a journalist that, “What people in Western States are dealing with is the destruction of their way of life.” Fair enough, but whose way of life? Should we go back to the 1950s, the 1890s or possibly before any white person had set foot on what is now called the United States?

It must have seemed bountiful beyond belief when the first white people started moving west, All this “free” stuff as far as the eye could see and all for the taking. Capitalism globally since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the past 220 years or so, never really took into account what actual costs were. Such things as grass, water, the degradation of grasslands, pollution of the air, the overuse of toxic chemicals, the slaughter of wildlife never entered any balance sheet. It's still resisted today, even though the rhetoric has been updated.

The Bundy crowd and their camp followers are nothing new. Some 30 years ago a conservative land-use doctrine called Wise Use emerged, a successor if you will to the Sagebrush Rebellion of the 1970s, which goes back even farther to to the anti-national park movement, which goes back ultimately to Plymouth Rock and the European understanding of what was “developed land” in the early 17^th century.

The Wise Use doctrine claims that moral primacy in the West belongs to ranching families, logging and all natural resource companies. The goal is to eliminate such things as most of our environmental regulations, get rid of the Endangered Species Act, promise unrestricted use of off-road vehicles and privatize virtually everything. What a grand vision!

Above all else the true believers will tell anyone that listens that they are far better stewards of the land than any government entity. Needless to say the timber industry, the mining and oil industry, among others, while not necessarily in support of armed bandits with automatic weapons, tell us that these poor souls are victims of government overreach. Of course they are.

Death eaters, dead-enders and the profitable business of victimhood

In a perfect world Cliven Bundy, the family patriarch, would willingly pay the extremely modest grazing fee ( now up to some $1 million ) as a functioning citizen of the United States, in order to keep his cattle on my property—or--he would be living out his days in a federal prison and his cows sold on the open market.

Ammon Bundy, the oldest son of Cliven and the self-proclaimed leader of the white terrorist militia at Malheur, is a recipient of a small business government loan, courtesy of my tax dollars. He is not even a rancher but an owner of a trucking business in Arizona.

It is not that we can not find any ranchers in the West today who understand modern land ecology, different ways of raising cattle, the importance of large natural sanctuaries, the value of predators in a healthy ecosystem, climate change, as well as ultimately preserving a future legacy for all Americans; it's that we still have, hovering over everything, a thuggish history of human plundering, a disrespect for nature and above all the decaying ideology of white entitlement and self-serving victimhood.

Most likely the majority of people that are sympathetic to these various white militia groups do not want to go to prison or get shot, but it's pretty clear there is a core group of deadenders that long for a cowbilly Valhalla. We as a society must get on with the 21^st century if we want to preserve anything worthwhile.

We took away their country and their means of support, broke up their mode of living, their habits of life, introduced disease and decay among them, and it was for this and against this they made war. Could any one expec t less. Then, why wonder at Indian difficulties.

(General Philip Henry Sheridan, Commanding Army General in Army Report of 1878)

I can't find my bootstraps to pull up

Clinton's welfare reform was the logical conclusion of Ronald Reagan's pernicious use of the 'welfare queen' myth in the 1980s.

(Amy B. Dean, fellow, Century Foundation)

The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind—it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over.

(Joseph Goebbels, Propaganda Minister, Nazi Germany)

Nature and nurture

“Good wombs have born bad sons,” as Shakespeare says in The Tempest. The nature versus nurture debate goes back to at least the time of Plato. But perhaps over the past fifteen or twenty years we have acquired a remarkable pool of knowledge regarding human behavior in general, be it the mapping of the human genome, neuroscience discoveries, behavioral psychology or even the controversial field of genopolitics. As individuals we are a complex mixture of genetic and environmental factors. But who are we in assorted groups or various interests or particular markets?

Behavioral economics it seems to me has a great deal to offer, for example, the 2016 presidential election in the United States, which promises to be once again less than enlightening, informative and honest.

Behavioral economics may also have a lot to say about how we look at poverty in the U.S. and throughout the world. Poverty in America has come out of the shadows, for the moment at least, in part because of the issue of racism, a central piece in understanding this country.

Where once behavioral economics was an outlier in the field, it has now become an influential element in understanding economic decision making. Even the World Bank in its 2015 annual report devoted most of the document to behavioral decision making. Ultimately, to be truly successful, it has to influence policymakers to think in a different way. This, however, is hardly ever easy; we humans are reluctant to let facts get in the way of our strongly held beliefs. Call it nature vs nurture.

My cortisol hormone just doesn't feel right

Researchers are familiar with what's called a hormone-receptor complex. There are steroid hormones, which include cortisol, estrogen and testosterone. Cortisol, for example, is released under stress, the proverbial threat, but it can also occur by merely thinking about unpleasant things. High levels of cortisol over long periods may cause such illnesses as depression, heart disease and overall suppression of the immune system.

Stress and prolonged complex tasks can cause glucose levels in the region of the brain associated with attention and planning to drop. Physical capabilities can decrease but mental acuity can be affected as well.

Neurotransmitters, serotonin and dopamine being two, are related to stress and motivation. Levels of serotonin in an individual can affect the sense of well being and confidence. These individual variations might cause different reactions and possibly have a bearing on how we think about and react to real world issues, such as violence, gay marriage and poverty.

The point of all this is that we know a good deal more about genetic and environmental factors when it comes to human behavior. This connects to behavioral economists and how they have looked at the field of psychology and the discoveries in neuroscience and have adapted and applied many of the ideas to economics. Some have referred to behavioral economics as the “hybrid offspring” of economics and psychology.

You've been framed

Frank Luntz, a political operative in the early George W. Bush presidency, told the administration that it was important to always refer to global warming as “climate change.” This phrase, it was believed, was less unsettling and more controllable, thus more easily ignored. The fossil fuel industry could rest easily.

More than 30 years ago two psychologists published a paper questioning the standard assumptions regarding decision making, which ultimately had a significant impact on traditional economic theory. See Prospect Theory: An Analysis ofDecision Under Risk.

The long standing belief had been that the “Economic Man” was rational and by in large made self-interested decisions. Intentionally or otherwise, this idea benefited the status quo and provided a justification for what has been thought to be the “inherent” wisdom of what is universally referred to as the free-market, which is hardly “free” in any sense of the word.

What was being suggested is that the reality was actually more about how alternatives were framed and not about their “relative value.” It became all too often a zero-sum game. The framing was what strongly influenced the decisions that people made.

Now, some thirty years later, the word “framing” is familiar to a great many people, and certainly it's part of the strategy for both marketeers and political operatives among others. Of course, who would want to pay a “death” tax. Outrageous! But what about a small percentage of the rich paying a very moderate estate tax upon their departure from the living, considering how they benefited from America's political and economic system? Andrew Carnegie, one of the founding fathers of the Gilded Age, did not believe that the children of the rich ought to be handed a pot of gold. This was the United States and we of course did not want to create a parasitic aristocracy. You've been framed.

Now, behavioral economists are looking at how people actually act in making economic decisions, which could influence the kinds of programs that might be developed, not only in dealing with poverty but improving upon the choices we all make—unlike what the traditional economic model claims we have been doing all along. It has been to a large degree a lovely fairy tale. Go ahead, treat yourself and pull out that credit card. You deserve it.

The problem with those people

It seems that so many of the tired, moth-eaten cliches have never gone away and have a life of their own: character flaw, lazy, lack of self-discipline and so forth have been the constant refrain. In my part of the country you only have to follow the state legislatures in Missouri and Kansas to know that obliviousness and general obtuseness have been raised to the level of sacred text.

It's not that an individual might be deemed unambitious, but that an entire class of people or group of individuals have been summarily dismissed as, well, “flawed.”

What makes behavioral economics so compelling is the many studies that have been undertaken and the quantifiable data gathered. It refutes so many of the standard, mythical economic beliefs beloved by the status quo—most obviously the comfortable and the privileged.

In the now well studied Dutch Hunger Winter of 1944, as the allies advanced across Europe, the Nazis let the people of Holland starve. This affected the fetuses of pregnant women, especially those fetuses in the 2^nd and 3^rd trimesters. The fetuses took the cue from their mother's low nutrient intake, but even when the war ended and there was plenty of food, in many cases the “thrifty” metabolism couldn't stop storing calories away. In a number of instances health problems like diabetes developed later on for these children.

We learned that physical deterioration was clearly obvious, but we also observed the mental effects of starvation. Food became the central thought, above anything else. Fast forward more than 60 years later and behavioral economists want to know how mental states along with social and physical environments affect economic activity on a very specific level … realizing that one size (program) does not fit all.

While behavioral economists, like any group of people, can have varied points of view, some basic ideas seem to stand out, oftentimes contrary to the prevailing views. Sendhil Mullainathan, a behavioral economist at Harvard has said that, “To put it crudely, poverty—no matter who you are—can make you dumber.”--anywhere in the world, among any economic class of people.

The gnawing away of cognitive competence, counter-productive decisions, the inability to consider the long-term best interest are all related to what economists refer to as scarcity. While the standard belief is generally that those poor people are poor because they make bad decisions, the behavioral economists believe that people make bad decisions because they are poor, perhaps obvious to some people, but observing (in the U.S.) the Congress, many state legislatures and numerous politicians pontificating on poverty and the poor, you would be hard pressed to locate cognitive competence among these “decision makers.”

This is a complex subject, and while behavioral economics is a central part of economic theory today, for many, it goes against deeply ingrained beliefs and vested interests. Framing is going to matter a lot.

For those who want additional information on the subject the following may be of interest:

Foundation

Herbert A. Simon

The Framing of Decisions andthe Psychology of Choices

The Noise Trader Approach toFinance

$100 Dollar Bills on theSidewalk

History

Brief History of FarmerAlliance, 1880s (How white racism worked against economicself-interest)

Other

Rise in suicide by Black Children Surprises Researchers 

Scarcity: Why Having TooLittle Means So Much

Behavioral Economics andSocial Good

GOP's Vile Anti-Poor Crusade

Improving Decisions AboutHealth, Wealth and Happiness

The New Dictatorships RuleThrough the Velvet Fist

Debate Central (framing):American Combat Troops to Fight ISIL