Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 10:32:13 -0600
From: Jane Sooby <phrc031@unlvm.unl.edu>
Subject: "Greening of Planet Earth"
Hi, everyone.
Our local power district here in Sidney, Nebraska, is sponsoring the showing
of a movie, "The Greening of Planet Earth," which presents "evidence" to
show how "current CO2 levels, which are 30 percent higher than in the
pre-industrial era, have greatly enhanced the growth of trees and other
plants. Results from controlled studies show how a doubling of CO2 in the
atmosphere, which is expected to occur over the next century, will increase
crop yields by 30 to 40 percent, double the water-use efficiency of most of
the Earth's vegetation and possibly triple the productivity of forests."
=================================================
Lion replies: This is not "greening", it is browning, as in toasting. Five
of the ten hottest years since record keeping began, 140 years ago, have
occurred in this decade. This year, which has not peaked yet, is already the
hottest year ever. This is what CO2 does, in the Greenhouse Effect, of
trapping heat from being radiated out into space. This is a preview of what
you will live through all the years of your life if greenhouse gases double.
Recently a state in Mexico went four years with only four inches of rain (one
inch per year average). Look out your window and picture every green living
thing: trees, shrubs, flowers, vegetables, most livestock, most wildlife, all
dead from four years without rain. That's the truth of the greenhouse effect.
The experts hired to prove that CO2 is good for you must have some time out
between proving that OJ Simpson is innocent and Tobacco has no known
connections to cancer.
=================================================
Jane Sooby writes:
This sounds like corporate propaganda aimed at brainwashing the public into
thinking that global warming isn't a bad thing, it's good! Any facts out
there that I could include in a letter to the editor providing the other
side of the story to our local citizens?
Thanks for any suggestions,
Jane Sooby
=================================================
Lion replies: Read "State of the World 1998" by Worldwatch Institute, and
visit their web site. Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth have all
probably dissected this film frame-by-frame and have position statements
already. Try them. I'm appending a recommendation of "State of the World
1998" with relevence to sociopaths among us, that you need to take seriously.
Previously posted to alt.sustainable.agriculture newsgroup.
Subject: State of the World 1998
From: lionkuntz@aol.com (LionKuntz)
Date: 26 May 1998 18:31:26 GMT
Over 1,000,000 million copies sold. Used by college and university
courses worldwide, including 795 in the United States alone in 1997, published
in 30 languages, on the best seller list in Finland and Argentina.
These are some of the statistics about a book called "State of the World
1998" published by Worldwatch Institute. So why do I tell you this? Because
some people argue that the (human) world is moving in the best of all possible
directions, and they do not support their argument with sound scientific
research, the findings of internationally respected governmental or
non-governmental organizations, or with factual statistics and data. It is
impossible to alter some people's beliefs and superstitions no matter how hard
or how often one tries. However, if they are going to be expecting respectful
attention to their point of view they ought to be required to perform the same
kind of dilligent investigation and research as the opponents which they are
trying to discredit.
Sometimes politely called "anti-conservation libertarians" hiding behind
shamefully deceptive labels, like "wise use" or "conservative", some people
are
infected with toxic memes which are infectious. These polluting thoughts
surface in arguments such as statements like "go tell it to the dinosaurs"
whenever a discussion on saving endangered species, or conserving existing
natural resources is begun. A book like "State of the World" published
annually is an important innoculant to prevent one's self from being infected
with poison thoughts which not only kill the possessor's descendents,
sometimes
kill entire species of life, and on too many occasions kill other contemporary
members of society who have never been contaminated by the thought meme
directly. The most important thing to understand is that the word "sociopath"
is applicable to the most severely infected individuals.
A famous sociopath, Ted Bundy, serves as an example of the
characteristics
of one of this type. Ted Bundy, like all sociopaths, was incapable of
compassion, empathy, or moral self-control under direction of a conscience.
He
did not care about his own life, let alone the lives of other members of
society, future generations, or the lives of other species. He murdered
several dozen people who are definately connected to his trail, and himself
claimed to have killed over two hundred people. He was convicted and executed
in florida, but attempted to prolong his own life two days before his own
death
by promising to offer details of "hundreds" of deaths he caused. He showed no
true compassion for the suffering families who never knew what happened to
their loved one(s).
Ted Bundy was known to be a congenial and gregarious person who was
educated
and articulate. He was described as "personable", "witty", and "possessing
the
social graces". He was in fact a predator, mimicing human behaviors and
emotions which he did not possess.
While it may be important to criminologists, psychologists, and other
social specialists to understand as much as possible about sociopaths, it is
more important to the majority of people to learn how to recognize one and
take
protective action. Any person who is laisse-faire about widespread species
extictions is telegraphing important information about a disconnect of their
conscience from their behavior (verbal and literary behaviors included). They
are not taking a legitimate political alternative point of view, they are
"slipping up" in the concealment of their destructive intention. There is no
"legitimate political alternative" in some issues, once the evidence has piled
up into an irrefutable mountain. Some rights are "inalienable", not subject
to
political debates and points of view. Some issues involve inalienable rights.
Murder of a planetary ecology, or mass murder of 1,000 species a year fall
into
the categories of not being acceptable as political alternatives for any
rational person with a moral center.
People who do not do their part in sustaining the life-support systems of
the planet (while parasiting off of them) transfer their share of the work
onto
the load of others who are doing the work. Again, we can find contagious
infectious memes at work poisoning the public dialog. A book like Worldwatch
Institutes' "State of the World" cannot penetrate to "cure" those fatally
infected, but it may steel those who are resisting becoming infected. It is
not a fault-free book, nor is it handed down from heaven. It is a useful
compilation and summary of the work of many hundreds of thousands of people
worldwide who have not shirked their responsibility to seek answers to real
problems.
---- LionKuntz@Yahoo.com ----
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