As a note: this has been getting drafted for about a week; customary apologies for being oblivious to Earth Day being the day after today. In a sense – when we are experiencing a significant change in climate – every day is Earth Day. – Joe

Additional update on the 9th of May, 2015. ((The 16th paragraph of this article.))

We have identified some real problems:

The last Ice Age was only 5 to 9° Celsius different from the normal temperature; & we rose upwards of a whole degree in the last century alone —

The last century caused 1/9th of an Ice Age of temperature difference, you could say.¹

Thankfully, we are well aware of the causes of this incalculably important threat: about 96% of climate scientists agree that this global warming is man-made.²

What can we do about global warming? I do not have all the answers, but I do have some good leads. I need to do a good amount more reviewing before suggesting further, but some hopeful leads that I already have, are as follows:

First things first: if you have a dangerous addiction, there’s no way around it: you have to quit. Drastically revamping our lives by slashing carbon emissions to a small fraction of its current rate is the first step I would recommend, & steps along those lines are the first we have tried, to my knowledge.

The problem is, this change is coming too slow,& further it is said that cutting emissions alone will not be enough to neutralize climate change, by environmental scientists.

As I understand the situation, temperatures & other “vital signs” of the Earth are being perturbed at too fast of a pace by these CO2 emissions – our planet & therefore we will suffer too much damage because cultural & political reductions in emissions are coming too slow.

Now, 1/9th of a Ice Age candidly qualifies as possibly thee most serious thing I have heard in all my years living on this Earth.

I have been saying this for some time now & I am glad others in power are agreeing.

But to me, personally, the step so far taken — burying substances that threaten the whole human kind under the ground rather than properly — actually — reducing emissions — sayable as putting all the eggs of Life itself into one technological basket — must be some kind of cruel political joke parodying as the political part of the solution to this.

Do we do important things halfway? When our entire species is threatened?

We’re better than that. We are saner than that.

The best I can offer at this time, is a solution that could be our saving grace in our multi-pronged solution to this species-wide threat.

I came across this by way of a Dr. Savory’s speech, & was I’d like to say reminded of this solution by Dr. Mercola; this solution is called “soil carbon sequestration,” & it involves a form of traditional fauna grazing to return carbon to the soil . . . At a cursory reading, when implemented in proportion to the seriousness of Life on Earth being threatened, it can potentially offset ALL of our carbon emissions within a few decades — according to Dr. Savory.³

If this or other similarly environmentally-friendly practices are verifiable science, then there is no greater need on this planet, than to research & develop the practices & technologies that will let us live this way: more in alignment with Nature, still enjoying ourselves but within our environmental “budget”;

To we ourselves make grassroots cultural waves, to spread the word, & be the changes we seek in this world;

We are gonna need political standardization & implementations — with diamond-saw teeth — taking our case to the people & in a groundswell overcoming the resistance to Earth sustainability;

& Finally we will need good journalism to mediate the R&D people& the politicians, & the people; to inspire us, & to share good ideas, practical ideas.

All of these working together in a continuous flow are needed, in my current judgment, to erect our safety & security in our environment, on our home planet:Our One & Only Mother Earth.

That’s that for climate change.

The other problem I’ve been wanting to talk about is our wealth bags.

The richest 400 moneygrubbing Americans have more than 155,000,000 Americans combined; literally half of America!⁴

Globally, things are worse: the richest 85 people in the world literally have as much as the poorest 3.5 billion; again, half of the world.⁵

Now, “inequality” – when we say income or wealth inequality – isn’t exactly the problem; we believe you should have the fruits of your labor, & some of us labor more, so those people should have more ‘fruits.’

But, take that global wealth inequality statistic – does anyone really believe those 85 people worked 41 million, 176 thousand, 141 times harder than the average person in half of the world worked? —

Then why do they have 41,176,141 times the fruits of the average person, of half the world?

We see the problems this causes – we recognize them nationally: campaign finance, even at the misty height of The Supreme Court, is surrendering to absurd ideas like “money is the same thing as speech”, & “businesses are people, too” – much like the pre-amended constitution calling 3/5ths of a person an African-American person. These are fundamental errors in possibly the most basic thing we do: a count of the number of people.

This excess corporate influence on our legal system is breaking a fundamental pact of The American Government – free & fair elections.

& What’s worse: in our daily lives, 1/5 youth – in the richest country in the world – literally live as poor people.

This upsets me too much, I cannot continue to responsibly speak, so I will pass this on to our other speakers.

* * *

Alright: I literally had to take a few minutes, but I will just say this:

I understand climate change & inequality as colossal problems, ones that we must deal with like Goliaths – but, we have strength in numbers, & we are extremely active, after George W. Bush & The Great Recession — so I am optimistic we will win out.

Once we fix some of these systemic problems, like the senatorial debate rules, & unfair campaign finance rulings, that are preventing much from being passed, & are keeping great people out of office — & some suboptimal leaders in — I would then like to, with our full force, turn to climate change, outlined above, & income & wealth unfairness; that way, we will NOT have this 2nd darkcloud hanging over us – one which I fear:

“Oligarchy” — government of the people, by the rich, for the rich — is the other darkcloud I fear becoming associated permanently with America’s historical grandeur & radiance.

Let us avoid tarrying our great nation’s & the other great nations’ names, who are suffering this same sufferance;

Let’s lift this unsightly blight from our nation by solving systemic problems so that we can make progress, together, solving the challenges of & by Big Business,& work on all our other good & necessary enterprises in this, my home sweet home, together.

Thank You Everyone. I Appreciate It All.

Joe Jerome Valentyn

we join up here again,
my special ring of friends,
’cause i have something to show you,
take a look & listen . . .

as i now shall leaf a little,
thru the pop-up book,
from which cartoon bluebirds release,
& a string section pulls us

yes, follow a little leaf
down from the heavenly canopy –
like the confetti of the earth,
for what’s about to happen to these . . .

blades of grass flop,
as over a bunny does hop,
& a teenager resting on his arm,
draws with dandelions on his dear

it’s then a tapefluttering opera begins,
as he produces an engagement ring,
– thru some quirk of cupidity,
her eyes sparkle like diamonds, too. . .

her heart at once bleeds & falls into ecstasy,
((follow your heart, go where Love leads))
& because it made sense to,
she chose to live in his home

her nod & “Yes.” made the flowers all sing,
he says “this is my wildest dream,
nothing could bring me more happiness,”
as on the ground, that leaf – it landed . . .

now in that same spot they’re hiding their Easter eggs,
for the gigglebox the stork did bring – yes,
now everything is in Spring,
there’s a family of 3, all happy

yes, at home, it tickles he,
his boy wears blue, his wife wears pink,
he even put up mirrors on the ceiling,
– kiddo you can’t come in, we’re making gifts for Christmass

– & now maybe forever more,
there’s a bucket of sand with a playskool spork,
there’s hot cocoa ready to pour,
& confetti of leaves & floppy ears of the Earth’s grassy floor.

The library was a smash hit, as far as people’s endeavors in societal institutions go.

Very basically, we took something we wanted to encourage – learning – subsidized it, & we thus then civilized for millennia.

Yes we took money from the rich, a lot of them were hard working; yes we gave it to the less fortunate in a certain form.

But that made learning a hallmark of our society, a staple we resoundingly support.

The result was, we civilized – we grew as a world community, because we made libraries; so THAT is what we should model further library analogs to.

The community center is a great start. We want Health (not to mention community) for our people not just because it makes business sense for our financial bottom line – we want it because IT’S GOOD FOR US. That is more important.

Let’s look at what we want to encourage. A lot like Elizabeth Warren’s proposal that we should make college affordable — if not free, really I think — consider the great goods of civilization we want to nurture, not just the ugly crimes we want to remove: Love — make socializing that happens to be fertile for courting *a community sanctioned institution*. I really am saying play matchmaker, because Love is Good for us.

Maybe say Usefulness – why not have a ‘community center’ institution that borrows useful tools, very many need but only half of us can afford? Tools make our homes more cozy, our equipment functional.

— Let those who’ve been given harder lots check out a blood pressure kit from the “library” — or a oximeter — Why not?

What about the arts – including files on the internet – that inspire us? Is it better one guy, no matter how ‘hard he worked’, have 16 yachts, or do we by birthright deserve to subsidize artists & have copious amounts of art works – mp3s, books, pictures & art — in as much that is feasible? (Some of that is done on the margins already, in libraries, but we should make it done by right – by law – in our society.)

& What about research – yes they deserve pay, but should medical & other knowledge really be commercially restricted to those who can pay say 35$ for each & every study they want to read – whether it contains the information they’re looking for or not?

Is that best for our civilization? You have to ask yourself that . . .

One more – what about Fun? We focus on “the economy” so much as adults, we prescribe 5 days of work on average every 7 day week, we forget that kids know Life better than us in some ways . . . Let me explain: I remember seeing how denatured my parents were at 13, 14, 15, 16 — & this whole childhood thing was just something to do in the margins — let’s fund Childhood. Let’s make it great for our kids; they love fun – give them fun. They love to play, let them play. They love hanging out, let’s help them hang out. How many small towns have too little for their kids to do when they’re home from school – I’m talking about roller skating, hang outs, skate parks. As weird as it sounds, let’s take Fun seriously – it’s no small coin in this realm.

Thanks for reading!
Joe

First conceived/expressed during the “aughts” (’00s); returned to, written down & discussed in 2013 – again. Written up here a 3rd. – Joe =D

Continued July 2015: 30 Ideas For Community, Fun, & Culture In America