greencowgirl's Comments (11)

“i'm sorry to have spent years obtaining a master's in sustainable development including much climate science. u all can debate this - both sides - until doomsday. and it will come. humans have consumed nearly everything this planet offeres and given nothing back but waste - in it, on it, around it, above it. personally and scientifically, i don't think it will recover until geologic time (millions of years) works its miracles, and i can't wait. our arguing and hatefulness is why we are in this predicament and we just aren't going to evolve beyond predating each other and everything else. so whether the climate changes or not, we're planning our own obsolescence and i'm no better than the rest of you because i can hardly wait. it'll shut all you deniers up and all you sanctimonious greenies too - youre the biggest reason deniers exist. maybe then the lemurs and polar bears will have half a chance.

"people tend to react to threats large and small that seem immediate and ignore those that seem abstract no matter how large they are".”

“It's easy to make this argument when you live in Santa Barbara.

Mr. Russell is suggesting we try to do something very difficult in light of our postmodern social paradigm. May I suggest he and all of you read at least the introduction of Peter Mclaren's " Critical Pedagogy and Predatory Culture". He is a social scientist and Professor of Education at UCLA.

In it he describes Predatory culture as "the left-over detritus of bourgeois culture stripped of its arrogant pretense to civility and cultural lyricism [and] replaced by a stark obsession with power fed by the voraciousness of capitalism's global voyage.[It is] entrenched in primitive accumulation [and] has exceeded even its own wildest fantasies of acquisition [and] has dropped its facade of civility and its window-dressing compassion. [..] It can now survive thrillingly without artifice or camouflage. [It] cleaves false hope out of the excrement of image-value and collapses all distinctions between the real and the imaginary.­"

He states that "the struggle to attain morality, the struggle to make values possible, continually crashes against the fabric of society."”

“The republicans have had a spotlight on their behavior at town meetings all month. I'm sure our Dem reps and the Prez are aware of this, even tho inside the beltway is supposed to be another world. Perhaps Obama supporters need to do the same - clearly make the case that we are not part of republican thuggery, but be just as vocal and angry - show up with anti-sebelius/obama posters and get Dean out from under the bus. Maybe create a battle cry that sounds like Dean's enthusiastic scream from years ago. Start bringing people to these meetings on stretchers. I love what I'm reading here. How can we get this president to listen - does he read this stuff? We should be heard! Not these ignorant, frightened, bible thumping, gun toting, money grubbing wackjobs! We don't know who is running in the next election, but we can't afford to have any more of those folks in the white house. Let's help ourselves and the president develop a spine!”

“I used to date a 2 time Superbowl winner and MVP. I also knew a lot of other players and their wives. None of these people (both black and white btw), would have tolerated Vick's behavior and fellow team mates today are under threat of penalties if they open their mouthes against him, and it's a shame they don't, but they hate what he does. As far as liking dogs more than people, Think about it. Who/what causes all the grief and destruction in this world?

When I was out in public with Doug, all 300lbs/7ft of him, men (not women), used to come up and literally pant and drool and fawn. It was disgusting and you defenders all are a part of that. Doug was one of the kindest, gentlest people I know. He kept his savagery on the field out of his personal life. Totally. And it's a real shame that the NFL would consider taking Vick back. But it's a corporation, so what do you expect? Anything for a buck, including blackmail of its members.”

“"Factory farms are a disaster on so many levels". They are also an indicator of how far off our moral compass is, how hypocritical many of us are, pointing fingers at animal cruelty in other countries, love our doggies and kitties, while gobbling cruelly raised CAFO meat until our hearts give out. One of the main reasons there is so much factory farming in Mexico now is so because American corporate farms can fly below the radar regarding animal welfare, worker safety, environmental codes and the economic well-being of small farmers everywhere.”

“Dr. Rich, nobody wants to lay down and die, but read Paul Kennedy's prescient and mindful book, Preparing for the 21st Century, published in the 80's. Nowhere is a there a reflection on such past trivialities such as American politics. It's all about our future.

Is rbryanh facing reality with too strong a dose of doom and gloom for you? There is always faith in human triumph, but also denial or oblivion when it comes to human failings. That's why our social support systems are collapsing and now beginning to spin out of control. What good is technology (TRIUMPH) when few can afford it (FAIL)? We don't deal with reality, we just shop. Now the US can no longer keep the world stable.

It 's as hard to anticipate social conditions for a future grandchild as it is to anticipate the positive feedback loops climate scientists worry about. What kind of a wrench can we throw and where do we throw it to stop increasing human population from consuming shrinking resources and turning them into poisons while committing atrocities over their control? We are not evolving, we're devolving.

The stories many grandmothers tell their children in many nations not Western, are already far worse than yours. Don't harp on the last 8 crappy years. Discuss solutions for stopping a real ride into the abyss, It will take more than losing the SUV, changing light bulbs and finding your bliss. Anyway, it's not the last 8 years, it's the last 80.”

“Dr. Rich, nobody wants to lay down and die, but read Paul Kennedy's prescient and mindful book, Preparing for the 21st Century, published in the 80's. It doesn't reflect on past trivialities such as American politics, but upon our future,

Is rbryanh facing reality with too strong a dose of doom and gloom for you? There is always faith in human triumph, but also denial or oblivion when it comes to human failings. That's why our social support systems are collapsing, and now beginning to spin out of control. What good is technology (TRIUMPH) when few can afford it (FAIL)? We don't deal with reality, we just shop. Now the US can no longer keep the world stable.

It 's as hard to anticipate social conditions for a future grandchild as it is to anticipate the positive feedback loops climate scientists worry about. What kind of a wrench can we throw and where do we throw it to stop the escalation of increasing human population consuming shrinking resources and turning them into poisons while committing atrocities over their control? We are not evolving, we are devolving.

The stories many grandmothers tell their children in many nations not Western, are already far worse than yours. Don't harp on the last 8 crappy years. Discuss solutions for stopping a real ride into the abyss, It will take more than losing the SUV, changing light bulbs, or finding your bliss. It wasn't the last 8 years, it was the last 80.”

“There isn't an economy without society. There isn't a society without an environment to support life. 20 years from now we may not have an environment we can depend on to supply the natural resources we need to survive. I hope we have figured out how to cope with climate change but I doubt it. The chance passed while Bush was busy reading books.

Dr. Rich, I doubt if 2008 politics will be what grandkids will be asking about. But the answer will be that we lost our life support systems as we have known them because we worshiped our form of economy. Funny name.... economy. It hardly reflects how Americans have lived, which could have used a lot more economy and not so much profligacy - which is what has set the example for the rest of the world to work as fast as it can, as have we, to ruin our environment.”

“One more benefit -if you live in the midwest or anywhere else tornados decide to occur these days - they may be less dangerous debris-wise. Tho there are those stories of a straw embedded in a wood phone pole, they might be an improvement over wood, steel and masonery construction when it collapses.”

“I just put up pics of Jake Gyllenhaal on the fridge and my phone. I've lost 10 lbs in a month.”

“Yea! Uptight, holier-than-thou green putz's like ya'll are what has given all greenies a bad name. It's exactly why Ballot Measure 36 passed in Oregon. So damn smug and self righteous that you didn't even see the home builder/timber lobbies coming in the back door to steal your playground, and now look at the mess! The greenest state set back 50 years! If you Dark Greenies had an ounce of humor maybe the red mob might still be raping their small allotment of overdeveloped space, instead of building factory hog farms and clear-cutting forests where there used to be environmental protections. No Joy, all Loss. This joke was reflecting the absurdity of how spin can twist reality and it made me lmao until I cried.”