We can do better

Come on, Missouri.  We can do better.
I'm worried that society is slipping into the fringe. People are coming unhinged, and it's playing out in movie theatres, grocery stores and behind closed doors in our homes. Faced with an uncertain future and shrinking resources, people are checking out rather than buckling down. Let's not go out this way.
Times may be tough, but we control the outcomes. We can do better.
One place  you see the frustration is in our public discourse. Everything is super-partisan now. Wages are falling? It's because our socialist president has the wrong policies. Health-care cost going up? Must be Obamacare. It's never the result of our own actions, or inaction, if you will. Don't look for a logical explanation - just listen to what that candidate says, who promises roses if you just elect him.
You see it in the policies of the right. Voter ID. Obviously a plan to suppress the vote, by making it harder for poor and old people to vote. You see, minorities are more likely to vote for Democrats. And even though GOP leaders in other states have admitted as much, our own politicians hold on to the charade that we have to solve a problem that doesn't exist.
They'll try and cut the budget, too, but not for the super-wealthy, who pad their campaign coffers. The rich already "pay their fair share," as if the size of our contribution is all that matters.
And in the name of Jesus, no less.
GOP voters in a recent primary voted to alter our constitution to "protect" the right to pray. Not that it needed protecting. We'll see if it holds up to legal scrutiny. Most likely not.
We got another look this weekend. The Missouri candidate for senate let this beauty fly this weekend. He opposes abortion in all cases, including rape, because women's bodies have a magical way of shutting down pregnancy when it's "legitimate" rape.
I love Missouri, and I'm proud of my heritage. But it seems we're letting our common sense slip away for the comfort of delusion. I pray that we find it again.

nowledge

Fall is approaching - it's back to school time in Missouri. Republicans will try and school us in all the evils that we must guard against. Obamacare is going to raise the cost of pizza by 11 cents! We have to protect the voting process by making it tougher to vote! There's a great article in the KC Star this week making the point again that the promoted solution fixes a problem that doesn't exist. Just like they say we must make cuts to social security and medicare because of a debt problem - caused by wars, prescriptions, TARP and the Bush Tax cuts that they voted for.
I wonder if we don't need to be taken to school. Maybe our public education system has failed us if we can't discern fear from common sense, or need from equality. Here's a thoughtful article from Sharon on the value of education.

when the lights go out

While a coalition in Missouri is trying to jump start the next wave in nuclear energy (here's a look at the technology suggested for an addition to Callaway), a third of the citizens of a major country in another part of the world experienced power outages. Officials in India were too baffled to explain the problem - too much demand for too little supply.
You might think that would never happen here, but beliebe me, never say never.

Water

"Water, water everywhere, and nary a drop to drink."
We overlook one of the most important and basic resources - water. It makes up the majority of our bodies and encompasses the globe, and yet, we're awfully casual about how we use it - until it comes down to a fight over access.
That might become more common than you think. It's always been present in the west (California), and it will become more pronounced in the southwest. The midwest is now experiencing the worst drought in 50 years - Missouri was declared a primary disaster area. It will affect corn and soybean prices (food) and it's having an effect on energy supplies as well.
That's why depleting aquifers and reservoirs is a big deal, and why people are concerned about gas extraction techniques like fracking, which use a lot of water and have questionable effects on groundwater sources. According to climate models, the southwest will beome more dry, and while we'll still get lots of rainfall around here during inpportune times, we'll have longer periods of drought as well. This is what climate change looks like.
It's more than watering our lawns - growing food is pretty important. And the weather this year might damage the majority of the crop. Think about all of the industry that uses water. I found alarm in this article about a nuclear plant, which draws cooling water from a lake. The long string of hot days has kept the lake from cooling at night, pushing temperatures above what is acceptable.
Asked whether he viewed Braidwood’s difficulties as a byproduct of global warming, Mr. Nesbit said: “I’m not a climatologist. But clearly the calculations when the plant was first operated in 1986 are not what is sufficient today, not all the time.”
Need I remind you that we battled flooding this time last year. Back to back extremes.
If you're still saying that climate change is bunk - I just can't take you seriously.

lessons from history

I know, the title is an oxymoron. Sadly, we need to be reminded of those lessons delivered in the annals of history. As we contemplate record heat and drought - St. Louis setting records for days over 90 and 100 degrees, corn crops drying-out in the sun, landslides on glaciers so large that they register as earthquakes - here's a lesson from the Mayans regarding water supplies and drought:  Most agree that a period of drought is what eventually broke the empire. Food and water.
Irony? 2012, and the message we're getting from the Mayans is 'beware the climate.'
More irony? That we have to stretch to remember the simple technology - so advanced for that culture - and yet not so complex, it can't be maintained. Sustained.
(Unfortunately, not all sustainability methods are truly sustainable, but that's not an excuse to avoid taking any action. The first step in emergency management is mitigation, and conservation fills that.)
Many are starting to recognize that this is what climate change looks like. We can surely adapt, but with such wild swings that it adds complexity.
And that's the rub. Solutions to all of our major problems - fossil fuel depletion, climate change and the economy - require great complexity and cost to maintain. So we'll likely solve none of them until we shift the paradigm to a new way of living - one in accord with nature. One that fits into the natural cycles of life, whatever they may be.
Because someone always asks - what do we do? Start building something better.

the natural cycle of things

Many of the challenges we face today are results of our abandonment of the natural cycle of things. We've been lucky to live during the cheap energy bonanza, but let's face it; without a supply of cheap energy, our entire way of life is unsustainable. Recent studies confirm that we're using 1.5 earths supply of resources, and the population continues to grow.
Our use of these ancient gifts has enabled vast leaps in the quality of life, but it has also put strain on our environment and encouraged us to believe that anything is achievable when the facts tell us otherwise.
Change can be difficult, but it's also inevitable. We've survived this long because we've adapted, and we'll continue to do so. However, we have to reconsider every aspect of how we organize life and get back to something that earth says we can handle. Don't think of it as giving something up, but rather a recognition that we are just another part of the cycle of life, and the best path is one that rides within it's place in this world.

This is what climate change looks like

Hot enough for you? The MissouriNet reported this week that it looks like the worst summer since 1988 - the last period of prolonged drought we've had in recent history. Not surprising, after the mild winter following repeated years of record temperatures. Communities are canceling Fourth of July fireworks celebrations as wildfires rage around the country. Scientists say that this is what climate change looks like. We've had examples this year that eerily follow computer models for climate change. More moisture at inopportune times (spring planting season and fall harvest season), with longer periods of drought inbetween. Spells trouble for anyone who likes to eat - growing food just got a lot harder.
Not like we didn't have enough problems already.
The end of cheap energy is putting pressure on all of our systems - finance notably playing out in markets around the world. Some are pointing to rising oil and gas stocks as an example that we have ample supply, but that ignores the myriad of other issues at play. American oil use is down - and that's partially because high cost is driving some to conserve or leave the market. The glut is reducing prices - good for us, but bad for producers. You see, the surge in supply is coming because high prices support new techniques and riskier conquests. Tar sands and deep water is very expensive to produce, and falling prices only ensures that some of that will become uneconomical.
We're seeing it already with natural gas. The president of EXXON admitted "we're losing our shirts" on gas this week. The recent boom in shale gas drilling has produced a surplus - which lowers the price. Unfortunately, that means it becomes unprofitable, and many wells are now being abandoned.
All of these issues are related - we're creating more problems with climate change by continuing to burn fossil fuels. We're running out of cheap, available resources and the economy requires growth to pay for expansion. While higher prices enable new solutions, they also destroy demand, because we're already stretched too thin. And so we teeter on the edge, with boom and bust looming overhead.
Meanwhile, lives and homes burn, farms go bust, cities are flooded and landscapes torn apart. All because the Ameican way of life is non-negotiable.
And the meek shall inherit the earth.