The lessons of the pandemic and global warming

[_Themis]

Politics aside, Biden will not be making the decisions if he is elected. He takes his marching orders from people like Bernie Sanders and he just doesn't really have the strength to resist that even if he wanted to at this point. This is what you'll be voting for in the Biden/Harris ticket and I hope you've considered that.

While this is obvious BS, wouldn't you rather have him taking orders from a fellow American then Donald Trump taking orders from Putin?

[_Jersey Girl]

Oh, I have no doubt about that, and I fervently share your hope that they are dying breed!

Then you shall be severely disappointed. I have a healthy and strong children who I work every day to support. I have never relinquished my 2nd amendment rights nor would I hesitate to defend them if necessary.

Do your children know and understand that they are dependent on the natural world? Have you taught them this?

[Guest]

Mine does. I perceived the interconnectedness of man and the natural world when I was a young child! I observed it. I noticed it. I attended to it. I experimented with it. I played in it. My eyes were opened at a very young age. I saw it in the ecosystems of the forest and ocean. In the Atlantic ocean and in the Catskills of New York. In tide pools, in creeks, in rivers, in trees, in dirt, in sand, and mud flats where I played.

I knew it. I knew it and shared it. I knew it and taught it to my own children. I knew it and taught it to children, parents, teachers and student teachers for decades!

How could we as the human race be ignorant of it! Story: I once had a parent who visited us for snack. We had fresh tomato slices on our plates. I reminded the children to save their seeds. The parent (and adult!) asked me "What are you going to do with the seeds?" "We'll plant them." "If you plant them what will they grow".

MY. GOD.

Everything in nature has a job to do. It is to the benefit of wildlife. It is to the benefit of US.

And we have failed to do our job. And what is the result?

We are committing environmental suicide.

For the believing crowd. The Bible assigns stewardship over the natural world to humans. We Christians have failed to do our job according to that which was given to us by God. Why? I say it's greed. The quest for more "stuff". More money, more land, bigger houses, more clothing, more cars, bigger cars than we need, bigger churches, high paid ministry, easy fixes to our dilemmas, and creature comforts.

How comfortable does the creation look to you now?

The Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil. Do believers not see this at play in today's world? Are we a part of that? Are we feeding it? Is this society so hung up on materialism that we can't see the absurdity of what we are doing? We get a job. We get stuff. We move up in the job. We buy a house to store our stuff. We buy more stuff. We get a bigger house to store our stuff. And when we can't afford an even bigger house (to store the stuff we've collected) we rent storage units in which to store the overflow! We don't own our stuff. Our stuff owns US!

What happened to the health status of our souls? Shouldn't we care about our spiritual health? Or do we just mindlessly roll the dice every day and never look back or look inward to what we are doing to ourselves and this planet that we were supposed to take care of?

In The Revelation we see the end of humanity as we know it. We see the final battle described. We see the end of this world as we know it. We see a "New Heaven" and "New Earth". Places where we believers believe we will reside for eternity where almost nothing is the same as where we began. Because so screwed up did humanity become that God has to rescue us from ourselves!

Truth. Right now we've got ourselves a simple, short term, and affordable solution. Call it self-made temporary rescue. An airline (with others soon to follow) is opening up offers for "Flights to nowhere". Why? So people can get off the planet for a couple of hours in order to escape this place before we round trip back to the airport.

Truth. Mankind is right now searching for a "New World". We're engaging in missions that would lead to the colonization of other planets.

Humans are doing this themselves. Not God. Humans who are seeing the end of the health of this planet ahead of them so they are looking for a way to bail out. Put it all behind them because we're unwilling to clean up our own mess. So we can dominate space like we've dominated this planet. And for many, a way to escape the mess we've made of this one and make rubbish of another planet? And then what? Hope to God that God himself sees what utter failures we are so He can come rescue us?

I ask you, what kind of insanity is this? All of it. All of us. Not just my appeal to the believing portion of society. Can't we do anything right? Can't we see that we are killing ourselves?

We need to stop trying to escape. We need to stop trying to run. We need to stop consuming and accumulating to soften the blow of our daily lives. We need to stop and face ourselves, and what we have done. What imbeciles we are!

No charge for the rant, folks! No charge at all!

Wonderful rant, Jersey Girl! One of the very best things you have ever written (that I have so far seen, at least)! This is the kind of wisdom and attitude necessary to save the planet and ourselves from ourselves!

[_Jersey Girl]

Gunnar I just happened to re-read my post in your copy. For the love of all that is holy would you please correct the errors I made that I just corrected in the original? You know how I am.

This should read..."New Heaven" and "New Earth"

This should read...Humans are doing this themselves. Not God.

I'm glad that you liked my rant. I was just free wheeling there start to finish! I just get so tired of the irresponsible nature of human kind! What is wrong with us? We can't take a step back and SEE what we are doing?

I guess not. We make me sick!

It's like the virus vs the economy. If we don't have our health there IS no economy.

We don't have our health if we don't have a healthy planet. We are destroying our literal home!

[_Jersey Girl]

Oh and just the other day I happened to read this quote from Anne of Green Gables which I have never read the book or viewed any of the film adaptations. I don't know the story but here is the quote.

October was a beautiful month at Green Gables, when the birches in the hollow turned as golden as sunshine and the maples behind the orchard were royal crimson and the wild cherry trees along the lane put on the loveliest shades of dark red and bronzy green, while the fields sunned themselves in aftermaths.

Anne reveled in the world of color about her.

“Oh, Marilla,” she exclaimed one Saturday morning, coming dancing in with her arms full of gorgeous boughs, “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. It would be terrible if we just skipped from September to November, wouldn’t it? Look at these maple branches. Don’t they give you a thrill—several thrills? I’m going to decorate my room with them.”

That was exactly me as a child! Exactly! I purchased a shortened version of that quote for my children. It is written in calligraphy over a watercolor maple leaf, my favorite! It is still me today. It will be me until my eyes close forever and someone will come into to my house and know that a naturalist lived here. They will see my sea shells, my sand, my rocks, my pine cones, my leaves, my antlers, the birch bark I absconded with from an outdoor sculpture museum in Jersey.

When I see the leaves change I feel the beauty of it to my core. I don't understand why everyone else doesn't see it the same way! How could you pass it by without noticing it? I have taught many a child to notice it. To notice the change of seasons, how flower and trees grow, how they produce their own seeds to regenerate, how one seed can produce so many more, how the flowers and trees serve to feed wildlife, how the various forms of wildlife and insects keep the ecosystem healthy and how in turn, the ecosystem keeps US healthy. How the ecosystem provides habitat and food for wildlife and how it provides habitat and food for US.

And we are KILLING it! We are killing it, Gunnar. It is far past time to sound off alarms! MeDot mentioned the aqi in California and Oregon. Our aqi is now tanking because the currents send the smoke up to the Pacific Northwest where it is sent directly down to us here. We are feeling the effects of fires burning thousands of miles away. What don't people understand about this?

And Trump. Several reporters FAILED to notice what he said and call him on it. Here is his quote:

But with regard to the forest: When trees fall down, after a short period of time — about 18 months — they become very dry. They become, really, like a matchstick. And they get up — you know, there’s no more water pouring through, and they become very, very — well, they just explode. They can explode.

What someone should have asked is, "Sir why is there no more water pouring through?" Because right in the middle of his idiotic account the words come out of his very mouth!

They just explode. The can explode! OMG you complete idiot. No, the don't explode. The catch fire on account of human activity. The catch fire on account of lightning strikes. And he just doesn't understand and he is UNWILLING to understand why there is drought, why there is an increased in storms, he doesn't understand any damn thing....and he thinks the trees "just explode"! He doesn't care to understand even when he's got the countries (the world's) best experts at his disposal!

No, it's going to cool down again. (Idiot). It's going to cool down again because winter is coming and how shortened have our winters become? It's going to just disappear one day. It'll be like a miracle.

Just like the virus.

We are not islands. These occurrences in nature are connected. He locks himself inside the People's house or his resorts. He closes the door and ignores it all in favor of attending to his "ratings"!

I need to stop. I go crazy over these things! They can just explode. A CHILD knows that trees don't "just explode". What if children are actually hearing that? Well, tell you what boys and girls you better stay out of the forest because a tree could go off any second in there!

For god's sake!

That's it. I'm crazy. I'm totally and hopelessly gone. Lost my mind completely! Please GOD let Biden win this election!

p.s. Do NOT anyone tell me the story of Anne of Green Gables. I saved it on audio to listen to this winter where I will be trying hard to cling to what sanity I have left! Don't say anything about it. I want to discover it on my own!

[_Gunnar]

Gunnar I just happened to re-read my post in your copy. For the love of all that is holy would you please correct the errors I made that I just corrected in the original? You know how I am.

Done.

[_subgenius]

...
I need to stop. I go crazy over these things! They can just explode. A CHILD knows that trees don't "just explode". ...

Clearly he was talking about "burning" trees which explode. which happens. There is no way to interpret what you quoted as "trees randomly explode". Trees explode from lightning strokes, freezing, and from sap/water boiling within.
calm down.

[_ajax18]

Do your children know and understand that they are dependent on the natural world? Have you taught them this?

It's pretty self evident. I think they'll figure that out on their own. I still give them a bath every night even though the damn communists in our city government have jacked my utility bill through the roof. I won't need to teach them this either. They'll figure it out when they start having to pay it themselves.

[_Themis]

Do your children know and understand that they are dependent on the natural world? Have you taught them this?

It's pretty self evident.

Yet you take no time to understand the natural world and our impact on it. I understand it's complex, but you could try to learn the basics.

[_Res Ipsa]

I gotta echo Gunnar, great rant Jersey Girl. I've never read Anne of Green Gables, but I listened to a whole podcast series on the story of the author. You're gonna be fascinated.