S.T.

Welcome to the Sober Thinking Forum.

This is the continuation of the Renewable Revolution Forum, with the same categories and boards arrangement. In order to provide topic thread continuity, this post will be duplicated in frequently viewed topic threads along with selected posts from that topic at the Renewable Revolution Forum. I will gradually, as time permits, copy pertinent articles posted there, update them, and post them here for your convenience.

I have no intention of closing the Renewable Revolution Forum, so any links you have to posts, articles and graphics there are valid for the time being. Nevertheless, I advise you to 🦉 copy and save any posts, articles and graphics that you wish to preserve for posting somewhere else on the internet. I am 75 years old. As long as my spirit hasn't permanently left my body, the Sober Thinking Forum will be kept open.   

Although guests are encouraged to post and become members, this forum is mostly a library reference of important historical information and timeless articles that you are encouraged to pass on, with or without attribution.

In addition, relevant recent news will be posted almost daily, so be sure to 🧐 stop by often.

I have changed the title and the front page background graphic for two reasons:

1. My purpose, nearly a decade ago, of convincing most reality based people everywhere that human civilization, in order to stop and reverse (i.e getting back to 350 PPM of atmospheric Carbon Dioxide is sine qua non) the multiple extinctions causing biosphere degradation (i.e. the Sixth Mass Extinction Event now upon us), must VERY rapidly transition away from Hydrocarbon Energy Sources to Renewable Energy Sources, has been largely achieved. I have been one small voice among many that have made it clear  that clean energy must be made available to everyone, not just the wealthy, if we are to survive Catastrophic Climate Change.

2. Celebrated social theorist and geographer David Harvey asked, "Is there a way to capture what (to the detriment of human civilization) is going on now"?

My answer: YES.

It's the SOCIAL DARWINISM, stupid!

No matter how much progress we make in cleaning up the biosphere, as long as the egocentric, morally bankrupt, empathy deficit disordered, Social Darwinist Ideology continues to be embraced by TPTB, we do not have a snowball's chance in Hell of surviving our Existential Crisis.

Social Darwinists believe that ethics based principles are 'limitations pretending to be virtues'. To them, ethics are 'feel good illusions' that humans invented to pretend our species has empathy. To Social Darwinists, empathy is irrefutable evidence of inexcusable weakness. To them, all who are guided by ethics are deluded fools that should be eliminated from the human 'apex predator' gene pool for the "good" of our species.

The ideology of the Social Darwinist is indistinguishable from the despicable ideology of NAZI Germany, clearly exemplified in their brutally enforced morally bankrupt concentration camp law: “Eat your own bread, and if you can, that of your neighbor.”

Social Darwinism is actually based, not on "survival of the fittest", but on fear of tomorrow, a morally bankrupt excuse for rejecting altruism and empathy and embracing a selfish greed dominated hoarding modus vivendi.

"One who fears tomorrow does not offer his bread to others. But one who is willing to divide his food with a stranger has already shown himself capable of fellowship and faith, the two things from which hope is born." -- Primo Levi, author of Survival in Auschwitz

Social Darwinism is the world view that spawned the profit over people and planet neoliberal ideology. Neoliberal intellectuals like Friedrich von Hayek, Ludwig von Mises and Milton Friedman were all Social Darwinists long before they renamed laissez-faire liberalism (that had been thoroughly discredited by the Great Depression) with the catchy title of "Neoliberalism".
 
The celebrated social theorist and geographer David Harvey explains that neoliberal ideology serves the following principle:

"There shall be no serious challenge to the absolute power of money to rule absolutely. And that power is to be exercised with one objective: Those possessed of money shall not only be privileged to accumulate wealth endlessly at will, but they shall have the right to inherit the earth, taking either direct or indirect dominion, not only of the land and all the resources and productive capacities that reside therein, but also assume absolute command, directly or indirectly, over the labor and creative capacities of all those others it needs. The rest of humanity shall be deemed disposable."

"In human society, the amount of inequity is directly proportional to the amount of iniquity." -- A. G. Gelbert

Sober Thinking requires that we all recognize the fact that a society that is founded on altruism, not the "invisible hand" of greed, is not optional if we wish to avoid exctinction. Capitalism's "invisible hand" modus operandi is rooted in the ideology of Social Darwinism.

“Capitalism is the astounding belief, that the most wickedest of men, will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.” — John Maynard Keynes

 
The main purpose of the Sober Thinking Forum is to convince you, regardless of your religious beliefs or lack of them, to soberly think about these two quotes, embrace altruism, reject greed, and convince as many people as you can that altruism is not optional for human society:

"Look at our world, our country, our interactions with each other……… this is not the mark of a healthy society, and if these are the self-appointed leaders of this flaming meteor…..it’s time to move on to new ideas and new people. Let’s relegate these fools to history. They perpetuate a narrative that it is right to behave in a strictly selfish, exploitative manner towards all. We simply can’t survive it any longer. Things will change because they have to." -- Kathleen Wallace

"Technical knowledge of Carrying Capacity will not save us; Only a Massive Increase in Caring Capacity will." -- A. G. Gelbert

Agelbert LAMENT: To think that, instead of things being MUCH WORSE now in 2022, how much better things would be if our so-called "leaders" had not sat on their hands 9 years ago.

October 22, 2013


Climate Reality 20.9K subscribers

(http://climaterealityproject.org) Carbon pollution is warming the earth, creating dirty weather. And it's costing us. Find out how you are paying and share with those who can help to end climate denial and put a price on carbon.

Reviewed on 11/3/2020 By: Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

SNIPPET:

The major cause of lung cancer in men and women is cigarette smoking. In 1876, a machine was invented to make rolled-up cigarettes and thus provided cheap tobacco products to almost anyone. Before that time, lung cancer was relatively rare. After the invention of cigarette mass production, smoking dramatically increased, and so did lung cancer. Currently, about 90% of all lung cancers are related to smoking. Radon gas, pollution, toxins, and other factors contribute to the remaining 10%.

Cigarettes and cigarette smoke contain over 70 cancer-causing chemicals (carcinogens).

Some of the carcinogens found in cigarette smoke include:

☠️ Lead (a highly poisonous metal)

☠️ Arsenic (an insecticide)

☠️ Cadmium (a battery component)

☠️ Isoprene (used to make synthetic rubber)

☠️ Benzene (a gasoline additive)

read more: 🦉
https://www.medicinenet.com/lung_cancer_pictures_slideshow/article.htm?ecd=mnl_spc_032922

CleanTechnica

By Nexus Media Published22 hours ago


A collage of typical climate and weather-related events: floods, heatwaves, drought, hurricanes, wildfires and loss of glacial ice. (NOAA)

“US fracking boom could tip world to edge of climate disaster.”

SNIPPET:

Fossil fuel companies are planning nearly 200 “carbon bomb” projects that would push the climate past international limits, causing catastrophic global disasters, the Guardian reports. The 195 projects, defined by research published in Energy Policy as capable of producing at least a billion tons of CO2 pollution, include 22 oil and gas drilling projects in the U.S. (more than any other country), which, combined, could pump almost four years of global climate pollution into the atmosphere.

“Only the colonial mindset of political leaders in rich countries can make the brutal calculation that the interest of fossil fuel giants and their billions in profit is more important than the lives of people who are overwhelmingly black, brown and poor,” UK climate justice advocate Asad Rehman told the Guardian.

Full article: 🤦‍♂️
https://cleantechnica.com/2022/05/13/fossil-fuel-firms-planning-195-carbon-bombs/

Steve Hanley • 21 hours ago
I was unaware that capitalist theory teaches killing your customers is a good long term business strategy.

AGelbert > Steve Hanley
It doesn't. At least that's what Taylor's Theory of Managment says. However, Social Darwinism, the ideological "justification" for Corporate Capitalism's "fiduciary duty" to do 24/7 profit over people and planet (i.e. "fittest" predators 'R' US), requires it.

When you look at the following quote from the "point of view" of the Social Darwinist Wall Street worshipping greedball, it makes perfect "evolutionary" sense:

“Capitalism is the astounding belief, that the most wickedest of men, will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.” — John Maynard Keynes

The atheist religion of Social Darwinsm is what is destroying the fabric of human society today by completely rejecting altruism because it is a "weakness" and completely embracing unrestrained greed because it is an integral "strength" of the "fittest", though few will admit it. We aren't talking about hot dog stands or your local bakery, where common sense ethics based principles like empathy and respect for customers are sine qua non for a successful business.

Social Darwinists believe that ethics based principles are 'limitations pretending to be virtues'. To them, ethics are 'feel good illusions' that humans invented to pretend our species has empathy. To Social Darwinists, empathy is irrefutable evidence of inexcusable weakness. To them, all who are guided by ethics are deluded fools that should be eliminated from the human 'apex predator' gene pool for the "good" of our species.

Social Darwinism is the morally bankrupt world view that spawned the profit over people and planet neoliberal ideology. Neoliberal intellectuals like Friedrich von Hayek, Ludwig von Mises and Milton Friedman were all Social Darwinists long before they renamed laissez-faire liberalism (that had been thoroughly discredited by the Great Depression) with the catchy title of "Neoliberalism".

We don't need "isms" of any sort; We just need ethics based principles. Without them, we will not make it.

"A society that loses the capacity for the sacred, that lacks the power of human imagination, that cannot practice empathy, ultimately ensures its own destruction." -- Chris Hedges

Steve Hanley • 19 minutes ago
Thanks for this magnificent comment. Pertinent and cogent. I may feel constrained to quote from it from time to time.

AGelbert > Steve Hanley  • 4 minutes ago
Thank you Steve. Please do. People need to see what is really undermining the efforts of people of good will.

rawlsio > AGelbert
Atheism has nothing to do with it. None of the great ethical systems that recognize and incorporate the scientific / genetic realities of human cooperation, reason, empathy and sociability rely on religious explanations for these capacities. Religious explanations are extraneous and (usually) motivated by the desire of some to seek power over others -- just as the Social Darwinists / Libertarians seek to do. Masking this "will to power" in religious doctrine is no better than their attempt to mask their power grab in the language of Darwin and evolutionary theory. It might even be worse...

 AGelbert > rawlsio
"Atheism has nothing to do with it. "


How do you define the moral imperative if there is no ethical standard?
How can there be an ethical standard we are merely a species of apex predator which is the result of random undirected processes, as all atheists firmly believe?

Do you define morality by caloric intake? How about nutrition level? How about energy use? How about how little or how much you defecate where you "eat"? Do you see where I am going? You don't? Try this: HOW do YOU know when an action is morally "right" or "wrong"?

If you are an honest person of good will, you will answer that ethical standards MUST apply EQUALLY across the board to all humans. If you are a Social Darwinist, you will say the action is "right" if you gain an "evolutionry advantage" by practicing it, even if that requires harming a fellow human.

Now then, if that doesn't present a moral quandary to an honest atheist, I don't think said atheist is being honest. "Situational Ethics" is an evident absurdity only a Social Darwinist could love.
 
Spare me the many examples of religious bigotry, murder and mayhem to make a case for the "ethical superiority" of atheism. Religious bigotry is NOT, and never has been, the product of Honest Worship of the Creator of the Universe that Commands that we treat our neighbor with the SAME RESPECT we treat ourselves, though you probably broad brush stroke all religious people as the "scourge of humanity".

LOOK AROUND. Social Darwinism is what DOMINATES OUR SOCIETY NOW, not "religious" dictates. All those bigots on the Supremely bigoted Court make a PRETENSE of religiosity, nothing more. They are all Social Darwinist "Might equals Right" to the core. The same goes for the Mega-Church Con-artist greedballs.

Labelling the PRETENSE as the "real thing" is Orwellian.

     

May 30, 2022 By Shaun Robinson


SNIPPET:

Raising ‘holy hell’

Lake Carmi State Park boasts the largest campground in Vermont. In the summer, the lake is a popular destination for walleye fishing and other outdoor recreation.

But the 1,375-acre body of water — along with nearby Lake Champlain — has been plagued for decades by phosphorus pollution, largely caused by agricultural runoff. It has been classified as “impaired” under state water quality standards.

In 2017, cyanobacteria blooms at the lake were bad enough to close its beaches for weeks. Locals “raised holy hell,” as former Rep. David Deen, D-Putney, put it at the time. Their advocacy led to legislation a year later that required the state Agency of Natural Resources to come up with a “crisis response plan” for the lake.

A draft update to that plan, published two months ago, estimated that by the end of 2020, Vermont was just more than 40% of the way toward meeting its target for the maximum amount of phosphorus entering the lake each day.

Oliver Pierson, who manages the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation's Lakes and Ponds Program, noted the state’s estimate is based on modeling because it has no way to definitively measure the flow of external phosphorus into the lake.

A duck swims through a layer of scum on the surface of Lake Carmi in August 2019. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger

Despite this progress, Lake Carmi still faces persistent challenges from internal phosphorus that has built up in the lake sediment for decades. According to Pierson, this “legacy” contamination could take decades to address.

The state is aiming to keep average summertime phosphorus concentrations in Lake Carmi at or below 22 parts per billion. That figure is based on data from years when local residents expressed satisfaction with lake conditions.

Data from the lake shows an overall improvement in water clarity in recent years, according to the updated crisis response plan. Even so, recent summertime averages continue to range between 30 and 40 ppb.

Pierson said officials are considering whether that 22 ppb target, established in 2008, is still a realistic goal. For now, he said, “that's the target we have on the books. And that's what we're working towards.”

Starts and stops

Lake Carmi’s aeration system works by sending compressed air through a tube to a “manifold,” which shoots air into pipes spread out at the bottom of the lake. The pipes feed into ceramic diffusers with holes that send a column of air into the lake, continuously mixing the water.

When there’s oxygen present, the phosphorus in the sediment remains immobile and doesn’t get released into the water, where it could feed algae growth, according to Mindy Morales-Williams, an assistant professor in UVM’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. ... ...

Pierson said he hopes the upgrades made since 2019 will allow the aerator to operate normally


Full article:
https://vtdigger.org/2022/05/29/as-a-busy-summer-approaches-challenges-remain-at-lake-carmi/

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September 2, 2022

Economic Damage Of Carbon Pollution 3.6x Greater Than Current Gov. Estimates — Study: The costs of carbon pollution borne by society is far higher than the amount the government uses when calculating the costs and benefits of new regulations, a study in Nature finds. Each ton of CO2 pollution, according to the study, imposes $185 of damage — that's more than triple the amount currently used by the federal government. “The bottom line is that our results show that when you fully update the social cost of carbon methodology to the state of the science, it suggests that the existing estimates that are in use by the federal government are vastly underestimating the harm,” Kevin Rennert, a co-author of the paper and research fellow at Resources for the Future, told the Washington Post. Making policy based on a social cost of carbon 3.6 times greater than the current $51 estimate means the economic benefits of actions and policies to slash carbon pollution increase substantially. “It suggests there are many more actions we can take to curb carbon emissions that are going to be on the table that were not on the table before,” Stanford economist Marshall Burke, told the AP.  Grist
AGelbert Note: The part unstated in the above reality based HYDROCARBON FUELS USE POLLUTION COST is the MENS REA of those (i.e. 😈🦕🦖🐍) who corrupted the US Government to low ball the environmental damage from THEIR PRODUCT so THEY could POCKET that 2/3 COST not counted .

As anyone that can subtract, AND ADD, can clearly see, corrupting our government to give 🦖 Polluter Government Welfare Queens the "subsidy" SWAG we-the-people PAY for isn't enough for the Hydrocarbon Hellspawn; THEY want us to believe THEIR PRODUCT "is wonderful" so THEY can dodge ALL LIABILITY for the DAMAGE THEY DO 24/7.

All the evidence points to a carefully PRE-PLANNED, and subsequently methodically executed, CONSPIRACY to PROFIT from hydrocarbon FUELS CAUSED POLLUTION. That is the reason the legal term, "Mens rea", applies 100% here.

You need your head examined if you don't think the fossil fuelers "don't know" they can't profit from their products if the actual environment degrading, human health depleting, life span shortening damage hydrocarbon based fuels CAUSE becomes public knowledge. THEY KNEW THAT.

THAT'S WHY they have corrupted our government officials for at least 50 years, and throughout that time, funded MASSIVELY mendacious propaganda campaigns (SEE: "National Security requires Oil Subsidies", ""Fossil Fuels help the poor", " is concerned for the welfare of the people", Hydrocarbon Industry "loyal servants") to we-the-people, 24/7, about the "benefits to our standard of living" they "provide" for the specific Orwellian purpose of obscuring the COST we are subjected to so THEY can profit from our health depleting ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE.

There is another legal term that applies here that you should remember every time a bought and paid for mouthpiece for the hydrocarbon industry pushes the BIG LIE that "they were only complying with public policy as laid down in the law":

"There is a nice legal concept called estoppel. If you argue that you didn't kill the Major in the library with the Ming vase because you were in bed with his wife, you are estopped from pleading self-defence. In the same way, polluters are estopped from arguing that they were only complying with public policy as laid down in the law, because 🦕🦖🐍 they spent tens of millions shaping those policies and laws to their advantage." James Wimberley

Latest 🎍 Natural Health News

By ANH-USA On 10/06/20220 From Environmental Health News 🕯️

A child walks near her home on the Navajo Nation in an area contaminated by past uranium mining. The community has long raised concerns about the physical and mental health impacts associated with living near uranium waste. (Credit: Autumn Spanne)


A guide to the emerging science on how air and water pollution impact our brains.

An under-researched field exploring the intersection of pollution and mental health is gaining momentum as evidence mounts that environmental pollutants damage every organ in our bodies—including our brains.

This guide explores the emerging science, and offers solutions aimed at better supporting mental health in the face of these environmental challenges.

According to the American Lung Association’s 2021 State of the Air report, about four 😟 in 10 U.S. residents live in counties with unhealthy levels of air pollution. But what counts as “unhealthy” is based only on how pollution affects physical, not mental, health.

View of U.S. Steel Edgar Thompson Works in Braddock, PA., a major source of air and climate pollution in the region. (Credit: Njaimeh Njie)

Scientists have known for a long time that air pollution damages the lungs, leading to conditions like asthma and lung cancer, and that it can damage the heart as well. Only much later, researchers discovered that air pollution also causes changes in the brain that increase the risks of mental illness, dementia, Alzheimer’s, and learning problems. Even small increases in air pollution have been linked to depression and anxiety. 🤦‍♂️

A large 2019 study of people in Denmark and the U.S. found people exposed to high levels of air pollution are much more likely to suffer from a psychiatric illness such as depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or personality disorder.

Recent research indicates that childhood exposure to air pollution can negatively impact our mental health as adults, and links sudden increases in air pollution with more emergency room visits for mental illness among children.


Read the full article.

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October 20, 2022


🦕 Methane gas-burning appliances leak ☠️ carcinogenic benzene into homes even when those appliances are turned off, a study published today in Environmental Science and Technology found. The study also found gas appliances and infrastructure in California (including outdoor pipelines) leak an estimated 4 tons, or more, of benzene into the atmosphere every year, as much benzene as 60,000 cars. Even with gas stoves turned off, the researchers discovered, they continued to leak at least 12 hazardous air pollutants, including "🦖 BTEX" chemicals (​​benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene), of which the most hazardous is benzene, which is linked to cancers including leukemia and other blood disorders.

The risk posed by the carcinogen increases linearly with a person's exposure;  “There’s no safe level of ☠️ benzene,” Philip Landrigan, a pediatrician and public health professor at Boston College, told the AP. "Simply opening the windows or turning on a range hood while the stove is on” will not eliminate the risk, Kelsey Bilsback of PSE Healthy Energy, told the New York Times.

🦕 Methane, the main ingredient in so-called "🦕 natural gas", traps more than 80 times 😵 more heat in the atmosphere than CO2 over a 20-year timespan; buildings are the source of approximately 13% of U.S. climate pollution, mostly from methane gas burned in ovens, water heaters, and furnaces.

While the methane gas industry has 😈💰 lobbied against state and local efforts to encourage building electrification, the study's findings dovetail with those from a similar study in Massachusetts, as well as numerous previous studies finding increased levels of indoor air pollution in homes with gas stoves, and significant methane emissions from gas stoves. (New York Times $, AP, The Hill, NBC)

Read more:
 https://climatenexus.org/hot-news/