The 6,000 Year Lie

As another record hot summer ends I've decided to, well, to no longer be pissed at climate change deniers.

See, a lot of climate change deniers are the same Christian fundamentalists who believe the Earth is 6,000 years old. They calculate this figure based on a series of scripture in the Old Testament.

Now, this figure is totally insane to me. At 6,000 years, the Earth wasn't even a ball of gas yet, it was just a cloud.

But if someone is going to believe the Earth is 6,000 years old I'm not surprised at all that they'd easily ignore 1,000 scientists and say that global warming is a hoax.

And this is the greatest danger of religion — it makes people downright delusional.

When Christians, Mormons, or Jehovah's Witnesses try to save my decrepit and condemned soul, I will no longer argue with them. And when some Scientologist tells me about little freaking aliens, I'm not going to care. I've realized that millions of people are totally brain fried, and cannot discern reality from ancient campfire stories.

What's really bad is a lot of stuff in the Bible was MEANT to be allegorical, but someone in the recent past decided it all has to be taken LITERAL. After all, if you decide one part of the Bible is an allegory, oh, my gosh, the whole damn thing could be, ahhh, a freakin' fable! So, it's just better to accept it all verbatim. And while were at it, let's agree that the King James translation is the only REAL translation endorsed by God. It makes things easier.

So, as we cook, and as the Polynesians slowly drown, and as we continue to pack the planet with humanity, let's not worry. We humans may be fantastic at making tools and gadgets, but parts of our brains are still primitive. Right now our technology has outrun our rational brain development. Will we mature in time to keep us from nuking ourselves in some religious war? Well, if you study the story of Easter Island, you will see that we are screwed.

And Hey, You.....

Stop gloating, oil companies. Your religious minions have served you well. They have and will continue to sink any global warming legislation. In all their gay bashing and gun toting, and other Christian activities, I wonder if they ever thanked God for putting all the oil in the ground. After all, it made you oil barons filthy, rotten rich. And that's the way our Holy Father wanted it, I'm sure.

Change, Baby, Change

As I now enter my 13th year as an activist, I remain perplexed at how to get humanity to avoid self-destruction.

In the old days I was pathetically idealistic. If there was a problem, I thought we could just all work together to solve it, and if there were differences we could work out compromises.

But even in my 20s I found this impossible because first, one side dislikes the other side so much they won't even TALK to them. As this dislike festers, the two sides create myths about one another. As each side gets angrier, the chance for meaningful communication lessens.

For instance, in my mind I feel that half of this country is so indoctrinated by Rush Limbaugh and company that there is no hope for them. These are people who enjoy being bitter reactionaries, and secretly they are angry at people of color who are munching away at the government trough.

As an environmentalist, there is no hope that these people will listen to me because it's been drilled in their minds that I'm an eco-terrorist. They are likely to believe that I've been swimming around the gulf blowing up oil platforms. So, if I suggest that they recycle their Coke cans or only flush their toilet once a day, they are going to be suspicious.

The partisan rancor in this land keeps everyone divided and angry. While all of us Americans want the same basic things, there is vast disagreement on how to reach our common goals. For instance, one side wants to keep handouts from babies (you know, the ones they said you shouldn't abort), while the other side wants to stop giving the military blank checks. But at least both sides want to lower the deficit.

Bigger Picture

There was a time, during the Clinton years, when this country WAS focused on doing good things, but then came 9/11 and now the Second Great Depression, and everyone is now more focused on their safety and survival. The Tea Party reactionaries, under the leadership of Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, are on the march, but where they are heading is unknown. Beck and Palin don't really bring anything new to the table — they just know how to make money by making the angry white mobs angrier.

Common Sense

So, how about if I say, "Let's all sit down and address global warming." The first problem is that about half of the public denies it. Even though over 1,000 climate researchers support that climate change is human-caused, many people will STILL deny it. These are typically the same people who say that the Gospels are 100% factual, even though only ONE historian, Josephus, corroborates it in a short passage. And the authenticity of this passage is in dispute, yet the Gospels are completely real, and global climate change is a hoax (another victory for the PR staff at ExxonMobil).

At the Fork

Now, I'm at the fork in the road. I really don't know the next step. Over the years I've given many PowerPoint presentations for the Sierra Club on sprawl and population. These presentations always have a "call to action," which is usually to contact a representative or senator about some bill. Maybe a few will do it. If the senator or rep is GOP, they will promptly ignore it because issues like international family planning are perceived as being aligned with ABORTION, and gosh, the "A" word terrifies every Republican.

When I give my population programs, I'm typically just speaking to the choir. My audiences are usually past reproductive age or they are young urban professional women, who have an extremely low fertility rate. And even if I do persuade a young woman to have fewer children, the reduced impact will be offset by the millions of legal and illegal immigrants that flood the U.S.

So, really, I can't decide how I can address the world's serious problems, like overpopulation, overconsumption, global warming, and peak oil. As an individual, there is nothing that I can think of that will make a difference. I HAVE marched in parades for environmental issues. I HAVE organized forums, I HAVE tabled at events, I HAVE given presentations, I HAVE spoken at schools, I HAVE DONE IT ALL. Yet, I feel I've made only a minuscule impact on the serious problems facing our world.

If you tell me to just do nothing, that's fine with me. And while you're at it, please give me the "okay" to be jaded and cynical because it feels good in a weird sort of way. Let me know that it's okay to stay depressed, angry, and bitter. Let me know that it's okay to have my own brand of self-righteousness. Let me laugh to myself and say, "Haha, I'm right. All these dumb people will just have to learn the hard way."

Let conservative America believe they have a right to kill their children in endless wars and drive thousands of animal species into the grounds. See, there I go being a cynical rat again.

And, finally, to end my rant I'll say: Yeah, I did it. I swam out into the Gulf of Mexico and blew up those oil rigs. I'm trying to force our nation to adopt clean energy. It's how I roll...

Another Way To Die

I'm a big fan of the band Disturbed. The following is one of their great songs, titled, "Another Way To Die."

To me, the song is about how we are so distracted by everything else that we are not paying attention to the impending ecological disaster. It also takes a shot at religion, with the statement, "Can we repent in time?"

An excerpt:

There can be no other reason why
You know we should of seen it coming
Consequences we cannot deny will be
revealed in time
Glaciers melt as we pollute the sky
A sign of devastation coming
We don't need another way to die
Can we repent in time?

Meanderings

I spend my life in a flux between bored, burnt out, tired, languished, beaten. It's not that I don't have the energy -- I still go to the gym, run, play tennis, hike, and take long evening walks.

Today, my Labrador Nemo and I took a long walk in Powder Springs, GA. First we walked the beautiful passive park, which is usually under water. Then we walked Powder Springs City Park. Much to my surprise, there is a new road and parking lot that comes in behind the park, so we walked down that. The new road runs alongside the mayor's highway to nowhere.

It was dead quiet going down the road -- hardly any people or signs of life. I love taking walks in my flip flops, and I just flip flopped down the uncompleted road. The road has been cut through a once deep forest, and I walked down there. I saw some wetlands and I stopped, and listened to the crickets chirping and frogs croaking.

When my time comes, when I face my Waterloo, I won't create a lot of drama. I will just keep doing what I've always done, until I drop.

Games

Every thought of the supernatural is something we create in our heads and reflect upon the stars. It's the Jesus drug that helps us get through. The idea of some invisible person who is always with us, loving us, caring for us, etc. feels really darn good. It's much better to do the Jesus drug or any other drug than to face the empty reality known as life.

Our illusions and delusions become our best friends. Denial and our ability to lie to ourselves becomes our comforting force. We play our mind games, and they give us some comfort, and reality be damned.

My observation lately is that humans are far less intelligent than I had assumed. People really can't think out any "big picture" concept. We all have our little agendas, and that is what drives us. Unfortunately, all of our agendas conflict with everyone else's agendas, so everything is deadlocked and nothing really happens in the world.

It's all a vicious game.

Connally Nature Park

This video tells the story of an urban forest we saved in 1999-2000. Yesterday, 10 years later, we went back to the site and did a "commemorative" hike.

You know, when I watch this video, and knowing that I played a part in this, I suddenly don't feel like a shit. I actually feel like a decent person, for a brief moment, like I actually accomplished some good for the world.

I was unable to attend many of the day events because of my work schedule, but I did do a lot of behind-the-scenes organizing. The part I most remember is when I was doing a fax blitz to members of the school board, and a board member called and asked me to "cease fire."

One evening I programmed my computer fax to send faxes in the middle of the night -- I didn't realize that many of the fax machines were in board member's homes. Well, apparently I angered some folks by calling their homes in the middle of the night, but, you know, I really don't care. Perhaps it strengthened their resolve. After all, we were told by one opponent that they'd be sending us a box of toothpicks. But, I am proud of myself for at least doing SOMETHING when so many people in this world do NOTHING. All to often, I am made to feel like crap because I don't fit into someone's religious mold.

But, anyway, even though I was only a minor player in this campaign, I still consider it one of the accomplishments in life that I am most proud of.

Enjoy ...

The Triple Whammy

I urge everyone to educate themselves on the Triple Whammy - Peak Oil, Climate Change, and Overpopulation. In combination, these forces will greatly deteriorate both the Planet and the quality of life for our offspring. To survive the post-industrial age we will all need a new set of values and a new way of thinking. To continue on our present course will only be disaster. If we want a "soft landing" we all need to work together as a team and get our dysfunctional government working again.

The Triple Crises of Civilization

By the Rev. David Murphy and George Plumb

The evidence is overwhelming. We are facing triple crises. Global warming is already happening. We are at or close to being at peak oil (and some say as a result, peak money) production. We have exceeded our carrying capacity and are still adding three million people to the U.S. population and 80 million to the earth each year. Between the two of us we have read almost all of the books below and are deeply impressed that so many prominent environmentalists, scientists, spiritual leaders, and educators have written so many books about crisis and collapse in just the last few years.

We urge all who care about the future to read at least one book from each of the categories. In this time of greenwashing by corporations and politicians there is nothing more important that we can do than to be well informed about these issues. If you only have time or motivation to read only a couple of books, then James Hansen's book, The Storms of my Grandchildren, and Michael Rupert's Confronting Collapse are must reads. While there are many more books that have been written in each category, we have listed what we think are the best four in terms of information and ideas on how to deal with the crises. While the reading may at times be discouraging it will also likely motivate people to action as it has us.

All political, environmental, religious, and social justice leaders and followers need to come together to acknowledge each of these problems and either begin new movements, strengthen existing movements, or a combination of the two, to begin to fulfill our responsibility to the Earth and future generations.

Peak OIL

The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century, James Howard Kunstler, Atlantic Monthly Press, 2005¹

Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines, Richard Heinberg, New Society Publishers, 2007¹

Confronting Collapse: The Crisis of Energy and Money in a Post-Peak Oil World, Michael Rupert, Chelsea Green Press, 2009²

Transition Handbook, Rob Hopkins, Chelsea Green Press, 2009

Climate Change

Storms of my Grandchildren, James Hansen, Bloombury USA, 2009¹

Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, Al Gore, Rodale Press, 2009¹

Eaarth, Bill McKibben, Times Books, 2010¹

Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, Lester Brown, W.W. Norton Co., 2009¹

Population Size and Growth

A Pivotal Moment: Population, Justice and the Environmental Challenge, Laurie Mazur, Island Press, 2010¹

Growing Pains: A Planet in Distress, Valorie M. Allen, IUniverse Press, 2010¹

The Population: Fix-Breaking America's Addiction to Population Growth, Edward Hartman, out of print but available through used sources at www.populationfix.com, 2006¹

More: Population, Nature and What Women Want, Robert Engelman, Island Press, 2008¹

Combined Crisis

The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability, Gus Speth, Yale University Press, 2008¹

Threshold: The Crisis of Western Civilization, Thom Hartmann, Viking Press, 2009¹

Endgame-the Problem of Civilization, Derrick Jensen, Seven Stories Press, 2006¹

The Vanishing Face of Gaia: The Final Warning: Enjoy it while you can, James Lovelock, Allen Lane, 2009¹

Religious Point of View

A Buddhist Response to the Climate Emergency, John Stanley, David R. Lay, and Gyurme Dorje, Wisdom Press, 2008

Love God, Heal Earth: The Ecological Crisis through the Lens of Faith, Rev. Canon Sally G. Bingham (founder of Interfaith Power and Light), SkyLight Paths Publishing, 2009

Claiming Earth as Common Ground, Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener, St. Lynn's Press, 2009

A Climate Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions, Katherine Hayhoe and Andrew Farley, Hachette Book Group, 2009

¹Books that stress population size and growth as a factor that must be dealt with.

²Rupert says that the population is going to crash because of peak oil.

About the authors

The Rev. David Murphy is a retired Methodist minister and now lives his life as sustainably as possible. He and his wife Judy operate Splendid Oak Farm in Montpelier, Vt., and they are in the process of installing a solar system that will generate most of their electricity. He and Judy are also the co-chairs of the Central Vermont Post Carbon Sustainability Network.

George Plumb is Executive Director of Vermonters for Sustainable Population and Chair of the New England Coalition for Sustainable Population. He is a long time environmental activist and has organized a couple of Central Vermont 350.org actions. He is an active Unitarian Universalist and practices Buddhism. gplumb@pshift.com

Reprinted with permission.

Marjoe

I watched the movie Marjoe (1972) tonight. I strongly recommend you invest the 80 minutes to watch this documentary. Marjoe says that religion is a business and religion is a drug. So, so true.

Corporate Raping 101

Class time, kiddies.

I remain puzzled why the Tea Partiers are so determined to leave Big Business alone. They use code words like "limited government" and "free enterprise."

Well, let me tell ya ... See, the rich have been in power for a LONG time and they have figured out how to stay rich. They don't really care what political party is in power, since the Republicans and Democrats are about the same. Both parties know who their masters are.

Social services

There is continual screaming about helping poor people, yet hardly a whimper when it comes to corporate welfare. Actually, corporate America is in control of the welfare state. They want to provide just enough services to avoid civil unrest. Corporate America needs stable markets and stable consumers.

Taxing the Rich

It amazes me how middle class white folks are so protective of the wealthy. After all, many people got wealthy by paying the under classes crappy wages or else exporting their jobs overseas.

Corporate Subsidies

Corporations get tax breaks, incentives, and other government gifts. Agri-business receives millions in welfare. This money could be better spent by giving it directly to the people.

The Power Structure

The people in power want us common folks to fight one another. This keeps the underclass from focusing on the real enemy -- multinational corporations. Everything in the world is designed to serve them, particularly governments. NAFTA, the IMF, World Bank, and Federal Reserve are all big scams designed to keep the rich people rich and the poor people poor.

The System

Sooner or later you will see that the entire system is designed to work against you. It is insane that states are in the lottery business -- this is a way to screw the downtrodden who gamble their last dollars for a lucky break. In the end, they are more downtrodden.

The IRS is designed to screw the middle class. It collects money to provide wealth redistribution. The poor are given benefits to keep them from rioting and stealing. The rich are given tax breaks and subsidies to, well, keep them rich. Most of your money is spent on endless wars, and on occasion, the bailout of worthless companies that are better off closed.

The IRS tax code is so complex that you must either buy third-party software to do your taxes or hire a professional tax preparer. This is horrible, yet we the people accept this racket.

Cheap credit is another trap to enslave you. The evil Federal Reserve will lower interest rates to release credit, so that the economy can grow. Why do they want the economy to grow? So that the fat cats at the top can get fatter.

If you are a lower class citizen the system is totally geared toward keeping you in the dirt. You get your hope from lottery tickets. If you are middle class, you are given just enough hope to keep you working. And by the way, most of us are slaves to large corporations.

Tea Party ... Yeah, PARTY!!!

Like religion, the Tea Party Patriots are yet another wonderful tool that has fallen into the hands of the Corporate Masters. They did not have to create the movement. Rather, they created all the lies in our culture that make people feel truly American when they scream "free enterprise" and "limited government." It is so nice of the Patriots to do the bidding of the Masters — Sarah Palin and her ilk have all been programmed well.

AND ....

It's embedded in us to think of Karl Marx as a bad person, but when you study his work you'll find that he wasn't such a bad guy at all. He observed the class struggles around him and figured it out. Karl Marx was right -- capitalism is unsustainable and will surely fail.

Scared To Heaven

I'm just a little girl - please don't scare me.

At age 8 I became a "born again Christian" simply because I was scared shitless. It was during revival week at church and the evangelist told us how horrible it will be if you are left behind during the tribulation.

Well, that evening I'm in the back seat of the car crying because I'm totally freaked out, and my parents ran and got the preacher. He sat with me in the back of the car and asked me all the "get saved" questions, and I quickly answered "YES" because I did not want Christ to leave me behind. He got out of the car and said to my anxiously waiting parents, "I think he's saved." Holy jeepers, was I ever relieved.

I now believe that religious indoctrination is a form of child abuse.

Backyard Bible Clubs

In the mid 1990s I was a church leader and every summer I had a backyard Bible club in my home (similar to vacation Bible school). Teenagers, serving as summer missionaries, would actually come and do all the work — I only had to house them and provide a place to meet.

The clubs were popular and nearly every child in the neighborhood attended (the parents were grateful for the break). One evening, I heard the kids start asking questions about angels, demons, Heaven and Hell. I was quite concerned because I knew where the conversation was going. They all got scared and wanted to get saved. When news got back to the pastor he was thrilled that six kids "got saved." Out of the several backyard clubs, I had the most "saves" that year -- hurray!

The next week the pastor told me it was time for follow-up. He said we had to visit my neighbors and tell them that their kids got saved, and then we had to try and save the parents. Now, I bet FEW Christians have actually knocked on their neighbor's doors and told them about Christ -- rather, most people simply "play Christian" because it's a culturally cool thing to do. But there I was, with my pastor, trying to tell my pagan neighbors about Jesus. I think I freaked a few out.

I now believe that religious indoctrination is a form of child abuse.

The Scared Little Girl

During another year it was play time during the Bible club and kids were running all over my yard. A couple of boys came up to me and said there was a little girl in the backyard "who wants to be saved." Yikes, this put me in a difficult position because I really didn't want to "save" anyone. I felt it was a huge responsibility to save someone's child from "eternal damnation." What if I screwed up and got the questions wrong?

I went in the backyard and found a pretty little girl crying; I'm guessing she was eight. I had no idea who the child was -- she was apparently the cousin of some of the church kids. This put me in a bind because who am I to go around saving little kids, but then again I was a church leader so I guess I was supposed to do this kind of stuff. So, I went to the girl, asked her the magic three questions, and prayed with her. And then I said, "You're saved - now go play with the other kids," and sure enough she did. I did not want to "save" her. I had helped save a few friends and a cousin in my life, but that's about it. I really thought it was strange that all you had to do was say the magic three sentence prayer and "poof" you go to heaven, and if you don't you are tortured for trillions of years in hell. I mean, that's a no-brainer. And when you think about it, Christianity is truly a screwed up, illogical, and bizarre religion.

I know regret "saving" the kid -- I should have called the pastor and let him deal with it. I can't remember if I ever even reported it -- I think I just let it go. The little girl would now be 22-years-old. I hope she turned out okay -- I hope I didn't mess her up mentally.

I now believe that religious indoctrination of children is a form of child abuse. Teaching children that they are sinful, worthless, and in need of redemption is a horrible thing to do.

SHAME on everyone that tries to force religion on children. At least let them grow up to make their own decision. If they want to snort the white Jesus powder, at least give them that choice. If you are so sure your religion is "right" and "truth" you don't need to brainwash them as youth. Let them be free, PLEASE let the children be free.

Goose

Immigration

Fact: Immigrants come to the U.S. for a better life. They accept jobs that no yuppie American teen would ever touch. They are paid crap and must often work several jobs just to survive. Fact: Immigrants keep prices down on consumer goods. Fact: There are far too many people in the world and consumerism is out of control. This is a global problem, and we must all work together to solve it.

The Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Sierra Club has a great population discussion list, which I've been a part of for about 11 years. Here is my response to a recent discussion on immigration:

Esteemed Colleagues,

Humans have always been migratory animals. We are on the move not only for better game, but because we are inherently greedy.

In a normal situation, inflows to the U.S. should equal outflows.

But something is wrong on our planet, and there is a mad rush to enter the United States. A long-time member of our population group once told me, "I was in the Navy and traveled the world. Wherever I went people always said they wanted to come here."

The quick solution is to create a Fortress America -- keep the poor, desperate people out so that we can enjoy our comfortable lives. But artificial barriers are always temporary and soon fail (i.e. Berlin Wall).

Fred shared a wonderful population video yesterday where the speaker, Hans Rosling, says that if we eliminate poverty, population growth will naturally decrease. Of course, in the meantime, the inhabitants are caught in a hopeless loop -- their exploding population makes it impossible to crawl out of poverty.

Karen replied that it is not necessary to eliminate poverty to lower birthrates, and gives Bangladesh as an example. She says we should focus on lowering birthrates, which will result in less poverty.

When I traveled to Ecuador, I saw that just handing out contraceptives was ineffective because of trust issues (some city slicker comes to my village and invades a very personal part of my life, no sir). Rather, in Ecuador, we saw that the best solution was to provide BOTH -- the program we studied taught villagers how to improve their lives with better agriculture and small industries -- and family planning and environmental protection were hemmed into the overall message. This comprehensive approach built TRUST and strong relationships with the aid workers, so that when it came time to discuss family planning the residents didn't become defensive. This was BEAUTIFUL!!!

So, how can we get this program to the rest of Latin America, Africa, India, and in other high growth spots? I have a simple solution -- the world spends trillions of dollars on armaments. Let's all agree to downsize our military forces and use the surplus for comprehensive poverty eradication.

And why we are eradicating, let's get religion off the planet. While religion gave us an evolutionary advantage in the early days, it has now outlived its usefulness, and now lingers on as a destructive and parasitic organism that has become the bane of humanity. Enough people have died in the name of some god. But worse yet, religion is obsessed with sexual behavior, and the religious, pro-natal mores pushed on societies create yet another downward loop -- the high birthrates cause local social and environmental deterioration, which makes people more religious as they cry out to their god for help.

I can tell you that the four greatest environmentalists in the world are the Four Horsemen of Atheism - Richard Dawkins, Daniel C. Dennett, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens. These men have brought the absurdity of religion into the mainstream and they have created a great dialogue -- this is a great step in saving our planet.

In the meantime, back to the millions of people slipping through our porous borders.

First, the federal government is totally inept, as witnessed by Katrina, the mortgage disaster, and the BP oil spill, etc. Our impotent government can't even stop illegal immigration, and you want them to do something about LEGAL immigration? That has me laughing.

Second, there is a huge economic demand for basic labor. Here in Georgia, immigrants are used in the poultry, agriculture, and carpet industries, and we all benefit from this cheap labor. Where I live, the high school graduates get jobs working in malls. Our country has grown soft and I can't imagine any teenager around here working in a meat processing plant or picking onions in a field -- they wouldn't last a day. So, if we are going to kick out the immigrants we need a solution for our bottom-rung labor needs. One solution is to require college students to work summers at a farm or plant, something like the Israeli model.

Third, the foreign-born lobby has already become too powerful. Taking a strong stand on limiting immigration is instant death for any politician.

My own personal opinion is that it's ALWAYS a step backwards to build walls. Walls are all about division, which encourage inequities and hatred. Every person on this planet is my brother and sister, and it is morally wrong to create artificial islands of prosperity in a sea of squalor. I do not acknowledge the term "illegal immigrants" because I do not believe in borders. North America should follow the European Union model -- it will be a hard and rocky hill to climb, but it is essential for long-term sustainability and peace.

Don't be naive and think that your government is going to close the borders -- it will never happen. Instead, let's all think of some creative, out-of-the-box solutions to the very real problem of massive population growth.

Respectfully,

Goose

Religion: Control Until the Bitter End

Unfortunately, the guys don't get treated the same way as the girls.
Of course, religions are created by MEN, so no surprise.

I keep thinking about how humans are "hard wired" and how most of us simply follow the script given to us at birth. Most people never question their culture — they just faithfully play their role until they croak.

Religions are an interesting quirk of our evolution. They have safety mechanisms built in to protect themselves. One of these mechanisms is to stifle any form of questioning. If you are born into a Hindu, Muslim, or Christian home you will likely just take the movie script you are handed and play your role throughout life. If you question your script, you will be shunned at the very least and executed at the worst.

At least Christians look at the murder, mayhem, and perversion of the Old Testament and say, "Oh, that was then. We don't do that anymore." But Muslims and Hindus are still brazen enough to enforce antiquated and inhumane traditions. With Muslims, Sharia laws are evil and disgusting, and are an affront to women and humanity as a whole. They should be eliminated at once. And for Hindus, the caste system is pathetic and should be dismantled immediately.

As for Christians, well, that's a sensitive issue because they insist that they are the "right" religion. Indeed, Christianity is more mature now and the Great Crusades and Spanish Inquisition are behind us. But we still have religious leaders telling people not to wear condoms and extremists trying to ban stem cell research.

Though not as overtly violent, Christianity remains an insidious, destructive force on our Planet. The greatest damage Christianity does is give people an "out." Whatever happens in the world around them, Christians don't have to take responsibility or action. Rather, they can just say, "It's all a part of God's plan." Christianity has done some good and a lot of bad, and the worst "bad" it has done is make millions of people indifferent to the environmental and social ills around them. Hell, they don't even have to take responsibility for their own actions, since Christ died for their sins. That is the power of "grace," and all you have to do is "accept" that, and have faith, and up to heaven you go. Hurray!

And as the religious followers play their self-consuming roles, the world around them continues to go to hell. But, again, they don't care because they are going to heaven.

"Experience has taught me that most people are driven by emotion, and then may use logic to justify whatever they find emotionally most comfortable."

— Brooke, a colleague

"Unfortunately, I suspect that we have selected for a predisposition for religious beliefs. In a tribal society such beliefs tend to foster group cohesion."

– Fred, a colleague

"… Here, evolution had hit on the sweetest of solutions. Such perceptions were guaranteed to produce a faith-dependent species that believed itself to be thoroughly separate from the rest of the animal kingdom, but followed its genetic instructions to the letter—and left more offspring as a consequence. Here was a gene-driven animal just like any other, yet one that believed itself to be under special guidance—guidance that was not merely ‘spiritual’, but in most instances ‘divine’. Here was a wonderfully practical insanity, an invincible, hereditary madness that eventually enabled this under-endowed ‘paragon of animals’ to devour the planet like a ripe fruit. "

— Rex Morrison, author of The Spirit in the Gene

Saving My Planetary Home

In 1997 I decided to get back into environmental activism. With my limited volunteer time, I thought, "What is the one issue that will have the maximum impact on saving the Planet."

The answer was a no-brainer: I would work on the issue that is behind MOST of our social, political, economic, and environmental problems -- human population growth. Little did I know I was taking on the most complex and controversial issue, where logic is thrown out the window and replaced by bizarre ideas and attitudes.

After 13 years, I have concluded the following: Addressing the population explosion is easy and has a simple solution, but there is so much baggage surrounding it that any positive effort will probably fail. But maybe not because the solutions are based on "what is right" and in the end, what is morally just will prevail.

Having studied population for years and having given it much deep thought, here is what I consider the foundations for a solution:

First Tenet

All women must be treated 100% equal to men, with no exceptions. If you are a women, don't let some religion trick you into accepting anything less. If you are a man, get over your insecurity. Since the 1970s mass progress has been made toward equality in the Western world -- I applaud that. But in the less developed world, which is where the massive population growth is occurring, women are rarely treated as equals. Customs, laws, and religions that treat a woman less than equal must ALWAYS be challenged.

Second Tenet

The cult of materialism must die. Whenever population is addressed, consumption must be addressed as well – both impact the Earth. I guess for several million years we humans had nothing, so now that we have access to "things" we are hording. The problem is that we keep wanting MORE "things," and nicer things, and bigger things, and it becomes an addiction. And people tell me that if we don't keep buying more crap it will hurt the economy. Well, perhaps we should all learn to live with less!

Conclusion

And that's it ... problem solved. If women are treated equally that means they will have the CHOICE to pursue a career or a CHOICE to NOT have children. Just the equality mechanism alone would greatly lower population. And if we could get our satisfaction from other means, instead of materialism, then the impact on Earth would be greatly lightened. You don't NEED a McMansion, fancy new car, a boat, and rooms full of new crap. It's all meaningless.

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Oh, and in case you don't know - world population is nearly 7 billion. When I was born in 1960 population was 3.02 billion. Needless to say, a species that can double its numbers so quickly will have a devastating impact on its habitat. Right now we are seeing exploding human population destroy our planet -- not in any one obvious way, but rather in many little ways. This is what a friend of mine calls, "A death by a thousand cuts."