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.