Earth ‘well outside safe operating space for humanity’, Guardian 13 Sept 2023

First complete ‘scientific health check’ shows most global systems beyond stable range in which modern civilisation emerged

Earth’s life support systems have been so damaged that the planet is “well outside the safe operating space for humanity”, scientists have warned.

Their assessment found that six out of nine “planetary boundaries” had been broken because of human-caused pollution and destruction of the natural world. The planetary boundaries are the limits of key global systems – such as climate, water and wildlife diversity – beyond which their ability to maintain a healthy planet is in danger of failing.

The broken boundaries mean the systems have been driven far from the safe and stable state that existed from the end of the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago, to the start of the industrial revolution. The whole of modern civilisation arose in this time period, called the Holocene.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/13/earth-well-outside-safe-operating-space-for-humanity-scientists-find

Founder gives away Patagonia to fight climate crisis

Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard said, “Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth for investors, we’ll use the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source of all wealth.”

“Instead of exploiting natural resources to make shareholder returns, we are turning shareholder capitalism on its head by making the Earth our only shareholder,” he wrote.

Chouinard and Patagonia have long been groundbreakers in environmental activism and employee benefits. In its nearly 50 years in operation, the Ventura, California-based company has been known for extensive benefits for employees, including on-site nurseries and afternoons off on good surf days.

In the 80s, the company began donating 1% of its sales to environmental groups, a program formalized in 2001 as the “1% for the Planet Scheme”. The program has resulted in $140m in donations for preservation and restoration of the natural environment, according to the company.

Each year, the money Patagonia makes after reinvesting in the business will be distributed to the nonprofit to help fight the environmental crisis.

from the Guardian, 15.9.22

God, the Universe and Earth

I think it must be a sheer fluke that in an eternal, infinite universe, planet Earth seems to be the only body in Space that has life.  Why did God do it only once and on such a small, insignificant sphere in the universe?  The earth is a speck in God's universe.

Brits: more American than European

David Reynold's 'Empire of Liberty' looking back over 1,000 years of history on the N American continent was fascinating for someone like me who is more horrified than delighted by the behaviour of our American kith and kin. I say kith and kin because we Brits colonised what is now the USA to escape religious persecution by other religious people in England. Spain, Portugal and France also colonised the continent but our military prevailed. Our ancestors in England and Europe, said Reynolds, brought God, guns and germs to the native American Indians, especially germs!

Empire of Liberty is both a contradiction in terms but also accurately summarises American history over the last 500 years, I think. Liberty for the white man; empire that enslaved millions of black people; and, empire that incorporates us and imperialism over the poor world or, the black (non white) nations in the world.

The native Indians had survived for thousands of years before the white man appeared on the scene and upset their apple cart - well and truly! Their civilisation was impressive and was sustainable, unlike our own that is built on the flawed foundations of black sand - oil, coal and gas. That means we are eating tomorrow's seed corn and, therefore, contain the seeds of our own destruction, as our resources exhaust and life support systems collapse from our behaviours that are so alien to how we should be living as part of nature and part of the earth and Earth. We belong to the earth and the Earth, rather than the Earth belonging to us!

I think, we Brits are hopeless Europeans because of these traditional links with the new country. They speak the same language, they built their new country on England's example but with great improvements and, there is much more inter-marriage with them than with our European neighbours.

Hopeless Europeans because we have fought countless wars with them over more than 1,000 years that, finally, culminated with the Great War and its sequel in 1939. The European empires around the world and their religious persecution and wars are also a feature of European and British history.

Whereas, our good friends the Americans have bailed us out twice in the World War in two halves and then bailed us out again with their enormous loan that we only finally paid off a couple of years ago! We, in our turn, for 64 years have been their staunchest allies in our joint wars against godless Communism from Korea to Cuba, today and military occupation of Arab lands to this day - Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran (to the overthrow of our stooge, the Shah), Afghanistan and Pakistan (our drones killing people in the borderlands). The Americans even supported us in the Falklands War after initially disapproving of Mrs T's bellicosity and intent to take back the islands.

As with the Middle East, our own green and pleasant land has been slowly disappearing under concrete runways, motorways, and American military bases for nuclear and conventional missiles and bombs. Our island is still America's largest aircraft carrier. We are, unofficially, the 51st state of the USA! We are the only nation that has a special relationship with them.

No wonder, so many Brits want independence from Europe and continuing dependance on hyper power, America!