Earth Day musings and the new normal.

It is one of those days. Move the chair to get closer to the keyboard to type, knock something over. It is Earth Day. The early warmth we had made all the trees on my block leaf out very quickly, and much earlier than normal. Today, though, is cool and gray.

Spring on the Brattleboro Common - about a half a block from my apartment. I took this photo yesterday!

The lilac on the Common (not far from the crab apples in the picture above) as well as one growing in a 2 foot space between two older buildings on the edge of our business district, are both starting to open their blooms a month early. This is the new normal - there isn't any normal. Well, there is, but I find it depressing and try not to let much of it slip into my consciousness. Which is pretty hard to do when it is the major part of one's everyday existence. (And I'm thinking of the "new normal" in politics and economics as well as in the environmental sense.)

How to explain this feeling? Well, let's take Earth Day. Although there were a couple of similar ideas already out there, Earth Day as we know it was founded by US Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970 as a reaction to the disastrous 1969 oil spill in southern California and the lack of a decent response by the US Government. He based his idea on the anti Vietnam War movement's "teach ins", hoping that education would help raise enough public outcry that something would be done to stem what he saw as an approaching environmental crisis. How have things changed since then? In 2010, this day was celebrated by the sinking to the ocean floor of the drilling platform of the Deepwater Horizon BP Macondo blowout (after an explosion two days previous); an incident otherwise known as the Gulf Oil Spill. Haven't head much about that lately have you? Have you seen or heard of any legislation or regulations passed to protect against shoddy cheap bottom dollar is king construction work to try to help prevent this kind of thing from happening again? Have you heard about the continuing "persistent oil seep" in the Gulf whose chemical analysis identifies it as consistent with the make up of oil from the Macondo 252 well? The phrase in quotes is from an investigative piece published in March 2012. You haven't heard of it because the reporting was done by Al Jazeera. Three days ago, the New York Times reported that BP has, so far, paid out about $ 8 billion to individuals and businesses affected by the spill. (That's out of the $20 billion fund they were forced to set up, which the Times failed to mention.) BP claims to have spent an additional $14 billion in cleanup costs. BP's books show a $37.2 billion charge for their expenses. In case you're curious, the lawyers have so far collected about $600 million. One other thing, aside from the continued deaths of Gulf waters dolphins and whales at twice the normal rate, tar balls still continue to wash up on Gulf shores. According to the National Geographic Society and Ecowatch, the tar balls contain the bacteria Vibrio vulnificus, which can cause fatal blood poisoning and is the causative agent of cholera.

One of these days I'll get around to writing about what I see as the "new normal". In the meantime, I'd explain the phrase by mentioning Monsanto, the giant multinational conglomerate which manufactures rGBH (the bovine growth hormone which leaches into the cows milk and has been identified as an "accelerator" of prostrate, lung and colon cancers), and the toxic weed killer Round Up and much of the genetically modified Round Up resistant seeds (corn, soybeans, etc.) sold in the US. They dealt with the fact that their products are getting the major blame for the destruction of pollinating insects (think bees, among others) by buying the company that does much of the research into bee colony collapse. They made the purchase last September, but the news of it only came to light two days ago. I wonder whatever happened to their anti-trust investigation the US Government started in 2009? I wonder if that was affected by the 2009 appointment of their chief lobbyist ($8.8+ million in 2008) (and a former Deputy Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration) to the position of senior adviser to the FDA by President Obama? You know, the FDA. As in Monsanto's should be famous comment, "Monsanto should not have to vouch for the safety of biotech food Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is FDA's job." Oh, by the way,  they are also a former employer of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (who wrote the Court's majority 2001 opinion that genetically modified seeds were patentable). I won't go into their history of manufacturing DDT, Agent Orange or their worldwide toxic dumping and use of child labor. Happy Earth Day, Monsanto.

Earth Day is also the birthday of J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the great geniuses of the 20th century. His studies of a range of subjects led directly to Nobel prizes for others. He was nominated three times, but was never given the award. In the early 1940's, he was called upon by the United States government to work on a specific task. He completed his mission, and is now known as the father of the Atomic Bomb. Horrified by the death and destruction his work unleashed, he agitated for organizations to oversee atomic development and for the then new United Nations to oversee and control atomic weapons. For that work, various interests in the US pushed him out of the way of the business of atomic money, and used the anti-communist witch hunts of the 1950's to publicly embarrass and destroy him as they revoked his security clearances. It just wasn't any fun starting a profitably expensive arms race with a Communist liberal loving peacenick running around gumming up the works. Oh, by the way, the atomic arms race isn't over you know. But then again, no arms races are ever over, are they?

Shall we now discuss the new figures on poverty in the United States? Let's not. But if you live in this country, have you noticed a large upswing in crimes such as holdups of convenience stores and banks? We're having quite a few here in Brattleboro these days. Cause and effect and all that.

And as for our hopes for the future being based on education engendered by days like Earth Day, here are a few responses from an article on Facebook this morning about a bank robbery in town yesterday:

Person 1 ...can't see it taken very long to find him one dum ass bank robber

Person 2 - Well lets rember they never caut the guy that robbed to banks on a bike ane one day. So will see how long it takes this time

After a report of an arrest in the case:

Person 3 - Wow they did there job this time.

Person 4 - People really should judge the police when your not the ones putting your life on the line everyday in these situations every day


So much for education. And hope. It is one of those days.

911 Musings

Okay. Most of that morning is a kind of blur. There are pieces, spots that I remember. I was working as an inside sales rep at a wholesale organic food co-operative. That morning there was a meeting, nothing new to co-ops. I remember the meeting room being packed. I can't quite recall the discussion at the moment. The CEO was there. There was something going on and tempers were flaring. I remember one young woman and the CEO really got into it. She wanted her voice heard, and as a member owner of the co-op, she thought she had that right. But the CEO whipped his head around, his chin jutted out, his eyes narrowed, and through clenched teeth he raised his voice to say "Ownership is not management".

It was one of those trump everything moves that shuts down discussion, sort of like calling someone a Nazi or a racist. The meeting had gone unconscionably overtime and those of us on the sales force were rushing to do an hour's work in 20 minutes. As we filed back  into the large open area where our prairie dogging cubicles were, we noted that the woman at the sales switchboard/receptionist area had a radio turned on. She told us a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. There was fire. And another plane just rammed into it, too.  At some point, management turned off and secured the radio. I went over to the new buyer's desk. He had a computer attached to the Internet. We could see the towers on fire. But we had to get back to work. Another crash - at the Pentagon! And another plane headed towards Washington might have crashed in Pennsylvania. It was just after 10am. The receptionist/switchboard operator gasped at what someone told her over the phone. The look on her face hushed us all - one of the towers had collapsed. Someone near me said, "What"? Without thinking I said, "Well, yeah," like it was the most logical thing in the world, "We're at war." A few minutes later, the second tower crashed. The CEO came in and told us that we needed to get back to work. We had to get these orders done. We had to go on as though nothing had happened. Because if we didn't, "they" would "win". The woman who had recently been put in charge of the inside sales staff (a plant from a corporate competitor, I was sure) started to weep. The CEO put his arm around her and walked her into her office. The offices for regular management ran alongside one whole (and very long) wall. A few minutes later, the CEO left for the day. Before he did, it was announced that only those having a hard time dealing with the situation could go home. The rest of us were to stay. Where I sat, I could see the wall of offices. And one by one, the lights in each office went out. The wall opposite had a big glass enclosed area with an entryway into the bookkeeping offices. The lights there started going out too. It took less than 20 minutes, and they were all gone for the day.

I remember getting home later than usual. I was hardly inside the door before I had the tv on. Try to find CNN on the dial - oh, it wasn't necessary. I should have known. There was only one story anyone was talking or thinking about. I had begun to stare at the unimaginable pictures and action replays. I can remember two phone calls, both with the same message: The community radio station I was involved with was broadcasting a taped program about a musical attack from Swizzlestick outerspace or some such thing  - it was just one too many discordant notes in the night. Where was I, wouldn't I go in and put something more spiritual on? Not having Mozart's Requiem on tape, I declined - I wanted to see this footage, I wanted to get beyond my wasp detachment. I had to believe it really happened, I guess.  A little while later, I noticed that the station was playing a program with zen sutras, Koranic chanting raga-ish music in the background, like some new age tape you might've heard once in Bar Harbour. I can't remember much else of that day or night.

So many columns, blogs, new stories, magazine stories, etc. are commenting on how that day changed America and the World. The ideals of my country were called into play by those who wanted to exploit the situation for their own ends. We watched, helpless screaming, even as the news was telling us that the news was being evasive, incomplete, and distorted. We all knew what was happening. But we didn't know how to stop it. And we let it happen.

The generation just arriving at military service/voting age probably doesn't have memories of a time when we weren't at war. They don't know of a world without cell phone miracle machines. They don't remember when we didn't torture. They don't remember the racial divide that collapsed in the wake of that day. They don't remember a time when we had jobs. Or before the internet and then before the corporations took it over so they could charge you while implanting their shopworn dreams.  When airplane travel was unrestricted. When you had to go out of your way to find good clean and/or organic foods without chemical growth residue. They don't remember a world before email or a world where you go could go the to library to borrow or reference material without the government having access to those records. Hell, the way it's going, they soon won't remember libraries at all. The answer is right there for the asking, as long as you can afford to go online. Where every keystroke can be monitored. They don't remember that the CIA isn't supposed to be operating in our own country. They are  too young to have noticed the phony yearly cycles in gas prices. They don't remember when "liberal" wasn't a dirty tax and spend commie word. Actually, they're not old enough to remember Communist Russia.  Or remember when we were a good, mostly honest, people decently living our beliefs, and admired and respected for that throughout the world.

So much has changed, and yet so little. There are still pharaohs ruling the world. They simply build no public works, no pyramids, engender no higher ideals in mankind. They own and/or run corporations now. It's been that way for quite awhile. Where you used to replenish the country's coffers by war against another king, now you war against your own people. Normans and Saxons alike. It's like time somehow shifted along with the weather patterns. The image being sold at home is late 50's early 60's Consumer time.  And the poor kids today don't know to look for the man behind the curtain, or to follow the money.

In the 1960's, we really did change the world - before you laugh, look at the way you are dressed. Look at the number of women in the workforce - even if they aren't being paid as much as men. People suffer no disgrace now from divorce, or unwed pregnancy. I might as well say that people now suffer no disgrace. I look at gay teenagers and beam with joy at the world they are creating. But I also see young women coming along who don't seem like they will continue the fight over fair wages. They have to be taught, they need knowledge. I'm not just speaking about women here, the men too. We can't let them forget or go without knowing a world in which you don't have to register for military service. The clock is being turned back. In a few weeks, daylight savings time will be here. It's not just that we gain an hour, you know - it's getting back to the real time that's becoming important.

Somewhere in those memories now 10 years old, are the memories in the background - how quickly the barricades went up, even in a little town like this. How quickly people got used to having and having to show their IDs  to get into government buildings. The government buildings that are fortresses against the rabble. They know one day we will come for them. They're getting ready.  How quickly it became useless to try to stop the government from privately accessing every day actions, what books we've read, what we purchase, our medical problems, our financial status - and then there's the targeted advertising and credit ratings industry paid for by whom exactly? When the kings of business get together, they trade amongst themselves. After the kings of business get together, they circle like vultures. There will be nothing left to feed the dragon. Except for everlasting war.

I can no longer see an option here - we will have to fight the corporation/government again. Use the same tools you just know our guys taught rebels in the Arab Spring oil east. They did, after all, get those ideas from us. We - the decent ones, who still uphold the message - we - have got to get to the kids and the young adults. They need to know there is a better world and that once, one great once upon a time, we were getting near it. Camelot, da da dah da dah, Camelot! Lost Horizon of Shangri-la. Cities of gold. Xanadu. They need to know there are ideas and ideals worth living for. And the only way to fully express that is to live it. Every day.

Race relations will soon be stirred up again - crime is already on the upswing, and a goat will be needed to blame it on. The nonstop wars have started - over there. So far. The wars of money and subjugation have started over here. The merger of government and business is spreading. It could take years, or it could be tomorrow, but make no mistake, they will be coming.  Except for the ones who get to leave after 20 minutes.

Reason #1 to become vegetarian and/or demand clean food.

Another reason to ban franken-foods and genetically modified seeds

It's not like we should have to have a reason to eliminate franken-foods and seeds, and this is kind of funny in an amusing way. Unless watermelon explodes in your stomach like an alien was in it. Here's the story from the AP:

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Exploding watermelons! Acres of crops erupt      

Growth chemical used by Chinese farmers is permitted on grapes, kiwi fruit in US

Farmers clear out watermelons that had burst from their greenhouse in Danyang city in eastern China's Jiangsu province on May 13. Watermelon fields are a mess after farmers abused growth chemicals which caused the fruit to burst.        

By ALEXA OLESEN

The Associated Press       

5/17/2011 :

BEIJING — Watermelon fields in eastern China are a mess of burst fruit after farmers used growth chemicals in an attempt to make extra money but ended up ruining their crops, state media reported Tuesday.

An investigative report by China Central Television found farms in and around Danyang city in Jiangsu province were losing acres of fruit to the problem.

The farmers sprayed forchlorfenuron, a growth accelerator, during overly wet weather and put it on too late in the season, which made the melons burst, CCTV said, citing agricultural experts.

White seeds

It said most watermelons sold at a wholesale market in nearby Shanghai were believed to have been treated with forchlorfenuron. Telltale signs are fibrous, misshapen fruit with mostly white instead of black seeds, it said.

Chinese regulations don't forbid use of the substance. It is also allowed in the United States for use on kiwi fruit and grapes.

But the report underscores how farmers in China are abusing both legal and illegal chemicals, with many farms misusing pesticides and fertilizers.

The government has already voiced alarm over the widespread overuse of food additives like dyes and sweeteners that retailers hope will make food more attractive and boost sales.

'Land mines'

The CCTV report colorfully described the watermelons as "land mines" and said they were exploding by the acre.

The report quoted Feng Shuangqing, a professor at the China Agricultural University, as saying the problem showed that China needs to clarify its farm chemical standards and supervision to protect consumer health.

Danyang farmer Liu Mingsuo ended up with eight acres of ruined fruit and told CCTV he couldn't sleep because he kept picturing exploding watermelons.

"On May 7, I came out and counted 80 (bursting watermelons) but by the afternoon it was 100," Liu said. "Two days later I didn't bother to count anymore."

About 20 farmers and 115 acres of watermelon around Danyang were affected, it said. Farmers resorted to chopping up the fruit and feeding it to fish and pigs, the broadcaster said.