Outside The Asylum

A curious article in The Guardian suggests that we are entering a new geologic age and that our own species (long known to archaeologists to be veritable litterbugs- in earlier ages leaving shards of pottery and glass everywhere, now leaving shards of plastic, and always, chicken bones) has now affected the environment so much with nuclear and carbon pollution, that we are causing a "sixth extinction" point. Not so fast, says conservationist Stewart Brand- we are being arrogant and pessimistic to assume that this is an extinction level event.  What mankind messes up, mankind can clean up, and local efforts can make a huge difference for species such as the Giant Panda, who are limited in their range and were recently taken OFF the endangered species list.

Because my poem it TL:DR for some folks, front-facing the links. For young women facing a crisis pregnancy,  click here to search for help in your area. For young families facing the cost of an unexpected pregnancy unable to find their way out,  click here for a pro-life charity that will show you how to balance your budget and help with immediate needs. For women and their men who have been tricked into abortion in the past,  click here to find forgiveness and healing. For those facing divorce or abandonment,  click here to find a better way to think about family. For those who feel they have no choice,  click here to find a REAL choice. For those who have been raped,  click here to save the one. Updated again- on the announcement of the Supreme Court returning the definition of person to the individual states in Dobbs vs Jackson Women's Health (someday I need to find out what the original case was about), I will copy and repost this 6 year old poem. ...

My previous Word Cloud was useful to people, so I'm going to start working my way backwards, starting with Laudato Si and going back to Rerum Novarum. Here is Laudato Si- and what we really should be concentrating on when we consider the environment.

Cities that exist below the 75 meters of elevation that the sea level could rise under global climate change need to change their building codes.  There's plenty of time left to do so- it will take a century or more to happen- but if we start now, all new construction can be built with potential flooding in mind.  Oregon should do the same with any building more than three stories high not built to earthquake standards. We know these threats exist- why not adapt to them?  We know how to build watertight boat hulls, we should be building them into basements.  We know how to build seismic isolation foundations, we should be building them into new high rises.  This is basic engineering.

Laudato Si  offers us some insight into the Church's opinions on many current political problems in America.    We would be wise indeed to listen to the words of Pope Francis on these topics; all of them will require adjustments to American culture and our habits of indifferent individualism. On what we individally can do to help the environment "Education in environmental responsibility can encourage ways of acting which directly and significantly affect the world around us, such as avoiding the use of plastic and paper, reducing water consumption, separating refuse, cooking only what can reasonably be consumed, showing care for other living beings, using public transport or car-pooling, planting trees, turning off unnecessary lights, or any number of other practices. All of these reflect a generous and worthy creativity which brings out the best in human beings. Reusing something instead of immediately discarding it, when d one for the right  reasons, can be...

How some people on both sides of the climate change debate are misusing weather to prove climate. The Age Of Disinformation — Medium : 'via Blog this'