To say that the corrupted interests of massive corporations have twisted and perverted the social and political system into a flimsy chessboard sounds, of course, paranoid and highly cynical. No wonder then that casual observers of the democratic process scoff at claims of widespread corporate corruption as an outlandish conspiracy…
Last week, at Washington University, I attended a lecture by architect Edward Mazria, who speaks nationally and internationally on the subject of climate change and architecture. Mazria’s organization, Architecture2030 is dedicated to “slowing the growth rate of greenhouse gas emissions and then reversing it over the next ten years.” His proposals are getting lots of attention among architects.
As he states at his website, it is imperative that we deal seriously with CO2. It will
require immediate action and a concerted global effort. As Architecture 2030 has shown, buildings are the major source of demand for energy and materials that produce by-product greenhouse gases. Stabilizing emissions in this sector and then reversing them to acceptable levels is key to keeping global warming to approximately a degree centigrade (°C) above today’s level.
Mazria began his talk with a PowerPoint presentation that largely paralleled Al Gore’s presentation in “An Inconvenient Truth.” Here’s how he sizes things up currently:
Two profound, life changing events are converging to create the most significant crisis of modern time— the warming of the earth’s atmosphere by burning fossil fuels, and the rapid depletion of global petroleum and natural gas reserves. As these events intensify over the coming years, they will dramatically change how we live and how we relate to the natural world.
Here’s how Architecture2030 illustrates the warming of the earth (see the Architecture2030 site for better resolution):
As you can see, CO2 levels (the upper blue line) have never been as high as they …
A follow up, answer, another viewpoint…
The title is somewhat rhetorical. Hate–in its undiluted, culturally-disseminated form has only one reason–the perpetuation of local power–for the individual, the power to insist that he/she is right and refuses to countenance criticism, implicit or otherwise; for the state, the power to maintain power in the face of outside insistence on change. . If those against whom the hatred is directed are unfortunate enough not to see how they play into it, then the issue becomes complicated. What we now see in the Middle East and many other parts of the world is a hatred based on local potentates (single rulers, committees, vested interests, or cultural hegemons) desire, need, hunger to maintain a privileged position in their section of the world, something that became more and more untenable int he aftermath of World War ll.
Can that really be? After the decades of beating ourselves (namely, the West, which includes Europe, North America, and certain isolated pockets here and there and may now, paradoxically, include Japan, but certainly includes Australia, and may in time include India…) for our “responsibilities” in causing global problems (such self-recrimination soundly based on the legacies of a colonialist past), maybe it’s time to revisit some of that surplus self-loathing and see where the responsibilities actually lie.
The current exacerbating events of the current mess are all from the same source–the end of the second world war and the onset of the Cold War. Lest we forget, WW ll was …
This, according to the Kansas City Star: The crucifixion was canceled. The announcement came over loudspeakers as fat clouds formed above a replica of Christ's garden tomb. Dozens of disappointed tourists and pilgrims who came to witness the spectacle - a daily event at the Holy Land Experience, a 15-acre,…
This much should be obvious to anyone attending most big American churches: on Sunday mornings, those lots are covered with expensive vehicles. If you doubt me, just go out and check them; most American churches, any Sunday. Do we need expensive vehicles to get from here to there? Absolutely not.
Is there hypocrisy in the air? Most churches are “country clubs with steeples,” according to a friend of mine who believes deeply in God but deals with his God privately, not as part of an organized religion.
Hey, why am I picking on churches? Well, maybe it’s because church-goers repeatedly claim to me that they are morally superior to me because they are church-goers. They also tell me that it’s the teachings of Jesus that make them morally superior. Now I am quite aware that a teaching often attributed to Jesus is that one needs to first sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor before following Him. This passage makes me think: “Hey, church-goers, if you are all so morally superior, show it.” That’s what I think when I see all those unnecessarily fancy vehicles on the church parking lot.
Where do all those church-goers park those vehicles? Here’s where: in their big garages attached to their expensive houses. Here’s the issue then: these holders of substantial wealth are often the same people who profess to believe literally in Biblical scripture. Yet the New Testament isn’t known for encouraging people to acquire wealth. Or is …