We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Rapidly Warming Waters Have Thwarted Efforts to Save the Cod

Click here to access article by Phil McKenna from Inside Climate News.

This report cites another instance of environmental degradation caused by the human invention of capitalism which drives a few individuals (capitalists) to accumulate more wealth and power for themselves while degrading our home--planet Earth. I think if we allow these childish simple-minded people, who unfortunately are our housemates, to keep damaging our Earth-home, nature acting much like a landlord will simply evict all of us via increasingly extreme weather events such as Hurricane Patricia and the profound destabilization of our climate in general. By allowing these immature people to have their way, we will all become homeless (extinct).
The number of Atlantic cod in the Gulf of Maine has hit an all-time low in recent years despite strong fishing regulations, and scientists now attribute it to rapidly rising water temperatures, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science.

Sea surface temperatures have increased in the Gulf of Maine faster than almost anywhere else in the world, causing the cold-water species that had already been decimated by centuries of overfishing to reach the verge of collapse.