Comments on: Awakening to Nature http://www.theearthconnection.org/blog/2010/07/awakening-to-nature/ Nourishment and inspiration for those who love the Earth Sat, 19 May 2012 00:13:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Steven Earl Salmony http://www.theearthconnection.org/blog/2010/07/awakening-to-nature/comment-page-1/#comment-5199 Steven Earl Salmony Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:41:47 +0000 http://www.theearthconnection.org/blog/?p=2561#comment-5199 Thank you, April, We face a colossal, human-induced global predicament. Emerging and converging ecological challenges we have chosen to ignore rather than acknowledge during my lifetime is in large part the result of the way silence is employed by ‘the powers that be’ and their minions to prevail over science. Hysterical blindness, willful deafness and elective mutism of knowledgeable human beings with feet of clay rule the world every bit as much as malignant narcissism, pathological arrogance and extreme foolishness of greedmongering masters of the universe rule the world. This pernicious situation is as intolerable as it is dangerous to future human well being and environmental health. Please consider that during my lifetime, when human numbers exploded from less than 3 billion to more than 7 billion worldwide, many experts may not have known enough about what they were talking about when they spoke of human population dynamics and all causes of the human overpopulation of Earth. Their research appears not to be scientific. What I have been trying to communicate regarding the human population does not issue from ideological or totalitarian thinking, or from group-think consensus for that matter. It is not derived from what is politically convenient, economically expedient, socially agreeable, religiously tolerable and culturally prescribed. I have wanted to openly discuss the best available science. That is all. It appears the generally accepted thinking of a surprisingly large number of so-called experts in the field of population dynamics appears to have an unscientific foundation. Their preternatural thought and theorizing about the population dynamics of the human species appears to be both incomplete and mistaken. Most disquieting of all, a widely shared and consensually validated theory about a demographic transition four decades from now is directly contradicted by unchallenged scientific research. As a consequence, and it is a pernicious consequence, woefully inadequate thinking and fundamentally flawed theorizing has been broadcast during my life cycle and continues to be broadcast everywhere by the mainstream media as if it is not only science but the best available scientific evidence. The implications of this unfortunate behavior, inasmuch as it appears to be based upon a colossal misperception of what could somehow be real regarding the human population, appear profound. This failure of nerve has served to slow momentum needed for a confrontation with a formidable global predicament that appears to become more difficult to overcome year by year. In their elective mutism regarding an astonishing error, are first class professional researchers with expertise in population dynamics behaving badly by allowing the “ninety-nine percenters” to be misguided and led down a primrose path by the “one percenters”? The power of silence on the part of knowledgeable human beings with feet of clay is dangerous because research is being denied that appears to shed light upon a dark, non-recursive biological problem, the understanding of which appears vital to future human well being and environmental health. Too many experts appear to be ignoring science regarding the human population and instead consciously through their silence consenting to the leviathan scale and unbridled expansion of global overproduction, overconsumption and overpopulation activities that are being adamantly advocated and relentlessly pursued by greedmongering masters of the universe, the tiny minority among us who are primarily responsible for ravaging the Earth, ruining its environs and reducing its fitness for habitation by the children. If this assessment of human behavior is indeed a fair representation of what is happening on our watch, then the desire to preserve the status quo, mainly the selfish interests of ‘the powers that be’, could be at least one basis for so much intellectually dishonest and morally bereft behavior. Could it be that the outrageous per capita overconsumption, large-scale corporate overproduction and unrestricted overpopulation activities of the human species worldwide cannot continue much longer on a planet with the size, composition and ecology of a finite and frangible planet like Earth? Thank you, April,

We face a colossal, human-induced global predicament. Emerging and
converging ecological challenges we have chosen to ignore rather than
acknowledge during my lifetime is in large part the result of the way
silence is employed by ‘the powers that be’ and their minions to
prevail over science. Hysterical blindness, willful deafness and elective
mutism of knowledgeable human beings with feet of clay rule the world every
bit as much as malignant narcissism, pathological arrogance and extreme
foolishness of greedmongering masters of the universe rule the world. This
pernicious situation is as intolerable as it is dangerous to future human
well being and environmental health.

Please consider that during my lifetime, when human numbers exploded from
less than 3 billion to more than 7 billion worldwide, many experts may not
have known enough about what they were talking about when they spoke of
human population dynamics and all causes of the human overpopulation of
Earth. Their research appears not to be scientific. What I have been trying
to communicate regarding the human population does not issue from
ideological or totalitarian thinking, or from group-think consensus for
that matter. It is not derived from what is politically convenient,
economically expedient, socially agreeable, religiously tolerable and
culturally prescribed. I have wanted to openly discuss the best available
science. That is all. It appears the generally accepted thinking of a
surprisingly large number of so-called experts in the field of population
dynamics appears to have an unscientific foundation. Their preternatural
thought and theorizing about the population dynamics of the human species
appears to be both incomplete and mistaken. Most disquieting of all, a
widely shared and consensually validated theory about a demographic
transition four decades from now is directly contradicted by unchallenged
scientific research. As a consequence, and it is a pernicious consequence,
woefully inadequate thinking and fundamentally flawed theorizing has been
broadcast during my life cycle and continues to be broadcast everywhere by
the mainstream media as if it is not only science but the best available
scientific evidence. The implications of this unfortunate behavior,
inasmuch as it appears to be based upon a colossal misperception of what
could somehow be real regarding the human population, appear profound. This
failure of nerve has served to slow momentum needed for a confrontation with
a formidable global predicament that appears to become more difficult to
overcome year by year.

In their elective mutism regarding an astonishing error, are first class
professional researchers with expertise in population dynamics behaving
badly by allowing the “ninety-nine percenters” to be misguided and led
down a primrose path by the “one percenters”? The power of silence on
the part of knowledgeable human beings with feet of clay is dangerous
because research is being denied that appears to shed light upon a dark,
non-recursive biological problem, the understanding of which appears vital
to future human well being and environmental health. Too many experts
appear to be ignoring science regarding the human population and instead
consciously through their silence consenting to the leviathan scale and
unbridled expansion of global overproduction, overconsumption and
overpopulation activities that are being adamantly advocated and
relentlessly pursued by greedmongering masters of the universe, the tiny
minority among us who are primarily responsible for ravaging the Earth,
ruining its environs and reducing its fitness for habitation by the
children. If this assessment of human behavior is indeed a fair
representation of what is happening on our watch, then the desire to
preserve the status quo, mainly the selfish interests of ‘the powers that
be’, could be at least one basis for so much intellectually dishonest and
morally bereft behavior. Could it be that the outrageous per capita
overconsumption, large-scale corporate overproduction and unrestricted
overpopulation activities of the human species worldwide cannot continue
much longer on a planet with the size, composition and ecology of a finite
and frangible planet like Earth?

]]> By: April http://www.theearthconnection.org/blog/2010/07/awakening-to-nature/comment-page-1/#comment-1935 April Thu, 08 Jul 2010 01:14:01 +0000 http://www.theearthconnection.org/blog/?p=2561#comment-1935 Amen! I agree with Steven that we should restore our respect for science. The overwhelming majority of climate research scientists, for example, tell us there is a serious problem that needs addressing. We should pay attention. Amen! I agree with Steven that we should restore our respect for science. The overwhelming majority of climate research scientists, for example, tell us there is a serious problem that needs addressing. We should pay attention.

]]> By: Steven Earl Salmony http://www.theearthconnection.org/blog/2010/07/awakening-to-nature/comment-page-1/#comment-1932 Steven Earl Salmony Wed, 07 Jul 2010 18:25:46 +0000 http://www.theearthconnection.org/blog/?p=2561#comment-1932 I do not know if I am right or wrong to ask directly and repeatedly for truth, as each of us sees it, to be spoken loudly and clearly so that people can share an understanding of the global predicament looming ominously before humanity. But, it does appear to me that if people with knowledge lose faith in God's gift of science by denying its presence and remaining electively mute while selfish, shortsighted leaders go forward unsustainably on the basis of specious, preternatural thinking, then the human community has no chance whatever of responding ably (ie, in sustainable ways) to the human-induced challenges before all of us. I am trying to encourage the lighting candles because the darkness enveloping the "primrose path" many too many so-called leaders are so adamantly advocating and recklessly pursuing is anathema to me. I do not know if I am right or wrong to ask directly and repeatedly for truth, as each of us sees it, to be spoken loudly and clearly so that people can share an understanding of the global predicament looming ominously before humanity. But, it does appear to me that if people with knowledge lose faith in God’s gift of science by denying its presence and remaining electively mute while selfish, shortsighted leaders go forward unsustainably on the basis of specious, preternatural thinking, then the human community has no chance whatever of responding ably (ie, in sustainable ways) to the human-induced challenges before all of us.

I am trying to encourage the lighting candles because the darkness enveloping the “primrose path” many too many so-called leaders are so adamantly advocating and recklessly pursuing is anathema to me.

]]> By: Elizabeth Cottrell http://www.theearthconnection.org/blog/2010/07/awakening-to-nature/comment-page-1/#comment-1913 Elizabeth Cottrell Fri, 02 Jul 2010 23:02:09 +0000 http://www.theearthconnection.org/blog/?p=2561#comment-1913 Thank you for sharing this, April. It helps explain why you write so beautifully about the natural world. Your caring and passion are always evident in your writing. I have not seen the statistics, but I have heard that there is researched support for the fact that a very high percentage of those who end up working to protect the environment -- either through their career or through their volunteer work -- have had childhoods that were immersed in being outdoors and having unobstructed access to it...people who, more often than not, recall spending hours as a young person rambling, wandering, and exploring outdoors. Your personal story is certainly a support for wonderful places like parks and arboretums which offer exposure to the natural world for those who many not get it otherwise. Thank you for sharing this, April. It helps explain why you write so beautifully about the natural world. Your caring and passion are always evident in your writing.

I have not seen the statistics, but I have heard that there is researched support for the fact that a very high percentage of those who end up working to protect the environment — either through their career or through their volunteer work — have had childhoods that were immersed in being outdoors and having unobstructed access to it…people who, more often than not, recall spending hours as a young person rambling, wandering, and exploring outdoors.

Your personal story is certainly a support for wonderful places like parks and arboretums which offer exposure to the natural world for those who many not get it otherwise.

]]> By: Jim Z. http://www.theearthconnection.org/blog/2010/07/awakening-to-nature/comment-page-1/#comment-1911 Jim Z. Fri, 02 Jul 2010 19:57:41 +0000 http://www.theearthconnection.org/blog/?p=2561#comment-1911 World-renouned naturalist Edward O. Wilson wrote a book entitled "The Biopilia Hypothesis," which I found engrossing. http://wilderdom.com/evolution/BiophiliaHypothesis.html World-renouned naturalist Edward O. Wilson wrote a book entitled “The Biopilia Hypothesis,” which I found engrossing.

http://wilderdom.com/evolution/BiophiliaHypothesis.html

]]> By: Diane http://www.theearthconnection.org/blog/2010/07/awakening-to-nature/comment-page-1/#comment-1909 Diane Fri, 02 Jul 2010 17:43:53 +0000 http://www.theearthconnection.org/blog/?p=2561#comment-1909 Hi April, It sounds as if you have what Howard Gardner would call the Naturalistic intelligence--innately. I, too had experiences of the natural world as a child, such as visits to my relatives' farms, but I didn't light up like you did with those experiences of nature. I was more attuned to music and to my inner world. You open me to experiences of nature I would not otherwise have. Diane Hi April,
It sounds as if you have what Howard Gardner would call the Naturalistic intelligence–innately. I, too had experiences of the natural world as a child, such as visits to my relatives’ farms, but I didn’t light up like you did with those experiences of nature. I was more attuned to music and to my inner world. You open me to experiences of nature I would not otherwise have.
Diane

]]>