Larry, if we make an effort today, we might be able to save August.
Jaws (1975) | dir. Steven Spielberg
Six talking points to use when debunking the myth that overpopulation is the root of the environmental crisis:
1. Rates of population growth are declining: Between 1950 and 2000, the world population grew at a rate of 1.76%. However, between 2000 and 2050, the rate of growth is expected to decline to 0.77%.
2. Overpopulation is defined by numbers of people, not their behaviors: Industrialized countries, who make up only 20% of the world’s population, are responsible for 80% of the carbon dioxide build-up in the atmosphere. The United States is the worst offender, with 20 tons of carbon emission per person. Therefore, it is not the amount of people that leads to degradation, but what they are doing. Permaculture design illustrates how humans can have a positive impact on the health of our ecosystems, bringing greater health and equity.
3. Overpopulation justifies the scapegoating and human rights violations of poor people, women, people of color, and immigrant communities: Often times the subtext of “too many people” translates to too many poor people, people of color, and immigrants. This idea has been used to justify such practices as the forced sterilization of 35% of women of childbearing age in 1970′s Puerto Rico, under the control of and with funding from the US government. This is a human and reproductive rights violation.
4. Overpopulation points the finger at individuals, not systems: This lets the real culprits off the hook. When we look at the true causes of environmental destruction and poverty, it is often social, political and economic systems, not individuals. We see militaries and the toxic legacy of war, corrupt governments, and a capitalist economic system that puts profit over people and the environment.
5. Supports a degenerative mental model of scarcity: Much of this ideology was created by Thomas Robert Malthus, an 19th century English scholar. Malthus gave us the erroneous idea that the reason there is famine is because there are too many mouths to feed. This hides the reality that we have a distribution problem, not a scarcity problem. Malthus’s work has been used as the philosophical bedrock to justify many human rights violations throughout history.
6. Focusing on overpopulation prevents us from creating effective solutions and building movements for collective self determination: Permaculture teaches us that how we define a problem determines how we design solutions. How does viewing overpopulation as a root problem impact the way we think of and design solutions? What would solutions look like if we viewed people, all people, as an asset? The myth of overpopulation has lead to solutions of population control and fertility treatments, rather than overall health care and women’s rights. The more we blame humans and think we are bad and evil, the harder it is to believe in ourselves, count on each other, and build a collective movement for justice and self determination.
My co-workers are Not Helping, since they are blocking the wireless mouse signal completely. #catsofinstagram #catstagram #catscatscats #jammer #katzenjammerkid #jammiedodger #bandito #fritobandito #ditodeets #mainecoon #tabbycat #rescuecats #mysons #mytreasures #darlingboys #shelterinplace #stayhomestaysafe #cathelp
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-NYvasHb6P/?igshid=w7ubpg8ox3vk
Vladimir..Is that you?
You know someone is braindead when they interpret a tweet that is critical of both Trump and Biden and they automatically think, “RUSSIA SYMPATHIZER!”
The US was wholly unprepared for the coronavirus pandemic.
Senator Bernie Sanders warned us about the inadequacy of our healthcare system for years; he warned us what would happen if disaster struck and it has. But we didn’t listen and now the Democratic candidate that appears almost guaranteed to take the Party’s presidential nomination this summer is former VP Joe Biden, someone who still thinks radical reform isn’t what the American people need.
So, what kind of president would Biden be if he went on to beat Trump at the polls in November? Just compare what both men have been doing since the coronavirus panic began in the US, in March.
#WheresJoe and #WheresJoeBiden have been trending on Twitter, uniting both Trump supporters and supporters of Bernie Sanders. Those using the hashtags have been asking why Biden disappeared for an entire week in the middle of the pandemic. Like many Americans, the former VP decided to hunker down during the crisis to avoid exposure and even built a recording studio in his basement so he could broadcast his speeches without risking his health. But he also also urged voters to show up at the polls in last Tuesday’s primaries in Arizona, Ohio, Florida and Illinois in order to make sure he clenched the Party’s nomination. While Biden’s campaign did warn people not to vote if they have symptoms, it is now common knowledge that people with the virus can be asymptomatic for up to 12 days — or even for the entire time they have the virus — while at the same time spreading it to everyone around them.
Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders has been front and center, fundraising $2m for working class Americans hit hardest by the crisis, while also fighting for a relief bill in the Senate that would help people and businesses weather the crisis. At 78, Sanders is a year older than Biden, and he has risked exposure to the virus in order to continue to serve his constituents and the American people. Sanders has also called for at least $2,000-a-month payments to families until the economy begins to improve. His actions inspired the hashtag #WeDeserveBernie, which has also been trending on Twitter the past week.
In the face of an economic downturn the likes the world has never seen before, I wonder how radical Sanders’s ideas seem now? A $15 an hour minimum wage, Medicare for All, expanding social security, housing for everyone who needs it – that sounds just like what we need. It sounds like relief packages being brought in by other countries’ governments across the world.
Unfortunately, it’s probably too late to take it all back. All the primaries that Biden so easily won and all the warnings about “socialism” made by his Democratic and Republican rivals seem so unfortunate today when we are looking at so many small businesses closing, thousands of Americans unable to pay their rent or electricity bills, and record numbers of infections overwhelming a private healthcare system which isn’t fit for purpose.
