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Prepare for the next Earthquake

Yes, the 7.1 quake in the deserts of California in 2019 made me wonder how long I could last in our house without help from the outside. Perhaps only a couple of days. We gotta get better prepared. Like water, batteries, and some way to cook. The Guardian newspaper had an article with some good ideas from which I have snapped a couple here. I especially like the idea of a solar cellphone charger. The stash of small money is good too. Read on…

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No One Is Too Small To Make A Difference

Greta Thunberg’s speeches have been collected and published by Penguin into a small book available at Amazon in the USA for $8. This is a very important book, in the “must read” category. All profits from the sales are going to charity.

Buy it, read it and then join her team. She needs and wants our help in solving this crisis.

“She is an incredibly clear-eyed child, speaking to adults … This is an invitation to get up and join in. There is hope in these pages, not just doom and gloom.”

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World Population Trends

This info is from the 28 June 2019 issue of Science Magazine. I am not saying this is good nor bad, just publishing “only the facts, ma’am!”…

World Population to peak in 2100
Global population growth is predicted to stop – or even decrease – by 2100, topping out at some 10.9 billion people, according to a new United Nations report. The biggest cause: declining birth rates across both developed and developing nations. Right now, the global fertility rate is above 2.5 births per woman – well above the 2.1 births necessary to maintain the existing population. But by 2100, that number is expected to drop to 1.9, according to the report. Fewer births mean the world population is steadily getting older, putting increased pressure on health care, pension, and social welfare systems. The report predicts the global population will reach 9.7 billion people by 2050.

At first, this seems counter intuitive – how can population go up as fertility rate is dropping. The thing is, we are also living longer, the graph of which is not shown. The increasing volume of aging people is included in the numbers.

According to the current estimates, there are about 7,715,150,500 of us alive as I write this. The following chart shows the growth since I began to imagine!

Of course, the Climate Crisis or War or Plastic Pollution or Meteors or Aliens or Time-Travel or Worm-Holes might change those trend-lines. But then, what-if scenarios only tend to complicate forecasts. Like I said “only the facts, ma’am!”…


” The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” – Isacc Asimov


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Wanted: No War

The longer other countries, such as Iran and North Korea, are not allowed to have nuclear energy, the longer they are dependent on oil!

As The Guardian said “The establishment assumes that Iran can never possess nuclear weapons, yet the United States lives with nuclear-armed adversaries like Russia and China and aligns with the nuclear-armed military dictatorship in Pakistan.”

The Climate Crisis almost demands that we enable the building of more nuclear power plants. We have learned from our mistakes how to build them safely now. We should offer to build nuclear facilities for any country that wants them! Especially Iran and North Korea.

But Big Oil, with their fossil fuels lobby, holds tremendous economic power and influence on politics, particularly in the United States. They continue to scare the public over anything nuclear.

We need to fear Climate Crisis more than War. Iran having the ability to build a nuclear warhead is not nearly as dangerous as Trump having control of the US arsenals.

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Good to dos

from Vala Afshar in Twitter

A healthy list:

1 Get more sleep

2 Make time to exercise

3 Drink more water

4 Eat less sugar

5 Stay teachable

6 Read and write more

7 Remove clutter

8 More random acts of kindness

9 Do not respond to negativity

10 Spend quality time with family

11 Show gratitude

12 Forgive first

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Gas powered cars are no longer practical

The other day, Elon Musk posted a Twitter message that triggered thoughts about real life cars. See picture below.

Nowadays many people keep cars until they are 10 years or more older. And nowadays most cars sold are gas powered, the percentage for hybrid, electric and hydrogen powered are small.

The climate crisis scientists are now predicting that we only have 10-11 years to turn things around or we are doomed. People aren’t yet worried enough to change their habits.

But just think – if they are right, then imagine how little the gas powered car bought today will be worth in 10 years! It will be not only worthless, people will think negatively about anyone driving one. They will stone ya’ll, because eventually people will get mad when their quality of life declines.

Financially speaking, if you are going to buy a new car now, hybrid or electric is the only smart purchase. The price of gas and oil is just going to increase. And in 10 years, there might not be any available.

Thanks for the practical thinking, Elon.

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Climate Crisis: Time to Ration Meat and Flying

The following excerpts are from an article in The Guardian today, written by Sonia Sodha, the chief leader writer at the Observer. Given the seriousness of the Climate Crisis, it is time that we get serious about how we are going to solve the problem. Rationing might seem “over the top” to those who are addicted to the meat of 4 legged animals and flying, but it is time to get serious..

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/01/sin-taxes-on-meat-or-flying-wont-change-a-climate-hypocrite-like-me-rationing-might/

“Rationing to tackle the climate crisis could be given a modern-day makeover. People could be allocated polluting credits to cover activities such as meat eating and flying that they can sell and buy in an online marketplace. If you’re short of cash, or not that bothered about eating meat or flying abroad, you can feel smug as you sell your credits to someone who is, which makes this far more equitable than green taxes. And setting a population-level limit on something such as meat consumption would create huge incentives for companies to invest more in the production of things such as environmentally friendly, lab-grown meat.”

and

“A decade on, it’s surely an idea whose time has come. The climate school strikes show the next generation is hungry for more radical action. Sure, the hypocrite-hunters will balk at the prospect of rationing to save the planet. But I’m optimistic that more of us will come to see that it’s going to take something more drastic than trying to persuade people to voluntarily scale back to whip us into shape.”


“A question cannot be answered until it is asked, and once asked, it cannot be unasked.” – Anthony Aguirre


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Trying to Find Canned Still Water

Plastic is pilling up on our beaches, plastic is killing ocean animals, plastic is not biodegradable. So I decided to look for an alternative to plastic bottled still water that I can toss into the trunk, the bottom of a canoe, or wherever, without fearing breakage. (Yes, I have a glass jug for work, but it is heavy and breakable.).

Alas, the local stores don’t carry canned water unless it is sparkling or flavored! Don’t tell me it is because people won’t buy it — Amazon sells it! And many brands are European. It looks to me like USA Corporate companies (except Amazon) just aren’t worried about the planet.

So far, the Internet has helped me with some information.

CanO – resealable or ring pull, spring water, London

Pathwater. – reusable, plastic screw top

Open Water – aluminum screw top, MBAquarium approved

Liquid Death – mountain water ring pull (try Walmart)

Blue Can – reverse osmosis filtered water ring pull

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We Need More Climate Crisis News

Listen up Media Folks, we need more news about the Climate Crisis, every day.  There is nobody blinder than those who do not want to see. An antigovernment attitude currently runs our world. We need to regularly fight confusion about Climate Change fostered by those afraid of government by talking about it every day. Where better than in our newspapers? The human game is a team sport, help us all participate.

Help by sending a Tweet to your local TV news channels. Here is an example.

“Listen up Media Folks, we need more news about the Climate Crisis, every day. There are none so blind as those who will not see.”

Include addresses to your own channels in the Tweet:

@CBSNews @NBCNews @ABCNews @ksbw @KION546 @MontereyHerald

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Big Artichokes!

Perhaps the farmers in Monterey County having been tinkering with the genome of the Artichokes! Some of them are getting very large lately, 5-6 inches in diameter! And they are quite tasty too, lots of flesh. They go great with butter or mayo. These beauties are $3.99 each at Whole Foods today. Serve with bean soup and a side of salmon and your heart will thank you.