Now in print:
Eating Fossil Fuels: Oil, Food, and the Coming Crisis in Agriculture
By Dale Allen Pfeiffer
New Society Publishers (2006, 125 pages)
A review (via EB)
Original article at From the Wilderness (alt, another)
At Global Public Media:
Kellia Ramares of Radio Internet Story Exchange talks to author Dale Alan Pfeiffer about his book Eating Fossil Fuels (New Society, Oct. 2006) [mp3]
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
The death of liberal education in the U.S.?
From "Exporting Idiocracy":
Links
U.S. Secretary of Education
College Accreditation in the United States
American Academy of Liberal Education
Peter Wood, Prove You’re Not Stupid: Secretary Spellings’s dubious reform dooms a voice of reason. (originally at NRO)
Jeff Martineau, Department of Education misguided in withdrawing recognition of AALE
Peter Berkowitz, Liberal Education, Then and Now
Mr. Wood also discusses the influence of Howard Gardner on Chinese educators:
Long before Gardner came onto the scene, people recognized that not all strengths were those of the theoretical intellect or merely served the intellect; but if liberal education is aimed at building up the intellectual virtues, and not the arts or other virtues, then Gardner's analysis is irrelevant. However, once the goal of education has been forgotten (truth, especially the highest truths), his work can easily be made the foundation of the latest fashion in "educational reform," especially if education is seen as a tool of building up self-esteem in any way possible.
I posted some links to Gardner and other related resources here.
Several comments come to mind. First, Meijie better hurry and get the job done before U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings achieves her goal of dismantling American-style liberal education in America. Spellings is in the midst of decertifying the primary liberal arts accrediting body in the United States, the American Academy of Liberal Education. She is also ramrodding through a federal system of No-Child-Left-Behind-style testing requirements for higher education.I didn't know about this. If this sort of thinking becomes solidified at the Department of Education, it would destroy any chance of a separate accreditation body for Catholic colleges truly devoted to promoting liberal education of being founded and surviving. The standards that really need to be clarified and enforced are at the secondary level, not at the college and university level.
Links
U.S. Secretary of Education
College Accreditation in the United States
American Academy of Liberal Education
Peter Wood, Prove You’re Not Stupid: Secretary Spellings’s dubious reform dooms a voice of reason. (originally at NRO)
Jeff Martineau, Department of Education misguided in withdrawing recognition of AALE
Peter Berkowitz, Liberal Education, Then and Now
Mr. Wood also discusses the influence of Howard Gardner on Chinese educators:
Our master plan for dumbing-down Chinese education, however, is not just about atmospherics or theatrics. Let’s not forget: this is American educationism. And that means theory. Hulbert eventually gets to this: “If there is an American figure to whom Chinese proponents of more active, multidimensional, student-centered learning have listened especially attentively over the past half-decade, it is Howard Gardner of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.” Gardner is, of course, the originator of “Multiple Intelligences” theory, or M.I., the charming idea that intelligence isn’t a single capacity but many separate capacities. Gardner’s theory has instant democratic appeal since it implies that no one is truly dumb. We are all just different. I may have trouble with calculus, but I’m really good at skipping stones. I have stone-skipping intelligence. So there.Education that starts and ends in rote memorization is by no means complete or fully humanistic, but it is better than neglecting the memory altogether, which happens frequently in American schools today. Students need to memorize materal in order to pass their exams, sure, but they are not asked to memorize the classics of literature, especially poetry, nor the basic definitions that are needed for reasoning (especially in the sciences and in philosophy). Short-term memory is emphasized and rewarded; long-term memory is not.
Gardner’s arguments are occasionally more sophisticated than this but not by much. M.I. theory has pretty direct links to the contemporary classroom. If it is true, we shouldn’t try to teach the same stuff to everybody in the same way. Gardner originally distinguished seven kinds of intelligence: linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, kinesthetic, spatial, interpersonal, and intrapersonal—and later added an eighth, “naturalist” intelligence, which is attentiveness to the environment. Gardner believes all eight kinds of intelligence need to be cultivated, so an M.I. approach to education would necessarily be broad. Moreover, this kaleidoscopic view of intelligence emphasizes discovery over didactic approaches.
Is Gardner’s theory consonant with what we know about the mind from more rigorous forms of inquiry? Or is he misusing the word “intelligence” to speak of talents? Is my stone-skipping excellence really best conceived as exemplary of my “kinesthetic intelligence”? Or do I just have good hand-eye co-ordination?
I don’t have to answer this to be delighted that China began a national project in 2002, “Using M.I. Theory to Guide Discovery of Students’ Potential.” Hulbert quotes a Chinese high-school principal who sees a link between Gardner’s theory and the traditional Confucian emphasis on the need for teachers to understand the character of their students. Hulbert’s article prompted me to look a little further, and she is right. Gardner is catching fire in China. He has attracted graduate students to his program at Harvard; he went to China on a speaking tour in May 2004; and his book, Multiple Intelligences, was published in Chinese in 1999. In a conference paper last year, “How MI Theory fits into Traditional and Modern China,” Jie-Qi Chen also points out that a 2001 directive issued by the central government ruled that Chinese education had to focus on “developmental characteristics of children … individual differences [and] active learning.” Gardner wasn’t mentioned by name, but according to Jie-Qi Chen, “it was quickly perceived” that M.I. would be “one of the main theoretical frameworks for China’s curricular reform.”
Let us be patient. It took nearly a century for the “reforms” of Dewey’s progressivism to make American schools into places that cultivate self-assurance over knowledge, co-operation over achievement, blandness over distinction, and dullness over everything. Gardner is widely recognized as one of Dewey’s most important heirs, and we need to give his ideas some time to turn China into a nation of self-satisfied ignoramuses.
Long before Gardner came onto the scene, people recognized that not all strengths were those of the theoretical intellect or merely served the intellect; but if liberal education is aimed at building up the intellectual virtues, and not the arts or other virtues, then Gardner's analysis is irrelevant. However, once the goal of education has been forgotten (truth, especially the highest truths), his work can easily be made the foundation of the latest fashion in "educational reform," especially if education is seen as a tool of building up self-esteem in any way possible.
I posted some links to Gardner and other related resources here.
Photos: Lee Yo-won
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Fr. McNamara on Blessings and Plenary Indulgences
Blessings at First Masses
And More on Divine Mercy Sunday
ROME, MAY 8, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.
Q: I have two questions: 1) The Benedictine Ordo for the American Cassinese Congregation has the following note concerning "Rescripts from the Holy See": "His Holiness, Pope Paul VI, has decreed that a newly ordained priest may, on the occasion of his first Mass, celebrated with some solemnity outside of Rome, grant once the Papal Blessing, using the formula given in the Roman Ritual. The plenary indulgence attached to this blessing may be gained by the faithful who devoutly assist at the first Mass, provided they have received the sacraments of penance and holy Communion, and have prayed for the intentions of the Holy Father. Given at Rome by the Sacred Penitentiary on November 5, 1964." Do you have any idea what the present status of this rescript is? Since the Roman Ritual has been edited since 1964, which text would be used? What is the status of the plenary indulgence? 2) A deacon asked that I serve as the assistant priest, vested in a cope, for his first Mass. From what I understand, the assistant priest at the first Mass was more a matter of custom than law. Is this allowed in the current liturgy? -- M.M., Latrobe, Pennsylvania
A: I would say that the rescript is no longer in force as its effects have been absorbed by the general norms of the Enchiridion of Indulgences.
The document mentions the papal blessing to which a plenary indulgence is attached. The present Enchiridion in concession No. 43 attaches a plenary indulgence to the priest and faithful who assist at a newly ordained priest's first solemn Mass, but this indulgence is now dissociated from imparting the apostolic blessing.
The Enchiridion grants the right to impart the apostolic blessing only to the diocesan bishop, who may impart it three times a year at the end of particularly solemn Masses (norm No. 10.2).
Therefore, as the papal blessing is no longer granted, the question as to what ritual should be used in imparting it is moot. The priest may use any of the blessings proposed in the missal according to the liturgical time and season.
With respect to the second question, effectively, the use of an assistant priest at a first Mass is custom and not prescriptive. This priest is usually an experienced priest whose principal task is to guide an understandably nervous new priest through the intricacies of the celebration.
The role of such a priest is similar to that of a master of ceremonies, although, unlike this figure, he usually simply vests the stole over an alb or surplice. The cope would not ordinarily be worn on this occasion, although its use may be a legitimate local custom in some places or within some orders.
The assistant priest does not usually perform the functions pertaining to the deacon, although it is not unknown for him to read the Gospel and preach the homily at a first Mass.
* * *
Follow-up: Divine Mercy Sunday
After our piece on Divine Mercy Sunday (April 17), a reader said: "I'm still confused … we can all gain a plenary indulgence every day if we fulfill certain requirements. If that is so, I don't see anything special about the Divine Mercy Sunday."
Effectively, there is no difference between the plenary indulgence granted on Divine Mercy Sunday than any other act to which a plenary indulgence is attached. The Church has simply added this grant to the list as another means of obtaining the grace of an indulgence.
After all, no plenary indulgence can be more plenary than others.
A plenary indulgence is itself special and even though it may be obtained every day, the indulgenced acts always require some degree of spiritual exertion beyond normal Christian devotion.
Another reader asked: "Can the image of Divine Mercy be hung behind the altar? Is it against liturgical rules? Or is this an individual decision made by the parish priest?"
Depending on the design of the Church, the image of Divine Mercy may be hung in an alcove, behind a side altar or in some other suitable place.
While it is not forbidden to display an image of Christ, Mary or a saint behind the main altar, in modern churches this is usually reserved for the church's patron. At the same time, the apse may be decorated with murals and mosaics figuring several personages.
Therefore, I would say that the image of Divine Mercy would not normally be set up behind the main altar unless the church was dedicated to this devotion. It could be so set up on a temporary basis on Divine Mercy Sunday or during devotions to the Divine Mercy.
Finally, the image may never substitute or block the image of Christ crucified required for the celebration of Mass.
HK416 on The Unit?
Looked like a HK416, but maybe it was a modified M-4--the rail system on the barrel looked the same.
Tonight's the season finale.
Tonight's the season finale.
A real grumpy old man
The BBC is being ruined by women, says Patrick Moore
The first ST pilot did feature a female No. 1, but that was never aired. I wonder if the heads of NBC objected to that.
They have even destroyed sci-fi, Sir Patrick’s personal passion. He said: “I used to watch Doctor Who and Star Trek, but they went PC – making women commanders, that kind of thing. I stopped watching.”
The first ST pilot did feature a female No. 1, but that was never aired. I wonder if the heads of NBC objected to that.
Scottish National Party
their website; wiki
SNP Manifesto 2007
While I was aware of its part to bring about Scottish independence, I didn't know the orientation of the party until I did some research today--"center-left" indeed. Just another European party supporting socialism, with a twist. It also encourages immigration of 'new Scots' (and I don't think they mean Nova Scotians) as a way to increase the population.
Peter Hitchens refers to the victory of the SNP in passing:
Indeed, if there is no economic self-sufficiency, then what's the point of having a local parliament and "political independence," if that independence were in name only? True independence is linked to autonomy, not to subserviance to the bureaucratic monolith known as the EU. Those who dream of relocalization and community will have to look elsewhere--the SNP is a disappointment.
website for the Scottish Parliament
ScottishPolitics.org
SNP Manifesto 2007
While I was aware of its part to bring about Scottish independence, I didn't know the orientation of the party until I did some research today--"center-left" indeed. Just another European party supporting socialism, with a twist. It also encourages immigration of 'new Scots' (and I don't think they mean Nova Scotians) as a way to increase the population.
Peter Hitchens refers to the victory of the SNP in passing:
Meanwhile in Scotland, and in Wales, the Tory Party barely exists. By the way, I'm not specially bothered by the SNP advance. Like all the other nationalisms now unleashed in the British isles, this is a side-effect of EU membership. The EU claims to be against 'nationalism' but what it is really against is strong, sovereign nation states in territory it regards as its own. Actually it encourages the most petty and small-minded forms of nationalism, meaningless, non-sovereign toy parliaments in unviable former 'nations' or statelets, national costumes, forgotten flags.
How the EU must rejoice to see he repeated daft calls for an 'English Parliament'. This is a plea it can grant all too easily provided the 'Parliament' has no power. I suggest it should be held in a giant thatched mock-Tudor barn in Milton Keynes, surrounded by massed bands of traditional Morris Dancers and traditional football hooligans, all waving their St George's flags (while real pillars of nationhood, such as the great army regiments and the Royal Navy, are quietly dismantled, disbanded and demoralised).
It even invents regionalism in countries which have no historic regions, such as Portugal (or England, where I am told I live in some historic homeland romantically named 'South East'. I wonder what its national costume is?).
All these petty assemblies do is provide employment for second and third-rate politicians who could never prosper in a proper nation state, and provide a way for Brussels to bypass and undermine the real national governments it wishes to destroy. Oddly enough, of all the nationalist movements in the British Isles, only Sinn Fein seems to have grasped that being controlled and financed from Brussels, by the EU, does not amount to independence but is simply a new form of dependence. I hate to put in a good word for this grisly party, but credit where it is due - though I wonder if they will embrace the EU when they finally get their hands on the Dublin government, which I suspect they will shortly after the abolition of Northern Ireland in the 2016 referendum. I cannot believe that the rebels of 1916 risked their lives for Ireland to be governed by EU directives - 'a Province Once Again' doesn't make much of a watchword.
If Britain could only leave the EU, then the 'dream' of a Scottish 'nation' - in reality a minor, tributary province of the EU empire, far less privileged than it is in the United Kingdom, would vanish with a loud 'pop', and Scotland might have to attend to real politics again. As with so many other issues, the claims of the EU to be sovereign over these islands are at the heart of the issue - and never discussed.
Indeed, if there is no economic self-sufficiency, then what's the point of having a local parliament and "political independence," if that independence were in name only? True independence is linked to autonomy, not to subserviance to the bureaucratic monolith known as the EU. Those who dream of relocalization and community will have to look elsewhere--the SNP is a disappointment.
website for the Scottish Parliament
ScottishPolitics.org
Fourth Generation Warfare Evolves, Fifth Emerges
Fourth Generation Warfare Evolves, Fifth Emerges (1 MB PDF), by Col. T. X. Hammes, USMC, Ret.
Racing ahead, China resurrects its past
Racing ahead, China resurrects its past
By Kent Ewing
The restoration of an "Imperial Confucianism"--the exploitation of Confucianism to help the state maintain power and social control, without reference to the common good--continues.
Confucius reduced to fortune cookie sayings, by a Chinese academic?
CRI article on Yu Dan; China Post; Women of China
The Useless Tree: Yu Dan's Errors; More on Yu Dan
The hole left by the revolutions of the 20th century--I hope that it will be filled by Christianity. Principles without habituation and customs to ground them will not take, and while there is unrest in the countryside, social disintegration will continue in the cities.
By Kent Ewing
A return to ancient wisdom, leaders hope, will create a more moral society with a heightened sense of the importance of relationships - especially the hierarchical relationships of Confucianism that command obedience.
The restoration of an "Imperial Confucianism"--the exploitation of Confucianism to help the state maintain power and social control, without reference to the common good--continues.
Although media expert Yu Dan has been attacked by scholars for oversimplifying and thus degrading the words of the sage, the 42-year-old professor, dubbed an "academic supergirl", has become something like a pop star with lay people. Yu's style is to pick out simple, understandable truths from the Analects and relate them to the day-to-day experiences of ordinary people. A 200-page compilation of her CCTV lectures has sold more than 4 million copies, which tops any of J K Rowling's Harry Potter books, and she is now selling her act, and her book, in Taiwan.
Confucius reduced to fortune cookie sayings, by a Chinese academic?
CRI article on Yu Dan; China Post; Women of China
The Useless Tree: Yu Dan's Errors; More on Yu Dan
Such statements put the new emphasis on philosophy and religion in clearer perspective. With Marxism now a dead ideology in China, leaders are searching for ways to fill the void and unify the country. In the past, they have tapped into nationalism, but that can be a dangerous force, as witnessed by the sometimes violent anti-Japanese protests that swept over the country two years ago.
The hole left by the revolutions of the 20th century--I hope that it will be filled by Christianity. Principles without habituation and customs to ground them will not take, and while there is unrest in the countryside, social disintegration will continue in the cities.
Hallyu Stars Give Sparkle to Korean Fashion
Hallyu Stars Give Sparkle to Korean Fashion
Korean celebrities turned into fashion models for one night for the first-ever Hallyu Stars Fashion Festival held at Seoul Plaza, Saturday evening.
Top Stars Win Andre Kim Awards
Top Korean fashion designer Andre Kim gave recognition to Korea's most beautiful and popular stars during his 2007 Best Star Awards...
Actress Lee Young-ae, star of the hit MBC drama "Daejanggeum" (Jewel in the Palace) receives the grand prize during the Andre Kim 2007 Best Star Award at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seoul, Monday evening.
Korean celebrities turned into fashion models for one night for the first-ever Hallyu Stars Fashion Festival held at Seoul Plaza, Saturday evening.
Top Stars Win Andre Kim Awards
Top Korean fashion designer Andre Kim gave recognition to Korea's most beautiful and popular stars during his 2007 Best Star Awards...
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Actress Lee Young-ae, star of the hit MBC drama "Daejanggeum" (Jewel in the Palace) receives the grand prize during the Andre Kim 2007 Best Star Award at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seoul, Monday evening.
Legislative Council blocks motion condemning Tiananmen repression
Legislative Council blocks motion condemning Tiananmen repression
The president of the body, Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, blocked the motion that calls on the government to shed light on what happened during the massacre on 4 June 1989. Those pushing for the motion say the most important thing is that the pro-democracy movement is remembered.
Hong Kong (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Hong Kong’s Legco (Legislative Council) yesterday blocked a motion condemning Beijing for its crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy and anti-corruption movement on 4 June 1989.
Legco’s president, Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai (considered by many to be very close to the Communist government) said it would be "out of order" for the legislature to criticise the central government.
Responding to Leung Kwok-hung, the legislator who proposed the motion, Fan said: “The Council, being a local legislative body under the central government, has no right to demand an end to the one-party rule the Communist Party enjoys.”
If Leung does not manage to reach agreement with the president, this will be the first year in which a motion recalling the Tiananmen Square massacre is not debated in Hong Kong.
The motion currently says “the Council condemns the prime culprits of the bloody crackdown in Tiananmen” and demands that "the Chinese communist government investigate the massacre and bring those responsible to justice.” It also calls for “the release of political prisoners and an end to the one-party dictatorship, and return of political power to the people.”
Leung said “this wording is already milder than an earlier version”, but added that he would “negotiate with Mrs Fan”. Ultimately, he said, "I don't care whether the motion can be debated or not, since it is doomed to be voted down. The most important thing is to get people to remember June 4 1989."
Is a professional police force necessary?
via Lew Rockwell blog:
Police and Thieves
In the comments to that blog entry, one finds the following: ARE COPS CONSTITUTIONAL?
(I don't think the author successfully shows that the establishment of professional police forces is against the letter of the Constitution; he tries to show that the consequences of their creation are predominantly harmful to a "republic." After all, their creation was something undertaken at the local level, not the Federal level. Perhaps there might be a coherent argument against the FBI being constitutional. I doubt it.)
What sort of solutions do paleolibs have to the two causes that necessitate the creation of a professional police force?
1. Big cities (and the crime rates that go with them).
2. Extreme differentiation of function because of the demands of the political economy.
It will be difficult for city-dwellers to help enforce the law if they are busy working 9 to 5, and have "family" obligations afterwards. If professional police forces are an "evil" (that is, lead to evil consequences or conditions for the political community), the author has not shown they are not necessary evils.
Perhaps if the police were unarmed the author would be more sympathetic--but the conditions that would permit an unarmed police force don't obtain here in the U.S., as they no longer exist in the U.K.
Police and Thieves
In the comments to that blog entry, one finds the following: ARE COPS CONSTITUTIONAL?
(I don't think the author successfully shows that the establishment of professional police forces is against the letter of the Constitution; he tries to show that the consequences of their creation are predominantly harmful to a "republic." After all, their creation was something undertaken at the local level, not the Federal level. Perhaps there might be a coherent argument against the FBI being constitutional. I doubt it.)
What sort of solutions do paleolibs have to the two causes that necessitate the creation of a professional police force?
1. Big cities (and the crime rates that go with them).
2. Extreme differentiation of function because of the demands of the political economy.
It will be difficult for city-dwellers to help enforce the law if they are busy working 9 to 5, and have "family" obligations afterwards. If professional police forces are an "evil" (that is, lead to evil consequences or conditions for the political community), the author has not shown they are not necessary evils.
Perhaps if the police were unarmed the author would be more sympathetic--but the conditions that would permit an unarmed police force don't obtain here in the U.S., as they no longer exist in the U.K.
Monday, May 07, 2007
A good enough reason to watch The Bachelor?
Miss Tessa Horst:
I think she looks a bit like Lee Young-ae. Her sister is cute as well. (She and the rest of Miss Horst's family were on TV tonight, as the bachelor Lt. Andy Baldwin visited the families of the 4 remaining contestants.)
She's the fan favorite to win the bachelor's heart by the end of the season, but let's see if she can get a rose tonight.
I think she looks a bit like Lee Young-ae. Her sister is cute as well. (She and the rest of Miss Horst's family were on TV tonight, as the bachelor Lt. Andy Baldwin visited the families of the 4 remaining contestants.)
She's the fan favorite to win the bachelor's heart by the end of the season, but let's see if she can get a rose tonight.
Mike Whitney, Post Mortem for the Stock Market
Post Mortem for the Stock Market
by Mike Whitney May 2 2007 - 11:11am permalink
Something Ron Paul addressed last week, but no one I know of, apart from the bloggers at Lew Rockwell, noticed.
by Mike Whitney May 2 2007 - 11:11am permalink
Ah-ha! So the Fed gooses the money supply, stocks shoot up, and everyone’s happy---right?
Wrong. Growth in the money supply should (closely) parallel growth in the overall economy. So if GDP is shrinking (which it is) and the money supply is increasing then—Viola!—inflation. (“11.8%” to be precise)
Of course inflation doesn’t affect the investor class or their fellow-scoundrels at the Fed---the more money floating around the markets the better for them. It’s just the opposite for the pensioner on a fixed income or the salaried wage-slave who gets a 15-cent pay raise every millennia. They end up getting ripped off with every newly-minted greenback.
But then that’s the plan---to shift zillions from one class to another through massive equity bubbles. All it takes is artificially-low interest rates and a can of WD-40 to keep the printing presses rolling. It’s so simple we won’t dignify it by calling it a “conspiracy”. It’s just a swindle, pure and simple. But it never fails.
Every time the Fed prints up another batch of crisp $100 bills; they’re confiscating the hard-earned savings of working class people and retirees. And, since the dollar has dropped roughly 40% since Bush took office in 2000; the government has absconded with 40% our life savings.
That’s the truth about inflation; it is taxation without representation, but you won’t find that in the government’s statistics. In fact, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) deliberately factors out food and energy so the working guy can’t see how the Fed is robbing him blind. The only way he can gauge his losses is by going to the grocery store or gas station. That’s when he can see for himself that the money he works so hard to earn is steadily losing its purchasing power.
Something Ron Paul addressed last week, but no one I know of, apart from the bloggers at Lew Rockwell, noticed.
Misc from EB
Via EB
(Not all of the articles to which EB links.)
Questioning the compost supply chain
Deborah K. Rich, SF Chronicle
100-Mile Diet: Hand Picked from the Blog'Food mile' foibles. And eating beluga whales.
J.B. MacKinnon and Alisa Smith, The Tyee
Please Lord, not the bees
Peter Dearman, Guerrilla News Network (GNN)
Everything you didn't want to know about Colony Collapse Disorder [CCD]
Could the Mysterious Agricultural Techniques of an Ancient Amazonian Civilization Make New Zealand Farming More Competitive? (Audio and text)
David Haywood, Public Address
(Not all of the articles to which EB links.)
Questioning the compost supply chain
Deborah K. Rich, SF Chronicle
100-Mile Diet: Hand Picked from the Blog'Food mile' foibles. And eating beluga whales.
J.B. MacKinnon and Alisa Smith, The Tyee
Please Lord, not the bees
Peter Dearman, Guerrilla News Network (GNN)
Everything you didn't want to know about Colony Collapse Disorder [CCD]
Could the Mysterious Agricultural Techniques of an Ancient Amazonian Civilization Make New Zealand Farming More Competitive? (Audio and text)
David Haywood, Public Address
Kurt Cobb, The point of despair
Published on 6 May 2007 by Resource Insights. Archived on 6 May 2007.
The point of despair
by Kurt Cobb
The point of despair
by Kurt Cobb
...I don't believe our ecological predicament has any solutions by which people normally mean that we can solve our problems and then go back to business as usual. Instead, we are left with responses--responses which may prove valuable or worthless, but the results of which cannot be known in advance. In short, there are no guarantees that our responses will work. By "work" I mean allow us to maintain the semblance of a technically advanced human civilization.His parting words:
It's no surprise that such a realization brings many people to the point of despair. Of course, if they remain there, they can accomplish nothing. But, let's not hurry forward. Let's dwell on that despair for a moment. Does it have a function? I think it does. It is at the point of despair that people can feel deep down their connection to all that has come before them and all that will come after. It is not just their personal futures that are at stake anymore. It is the whole project of human civilization, the art, the literature, the philosophy, the great works of architecture, the great institutions of learning and research, the huge store of human knowledge, and the ongoing experiment in self-government. It is also the future of the natural world, not just what it can provide for our sustenance, but also the beauty and diversity that result from its own purposes.
It is no wonder that such an understanding brings with it what seems like an unbearable burden. Indeed, for some people this is the very first time their personal ambitions shrink as their link to the social and natural world greatly expands. To feel that link strongly can be overwhelming. It brings with it a sense of responsibility, the size of which seems immense. The moment seems to say, "If I am linked to all of this, I am somehow responsible for it." But how can one lone person even make a dent in the immense challenges humankind faces?
And still, on the path to sustainability, I do not think that despair is something to be avoided. Rather, I think the point of despair can become a point of departure for contemplating our deep connections to one another and to nature. When we have made some sense of those connections, then and only then, is it time to move on to action--action now informed by a new and more profound understanding.our deep connections to one another and to nature and to God.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Photos: QE2 in Jamestown
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (3rd R), U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney (4th R) and Virginia Governor Tim Caine (2nd L) depart the Jamestown settlement in Jamestown, Virginia, May 4, 2007. The Queen is visiting the U.S. as part of the celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts (UNITED STATES)
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by US Vice President Dick Cheney, left, is shown a breastplate by historic interpreter Fred Schlopp in the armoury of the reconstructed Jamestown Fort, at Jamestown, Va., Friday May 4, 2007. The Queen visited Jamestown - the site of the first permanent English settlement in the US - to mark the settlement's 400th anniversary.(AP Photo/Fiona Hanson, pool)
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by US Vice President Dick Cheney in historic Jamestown, on day two of her US visit. Friday May 4, 2007. The Queen returned to Jamestown - the site of the first permanent English settlement in the US - to mark the settlement's 400th anniversary. (AP Photo /Arthur Edwards, Pool)
Queen Elizabeth II is shown a well by Bill Kelso, director of Archaeology, Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities while at Historic Jamestowne, on Jamestown Island, Va., Friday, May 4, 2007. (AP Photo/Rodney Lamkey, Pool)
Philip Emerson, right, of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation gives Queen Elizabeth II a tour of the Jamestown Settlement in Williamsburg, Va., Friday, May 4, 2007. (AP Photo/Lisa Billings)
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (L) listens to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, speak during a presentation at Jamestown Settlement museum in Williamsburg, Virginia, May 4, 2007. The Queen is visiting the area to mark the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, England's first permanent settlement in North America. REUTERS/Jim Young (UNITED STATES)
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (R) watches actors take part in a ceremony at the fort at Jamestown Settlement museum in Williamsburg, Virginia, May 4, 2007. The Queen is visiting the area to mark the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, England's first permanent settlement in North America. REUTERS/Jim Young (UNITED STATES)
Actors in period costume stand along a fort wall during a visit to the historical Jamestown settlement by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (not pictured) near Williamsburg, Virginia, May 4, 2007. It is the Queen's first visit to the United States in 16 years. REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES)
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (C) watches actors take part in a ceremony at the fort at Jamestown Settlement museum in Williamsburg, Virginia, May 4, 2007. The Queen is visiting the area to mark the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, England's first permanent settlement in North America. REUTERS/Jim Young (UNITED STATES)
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (2nd L), U.S Vice President Dick Cheney (L) and Philip Emerson (3rd L), Executive Director of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, walk past women in period costumes during a tour of the historical Jamestown settlement near Williamsburg, Virginia, May 4, 2007. It is the Queen's first visit to the United States in 16 years. REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES)
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney (R) watch actors take part in a ceremony at the fort at Jamestown Settlement museum in Williamsburg, Virginia, May 4, 2007. The Queen is visiting the area to mark the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, England's first permanent settlement in North America. REUTERS/Jim Young (UNITED STATES)
Queen Elizabeth II smiles as she greets the crowd during a tour of the Jamestown Settlement in Williamsburg, Va., Friday May 4, 2007. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Queen Elizabeth II is shown some armor by a actor Fred Scholpp in period costume at the Jamestown Settlement museum in Williamsburg, Va., Friday, May 4, 2007. The Queen is visiting the area to mark the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, England's first permanent settlement in North America. (AP Photo/Jim Young, POOL)
Queen Elizabeth II is escorted past the 'Susan Constant' ship by Philip Emerson, Executive Director of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation at Jamestown Settlement museum in Williamsburg, Va., Friday, May 4, 2007. The ship is a replica of one that brought America's first permanent colonists to Virginia in 1607. (AP Photo/Jim Young, POOL)
Queen Elizabeth II, center, and Vice President Dick Cheney, second from right, are escorted by Philip Emerson, second from left, of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation during a tour of the Jamestown Settlement in Williamsburg, Va., Friday, May 4, 2007. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Queen Elizabeth II tours the Historic Jamestowne archeological site with William Kelso, director of archeology for the site, in Jamestown, Va. Friday, May 4, 2007. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool)
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