COUNTING ON SUBSTACK
a new venture for a prolific, progressive writer
Join me in this new venture into progressive thoughts about Politics, Religion, the Environment and more. Here, you will find a daily blog (at least, I’ll try), editorial comments, a book on Ethical Religion, and (hopefully) radio interviews on Wilderness and Wildlife. I’m a seminary graduate, hold a Political Science degree from Stanford, a former pastor and government administrator and financial advisor. Pretty diverse background, huh? So, here are my thoughts on a variety of subjects that I hope you will find thoughtfully stimulating. And, if you want to hear my audio interviews with wildlife advocates all over the country, go to my website js-wilderness.com or kgvm.org - and listen to wildlife biologists, national park officials, authors, college professors and NGO executives and staffers. Hope you like.
If you grew up in a church-going family and had a Sunday School education, you probably absorbed certain information, ideas and practices that have carried you into adulthood. Many of us had life-changing experiences at church camp during the summer and these experiences are remembered with fondness.
In college, you found it necessary to ignore or by-pass the challenges posed to your faith, so you continued on with a dualistic sense of what you knew and believed. Unfortunately, the religious or faith aspect of your belief system failed to keep pace with your more scientific or rational belief system. It is time to change that.
More to follow or Get my book from Amazon: Ethical Religion and Christian Activism
CLIMATE CRISIS *
If you haven’t noticed, the world is facing a climate crisis, not only in the United States but all around the world. Dry regions are experiencing horrendous fires on the landscape due to drought conditions. Canada, Russia, Greece and other areas where fires are rare or small are now experiencing enormous blazes. Tornadoes and floods are occurring where they have previously been unheard of. All around the world, temperatures are rising, not only in the atmosphere but in the oceans as well. Death Valley saw 133° and the ocean around Miami got to 101̊. Glaciers are melting and disappearing. The planet is in crisis – and there are deniers to persist in ignoring it – or ignoring the impact that human-generated greenhouse gases are the main contributor. `
In contrast to politicians who disdain their findings, scientists and climatologists are nearly unanimous in concluding that the tipping point is near when it will be impossible to reverse, or at least stagnate, the warming of the planet. But the consequences of ignoring climate change will prove disastrous, perhaps sooner than is currently being predicted. It Phoenix today (August 28) it is expected to be 116°. Will it get hotter in the future? Are temperatures of that kind survivable year after year? Hotter temperatures mean oceans will warm and glaciers will melt. What will be the effects on fish in the oceans and livestock and produce on the land? Will food and water diminish in availability? Will coastline communities be flooded by rising sea waters? Will constant tornadoes and hurricanes continue to ravage buildings and landscapes? Will costs to recover become insurmountable? And how will humans react to these misfortunes?
If these questions could be answered, if we know in advance what will certainly happen – and knew the timetable – would it change human behavior? Would it change industrial policy and economic behavior? Would it result in companies closing down because of the pollution they generate? Would it mean that the internal compulsion engine would be outlawed? Would it result in the end of deforestation and lumber production? In the meantime, are we being slowly cooked?