Is Global Warming Analogous to The Economic Environment?

"True or False? Global Warming is to the Planet what Debt is to the Economy."

As I understand it, the Scientific point of view about global warming, is that the long term effect of our short term actions will result in the earth becoming inhospitable to life as we know it. This is an obviously oversimplified synopsis, but accurate as I understand what Science is saying.

So I ponder whether or not the following equation is accurate:

Global Warming : The Earth : : Debt : The Global Economy

We are continuing to produce greenhouse gases faster than the ecosystem can process them. We are using fresh water faster than the climate system can replenish ground water. We are depleting forests faster than nature can produce them. We are destroying the ozone layer faster than the atmosphere can replenish it. The life cycle of the planet will be altered by these factors in ways we can only guess at, but seem to be negative - at least for civilized human beings.

Are we doing the same thing to the global economy?

National debt worldwide is beyond the tipping point. Every major country owes more than it can repay. Greece is the first of many. It can't even pay interest payments on its debt. And interest rates are at historic lows. Italy, Spain, Argentina and a whole bunch of countries are on the brink of being where Greece is. (Or did Argentina already default?)

Japan has more national debt than any other country on the planet. Their economy has been in a recession or stagnant for two decades.

The U.S. and Europe are fighting neck and neck to see which currency collapses first and the winner pushes the other over the finish line.

The U.S. is not bankrupt only because the Federal Reserve is doing a whole bunch of 'creative accounting'. And the U.S. alone owes enough money to China to send that economy into the toilet.

Interest rates have to go up sometime. Zero per cent is not sustainable forever. When it does, the debt service equation worldwide changes exponentially, doesn't it?

What's the difference between 1) the debt service equation and rising interest rates, and 2) warmer temperatures and rising sea levels?

What's the difference between using too much ground water and borrowing too much money?

Is there an analogy here? It seems so to me.

So where the hell is Science? We have a 30 year plan to discuss that might mitigate the impact of global warming. Why don't we have one that might mitigate the impact of global financial collapse? It seems like the economic problems are a bigger threat to Science than global warming. Where are the scientists? The research? The dire warnings? The passion? The outrage? The plausible solutions? The arrogant criticism?

C'mon Science. Get to work!

Looking Inside

"I'm not talking about being introspective."

Mom had a heart attack a year ago. They also found and fixed an aortic aneurysm.

Mom's mom died of a heart attack. Mom's dad had diabetes, lung cancer, etc. (They died two weeks apart.)

Dad died of lung cancer, COPD, emphysema, etc. So did his dad, and his dad's dad.

Great-Grandma stroked out. Great Grandpa had cancer. Uncle died of heart disease.

So, health problems present themselves in every family. Nobody ever knows about any of it until it's too late.

What do we really look like on the inside? Not in our hearts, but our hearts themselves. Not mentally, but inside the brain? Breast cancer has gone from the #1 cause of death among women to #3 because of the mammogram. And in a few years, it will fall even further. Why? Because we figured out how to look for it.

So there are MRI's, CT scans, x-ray machines, etc that can look at our bodies on the inside. Sometimes they find stuff. But traditionally they are only ordered when symptoms dictate or when something is suspected to be wrong. We have a Disease Management system in the U.S., not a healthcare system. Tests are only performed when symptoms present themselves. With cancer, usually once symptoms are present it's too late for effective treatment. Aggressive treatment kills as many as it saves.

But how often do we have the opportunity to go get a full body CT Scan simply as a screening? Not often. But the technology exists now to do this relatively inexpensively, with relatively nominal radiation exposure and supposedly clear, reliable results.

The technology is called an Electron Beam CT Scan. I had one today. They're a little expensive, but not compared to individual tests for all of the things mentioned above. I'll know the results in a week or so. Of course, I think I will be 'unremarkable'. But it will be fun to know for sure.

It's Not About Saving The Planet!

"It's About Whether We Can Live On It."

OK, I'm still not going to present myself as a tree-hugging hippie.

I'm entirely skeptical about science - funded with public dollars (taxes) - that needs a crisis so voters and politicians will continue to pay for their work. I was around in the 70's when hair spray and deodorant was killing the ozone layer and we couldn't buy freon for the air conditioners in our cars because 'science' told us we were destroying the planet. (That was all crap.)

Science and Doomsday Preachers both need money, and both groups require the world to be ending to get any. But Data is Data all by itself.

Are we killing the planet? Is global warming the catastrophe Science is claiming it to be? Is fracking (which has increased our energy supply to the point where $2/gallon gas is again a reality) causing earthquakes? If we continue fracking, will earthquakes increase in number and intensity? Is ground water level decreasing as rapidly as Science says? Are weather patterns really changing because I drive a Jeep instead of a Tesla? Is the sky falling?

I don't know, and neither does science. But science promises to tell us if we give it enough money.

Capitalists and greedy oil companies tell us not to worry. Just be happy and buy more stuff.

Common sense tells us the world is changing, but it doesn't know whether that is good or bad.

Ego tells us that whatever happens, we will overcome through ingenuity, effort and adaptation. We'll figure out how to deal with whatever happens - unless it's a great big asteroid in which case only the cockroaches will survive no matter what we do.

Faith tells is that God is in control, and He won't let anything too bad happen.

I don't know what to think. But I think it's in all of our best interests to live a slower, simpler life. Among the benefits thereof, we consume less resources and kill fewer trees. But that's not a sustainable answer for future generations, and doesn't really address the 'health and wellness' of the environment we live in.

I wish someone would figure this out and tell the rest of us. Someone who doesn't need our money to find the answer.

But overall, I think we need to understand that whatever stress us humans put on the global ecosystem, the planet can handle it. It's been here for four billion years, and will be here long after we're all gone. Saving the planet is not the issue. The issue is whether the planet remains a place where we can live, thrive and be happy.

And there is a whole lot more to that issue than just the environment.

No More Smoking

"Over Four Months and Counting!"

Probably my most important accomplishment since I last blogged regularly is that I have finally quit smoking! Completely! Forever!

After mostly vaping instead of smoking for exactly two years, I finally smoked my last cigarette last December. I smoked for 27 years, throughout the process of my dad dieing from all of the smoking demons - emphysema, COPD, Lung Cancer ... basically the whole works. And his sister and dad also died of the same things way before their time. I loved my dad, but didn't really wnt to follow in his footsteps. And it was coming. I still can't breathe very well.

Now I'd like to report how much better I feel.

But I can't.

I can say that I made a quality decision, and after many years of trying to kill this dragon I finally did.

I can say that I'm never smoking another cigarette - ever!

I can say that I think this is the right decision 25 years too late.

I can say that we should continue as a society to help people quit.

I can say that the FDA is full of shit when they down talk vaping. But then again, everything McDonald's sells is FDA approved, and we know that will kill us.

I can say that I am glad to have finally won the war with a long term, destructive enemy.

Maybe someday I will be able to say that I feel so much better. But not yet.

Steve Grand Album Release

"Any Excuse For A Party."

Well, it's been over a year since I updated my blog, and I've been missing it lately. Actually, I've been missing the opportunity to document some of my thoughts more than I've missed the blogging part of this. Anyway, I'm not so sure I have anything to say just now...just a lot that I want to remember for later. And what better place is there to store my thoughts?

And the catalyst for doing so today is the release of an album by Steve Grand called "All American Boy". A Facebook friend posted his video a couple of days after it came out in July, 2013. I did a blog post about it back then because I have never identified so much with a music video in my whole life. I gave the kid some money on Bandcamp, then later on Kickstarter. I had the opportunity to go to a benefit concert he did in Oklahoma City last year, and gave him a hug during the meet and greet that followed.

He's either a really talented artist for a drunk 20 year old or a young man way beyond his years artistically who happened to be a little tipsy for the concert. Anyway, I love his music and I've followed his story on Facebook over the past couple of years. If I had to perform in front of a bunch of gay boyz and looked like him, I'd need a few drinks. Overall, he seems like a very genuine, creative and motivated guy, and it's cool to be proud of him.

The point is that his debut album is out today, and it's really good. So buy it if you read this. Steve Grand. All American Boy.

And the other point is that I intend to start blogging again for no other reason than because I miss it. There's a lot going on in life, in the world and in my head. Gotta start letting some of it out again.

I'm not sure I'll be able to do this every day like I did before, but for now, strap on the feed bag and enjoy - or else click the "Next Blog" link at the top and have a nice life.