Posts Tagged ‘global’

Epidemic of Silence

Sunday, March 31st, 2013

Why does it seem like people in positions of power are too scared to speak their minds? Is it the same reason the vast majority of us don’t always stand up for what is right? There are these tremendous tasks ready to be accomplished, yet no one seizes the reigns. Reigns which are just waiting there idle, well within anyone and everyone’s willing grasp.

I speak to these blights on our world which, if we had our shit together as a species, would have been eradicated decades ago. Extreme poverty. Mass starvation. A behemoth industry that profits off the very war it creates. This faux-democracy perpetuated by businesses and their puppets within the political system.

We cannot afford to wait.

Especially when millions of lives are hanging in the balance daily, and the only ingredient missing is enough people willing to take action. We have the resources. We have the know how. But we don’t yet have the get-off-our-assedness enough to breach the threshold.

Take modern warfare, as an example. It is completely unnecessary  It serves no purpose, other than charging entire nations billions of dollars to kill a high percentage of our fellow global citizens. We don’t need it in our world to survive. In fact, it’s pretty much the opposite of what our world needs. Yet war, as so often is the case, remains absent from mind and mouths of the mainstream media, politicians, and most importantly – we the people. We know it’s wrong but we haven’t risen to the occasion and stopped it.

And speaking of war, the war on drugs is a proven failure which – thanks to conservative governance – we continue to pursue with greater ferocity than ever. What the hell, people? It’s like in the movies where a boulder or car is barrelling down from behind, and our only inclination is to run faster in the same direction when a step to either side would see our problems end.

The evidence is overwhelming. Making drugs illegal has done nothing to stem the harm they can cause society. If, on the other hand, drug prohibition is a means to institutionalize racism, reinforce poverty, and bolster a militarized domestic police force, then the war on drugs has been a resounding success.

But I digress. My point is that all of these institutionalized mistakes can be readily fixed, if only enough of us were to speak our minds. Just look at Women’s rights and minority rights. It works for them. And right now LGBT rights are at the crux of their struggle for same rights on Facebook and elsewhere. Plus, marijuana legalization is making some great headway.  All this happens because a big enough collective  of people found ways to share their voice.

It’s not that these injustices went unnoticed for generations. It’s that we regular people have been too scared to campaign against them with enough determination to make change. Only now, when for years just a handful of brave souls would dare to make noise, does the majority hop on board and then make what’s right become integrated into society as a whole.

Still, we have yet to reign in the banks, gain way more accountability over global corporations, clean up the collusion and corruption in the news media, end the war on drugs and then dismantle the whole war machine for good. And… oh yea, I’m gonna need us to go ahead and end world hunger while offering every human, at the very least, the most basic necessities for life. That’d be great.

These goals are quite clear. The sooner we get them done, the better. So what the hell are we waiting for?

Automated Greenhouses – Soon to be a Reality!

Friday, October 12th, 2012

Picture a greenhouse that continually produces food all by itself, with little to no human interaction. This autonomous mechanical marvel – built from low cost materials and powered by renewable energy – could truly mean a sustainable source of fresh food all year round.

Sound too good to be true? Well, it is right now. But not for much longer. Automated greenhouses are fast becoming a reality, and these seemingly magic structures will give humankind a permanent solution to world hunger.

Consider the Horto Domi project, which aims to take the labor out of running a garden at home. Their working prototype can regulate soil and atmosphere conditions, runs on the economical Arduino micro-computer, and can be monitored remotely via web App.

So it’s not yet a magical box. But over the coming years, teams will hash out the remaining pieces of the puzzle. Atmospheric water collectors will provide all the fresh water needed to irrigate the crops. Wind and solar will provide the necessary energy to heat and run the system. The structure itself will be built from some kind of abundant material, shaped into whatever form works best. And all that will be left is to figure out how to mechanize the entire crop cycle safely and effectively.

The implications of this will be astounding! No one will be starving anywhere on the planet. Incredible, right?

If you think about all the wars and chaos in our world, so much of it is rooted directly in poverty. People in desperate situations are willing to do desperate things. When no mouth goes hungry, when everyone’s needs are met, there won’t be this fundamental drive towards violent conflict.

Automated greenhouses – and the incredible boon they’ll offer- give us one more reason to believe that world peace is just around the corner.

Global Voting System Drawing Closer

Wednesday, May 30th, 2012

A few years ago I put forth a proposal for a Global Voting System, which is a tool for democracy that runs on all internet enabled devices, giving anyone a way to put forth ballots (either local, national, or international) and then let everyone else vote on the issue.

Of the few responses I received, only a few were positive. Most people didn’t see the potential, or worse, they saw the idea as pointless, irrelevant or impossible.

Now, it seems, a Computing Science Professor, Jeremy Hansen of Vermont, has seen the light and has announced his run for VT State Senate on a platform of digital polling and direct democracy. Hansen:

Having read pretty heavily on the topic, weighed the pros and cons, I wondered why an elected representative couldn’t use online and in-person polling of constituents to decide the way he or she votes. Though we are living in the ‘information age’ and have rich communications media and opportunities for deep and accessible deliberation, we are getting by (poorly) with horse-and-buggy-era representation. In the spirit of science and because I think it’s legitimately a better way of doing things, I recently announced my candidacy for Vermont’s State Senate in Washington County.

Amazing! Could it be that I’m not crazy after all? Maybe I’m just ahead of the curve. At least that’s what I like to tell myself when it comes to my bold predictions of world peace by 2020.

Muslims are Us

Sunday, May 20th, 2012

Thanks to a rising rate of Internet adoption, our world is uniting faster than ever before. This is revealing how humans everywhere on earth, in every circle, in every society, are pretty much the same. The vast majority of us – everyone but the fringe minorities – could peacefully co-exist with anyone, anywhere else on earth.

The more we come to see this, the more evident it will become that modern warfare has grown obsolete. We don’t need wars anymore because we no longer see entire populations and foreign countries as a threat requiring an army to fight.

Combined with some other factors technology is making possible, like the eradication of poverty, this unprecedented interconnectedness puts humans alive today right on the brink of world peace. It’s only a bit longer until enough people see this to be true, and then make it happen.

The Story We Aren’t Hearing – Icelanders’ Debt Forgiven

Friday, May 11th, 2012

When it comes to the Euro zone economic crisis, the mainstream media is quick to highlight the ongoing protests, especially those in Greece, Spain and Italy where riots and clashes with police make for great headlines. And the only solutions they mention bounced between austerity for the people and bailouts for domestic banks by even bigger international banks.

But there is another alternative, one which the media seems to consistently overlook: bailout the people instead of the banks.

This is what Iceland has done, and the results are stupendous. After a short period of recession, Iceland now boasts economic growth close to 3 percent, where as the rest of the Euro zone is limping forward with under 1 percent gains.

Iceland’s solution to the economic crisis is being hailed as one of the world’s best recovery stories. Yet this victory is mostly ignored, many believe, because those who run the media simply don’t want us to know about it.

They’d rather we think our only options are to take on the debt burdens created by the big banks’ poor choices. They’d rather we just enslave ourselves for generations to global loan sharks like the IMF. They don’t want us to be empowered and free from the shackles of a tyrannical economic system.

But that’s just too bad. The world’s people are awakening. We are rising up. Together we will be redistributing wealth and power by preventing big money’s long-standing predatory practices. We are co-creating a far more just global civilization.

Global Marijuana March 2012

Saturday, May 5th, 2012

Marches are underway across the land, as hundreds of thousands of people are showing their support for the movement to finally end marijuana prohibition.

In honor of this great day, here’s a lovely infographic showing the negative costs of  the ineffectual policies drug prohibition, and what could be gained by finally freeing the weed. (The stats pertain to America, but are equally applicable to any nation choosing to fight the war on drugs.) (more…)

Don’t Attack Iran! – World

Sunday, March 25th, 2012

The beautiful ‘Israel Loves Iran’ campaign is reaching new heights, nearing close to 40,000 likes on their Facebook page, and raising almost $20,000 since its inception just two weeks ago. Remarkable!

Meanwhile, across the UK, members of the ‘Stop the War Coalition’ organized a day of action to speak out against war with the Persian nation. More great stuff!

Demonstrations like these are just awesome to see. Massive outpourings of anti-war sentiments are a key ingredient for eliminating earth’s major armed conflicts. The more they happen, the sooner we can build a lasting peace on earth.

Just picture huge rallies, numbering in the millions, across Israel and America, pressuring their governments to avoid war at all costs. And then imagine if Iranians were doing the same thing, at the same time. Governments on both sides would have no choice but to take notice.

This is precisely why humankind is on the verge of realizing world peace. The Internet is sparking a great awakening, exposing our common humanity and breaking down the fear and ignorance so integral for organizing wars.

A few more years, and our world will be so interconnected, so united, that pro-war propaganda and rhetoric will be useless in the face of the global community bonds we have formed.

Then, it will be just a matter of systematically dismantling the institutions of war, and reallocating those precious resources to where they should have been all along: constructively making the world a better place.

Hundreds of Thousands March in Spain

Monday, February 20th, 2012

Kudos to the magnificent mob of engaged Spaniards who took to the streets today. Government goes to whoever shows up.

These mass demonstration are an effective way to counterbalance the influence that corporations and big money can have on politics. We may not have million dollar lobbyists, but when there’s enough of us, our voice is loud enough to be heard. (more…)

Flipping the Script

Saturday, February 18th, 2012

The world is improving faster than ever before, speeding us all towards a brighter future. Yet, for us to go from here to there, enough of us will have to abandon certain perspectives and internalize new ones. That being said, here’s 3 key scripts that need to be flipped: (more…)

America’s War on Democracy

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

America (along with sidekick Britain) are imperialist forces hellbent on global domination, President Obama is the lead man in a military coup which took place in Washington, and despite a supposedly free press, most of these atrocities remain hidden from the Western world. And, according to noted journalist John Pilger, all of this has been happening for over 50 years now.

Here’s an excerpt of his latest piece:

Since the Second World War, the US has:

1. Attempted to overthrow more than 50 governments, most of them democratically-elected.

2. Attempted to suppress a populist or national movement in 20 countries.

3. Grossly interfered in democratic elections in at least 30 countries.

4. Dropped bombs on the people of more than 30 countries.

5. Attempted to assassinate more than 50 foreign leaders.

In total, the United States has carried out one or more of these actions in 69 countries. In almost all cases, Britain has been a collaborator. The “enemy” changes in name – from communism to Islamism — but mostly it is the rise of democracy independent of western power or a society occupying strategically useful territory, deemed expendable.

The sheer scale of suffering, let alone criminality, is little known in the west, despite the presence of the world’s most advanced communications, nominally freest journalism and most admired academy.

While past presidents presided over imperialist agendas in foreign nations, Barack Obama is the first to truly bring this war on democracy back home to the American people. Pilger:

A military coup was taking place in Washington, and Obama was their man. Having seduced the anti-war movement into virtual silence, he has given America’s corrupt military officer class unprecedented powers of state and engagement.

Obama’s most “historic” achievement is to bring the war on democracy home to America. On New Year’s Eve, he signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a law that grants the Pentagon the legal right to kidnap both foreigners and US citizens and indefinitely detain, interrogate and torture, or even kill them. They need only “associate” with those “belligerent” to the United States. There will be no protection of law, no trial, no legal representation. This is the first explicit legislation to abolish habeus corpus (the right to due process of law) and effectively repeal the Bill of Rights of 1789.

On 5 January, in an extraordinary speech at the Pentagon, Obama said the military would not only be ready to “secure territory and populations” overseas but to fight in the “homeland” and provide “support to the civil authorities”. In other words, US troops will be deployed on the streets of American cities when the inevitable civil unrest takes hold.

The entire article is certainly worth a read, if only to expand one’s own horizons beyond the typical narrative laid out to those of us the Western world. You know what they say – Knowledge is Power!