Recorded July 16 2024
Description
Following the attempted assassination of former United States President Donald J. Trump, Nate reflects on the dysfunctional social dynamics which have brought many of us to high levels of tribalism and mistrust toward others and divorced from the deeper challenges facing us in coming decades. As humans, we all – for the most part – share the same enjoyments in life – beautiful nature, autonomy, music, healthy, tasty food, clean water, friends, and family (whatever species they might come in). Values are rarely – if ever – right or wrong, but they can become a polarizing force if they are blindly pursued without the broader context of the carbon pulse and what brought us here. Is it even possible to have a political platform underpinned by a shared understanding that we live as part of the web of life, recognizing the centrality of energy and ecosystems, and seeing the limits of technology? Could we align our political choices with these realities and be more effective, open to others, and act in a bi-partisan manner as citizens of the world?
Show Notes
00:10 – Assassination attempt on Donald Trump
04:20 – Polarization on core values
04:59 – The Carbon Pulse
05:17 – Reality 101
06:22 – People have very little savings, healthcare is unaffordable, mental health crisis
06:26 – Pessimistic views of the future
06:46 – The stock market is not reflective of success for the average person, the bottom 50% owns 1% of stocks
07:18 – Energy is fundamental to everything
07:37 – AI energy demands
07:48 – Money and technology is supported by energy
08:04 – We are dependent on finite resources
08:19 – There’s nothing left after shale oil
08:38 – Ever rising debt is unsustainable
08:53 – Renewable energy is actually just rebuildable
09:12 – Multi-polar world
10:04 – Humans are animals
11:04 – US beliefs on climate change
11:17 – Planetary boundaries
11:29 – Microplastics in breastmilk, in the bloodstream, Endocrine disrupting chemicals causing 1-2% drop in human male sperm count every year
11:39 – Insect populations declining 1-2% per year
11:41 – Disrupted nitrogen cycle
11:42 – Slowing AMOC
12:36 – Technology is not a solution
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Watched and really appreciated ..👍
https://www.gp.org/platform Yes, we are in a predicament. The Green Party platform may not be perfect but it is a living document. I think single most important plank in it is Greening the Dollar which proposes a monetary system transition from a private sca,e to a public service. Money and power are two sides of the same coin. Yes, the main issue is not technical it is about power. Every issue including the environment has at its root the privately controlled money system designed to concentrate wealth and power to the top. You must remember, money powered empire was happening before they discovered and exploited the oil but it is money that has been the driver of that as well as the centralization of production, population and power.
As former World Health Organization director Margaret Chan explained at a press conference, "most of the organization’s funding comes from private donors and that they decide what that funding is to be spent on." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PutGCTfmPSc In other words, only money talks, those who fund the WHO tell it what to do. This is true not only of the WHO but of nearly every public and private institution in the world including governments, as the 2014 Princeton study on political influence by Gilens and Page indicated.
https://act.represent.us/sign/problempoll-fba
Lord Acton pointed out well over 100 years ago that, “power corrupts.” The “power” he was referring to was money. He continued that “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Here he was referring to the power to create money, which is a public power that the commercial banks of the finance industry usurped from our government through legislative sleight of hand in 1913. They have steadily increased their power and control ever since. As Lord Acton said, “The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.“
“The problem of the modern economy is not a failure of a knowledge of economics; it's a failure of a knowledge of history." " The study of money, above all other fields in economics, is one in which complexity is used to disguise truth or to evade truth, not to reveal it. " ~ J. K. Galbraith
monetaryalliance.org