Next Crisis Please

Pile another log on the fire. Today Gordon Brown, the gutless British Prime Minister (just when you thought no one would be worse than Tony Blair) warned that soaring oil prices represented: "the most worrying situation in the world". They are just touching $140 a barrel.

Ha! What about the food crisis or is that too last week? What about climate change? Hail just destroyed much of the greens on the organic farm I'm working on over the weekend, not to mention all the flooding on the Prairies. What about the resurgent Taliban breaking out their comrades from an Afghan jail? Aren't terrorists the biggest threat we face?

Unfortunately our "leaders" and states can't handle complexity. They like neat little packages and one dimensional issues. News flash, nothing is one dimensional about human society or the earth. And you can bet your bottom dollar that out leaders and their bureaucrats aren't going to learn how to handle these threats any time soon.

And really what is there to handle and control? This is all our fault. We being civilized humans. We thought we were being so smart. Didn't we realize that oil was not an infinite resource? And didn't we realize that burning all that fuel would fuck up the planet and mess up climates from pole to pole? Were we not paying attention to the fact that industrial agriculture uses more calories to grow food than you get out (not the case with small, non-industrial farms by the way)? And surely we must all recognize that we ignore injustice and starvation around the world while our waistlines expand ever outward. And we think there's no justification for "terrorists" and make ridiculous statements like "they can't stand freedom".

You reap what you sow.

We are entering a very dangerous time. Civilization is about to go down hard because it's been built on such dodgy and shortsighted foundations. The only salvation is to learn as much as you can so you're actually a useful person and would be indispensable in a future small community. No one will care pretty soon whether you can type fast, cook with saffron or research a species of tree frog in the Congo. Be useful at any cost (love, employment, family) dear reader; surely you can see the writing on the walls as clearly as anyone else? If others can't listen what else can you do but walk away?

Yet just this morning I heard a man arranging for an education fund for his young child. Hate to ruin your day but . . .

All are Sacred

A bear must die. This weekend a black bear apparently killed a 70 year old Quebecoise. For that it must die.

Why? Because it challenged the hierarchy of beings. Humans and on top and the bears are definitely below us. So if a shark or a bear or worst an insect, kills a human, regardless of age or ability, that "animal" is dead. Every human in the area will pick up his or her guns, sharpened sticks and rocks and smash its skull in and spit on its bloodied fur and broken corpse. That is "justice".

The story reported about the woman: "The mother of five and grandmother of 11 had extensive hunting and fishing experience in the area."

All I can think is how this could just as easily be a description of the bear. If it was a mother bear then certainly it had young children. If it was an older bear it certainly had grandchildren if not great grandchildren. And if you were a mother wouldn't you do anything to protect your children; likely this was the reason for the attack.

Its life is sacred; just as much as the woman who was killed. There is no quantifying our lives and experiences to justify the value of one being over another. We are all important to this earth and all have our part to play.

This bear should not die because if we kill her we kill her cubs and all the cubs to come. That is wrong. This is a tragedy. Don't expand it.