Is High Technology immune to Climate Change?

 From Apple Macs to Toyota Camrys - Severe weather cause disruptions

Honda Motors Co. cars are submerged in flood waters at a Honda car factory in Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok. Japanese car makers, including Toyota, Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co., are losing 6,000 units of production daily after halting production since early this month in their Southeast Asian manufacturing hub, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said.

Worst floods in 50 years in Thailand hit supply chains

Apple, Honda, Nissan, Toyota, Ford, GM, Canon, Nikon, Sony, Toshiba, Western Digital - all expect supply disruptions.

Don't start the revolution without me!

How do we defeat the 1%, the elite ruling class?

Not by idle protests. Begin with these basic 10 demands:

1. Tax the rich
2. Tax all market trades at 1%
3. Abolish short selling
4. Abolish derivatives, index funds, hedge funds
5. Stop bail out of the banks and corporations
6. Set a cap on salaries and benefits
7. Enforce 100% reserve requirement
8. Abolish the Federal Reserve
9. Abolish political lobbying 
10. Enact a basic living wage

We have to secure the real economy and attack the phantom economy where the 1% derives their wealth. We have to tank the phantom economy. Stop paying interests. Move your Money. Stop paying mega corporations. Stop big oil.

We the 99% can do it.
Share. Exchange. Give away. Barter. Use local currency.
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.
Live a simple life.
Care for each other.

Support the Occupy Together movement where ever you are.

Time for Reflection

It has been 10 years since September 11th, 2001. What have we learned since then? The racism, hatred and wars continue, all for oil and profit. The banksters and corporate moguls continue to rape and pillage the planet and it is ordinary people who suffer. It has been a wasted ten years.

No, it is worse than that. It is almost 40 years since The Limits to Growth was published by Donella Meadows, Dennis Meadows, Jørgen Randers and William Behrens. And it is still business as usual, pursuing along the perpetual path of economic growth. When we come to see that it is all in pursuit of money, greed and power, we will realize that we have wasted 40 years going in the wrong direction.

Buy Nothing Week

You have heard of "Buy Nothing Day". This year 2011, it is Friday, November 25 in North America and Saturday, November 26, internationally. On this day you attempt not to spend any money. That's too easy.

How about "Buy Nothing for 4 Days" or "Buy Nothing for a Week" where you buy nothing except essential food items.

• No coffee, donuts, bagels, cigarettes, alcohol.
• No pop, bottled water, candy, chocolate bars, ice cream, snacks
• No magazines, newspapers
• No shopping
• No gas, taxis. Park the car and walk or take public transit instead.
• Get up in the morning and have a healthy breakfast, cereal and fruit.
• If you are heading off to work, pack a lunch and some fruit.
• No eating out for dinner. Make a wholesome meal for you and your family.
• No going out to the movies. Take a walk or bike ride around your neighborhood.
• Take the dog for a walk.
• Visit the public library, borrow a book or video.
• Invite a friend over or visit a friend or relative.
• Spend some quiet time with yourself or with someone special.

Try it for four days. You will be healthier and happier for doing it. Now make this a habit and your lifestyle. Humanity will thank you for doing it.

Resource Liquidation

While spending some days in beautiful Algonquin back country, one cannot help but reflect upon what it means to exploit the earth's natural resources. Whether it is forestry, minerals, fresh water or oil, resource extraction means resource liquidation. In every case, it becomes a battle between creating jobs and generating revenue versus leaving the planet untouched. Companies are only eager to move in to make a profit with total disregard for everything else.

What this all comes down to is this is conversion of the natural world to capital, that is, resource liquidation. We convert the natural resource, and in most cases, non-renewable resource, into cash which is a human creation. Cash gives the bearer an entitlement to future human labor. Resource liquidation means putting future generations into indentured labor. Resource liquidation means entrenching our society deeper into a global state of feudalism, oligarchy and slavery.

Global Catastrophe

 A global crisis is in the making. We are being led down the garden path to imminent calamity by the most powerful institutions, corporations and individuals that ever existed in the world. Of course, they would not tell you this because they are only serving their self interests and greed.

Over the last fifty years the world has become a much smaller place. The world is now one global market place. Major and minor corporations alike know that they must have global dominance in order to compete and survive. Globalization is the operative word. It is winner takes all.

What we have come to understand is that the global monetary system is based on perpetual expansion. Banks must continue to grow the money supply. But the unfortunate and ultimate end result is that every unit of currency ever created (dollar, pound, ruble, peso, yen, whatever) will be amassed into the hands of the elite.

Institutions, banks and corporations are in total control. Sovereign governments and the military-industrial complex are all under the control of the elite and their financiers. Global economics is dominated by institutional and corporate megaliths the likes of the IMF, World Bank, WTO, BIS, international banks, Exxon Mobil, BP, Chevron, Shell, Monsanto, Cargill, Walmart and the list goes on and on.

We know “too big to fail” means “too big to be allowed to fail”. Institutions and corporations have become so all encompassing that financial failure of one would cause a huge domino effect that will bring down the entire monetary system. Is the U.S.A. too big to be allowed to fail? Is there an alternative?

Let us not be fooled. When CEOs and politicians claim to know what is good for the economy, we know that their plan is to continue business as usual. We know that continuing monetary expansion means enslaving our descendants, our children and grandchildren for the benefits of the children and grandchildren of the elite.

This is a class struggle. This calls for a class uprising. We will take this no more. This is a call for justice. We will end the exploitation of the working class by the elite. Monetary expansion is not the solution. This is a call for a boycott of mega corporations, banks, oil companies and mega stores.

What are some of the things we must advocate for?

• End to monetary expansion
• Abolish interests
• Curb exorbitant profits and salaries
• End the bailout of banks and financial institutions
• End of globalization
• Abolish short selling
• Abolish index trading, hedge funds, commodity speculation

Here are things you can do immediately:

• Think before you buy, think before you throw away
• Exchange or give away unwanted items instead of discarding in the garbage
• Extend the lifespan of what you purchase
• Buy quality not junk

Conserve

• Reduce your energy consumption
• Reduce your material consumption
• Take vacations closer to home
• Go hiking and camping at your local park or conservation area
• Stop cross border shopping – buy locally
• Stop shopping at big box stores - support your mom & pop store
• Avoid excessive packaging and use of plastics
• Stop buying and drinking bottled water and soft drinks

• Make more use of your community facilities, libraries, community pool, parks, theater, galleries
• Move your money to a credit union, check out MoveYourMoney
• Join co-operatives and a Transition Initiative in your area.
• Support your local farmers and growers
• Buy locally grown food from the farmers markets

• Network more with friends and neighbors
• Exchange and share ideas, recipes, tools, equipment, labor
• Have potlucks, picnics, sing-alongs, jam sessions, street parties, movie nights, scavenger hunts

• Do not take unnecessary automobile trips
• Park the car and walk, cycle, carpool, or take public transit
• Telecommute, work from at home if possible

And finally, 

• Keep fit
• Stay healthy
• Enjoy life!

Why we need the New Economy

 We need a new economy because the current economy is fundamentally flawed. How many people would come to this realization when so few care to make an effort to understand the system?

Do you understand the intricacies and subtleties of Quantum Mechanics, the Theory of Relativity or Particle Physics? The answer is most likely not and do you really care? The general public will conclude that all of these esoteric subjects have little impact on our mundane lives and we would just as well leave the details to the experts in the field.

The difference with economics is that it not only directly affects us all daily but it also directs, steers, dominates and controls all of human society. So why should we leave it up to the experts and why should we assume that the experts have it all figured out correctly?

As the joke goes, if you took all the economists in the world and laid them all in a straight line they would still not reach a conclusion.

The current economic system is fundamentally flawed because money as we know it is a human fabrication created out of nothing. Money is created by our banking system as instruments of debt when consumer, corporate, institutional and government loans are needed. The interests on loans are siphoned off from the very same loans that are created. The only way this can be sustained is by creating more loans. Hence the amount of loans created and hence the debt outstanding has to keep on growing. Our economic system is based on perpetual growth and this is not sustainable on a finite planet.

Money is a debt on future workers and generations. The small group of people who have amassed the world's monetary wealth holds the remainder of the population and its future generation as hostages and slaves to their needs, demands and self interests. It is to their benefit that the current economic system should continue on its perpetual growth path with business as usual. This elite group has infiltrated and controlled our institutions, corporations, media, advertising, means of productivity, military-industrial complex, political system and government.

You must come to the realization that every day you head off to work, you are doing so to make someone else richer. We work to earn money to pay for the things we consume and to pay interest to the banks. Would it not be better if we all worked for the betterment and well-being of ourselves and fellow neighbours?

What are the alternatives?

We are witnessing the simultaneous collapse of three global systems that are closely intertwined, (1) the economic system, (2) the natural environment on which all life depends and (3) our global social structure.

No alternatives will be sought until all three systems inevitably collapse. Then the need for change becomes evident. Change will come about from our reaction to collapse rather that proactive mitigation.

The amount of debt outstanding and the interest incurred are of such astronomical figures in virtually every nation that the entire economic system will collapse because of its sheer weight.

The demand for growth in consumerism in order to fuel the economic growth will destroy the planet's ecosystem. We will witness extreme climatic changes, significant loss of biodiversity and human lives, water shortages, crop losses, starvation, mass migrations and war over resources.

The masses will revolt. Social unrest now occurring in the Middle East will be repeated in every nation when the unemployed and disenfranchised have lost all social dignity and all hope for a better future.

Will the new economy ever see the light of day? That remains to be seen.

What would the new economy look like if the world is willing to accept this fundamental change in our social economic model?

The new economy would embrace the gift economy where we exchange gifts-in-kind.

The new economy would be based on Co-operatives, Social Enterprises, Social Responsible Corporations, Employee Stock Ownership Plans, where the common good takes precedence over profit and where the salary of the CEO is no more than three times the average wage.

The new economy will banish usury and interest where sustainability replaces growth.

The new economy will provide a living wage where every citizen is granted dignity.

The new economy will adopt shorter working hours where employment is available for all and more time is available to spend with family, friends and building the community.

Are we ready for the New Economy?