A lesson for youngsters and civics (https://www.chicoer.com September 20, 2022 at 2:14 a.m.)

It was a first for this old timer. This week I was harassed by a group of junior high age boys. I imagine their super power is that they can run faster than me now. In talking with my male peers I discovered that such encounters are not uncommon at our age. It got me thinking about responsibility, and real power, and therefore voting. It seems that with all the fluidity of gerrymandering and city districts, park districts, county districts, etc. that it would not be hard at all, and valuable, to allow and set up a special district covering young people in our county – say those over 12 to under 18, to officially register and vote in any locally appropriate election. Their votes, as things stand now, would not officially count, but irrespective, their votes could and would be accounted separately and made public. I, for one, would be interested in knowing what issues move these young critters to participate in the community civic. I imagine that civics/government are being taught in local schools and this would integrate nicely in a most practical way with that education. Imagine an early teen who knows as much about local elections as an 8 year old knows about dinosaurs or superheros. Awesome! But they would still be able to run faster. Can't change that. Don't actually want to. But giving them this civic informational vote – seems like it would be good practice and an eye-opener for everyone.

When Mother Nature is kicked to the curb (Letters to the Editor | January 12, 2023 at 2:37 a.m.)

The latest weather calamity is not normal. It is, instead, payment on a bill due, compounding on an environmental credit card pushed pedal-to-the-metal. These “bombs” with Mother Nature are nowhere near what they will become. There is no governor on this thing. It is racing down our decrepit crumbling potholed infrastructures like a bat-out-of-hell. Today is as good as it will ever be again. Compassion First Please! The first thing we as a community need to do to prepare for our own safety is to exercise our public compassion by sheltering those of our citizens without a roof. There will be many more coming. Many will be us. There are 1,899 listed 501(c)3 Nonprofits in Butte County alone. If each one was made accountable to consider simple basic refuge to just one additional community citizen we could protect twice the current population of those who live here without a roof. I am not talking fancy, but basic address, toilet, cover, air conditioning, garbage service. Whatever actions we take, it begins with preserving the natural capacities of the land. Our survival as a community depends on laws and policies that serve every individual and takes deep appreciation and attention to the undeniable fixed Physics of Nature. Until then, the lies of capital and our public ignorance and cruelties continue to add burden to the old roof Nature once gave Humans for free.

Three to Thirty Years Left (published Enterprise Record January 19, 2023 at 2:00 a.m.)

Earth and Natural Resource Scientists and Managers tell us we have but three to 30 years to avoid the worst of the Climatic Apocalypse. Three to 30 years! – That is it! If we can not implement restorative responses quickly we humans passed all survivable tipping points decades ago. Turning oversight governance authority of colleges and universities to local Native Tribes of America, of Australia, of Africa, of Asia, would marry science to 20,000 plus years of deeply ingrained natural resource attention and respect. This is just one example of the thousands of types of “baby steps” we need to make happen very quickly. Doing so quickly and well is part of stewardship. We need radical restorative change now. Resist, be kind but firm, listen, agitate, and sue at every opportunity. That is what climate scientists and the young have resorted to. We have between three and 30 years to implement radical adaptive change, or what we understand as Human History, Art, Knowledge, Technology, and Culture will be crushed under the scorned weight of a deeply scarred “Mother Earth.”

Swirling Leaves

I tied a cordless leaf-blower to my electric cargo-bike and have been clearing pedestrian paths as I go along. I make a bit of a spectacle, and I am pushing 24+ volts through an 18 volt blower, so it whines but blows a good bit. It is fun polishing the “public goods”. Teenage boys clap, mothers shout thanks, the homeless give me thumbs up, all of which is a new experience for me. So it is probably illegal. (Just guessing.) Public Goods, like roads and bike-ways, are those things that Government manages. So politicians manage them – or don't. Some folks do not believe in public goods. Some are politicians. They do not want to govern. They believe in power and money, not in governance. So it pleases them to dismantle governance, destroy the public goods, to usurp them to individuals who can horde them for profit. The potholes in the street in front of your house, that is part of the process of dismantlement. So is denial of global warming – the ultimate dismantler. For the last 10 years the oceans have been absorbing an average of 10.3 Hiroshima bombs worth of excess energy every second, that's 37,080 per hour, 6,229,440 Hiroshima bombs worth every week. 330 million every year. The bill starts to add up. That is why I get spontaneous applause from teenage boys, mothers, and the homeless. My act is revolutionary, another old Don Quixote riding a bony pony against the whirlwinds of grand hubris. Cheers! https://eand.co/why-democracys-broken-in-america-and-britain-5582ab57afd5 https://climatecasino.net/2023/01/how-many-hirsohima-bombs-per-second/