Series of Significance: Catch-44, the progress trap and the greedy monkey

[The following five posts were originally published separately in November and December 2010. With unemployment in the US and my own city at 9%-plus and another recession on the horizon (coming soon to a region near you), the message is particularly timely. The posts are now collected in one place for your convenience. No extra charge.]

PT 1 Catch-44, the progress trap and the greedy monkey

I recently discovered that the term Catch-44 is pretty popular.

(By ‘recently’ I mean within the last few hours.)

Not only have I used the term twice today - thinking it was a product of my own imagination - but a Google search reveals Catch .44 is an indie crime drama filmed in Shreveport, LA., starring Bruce Willis and Forest Whitaker.

Stink. I wanted the term all to myself, just like the litre of ice-cream loaded with Smarties I found in the downstairs freezer a few days ago. (Somehow my wife knew about it!)

I like the term Catch-44 because it conjures up memories of Catch-22 (a gripping book and film with later connections to the movie and TV show M*A*S*H).

Feelings that I would describe as Catch-44-ish come up almost every day. Sometimes early in the morning before I’m even out of bed.

I used the term first while describing our predicament with rising costs - and not just related to hydro, which much on the minds of many Ontarians.

I said:

“Because no government is effectively encouraging the move toward smaller cars, homes and lifestyles, our roads will continue to support more cars per capita (and the related expense), our homes will continue to grow and demand more energy and production of household goods, and the associated costs of our lifestyle will increase."

It’s a Catch-44, which is twice as shocking and frustrating as a Catch-22 and any hydro bill.

I elaborated a bit on my use of the term in a later post when I said, “In other words, we’re in a Catch-44, a bad trap, twice as bad as a Catch-22. We’re building and paving roads today that we’ll never repair or replace in the future as far as present home owners are concerned, because they’ll be dead.”

Now, where did I get the idea that we’re in a bad trap?

Stay tuned.

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PT 2 Catch-44, the progress trap and the greedy monkey

The popular term Catch-44 not only conjures up memories of Catch-22 (a gripping book and film with a M*A*S*H connection) but infers there are troubles that are twice as bad.

I also relate Catch-44 back to another term - a progress trap. Illustrative examples are found in the book A Short History of Progress by Ronald Wright (see Read This, right margin).

In it he writes:

“Since the early 1900s, the world’s population has multiplied by four and its economy - a rough measure of the human load on nature - by more than forty. We have reached a stage where we must bring the experiment under rational control, and guard against present and potential dangers,” (pg. 31) i.e., lest we fall into a progress trap.

“We have already caused so many extinctions that our dominion over the earth will appear in the fossil record like the impact of an asteroid... a bad smell of extinction follows Homo sapiens around the world.”


["Asteroids - like the blunt fist of mankind"]

In Chapter 2 he reveals “what we can deduce from the first progress trap - the perfection of hunting, which ended the Stone Age - and how our escape from that trap by the invention of farming led to our greatest experiment: worldwide civilization. We then have to ask ourselves this urgent question: Could civilization itself be another and much greater trap?”

What a great question.

The book is a real page turner.

I highly recommend it, but don’t expect a happy ending a la Walt Disney, e.g., Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The tone of the book is reflected in Wright’s thoughts about some of the roots of modern civilization.

“From ancient times until today, civilized people have believed they behave better, and are better, than so-called savages. But he moral values attached to civilization are specious: too often used to justify attacking and dominating other, less powerful, societies. In their imperial heyday, the French had their “civilizing mission” and the British their “white man’s burden” - the bearing of which was eased by automatic weapons. As Hilaire Belloc wrote in 1898: “Whatever happens, we have got / The Maxim gun, and they have not.” Nowadays, Washington claims to lead and safeguard “the civilized world,” a tradition in American rhetoric that began with the uprooting and exterminating of that country’s first inhabitants.” (pg. 33)

So, about that first progress trap mentioned earlier...

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PT 3 Catch-44, the progress trap and the greedy monkey

About an early progress trap Ronald Wright writes the following:

“Modern hunter-gatherers - Amazonians, Australian Aboriginals, Inuit, Kalahari bushmen - are wise stewards of their ecologies, limiting their own numbers, treading lightly on the land.”

I know, you’re already ahead of me. You’ve deduced that early man did not tread lightly, were not good stewards. You may also have jumper farther ahead to modern day, our wastefulness, the corner we have painted ourselves into quite nicely.

Hey, not so fast.


["Are we nothing more than a greedy monkey?": photo by GH]

Wright continues:

“It is often assumed that ancient hunters would have been equally wise. But archaeological evidence does not support this view. Palaeolithic hunting was the mainstream livelihood, done in the richest environments on a seemingly boundless earth.”

Stop it. Already you’re thinking about how unwisely modern corporations have decimated the seemingly boundless forests and salmon stocks in the NW region of the US, aka ‘the Pacific North-west.' Let Wright finish.

“(Palaeolithic hunting was) done, we have to infer from the profligate remains, with the stock-trader’s optimism that there would always be another big killing just over the next hill. In the last and best-documented mass extinctions - the loss of flightless birds and other animals from New Zealand and Madagascar - there is no room for doubt that people were to blame. The Australian biologist Tim Flannery has called human beings the “future-eaters.” Each extinction is a death of possibility.”

Okay, it’s my turn to openly reflect on a related matter.

This from an essay I read last night from a book entitled Moral Ground (K.D. Moore, M.P. Nelson):

“We are indeed experiencing the greatest wave of extinctions since the disappearance of the dinosaurs,” said Ahmed Djoghlaf, head of the UN convention on biological diversity. “Extinction rates are rising by a factor of up to 1,000 above natural rates. Every hour, three species disappear. Every day, up to 150 species are lost. Every year, between 18,000 and 55,000 species become extinct,” he said. “The cause: human activities.”

Sorry, I digress.

Wright says:

“So among the things we need to know about ourselves is that the Upper Paleaolithic period, which may well have begun in genocide, ended with an all-you-can-kill wildlife barbecue. The perfection of hunting spelled the end of hunting as a way of life. Easy meat meant more babies. More babies meant more hunters. More hunters, sooner or later, meant less game. Most of the great human migrations across the world at this time must have been driven by want, as we bankrupted the land with our moveable feasts... the hunters at the end of the Stone Age were certainly not clumsy, but they were bad because they broke rule one for any prudent parasite: Don’t kill off your host.”

“As they drove species after species to extinction, they walked into the first progress trap.”

“Some of their descendants - the hunter-gatherer societies that have survived into recent times - would learn in the school of hard knocks to restrain themselves.”

Question: Does modern man restrain himself?

Wright concludes:

“But the rest of us found a way to raise the stakes: that great change known to hindsight as the Farming or Neolithic “Revolution.”

And how is that going for us?

We’re inflicting other progress traps upon ourselves.

Now we’re burning rain forests to plant soy for beef cattle.

Now we’re stripping ancient forests in the Pacific NW - at the same time destroying salmon stocks - to send raw wood and jobs to Asia.

Your turn.

Do you know of other examples of Catch-44s, other progress traps?

Are we nothing but greedy monkeys?

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PT 4 Catch-44, the progress trap and the greedy monkey

You may wonder where “the greedy monkey” fits in when encountering the title to my posts.

Well may you ask, as per the conclusion to PT 3, “Are we nothing but greedy monkeys?”

No, I say. We're worse.

And from an anthropomorphic point of view, I even think any self-respecting monkey would agree with me.

Though monkeys are greedy, they will never be as greedy as humankind. Though easily trapped because of their greed, their weakness is a mere nothing in comparison to our own.

For example, all one requires to catch a monkey in some regions of the world are the following materials:

A wooden stake,

a length of rope,

a hollowed out coconut shell with a 1-inch hole,

a few sweet candies.

Then follow the following instructions:

Drive the stake into the ground,

attach the stake securely to one end of the rope and the coconut to the other,

toss the candies into the coconut,

and wait for a greedy monkey.

What will happen once a monkey smells the sweets?

It will reach inside the hole and grab them. And when approached by the trap-setter, it will make a tight fist around the candies and attempt to flee.

However, can you see the monkey’s problem?

Its fist, full of candy, will now be larger than the 1-inch hole, and it can only escape from being caught by releasing its treasure.

Any greedy monkey will soon find itself inside a cage or soup pot. Many do. They are too greedy to release the prize and are held in place by their own hand.

Greed may cost the monkey its life, but the level of greed demonstrated is a mere nothing to that shown by humankind in many instances, because our collective greed can lead not just to the loss of one life but many, and to the extinction of many plant and animal species at the same time.

We know that modern man can barely restrain himself in the use of earth’s resources. Sustainable use of water, land, trees, minerals, fuels and multiple food sources is not practiced.

Though through the centuries humankind has moved from hunting and hunting-gathering to (predominantly) farming because of progress traps (we hunted so well many types of game were hunted to extinction), we’re inflicting other progress traps upon ourselves as we extensively farm around the world.

I wrote in an earlier post, “Now we’re burning rain forests to plant soy for beef cattle.”

About life on the largest scale, A Short History of Progress presents the following:

“Richard Alley points out what should be obvious: humans have built a civilization adapted to the climate we have. Increasingly, humanity is using everything (e.g., renewable and non-renewable resources) this climate provides... (and) the climate of the last few thousand years is about as good as it gets.” (pg. 52)

Ronald Wright continues:

“(Climate) change is not in our interest. Our only rational policy is not to risk provoking it. Yet we face abundant evidence that civilization itself, through fossil-fuel emissions and other disturbances, is upsetting the long calm in which we grew. Ice sheets at both poles are breaking up. Glaciers in the Andes and Himalayas are thawing (we now know that Canada’s north and Greenland are loosing their ice layers quickly); some have disappeared in only twenty-five years. Droughts and unusually hot weather (Canada has experienced its hottest year on record) have already caused world grain output to fall or stagnate for eight years in a row. During the same eight years, the number of mouths to feed went up by 600 million.”

“Steady warming will be bad enough, but the worst outcome would be a sudden overturning of earth’s climatic balance - back to its old regime of sweats and chills. If that happens, crops will fail everywhere and the great experiment of civilization will come to a catastrophic end.”

“In the matter of our food, we have grown as specialized, and therefore as vulnerable, as a sabre-toothed cat.”

Talk about your Catch-44, your progress trap, your greedy monkey.

Will humankind suffer through vast changes associated with climate change with its greedy fist caught in a trap of its own making?

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PT 5 Catch-44, the progress trap and the greedy monkey

Being a man of few words, I was able to explain the meaning of the title in only 4 posts.

Though we will find ourselves in many predicaments in the near future, the greatest will be because of climate change. Our role in our own demise is now and will be indisputable.

Catch-44, progress trap, greedy monkey and countless other terms, I’m sure, will be used to describe our inability to solve a solvable problem.

It seems, though “our only rational policy is not to risk provoking it” (i.e., the near-perfect climate in which 6.7 billion of us live), we poke it with a sharp stick - our motive relates to greed in many instances - at almost every opportunity.

I concluded Pt 4 by asking, “Will humankind suffer through vast changes associated with climate change with its greedy fist caught in a trap of its own making?”

Though I said ‘no’ when wondering aloud if we are like a greedy monkey (we are far worse than any monkey), I say ‘yes’ to the above.

Consider humankind’s carbon emissions related to its pursuit of what many call the essentials of life, i.e., food, clothing and shelter, as well as a few systems upon which we have grown dependent, i.e., transportation, communication and recreation. (There are others, of course. There is no end to our pursuits).

About Canada I would say the following:

On average, bellies are getting bigger. Unnecessarily so.

Closets are getting bigger. Unnecessarily so.

Homes are getting bigger. Unnecessarily so.

The number of cars per capita is growing. Comfort and convenience wins over conservation.

The number of electronic communication devices is growing. Convenience wins again.

The number of recreational opportunities is growing, though almost no one plays checkers anymore.

Related carbon emissions are growing.

According to recent news, ‘countries that signed (the Kyoto Protocol in 1997) were supposed to cut their emissions from 1990 levels, but Canada’s have risen 24%.’ (Dec. 7, London Free Press)

The Canadian government allows emissions to grow.

So do so many other governments on planet Earth. So, climate change advances. Total calories, cotton shirts, square feet per person, cars, cells and play times advance further.

Will we slow the amassing of material goods for the sake of the present and any future generations?

Not at this time. Methinks our greed will not allow it.

Catch-44. Progress trap. Greedy monkey. All apply.

We may be at the point when only a series of major economic set backs or environmental disasters will force us to release our tight grip on a multitude of sweet treasures of so little value when compared to life itself.

Intriguing times we live in, are they not?

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Will curved glass make the NHL game safer? No!

[“We’ve been working since the Pacioretty incident to better protect our players through the environment.” Kris King, Aug. 18, London Free Press]

NHL executives have been working overtime to protect its players for the upcoming NHL season.

Here’s what I’ve heard:

They talked about beefed up padding.

They tossed crash test dummies (not the musical group) in several directions at once.

They created deflection areas using spring-loaded systems and curved glass (thus allowing “a player to deflect off a surface rather than hit it solid”).

Termination points, such as benches, will be rounded.

They shrank “the size of the camera hole in the corner boards by about an inch” so noses, at least the occasional nostril, wouldn’t get ripped.

It all sounds pretty exciting, except for one thing. The NHL game won’t get any safer while players continue to grow taller, wider, heavier and faster, and play on the same-sized ice surface as Canadian and American Junior hockey and my 50-plus men’s league.


["When small, I didn't mind a small ice pad": photo G.Harrison, 1950s]

The NHL squeezes too many big players onto a small ice surface. The league should either continue the evolution of the game - from nine on nine to four on four - or expand the ice surface by 10% in length and width, or more.

Please click here to read about the evolution of the game from seven skaters per team to five and the growth of the players in overall size and weight.

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Should we demand tax freezes above all else?

According to a recent Letter to the Editor in the London Free Press, “before we roll over and accept more taxes as the mandate of heaven, let’s ask three questions.” (Aug. 18, D. Steers)

“Families, according to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, are forking over 40% of their incomes to governments. What level, if any, is too high? 60%? 100%?”

Let’s answer the last question for Mr. Steers first, i.e., is 100% too high?

Let’s say ‘yes.’ How could we buy toiletries if all our money was forked over to a rapacious government? I for one would say 100% is too high.

About the middle question... 60%. I don’t know. Depends on the circumstances.


["When dealing with Canadian badgers, stay way back!"]

Say we were under attack, say by the US after that country was completely out of oil and we wanted the last of the Tar Sands to ourselves. Say we needed bigger, hungrier dogs to protect the Saskatchewan-Alberta border. Would we balk at paying 60% until the ‘superdogs’ were trained and at their posts? I think I’d pay, but (and leave it to me to think of a better plan) I’d be recommending ‘superskunks’ and a phalanx of badgers.

(Sure, some will think that if we have ‘superskunks’ we don’t need no stinkin’ badgers, but I disagree. They’d be a perfect compliment. Sorry, I digress).

With all of the above in mind, is 40% too high? Again, it depends on the circumstances.

Instead of demanding a tax freeze just because the Canadian Taxpayers Federation drops stats in our lap, let’s demand more information.

Please click here to explore some of the different questions we should be asking. Tell me what you think... even about the badgers.

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Zoom w a View: PT2 - Sittin’ on the dock on the river

Time - I still don’t know. Do I even own a watch?

Place - Still on my older son’s dock, Fenelon Falls

Assignment - Sit, relax, point, shoot

Photo 1 - "Some river, some rock, some dock"


Photo 2 - “More river, more rock, more dock”


['Sittin' in the mornin' sun...": photos by GH]

***

Please click here for more Zoom w a View by the river.

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It’s not just “Another Saturday Night.”

"It's another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody,
I got no money though I just got paid.."


[“Chinese fishermen on an almost dried up irrigation canal”: photo by David Gray, Reuters]

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Please click here to read a ‘series of significance’ concerning the water and food bubble facing present and future generations.

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Cartoons in Progress: “Life’s like that, eh” 23

“Jerry reacted immediately to the baby’s piecing scream.”

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Please click here to view “Life’s like that, eh” 22.

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The Workshop: Compost bin from rescued lumber

Company sitting on the back deck will hardly notice the lovely new compost bin (light blue cedar tongue and groove, stained spruce, old gas can on top for flavour) hiding behind my blue spruce.


["I'm not sure what flavour the gas can adds, but it's something.": photos GH]

Upon closer inspection they’ll see a box made from scrap that will last 30 years.

Note to self: “The lower door is a bit narrow, so don’t ever throw out that skinny spade you have in The Annex.”

Gotchya!

***

Where’s the metal hoot owl?

Not needed. I made sturdy latches for the top hatch.

Squirrel and raccoon proof?

We’ll see.

Please click here to see more from The Workshop.

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I spent the day workin’ out

I didn’t post yesterday. Too busy.



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Please click here for Zoom w a View.

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One bite is worth a thousand words

Gourmet dog, Gord Harrison, Warren Buffett, Pay more taxes.


[Photo by G. Harrison]

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Please click here to read more about Gourmet dog, Gord Harrison, Warren Buffett, Pay more taxes.

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Zoom w a View: Sittin’ on the dock on the river

Time - I don’t know. I’m not wearing a watch

Place - My older son’s dock, Fenelon Falls

Assignment - Sit, relax, point, shoot

Photo 1 - "The dock and the river"


Photo 2 - "Just the river"


[Photos by G. Harrison]

***

Please click here for more Zoom w a View.

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Series of Significance - Warren Buffett, pay more taxes

The following three posts were initially published separately beginning on August 16. I will repeat them here - while eating a gourmet hotdog lunch - for your convenience. No extra charge. gah

The Way We Live PT 1: Leftovers and one gourmet hot dog

[“Warren Buffett (one of the world’s three richest men) has touched a national nerve.” (He) “has taken to the pages of the New York Times to call for higher taxes - yes, higher taxes - for himself and his well-off peers.” Aug. 16, London Free Press]

If you are having leftovers for lunch and have an extra spot at the table then I’m your man. I like leftovers.

If I like something the first time, I like it even more the second time. On the third day my slow-cooker Irish stew tastes magnificent.

I relish eating food before it’s wasted and tossed, and believe me when I say a lot of stuff is wasted in North America.

Thomas M. Kostigen writes, “The average-sized house in a temperate climate can fully provide enough water to its inhabitants purely from the rainwater that falls on its roof. The sun provides in one second enough energy to power the entire US population for nine million years, yet we harness less than 1 percent of its energy. The third most common refuse at dumpsites is food.” (pg. 10, You Are Here)

You have no need now, however, to invite me for lunch. I just finished eating leftover macaroni and cheese and half a container of mashed sweet potato topped with butter and Parmesan cheese. (Just about everything I pull from the fridge tastes better with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese, even Parmesan cheese. Sorry, I digress.)

Sure, I would have liked the sweet potato more had it been mixed with diced carrot, parsnip and turnip because I like how the vegetables compliment one another, but I can’t be choosy.

What about meat?

I don’t feel I need as much meat as I presently eat. One good gourmet hotdog every few days would do me fine and I prefer that I create the gourmet dog on my own.

Whenever I eat a restaurant meal I feel I could do better myself. I could save a whack of money and if I planned the meal right, have leftovers the next day and save even more money at the same time. Why, I’m sure there are millions of people around the world like myself who feel they would even get a tremendous amount of pleasure out of stuffing the hotdog skins themselves and not rely on a factory of some sort to help with a small, easy task.

Maybe Warren Buffett felt some of the same feelings - about eating leftovers (with relish) and creating meals - when he said the following yesterday:

“My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.”

***

Leftovers. Stuffed sausages. Shared sacrifice. Oh, it all fits together alright.

More to follow.

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The Way We Live PT 2: Warren Buffett will pay more taxes

[“City hall (London, Ontario) will tap out wallets so long as that is the path of least resistance. Let’s push back. E-mail your councillors just two words: freeze taxes!” Aug. 18, D. Steers, London Free Press]

According to the headline in the Aug. 16 issue of my local paper, ‘Buffett wants to pay more tax.’ I didn’t see that coming.

But Warren Buffett’s timing is perfect. (He strikes me as a leftovers-kinda-guy, and knows when enough is enough. He bet he doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty, stuffing his own sausages, making his own gourmet dog once in awhile. Let me know if I’m wrong.)


[“Two thumbs up! I bet Warren and Gord would like this sausage tutorial.”: photo link]

At the moment US politicians are struggling to reduce the nation’s deficit and get runaway debt under control. “Added revenue” or taxes might be one way to go as far as Buffett, one of the world’s three richest men, is concerned.

His thinking flies in the face of the common default position for a growing number of North Americans who chant, scream or push the following views:

Freeze taxes!

Cut taxes!

Cut government staff and programs!

Get government out of our faces!

Buffett’s position, that the wealthy “have it better than we’ve ever had it” and that they have an obligation to pay substantially more tax, flies in the face of a philosophy espoused by many government leaders and media pundits (not me, however, ‘cause I don’t even know what a pundit is).

Peter Worthington, media pundit of some renown, shared the philosophy recently in an article re the US deficit and debt:

“The only thing that can, or will, curb the growing national debt is productivity.”

(In other words, to bring unsustainable debt under control we must follow the business as usual path of unsustainable production and industrial growth. Now, that’s radical!)

“The answer is not raising taxes, especially if you want the economy to flourish. Yet for many politicians, raising taxes is the limit of their imaginations - especially on those they regard as “the rich.” What is often overlooked is that it is usually rich people who have the wherewithal to create jobs, and therefore become richer. In the process, American workers have also become richer.”

With 9.2% unemployment in the US, maybe the above philosophy needs a closer look. Maybe it’s time the unsustainable production game is dialed back a bit and level of taxation for the millions who can afford to pay more is dialed up a bit.

Though Republicans in the US and certain folks in Canada will continue to resist higher taxes for the wealthy, maybe some of Buffett’s words will carry some weight.

“While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and whilst most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extra-ordinary tax breaks."

A spokesperson for one notably wealthy person (contacted by Reuters) responded to Buffett’s challenge with the following:

“George Soros says he agrees and congratulates Warren Buffett. The rich are hurting their own long-term interests by their opposition to paying more taxes.”

Whatever Buffett is up to, or whatever his motivation, I bet the subject of long-term interests - along with a few leftovers - is on his table.

More to follow.

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Definition; pundit - learned expert or teacher. (Concise Oxford Dictionary)

Yeah, that’s not me.

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The Way We Live PT 3: Keep the long-term view on your short list

[“The rich are hurting their own long-term interests by their opposition to paying more taxes.” George Soros, Aug. 16, London Free Press]

Warren Buffett, one of the world’s three richest men, made the news the other day by saying he is willing to pay more taxes.

Whatever might Buffet’s motives be for making a statement that flies in the face of the default position of much conservative thought and desire (i.e., lower taxes, shrink government and its influence)?

Perhaps he feels patriotic, that America is facing a dark hour (or decade or two), that all must pick up their arms, bank book tightly clenched in one fist, and rescue the country.

Perhaps with pride he recalls John F. Kennedy’s words, i.e., “Ask not what the country can do for you but what you can do for your country,” and applied it to himself and the wealthiest in his country.

Perhaps in all humility he has a heart for the poor and struggling middle class. (I base this on a reported statement of Buffett’s: “While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and whilst most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extra-ordinary tax breaks.” London Free Press)

Perhaps because he is 80-years old, wealthy enough to live in great luxury until the end of his life, i.e., in the next decade or two, he realizes better than most when enough is enough.


["Less is more. Buffett knows this, I bet": cartoon GH]

Perhaps he is taking a long-term look at his investments and realizes that if his country sinks below the water, so too will much of what he has accumulated thus far in his life.

Perhaps he sees that the system of taxation is just another way to invest in the land he loves and in the benefits he enjoys, i.e., in its infrastructure and defense and educational and health care systems and so on.

Whatever Buffett’s motives might be (all of the above and more), I’m sure he has kept both his personal and country’s long-term interests in mind, because he didn’t get to be one of the world’s richest men by not seeing the connection between the two.

I often say “live small, reduce spending, pay down debt and save money for the tough times ahead.”

Perhaps I should add “and if the tax rate for rich land owners and wealthy corporations is too low, then raise it by a few points.”

If I get caught in the expanding net, so be it.

***

I don’t know the man myself, but Mr. Buffett seems like the kind of guy who would like leftovers and one of my gourmet dogs once in awhile.

(Warren, call me anytime.)

Please click here to read more about taxes and attitudes about them.

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Series of Significance: Food bubbles, water bubbles in the air

The following three posts were initially published separately beginning on August 15. They are repeated here inside one bubble for your convenience. No extra charge. gah

It’s “Another Saturday Night” PT 1 and I ain’t got no money

Sing it with me now:

“Another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody

I got some money 'cause I just got paid
How I wish I had someone to talk to

I'm in awful way.”

Sam Cooke sang it right in 1963 but if he was singing his hit song today he’d likely have to change the second line to ‘I got no money though I just got paid.’

Oh, he’d be in an awful way all right.

Why? Because he’d be in debt just like most other people in Canada and the US.

Though there are more troubled waters looming, let's look at the debt issue for one more minute.

A recent article with a Canadian perspective states the following:

The financial situation in the US is bad; Washington is borrowing just to stay afloat. Sadly, the same can be said for many Canadian families. (Aug. 4, London Free Press)


[“Hug your piggy bank. Hang on tight.”]

Though the American family wasn’t mentioned, the outlook is as bleak for our neighbours to the south.

Though we think we live in the land of plenty, it isn’t a prosperous place for all families, says the article.

“Credit card and mortgage debt, combined with everyday expenses like putting food on the table, are keeping Canadians from saving for the future.”

Today is tough for many. Tomorrow will likely be tougher without savings.

Though the US is taking on “six times in debt what it makes in annual revenue” - way too much - the average Canadian, with $1.47 debt for every $1 earned, is in a very vulnerable position too.

“Once interest rates begin to climb from historic lows later this year, it could be too late for many Canadians to dig out,” says the head of online bank ING Direct Canada.

Though some recent news reports “more that half of Canadians say they are making good progress paying down their debt” (Aug. 9, London Free Press), the progress may not be enough to help them stay afloat when other troubled waters on the horizon swamp the fragile boat they have boarded by taking on a lifestyle bigger than their weekly pay cheque can afford.

[My mantra, i.e., reduce spending, pay down debt, save money for the tough times ahead, is getting timelier by the minute.]

More about troubled waters to follow.

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It’s “Another Saturday Night” PT 2 and I still ain’t got no money

[“Though some recent news reports ‘more that half of Canadians say they are making good progress paying down their debt’ (Aug. 9, London Free Press), the progress may not be enough to help them stay afloat.” Aug. 15, G. Harrison]

Sing it with me:

When you're weary, feeling small

When tears are in your eyes, 
I will dry them all.

I'm on your side

When times get rough
And friends just can't be found,

Like a bridge over troubled water 
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water 
I will lay me down. (P. Simon, 1969)

I think Paul Simon’s song will come to mind often in the near future when troubled waters on the horizon swamp the fragile boat many have boarded by taking on a lifestyle bigger than their weekly pay cheque can afford.

Journalist and author Gwynne Dyer addresses actual water woes - linked to financial problems I touched on in PT 1 - that are building up behind a weakening dam in his most recent column ‘Food supply depends on water supply’ and we should all take note.

[Please click here to link to Dyer’s article.]

Financial problems will likely sink many families soon, but water and subsequent food troubles will sink whole countries.

Dyer mentions more than water and food bubbles that will one day burst. He says, “There is the Chinese real-estate bubble, the biggest in history, which may take the whole world economy down with it when it bursts.” But then he adds, ominously, “But nothing compares with the food bubble.”

Okay, my interest was piqued.

Some highlights follow:

the average world price of grain soared by 71% in the last year

it’s a catastrophe for poor countries, not a catastrophe for some in rich countries who spend 10% or less of income on food supplies

climate change and water constraints will eventually make the situation more serious

water and food bubbles envelop and will affect everyone and their wallets and purses negatively

Some readers may be old enough to recall a food price crisis in the early 1970s and that “the problem was quickly solved by the famous Green Revolution, which hugely increased yields of rice, wheat and corn.”

And today some might be lulled into thinking that for every problem there will be a technological solution, so why worry.

There are drawbacks to that kind of thinking.

About the earlier food price crisis Dyer says, “The only drawback was that the Green Revolution wasn’t really all that green. Higher-yielding strains of familiar crops played a part in the solution, certainly, but so did a vastly increased use of fertilizer: global fertilizer use tripled between 1960 and 1975.”

Dyer perhaps assumes we know that depending on vast amounts of fertilizer is very short-sighted so goes on to his main point - future water shortages and food crises. But many don’t think about fertilizer, especially when roast beef is on sale at $2.99 per pound.

Here are a few highlights about fertilizer from ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan:

“When humankind acquired the power to fix nitrogen (and thereby produce fertilizer), the basis of soil fertility shifted from a total reliance on the energy of the sun to a new reliance on fossil fuel.” (pg. 44)


[“I highly recommend this book”: photo GH]

“...synthetic fertilizer opens the way to monoculture, allowing the farmer to bring the factory’s economies of scale and efficiency to nature... fixing nitrogen allowed the food chain to turn from the logic of biology and embrace the logic of industry. Instead of eating exclusively from the sun, humanity now began to sip petroleum.” (pg. 45)

“When you add together the natural gas in the fertilizer to the fossil fuels it takes to make the pesticides, drive the tractors, and harvest, dry, and transport the corn (more than half of all synthetic nitrogen made today is applied to corn), you find that every bushel of industrial corn requires the equivalent of between a quarter and a third of a gallon of oil to grow it - or around fifty gallons of oil per acre of corn. (Some estimates are higher.)”

“Put another way, it takes more than a calorie of fossil fuel energy to produce a calorie of food... ecologically this is a fabulously expensive way to produce food (especially for beef @ $2.99 per pound) - but ‘ecologically’ is no longer the operative standard. As long as fossil fuel energy is so cheap and available, it makes good economic sense to produce corn (and many other foods) this way.”

Fertilizer. Fossil fuels. Food. The interconnection in modern times is guaranteed. The cheap price of food is not. As long as we rely on factory scale farms where production is driven by oil, the price of oil will determine the price of food.

Today, with the price per barrel at $86.05 (a real deal when compared to the price of $105 just a few months ago), and nations around the world scrambling to find new sources in more hard to reach places, the price of food will likely only go up.

Then there’s Dyer’s water issues.

More to follow.

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It’s “Another Saturday Night” PT 3 and, that’s right, I ain’t got no money

[“Fertilizer. Fossil fuels. Food. The interconnection in modern times is guaranteed. The cheap price of food is not. As long as we rely on factory scale farms where production is driven by oil, the price of oil will determine the price of food... the price of food will likely only go up. Then there’s Dyer’s water issues.” G. Harrison, Aug. 16]

According to Gwynne Dyer, the Chinese real-estate bubble, “the biggest in history,” could take down the whole world economy when it bursts.

As well, as oil prices go so go food prices, since modern factory food production is highly dependent upon fossil fuel based fertilizers and food transportation is based upon even more fossil fuel.

And before I can holler ‘enough already’, there’s the pending problems related to fossil water (Dyer’s term) to consider and act upon.

Not only has the use of fertilizer grown (“global fertilizer use tripled between 1960 and 1975”) but “there was an enormous expansion of the world’s irrigated area. It has more than tripled since 1950.”

Some highlights from Dyer’s article follow:

- 10% of the world’s cropland is irrigated but that 10% provides about 40% of the world’s food

- most new irrigated land uses water from deep underground aquifers (or “fossil” water) which will eventually be pumped dry

- the world will eventually have to make do with the one-third of the land watered by the weather

- it won’t be enough

Though the world’s aquifers won’t all run dry at the same time, Dyer states most aquifers will be dry in 30 years, and some in the US are passed their peak already (e.g., Texas in 1978, California in 1997).

China and India, the two most-heavily populated regions in the world, are straining water resources as well at this time (grain for 175 million Indians is produced by over-pumping water; 130 million Chinese face a dwindling supply now for grain), Israel imports 98% of its grain now and Saudi Arabia will import 100% of its grain by next year.


[“Chinese fishermen on an almost dried up irrigation canal”: photo by David Gray, Reuters]

Rich countries and families will be able to pay when grain prices double from the current price (already we know that the average world price for grain soared by 71% in the last year), but not every country or family one is rich.

Already mounting debt throughout the world is a daily news story and the pile of solutions is getting slimmer by the minute. Is there a ‘bridge over troubled water’ for those who do not have the means to keep up with multiple rising costs? (Unfortunately, food is but one part of our budget).

Dyer concludes by saying, “Never mind what climate change will eventually do to the world food supply (although we will mind very much when it finally hits). The crisis is coming sooner than that, and it is quite unavoidable. We are living way beyond our means.”

Many will be tempted to say it’s just “Another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody” and that’s the extent of their problems.

If we collectively put off living under our means much longer, however, we may miss the satisfying opportunity to do even that. 

***

Please click here to read more about our lovely debt situation.

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Series of Significance: London’s Job Summit

The following three posts about a job summit - 135 minutes long in all - first appeared starting on August 11. They are repeated here under one roof for your convenience. No extra charge. gah

London’s Job Summit PT 1: We can dig a grave. Can we climb out?

[What is London, Ontario? “It’s a low, wide city several degrees hotter than surrounding forests and farmland, built in sprawling, extravagant fashion when fossil fuels were cheap.” G. Harrison, Londoner, July 28]

Tomorrow, Mayor Joe Fontana will preside over an emergency summit involving some business leaders, politicians and interested parties that will brainstorm solutions to our city’s jobless crisis.

The mayor and many others now realize that with unemployment at 9.1 per cent, the highest rate of a major Canadian city (down 3.5% over last year with reportedly 8,300 fewer people employed than in 2010), if something isn’t done now to fill the hole we will not only appear to be standing in our own grave but making it deeper.

Unfortunately, I feel the summit will fail to reverse the grave-deepening trend if local politicians and business leaders adopt one of Mayor Fontana’s mantras, i.e., that it’s only a short-term problem, that if we can get over this jobless hump we can return to business as usual.

Fontana says we need to “get over this hump for 2011,” that he’s “not so concerned about our future, but... 9.1% (unemployment) causes us all to gasp and say in the short term, there are headwinds we are facing.”

Though I appreciate his confidence and enthusiasm, feigned or otherwise, I think we need to bear the long term in mind, especially now that the ground upon which we stand is sinking.

For several decades London has been growing far, fat and wide - in pursuit of the culture of big - on the back of cheap oil. Many citizens of this fair town have made a show of prosperity with bigger properties, homes, closets, cars, pools and countless material possessions while household, provincial, national and global debt has been growing deeper.

For a dozen decades or more many cities and countries became accustomed to growing productivity on the back of finite resources, e.g., petroleum, wood and metals.

Ron Wright, in A Short History of Progress, described our prosperity in this manner:

“We in the lucky countries of the West now regard our two-century bubble of freedom and affluence as normal and inevitable... Our age was bankrolled by the seizing of half a planet, extended by taking over most of the remaining half, and has been sustained by spending down new forms of natural capital, especially fossil fuels. In the New World, the West hit the biggest bonanza of all time.”



Many citizens and businesses grew prosperous, even excessively so, and visible signs of our increasing wealth (the big houses, cars, closets, computers, etc.) became commonplace, as did associated debt.

Now, trapped by the trappings of the big lifestyle they desire and feel entitled to, many countries and cities face the long term battle of not getting buried in a grave of their own making.

Will a frozen pizza factory on the 401 bail London out? Are more companies like it the answer? Is a stimulus package that will return us to ‘business as usual’ the way to go?

I think not. The Corporation of the City of London needs to make a fundamental shift.

In my opinion, one part of the answer lies where some business minds would least expect it - inside an 800 square foot house.

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London’s Job Summit PT 2: We can dig a grave. Can we climb out?

[“The Corporation of the City of London needs to make a fundamental shift. In my opinion, one part of the answer lies where some business minds would least expect it - inside an 800 square foot house.” G. Harrison, Aug. 11]

London’s 9.1 per cent unemployment figure has spurred Mayor Joe Fontana into action.

With “his city suddenly the poster child for tough times, Mayor Joe Fontana says he wants to take stock of where we’re at and brainstorm solutions to London’s jobless crisis at an emergency summit Friday.” (London Free Press, Aug. 11)

So, today he’ll meet with local politicians and members of business and make hash, and try to find the secret to more jobs, jobs, jobs.

The entire answer may not be found inside Fontana’s meeting venue, e.g., a large community hall.

As ‘a poster child for tough times’ as well as a poster child for the culture of big, our fair city - built in sprawling, extravagant fashion when fossil fuels were cheap - may find part of the answer lies inside a very small house.

Please allow me to explain.

I don’t mean the answer lies inside my humble cottage (at 1,200 sq. ft.; exterior measurement), as if to say I’m an urban planning guru of any sort. (Urban thinker, maybe, or something that rhymes with thinker).

I mean that part of the answer to future job growth lies in making the transition to building small homes and all the small scale supplies (cupboards, furniture, appliances, heating and cooling units, cars, sheds, etc.) required to outfit them.

Think 800 sq. ft. house.


[“It’s hard to think of one. We see so few!”: photo GH]

Think small refrigerator, e.g., 8 cubic ft., and two-burner stove.

Think 25 sq. ft. (e.g., 5 ft. x 5 ft.) bathroom.


[“All tiles, in 16 sq. ft.”: Little House in a Small World]

Think small furnace and AC unit.

Think sleeping berths over chests of drawers and computer desks in multi-purpose bedrooms.

Think three-wheeled, enclosed, 500 cc scooter-mobile with 2-person bench seat and 9 sq. ft. truck bed for groceries.


[“The truck for me!”: photo link]

Then think of London as the center of the small economy, cornering the market of all things for the small household and families with sustainable pay cheques.

We have no shortage of space to build and display hundreds of small scale items.

Why, one fine looking 800 sq. ft. house - designed and crafted as a joint venture between the University of Western Ontario and Fanshawe College - will quite easily fit in the snack food section of one of London’s lovely Walmart Super Stores.

And I can think of nothing finer than a three-wheeled scooter-mobile plant to occupy part of the soon to be closed Ford Talbotville plant on the outskirts of our city.

Small.

Why, it’s never been done. Our tourism industry will likely get a substantial shot in the arm as people come from miles around to see the creation of all things related to a sustainable, live-under-your-means lifestyle.

I think my plan will work even now, but I know for certain it will work much better once the majority of Londoners, politicians and business owners realize we’ve been digging our own grave for many decades on the back of cheap oil and we have little time left to pursue business as usual before we start digging our way out.

What do you think?

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London’s Job Summit PT 3: “We can dig a grave. Can we climb out?”

[“I can think of nothing finer than a three-wheeled scooter-mobile plant to occupy part of the soon to be closed Ford Talbotville plant on the outskirts of our city.” G. Harrison, Aug. 12]

On Friday, London’s Mayor Joe Fontana, local politicians, business leaders and interested parties participated in London’s job summit.

Ideas filled the air related to ways to stimulate the creation of good jobs for London, the city that is the current poster child for high unemployment in Canada. With Toronto at 8.3%, Montreal at 8 and Vancouver, Hamilton and Kitchener-Waterloo tied at 6.4%, London stands at the top of the heap with 9.1% unemployment.

According to yesterday’s issue of The London Free Press, here are but some of the excellent ideas that filled the air:

1. “politicians said times weren’t as gloomy as the high unemployment rate suggests”

(Surely then, jobs are just around the corner.)

2. “politicians pointed to developing along Hwys. 401 and 402 as a key to future plans”

(Jobs are guaranteed. Start lining up.)

3. “Mayor Joe Fontana let slip his ambition to serve a second term”

(Several really good jobs are likely going to be up for grabs. Comb your hair and brush your teeth asap for an interview.)

4. “Tory MP Ed Holder (London West) said his government had done its part...”

(Hundreds of full-time jobs are essentially on their way to London. Don’t forget to gargle.)

5. “Liberal MPPs Chris Bentley, Khalil Ramal and Deb Matthews lauded the province’s growth record...”

(Are you kidding me? You’re not hired yet?)

6. The construction trades called for more construction, home builders for more homes and realtors for a streamlined process at city hall.

(I can hear them calling now. “We want to construct! We want to build! We want to sell!” Anyone got a bag of hammers and a box of nails? Anyone? Anyone?)

By now, many of the unemployed will realize their future is in good hands and they’ll be on a job site by Monday, Tuesday at the latest.

Though my idea about turning London into the building center of all things small wasn’t mentioned (re small homes, all items that go into small homes, small vehicles, etc.), I’m not discouraged. The jobs coming down the pike (Oh, they’re inevitable. “In five years, London will be the nation’s most prosperous city,” says London’s Mayor Joe Fontana according to the Free Press, Aug. 13) will surely support London in a sustainable fashion until they can’t anymore.

Though one observer said, “This meeting was 95% chest pounding and patting on the back” (KWM) I feel we should be thankful we have chests and backs. And now, thanks to the 135-minute long job summit, we also have jobs coming out of our ears.

Mystery jobs, yes. But jobs nonetheless.

***

Please click here to read about The Culture of Small.

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The Way We Live PT 3: Keep the long-term view on your short list

[“The rich are hurting their own long-term interests by their opposition to paying more taxes.” George Soros, Aug. 16, London Free Press]

Warren Buffett, one of the world’s three richest men, made the news the other day by saying he is willing to pay more taxes.

Whatever might Buffet’s motives be for making a statement that flies in the face of the default position of much conservative thought and desire, i.e., “lower taxes, shrink government and its influence”?

Perhaps he feels patriotic, that America is facing a dark hour (or decade or two), that all must pick up their arms, bank book tightly clenched in one fist, and rescue the country.

Perhaps with pride he recalls John F. Kennedy’s words, i.e., “Ask not what the country can do for you but what you can do for your country,” and applied it to himself and the wealthiest in his country.


["Is there a link between growing US debt and shrinking taxes?"]

Perhaps in all humility he has a heart for the poor and struggling middle class. (I base this on a reported statement of Buffett’s: “While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and whilst most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extra-ordinary tax breaks.” London Free Press)

Perhaps because he is 80-years old, wealthy enough to live in great luxury until the end of his life, i.e., in the next decade or two, he realizes better than most when enough is enough.

Perhaps he is taking a long-term look at his investments and realizes that if his country sinks below the water, so too will much of what he has accumulated thus far in his life.

Perhaps he sees that the system of taxation is just another way to invest in the land he loves and benefits he enjoys, i.e., in its infrastructure and defense and educational and health care systems and so on.

Whatever Buffett’s motives might be (all of the above and more), I’m sure he has kept both his personal and country’s long-term interests in mind, because he didn’t get to be one of the world’s richest men by not seeing the connection between the two.

I often say “live small, reduce spending, pay down debt and save money for the tough times ahead.”

Perhaps I should add “and if the tax rate for rich land owners and wealthy corporations is too low, then raise it by a few points.”

If I also get caught in the expanding net, so be it.

***

I don’t know the man myself, but Mr. Buffett seems like the kind of guy who would like leftovers and one of my gourmet dogs once in awhile.

Please click here to read The Way We Live PT 2.
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The Workshop: “Woo owns the best compost bin? Woo?”

Once the bottom door is built and attached, I’ll push, pull, slide and heave my new compost bin up against the back fence.


Made mostly of cedar (double thickness on the sides), the bin should last for years to come and leave me with very little to throw (weekly) into the green box once our city adopts a ‘collect food scraps’ program.

As well, with a hinged lid that incorporates a very pretty grid pattern of rescued pine strips, I may have the best looking compost bin a person will ever see.


“There’s no latch,” someone might say. “A squirrel or raccoon will open that up in a second. You ain’t seen ugly yet!”

"Hold onto your hat, Sombrero,” I say. “Until I fashion an animal-proof latch, the lid will be weighted down by a heavy metal owl.”


["Woo has a better bin?": photos by G. Harrison]

Really, if a raccoon can lift it, I’m in trouble, ‘cause it’s also likely strong enough to grab me by the scruff of the neck and escort me off my own property.

Will it happen? I don’t think so.

Got a prettier compost bin? I’d like to see it. Let me know.

***

Please click here for more from The Workshop.

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Austerity Without Anxiety: “No soap for you!”

The habit of practicing austerity doesn’t come easy. Some weeks I have to beat down my consumptive ways with a large stick - mentally, that is. (I don’t condone hitting myself with a real, gnarly, pointed stick).

But this week I’ve been staying close to home, working on back yard projects using rescued lumber and only stepping out to meet friends or family for coffee and play the odd hockey game. (Talk about ‘odd.’ My team beat the opposition for the first time in about 6 or 7 weeks!)

However, just because I’m close to home doesn’t mean I don’t try to look my best. I shower and change my T-shirt regularly and shave every other day using the latest in shaving technology, i.e., an antique brush, mug of soap bits and a razor.


["Next week I may smell like lilacs": photo GH]

The only part of the kit that will ever cost me money will be the razor - because I must purchase new blades once in awhile, but not often, thanks to my bearded ways.

The antique brush (purchased for $8 at an antique barn in Fenelon Falls; it's the best one I've ever had) should last my lifetime, since after a shower I often apply a bit of soap to my neck by hand. And the mug of soap bits is always filled to the top because my wife tosses leftovers into it regularly.

I think I stopped buying round soaps for the mug about ten years ago after seeing the bill for three bars to fill it.

“No soap for you! There has to be a cheaper way!” I said to myself then.

And thanks to a highly-efficient system of using cast-offs from the tub, my neck smells like spicy coffee this week, my wife’s favourite choice. (Dove is number two).

***

Please click here for more Austerity Without Anxiety.

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It Strikes Me Funny: Little stinker strikes again

Yesterday morning I found the water dish knocked to the ground. This morning the bird feeder.


["It's time to trap the marauding skunk" : Photo by GH]

Tomorrow I’ll likely find the wooden bench and feeder missing or dragged under a tree by the same scoundrel - a teenage skunk with muscles to spare.

I’m talking about a real skunk, the one that lives either under my neighbour’s front porch or under The Annex (second shed) in my back yard. I know it’s a real skunk because I catch a whiff every third or fourth night and see him one night per week - not always on the same night or at the same time, he’s a tricky little beggar - digging in the church lawn across the street from my house.

A skunk has also been regularly digging in my own back yard for grubs. If he filled in his telltale holes in the lawn by himself, I wouldn’t think he was such a nuisance.

But now I’m tempted to set my humane squirrel trap and stop his marauding ways.

But... once I catch him, then what? Hose him down? Attach a long rope to the trap and drag him south of town? (How far can a skunk squirt his potent stink?)

Wanna buy a used skunk?

***

Please click here for an exciting episode of “IT STRIKES” Again.
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The Way We Live PT 2: Warren Buffett will pay more taxes

[“City hall (London, Ontario) will tap out wallets so long as that is the path of least resistance. Let’s push back. E-mail your councillors just two words: freeze taxes!” Aug. 18, D. Steers, London Free Press]

According to the headline in the Aug. 16 issue of my local paper, ‘Buffett wants to pay more tax.’ I didn’t see that coming.

But Warren Buffett’s timing is perfect. (He strikes me as a leftovers-kinda-guy, and knows when enough is enough. I bet he doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty, stuffing his own sausages, making his own gourmet dog once in awhile. Let me know if I’m wrong.)


[“Thumbs up! Warren and Gord like this sausage tutorial.”: photo link]

At the moment US politicians are struggling to reduce the nation’s deficit and get runaway debt under control. “Added revenue” or taxes might be one way to go as far as Buffett, one of the world’s three richest men, is concerned.

His thinking flies in the face of the common default position for a growing number of North Americans who chant, scream or push the following views:

Freeze taxes!

Cut taxes!

Cut government staff and programs!

Get government out of our faces!

Buffett’s position, that the wealthy “have it better than we’ve ever had it” and that they have an obligation to pay substantially more tax, flies in the face of a philosophy espoused by many government leaders and media pundits (not me, however, ‘cause I don’t even know what a pundit is).

Peter Worthington, media pundit of some renown, shares the philosophy in a recent article re the US deficit and debt:

“The only thing that can, or will, curb the growing national debt is productivity.”

(In other words, to bring unsustainable debt under control we must follow the business as usual path of unsustainable production and industrial growth. Now, that’s radical! Sorry, I digress.)

“The answer is not raising taxes, especially if you want the economy to flourish. Yet for many politicians, raising taxes is the limit of their imaginations - especially on those they regard as “the rich.” What is often overlooked is that it is usually rich people who have the wherewithal to create jobs, and therefore become richer. In the process, American workers have also become richer.”(Aug. 8, London Free Press)

With 9.2% unemployment in the US, maybe the above philosophy needs a closer look. Maybe it’s time the unsustainable production game is dialed back a bit and level of taxation for the millions who can afford to pay more is dialed up a bit.

Though Republicans in the US and certain folks in Canada will continue to resist higher taxes for the wealthy, maybe some of Buffett’s words will carry some weight.

“While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and whilst most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extra-ordinary tax breaks."

A spokesperson for one notably wealthy person (contacted by Reuters) responded to Buffett’s challenge with the following:

“George Soros says he agrees and congratulates Warren Buffett. The rich are hurting their own long-term interests by their opposition to paying more taxes.”

Whatever Buffett is up to, or whatever his motivation, I think the subject of long-term interests must be put on the table for a moment.

More to follow.

***

Definition; pundit - learned expert or teacher. (Concise Oxford Dictionary)

Yeah, that’s not me.

Please click here to read The Way We Live PT 1.

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Life Lessons: Raising children isn’t easy. Any secrets?

While I built a compost bin this afternoon my mind started to wander.

My sons, 40- and 37-years old, are competent wood workers (in fact, the older one is exceptional) and I wished they were both in the back yard to lend me a hand and spend some good time together with me. Of course, since they both have full-time jobs I was just wishing. One also lives four hours away.


["I'll finish up tomorrow. I'll call my younger to help with the lid.": photo GH]

While I put tools away (my Wed. hockey game started at 4 p.m.) I wondered what the secret is to raising children. I get along well with my sons, hope to have hundreds of rewarding times together in the future, and still want to be a good dad.

One thought sprang to mind and it seemed to fit my circumstance:

For me, on this day, the secret of raising children is to keep looking for the secret.

***

Please click here for something from the workshop.

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PT 3 It’s “Another Saturday Night” and I ain’t got no money

[“Fertilizer. Fossil fuels. Food. The interconnection in modern times is guaranteed. The cheap price of food is not. As long as we rely on factory scale farms where production is driven by oil, the price of oil will determine the price of food... the price of food will likely only go up. Then there’s Dyer’s water issues.” G. Harrison, Aug. 16]

According to Gwynne Dyer, the Chinese real-estate bubble, “the biggest in history,” could take down the whole world economy when it bursts.

As well, as oil prices go so go food prices, since modern factory food production is highly dependent upon fossil fuel based fertilizers and food transportation is based upon even more fossil fuel.

And before I can holler ‘enough already’, there’s the pending problems related to fossil water (Dyer’s term) to consider and act upon.

Not only has the use of fertilizer grown (“global fertilizer use tripled between 1960 and 1975”) but “there was an enormous expansion of the world’s irrigated area. It has more than tripled since 1950.”

[Please click here for link to Dyer’s article in The London Free Press, Aug. 13.]

Some highlights from Dyer’s article follow:

- 10% of the world’s cropland is irrigated but that 10% provides about 40% of the world’s food

- most new irrigated land uses water from deep underground aquifers (or “fossil” water) which will eventually be pumped dry

- the world will eventually have to make do with the one-third of the land watered by the weather

- it won’t be enough

Though the world’s aquifers won’t all run dry at the same time, Dyer states most aquifers will be dry in 30 years, and some in the US are passed their peak already (e.g., Texas in 1978, California in 1997).

China and India, the two most-heavily populated regions in the world, are straining water resources as well at this time (grain for 175 million Indians is produced by over-pumping water; 130 million Chinese face a dwindling supply now for grain), Israel imports 98% of its grain now and Saudi Arabia will import 100% of its grain by next year.

Rich countries and families will be able to pay when grain prices double from the current price (already we know that the average world price for grain soared by 71% in the last year), but not every country or family one is rich.

Already mounting debt throughout the world is a daily news story and the pile of solutions is getting slimmer by the minute. Is there a ‘bridge over troubled water’ for those who do not have the means to keep up with multiple rising costs? (Unfortunately, food is but one part of our budget).

Dyer concludes by saying, “Never mind what climate change will eventually do to the world food supply (although we will mind very much when it finally hits). The crisis is coming sooner than that, and it is quite unavoidable. We are living way beyond our means.”


["Can we live under our means and still sing and dance?": photo GH]

Many will be tempted to say it’s just “Another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody” and that’s the extent of their problems.

If we collectively put off living under our means much longer, however, we may miss the satisfying opportunity to do even that. 

***

Please click here to read PT 2 It’s “Another Saturday Night” and I ain’t got no money.

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