No comment although I have them.

Joseph Tracy brook7 at sover.net
Fri Oct 15 04:09:06 UTC 2021 

You accuse me of overgeneralizing, but you are countering with far less substantial generalities based on anecdotal tidbits and pokey puppies. Of course when traffic accross the globe is massively interrupted by a pandemic killing millions there are slightly fewer emissions.  Hardly evidence of a deliberate change in direction.More like evidence of dangers long predicted about our disruption of ecosystems.

 I’m not sure you really want  me to supply facts to support my  general ideas. Still here are a few facts:

BBC :  227 environmental activists were killed around the world in 2020, the highest number recorded for a second consecutive year, the report from Global Witness said

OCT 14 2021The Guardian:The worldwide energy crisis <https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/oct/12/global-energy-crisis-how-key-countries-are-responding> has reignited demand for oil, posing a threat to the world’s climate ambitions and the global economic recovery from Covid-19, according to the International Energy Agency.(demand for coal also rose)

Guardian today :  In a footnote to the 6th mass extinction, one fifth of European bird species are slipping toward extincton.

IEA  Despite the decline in 2020, global energy-related CO2 emissions remained at 31.5 Gt, which contributed to CO2 reaching its highest ever average annual concentration in the atmosphere of 412.5 parts per million in 2020 <https://research.noaa.gov/article/ArtMID/587/ArticleID/2742/Despite-pandemic-shutdowns-carbon-dioxide-and-methane-surged-in-2020> – around 50% higher than when the industrial revolution began.

Guess what Mark. C02 dissipates very slowly and so over a decade is effectively cumulative. 

CNN: Intense blazes, including fires in hotspots in the Mediterranean, North America and Siberia, let off more than 2.7 billion metric tons of carbon over the summer, with July and August both breaking monthly records for emissions from fires. More than half of July's emissions could be put down to fires in North America and Siberia. They are still burning in November and have twice set off our smoke alarms in Vermont this year. (There are still fires in the Amazon too.)

The oceans continue to deoxgenate and grow more acidic and to absorb the bulk of heat.marine ecologists have described ocean warming, acidification and oxygen loss as a “deadly trio,” because when they have occurred together in the past, mass extinctions of animal and plant life have followed.[5]As Rachel Carson wrote years ago, “for the globe as a whole, the ocean is the great regulator, the great stabilizer of temperatures…. Without the ocean, our world would be visited by unthinkably harsh extremes of temperature.”[7]    The present rate of ocean acidification is a hundred times faster than any natural change in at least 55 million years. If it continues, ocean acidity will reach three times the pre-industrial level by the end of this century.

Methane has begun to emerge from seawater and the permafrost on a large scale. This has been predicted as a potential tipping point.

Humanity has wiped out 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles since 1970, leading the world’s foremost experts to warn that the annihilation of wildlife is now an emergency that threatens civilisation.

National Geo: A new study suggests that 40 percent of insect species are in decline, a sobering finding that has jarred researchers worldwide.

Plastic shit is killing living things and continues to grow  in volume every year.

  
The global arms <https://cnn.com/2019/06/20/world/uk-arms-sales-saudi-arabia-gbr-intl/index.html> industry continues to grow with total sales up 4.6% last year, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)  <https://cnn.com/2018/12/10/europe/russia-arms-production-scli-intl/index.html>released Monday.




> On Oct 14, 2021, at 12:45 PM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> The imagined majority is simple: all the millions of people getting by and trying to avoid doing any of the evil you generalize to.
Wars depend on taxes and votes from ordinary people. Peace and environmental leaders chosen by these people are few. Fossil fuel use is driven by ordinary  embedded  human behaviors that fit into our economic model; no malevolence is required. Reliance on fossil fuel is everywhere and it is our most universal addiction rivaled by throwing the toxic materials we use “away”, wherever the hell that is. There are many good people and many want peace and eco sanity. But as Pynchon explores in depth in GR, civilization has become a machine and the idea that it has any human values or other forms of intelligent control is likely delusional.   The good news is that this machine is breaking itself in its war with nature. I like humans and hope they survive, evolve, make life simpler, friendlier and more appreciative of the other sentient beings. 


>  And, as I wrote, your "truths' are always true as baldly and badly stated
> until one tackles them granularly. Co2 emissions world-wide (!) and by the US went noticeably down in 2020,--over 6%--- and although back, are not expected to reach 2019 levels and maybe ever again. 
> 
> "Threats" by the US are down from the last admin. And, once again, all nations always have and always will make them as China and N Korea and others are. ...I also don't know what many other things you refer to are about...
> Pipelines by the US are down although Russia is bragging about theirs; so we are back to the unarguable bad shit Iraq War and the false claim, repeated again as before, that it was 'barely' covered in the US press, as if you would know and you are still wrong about that and is another internal contradiction when you go on about how wrong and evil was the NYT coverage of it.....  History more ancient than Herodotus now,so to speak. 
> 
>  It is not only climate activism that has far surpassed Iraq War protests-
According to Huffpost (2018)  and others  the  largest global protest in history was the 2002 Iraq war protest estimated at 6-11 million  Nothing else has really come close , but , regardless of the numbers, you only make my point because none of these worthwhile demonstrations of public will has dramatically changed policy though they do point, along with statistics about several issues, to a vast discrepancy between what people want and what politicians and the military and corporate interests do. The protests also give voice to articulate and thoughtful people who often sound mire vibrant and intelligent than leaders of either major party.
> 
> ts--I got this fact from Professor Jelanie Cobb; also the Black Lives Matter protests were BY LEAPS AND BOUNDS, the largest
> protests in world history by folks who could not benefit by it, literally and narrowly speaking, white and other non-black races protesting world-wide for more change and more justice for people treated differntly than them because of how they looked. Much larger than abolition in this and any country. What does one call selfless protesting and why is it stronger than ever? 
> 
> By, why go on, your engine of constant injustice everywhere is railroading thinking, to keep the metaphor, you railroad thoughts and observations into your overgeneralizations. 
Take your mangled sentences home to your pokey puppy. I’m sure he will understand even if no one else can.
> 
> Speaking of arms, do you know the most killing weapon of the last 50-60 years? 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Oct 14, 2021 at 11:17 AM Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net <mailto:brook7 at sover.net>> wrote:
>  I don't have that clear a take on some imagined world majority  and I wish I could sincerely agree but at this point I stand with Greta,  what we hear from so called leaders is blah blah, blah, and what we see is growing arms sales , continued growth in C02 emissions, threats  and violent blockades by the US,  mass survellance, publishers being tortured for publishing the same thing as the NY Times,  pipelines and a revived nuclear arms program.  I could go on but what is the point. 
>    It’s true that there are many, many people who want change and they gladden my heart as they do yours. They are not yet organized as an effective agent of change though most do what they can. In the lead up to the second Iraq war the world saw the biggest anti-war demonstration in human history and the biggest global demonstration ever, rivaled only by climate crisis activism. It did not stop the war and was barely covered in the US press. 
> 
>> On Oct 14, 2021, at 10:00 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com <mailto:mark.kohut at gmail.com>> wrote:
>> 
>> I will assert as baldly as your assertions that the majority of the people in the Pokey Little Puppy's Whole 
>> Wide World are acting and imagining outside of this blanket condemnation:  "imagine solutions than are not reliant on war, poisons and ecological rape." 
>> 
>> Many businesses, many countries, with whatever else they are also doing, are acting FINALLY against this 'reliance". 
>> 
>> 
>> On Thu, Oct 14, 2021 at 9:51 AM Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net <mailto:brook7 at sover.net>> wrote:
>> The historic creation of Israel is a subject that has already led to many many books and articles.  I have read quite a few of those books. What I said is what I said, and I wasn’t trying to ccomplish whatever you or mathew c think I should have been. But without a doubt the so-called creation of Israel has involved decades of assult on the Palestinians who lived there before the Jewish settlers came. It was as much an act of destruction and theft in my view as an act of creation. In the same way the “creation” of the US required a destructive assault on indiginous people. Israel seems to me to follow the biblical paradigm of Zionism layed out in the legends of Joshua and later David. I think that is clear enough and quite defensible as a proposition.  
>> 
>>  As far as I can tell most countries are acts of imagination  and violence based on tilling and armies, they are a product of the paradigm of war . National borders and rules are usually a lot more arbitrary than natural human self organizing and require leaders imposing taxes  through violence. Since the advent of mass production and fossil fuels we have a new paradigm that combines the economic predations of investment capitalism with the military power or imperial alliances. This is quickly destroying the biospheric stability of the planet.  Our imaginations could be put to better use. We are not bound to follow our path of self destruction by anything other than unwillingness to face the problems  and imagine solutions than are not reliant on war, poisons and ecological rape. 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> > On Oct 14, 2021, at 7:49 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com <mailto:mark.kohut at gmail.com>> wrote:
>> > 
>> > Joseph,
>> > 
>> > Without distinctions, your generalities about all countries everywhere and when are always correct. 
>> > Yet say nothing substantive about the creation of Israel--or any other country for that matter. 
>> > And do little (or nothing) for discussion of all your Historic evils but show us a nice, beautifully-expressed personal credo--open to all: "the heart of this holy path is to choose life, to love the great mystery of being wih all the heart and all the mind and the very kernel of life we have been given, and to treat others as we wish to be treated.”
>> Guess what. That is not a personal credo, Those are ideas from Judaism( The Torah and Maimonedes) which I appreciate and try to honor in my life.
>> > 
>> > Mark
>> > 
>> > 
>> > 
>> > On Thu, Oct 14, 2021 at 12:21 AM Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net <mailto:brook7 at sover.net> <mailto:brook7 at sover.net <mailto:brook7 at sover.net>>> wrote:
>> > Annihilation is a loaded word. It sounds cruel and violent. Truthfully though, a name or concept or form of government can be eliminated or replaced without destroying human lives or poisoning the earth. Nations and religions have changed and died before with little or even benign consequences. And those nations  that survived and rose to become “great powers" have a pretty shitty track record to justify themselves. Imagine all the people living life in peace. 
>> > I don’t know exactly what Thomberi ( sounds a made up name) is intending, whether tongue in cheek or weirdly sincere, but I think matthew c is wildly sentimentalizing how Israel came into being. As to what is to be done. It is a question for all of us, not just Israel. Settler colonialism and its cruelties are embedded in most of the world. Western civilization as configured has desertified vast parts of the globe, moved sane indiginous cultures into bantustans and is rapidly destroying the diverse species upon which life as we know it exists, rapidly moving us toward waves of mass destruction . As for me, yes i really am ready to hand over my land and the very concept of property to the tribal peoples of north america. Would they want this mess, our mini-flags, banks and fracking machines? I don’t know, but I could not be more serious about my acre of workspace , fruit trees, asparagus, maple trees, and stone walls.  My whole life is about the effort to move myself and others toward an ecologically sustainable life, and the biggest impediment to change is the settler colonialist warfare that continues from the ancient to the modern world, that turns from warlordism to nationalism  to imperial warfare. What Israel and the US and China and Russia and Brazil and Canada and so many rapacious military dictatorships are expressing in this shared planet  is varying forms of  sociopathic madness organized by  self destructive dreams, egomania, and imaginary polities that have ravaged our common sense as animals, our friendliness as neighbors, our ability to choose life above what they have too offer. And what do they have to offer as their civilization crumbles? Comfortable places to watch the world burn, endless entertaining air conditioned shitpiles, debt,  fat people eating big juicy hamburgers and an all too violent and real global annihilation, James Bond may or may not have lost his dick, but he stil has a license to kill. 
>> > 
>> >  Zionism is the same disease as the master race, manifest destiny,  salafism, pax romana, capitalism, militarism. Its origins can be read by anyone. Joshua crosses into “ the promised land” to kill the sinful Canaanites or make them into slaves to the chosen people.”Blessed is he who dashes thy little ones against a stone”. This fable has become the script for modern day Israel, just as some version of this script has written so much human history. It will script global suicide if we let it. If we cannot prevent it.
>> > 
>> > Zionism was never the remarkable part of Judaism, the heart of this holy path is to choose life, to love the great mystery of being wih all the heart and all the mind and the very kernel of life we have been given, and to treat others as we wish to be treated. 
>> > 
>> > 
>> > 
>> > 
>> > 
>> > 
>> > 
>> > > On Oct 13, 2021, at 4:14 PM, matthew cissell <mccissell at gmail.com <mailto:mccissell at gmail.com> <mailto:mccissell at gmail.com <mailto:mccissell at gmail.com>>> wrote:
>> > > 
>> > > Mach,
>> > > 
>> > > So let me see. You seem to propose the annihilation of Israel, a country
>> > > created whole cloth from ideas, dreams, stories and more by carving out a
>> > > space for that community that had formed a nation but lacked a state.
>> > > 
>> > > Ok. Two things (that I'll say) occur to me: What do you propose for the
>> > > people? Do you have some... solution for them as well? Would it be the same
>> > > for Arabic and Jewish citizens? What would it entail?
>> > > 
>> > > Next: If you (and others that share your view) are the descendent of
>> > > Europeans living in the Americas (or some other previously
>> > > colonized place), I suppose you are also ready to 'undo' your county and
>> > > hand over your land to the indigenous communities. Or are you writing from
>> > > somewhere else, in which case we might talk about that place.
>> > > 
>> > > Criticizing the trespasses of any country or government is one thing, but
>> > > calling for its abolition is something else. The actions of the Israeli
>> > > government have often been reprehensible or even criminal, but that does
>> > > not justify your language, which would certainly find applause and echoes
>> > > in a certain rising current in not only US political discourse but more
>> > > widely.
>> > > 
>> > > I'm responding not because I think your mind is likely to be changed but
>> > > because I want you and others to know that in this open forum you will find
>> > > voices that do not apathetically ignore your statements.
>> > > 
>> > > Ne Obliviscaris
>> > > Matthew Cissell
>> > > 
>> > > On Wed, Oct 13, 2021 at 4:33 PM Mach Thomberi <machthomberi at gmail.com <mailto:machthomberi at gmail.com> <mailto:machthomberi at gmail.com <mailto:machthomberi at gmail.com>>>
>> > > wrote:
>> > > 
>> > >> No we wouldn't want that would we.  Deprive Israel water and medicine.
>> > >> 
>> > >> What would be marvelous.  Would be removing Israel from the map.  Cut it
>> > >> out and dispense it into the ether.
>> > >> 
>> > >> Then do likewise of our collective memory of Israel.
>> > >> On Oct 13, 2021 9:23 AM, "Joseph Tracy" <brook7 at sover.net <mailto:brook7 at sover.net> <mailto:brook7 at sover.net <mailto:brook7 at sover.net>>> wrote:
>> > >> 
>> > >>> I would not go so far as to cut Israelis off from medicine or clean water
>> > >>> as they have done to Gaza, but a cultural boycott is potentially a way to
>> > >>> bring the debate into a more public sphere. We need equally to confront
>> > >>> what so many in the western press and politics  have done on this issue.
>> > >>> They  have supported  the insane idea that anyone who publicly
>> > >> criticizes
>> > >>> Israel’s abuse of Palestinians is doing so out of  anti-semitism. They
>> > >> are
>> > >>> labeled  anti-semitic even if they are Jews whose parents and relatives
>> > >>> survived or died  in Nazi concentration camps.
>> > >>>  Sally Rooney said she would be honored to have her book translated to
>> > >>> Hebrew but will not work with a publisher who does not distance
>> > >> themselves
>> > >>> from Israel’s aparteid treatment of Palestinians.
>> > >>> 
>> > >>>> On Oct 11, 2021, at 3:44 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com <mailto:fqmorris at gmail.com> <mailto:fqmorris at gmail.com <mailto:fqmorris at gmail.com>>> wrote:
>> > >>>> 
>> > >>>> Why no comment?  This is a place for opinion.  As for me, I say
>> > >> Bravo!  I
>> > >>>> think Israel deserves full apartheid treatment right now.  And too many
>> > >>>> people are afraid to say so.   There!  I said it.
>> > >>>> 
>> > >>>> David Morris
>> > >>>> 
>> > >>>> On Mon, Oct 11, 2021 at 3:25 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com <mailto:mark.kohut at gmail.com> <mailto:mark.kohut at gmail.com <mailto:mark.kohut at gmail.com>>>
>> > >> wrote:
>> > >>>> 
>> > >>>>> 
>> > >>>>> https://forward.com/opinion/476513/why-wont-sally-rooney- <https://forward.com/opinion/476513/why-wont-sally-rooney-> <https://forward.com/opinion/476513/why-wont-sally-rooney- <https://forward.com/opinion/476513/why-wont-sally-rooney->>
>> > >>> allow-her-latest-novel-to-be-translated-into-hebrew/
>> > >>>>> --
>> > >>>>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l <https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l> <https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l <https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l>>
>> > >>>>> 
>> > >>>> --
>> > >>>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l <https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l> <https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l <https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l>>
>> > >>>> 
>> > >>> 
>> > >>> 
>> > >>> 
>> > >>> --
>> > >>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l <https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l> <https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l <https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l>>
>> > >>> 
>> > >> --
>> > >> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l <https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l> <https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l <https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l>>
>> > >> 
>> > > --
>> > > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l <https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l> <https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l <https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l>>
>> > 
>> > 
>> > 
>> > --
>> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l <https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l> <https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l <https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l>>
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>> --
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