Happiness Tree

What Lessons Will We Learn and How Will American Life Change, Post Covid-19?

Life as we know it in America and indeed across the globe is in the midst of massive change. When this incubus is over, how will life in the United States change and will those changes serve as a silver lining to the trauma we will have suffered as a nation, or will politicians seize the opportunity to become even more entrenched in their agendas?

Here are some of the challenges and opportunities that we may face in the coming months and years as illuminated in a Washington Post article, which you can read here followed by some of my commentary.

Please feel free to join the conversation in the Comments section below this article. 

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More workers telecommute, reducing traffic and carbon emissions dramatically.

Carbon emissions in China (the world's 2nd largest economy), have already fallen by 25%. In the U.S., carbon monoxide emissions have plummeted by 50%. But a complete picture has not yet come into view about whether changing habits such as greater energy use in homes and the sudden rise in the number of delivery vehicles may offset some of the gains in air quality that were made by taking so many cars of the road. Needless to say, there will be lessons to be learned and much data to analyze in the future, which could lead to greater success in the fight against global climate change.

Having fewer workers in offices means a surplus of commercial real estate that might be available for conversion to residential use, expanding the housing stock

Is is possible that inner city buildings, now reserved for high rent office space could be converted into temporary or permanent shelter for homeless or low-income persons? Maybe some could be acquired by city governments, torn down all together and converted to green space or urban forests, scrubbing city air of pollutants and increasing localized oxygen levels. Certainly, with potentially fewer people commuting to work parking issues, traffic jams, pedestrian deaths and all the other challenges raised by vehicle over-crowding would be diminished.

Colleges and universities expand their student bodies as distance learning becomes commonplace. College is accessible to more people, and college costs drop. The on-campus college experience is transformed or eliminated altogether.

While distance learning opportunities serve us well in the short term, to deal with a crisis like the one we're facing now, the exponential benefits of the "college experience", the social connections, the multiple cultural and philosophical perspectives that are brought to bear in the classroom, would give way to students sitting alone, at home, staring at a screen all day. The inevitable transformation of the educational experience will have to be thoughtfully managed to accentuate the positives and minimize the negatives.

To say nothing about the fact that so much data coursing over our networks could very well drain bandwidth from our patchwork system of computer service providers. Would 5G arrive in time and save us from a collapse of our internet infrastructure, or would its rollout be delayed as we discover we'll need to beef up the systems we have? 

SAT testing (requiring dozens, if not hundreds, of students to congregate) is suspended — and potentially discredited, as colleges learn they can select students without the test.

Frankly, I don't think anyone will lament the death of the SAT. Especially if a more streamlined and fair college entrance system is devised.

Everyone can vote by mail, defeating at least some voter suppression techniques.

Voting by mail, while decidedly analog and so 20th Century would indeed have one immediate benefit.. the elimination of potential interference in our voting systems by rogue governments and hackers. Is it possible that we will rediscover the benefits of pen and paper as a means of performing our civic duties and communicating with family, friends and colleagues? 

Paid sick leave becomes the norm as employers recognize it is better for workers to stay home when they are ill.

Sure, there will always be those who take advantage of the system and play hooky on a warm, Summer day. But by in large, we all benefit when legitimately sick people stay at home. Maybe one solution would be for a sick person to teleconference with their doctor to confirm they are indeed ill and have a physician's excuse sent directly to the employer. That would save unnecessary trips to the doctor, reduce the spread of germs and allow the sick to stay home, where they belong.

Universal health care — not just coverage — becomes the focus. Telemedicine becomes widespread. We focus on expansion of local clinics and health-care entities (e.g. fever clinics).

Ah, and there're the rub. Will this crisis cause a surge in those supporting Bernie Sanders or at least his ideas of a Universal Health System? As he correctly pointed out in one of his stump speeches recently: We are paying more than any other industrialized country for our healthcare system, and when we really need it, we find it woefully underprepared to handle a crisis. Maybe it is time to follow the lead of countries that faired better under the strain of this pandemic. Yes, the term "Socialized Medicine" is anathema to small government minded conservatives, so maybe we just need to call it something innocuous allowing them to save face as they begrudgingly admit a defeat of their market driven ideology. Some things are handled better through a centralized or Federal system and Heath Care may indeed be one of those things. 

Facts do matter. As the gap between reality and right-wing propaganda widens, the latter loses its iron grip on millions of voters.

Will Trump supporters finally admit that arrogance and pigheadedness can actually lead to weakness? As our leader has struggled to downplay the severity of this epidemic, presumably to avoid or reverse the inevitable impact to his signature accomplishments, (record low unemployment and a surging stock market), experts have had to explain away his erratic pronouncements or in some cases, publicly refute them as dangerous and short-sighted. Will this debacle come to define his entire tenure in office? Or will Trump's base choose to view his distrust of academics and intellectuals as tough-minded? Reason would seem to suggest that facts and science will need to play a much more prominent role in public policy going forward.

We begin to relocate parts of our supply chains to the United States, as safety takes priority over reduced labor costs.

One of the glaring liabilities in our current dependence on China and other providers of low cost goods and services is that when the entire globe is under threat, we have no Plan B. In industry, commerce and government, there has been a concerted effort to follow what has become known as "Lean" practices. Reducing inventory, unused space, extra capacity, etc., presuming that when we need it, we'll just requisition it. But when our supplier suddenly is unwilling or unable to fulfill our order, we become extremely vulnerable. Ironically, those very suppliers, such as South Korea and Japan saw the writing on the wall some time ago, when they dealt with their own, more localized epidemics. The lessons they learned inspired them to stockpile equipment and supplies for what they considered to be an inevitable dejavu moment. And that has been the primary reason they were able to rollout wide-spread testing almost immediately. 

The challenge will be to reinforce our own infrastructure and bring back a strong manufacturing culture to the United States, while not giving in to isolationist sentiments. Perhaps a hybrid policy featuring Self-Reliance as well as Interdependence as coequal goals could put us in a better position for what we should now accept as a cyclical challenge.

-Shane Eric Mathias

We Need a #MeToo Movement to Save Our Children

On the afternoon of Feb. 14th, 2018, when most men are thinking of what card, candy or set of flowers they'll bring to the object of their affection, one man in particular decided this was a good day to bring an AR-15 assault rifle to his school and kill as many children and adults as possible. And due to countless mistakes and cowardice on the part of law enforcement, he succeeded in ending the lives of 17 souls. 

And this is not a crime that rests on the shoulders of only one deranged individual. No. Lawmakers failing to challenge the National Rifle Association's (NRA) goal of making killing machines as accessible as bubble gum and law Enforcement's lack of follow through on signs and statements declaring this monster a clear and present danger to his community made this massacre all but assured. 

To say nothing about the deputies who cowered outside during the melee, failing to do their job to protect the defenseless students, even thought they themselves were armed and most likely would have succeeded in taking out the killer, thereby saving many lives. 

But this problem runs deeper than any one cowardly act or missed signal. As a society, we have a schizophrenic attitude when determining our priorities about guns and children's lives. Those on the Conservative side of the political spectrum have ordained that the rights of unborn children trumps that of women who may attempt to control their future by ending unplanned pregnancies. But those very children can be murdered in their own school and according to that same twisted Conservative logic, that should in no way impede the rights of gun owners to possess the very weapons used in those crimes. Even if it means that more children will surely die.

Who are those aiding and abetting these crimes? Countless politicians who cling frantically to their 2nd Amendment argument, while crying crocodile tears on television each time an institution of learning is turned into a war zone. And gun lobbyists who will stop at nothing to support and represent gun manufacturers, retailers and hunters Will they lose their jobs? Will they go to jail or be publicly shamed on television, in newspapers and across social media? No.

Guns at School vs Sex at Work. Which is a more pressing issue?

At the same time, politicians on both sides of the isle, CEO's and celebrities are being toppled daily. Publicly shamed, and excoriated across all media platforms for failing to curb natural biological urges in the workplace and elsewhere. Indeed, there are extremes that rise to the level of criminal activity, such as those committed by the likes of Harvey Weinstein. But many of these so-called abuses of power or acts of harassment were once accepted as a normal consequence of bringing men and women together under the stressful and socially complex umbrella of the workplace. 

If you doubt or have no knowledge of what I'm saying, you can see the sordid and tempestuous encounters that have always sprung from the collective pressures of work accurately depicted in the artfully crafted series called "Mad Men".

But only recently have many more of these awkward and uninvited advances risen to the level of criminality in the eyes of society. Do these non-life-threatening acts of testosterone driven passion somehow carry a greater potential to shift social consciousness and change laws than the random and senseless killing of children? How is that possible?

Were a science fiction writer to conjure up a story where in a virus altered the collective consciousness of an entire nation and caused them to view unwanted sexual advances as a greater offense than the murder of children, the writer and his or her creation would be panned as garbage or maybe even labeled even nihilistic smut. And yet, this scenario very much resembles the topsy-turvy world we now live in. Sometimes, reality is indeed stranger than fiction.

But this is no joking matter. We had better get our priorities straight in this country. If our children are not safe, then the rights we claim to defend with our guns: To live in a free and open society, will be eroded. We will find ourselves living in a macabre world of our own making. A world in which narrow minded zealots are unwilling to prevent anyone from owning a gun, is a world where criminals and the insane will control our streets and institutions. It has been shown by the recent shooting at the Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, that having armed officers on school grounds is no guarantee that a mentally disturbed individual with a gun will still have his way. More guns are not the answer!

One day, we may witness a #MeToo movement of men and women who have lost children to gun wielding criminals as successful as that which is now changing attitudes on sexual advances in the workplace. I hope it doesn't come to that. But if the killing of our own children is not enough to get our attention and motivate us to work together to find solutions, I'm not sure what will. 

Startling Statistics

According to ABC News and many other news outlets, as of this writing, there have been 18 school shootings in 2018. Yes, within the 2 month period since the New Year, there have been 18 verified school shootings. Where is the list of heads that have rolled in the halls of government and law enforcement for allowing this trend to continue unabated?

Meanwhile, more than 100 men and one woman have lost their jobs and in many cases had to surrender their entire life's work and careers due to accusations over sexual misconduct, harassment and or even flirting Here is a list.

It is not my intent to downplay the impact on victims of true abuse and harassment in the workplace. There needed to be a correction to check those in power, (more often than not, men), who have increasingly lorded their influence and coercion over those at their mercy, for the purpose of sexual favors. Making the provision of those favors a condition for continued employment. Individually, there wasn't much a victim could do to stop these abuses. Their complaints were ignored and/or they were victimized again through retribution, for attempting to expose the perpetrator's misdeeds.

A tipping point occurred for some reason after the exposure of Harvey Weinstein as a dangerous, serial abuser, who employed a team of "handlers" to ensure his abuses never saw the light of day and to provide a stream of new exploits to feed his nefarious obsession. 

When will there be a similar tipping point to finally do whatever is necessary to bring media, industry and government together to end this barbaric killing of our children? How can we celebrate our advances in science, medicine and technology and thereby consider ourselves an evolved society, if we cannot even protect our children from being killed in their classrooms? 

Here are some proposals to consider:

Make it illegal to sell guns to anyone under age of 25. 

Not just 21. Research has shown that the human brain is still very much a work in progress well into the 3rd decade of life. Especially for boys and men. The prefrontal cortex, which is involved in risk assessment and decision making is still building interconnections and improving its function. To place or allow to be placed into the hands of a person with an under-developed sense of right and wrong a gun, is to court disaster. 

Punish parents or guardians who whether by intent or ignorance make guns accessible to children that go on to commit crimes where those guns are involved. 

Prior to the shooting, Nikolas Cruz, the perpetrator in the recent Florida shooting that left 17 souls dead, was taken in by Roxanne Deschamps, following the death of his mother from pneumonia. After violent outbursts that required law enforcement intervention, Cruz moved out of the Deschamps home and was taken in by Kim and James Snead. They were aware that he owned guns and that he was adamant about keeping them. They locked those guns up in a safe, presuming they were the only ones with the key to access them. It turned out that Cruz had a spare key and accessed those guns, resulting in the deaths at the Stoneman-Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018.

In spite of many worrying outbursts, Instagram posts and run-ins with law enforcement that should have labeled this disturbed young man as a severe threat to his community, not only was nothing done, but the foster parents, the Snead's, claim they had no idea he had this violent streak. Both of these foster parents have jobs requiring a keen intellect and ability to observe and make critical decisions. The husband is an Intelligence Analyst and the wife is a neonatal nurse. How could they be so clueless about this monster living right under their roof? And should they be held partially responsible for these senseless murders? 

Conclusion

This is indeed a complex problem and no one has all the answers. But we had better start asking some hard questions and be willing to take drastic measures to ensure this and future generations of children do not arrive to adulthood with untreated PTSD from having grown up in a society that was unwilling to provide them a safe environment in which to learn. If you think anger and hatred is fueling much of the violence in our society today, just wait! 

-Shane Eric Mathias

 

Home Fires Burning - The Razing and Recovery of the Iconic North Bay Region

Having just visited this especially beautiful pocket of Northern California, Napa and Sonoma Counties, its bucolic majesty was still fresh in my mind when I heard the first murmurings of a fire in the area. Wildfires are a fact of life in these semi-arid regions of the State, whose meadows and hillsides often grow emerald green with winter rain and then dry out to a tawny brown soon after Spring has bid her farewell. It is just this characteristic velvety brown landscape that provides one important component for a fire to take hold

The local fire stations and volunteer departments are used to these flair ups. And when one happens, it barely makes the local papers or registers a mention on the evening news. The rapid response of these fire fighters almost always achieves the upper hand before homes, livestock or other precious resources are ever threatened.

But on the rare occasions that there is that perfect storm and elemental forces conspire to create a conflagration of horrific proportions, there is little anyone can do but run for their lives. By the time dispatchers sent the first team to knock down the flames that appeared overnight, it was already too late. Building quietly somewhere in a dark canyon and fueled by what residents call “The Diablo Winds” once fire had made it to the first ridge, in the wee hours of the morning, it had become a seething, monster, determined to leave only stone and metal in its wake.

It moved so fast, that those in its path barely had time to don a robe, gather the children or elderly parents and beat a hasty retreat through a gauntlet of towering flames. Left behind were all the seemingly indispensable minutia that make up a home: Musical instruments, photo albums, heirlooms from generations past and in so many cases, a sanctuary built through loving plans and hands to safely ride out the golden years.

So many chose this beautiful area for retirement. With countless micro-farms, wineries and specialty restaurants dotting the valleys, foothills and towns, living in the Napa / Sonoma area has always represented a captivating blend of metropolitan and rural amenities. The comfortable pace and lifestyle, friendly atmosphere and proximity to medical centers, universities and the economic powerhouses that are San Francisco and Silicon Valley, gave this region the moniker “God’s country”. What I always interpreted to mean, “where God would live, were he (or she), were to ever be in the market”.

Though I now live in Southern California, ironically, what many consider the epicenter of wild infernos, for me, the devastation to the North Bay has left an emotional scar. You see, I once lived there. You might say, I grew up there. Having moved from Los Angeles, in my early twenties, to seek a closer and deeper connection to Nature, I found the environs in which I wished I had spent my childhood. And over the ensuing decades, I came to know it intimately… better than most.

I brought with me that Southern California affinity for the automobile. And with my trusty steed, I would spend weekends on long excursions, in search of new views, lakes, nurseries, wineries, towns or experiences yet to be discovered. One one such trip, I came across an exotic zoo, tucked away in the uniquely beautiful valley that ascends from the windy Mark West Springs Rd. This road wends its way from Eastern Santa Rosa to Calistoga, passing wineries, farms, aging barns, horse pastures, but mostly, some of the most scenic countryside to be found anywhere. At the intersection of Franz Valley School Rd, can be found Safari West. And on this particular day, while joyriding down the road, I glimpsed a giraffe peeking out over a fence. Now, I have seen many odd things in the North Bay: Creative farmers have experimented with raising emu, lamas, long horned cattle and even bison on these productive pastures. But giraffe?

I made a u-turn and indeed, found a giraffe eager to engage with me. Especially if I tempted her with a clump of fresh grass. Soon, her calf appeared. Her head barely topped the fence, but her eyes seemed to capture all that is mysterious and beautiful in Nature with one glance. I was hooked! And in several weeks, I was working there as a docent. The experiences I had and the memories I made during that incredible summer I will reserve for another day. But suffice it to say, I was more familiar than most with that road, having traveled it many times on my way to and from that little preserve in the hills, North East of Santa Rosa.

It is the same road that I recently took my wife to visit for the first time, as I introduced to her the small part of the universe where I grew into manhood and where I left a piece of my heart. She marveled at the countless doglegs and switchbacks that make this highway so fun to drive. With my trusty 4Runner, I took them as fast as I safely could, giving us both the visceral sensation of centrifugal force as we leaned this way and that, descending ever deeper into the canyon. We imagined coming back some day soon in a rented convertible sports car, dropping the top and feeling the fresh wind in our hair as we inhaled the aroma of oak and pine.

But alas, it is that same oak and pine forest that has now been mostly consumed by the fire. For us, the memory is bittersweet. We feel lucky to have seen it just weeks before it burned, but now we gasp at the thought that it might remain only an image in our minds rather than a place we can actually revisit.

What Is Home

This brings me to the concept I alluded to in the title of this article: Home. What is home anyway? This week and in the weeks and months ahead, I and many thousands will need to wrestle with that question. For those who now live and work in this area and who were recently evacuated to shelters, anxiously awaiting word about their cherished property and belongings, life may be forever changed. The economic realities of the area make it such that it serves as a bedroom community for commuters working in and around San Francisco. By the thousands, each weekday, they wend their way south along the 101, like a red snake in the dawn light, to jobs that are not available above the Sonoma County line. For those who have now lost that home, relocation North or South will probably not be an option. The ensuing calculation will go something like this: Move farther North, to Windsor and Healdsburg, where the commute becomes an impossible barrier? Or, move South, into Marin County, where rents and home prices are beyond the means of all but the most well off? The conundrum has no easy answer. And for those who were uninsured or for whom insurance will not sufficiently compensate their loss, the road back to equilibrium will be long indeed. They may need to move completely out of the area and then struggle to find a new definition of “Home”, one that will be incomplete at best.

For me, it is less well defined. Napa and Sonoma county, or what is variously called “The North Bay”, or "Wine Country", was a kind of “Home” I returned to in my mind countless times over the preceding decades. While the intrepid residents of this area will no doubt find the strength and vision to rebuild, it will be many decades, (if ever), before the myriad forests, vineyards, wineries and little farms reestablish and bring back the relaxed and timeless character that I recall. It will take a while to resolve the tension between this image in my mind and what may now be the reality. It may indeed be necessary to return and create new memories there, as the land and the people that love it evolve and heal from their ordeal.

Let Us Learn from Others' Misfortune

For the rest of us, let this be a cautionary tale. Our planet and our climate is changing. Whether you believe that or not does not alter the fact. Whether climate change was responsible for this particular tragedy, no one can be sure. One thing we do know however, is that California now has a year-round fire season. There is no part of this state, or frankly our country that is immune to the prospect of a catastrophic inferno. We must not ignore this fact and change our behavior to respond to this new reality.

1. Prepare your home to resist fire's assault. Remove dry or dying vegetation from on and around your property. If an adjoining home is poorly maintained, try to work with the owner to create a mutually beneficial fire-resistant landscape. Cut down trees or shrubs close to the house, that might catch fire and drop embers on roofs or in clogged rain gutters. Also, keep those gutters cleaned.

2. If you have a large property, irrigate the areas close to the home. On that land farther from the house, for which irrigation would be impractical or too expensive, keep weeds mowed, dead trees removed, and fire breaks, such as roads and dry creek beds well managed.

3. Prepare a suitcase with essentials: Clothing, copies of important documents, cash, car keys, water, etc. When and if you have to leave in minutes, there will be no time to gather these things.

4. Have an evacuation plan in place. That may involve rope ladders to escape multi storied units, easy access to well-maintained vehicles, and at least 2 unimpeded avenues of escape.

5. Finally, look around your home. Make sure you have working hoses attached to every spigot. In the event embers are dropping on your roof from some distance away, you may be able to save your property just by dousing those sparks.

That is what Peter Lang did, the owner of Safari West. Somehow, due to his vigilance, ingenuity and sheer determination, he kept his prize Safari West from burning. In fact, this week, a new baby giraffe was born. They called her "Tubbs" after the most massively destructive fire that raged through the area.

If he can do that with his 400+ acres, then the rest of us might have a fighting chance to save our home a well, if and when the unthinkable happens...

...Which is now much less difficult to imagine.

 Mark Reynolds now lives in San Diego, CA with his wife, Tatyana

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This map shows the devastating impact of fires ravaging parts of California's wine country

The fire ravaging parts of California wine country threatens the region's $1 billion agriculture industry

The Law of Action, Rather Than "The Law of Attraction". What a Refreshingly Simple Truth!

The following is an excerpt from the synopsis of a new book by Theo E.J. Wilson, a man who could be characterized as a modern day Martin Luther King, Mark Twain and Henry David Thoreau, all wrapped up into one....

And you've probably never heard of him.

"The Law of Action"."Let's be realistic! If staying mentally focused on only what you want were enough to attract it, you’d have it by now.  Although the laws of the mind are powerful tools, there is another side of the equation.  It’s the action factor.  It is the spiritual growth that comes from the doing, even if the doing is hard. There’s an elbow-grease component that is missing from modern metaphysics.   Too often, the teachings of today lack the backbone necessary to be universally applicable.   The fire has gone out of the philosophies, leaving us with a pile of watered down, westernized half-truths.  Quietly, the seekers have begun to rebel, misled by feel-good gurus who promise success for the masses, and deliver only for the few.  Is there a spiritual law that works anywhere in the world, regardless of class or material access?  How do we make sense of the darkness in our world (and in ourselves,) to the gain the understanding to transmute it?  The answer is The Law of Action". - Theo E.J. Wilson

Throughout my book "The Happiness Tree" and on this blog, I have decried the travesty of modern day gurus, false prophets and charlatans hocking the same warmed over psychobabble to generation after generation, promising them that merely wanting something badly enough will cause it to manifest in their lives. But they don't yell this from the rooftops or hand carry leaflets door to door, selflessly passing along their supposed wisdom for the benefit of humanity. NO! They charge exorbitant fees to unlock this "Secret Knowledge", taking advantage of the very people they proclaim they are committed to help.

As an example, it was recently brought to my attention that Lisa Garr, the Emcee of the Aware Show, an online podcast that has operated for over a decade, interviewing leaders in the... shall we say, "New Age Movement", was generously extending to her listeners the following special offer:

She would select 8 people that would work directly with her and gain access to her special insight so that they might be able to manifest their dreams as she had done, lo those many years ago.

And how did she attain this amazing success?

By her own admission, from special mentors in her life, like Wayne Dyer, who sadly for the rest of us, passed recently into the light of infinite spiritual bliss, bless his soul. In her video appeal, selling her amazing opportunity, she looks into the camera with as much conjured compassion as she can muster and reveals to us how she was saved from obscurity by the altruism of Wayne and other movers and shakers, such as Louise Hay, the current reigning Prima Donna of New Age nonsense, who has become a multi-millionaire many times over by publishing and distributing this rubbish to a seriously neurotic audience of sycophants.

I took up the challenge (with a healthy dose of skepticism), to see if I might be lucky enough to receive this blessed assistance from Lisa to further my professional and spiritual aspirations.

On the simple online form, I was asked questions like: (paraphrasing), Tell Us a Little About Yourself; What Special Qualities Might Make You a Good Candidate For Lisa's Program? and finally, What Do You Hope To Get Out Of Your Time With Lisa?

I took my time and tried to be open minded about the process. Digging deep into my consciousness to find kernels of passion and poignancy I could bleed on to the page to gain her attention. When I was finished, I submitted the form and was redirected to a final page that informed me of the following:

Opportunities like this are rare and not free. If selected for Lisa's program, would you be willing and able to make a 5 figure financial commitment to your future?

WTF!!!

50, 60, $70,000 or more? Who knows where it might end? If these people are good at anything, it's stringing along their followers, with promises of even more access to their special brand of bullshit. Once you're in the grasp of their grubby hands, the proverbial "Yellow Brick Road" will always be just over the horizon. 

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Okay, enough of my ranting and raving. On to the true prophet and truth seeker of our time. Theo E.J. Wilson.

He has a new book out which clearly describes his modus operandi: "The Law of Action". (Not the Law of Attraction). It is available by clicking on the cover below.

I recently listed to Mr. Wilson giving a TED talk. I was incredibly impressed with his eloquence and poetic delivery. When I looked more deeply into his background, I found that his is indeed a Renaissance Man of many talents. Not the least of which is Poetry. He has received winning accolades at many poetry slam events. I found it impossible look away during his presentation. He is a Force of Nature on the stage, commanding attention and driving his point into the minds of his audience with the subtleness of a velvet Samurai. 

 

Here is the presentation through which I was introduced to Mr. Wilson. I do hope we are privileged to hear much more from him in the future. I hope he applies his mission to one of the the many critical problems plaguing humanity. We need honest, passionate men and women of integrity to help us pave a road to a brighter, more peaceful, prosperous and sustainable future. 

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Now please listen to Mr. Theo E.J Wilson 

Dangerous Weather Further Legitimizes Climate Change Scenario - What Will We Do?

Climate change is a cunning beast, laying low, giving us pause to again become complacent or dust off our denial. Then it happens, Texas suffers its 3rd Hurricane in a decade, the 5th since 2000 and by all estimates, Harvey, being the worst, characterized as a 1 in 1000 year event.

Now, as I write, another hurricane, "Irma" is bearing down on the Florida coast. Poised to hit the Caribbean islands first, with possible catastrophic damage occurring to Florida by Saturday - As Houston just begins to dry out and assess the damage and the Federal Government struggles to find the resources to begin rebuilding that city and helping its residents. Soon Florida may need the same assistance, putting a tremendous strain on our already unstable economy.

Today, I heard that London, England has been protected by a series of massive walls, called the Thames Embankment, to keep the River from inundating the city, as it did in 1928. They also realize, that by 2050 or so, it will need to be amended to adjust for the rising waters caused by climate change. How is it that we as individuals can deny a reality which compels entire cities and nations to spend billions.  

Many other metropolitan areas are bracing or preparing for what they deem to be an inevitable threat that will devastate its coastal communities unless something is done. Even as our President chooses to deny the existence of wildly accepted science painting a doomsday scenario unless we all act to address the underlying causes of climate change.

It is daunting I know. The challenge is so massive it almost boggles the mind. But so was WWll and Polio and so many other cataclysms that threatened to challenge humanity's future. And yet, with collective action and the help of our government, we met and defeated these adversaries. Why is it we feel so apathetic in the face of this threat?

I think I have an answer and it strikes at the heart of what we as a nation, as a culture, have become ... Lazy.

And I point not the finger only to others, but also to myself. I love the internal combustion engine in my car. Do I want to replace it with an electric vehicle that gets me where I'm going, for sure, but without the excitement of 6 cylinders exploding an air / fuel mixture inside a hermitically sealed chamber and sending the resulting energy to the back wheels via a series of gears turning inside a marvelous mechanism called a transmission? Electrons flowing down a wire and turning an electro-magnetic motor bores the heck out of me.

Would it in fact make some small contribution toward addressing our looming crisis, by keeping just a little carbon out of the air? Perhaps. It's complicated. Because the electricity I would use to charge that vehicle's batteries would have to be generated somehow. Depending on where you live, that electrical generation may be driven by solar panels, or also natural gas or even coal. Granted, when power is centrally generated and sent out via an infrastructure like an electrical grid, it is more efficient and less polluting then having that equivalent energy produced by an internal combustion engine burning gas. But is that enough to really make a difference? Maybe, if the shift was on a large enough scale. 

Yet, consumers are tepid on electric vehicles. They accounted for barely 2% of auto sales in the last year that was analyzed. And as a result, the essential vehicle charging stations are not being built to support and serve that small demographic. And when they are put in, the ugly interference of capital interests rears its ugly head yet again: Different electric car manufacturers and different charging station interests are devising proprietary equipment to serve primarily "their" customers. So if you drive up in a Nissan Leaf for an example, you may not be able to charge from a station that was built for a Tesla or a Prius. This corporate-centered mentality will leave many EV owners stranded and they know it. So, what seemed like a good, socially progressive idea is once again corrupted by greed.

So what about Solar Panels; Composting your waste; Growing a garden to become less reliant on wasteful industrial farming; Planning your week to make fewer trips, or walking instead of driving, whenever possible; Turning off lights that aren't needed, Wearing warmer clothes rather than heating the house to a toasty 80 degrees. 

Would these things make a difference? I'm not sure. And that is what sets this crisis apart from the others I mentioned: Nazis are an enemy you can see. Polio was clearly contagious and therefore, biological. But climate change is far more complicated and the truth is, we are all culpable in some way, shape or form, by continuing to remain in denial or presuming there is nothing we can do or worse: Knowing we can do something and still choosing not to.

If you're with me on this, then consider what I have done. I decided to inform myself about the problem. I purchased Al Gore's new book "An Inconvenient Sequel, Truth to Power".

It the book, he clearly describes the what Climate Change is and what's behind it. But rather than being a doom and gloom story, the information offers a ray of hope. That hope arises from the fact that what we have been doing seems to be having a positive effect: The concentration of heat-trappng gasses in our atmosphere has not risen for the last 3 years. Additionally, new technologies that are currently being developed promise to reduce our carbon footprint, rather than just reacting to it. And though I have not finished reading his compelling work, I do hope to discover ways that I can make a real difference in my own life, even as I remain firmly ensconced in my comfort zone. 

Let me know your thoughts and what you and or your community are doing to address climate change

-Shane Eric Mathias

YIKES! Content Marketing Overload

When I was a child, a small, seemingly insignificant gesture left a lasting impression on me.

My grandmother was very interested in her ancestry. Now bear in mind, this is deep into the last century, long before computers and internet, snail mail was king and the post office was still making a profit. 

She had read that one of her ancestors may have lived in a small town in Virginia. She somehow found the address of a library in that little town and addressed a letter: To Whom It May Concern, asking about this mysterious figure from the past.

Two weeks later, she received a letter back. In beautiful cursive script, a researcher at the library detailed the painstaking effort he made to find a record of this individual. 

"Dear Madam", it began. "I received your request and with great pleasure, I now can reveal what has been found about your relative". After the lengthy description of his research, he ended by saying: "Should you have need of any other information, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am always here, at your service. Sincerely, _____________"

I still have that letter and revisit it now and again when I feel overwhelmed by the profit-driven, automated, superficial, redundant, barrage of marketing mislabeled as "making a connection". 

Don't get me wrong, I think the internet and many of the free applications we use daily to learn from and communicate with each other are amazing. I am glad to be living in this time, when while sitting in my arm chair, I can meet and converse in real time with someone across the globe.

But I am also grateful that I have seen with my own eyes the selfless passion and enthusiasm for helping a stranger and the art with which that short interaction was curated. The tactile nature and smell of the paper, the character of the individual's unique handwriting, the courtesy and decorum evident in the writer's personality, that communicated respect and sophistication. Sadly, these seem all but lost in many forms of digital exchange. But they don't have to be. 

I get that we are all attempting to build our brand, to make an impression, to gain an audience, be heard, understood and monetized. I'm in the same boat. 

But when the same Tweet goes out to every follower, when purveyors of this or that service are blindly marketing to each other. When the dissemination and consumption of "content" has replaced writing for the sake of expression, for the sheer joy of the art form... something is lost. Something valuable is disappearing from the human experience. 

 

I am not in the league of receiving hundreds of new followers each week. Nor am I on the NY Times best seller list, or deciding which TV interview to accept. If I were, perhaps I might find it impossible to answer each "Follow" with a personal message of thanks or to read and really take in what others are saying and writing about. 

If and when that day comes, it will be bittersweet. 

Until then, I will remain committed to using language as the marvelous tool that it is to communicate thought, feeling, creativity and empathy first and foremost and let that be the means by which I either sell or fail to sell my product. 

It is a delicate balance I know, when we're all trying to make a living and leave our mark. But let's not forget the "Human Factor" in all our promotions. 

There was something special about writing a letter by hand, a sensual quality that has been lost in today's "sound byte" world. But try to imagine your computer more like a pen than a cash register and maybe, just maybe, we can get back some of that precious sentimentality.

-Shane Eric Mathias

A REVOLUTIONARY IDEA TAKES ROOT IN SAN DIEGO - WHAT WAS OLD IS NEW AGAIN

It was another one of those halcyon days in San Diego, which we experience with such frequency, we almost have a collective sense of guilt, when we think about the rest of humanity, living anywhere else...(I said almost). 

And for an enlightened few, this "another day in paradise" experience, was further enhanced. by the privilege of partaking in a revolutionary marketplace called the Backyard Fruit Exchange, Swap Meet.

As our bodies were warmed by the Southern Sun and cooled by the breeze wafting off Mission Bay, our hearts were filled by the simple exchange of healthy, homegrown foods, between like minded urban farmers, brought together by an idea which is at once old and new again.

 

 

 

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Since the beginning of time, man has fished, grown, foraged for and made what he could and traded that for those resources beyond his grasp. And because the human diet is so marvelously varied, there are an endless myriad of foods that we can enjoy. The commercial marketplace has responded to this by setting up industrialized food production, that trades quality for quantity.

 

Furthermore, having become unwitting slaves to this system, we have been reluctantly forced to accept that the ingestion of fertilizers, antibiotics and pesticides is an unfortunate reality of modern society. 

But what happened last Saturday and happens the first Saturday of every month, gave us all a glimpse into how a truly evolved, conscience-driven society could function and feed itself, while building and maintaining communal ties between neighbors. The Backyard Fruit Exchange Swap Meet is just such an experiment and judging by the turnout and the enthusiasm, it will only grow.

For our part, we brought homemade Shea butter moisturizer, passion fruit, kale and rosemary and we went home with fresh bread...yumm!, farm fresh eggs, preserves made with wine and chocolate truffles. Man, what a wonderful breakfast we whipped up after a vigorous morning of talking and trading.

11This is a trend that every town, city and community can and should begin. Many of us are blessed with unused or under-used land on our property. Land that could be used to grow, fruit and vegetables. There are so many aspects of modern society that we may feel helpless to change, but where our food comes from doesn't have to be one of them.

Come next month to the next Backyard Fruit Exchange Swap Meet, held in De Anza cove, the first Saturday of every month and become part of the movement that is as old as mankind and as new as a gorgeous Spring day in San Diego.

 

-Shane Eric Mathias