Category Archives: Human Evolution

Stepping into The Twilight Zone: Attack of the GMOs

Posted on December 4, 2012 | 6 Comments

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are always on my radar screen.  I’ve understood for some time that genetically engineered food is something I do not want to ingest if I can help it.  Keeping them out of my family’s diet is a daily priority for me.  Yesterday, I saw on Facebook that Peru had officially banned GMOs.  Wanting to get clear on how many countries have banned them – in the hopes that these bans matter – I did some further investigation and ended up in…The Twilight Zone.

Countries that have banned GMOs include Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Russia, Austria, Greece, Poland, Egypt, Kenya, Madagascar and, for the most part, the Nordic countries.  Kudos to these countries for standing up to the biotech companies pushing these seeds!

Now, take a look at this map, which shows in red all the places where GMOs are thriving.

sott.net May 2012

That is one frightening visual.  Here’s why.

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Posted in Clean Food, Air and Water, Consumerism, Human Evolution

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A Perspective on the Thanks in Thanksgiving

Posted on November 12, 2012 | 2 Comments

Library of Congress

I recently received a mailing from a Native American organization asking for donations to help provide a Thanksgiving meal to some of the most impoverished Native Americans in this country.  The letter talked about giving them turkey “with all the trimmings,” and I thought to myself, there is an absurdity in this request that I can’t process.

The truth behind the first Thanksgiving is that the American Indians gave to the ill and starved Pilgrims with full heart. They provided the Pilgrims with food for sustenance and taught them how to grow food on North American soil. They officially welcomed them to Plymouth Rock, despite knowing that European slave traders were raiding Indian villages for a hundred years or so.  The Indians gave, as was their spiritual practice, and in return the European settlers decimated the native population in the name of divine providence.  Native Americans celebrating Thanksgiving feels to me like Jews celebrating Passover at Auschwitz.

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Posted in Human Evolution

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Blue River, Wider Than a Mile: A Personal Look into Blue Jean Manufacturing

Posted on January 12, 2012 | Leave a comment

I love my jeans.  Weather permitting, I wear jeans most of the time.  What I wear with them will vary, depending on whether I’m going to the grocery store or into the city for the evening.  As the years go by, and I find myself having passed the 50-year-old yard line, I feel like jeans keep me from getting too old too quickly.  An illusion, perhaps, but when I put them on they still feel like me.

I don’t think I’ll ever stop wearing jeans.  If I make it to 90, I’ll still be wearing them.  They provide some continuity to my human existence; a source of comfort in an ever-changing world.  Uh, that is until I came across an article on the manufacturing of blue jeans.

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Posted in Clean Food, Air and Water, Consumerism, Ecological Devastation, Human Evolution

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Pet Peeve

Posted on July 15, 2010 | Leave a comment

I heard a story months ago about the outrageous number of pets that are being abandoned during this time of economic crisis. Municipal shelters and private rescues are overwhelmed, and the United States is on track to euthanize 6,000,000 pets including nearly 1,000,000 Chihuahuas and small dogs. One hundred Chihuahuas a day are showing up at shelters in California.

I keep thinking about the Chihuahuas. These tiny little animals – affectionate, intelligent and prone to being high strung – are being tossed out of pink snakeskin purses and into shelters or onto the street because they require a high level of care that owners realize, as an afterthought, they don’t have the time, money or patience for. Given the pop-culture parading of these dogs by way of Paris Hilton, “Legally Blond” and the ad campaign for Taco Bell, people think of Chihuahuas as trendy accessories rather than living beings.

I find myself imagining all these Chihuahuas in the shelters, quivering endlessly and wondering what happened, where the love went and what will become of their little lives.   Continue reading →

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Posted in Human Evolution, War

One for All and All for One

Posted on July 14, 2010 | Leave a comment

When the title of this essay came to me, I was not sure where it originated in the files of my memory. As it turns out it’s from the Three Musketeers. This was not the association I was hoping for, so I will be redefining it for my own purposes. (Isn’t that how it goes? The human species invented words as tools for communication, and it is the human that gives them meaning.)

All spiritual traditions outside of Western thought and religion share the premise that we are all one. The human, the animal, the forest, the sea, the sun. There is one intelligent source of life out of which myriad expressions are born, the human species being one of them. And in the case of the human family, we are 6.8 billion particulars all made of the same stuff.

Hard to conceptualize, I know.   Continue reading →

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Posted in Human Evolution

Soldiers and War, Water and Oil, Peace and Love

Posted on June 2, 2010 | Leave a comment

I recently heard a report on the Prime Minister of Japan’s decision to keep an American air base on the island of Okinawa. This was contrary to his pre-election position (imagine that) and sparked outrage in the people of Okinawa. Among the issues being expressed by a Japanese activist against the presence of the U.S. military on Okinawa was the sexual molestation and rape of young women on the island by U.S. soldiers (of course this does not apply to all soldiers).

I had a hard time digesting this information and found myself ruminating on it for some time. Aside from the fact that such behavior is absolutely unacceptable and criminal, I was thinking about what it is that allows a soldier to feel free to rape a 10 or 19-year-old Japanese girl. What is going on in his heart that he cannot see this other being as someone who deserves respect because she is another human being?

I began thinking further about the behavior of U.S. soldiers.   Continue reading →

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Posted in Gulf Oil Spill, Human Evolution, War