Signs of climate change:

The earth is getting warmer due to greenhouse gases (co2)

Droughts are becoming more severe.

Glaziers and ice sheets are melting increasing sea levels.

More intense storms leading to flooding.

The earth is 4 and 1/2 billion years old and has been self-regulated.

But now humans have thrown it out of it’s regulation cycle.

It’s happening faster then the scientists expected.

Recent extreme weather events this year:

120 degrees F. in the Pacific Northwest of North America (USA and Canada)

Extreme flooding in Germany.

Wildfires in Oregon destroyed 1000 acres in one hour.

A years worth of rain fell in China in three days.

Scientists thought these extremes would occur later this century.

We need to stop burning fossil fuels and cutting down the forests.

Reduce greenhouse gasses.

Future generations will have to cope with extreme weather and it’s consequences if we don’t do something fast.

By our constant polluting of the atmosphere, we humans are transforming the future of our planet NOW!

We are approaching more and more tipping points that destabilise the climate.

What is a tipping point?

These points occur when global heat increases temperatures beyond a critical point.

This leads to severe impacts which cause extreme weather and change the climate.

We also hear a lot about the Greenhouse Effect.

What is it?

A greenhouse lets heat in but very little escapes.

So it gets very warm in the greenhouse.

So what keeps the earth warm?

Certain gasses in the atmosphere absorb heat redaction and throw it down to the earth’s surface.

But the gases don’t let the heat escape into space.

These gasses produce the Greenhouse Effect.

Some of the gasses are carbon dioxide, methane and water vapour.

It’s like throwing a blanket over the earth

Fossil fuel burning increases carbon dioxide making the blanket thicker!

Is human influence on the climate clear?

Yes.

We have been polluting the atmosphere for years,The heat from the Greenhouse Effect melts the ice so sea levels increase.

We have created big changes in our climate systems.

More heat waves, more flooding, and more droughts.

Some nations have committed to cut Co2 emissions.

This is not enough, you need global commitment especially from the two large polluters, China and the US.

So in summary:

We recently had some global extreme weather.

So will it alert the public and politicians?

I hope so.

It should be a wake up call for all of us.

I’m going to recycle more and plant a tree. This is NO joke!

I hear many people complain about their teenage children acting a bit paculiair.

Thie blog is for them.

Lets first define ADOLESENCE-The period after puberty when a young person develops from a child to an adult.

There are many negative impressions of adolescents:

They are moody, impulsive, take risks and make bad decisions.

There is an eight year period, 12 to 19 years old, in which the young person is no longer a child but they aren’t quite acting like adults yet, either,

Now adolescents spend their time in school preparing for future adulthood.

Adolescence has been described as a time of “storm and stress”.

This is when they start contradicting their parents.

Adolescent problems:

Conflicts with parents, moodiness, overreaction with strong emotions, impulsivity and risk taking.

Conflicts with parents–The argue about their clothing, appearance , family rules and curfews..

This is the time adolescents are establishing their independence from their parents–which is part of growing up!

Moodiness and Emotional Outbursts:

This is caused by hormonal changes at puberty.

Adolescents start to see the world and its complexities.

The lose the innocence of childhood.

Adolescents are expected to take more responsibility.

With all these life changes it tends to overwhelm them.

Impulsive and risky behaviours:

Driving cars too fast, drinking etc.

Risky and impulsive actions are the result of how the BRAIN develops during adolescence.

What does this mean?

There is one brain system that involves reactions to things that entice teenagers and another system that helps is decide what things to do and stops us when doing them is NOT a good idea.

But the controlling system matures AFTER the impulsive system!

This might explain some of the impulsivity and risk taking that take place in adolescence .

The brain systems that promote mature judgment take time to develop, so there’s NOT a lot that can be done to make adolescents self-regulate better until their brains are ready!

I just want to mention there are GOOD risks teenagers take:

They try NEW things at school or sports or social relationships.

Trying new things is good!

Overall, most adolescents aren’t too bad and don’t display all of the conflicts and problems.

GOOD LUCK!

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:

Teenager is the interval between pigtails and cocktails!

The average teenager still has all the faults his parents had and outgrew!

Rejoice! Comper A has just won the election and will be the new leader of the free world sitting in the White House.

What a headline that would be.

But maybe it’s not so crazy after all.

It may be creepy but lets look at what’s happening already.

Our finances are managed almost entirely by computes.

Computers run rail and airways.

If you fly it might scare you to know the pilots, for long periods,, are doing nothing. They say computers could handle landings and take offs, it’s just that passengers can’t accept that yet.

Can computers run the economy?

Why not? After all most economies rely on computer models and predictions already.

Could computers replace politicians?

It might be hard because goals need to be set for the computer.

The goal of politics is usually to make as many people happy as possible.

One policy might make 80% happy but the other 20% might be  in a worst  position.

We might accept a slightly less happy society but where no one has to live a miserable life.

A computer can’t decide how much inequality we are prepared to live with- only humans can do that.

Maybe someday computers will manage entire economies and public services better than people.

But I can’t envision computers figuring out what is best for us and eliminate all politicians.

After all successful politicians can stay for a long time in the public eye without irritating it.

On the lighter side:

A COMPUTER CAN’T PUT ITS FOOT IN ITS MOUTH LIKE A POLITICIAN CAN!!!

Do Nothing, the thought is intriguing to say the least.

It sounds relaxing and restorative, so lets delve into it a little more.

I came across this practice when I was going to meditate but was too stressed to do it.

So I just did nothing for thirty minutes. I just sat and did nothing, it felt good.

We never learned to do nothing because our society doesn’t value it.

When I’m doing nothing I feel calm.

Whatever arises sense wise, I simply take it in, in a non-reactive way.

Everything comes and goes, sights, sounds, thoughts and physical sensations.

As soon as I start paying attention to a thought, I remind myself that right now I;M DOING NOTHING, and the thought drifts away.

What doing nothing amounts to is to leave a little time for yourself everyday.

You say, “I spend time alone during the day.”

You are alone BUT you spend the time worrying about others, family and friends.

There is no time left over entirely for yourself.

Do Nothing is not revolutionary or difficult. In fact it is very easy.

Just put aside a little space devoted to yourself.

This is selfish?

Of course it is and justifiably so. You need to regenerate your engine or it will run down.

So, what are you going to do with this space?

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

This is your breather, a time to sit still and do nothing., JUST BREATHE.

You sit there, not doing, not worrying, JUST BEING!

You appreciate the pleasure of being alive in the present moment.

I find Doing Nothing a great way to purge myself of angst and worries.

Time spent doing nothing is very important BUT as soon as you complicate it, it loses something.

If you have a cup of coffee in your solitude, then it’s a coffee break and NOT a space just for you.

If you like to listen to music, then it’s a music break.

Do you see what I mean?

You have to keep your Do Nothing time pure and simple.

Someone shouts, “Hey, what are you doing?”

I reply, “I’m DOING NOTHING! Try it you’ll like it.”

Joe went to the same cafe every day.

Why? Because of the good food and low prices.

How did, Jane, the owner, do it?

Jane said her staff were from Africa.

They can’t get regular jobs so she houses them in her basement and feeds them.

She pays them a fiver a day.

They work six days a week.

That’s how she can offer low prices.

“It’s better than nothing for the Africans,” says Jane

Joe decided to boycott the cafe.

But exploitation happens all the time.

We import cheap goods and they are cheap bebcayse the people making them are being paid very low wages.

And when we buy cheap goods we are helping maintain the exploitation!

Also competition from businesses that employ workers that are low paid cause properly paid workers to lose their jobs.

There have been many injustices which whole sections of society supported.

Consider the actions of whites during apartheid, men before women were given equal rights, etc.

It’s wrong to support exploitation, but we do it!!!.

.

I wondered:

What if I had a choice between two futures.

In one future my prospects were dim and chances of realising my dreams slim.

In the other future I would be a famous rock star, rich and happy.

The catch was in the first future life would be in the Real world.

The second one would be in a virtual reality machine,

What would you do?

Would the phoniness of the second one bother you?

“The phoniness wouldn’t bother me if I was rich,” said my friend,

Why am I holding back?

Because life in the machine would be UNREAL.

Success wouldn’t be on merit, it would be handed to you,

“Success depends on luck, being in the right place at the right time.

Why let what you merit bother you?” said my friend.

“But I would be abandoning the Real World!”

My friend laughed.

“Get with it, if you think it is more real because it was caused by the Big Bang instead of silicon chips, you are fooling yourself.”

Well, what’s it going to be…

“A humdrum life or a life of fame and happiness?”

“What’s holding you back?”

“I think our futures should be a product of our will and effort.”

“I don’t care about will and effort, Im going into the machine,” said my friend.

I stared at him in disbelief as he disappeared into the machine.

My friend was going to be happy just because he would be rich!

I’ll stick with the Real World and work hard for my rewards.

ISN’T LIFE MORE THAN JUST HAVING RICHES?

Think…

What if you had eternal life? You would not get old and frail.

After 50 years added on to the Biblical 70 you would be 120 years old.

All your relations, lovers and friends would have died leaving you ALONE!

At 130 years old you have grown bored and weary

You lacked all ambition and the projects you have started seemed pointless now that you have ENDLESS TIME!

You longed for the GRAVE!

What a surprise, IMMORTALITY IS A CURSE!

People think to have endless time would be great.

UNTIL you actually live it!!!

WE NEED DEATH to give shape and meaning to life.

Without the thing we know will happen some time, namely death, life would be pointless.

At 70 we say there are so many places to see, ao much to do and experience, if only we had more TIME!

But the point is: WE DON’T MAKE FULL USE OF THE TIME WE HAVE.

Making full use of time would be meaningless if we had endless time.

Existence would become a pointless burden.

In conclusion:

We are responsible for how we use the time allotted to us.

We should stop thinking, “I wish I had mire time” and think instead “if only I had made better use of my time.”

SO DO THAT: Make the best use of your time under the circumstances you live with.

And remember: WE DON’T HAVE ENDLESS TIME.

Most Prime Ministers would want to run a clean, more honest administration with no corruption.

But when someone whispers in their ear:

“I’m prepared to give 25 million pounds to help provide clean water for thousands of people in Africa.

In return I want to be knighted in the New Year honours list.”

The dilemma is:

Can it be so wrong to sell a knighthood when the reward would do so much good?

What to do?

There’s two views on this dilemma:

The  reward should benefit many people.

Then the PM should take the bribe.

Due process and the rule of law would stop the PM from taking the bribe.

If the PM refuses he will be accused of being more interested in keeping himself pure then helping thousands of people.

His desire to be moral is actually immoral!

If he took the bribe what other corruptions would follow?

Would he lie to the people and by doing so he can win their support for a war they would otherwise oppose?

If net consequences for bribes are all that matter to politicians how can they stay not corrupt?

Or was it impossible to begin with?

“Hey, what are the self-evident truths in the Constitution?”

“Well, there’s “all men are created equal.”

They have unalienable rights, Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness.”

The man grimaced and said:

“I DOUBT IT!”

Is there anything so self-evident that cannot be doubted?

Is the world just a figment of our imagination?

See, even the physical world can be doubted!

Philosophers like to make us doubt what we think we know.

Their tool is the “capacity to think rationally.”

We doubt many things, the doubting demon could be encoded in our DNA!

So can we rely on our ability to reason well?

We cannot doubt whether our capacity for reason is flawed or not.

We can say it has served us well or can we?

Stop doubting everything ! Look what happened to Doubting Thomas, the disciple, he was martyred in India for doubting the resurection of Jesus.

“Lets have a drink and forget the whole thing.”

My friend said:

“I doubt whether whiskey is the answer.”

I replied:

“BUT IT’S WORTH A SHOT!”

The Professor said:

“Human behaviour can always be explained by our history as evolved beings from animals.”

A hand flew up in the class.

“Why do kids today wear their baseball caps the wrong way round?”

“Animals advertise their suitability to a mate by how strong they are.

Consider the baseball cap, worn in the traditional style it is protection from the sun and also the gaze of other kids.”

There was a pause by the teacher so the point sunk in

“By turning the cap around, the male is signaling he doesn’t need this protection. He is tough and strong.

Second, inverting the cap is a gesture of non-conformity.

He is above the rules and again this signals superior strength!”

“But couldn’t you look at this differently?”, said the kid.

“Maybe the inverted cap is a signal of weakness to avoid and resist peer pressure.

Maybe it has nothing to do with evolution!”

The Professor shook his head.

“Supporters of the evolved being idea say we just don’t want to acknowledge how much we are the products of our animal history,”, said the teacher.

The kid wearing his cap with the peak forward just shook his head in confusion!

WHAT SAY YOU?

EVOLUTION OR JUST BEING AWKWARD.