We are anxious about it, too!

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More than half (57%) of child psychiatrists in England are seeing children and young people distressed by the climate emergency, as experts warn that eco-anxiety is growing among under-25s. Although not yet considered a diagnosable condition,levels of “chronic fear of environmental doom” are likely to be underestimated, while international research has found anxiety is “profoundly affecting huge numbers of young people around the world”. (The Guardian 7 Oct 2021)

My comment: I find myself (disgracefully), watching the mayhem caused in six states by yesterdays destructive tornados thanking heaven that I am the age I am. I will not see the finale of global warming and the upheaval it will bring. But the fact is that I, my friends and family, have done our bit to contribute to it, as my grandchildren would tell me were they not nice, polite people. I tried to put solar panels on the roof, but a nearby tree interfered with the light, and would have been wholly ineffective.

Our next car will be electric. I try not to use the current one unless I have to. No, it doesn’t amount to much, does it?

Expect more of the same!

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Tropical storm Wanda was the 21st named storm in the Atlantic season in 2021. All the names on the official storm list were used this year, making it the Atlantic’s third most active year for tropical storms and hurricanes on record. (Bloomberg.com)

Comment: Expect more of the same. Every year. (it must be a hard slog to keep up the lie that climate change is a hoax, but there are devotees who cannot be persuaded otherwise.

Laughter

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“A man without mirth is like a wagon without springs, in which one is caused to jolt disagreeably by every pebble over which it runs.”. Henry Ward Beecher, clergyman and abolitionist. (quoted in the Montreal Gazette)

My comment: Hard as it surely is to keep a sense of humor in these rather grim and hate-filled times, it becomes ever more important to keep a sense of humor and be able to laugh, even as you witness the renewed rise of a fascist and ill-informed spirit.

I don’t recall any account of the humor of Epicurus – his teachings have been recorded in a bit of a dour manner. But the best way of getting over a set of ideas is to get an audience to chuckle with you as you speak. Laughter is endearing, and I bet Epicurus knew it, even if the scribes and witnesses failed to record it on parchment.

A definition of happiness

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“Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city”. (George Burns, quoted in Goodreads.com)

My comment: Witty this is, but Epicurus would have demurred. He coveted his friendships and liked nothing better than to invite friends and acquaintances round for a simple meal and an intelligent discussion (free of party politics).

Cut the military budget!

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$25 billion.

That’s the cost — as Public Citizen has calculated — of producing enough coronavirus vaccine to end the pandemic *worldwide*. And with the emerging Omicron variant, ending the pandemic remains humanity’s most immediate need.

As it happens, $25 billion is also how much Congress could allocate for the military next year over and above, the $753 billion the Biden administration asked for. (By the way, the U.S. spends more on its military than the next 11 countries combined — including China and Russia. And we’ve ended our incredibly expensive military operations in Afghanistan.)

A strong case can be made that our nation’s military spending should be slashed by tens or even hundreds of billions. Surely the Pentagon can get by without an extra $25 billion the White House didn’t even want!

Senator Bernie Sanders has proposed an amendment to the bill setting the military budget for next year that would at least claw back that not-even-requested $25 billion. (Public Citizen 4 Dec 2021)

My comment: All we are doing is keeping the arms manufacturers
profitable- on our dime. One of the principal reasons for the decline and fall of the Roman Empire was the cost of the army. And are we really going to war with Russia over it’s threatened invasion? (No! I hope) or the hostile stance of China (No! I hope).