Firecrackers - 2007

The firecrackers are not only for rejoicing in the new year, but for different issues churning in the world that fire me up.


I'm Dreaming of a White January: First of all, I hate snow. I'm not a snow person - only thing I like about snow is padding around the house in wool socks and drinking hot chocolate as it quietly falls outside. Don't want to go out, don't want to ski or do anything. I'm all about summer and sun.

Where is the snow? I know Denver and Buffalo have already faced enough snow, but did they get our snow too? I live in the northeast and it is January 1st and we have not seen snow. I need to see the snow as an assurance everything in the world is ok. Forgive me for this blunt comparison, but it's like a menstrual period. It's not exactly fun, but it's an assurance that your body is working and is normal. If you don't get it, then you have to pay attention. Right now, I don't feel like Mother Nature's cycle is regular.

• "An Inconvenient Truth" - we watched this movie last week and it is shocking and surprising to learn the effects of the climate crisis. I'm really angry at the US for being in denial and not joining the world in its efforts to combat the climate crisis. As for individuals, check out this list of tips on small changes you can make to your lifestyle to help save the planet.
  

• Arctic Ice Shelf Breaks - The Alyes Ice Shelf in the Canadian Arctic collapsed and floated for 30 miles until it froze. It was 41 square miles and the tremors were picked up by earthquake monitors 155 miles away. Let's just think a second about the enormity of this. Manhattan Island is 20 square miles. Ice shelf bigger than Manhattan breaking off and floating. Changing the natural geography of the arctic. Yes, the earth has always been alive and changing and resculpting herself. Yet, not at this pace. What will be the impact when the spring thaw comes?
• Excerpt from article: "It is consistent with climate change," Vincent said, adding that the remaining ice shelves are 90 percent smaller than when they were first discovered in 1906."
  

• Polar Bears Becoming Endangered Due to Climate Change -- I'm not an animal activist, nor do I have Sierra Club calendars. However, we have to be alert to these issues. The bears can't find food, they're drowning because they have to swim longer distances between ice and land and becoming victims to the changes humans have accelerated to make.
  
• Excerpt from article: "We are not going to lose the polar bears," said Terry Root, an ecologist at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.

  "We will always have individuals around in zoos and places like that, but we are going to lose the natural behavior of polar bears," she said.
  "We are so strongly affecting their habitat, their way of life, that they are going to have to basically become very similar to raccoons [which rely heavily on humans for survival], in the sense they are not going to be able to feed the way they have fed before, on seals and off the ice."

• Climate Crisis vs Global Warming - What's in a name? Everything! For years, it's been called global warming and frankly, that sounds nice. (Yeah, Boston is little chilly and could use a little Florida sun). Yet, it's not about everyone becoming warm. It'll be about a total climate change.

Has the US and the Media Lost Sense of Humanity: I made a comment the other night about Saddam Hussein's death after I read it online. In the morning, we watched CNN and they showed his last moments. We were shocked! The reporter says, "This is what Iraqis saw on TV this morning." Excuse me, this is what Americans are seeing on TV. Philadelphia Inquirer had full page of pictures. What is this?

These photos are not required. Tell me he was executed. Don't show me the rope being put around his neck. I thought we were a "civilized society" that did not participate in public executions. My friend pointed out that this is no better than those murderers who have been executing hostages and posting them on the internet. It's propagating the same behavior.

The Bush administration obviously orchestrated this even though they can say the Iraqi Tribunal who decreed this. Interesting time, huh? The Americans are tired of a war they don't understand and feel betrayed by their leaders. Republicans are demoted. They need to show the Americans, "Yeah remember big bad Saddam? We got him, you know? We know what we're doing. (gulp)"

The acceleration of Saddam's execution is unbelievable. How come Milosevic rotted in jail for genocide and war crimes? What about Idi Amin who had slaughtered so many people in Uganda? Augusto Pinochet lived to a nice ripe old age. No public hanging for them? I don't know what the criteria is for removing and executing tyrannical dictators. Phantom WMDs?