Rattling The Establishment‘s Cage: Short Essays & Notes on Unorthodox Views of Environment, Economics, Ethics, Politics, War, Spirituality, and More

by Scott C. Haley

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Copyright © 2024 Scott C. Haley

Author’s current professional association memberships: Society for Conservation Biology; International Society for Ecological Economics; American Association of Geographers; International Society for Environmental Ethics.

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Note to Reader

Many of these essays were written for a blog I’ve maintained since 2007, IndividualSovereignty.blogspot.com; others were penned this year, 2024, and are not on the blog as of this writing.  All have been written by me (no A.I.),  are some of the most popular on the blog, and all were edited for this book.  Each essay is on its own page (some are two or three pages in length), and for context, I’ve included the year it was written.  Enjoy, and

Happy Trails,

Scott Haley

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Dedication

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To the memory of four of my teachers—-

From Highland Park High School, Highland Park, Illinois, 1956-1960:

1.  Mr. Ralph Cianchetti, an English teacher who inspired my love of the written word, and encouraged me to find my own Lake Isle of Innisfree.

2.  Mr. Benson, who inspired my love and appreciation of both American Government and Modern European History.

From Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, 1971-1973:

1.  Dr. Ira Judd, who increased my appreciation of Plant Ecology by leaps and bounds.

2.  Dr. Virgil Baker, who had a grasp of Human Ecology which lit a fire in me that still burns brightly.

All were magnificent teachers.

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Table of Contents

Note to Reader............Page 1

Dedication............Page 2

Environment............Page 4

Economics............Page 21

Science............Page 35

Ethics............Page 41

War............Page 60

Politics............Page 78

Spirituality............Page 96

Final Thoughts............Page 105

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Environment

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August, 2022

Hypothesis: It's likely the Powers-That-Be (public & private) in our Land have no intention whatsoever of...

I've studied human impact on the environment for fifty years, and watched our transition to renewable energy for a tad over twenty years.  We've made a little progress in renewable energy, but fossil fuels still rule the roost.  Except for a reduction in the use of coal, and except for oil cartels reducing production once in awhile to manipulate the price, and except for lower demand for gasoline during the first two years of the pandemic, fossil fuel use has not been significantly reduced in the USA.  Plus, renewable energy production has not been able to meet even the annual increase (the increase only) in energy demand here and worldwide.   https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/04/gap-between-renewable-energy-and-power-demand-oil-gas-coal.html

So, I propose the following hypothesis.  "It's likely the Powers-That-Be (public & private) in our Land have no intention whatsoever of transitioning to renewable energy.  Instead, the plan is to kick the can down the road while having renewables complement the dominant fossil fuels".  [Of course, sooner or later, fossil energy either will be too inaccessible to extract affordably, or it will be gone.  But that won't be anytime soon, or soon enough.]  Meanwhile, a bunch of politicians (funded by the short-sighted fossil industry) have assured the proverbial kicking of the can down the road with the recent Inflation Reduction Act.  Said law is somewhat good for the complementary renewable energy industry, and even better for the myopic fossil fuel cartel.

I imagine others have come up with this hypothesis before me, but I suspect most of Main Street still believe the elites are sincere when they claim to be transitioning away from fossil fuels to renewables.  Thus I fear pressure in favor of accelerating the transition will abate.  Such would be extremely detrimental to Homo sapiens and all other life on Spaceship Earth.

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December, 2022

COP 27 more or less confirms my hypothesis

COP 27, like all its predecessors, failed to endorse the phasing out of all fossil fuels.  They did call for phasing out coal, but not oil and natural gas.  Why?

The answer is simple:  oil and gas almost are the perfect energy sources to enable the pursuit of infinite, ever-expanding, economic growth.  Compared to renewables, they are transportable, more convenient, cheaper to obtain, packed with more punch, and the infrastructure for extraction and distribution already is developed.  As to any problems created by fossil fuel use, no worries, new technology will solve them.  At least, that's most likely how the linear thinking, neoliberal petroleum supporters view the situation.

Other people see things through the lens of comprehensive thinking and complexity theory.  Their conclusions are quite different, and they've been warning us about our current state for decades.  Plus, the freight train which will hit us relatively soon involves much more than only climate disruption.

Either we will significantly address the impending catastrophes of appalling air-water-soil pollution, soil loss, natural ecosystem destruction, overharvesting of forests and fish, the toxic forever-chemicals, nuclear wastes, polluting-destructive-perpetual war, biodiversity loss, the spread of disease, and more, or Mother Nature will.  She already has started.

It's beginning to appear that positive action by individual countries on the scale required is not going to happen.  Therefore, it's up to smaller political entities - states/provinces, counties, local cities and towns - to adopt and implement sustainable policies ASAP.  At least then, some areas will have a somewhat better chance of weathering the coming disasters.  Which disasters?  Things like severe food shortages, a lack of fresh water, a lack of jobs, a sense of insecurity, the feeling of living in an atomized society, a lack of Nature, etc.  Much is being done in some areas, and much more can be done everywhere.  Search out solutions; they're all over the internet.  We're in ecological overshoot already; the human race is in dire straits.

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December, 2023

U. S. Government's Lip Service to Climate Mitigation, plus the Planet Wreckers Report 

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the Biden Administration's actions re a new round of oil and gas leasing auctions could potentially erase any climate gains in the Inflation Reduction Act.  The USA is now the world's largest oil producer, and in 2022 66% of our oil came from the fracking of shale.  Often called shale oil, it's also referred to as tight oil.  As you may know, drilling for it often has resulted in big problems (all of which usually are denied by the industry).

At the global level, we now have twenty countries (including the USA) planning to expand oil production for twenty-six more years. 

https://priceofoil.org/2023/09/12/planet-wreckers-how-20-countries-oil-and-gas-extraction-plans-risk-locking-in-climate-chaos/

In addition, COP 28 was run by the CEO of one of the largest oil producers in the world.  Do you think there's any conflict of interest in such a scenario?  Seems likely, eh?

As pointed out previously, we do need to use fossil fuels in the immediate future in order to construct and distribute massive numbers of Green energy gizmos and new electrical power lines.  I don't know for how long, but surely not twenty-six more years.

Is it not yet clear that The Establishment is on the wrong path?  And not yet clear that voters keep electing politicians to high office who favor consumerism over ecological principles?  If this whole business weren't so tragic, it would be laughable.

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July, 2020

What is Mother Earth Telling Us?

As we humans continue deforestation in tropical areas, massive air pollution in temperate regions, and numerous other ecocide activities all over the world, our planet (which is a dynamic ecosystem) is reacting in various ways.  The reactions in total are sending a message which is clear to anyone with either an academic ecological background, or anyone with an intuitive sense of ecology, or anyone with both.

Professor William E. Rees deftly explains it here:

https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2020/04/06/The-Earth-Is-Telling-Us-We-Must-Rethink-Our-Growth-Society/

Yes, humanity has done many amazing, wonderful, and productive things in the past 5,000 years