Students in the U.S., Watch Out!

I would write a rant, but the picture says it all!

I just want to point out that through my travels people all over the world are amazed by how much money we pay for school in the U.S. Priorities people, priorities. We need a earth to live on, food to eat, water to drink, and equal access to education. Does it make it any better if people are dying, in debt, and/or hungry in the U.S. because of our national policies instead of another country's international policy? Come on now people!

Heartbreak in Rio

Wild fires in Colorado. Tornado in Florida. Went to Rhode Island last week and was met by grueling temperatures and dreadful humidity. I hear my hometown has temperatures in the 90s. It's not even July yet. I remember when it wasn't safe to plant before July 4th due to cold nights and frosts. Mild winters and hot summers are happening everywhere. That's just the U.S. too, there have been floods in China, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and a tornado in South Africa just in the last 3 days. THREE. DAYS. (disaster report)

As I posted about before, Rio +20 happened, ending in what is most certainly the most depressing news I have heard in some time. It is so clear to me that the governments do not care about our futures, or even their own, as long as their pockets are still padded with cash. Nothing of substance, as far as I can tell, came out of Rio. Oil subsidies remain and those leaders who even showed up (Obama, of course, not included) took their jets back home. The youth, as expected, stood up for their future and were ignored. The Huffington Post reports that even though over 45,000 people attended, including delegations from 188 countries, 4000 journalists, and 45,000 religious leaders/organization. The NGOs and environmental groups were, of course, present. Nevertheless,  

"The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (aka Rio+20) is concluded in Rio de Janeiro amidst commentary that ranged from utter despair to very tempered hope."

This is disheartening and, in fact, horrifying. If the best part of the conference was youth walking out because they felt their need weren't being met then I can say honestly that I'm pretty disappointed. Some say it's progress that the meeting even happened. I'm sorry, what? Just because we talk about something, if you haven't noticed, doesn't mean it changes. I suppose in the end, I'm not surprised. Global Warming isn't political and we are realizing through things like Rio +20 and Durban that change won't be coming from these meetings, at least not the changes we need. I would very much like to say that we can keep praying for action from the governments of the world, but this is going to have to be one gigantic grassroots movement. I feel like I'm a mother rolling my eyes and saying "fine, I'll do it myself" except I can't. We all will have to work together because obviously those "representing" us won't work for us.

Lastly, there were a lot of Indigenous groups there. Here is a conversation with one! Please watch, it's so important!

Keep on Montana!

I heard today that the supreme Supreme Cort overturned the law in Montana that regulates corporate spending on campaigns. Below is a video made a few months ago to give a little bit of a back story:

This makes me frustrated because not only is the government not doing what the people want, they are also not allowing us to maintain our pre-existing laws that reflect our values. In 2010 the Citizens United allowed unlimited spending by super PACs in elections. Due to this law Montana's law that keep big money out of the government is considered unconstitutional. So, we aren't sure about who can marry or if global warming is "really the most pressing of issues," yet we immediately know that when money can't buy an election IT'S ILLEGAL!? Really U.S.A.? Really?

Here is a link to the coverage that Democracy Now! did on the issue. What really hits me is that Montana seems to get that this isn't a democrat vs. republican issue, it's a human issue. Keep going Montana, I'm proud to call you my home state!

20 Years After Rio

Servern Suzuki!

She is "the girl who silenced the world for 5 minutes" because she gave such an amazing speech twenty years ago (first video). It's interesting to see how she has changed and her views have changed after 20 years of activism. The second video is a little long but please watch it! It's so true and so close to how I feel about Rio +20. I can just be grateful that people like her are there speaking when so many other people, including myself, can't be. Our voices are closer to being heard thanks to her.

She also talks about the "Canadian" identity a lot and I agree with her. I think, though, that no matter what country we are from, as our countries ignore science, reason, and rational thought, our identities and our lives. Think about it.

My Vlog Brother Cursh and Gay Marriage

I love vlogbrothers. They are great. Plus Hank live in MT. Represent! I love Hank's science videos, I love John's hatred of pennies, I just really enjoy them both. Here are their recent videos on gay marriage. Even if you don't agree, please check out their other videos, they are witty, fun, and very intelligent.

I chose to post these two because it is relevant to my life right now- I have started working with a group called Equality Maine. It's an LGBT group and we are working to vote yes for same-sex marriage in Maine.  I'll be posting more on EQME when I get back from my RI trip, but until than, check it out here!

all the best,
Greta

Rio +20

I'm about to drive to Rhode Island, but before I hit the road I want to call every one's attention to something that I hope you attention is already directed to! Rio +20. This is sort of like Durban which I blogged a few months ago, I have a hard time dealing with how political it is! Confronting these issues are nothing less than necessary for us to live; individually, as countries, and a race, and in general as a planet. Something so important should be worth more than policy and debates between countries. It should already be a necessary. Sadly, our foresight has been skewed.

 

Rio +20 basically is a massive meeting of countries to decide how we will continue to live and sustain ourselves and our planet in a world that is rapidly changing. Their website states, "At the Rio+20 Conference, world leaders, along with thousands of participants from governments, the private sector, NGOs and other groups, will come together to shape how we can reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet to get to the future we want."

Fun Fact: Governments spend almost 1 trillion dollars of public money on oil subsidies, according to the Huffington Post. If we were to use a fraction of this money to invest in green energy just THINK of the possibilities. Jobs would be created, energy would be greener. We might be able to get below 390 parts per million of CO2 and start heading back toward 350, as McKibben and much of the science world states, is the limit to a safe level of CO2 on the planet. Here are some videos to help you understand how very IMPORTANT this conference is for our future!

I hope that people will take action, pay attention, and that governments will step up to the plate. I really do. Knowing how dependent our current (corrupt) political structures are and the complexity and interconnectedness of food production, oil, water, and CO2 emissions on so many different levels I am doubtful that this conference will bring about the changes we need. The people at the conference may be passionate but the governments represented depend of the current state of environmental destruction to continue as they are now. The changes they will have to make are not ones they are willing to make because they are not the most profitable.

I will be hopefully watching the progress of +20 Rio and I hope you will too, because if these policies are going to be made they need our pressure. One clever blogger from the Human Impacts Institute recorded giving out the Fossil of the World award, the  "Today’s award was given to the United States for the overall strength of their commitment…to not having any real commitments. This fossil recognizes the United States’ (once the considered the only remaining superpower) efforts to delete meaningful commitments from various parts of the negotiation text all through the day yesterday." It seems the U.S. might need a push from us, the people, to remind them that these are lives they are gambling with here, not the big oil bucks.

Thoughts on the Revolutionary War

I haven't been blogging much. Instead, I've been driving across the U.S.A, putting together my portfolio, playing a bit of music, writing, and mostly, being a nanny. Conrad and I have been having a great time going to parks, pools, and bagel shops. We have also traveled through dragons' lairs, fought in the Revolutionary War, and been a part of some epic sea battles, if only in our imaginations. My best friend in all of Maine is six and that is totally fine with me. 


Over the last month of travel and settling in I have had an overwhelming sense of fatigue thanks to my constant mobility. Surrounded by good people, food, and books, however, I can feel my energy returning; behold! Human energy- a renewable resource. I thought I would write a little bit about what has been on my mind the last couple of weeks for the good old blog so here goes!

To say Conrad (the boy I nanny for) is into the Revolutionary War is an understatement. Captain John Paul Jones, George Washington, Benjamen Franklin, Paul Revere, and Thomas Paine are daily, sometimes hourly referenced, in this Bangor home. We also watch Liberty's Kids, a show about the war and the people involved told by 3 kid journalist. As bed time after bed time pass and more and more books are read about the founding of the U.S.A. I have found myself more interested than ever. It has taken me until now to see what and how the U.S. was founded. The number of perspectives are overwhelming. The Native Americans villages that were slaughtered due to some Native Americans aiding the British. The minute men. The academics. The British. The German soldiers (Heshens). The French solderers. The Generals and writers and women. There are so many angles! Like most things, this makes it overwhelming.

One thing that is always emphasised in the literature and movies is the fight for freedom. The way that people were being taxed without being represented. The way that it was farmers, workers that rose up. The way that the Articles of Confederation led to six long years of rebellions after independence. The values that were written into those articles, as well as into the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. When I break down the walls that separate today from the founding of the U.S. I can't help but shutter. Conrad had decided that it would be fun to get George Washington to meet Obama so George Washington could learn how to use a computer. A funny image, but I can't help but think about what George Washington, Thomas Paine, Benjamen Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the thousands of other revolutionaries and fighters would say to our leaders today.

It's uncanny, the parallels between the rights that people fought for then and the ones I fell are threatened now. I read about taxation without representation and I think about how 50% of U.S. citizens believe that we should remove our troops from Afghanistan (Pew Research Center) and yet $159 billion tax dollars went to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (Policy Basics) in 2011. $718 billion was spent on defence, the biggest part of our budget spent in one area. Are we being represented by our government now?

What about freedom of press and speech? The use of the printing press, writings like Thomas Paine's Common Sense, carried our country into existence. Now our media is owned by a handful of wealthy corporations and when independent bloggers or something like Wiki leaks challenges the independent press court cases are endless and acts such as SOPA and NDAA try to get passed.

What about the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness when university drains your pockets and you aren't always able to get a job afterwards? What about being created equal when our institutions, from government to schools to justice systems have discrimination so deeply ingrained in it that those of us who are privileged often don't see it.

I could go on and one. What I mean to say is this: For a long time I have felt ashamed of my country. I haven't always been proud to say in my travels that I am from the good old U.S. of A. I learned about what my country does and has done and it made me ashamed and angry and engaged. Yes, I meant engaged, not enraged, though sometimes it makes me that too.

These emotions haven't gone away but I am realizing that I am, very much, a person with U.S. values. It's just that my country isn't- not anymore. When Conrad jokes about our "founding fathers" discussing computers with the politicians of today I can't help but cringe to think what they WOULD say if they saw the state of this country. I read the cries for rebellion and I hear of injustices that our government is now inflicting on us. I hear the early cries for revolution and I don't see them to be too far off from our cries today.

More thoughts on this to come. Just had to get a rant out- make sure you all know I didn't shrivel up and die or anything. Let me know what you think about this! How different is the U.S. today from the way it was when it was formed? How do we deal with these differences? Which are differences of the times and which are simply violations of our rights?

-g