Category: Ecology

Ecology is the branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings.

EPA Cuts Cause Potential For Real Harm

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EPA Cuts Cause Potential For Real Harm

D. S. Mitchell

Calamity Politics is a progressive political blog that’s main intention is to improve people’s lives. I’m here again, uncensored and irreverent, raising hell and screaming for attention. I know I’m about 3200 miles from Washington, D.C. but I pray people are aware of the perilous and irresponsible attack on the EPA that is taking place at the hands of the Trump Administration.  The Environmental Defense Fund states flatly, “No federal agency has been singled out for such a large and pernicious budget cut as the EPA”.

Approximately 90% of the American people support strong environmental protections.  It is an all hands on deck emergency if we will be able to stop President Trump’s efforts to gut the EPA budget, thus eliminating many core environmental safeguards. The government has been transferred into the hands of anti-environment extremists whose goal is profit through fossil fuel extraction over the lives of wildlife and our historic national park system.

Trump and the Congress seem to be on a mission to kill our national parks and destroy our environmental protections.  Many lobbyists are sent to Washington paid to convince legislators that relaxing restrictions on the millions of acres of National Parks land would be an economic boom for the country.  The goal seems to be directed toward shifting control from the federal government to the individual states, where those treasured resources can be sold, or licensed to the highest bidder for the systematic extraction of gold, silver, oil, gas, coal, and timber.

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Butterflies and Memories

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Butterflies and Memories

D. S. Mitchell

A Public Warning

Back in 2016 more than 26,000 psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers issued a warning to the people of the United States. These mental health professionals were warning the public that, in their collective opinion, Donald Trump had a serious mental illness. They further requested the Congress remove him from office, based on Article 4 of the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Damn Scary

OMG. Pretty, damn scary stuff, if you ask me. I’ve followed politics all my life, and the only other time I have heard people question a U.S. president’s mental health was during the late stages of the Richard Nixon’s tenure.  At that time stories of Nixon’s nightly drinking and paranoia was fodder for a frenzied media.

Sharing Something Beautiful

With all that said, you might think today I would stoke up the fires on that story, but because I’m in charge here, I am going to discuss a lovely short essay, by Jennifer S. Kushnier. I originally saw it printed in one of those little books you see at Hallmark card stores. You know, the kind. They are usually really small and have lots of cool art, quotes, short stories or essays.

Anyway, this little essay by Ms. Kushnier  reminded me of my childhood. When I was a kid, even in city neighborhoods there were plenty of vacant lots, some were quite big, really open undeveloped fields where beautiful things happened. Thank you Jennifer, your piece was lovely and charming.

Butterflies by Jennifer S. Kushnier

Jennifer began her essay with the lines, “All kinds of wildflowers prospered there, from ivory Queen Anne’s lace and purple Clover, to yellow Buttercups and Black-eyed Susan’s, to burnt orange Indian Paintbrushes and those light-blue flowers that seem to be so rare these days. To this field came dozens of butterflies.”

Island Life

That little essay takes me to another time, a distant point in my childhood. When I too was very young. At that time my family lived on a dairy farm on a picturesque island. Sauvie’s Island is an amazing piece of land caught between the Willamette River and the Columbia River in NW Oregon, about 20 miles west of Portland, Oregon. Most of the island is a huge wildlife refuge with a few farms, even today, in this busy industrialized time.

Protect What We Love

I can remember when the birds would take to the air, a sunny day went black. Today, on this protected island the sky will never be so full of birds that the sky is black with their bounty. How long before the Monarch’s will be gone forever, and the Wood Duck a mere memory? I think it is imperative that we challenge the Trump Administration at every turn as they push their fossil fuel agenda. It is dangerous for the environment. A threat to wildlife, a risk to our water supply. The gutting of the EPA could potentially poison everything we know and love. If you love the sight of a Monarch butterfly in flight, if you love the sound of a woodpecker, if you love the beauty of a Wood Duck floating on a pond, if you love the sight of an Eagle on the wing, you are not alone. Please, stand up, speak out, and stop the threat to all the wild places by the fossil fuel pushing madman.

Thank you Jennifer S. Kushnier. I have tried to find you but I have not seen anything else you have written, but this little piece was just perfect.

Trump Attacks Environment

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Trump Attacks Environment

D. S. Mitchell

Turned Upside Down

Huge crowds turned out around the world for the Earth Day/Science March.  The politics of our environment has been turned upside down. The election of Donald Trump, has done what seemed impossible less than six months ago. Trump, supported by the anti-environment extremists in the House and Senate are about to rip the guts out of our environmental safeguards. The unimagined threat is now looming as a chilling possibility.

Chilling Headlines

Recent headlines include:  “U.S. Abandons Paris Climate Agreement”.  “Clean air and Water Protections Repealed”. “Trump Approves Keystone XL Pipeline”. “Congress Moves to Privatize Public Lands”.  David Goldston of the Natural Resources Defense Fund has been vocal in condemnation.”The next four years are likely to bring a more sustained barrage of attacks on our environment than we have ever seen.” His  dire predictions continue. “What we’re facing is an all-out assault on our bedrock environmental laws by a party in the grips of a radical ideology.  Not only do they want to undo the progress made during the eight years of the Obama presidency; they want to turn back the clock of a half-century or more of hard-won environmental protections.”

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Love Your Mother

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Love Your Mother

D. S. Mitchell

For Future Generations

Calamity News and Politics is pro clean energy. The a clean protected environment is essential. I’m hoping all my readers are pro-environment. Earth is the only planet I’m ever going to set foot on. Her environment provides a nurturing home for animals, plants and humans. We need to protect that environment. For today and for future generations. Climate change and environmental protection must become a national priority.

A Wall Of Resistance

The EPA was designed to protect our environment. Trump’s goal is to destroy the agency. Charitable organizations offer some support. The Sierra Club’s donations are up. The World Wildlife Fund donations are also reportedly, up. I think we will need every environmental organization on the planet to present a wall of resistance to the fossil fuel barons. Trump’s agenda is all about profit.  Environmental policy cannot be based on money. Capitalism may be our environments greatest enemy.

Into A Technological Era

Clean energy is better for the economy and it is better for Mother Earth. Time to let go of the remnants of the dirty Industrial Revolution and embrace the future.  We are moving into the Technological Era.  Parts of the transition will be painful, acceptance is the first step.  If your job is threatened by clean energy policy; change yourself, change your skills. Join the clean energy army. The clean energy army is fighting a heroic fight.

Dance Party

The corruption of President Trump is center stage.  Whoring with fossil fuel barons, signing away climate change regulations is bad policy. Killing Mother Earth is not a thing to celebrate. Having a dance party with greedy fossil fuel addicts can only last so long, before it destroys the planet. Current policy must be changed. Look to a clean energy future. Now is the time.

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BREAKING NEWS

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Editorial:

Breaking News

D. S. Mitchell

Big News

After a day of testimony in front of the House Intelligence Committee, Comey rs drops a bombshell.  The Trump campaign and the Russian government “are being investigated” for collusion during the 2016 election.  Comey flatly said there was “no basis to Trump’s claim of wire tapping by Obama”

EXTRA! EXTRA!

Reuters News:  Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State has cancelled April meeting with NATO heads, and INSTEAD is planning on visiting Russia. When this news broke, Rep. Adam Schiff ranking Democrat on the House Intel Committee was on the Rachel Maddow Show.  I did not tape the show, however he basically said, “After what the Russians have done to this country, the only imaginable reason Tillerson would go to Moscow would be to return the Order of Friendship Medal that Putin gave him.”

Well, said, Rep. Schiff.

Tillerson And The Russians

My comment is, WOW!!!  Pretty fucking ballsy.  Secretary Tillerson, you are acting very strange, and your well-known affiliation with the Russian government does not help your reputation.  Your boss, the President, and his campaign are under investigation for possible collusion with the Russians.  Hmmm.  More Russians. It’s Trump and the Russians.  Sessions and the Russians. Manafort and the Russians.  And now Tillerson and the Russians. How many Russians are in this story?  Right now, it looks like way too many.

You Aren’t Exxon Mobil CEO

My first ‘effing complaint about Tillerson is his refusal to travel with the U.S. press corp. When you are Secretary of State you take the press with you when you travel, it’s that simple.  You are now employed by the people of the United States America and we want to see our officials in action.  You are not the CEO of Exxon Mobil.  Maybe Exxon Mobil thought it was okay to slink around in the shadows, but American citizens don’t like their officials behaving in that way.

Putin Over NATO

If the news of you choosing Putin over NATO is correct, I think the Congress should insist the President fire your ass.  There is absolutely no conceivable moral reason for a visit by the Secretary of State of the United States to Moscow.  To do what?  Hold court with that murdering thug, Putin. What is your intent? More colluding on abandoning sanctions? Or maybe you want to talk about opening up the Arctic oil reserves to drilling?  I can smell the corruption from here. Careful, Mr. Tillerson, you are standing on thin ice.

Calamity Response

The Editorial Desk at Calamity Politics is kept busy trying to decipher the nutty, stumbling, bumbling and incompetent statements being issued by the Trump White House. Every day a new story. Every day a new distraction. Each day there’s another lie. As a political analyst, commentator and progressive liberal organizer I want every one to be ready to agitate our Congressional representatives until they are scared shitless. Nothing shapes up an elected official as much as a potential threat to their elected position. Both Trump and Tillerson, like the Russkies way too much. Why? We need to find out. I suspect it is about fossil fuel and that equals money.

Conclusion

The battlefield of right, versus left, is a twisted and distorted terrain. It is hard to navigate the U.S. political scene without getting emotional. I’m Darlene, and I am here to pull my hair, and scream profanities, it is all just theater, a device to get attention and action.

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Morning Wonderful

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Morning Wonderful

D. S. Mitchell

I’ve commented on Calamity Politics, over the last week how fed up I am with the wind and rain.  Not today.  I woke up to crisp air and bright sunshine. Stopping to post a journal entry is not on my current ‘to do list’ this morning. Like a Snickers starved child I run toward my muse, the illusive sun.

Lily is in charge this morning. She has convinced me that we need to take a walk, a long beach walk.  I can see the surf from my front window, but the beach is two blocks away. Lily found her leash and dropped it at my feet. Together, we headed to the dune.

I took a shortcut across the back field and disturbed a deer family, causing Lily to jerk so hard on her leash she nearly toppled me over.  The pleasures of dog ownership are often close to the pleasures of non-dog ownership.

I live in an area that is blessed with miles of unspoiled dunes and beaches.  Coming over the dune top, I saw what looked like three small kids lined up with their backs to the surf.  Weird, kids never hold still that long.  I strained and held Lily tight.  It wasn’t three tots, it was three American Bald Eagles.  OMG, just standing there, less than a foot between them.

I’ve seen single specimens stand like that at the water’s edge but never three together, just hanging out.  Lily seemed to recognize the moment as a special one, and for once was quiet. Together we turned back and walked further down the dune to reach the beach.  I looked back and they were still there. One of the most amazing and beautiful sights I have ever seen.

We currently have a government more deferential to the wealthy than ever before in my lifetime. Capitalism needs restraints, at this time more than ever. It is time to demand a more empathetic government.

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ENDANGERED

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ENDANGERED

By D. S. Mitchell

“When the environment is destroyed, plundered or mismanaged, we undermine our quality of life and that of future generations. (Wangari Maathai/Nobel lecture)

It was 63.5 F in Antarctica on 3/1/2017.

Working For Lobbyists

The new director of the EPA was carefully chosen for this job.  He’s the former Oklahoma Attorney General that sued the EPA fourteen times. Scott Pruitt copied letters written by oil lobbyists on to Oklahoma State stationary and then sent that paperwork to the EPA as support data.  Pruitt is the guy that’s under court order to surrender thousands of emails from his time as Oklahoma AG. Another slow brewing scandal. Trump knows how to pick them.

21st Century Robber Barons

Not satisfied to remain a small state corrupt official, Pruitt wants to get to the big time. He thinks he will go far under Master Trump’s tutelage.  Pruitt and his fossil fuel cronies plan to eat the agency from within.  The Robber Barons of 19th century America have risen. These 21st century zombies are holding powerful positions in this corrupt, pay-to-play administration. Pruitt is an outspoken supporter of dirty energy, calling it “representative government.”

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ASSAULT ON THE ENVIRONMENT

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Assault On The Environment

D. S. Mitchell

Iron Eyes Cody

The first time I can remember, actually thinking about pollution, I was watching a ‘Keep America Beautiful’ campaign, in which Iron Eyes Cody, had a bag of garbage thrown from a car, land at his feet. Iron Eyes, in full American Indian regalia, looks into the camera, and I watched as a tear rolled down his cheek. That was probably 1968 or 1970. Very powerful.

A Drawer Of Bags

The Iron Eyes Cody series of commercials made a big impact on me, and I made sure I never threw garbage out the window of my car, again. I also, discovered recycling, something my Mother had done for years. My Mom lived thru two World Wars, and a near country collapsing economic Great Depression. She had a drawer for the perfectly folded paper bags. There was a another drawer where she stored a ball of rubber bands, a giant ball of string, and sheets of aluminum foil layed flat. She had learned to recycle out of necessity, rather than as an environmentally beneficial behavior. Although her purpose was different from mine, the results of her actions were good. The thought of garbage on the roadside, toxic waste in rivers, polluted air, brings a tear to my eye.

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Really, Scary

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Really, Scary

By D. S. Mitchell

Trump Failure

Calamity News and Politics is giving the Trump Administration an F on its environmental policy. In fact if possible I would give the Trump administration a Z for their environmental policy. Trump has installed lobbyists in key EPA positions, while dramatically cutting funding to this essential agency. This is at a time when climate change is on the forefront of world wide concerns. There is a systemic denial of science in this administration, beginning with the president himself. We need a White House that leans toward what is good for Mother Earth not toward a policy that enriches a few while endangering Earth and her children.

Growing Nationalism

Climate change is a clear and present danger.  Most experts  predict huge population shifts, secondary to forced migration.  Shrinking resources, famine, war and rising sea levels, will push people from their native homelands into adjoining countries.  Displaced populations will elevate tensions and potentially promote rising nationalism.

An OMG Moment

On March 1, 2017 the temperature in Cairo, Egypt and Antarctica both reached 63.5 F. The poles are facing dramatic climate change, more so than other geographic areas of the planet. There is little time and much to do. The decisions of governments will be the key to our future. Where the environment is concerned, elections matter.

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What Was the Value of Your 2016 Vote?

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The Value Of Your 2016 Vote

D. S. Mitchell

On High Heat

My head just keeps spinning. In case no one has noticed the political discussion in the United States has become so heated between opposing factions that I am hearing of divorces and office fights over the 2016 election results. Really? So, just for fun, I played with some numbers and I thought I might light a political fire under my readers. It’s seat of the pants mathematics but, it seems that more than one person is operating by the seat of their pants. American politics at its most outrageous.

Upside Down

How much was your vote worth in 2016. You probably already figured out, not much; if you voted, for Hillary Clinton. Hillary WON the popular vote by 2,865,075.  Everyone knows that, right? Trump WON the Electoral College with 304 electoral votes.  That’s old news, right? Looking behind those numbers we discover that:  112,155 votes, cast in three states (Michigan 13,104, Wisconsin 27,257, and Pennsylvania 71,794) turned my world, and maybe yours, upside down.

Electoral College Math

WHEN IS 112,155 EQUAL TO 2,865,075?They are equal if you are using Electoral College math.  Every single one of those 112,155 “rust belt” votes, equaled 25.55 votes, cast elsewhere.   In other words, 1 vote in Pennsylvania is equal to 25.55 votes in Oregon.  In my opinion, absolute insanity.

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