From futurist Stephan A. Schwartz - Trends That Will Affect Your Future …

[giovonni]

Humpback whales around the globe are mysteriously
rescuing animals from orcas


Humpback whale

Here is a story to make you feel better about the world.


Bryan Nelson - mother nature network

Humans might not be the only creatures that care about the welfare of other animals. Scientists are beginning to recognize a pattern in humpback whale behavior around the world, a seemingly intentional effort to rescue animals that are being hunted by killer whales.

Marine ecologist Robert Pitman observed a particularly dramatic example of this behavior back in 2009, while observing a pod of killer whales hunting a Weddell seal trapped on an ice floe off Antarctica. The orcas were able to successfully knock the seal off the ice, and just as they were closing in for the kill, a magnificent humpback whale suddenly rose up out of the water beneath the seal ...

More here with short video

[giovonni]

How millions of trees brought a broken landscape back to life


Hicks Lodge in Leicestershire was left scarred by opencast mining
Credit: National Forest

Here is some lovely good news from the U.K. which gives me confidence that not everyone is driven by short term greed. As I read this story I was continually reminded of West Virginia, a state controlled by the coal elite that has been trashed by the coal industry and as things now stand will be paying the true price of coal for generations — long after the coal millionaires have taken their money and run. There may be hope if the population of West Virginia, now on track to vote for Trump, can awaken from their Theocratic Rightist stupor and vote their own self-interest. I wouldn’t bet on it, but it is possible. And here’s what could happen.

John Vidal - The Guardian (U.K.)

Twenty-five years ago, the Midlands villages of Moira, Donisthorpe and Overseal overlooked a gruesome landscape. The communities were surrounded by opencast mines, old clay quarries, spoil heaps, derelict coal workings, polluted waterways and all the other ecological wreckage of heavy industry.

The air smelt and tasted unpleasant and the land was poisoned. There were next to no trees, not many jobs and little wildlife. Following the closure of the pits, people were deserting the area for Midlands cities such as Birmingham, Derby and Leicester. The future looked bleak.

Today, a pastoral renaissance is taking place. Around dozens of former mining and industrial communities, in what was the broken heart of the old Midlands coalfield, a vast, splendid forest of native oak, ash and birch trees is emerging, attracting cyclists, walkers, birdwatchers, canoeists, campers and horse-riders ... Read the rest

[giovonni]

A reminder for those who follow this thread ...


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Click here and bookmark this link below:



http://www.schwartzreport.net/

[giovonni]

The Secrets of the Wood Wide Web


Epping Forest outside of London Credit: visitlondon.com

Our culture screams at us that we have dominion over the earth, it can be exploited as we like. The truth is exactly contrary, as this report explains. Our willful ignorance on this matter is the source of many of our problems, and the cause of climate change.

This lovely article about this interconnectedness and interdependence of life in Epping Forest in the matrix of life that is the biosphere is built around the research of Merlin Sheldrake, whom I have known since he was a boy, the son of biologist Rupert Sheldrake, who popularized the idea of morphogenic fields and Jill Purce.

Robert Macfarlane - The New Yorker

Epping Forest is a heavily regulated place. First designated as a royal hunting ground by Henry II in the twelfth century, with severe penalties imposed on commoners for poaching, it has since 1878 been managed by the City of London Corporation, which governs behavior within its bounds using forty-eight bylaws. The forest is today almost completely contained within the M25, the notorious orbital motorway that encircles outer London. Minor roads crisscross it, and it is rarely more than four kilometres wide. Several of its hundred or so lakes and ponds are former blast holes of the V1 “doodlebug” rockets flung at London in 1944. Yet the miraculous fact of Epping’s existence remains: almost six thousand acres of trees, heath, pasture, and waterways, just outside the city limits, its grassland still grazed by the cattle of local commoners, and adders still basking in its glades. Despite its mixed-amenity use—from golf to mountain biking—it retains a greenwood magic ... Read the rest

[giovonni]

Percentage of Pack-a-Day Smokers Hits Record Low in U.S.



Here is some good news about tobacco smoking in the U.S. All of this has occurred, it should be noted not because smoking was outlawed but because millions of people made a small personal choice. It shows the effect on a formerly formidable industry when people exercise a quotidian choice, and choose not to do or buy something. It is a powerful lesson.

Justin McCarthy - The Gallup Organization

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The percentage of smokers in the U.S. who light up a pack or more of cigarettes a day has fallen sharply over the past decade and is now at an all-time low of 26% in Gallup's seven-decade trend. The figure topped 30% as recently as 2012 and routinely exceeded 50% until the late 1990s ... Read the rest

[giovonni]

Nuclear Power Is Losing Money At An Astonishing Rate



The nuclear power industry is a artifact remnant of the Cold War, created so that the U.S. could maintain a cadre of nuclear qualified engineers and other professionals by giving them a civilian career pathway. Great care was taken to make sure that the real cost of nuclear was never allowed to be widely understood, and nuclear power, the come on, was carefully separated from the never solved issue of nuclear waste.

By never solved I mean that from WWII when it began to the present day no successful solution to nuclear waste has ever been devised. And when you calculate the nuclear waste costs into the real price of civilian nuclear energy it becomes so preposterously expensive that no rational person would support it. And even to make the fake numbers work requires hundreds of billions in government subsidies.

The truth is nuclear power was always a smoke and mirrors operation whose real function was not power but maintaining a nuclear arms industry.

Joe Romm - Climate Progress

Half of existing nuclear power plants are no longer profitable. The New York Times and others have tried to blame renewable energy for this, but the admittedly astounding price drops of renewables aren’t the primary cause of the industry’s woes — cheap fracked gas is.

The point of blaming renewables, which currently receive significant government subsidies, is apparently to argue that existing nukes deserve some sort of additional subsidy to keep running — beyond the staggering $100+ billion in subsidies the nuclear industry has received over the decades. But a major reason solar and wind energy receive federal subsidies — which are being phased out over the next few years — is because they are emerging technologies whose prices are still rapidly coming down the learning curve, whereas nuclear is an incumbent technology with a negative learning curve.

The renewable red herring aside, existing nukes can make a reasonable case for a modest subsidy on the basis of climate change — though only because they are often replaced by carbon-spewing gas plants. That said, the “$7.6 billion bailout” New York state just decided to give its nuclear plants appears to be way too large, as we’ll see ... Read the rest

[Atlas]

Posted by giovonni (here)
Humpback whales around the globe are mysteriously
rescuing animals from orcas

Animal Altruism; Animals helping other animals

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ncTeJb2N8BU

[giovonni]

Note here's two oddly related subject news articles ...

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DEA Thumbs Nose at Science, Refuses to Reschedule Marijuana



The corruption of the American government is just gobsmacking, as this report demonstrates. Who cares about science when so many law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and the American gulag are so dependent on the continued illegality of Marijuana? We put the old Latin American banana republics to shame.

Andrew Joseph - Alternet

Scientists have been calling for the federal government to reschedule the drug, which they said would open the door to more medical research into marijuana.
Republish
Reprint

Federal drug enforcement authorities will continue defining marijuana as a drug with a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical value, a decision that keeps in place significant restrictions on biomedical research.

The decision by the Drug Enforcement Administration, reported by news outlets late Wednesday, means marijuana will remain classified as a Schedule 1 drug. A formal announcement is expected Thursday.

Many scientists have been calling for the federal government to reschedule the drug, which they said would open the door to more medical research into marijuana and its potential effects, both beneficial and harmful ... Read the rest



Also ...



Wikileaks: Big Alcohol Trying to Stop Marijuana Legalization,
Recreational Pot Bad for Business



Surprise, surprise, the alcohol industry is doing everything it can to stop Marijuana legalization. Why? Why loss of profit of course. The fact that 10s of thousands of people are killed by alcohol each year, and there has never been a death directly attributable to Marijuana means nothing where profit is concerned. Let the peasants die as long as they drink our booze. Here’s the latest.

Coburn Palmer - Inquistr

WikiLeaks made headlines recently when it leaked documents showing the Democratic National Convention favored Clinton over Sanders, but buried in the mounds of paperwork was another document dealing with marijuana legalization and the alcohol industry.

Tom Angell over at Marijuana.com dug through the WikiLeaks report and found an online newspaper advertisement from Huddle, a daily email newsletter from Politico intended for Capitol Hill insiders dated May 24, 2016 ... Read more

[giovonni]

Toxic Chemicals Contaminate Drinking Water For Over 6 Million Americans, Study Finds



The media has moved on, but that hasn’t solved the water problem. When I went to work for National Geographic I remember being briefed on water safety by country. Today we would be on the list. Here is a Harvard study that gives us the latest data. Once again I caution readers, particularly those living in cities to have their water tested. It is not expensive, and buys serious peace of mind.

Seerat Chabba - International Business Times

A new study carried out by Harvard researchers shows that more than six million Americans drink water contaminated by unsafe levels of a class of industrial chemicals that can lead to a number of serious health issues.

Polyfluoroalkyl and Perfluoroalkyl substances, commonly called PFASs, are used in a number of industrial and commercial products — non-stick coatings on pans, food wrappers, as well as firefighting foam. Over time, exposure to these can be linked to kidney cancer, thyroid problems, high cholesterol and other alarming medical conditions ... Read the rest

[giovonni]

Stark New Evidence on How Money Shapes America’s Elections



I just love fact-based social outcome research. It cuts through layers upon layers of shoddy media coverage, polemics, and outright lies to reveal the truth about us as a society. Unfortunately, at the present time and
awful lot of it is pretty unpleasant to face.

Lynn Stuart Parramore - Alternet

Outrage over how big money influences American politics has been boiling over this political season, energizing the campaigns of GOP nominee Donald Trump and former Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders alike. Citizens have long suspected that "We the People" increasingly means "We the Rich" at election time.

Yet surprisingly, two generations of social scientists have insisted that wallets don't matter that much in American politics. Elections are really about giving the people what they want. Money, they claim, has negligible impact on elections.

That was a good line for Cold War propaganda, and good for tenure, too. Corporate titans seized upon it to argue that their money should be freer to flow into political campaigns. Not only billionaires, but academics argued that more money in elections meant more democracy.

Even today, many academics and pundits still insist that money matters less to political outcomes than ordinary citizens think, even as business executives throw down mind-boggling sums to dine with politicians and Super Pacs spring up like mushrooms. The few dissenters from this consensus, like Noam Chomsky, are ignored in the U.S. as "unpersons," though they are enormously respected abroad ...
Read the rest

[giovonni]

US Now Bombing 4 Countries As War On ISIS Spreads To Libya


Sirte, Libya. Islamic State militants have controlled the city since August 2015. The U.S. military
has announced ongoing airstrikes against targets in Sirte, and other Libyan cities.
Credit: AP

We are now bombing four Muslim countries. It is hard to imagine how much hate that is creating against Americans. But we don’t seem to even debate it anymore, and the media barely gives it a paragraph. We seem to have enter an age of constant war and I think we will pay the price for generations.

Mint Press Staff - Mint Press News

WASHINGTON — With little fanfare and minimal media attention, the United States recently began bombing yet another country, further expanding a fight against terrorism that has no clear end in sight.

U.S. airstrikes in Libya began on Aug. 1 with “precision air strikes against ISIL targets in Sirte, Libya,” the Pentagon announced in a press release. The airstrikes were apparently carried out at the behest of Libya’s temporary government, the Libyan Government of National Accord, appointed by the United Nations after the U.S. helped overthrow Libya’s ruler, Moammar Gadhafi, under the direction of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Special forces ground troops, deployed by the U.S. and its Western allies, are also present in Libya. On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that a “small number” of U.S. and British ground forces are present in Libya, where they are coordinating air strikes and assisting the GNA troops ... Read the rest

[giovonni]

If You Want to Know the Truth About the Criminal-Justice System,
Talk to This Private Investigator



The central myth of American society is “Equal justice for all.” The fact is, as study after study has shown, is that American justice is severely compromised. I am sorry to break the bad news to you, but we aren’t even in the top 15 nations for fair justice.

Judith Coburn - The Nation

Once upon a time, I was a journalist, covering war in Indochina, Central America, and the Middle East. I made it my job to write about the victims of war, the “civilian casualties.” To me, they were hardly “collateral damage,” that bloodless term the military persuaded journalists to adopt. To me, they were the center of war. Now I work at home and I’m a private eye—or PI, to you. I work mostly on homicide cases for defense lawyers on the mean streets of Oakland, California, one of America’s murder capitals.

Some days, Oakland feels like Saigon, Tegucigalpa, or Gaza. There’s the deception of daily life and the silent routine of dread punctured by out-of-the blue mayhem. Oakland’s poor neighborhoods are a war zone whose violence can even explode onto streets made rich overnight by the tech boom. Any quiet day, you can drive down San Pablo Avenue past St. Columba Catholic Church, where a thicket of white crosses, one for every Oaklander killed by gun violence, year by year, fills its front yard ... Read the rest

[giovonni]

Women in jails are the fastest growing incarcerated population, study says


A woman makes a sandwich in a cell at the Los Angeles County women’s jail
in Lynwood, California.Credit: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

Here is some truly alarming news about the American Gulag. It is telling us that as a society our lack of social services is leaving thousands of women, many of whom are mentally ill, abandoned with nothing but jail in their future. And I think it is notable that I found this report in a British newspaper; why don’t we see anyone in corporate media talking about this?

Jamiles Lartey - The Guardian (U.K.)

Women held in local jails represent the fastest growing population of incarcerated people in the US, according to a new study. The researchers found that trauma, sexual violence and mental health issues were all closely wrapped up with the swelling numbers.

“While we started to see a decline in the incarceration and jailing of men, we haven’t seen a comparable kind of trend for women,” said Laurie Garduque, director of Justice Reform for the MacArthur Foundation, which co-published the report with the Vera Institute. Since 1970, the number of women in US jails has increased by 14 times, far outstripping the growth in the male prison population, even though in raw numbers there remain many more men locked up.

The majority of those women entering jail are black and Hispanic, mirroring demographic trends that cross gender lines. Women, however, tend to enter jails in more vulnerable situations than men, as a higher percentage of women in jail were using drugs, unemployed or receiving public assistance at the time they were arrested ... Read the rest

[giovonni]

Friday, August 19th, 2016

Editor’s Note

This will be the last SR until the 2nd of September. As longtime readers know I have been publishing SR seven days a week, 365 days a year since 1991, and have filed editions from a caravansary in Pakistan; underneath Red Square in Moscow; from underneath a tarpaulin in an open boat bobbing in Canadian waters off shore from a wifi hotspot on a remote island; leaning against a dumpster in the middle of a Native American reservation in a forest to name a few spots that come to mind as I write this. Except for rare occasions when something is wrong with the net where I am, SR publishes.

The one exception to this is when I am invited to crew on the Alisaz, a lovely 65-foot boat that cruises in Northern Canadian and Alaskan waters, when I have no access to the internet. Tomorrow I am flying to Ketchikan, Alaska to join Alisaz moored at the dock there, so I wish everyone a wonderful two weeks while I am gone. SR will resume when I return on the 2nd September.

— Stephan

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Wall Street Vultures Descend On Debt-Ridden Puerto Rico


A protester holds a sign that reads in Spanish, “We didn’t take out a loan. We didn’t see a dime. We’re not going to pay” during a protest in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on July 15, 2015.

Yesterday I ran a story on what is happening, almost without media coverage, in Puerto Rico. In today’s email I received the URL for this story from a businessman in San Juan. As usual it is a story of moral depravity, political corruption, greed, and just plain nastiness.

Michael Nevradakis - Mint Press News

ATHENS, Greece — Despite only making headlines in recent months, the economic crisis in Puerto Rico has been developing and worsening for the past several years, a crisis which has led to Puerto Rico being dubbed “the Greece of the Caribbean.”

In this interview, Déborah Berman-Santana, professor emeritus of geography and ethnic studies at Mills College in Oakland, California, analyzes the latest developments in Puerto Rico.

Berman-Santana is the author of “Kicking Off The Bootstraps: Environment, Development, and Community Power in Puerto Rico,” a detailed analysis of “Operation Bootstrap,” a post-World War II industrial program launched by the United States that was one of the very first of its kind in the world.

Speaking to MintPress News, Berman-Santana analyzes the long history of colonial exploitation of the island, how the current economic crisis developed, and why the latest “bailout” of the island is only a bailout for the vulture investors who have taken possession of much of Puerto Rico’s debt and who now have their sights set on the island’s valuable assets and resources. She also draws comparisons with the economic crisis and subsequent “bailouts” that have been seen in Greece, a country where she has spent extensive time over the past year ... Read the rest

[giovonni]

U.S. Defense Contractors Tell Investors Russian Threat Is Great for Business


Cutaway sections of 30mm x 173mm munitions are displayed on the Nammo stand during
the Defence and Security Equipment International exhibition in 2015.

Here is the naked and very unappetizing truth about whose really running the American economy, and what the real priorities are. There are young adults voting in this election who have never known a time when the U.S. was not at war. It is a trend that must be stopped if we are to have the funds we need to save our country from the ravages of climate change.

Lee Fang - The Intercept

The escalating anti-Russian rhetoric in the U.S. presidential campaign comes in the midst of a major push by military contractors to position Moscow as a potent enemy that must be countered with a drastic increase in military spending by NATO countries.

Weapon makers have told investors that they are relying on tensions with Russia to fuel new business in the wake of Russian’s annexation of Crimea and modest increases in its military budget.

In particular, the arms industry — both directly and through its arsenal of hired-gun, think-tank experts and lobbyists – is actively pressuring NATO member nations to hike defense spending in line with the NATO goal for member states to spend at least 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense ...

Read the rest

[giovonni]

Here’s how the US military spends its billions


F-35 and F-22 fighter aircraft

You may not know this but 54%, $598.5 billion of the $1.11 trillion U.S. federal budget in 2015 went to the military. America spends more on the military than the next seven highest spending nations — China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, U.K., India, France, and Japan — combined. Combined!

This is why we have no money for elder care, or early childhood care, education, or… and on and on.
The American economy has become essentially geared to the support of the military and endless war.

Skye Gould and Jeremy Bender - Business Insider

The US military is unquestionably the dominant force on the planet.

From the greatest advances in technology to a massive network of military alliances, the US military retains a substantial lead over the militaries of every other country on the planet. And the backbone of this military greatness comes in large part from the economic prosperity of the US and the incredible funding that the Pentagon receives.

In 2015, the US will have a declared military and defense budget of $601 billion, which is more than the next 7 highest spending countries combined. The following graphics show how the US will make use of its billions ... Read the rest

[giovonni]

Oldest fossils on Earth discovered in 3.7bn-year-old Greenland rocks


Stromatolites at dawn, Shark Bay, Western Australia.
Credit: Mint Images/REX/Shutterstock

Another chapter of the past opens and changes everything we thought we knew.

Nicola Davis - The Guardian (U.K.)

Scientists have discovered the oldest physical evidence for life on the planet in the form of fossils in Greenland rocks that formed 3.7bn years ago.

The researchers believe the structures in the rocks are stromatolites - layered formations, produced by the activity of microbes, that can be found today in extremely saline lagoons in a few locations around the world.

The new fossils are 220 million years older than any previously discovered.

“Up until now the oldest stromatolites have been from Western Australia and they are roughly 3,500 million (3.5bn) years [old],” said Clark Friend, an independent researcher and co-author of the research. “What we are doing is pushing the discovery of life earlier in Earth’s history" ...

Read the rest

[giovonni]

Boulder Commits To Going 100 Percent Renewable


Wind turbines outside Boulder, Colorado.
Credit: AP/Brennan Linsley

Here is some excellent news. While many state legislatures, particularly in Red Value states, are hopelessly constipated by ideological and theological fantasies cities, which are actually motivated to govern effectively, are moving on. It is at the local level that we are seeing real change.

Natasha Geiling - Think Progress

Boulder, Colorado, announced Wednesday that it would commit to being powered by 100 percent renewable energy by 2030, making it the 17th U.S. city to make such a pledge.

The commitment only covers the city’s electricity — it does not cover sectors like transportation, which could still be powered by fossil fuels. Electricity generation is the largest contributor to greenhouse gases in the United States, however, accounting for 30 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2014.

“Boulder is committed to achieving 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030, as part of our strategy to achieve 80 percent greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2050,” Jones told Boulder’s local CBS station on Wednesday ... Read the rest

[giovonni]

As 9-to-5 Jobs Vanish, Look Who’s Reinventing the Working World



Do you know about the Gig Economy. If you are over 50 probably not. But there is a massive trend to
change the nature of work relationships with employers, and this is a good explanation.


Paul Hampton - Yes! Magazine

Estelle Becker Costanzo has worked in Pittsburgh restaurants since age 15. Now 56, she is a server at The Capital Grille, a position she is proud of. “This is a good job,” she says—relative to the rest of the industry. Still, because her base wage has stayed put at $2.83 per hour for 25 years, she struggles to cover her basic expenses. “Originally, [tips] were supposed to be 50 percent of our income. Now it’s more like 100 percent.”

As tips became her primary income, the demands on that income increased. As is standard in the industry, The Capital Grille charges Costanzo a fixed percentage of every bill as a tip for bussers and bartenders. The charge assumes she receives a 20-percent tip. This was workable when large parties were charged a tip by default—a policy known by the awkward Americanism “automatic gratuity” or “autograt.” Recently, however, The Capital Grille ended autograt, leaving Costanzo’s income up to her customers’ whims. When large parties reserve private rooms, they’ll often tip only a fraction of what she needs to cover her obligations. As a result, she might work for hours only to pay for the privilege ...

Read the rest

[giovonni]

Iowa Approves Massive Wind Farm Amid Utility’s
Push for 100 Percent Renewable Energy



This is a very interesting example of a company choosing the wellness option and, as a result,
I think Mid American will survive and prosper, where many other utilities will whither.

Mitchell Schmidt - Future Structure

Editor's Note: This article's headline has been updated to clarify that it is MidAmerican Energy, not the state of Iowa, that has adopted a 100 percent renewable energy goal.

(TNS) -- The Iowa Utilities Board has given MidAmerican Energy the green light for the utility's plans for a $3.6 billion wind energy investment, the largest renewable energy project in the state.

The state board on Friday gave final approval for the utility's Wind XI farm.

The project -- first announced in April -- is part of Des Moines-based MidAmerican's goal to reach 100 percent renewable energy for Iowa customers ... Read the rest