It's Not a Great Mystery

The first link: 

Protecting nature is vital to escape 'era of pandemics’ – report | Wildlife | The Guardian

A report issued by a scientific group which was convened by the  Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services includes the following conclusions (among others):

1.  the increasing number and frequency of pandemics is due in large part to anthropocentric damage to natural ecosystems;

2.  in addition to reaction to pandemics, prevention is crucial; and,

3.  leading experts in ecology, wildlife biology, epidemiology, and similar fields have made the above points clear, but there has been little government action.

Here's a link to the report:

IPBES Workshop on Biodiversity and Pandemics Report_0.pdf

The Executive Summary starts on page 2, and in it, needed actions are capsulized.

Politicians have been tinkering around the edges of the pandemic problem for decades.  Emphasis almost always is on a reaction to an outbreak.  Not enough effort is put into prevention.  That involves significantly reducing our negative impact on the natural environment.  We have to stop pretending we're doing that already.  Not only politicians have to stop; all of us must.

Suggestion:  bookmark the above three links; continually build your eco-library.  [If you've never done "library research" prior to the advent of the internet, you may not fully realize how fortunate we are to have such a tool:]

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Not only my opinion.  Happy Trails

American Totalism

This speaks for itself, and we have only ourselves to blame.

 American Totalism: Technology, Economy, and Nationality (steadystate.org) 

It's past time for a new paradigm.  Tick-tock.

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Not only my opinion.  Stay Well

"Neither private property nor state-owned property is sufficient to guarantee equality and liberty for all"

Innovative solution Number One---

The Case for 'Universal Property' - Scientific American

In 2001, Peter Barnes came up with a brilliant idea:  universal property, and how to use it.  It sounds much like "public" property, but it's more than that.  The problem with public property is that the government acts as if the government owns it (& the revenues from it), rather than everyone.

In the article at the link above, you'll find a proposed practice which could contribute significantly to reducing anthropocentric greenhouse gases, AND could also reduce poverty while giving more than half the population of the world some degree of economic security.  Implementation of it cuts across political party lines and ideological divisions.

Some, perhaps many, Oligarchs probably already oppose the idea.  Most likely, that's because they view air, most water, and a good deal of land as waste sinks which are theirs to use at no cost.  Some Main Street people believe the same thing.  That view is not reasonable, and must be opposed.

Paying for the use of universal property and distributing the proceeds to everyone is a stunning idea, and makes perfect sense.

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Not only my opinion.  Stay Well

The Dynasty That Never Was, PLUS - It's Time to Dump Neoliberalism Forever

 Trump hates being Old News.  No one pays much attention to him anymore.  Lately, most of the focus has been on the Neoliberal & his Team.  That's great.  Trump should be totally shunned.  His mental illness is now more visible than ever before.  The more he blabbers about the election, & the more he virtually ignores the raging pandemic, the crazier he looks.  Even Repubs finally are taking note... jumping ship, resigning on their own, making public comments criticizing the Cult Leader.  It's about time.

Trump soon will leave in disgrace.  He'll still be around politics, making noise now & again; but that only will appeal to, at most, about 20% of the USA population... perhaps less.  The man-child finally is Old News.

The biggest testament to the political ignorance of Trump True Believers is their calling Biden a "socialist" (or a puppet of socialists).  Apparently, they know essentially nothing at all about neoliberalism (which isn't "new", or "liberal").  

I think we're the only country in the entire world with a majority of folks who don't have a clue about that ideology.  Everyone else gets it.  Plus, except for Oligarchs (& their puppets), everyone else despises it.  At least it's finally getting mentioned once in awhile in American public discourse.  Again, it's about time.

In my view, until this country fully understands neoliberalism, we will continue to have:  rule by Oligarchs/Plutocrats (whether Repub or Dem), gross inequality, perpetual war, the American "Empire", American hegemony, monopoly-crony-casino capitalism, increasing shrinkage of the middle class, increasing poverty, increasing privatization (which means high fees for "public" services), stagnated wages, less of a social safety net, more pandemics, more suicides (especially among veterans & other young people), more social unrest, more ecological devastation, more mega bank fraud, more propaganda, etc., ad nauseam.  

It's way past time for a paradigm shift which dumps neoliberalism forever.  Except for the Super-Rich, that ideology has been an utter failure.

More and more people around the world - especially in Europe, Canada, a significant portion of South America, parts of Africa, parts of Asia, & elsewhere - are realizing that we all must change our impact on the natural environment.  This is truly a turning point in human history.  Let's make it a good one.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well