A cleaner world

The alarm clock went off at 5:45am and as i reached to turn it off i saw an orange luminescence out the window. i jumped out of bed, grabbed my camera and rushed to the front deck. There in all its stunning good looks and captivating drapery was the moon.

Gazing at the moon has made us all do time with the universe and i admit i was a prisoner locked into the moment. It wasn’t until it started to set that i started clicking. i put the best photo on Facebook and got ready to swim.

A relatively flat ocean with partly cloudy skies waited for the thirteen swimmers that decided to answer. We massed on the beach and in the water, adjusting our masks, putting on our flippers, and tucking up stray strands of hair in our caps. We marveled at how lucky we were to have clear water for its not just about the exercise with us, its also about the connection to nature.

Unfortunately my grandchildren may never know or see the ocean the way i have and that makes me sad. 

Our connection to our world and everything around us whether you live by the ocean, desert, prairie, or mountains is a part of who we are as human beings. We live, breath and work in a world that is being damaged as I write. We all see tangible changes to our environments that need new solutions for fixing.

Americans have always been on the forefront of positive change. We can create healthy safe communities that protect our future children's world and make our world healthier. Changing how we attack the damage to our environment is better for our families, for us and for the future of the world.

We all want healthy safe communities. We already try to protect our families but we could do more. Using clean energy instead of dirty energy benefits everyone. Its good for our cities and rural areas, good for our people, it saves money and it creates new jobs and industries.

Why wouldn’t we want a healthier world?

Today we already have low-cost, reliable wind and solar power. People all over the country are seeing wind farms and solar panel facilities spring up and pump clean energy into their homes and businesses. American ingenuity has helped make this more of a reality in a relatively short period of time. But we need more of it so we can focus on clean energy and a healthy world instead of dirty energy and a sick world.

Think how lovely it would be to not have to drive your car into a gas station. Or how you would feel powering your own house with your own solar panels? 

We Americans can lead the world if we would only get off our duffs and look towards a clean future. We are innovators, we can come up with solutions, we can make clean energy affordable for everyone if we only put our minds and ability towards living in a healthy world. 

Don’t you want to leave a world where the air is clean and the water is drinkable? 

We should be proud that we can create a cleaner world. Let's do it.

See ya next week

Resist hate

Resisting hate is the first step towards regaining a clear head. 

i’ve been reading comment threads all over the internet but especially at Yahoo in relation to the carnage that occurred in Paris. The hatred directed towards Syrian refugees, Muslims and Islam in general makes my blood boil. 

The calls to arms against Muslims or people who practice Islam is repugnant.

Here at Humanity Squared our first job is to put the shoe on the other foot before jumping to hate filled diatribes about groups of people you think you know.  

Why? 

Because you don’t know them. You only know the propaganda you have been filled with by those that want you to hate.

Refugee’s are not the cause of the Paris attacks, the Beirut attacks, the downing of the Russian plane, or the attacks in Iraq. Refugee’s are trying to escape. They are trying to find a safe haven, a place where they don’t have to contend with war. Using them as a scapegoat out of misplaced hatred does a huge disservice to any possibility for peace in the Middle East or even peace here at home.

Fanatics can rally vulnerable people to any cause. Hating just supplies more ammunition to the troops regardless of which side you are on. Saying Syrian refugees shouldn’t be allowed into the states is crazy. It drives the hated into the arms of the oppressors who then turn around and use them to terrorize. You do understand this is exactly what ISIS wants.

The core claim against letting refugees in is that background checks are impossible. Well according to the law to get in to the US you already have to go through high-level security checks, bio-metric screening, a mandatory interview with the Department of Homeland Security, a medical screening, and a cultural orientation program. On average it takes 18-24 months to go through the vetting. So please…refugees are vetted, more so than in other countries.

A minority ruins religion when they say they kill for it. Unfortunately 1.6 billion Muslims have to suffer because of it. They endure the hatred. They are put on the defensive. They are bombed and called collateral damage. They are terrorized worse than the Parisians but no one feels sympathy for them. They are the ones that are expected to get on social media and apologize for something they can’t control and in many cases are trying to escape from. Most Muslims who have gotten on social media are belittled, their pleas for reason buried by those claiming this never happens. Today, if you look on line, you can find Muslims with signs saying "Not in My Name." But this does little to appease the haters.

A case in point. A young taxi driver in NY was in tears this weekend after waiting over two hours for someone to get into his cab. Stupid, hate filled people avoided his cab when they looked in and saw he might be of Middle Eastern descent. He had tears of gratitude towards the man who would finally ride with him. He cried because he could finally do his job. He is a perfect example of someone that is trying to make a living, trying to be accepted as a human being but being potentially driven into ISIS arms because of misplaced hatred and fear.

Governors in Michigan(Snyder) and Alabama(Bentley) along with Republican presidential hopefuls announced their opposition to letting Syrian refugees gain asylum in the United States. This is probably all based upon a passport found close to one of the suicide bombers in Paris. So far French officials say they have no proof it belonged to the bomber. They said the number in the passport is incorrect and the name doesn’t match the picture. But hate filled leaders in the US have jumped to conclusions and are opposing Syrian refugee status.

If we want to solve a problem that has gone on for 14 years, maybe we should start looking at different options. War obviously hasn't worked. It has only made things worse. Tikkun has come up with a plan...go check their website out. http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2015/11/15/after-paris-say-no-to-the-militarists-and-fear-mongers-yes-to-a-strategy-of-generosity/

i’ll say it again…resisting hate is the first step towards regaining a clear head.

See ya soon