Alfred Korzybski writing in 1921: THE conclusion of the World
War is the closing of the period of the childhood of humanity.
This childhood, as any childhood, can be characterized as devoid
of any real understanding of values, as is that of a child who
uses a priceless chronometer to crack nuts.

This childhood has been unduly
long, but happily we are near to the end of it, for humanity,
shaken by this war, is coming to its senses and must soon enter
its manhood, a period of great achievements and rewards in the
new and real sense of values dawning upon us.

The sacred dead will not have
died for naught; the “red wine of youth,” the wanton
waste of life, has shown us the price of life, and we will have
to keep our oath to make the future worthy of their sweat and
blood.

Early ideas are not necessarily true ideas.

There are different kinds
of interpretations of history and different schools of philosophy.
All of them have contributed something to human progress, but
none of them has been able to give the world a basic philosophy
embracing the whole progress of science and establishing the life
of man upon the abiding foundation of Fact.

>Our life is bound to develop
according to evident or else concealed laws of nature. The evident
laws of nature were the inspiration of genuine science in its
cradle; and their interpretations or misinterpretations have from
the earliest times formed systems of law, of ethics, and of philosophy.

Human intellect, be it that
of an individual or that of the race, forms conclusions which
have to be often revised before they correspond approximately
to facts. What we call progress consists in coordinating ideas
with realities. The World War has taught something to everybody.
It was indeed a great reality; it accustomed us to think in terms
of reality and not in those of phantom speculation. Some unmistakable
truths were revealed. Facts and force were the things that counted.
Power had to be produced to destroy hostile power; it was found
that the old political and economic systems were not adequate
to the task put upon them. The world had to create new economic
conditions; it was obliged to supplement the old systems with
special boards for food, coal, railroads, shipping, labor, etc.
The World War emergency compelled the nations to organize for
producing greater power in order to conquer power already great.

If there is anything which
this war has proved, it is the fact that the most important asset
a nation or an individual can have, is the ability “to do
things.”

“In Flanders Fields the
poppies blow . . .,” that is too true; they blow and they
are strong and red. But the purpose of this writing is not the
celebration of poetry, but the elucidation and right use of facts.

Normally, thousands of rabbits
and guinea pigs are used and killed, in scientific laboratories,
for experiments which yield great and tangible benefits to humanity.
This war butchered millions of people and ruined the health and
lives of tens of millions. Is this climax of the pre-war
civilization to be passed unnoticed, except for the poetry and
the manuring of the battle fields, that the “poppies blow”stronger and better fed? Or is the death of ten men on the battle
field to be of as much worth in knowledge gained as is the life
of one rabbit killed for experiment ? Is the great sacrifice worth
analysing ? There can be only one answer-yes. But, if truth be
desired, the analysis must be scientific.

In science, “opinions”are tolerated when and only when facts are lacking. In this case,
we have all the facts necessary. We have only to collect them
and analyse them, rejecting mere “opinions” as cheap
and unworthy. Such as understand this lesson will know how to
act for the benefit of all.

At present the future of mankind
is dark. “Stop, look, and listen”-the prudent caution
at railroad crossings-must be amended to read “stop, look,
listen, and THINK”; not for the saving of a few lives in
railroad accidents, but for the preservation of the life of humanity.
Living organisms, of the lower and simpler types, in which the
differentiation and the integration of the vital organs have not
been carried far, can move about for a considerable time after
being deprived of the appliances by which the life force is accumulated
and transferred, but higher organisms are instantly killed by
the removal of such appliances, or even by the injury of minor
parts of them; even more easily destroyed are the more advanced
and complicated social organizations.

The first question is: what
are to be the scientific methods that will eliminate diverse opinions
and creeds from an analysis of facts and ensure correct deductions
based upon them? (11/18/08)
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Luke Leitch writes: Climate change is upon us and the oil is running out. Is mankind’s darkest hours really approaching? If so, a growing army of local heroes is determined to turn it into our finest hours.

In Sandpoint, Idaho - birthplace of Sarah Palin, who really wouldn’t approve - residents have prepared the community garden for its first winter and plans are under way for a local biomass-fired power plant.

In Bell, a district of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, they are making wood-fired pizza ovens in each other’s gardens and have negotiated bulk-buy discounts on solar power equipment for local residents. They have also planted more than 150 trees in a push to become the “fruit and nut tree area of Geelong”.

Viewed in isolation, these well-intentioned community efforts are laudable, yet insignificant. But Sandpoint and Bell are two examples of something much bigger - the Transition Initiative, a movement barely two years old that claims to have the answer to sustainable living in a world without oil.

In some 700 towns, villages and cities worldwide, Transition is under way, and more communities are signing up every day. Most of the groups are “mulling” - Transition-speak for gearing themselves up - but 114 have launched publically, or “unleashed”. …

The concept of peak oil, like that of climate change, was widely pooh-poohed at first but is slowly gaining credence. Last week the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated that to compensate for the depletion of existing oilfields and meet a projected rise in world demand from 85 million barrels a day in 2008 to 106 million in 2030, the world will have to find new production equal to the output of ten Saudi Arabias. Nobuo Tanaka, executive director of the IEA, said: “Current trends in energy supply and consumption are patently unsustainable environmentally, economically and socially. They can and must be altered.” Which reads like a line from The Transition Handbook.

Between 1939 and 1944, food imports to Britain halved - and the nation responded, nearly doubling domestic food production. Peak oil does not concentrate the popular imagination in quite the same way as Hitler did, but at least the Transitioners will be prepared when, as they predict, an energy crisis occurs.

In Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia, people started readying themselves in June. Their two-year low-carbon diet is under way, they have met state Anna Bligh, the state premier, and are consulting on a Queensland Government report entitled Towards Oil Resilience. Bush tucker trees are to be planted around the city.

Maggie Johns, a Hervey Bay Transitioner, signed off her e-mail to me thus: “Before, it all seemed so futile. What was the good in changing a few light bulbs? There are ice-shelves breaking off, for goodness sake! But when you know that more and more towns are coming online with Transition, and each has an army of dedicated volunteers, it seems much more do-able.” (11/18/08)
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David Korten writes: The financial crisis has put to rest the myths that our economic institutions are sound and markets work best when deregulated. Our economic institutions have failed, not only financially, but also socially and environmentally. This, combined with the election of a new president with a mandate for change, creates an opportune moment to rethink and redesign. President-elect Obama has promised to grow the economy from the bottom up. That would be a substantial improvement over growing the top at the expense of the bottom. The real need, however, is a bottom-up transformation of our economic values and institutions to align with the imperatives and opportunities of the 21st century. It involves a five part agenda: clean up Wall Street, play by market rules, self-finance the real economy, measure what we really want, and convert to debt-free money.

The recent market meltdown and the resulting bailout commitments of more than a trillion dollars have focused the nation’s attention on the devastating consequences of Wall Street deregulation. This is but the tip of the iceberg of a failed economy in serious need of basic redesign.

Our economy is wildly out of balance with human needs and the natural environment. The result is disaster for both. Wages are falling in the face of soaring food and energy prices. Consumer debt and housing foreclosures are setting historic records. The middle class is shrinking. The unconscionable and growing worldwide gap between rich and poor with its related social alienation is producing social collapse, which in turn produces crime, terrorism, and genocide.

At the same time, excessive consumption is pushing Earth’s ecosystem into collapse. Scientists are in almost universal agreement that human activity bears substantial responsibility for climate change and the related increase in droughts, floods, and wildfires.

We face a monumental economic challenge that goes far beyond anything being discussed in the U.S. Congress. The hardships imposed by temporarily frozen credit markets pale by comparison.

This would be a good time to start evaluating economic performance against indicators of what we really want—healthy children, families, communities, and natural systems.

The Wall Street bailout package that Congress passed in its moment of panic did nothing to address the structural cause of the credit freeze, let alone the structural cause of the economy’s even more serious environmental and social failures. On the positive side, the financial crisis has put to rest the myths that our economic institutions are sound and that markets work best when deregulated. It creates an opportune moment for deep change. (11/18/08)
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BBC Medical Science – Hospitals need to be vigilant against an emerging drug-resistant bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii, infection control experts have warned.

Like MRSA and Clostridium difficile, the bacterium poses the greatest risk to seriously ill patients.

Rates of resistance to antibiotics that halt the bug currently stand at 30%, Lancet Infectious Diseases reports.

The journal report authors said the infection was a growing public health worry across the world.

Measures in the UK to control MRSA and other “hospital-acquired infections” should also bring down Acinetobacter rates, experts said. Acinetobacter shares many of the “superbug” properties of MRSA and Clostridium difficile, such as survival on surfaces and resistance to disinfectants. This makes it difficult to eradicate from wards once it is there, experts say.

Typically, the bacterium causes bloodstream infections, pneumonia or infection of a wound. It can be carried on the skin of healthy people and can be passed to patients by poor hand hygiene. It also survives in dust and on objects such as bedding for months, making rigorous cleaning of wards essential to control its spread.

The strains of Acinetobacter that are resistant to standard treatments can be treated with other antibiotics, however, and the bug does not usually pose a threat to healthy people.

Strict hygiene compliance and more thorough research into drug choice, especially those for multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, are vital to prevent major outbreaks, say the report authors Professor Matthew Falagas and Dr Drosos Karageorgopoulos, of the Alfa Institute of Biomedical Sciences in Athens, Greece. (11/18/08)
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BBC Environmental Science – Emissions of greenhouse gases by industrialised nations rose 2.3% from 2000 to 2006, according to new figures from the UN’s climate change agency. The biggest increases were in the former Soviet bloc - and Canada.

A UN spokesman said countries had to work much faster to avoid the possibility of dangerous climate change.

Next month the nations of the world meet in Poland for the annual negotiations on climate change.

The new figures do not offer a great deal of optimism. They show that in 2006 emissions did actually fall by 0.1%, but the UN’s climate change secretariat said that this tiny dip was statistically insignificant. The overall underlying trend since 2000 is up, even though the countries in question had promised to cut their emissions.

The worst culprit has been Canada. Its emissions since 1990 have shot up 21.3% - they should have fallen 6%.

Recently the biggest rise was recorded by the Eastern European bloc, with emissions up 7.4% since the turn of the century. (11/18/08)
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