The modern world

Healthy planet, anyone?

With my best friend struck down by a deadly contaminate, I fluctuate between fierce anger, intense fear, and a desire “to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”
This quote first appeared in the 1902 book Observations by Mr. Dooley, by Finley Peter Dunne (1867 – 1936).
Dunne’s Mr Dooley is a fictional Irish bartender critical of just about everybody:

“Th’ newspaper does ivrything f’r us. It runs th’ polis foorce an’ th’ banks, commands th’ milishy, controls th’ ligislachure, baptizes th’ young, marries th’ foolish, comforts th’ afflicted, afflicts th’ comfortable, buries th’ dead an’ roasts thim aftherward.”

I intend to further explore Mr Dunne’s and Mr Dooley’s literary exploits, and - as I grapple with the overwhelm of current reality – I go one further on Dooley's view of newspapers: I heap blame on SNS - social networking sites - too.  
Future posts will explore this topic of SNS yet, assigning blame to SNS, I simultaneously appreciate SNS. Keying into Dr Internet’s search engine, “quotes about afflicting the comfortable” , after all, introduced me to Dunne and Dooley.
What to say? Life is tough. Even assigning blame is complex. Indeed, assigning blame is one of today’s toughest tasks. That is, if one seeks nuance. I do seek nuance. I’m uncomfortable thinking I’ve a handle on “the one and only truth.”
But the truth hurts.
Here’s yet another terrifying truth and yet another warning of the state of our beleaguered planet:

We cannot ignore biodiversity loss. Biodiversity is the variability that exists among all living organisms, between different species, within species including genetic makeup, and in wider ecosystems. Billions of people rely on wild species for food, clean water, energy, income and health and wellbeing. Annually, crops worth up to £480bn are pollinated by a variety of wild animals, and an estimated 4 billion people depend on natural medicines for their healthcare. These vital ecosystem services are fundamentally based on a healthy environment, and this requires biodiversity. Losing biodiversity leaves species and ecosystems less resilient to challenges such as invasive species or pests, meaning there is an increased risk of whole populations being wiped out and destabilising the entire ecological network. Nature is a finite resource, and human self-interest alone should determine that biodiversity must be protected.
Alongside overexploitation, humans are driving biodiversity loss by destroying, polluting and fragmenting habitats across the globe. Many of the UK’s important peatlands, which provide a home for rare species such as the hen harrier, have been drained for agricultural use. The Amazon rainforest is being cleared to such an extent that it may be near a tipping point beyond which it cannot recover.

Read more “We’ve overexploited the planet, now we need to change if we’re to survive” >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Community entities such as stalls at farmer’s markets that disappeared during the height of the Covid pandemic are slowly reappearing.
Yesterday, legal business took me to Oakland on farmer’s market day.
What joy!
This photo shows the outer edge of the market located on streets of four or five city blocks. Vendors presented lush in-season local produce, assorted nuts and nut butters, breads and baked goods, an array of cuisines in to-go boxes, even spectacular orchids. (These sorely tempted; I didn’t succumb.)
I walked through the market to the lawyer’s office where, sticky-taped to the front door, I read this message addressed to United Package Service. I share it here as a humorous reminder that others share my current state of mind: “What lousy service. That’s the modern world for you.”