What could possibly be more absurd than hordes of American people and their legislators spending a lot of anxious time worrying over whether Russian agents injected game changing, Trump promoting “fake news” along with highly persuasive algorithm-informed bot-ature into the American election?
Read MoreI went out for a walk today, New Year’s day—along the river, through Ruth Masters Greenway, along the powerline, by the river. Broken soft white clouds dotted the balmy blue sky. The warm sun reflected off a crunchy few centimeters of snow as white and fresh as the clouds. People smiled in passing and even the dogs seemed friendly. But I was brooding.
Read MoreA United Nations audit of the Paris Agreement on international efforts to curb emission of greenhouse gases found that even if signators keep their pledges the Earth will heat to at least three degrees Celsius above pre industrial levels by 2100.
Read MoreI can understand those who see the plot and characters in the—now playing at the Rialto—movie Wonder as being so sentimentally superficial that it makes a good bed time story for children and little else. I could have made that assessment, but sometimes what we see is more about who we are than any objective reality in the world we behold. And, who we are sometimes changes. Thursday night when went to the Rialto with a friend to see Wonder, I wasn’t looking for a hard hitting, intellectually satisfying narrative about the complex world around us. I was, unbeknownst to me, looking for exactly what Wonder delivers—a simple-though credible enough, emotionally moving story suggesting there is, yet, something endearing, something—dare I say—noble about human life.
Read MoreClearly something has gone horribly wrong over a broad spectrum of issues. This summer the decade long trend of record-breaking temperatures lead to record breaking fires ravaging BC and California claiming lives and destroying property. This fall saw a hurricane season unprecedented for its intensity and duration; almost half the world’s wealth is in “off-shore” accounts evading taxes that are supposed to support just, and sustaining economies; our oceans are becoming seas of plastic and pollution; the idea of clean water and a warm place to live becomes ever more elusive to much of humanity; even peace as the foundation of a decent, just and safe world seems to have been abandoned in the mad rush to implement the neo-liberal agenda of enriching the few and entrenching corporate interests over democratic values.
Read MoreYou might say Ruth Masters, Comox Valley’s most loved, respected and despised environmentalist, was the first Comox Valley resident I knew anything of after moving to the valley in 1993. It was quite the introduction. After buying a building lot in Comox, I set up camp in a small shed to serve as home while I built our accessible home for four. Day two after moving into the 10’x10’my neighbor came over to visit. He brought a six pack of beer and a friendly smile. After a hand shake and exchange of names, he got directly to the matter weighing on his mind. “You don’t happen to know that Ruth Masters do you?” he asked a bit suspiciously for the proffered beer, smile and hand shake.”No, I haven’t even heard of anyone by that name.” “Oh, good!” He seemed to give a profound sigh of relief at my reply.
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