On Ecology and Going Back to the Land

Life begets life, making Earth livable. — Dr. Glen Barry

Grow your own food as you restore ecology

Not much new land is being made, yet land’s well-being is central to the well-being of human and all life. On land, in a miraculous act of biological emergence, plants and animals have naturally evolved and self-organized to form ecosystems and ultimately the biosphere. Yet existing land and its ecology have has been treated incautiously and with great malice for centuries.

Land ensconced in natural vegetation is the living membrane that encompasses Earth and mediates energy and material flows between air and water. Naturally evolved terrestrial ecosystems are a majestic miracle, provider of life, and humanity’s habitat home. Over countless eons pulsing lifeforms emerge and radiate creating the panoply of a living Earth.

Life begets life, making Earth livable.

The history of natural land destruction is largely synonymous with human settlements and agriculture. The disease of ecological colonialism radiated from Europe, utterly decimating land and its productive capacity globally. As the myth of a perpetual growth economy has been universally embraced; about 90% of Earth’s original old-growth forests have been pillaged, 50% of top soil has been lost, and about half of global land cover no longer remains in a natural condition.

The global ecological system has percolated from a state of human settlements enmeshed within a sea of life-giving natural ecosystems, to a sea of unnatural human endeavors surrounding islands of nature. Such ecological overshoot is not sustainable and this terrestrial ecosystem loss is collapsing our one shared biosphere.

Rarely has a species gone so rogue and utterly lost their place within the natural world.

Read more at EcoInternet

Twitter Jumps The Shark as Coddles Congressional Pedophile by Shutting Down EcoInternet

Twitter accounts of EcoInternet, the leading deep ecology environmental and social justice newsfeed and micro-blog, and the personal account of Dr. Glen Barry, shutdown just after posting a link to essay recounting Congressman Mark Pocan's, of Madison, Wisconsin, admission of child sex tourism.

Update: EcoInternet's primary Twitter account, Dr. Glen Barry's personal account and others on climate, rainforests, and other environmental issues remain suspended. Congressman Pocan continues to misuse governmental power to cover-up his child sex tourism.

 

Twitter enables Congressman Mark Pocan's child sex tourism

It has been nearly four years since I informed Madison law enforcement, Wisconsin governmental authorities, the FBI, and the public of then State Assemblyman Mark Pocan's admission in my presence of having raped children while traveling to Costa Rica for child sex tourism. I still remember vividly him play acting as he demonstrated for a group of close friends how children are able to be penetrated not only from the rear as they bend over, but also from the front as kids are nimble enough to recline while standing. His friends Doug, Tom, Andy, Kyle, Mike and a couple others thought this was hilarious. After being threatened by Mr. Pocan when later referring to the matter, and considering my state funded University research position at risk, I chose to not socialize with Pocan and his entourage again. Sadly, given the power differential and my own history of being a victim of childhood sexual abuse, I remained silent for too long.

Since I wrote a powerful essay painfully recounting these matters (http://drglenbarry.blogspot.com/2012/07/wisconsin-2nd-district-my-congressional.html), I have faced a vicious assault upon my character by Congressman Pocan's surrogates. There is even evidence that Pocan's political opponents - Governor Scott Walker, whose authoritarian demagoguery I have criticized, and the Dane County GOP - have colluded with Mark Pocan to attempt to discredit me. Progressive Madison institutions and citizens – including the Madison Police, the Government Accountability Board, the Madison DA's office, Madison media, and the court of public opinion – were notified and failed to investigate or act upon the allegations. Outrageous and blatantly false claims have been made against me in retaliation by Pocan cronies. Yet I continue to live normally and with a clear conscience, having since published major ecological science, continuing to run Earth's largest biocentric environmental advocacy network, and advancing in my second career in financial technology.

Yet one can only wonder how many other children Congressman Pocan is abusing from his position of power. And reflect upon how sad it is that beautiful and progressive (yet corrupt) Madison is represented in Congress by an acknowledged child sex predator.

In an unnecessary act of intimidation, a few weeks ago the US Capitol Police contacted me at work, presumably on Congressman Pocan's behest, asking me why I continued to occasionally tweet a link to my essay. I explained that it was important to me, that despite having been dismissed by the authorities and the public, to continue to demonstrate that by no means do I retract my truthful narrative of what Mr. Pocan disclosed to me and others. After posting this tweet below a couple days ago, first to @EcoInternet and then a couple hours later to my personal Twitter account @DrGlenBarry, my personal and all of my environmental Twitter accounts including non-related ones dedicated to old-growth forests and climate, to which the post was not sent, were suspended:

Will progressive #Madison, Wisconsin re-elect @repmarkpocan an admitted pedophile as their Congressman for 3rd time? http://drglenbarry.blogspot.com/2012/07/wisconsin-2nd-district-my-congressional.html

After initiating with Twitter an appeal of the account suspension, stressing the importance of the work done by EcoInternet using social media for the environment and social justice, noting the absence of any warning, and asking for specific guidance on the rules that may have been broken so we could change our conduct; I initially received this terse reply at both my personal and EcoInternet main account (as well as for a climate Twitter account to which it was not sent): 

Hello,
Your account was permanently suspended due to multiple or repeat violations of the Twitter Rules: https://support.twitter.com/articles/18311-the-twitter-rules

This account will not be restored.

Please do not respond to this email as replies will not be monitored.

Thanks,
Twitter Support

After seven years of using Twitter to save innumerable rainforests, repeatedly help protect indigenous rights, and successfully raise ecological awareness and cut emissions globally, that is it, game over, because I posted a link to my essay. The reply from Twitter is patently false, we know of no "multiple or repeat violation of the Twitter Rules". Almost certainly Mr. Pocan complained and Twitter folded in the face of political pressure by a Congressman facing reputable allegations of child abuse.

For years EcoInternet, besides its primary account, had run a couple dozen distinct Twitter environmental newsfeeds on numerous explicit topics ranging from climate and rainforests, to more specific accounts on tar sands and fracking. There was a small amount of overlap (sent at staggered times) if say an article dealt with the loss of rainforests' impacts upon the climate, but generally they were discrete. On occasion we called out powerful individuals' greenwash such as Gordon Moore stealing native Hawaiian land and Leo DiCaprio's use of private jets as tells us to cut emissions. At one point we received a reply from Twitter indicating that several of our accounts had been falsely identified as spam and the accounts were restored. One by one, quickly these were shut again until there was just the primary EcoInternet account with 25,000 followers left.

Needing to know definitively if we were being harassed by Twitter for outing a child pedophile, or if it was genuine concern that a small amount of overlap was spam, I posted three tweets. One notifying followers we would no longer be providing newsfeeds to remain in compliance with Twitter regulations, another a picture of me in New York, and the third a link to a New York Times article on Dennis Hastert's conviction with the comment:

Dennis Hastert and Madison Congressman Mark Pocan have a lot in common, and it's not wrestling

My largest and most important account was then shutdown within hours, all appeals denied, again with the above terse rejection. So I can definitively say Earth's largest Twitter network was shutdown for sending two links over a several week period sharing my truthful recollections of having a Congressional candidate admit in my presence to child sex tourism.

And good riddance as I have no desire to spend my time self-censoring myself because the platform for exchanging information I use does not respect freedom of speech, and believes itself to be the arbiter of legal disputes. Such behavior by Twitter is precisely how child sex predators are enabled.

At one time Twitter was a force for social good, allowing the marginalized and average citizens an equal voice to the powerful. Now, as the company is failing financially and desperately seeks to grow, Twitter puts people sharing inane selfies and narcissistic star postings before those working for social justice including global ecological sustainability and keeping children safe. Twitter has shutdown a global network of tens of thousands of like-minded ecological and social activists routinely protecting the environment  to protect one powerful sexual predator of kids.

By coddling a Congressional pedophile, silencing a small yet persistent critic, it is clear Twitter has jumped the shark.

I know what I heard and saw on that fateful day – a powerful politician telling of traveling internationally for child sex (indeed, describing vividly and acting out his crime) – which is a federal offense. I am willing to testify in court what I know, and to take a professionally implemented polygraph at any time, preferably as Mr. Pocan and others present as he disclosed his criminal act do so as well. If Congressman Pocan feels aggrieved by my accusations, I encourage him to take the matter to court (rather than continue to harass me using the levers of government power); where the numerous other people present, as well as others aware of his behavior, can be subpoenaed, deposed, and testify as well. I implore the Madison press and police to independently investigate this matter, as Mr. Pocan's behavior is well known and my account has been anonymously confirmed in a public posting by another person who was there.

In addition to Mark's public admission when I was present, I have purposefully not recounted until now further admissions relayed second hand to me by Andy Janssen, a mutual friend, of further underage sex by Mr. Pocan in London theaters and Amsterdam brothels. I was told there were more stories to tell, but had heard enough, and immediately went home to begin writing my initial essay. From what I have observed, there appears to be a pattern of Congressman Pocan abusing children as he travels internationally. It was after this was disclosed to me that I chose to report the matter to the authorities and go public several months before Mr. Pocan was first elected to Congress. 

If Congressman Pocan thinks he can hound me by taking away my means of environmental advocacy, and that he can misuse his power to force my silence, he is badly mistaken. I failed to report the matter in a timely matter for reasons outlined in my initial essay, and I will not again let down children being preyed upon by a powerful man. Scurrilous attacks upon my reputation are the burden I must bear for failing to come forward on the matter immediately, however frightened I was. Now it is time for Madison Progressives to step up and clean house, and for Twitter to respect free speech and unsuspend my accounts which have long been used for the greater good.

 

Embrace the Coming Ecological Inflection Point and Great Transition

Environmental awareness must soon reach a critical mass, whereby massive societal resources are re-allocated to scale up solutions in a great ecological transition; before biosphere, social, and economic collapse become unavoidable. An approaching ecological inflection point reflects a narrow band of opportunity to repair fragmented, quivering nature, clearly at its breaking point, before it is too late.

By Dr. Glen Barry

After 25 years of ecological advocacy, I can say with certainty that I have never seen as much genuine environmental concern as I do now. This has generally not led en masse to required action such as personal dramatic emission cuts and refusal to buy all products from old-growth forests. But for the first time ecological decline including climate change is visibly apparent to a degree that it is readily known by the educated and it can't be denied by anyone of good faith and character.

Concurrently trend lines for atmospheric and ecosystem decline are more perilous than ever. Humanity is putting the biosphere at great risk, as rampant industrial pollution and clearing of natural vegetation results in abrupt climate change occurring far faster than envisioned, and natural ecosystems are failing to provide the surrounding matrix of natural services which makes life possible. The natural family's only hope is that an ecological inflection point occurs, whereby the impacts of biosphere collapse become so evident – perhaps as millions die from extreme storms and other depredations – while there is still time to implement sufficient solutions. At that point the human family will howl for the necessary measures to be taken to protect and restore natural ecosystems, and end fossil fuels, on an accelerated emergency basis.

The only questions are whether as ecosystem collapse becoming apparent, will we squabble for what remains as we deny ecologism, or will we remain free as we begin in earnest a great transition to green liberty? And will we have identified and prototyped, and be ready with sufficient ecological solutions, to meet human needs while maintaining a living Earth? The ecological inflection point is a narrow band of opportunity to repair fragmented, quivering nature before it is too late. We must be ready with templates for ecological sustainability, which can employ billions, as a program of ecological restoration and energy conservation are rapidly scaled.

What hope remains for humanity and her habitat as ecological awareness and collapse converge in such a manner, is whether we are able to ramp up fast enough the plethora of ecological solutions we all know about but don't support enough. These efforts may be abetted by deep wells of global ecological resilience of which we are unaware, as the Earth is a living organism that has self-regulated for 3.5 billion year, yet whose workings remain largely unknown to her peoples.

[Read more at EcoInternet]

Stop Being Afraid, Work Together to Make Things Better

Things could be so much better

Things could be so much better, if we want them to be. There are tremendous benefits to be realized by coming together to make peace, promote equity and justice, protect natural ecosystems, and end fossil fuels. But it requires us to reject religious fanaticism, think freely and generously, help the poor to live upon the land, demobilize standing armies, stop spewing filth into the air and waters; and go back to the land to create worth from nurturing soil and vegetation, earning a righteous livelihood from the strength of our minds and bodies. A green and free future of sustainability and abundance – based upon living within an encompassing matrix of organic permaculture, and natural and regenerating ecosystems – awaits us. For the present outrageous state of the Earth and the murdering of its inhabitants to end, mostly we just need to start loving each other and nature, and to share.

“Tolerance and freedom of thought are the veritable antidotes to religious fanaticism.” – Paul-Henri baron d’Holbach

“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets”. – Voltaire

“Some day the earth will weep, she will beg for her life, she will cry with tears of blood. You will make a choice, if you will help her or let her die, and when she dies, you too will die.” – John Hollow Horn, Oglala Lakota

“I would like to see every single soldier on every single side, just take off your helmet, unbuckle your kit, lay down your rifle, and set down on the side of some shady lane, and say, nope, I aint a gonna kill nobody. Plenty of rich folks wants to fight. Give them the guns.” – Woody Guthrie

“War is murder. I would rather be blown to pieces is a low-probability terrorist attack than forever give up my liberties and nature to oppressive big government and corporate exploitation.” – Dr. Glen Barry

I am absolutely appalled at humanity’s and nature’s condition over the last several years. I am filled with infernal rage and nausea, and particularly irked, that in the 21st century we witness in the Middle East the continuing waging of holy war in the name of various absent gods; as a plethora of social inequities and ecological crises threaten our very existence. Things could be so different if we embraced ecology, truth, justice, and equity as life’s meaning.

The world is ending as the biosphere collapses, preceded by the human family’s descent into a neo-dark age.

In this short essay I intend to identify the threats posed by religious extremism, corporate ecocide, stifling government, and nationalistic power-mongering. Existing solutions will be highlighted to humanity’s global problems, integrating many themes developed in more depth in my earlier writings.

Rather than fully embrace the last century of hard fought social, technological, and ecological knowledge, we continue to allow big government to wage religious perma-war for a small rich oligarchy at the expense of the poor and Earth. For a mortgaged house, a shiny car, and a cell phone the vast majority of the middle class turn a blind eye to the suffering their way of life causes to their human family and environmental habitat. Modern industrial livelihoods kill nature for illusory comforts for some for awhile.

As climate and ecosystems collapse, neo-fascist imperialism and local insurgencies arise to control dwindling resources. As I watch Muslim terrorists slaughter innocents, and Christian terrorists bomb innocents, over and over again; I am reminded of the danger of religious fanaticism and why I am an atheist and free-thinker. There is no god and religious fanaticism is god pollution that is destroying the Earth.

Ecology is the meaning of life. Renewable energy, a carbon tax, and energy conservation – along with an end to destruction of natural ecosystems and old-growth forest restoration – will solve climate change and avoid biosphere collapse. More natural ecosystems have already been lost than the biosphere can bear, and there is much work to be done regenerating ecosystems, creating sustainable permaculture agro-forests, and most people growing and locally exchanging their own organic food. Humanity must remain within the nurturing embrace of functional ecosystems.

[Read more at EcoInternet]