Swinging Chimp (Photo credit: @Doug88888)
can you spot the chimp? (Photo credit: Kara Reuter)
Publicity photo of Clarence the cross-eyed lion and Judy the chimp from the television program Daktari. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Chimp (Photo credit: Lukas Vermeer)Smirking Chimp added a new photo.
How to Move the Iran Impasse Forward
Iranian negotiators and representatives of the 6-world power P5+1 negotiating team have agreed to meet on February 26 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Hopeful watchers may read some symbolism into the location: Kazakhstan is one of the few nations to have voluntarily given up nuclear weapons. Iran has also been downgrading some of its enriched uranium to a level that can’t easily be converted to weapons-grade.
.Toward a Bioregional State
The Bioregional State as "Constitution, Version Two": Secession, Nullification, Federation: What is the Bioregional State's Position? (1 of 4)
*"WE THE PEOPLE of the bioregions of the world, removing the burdens of unsustainability imposed on us by unrepresentative frameworks of government, science, finance, and consumption in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common social and ecological defense with the political inclusion of trading arrangements, promote the general Welfare within, and do ingrain ourselves and ongoingly direct our governments to move towards sustainability and away from tyranny of unsustainablity, to secure the Blessi... more »
If I Were U.S. President, I Would Get Elected with the Promise to Resign to Work on This Bioregional Platform as More Important
*Removing the Seal after the Promised Resignation* Every American child dreams of being President. However, every American adult understands that simply being President might be pointless or even a distraction for the kinds of political changes they want. I thought about that when I read that the German Kiwi Kim Dotcom, after an illegal take-down by the United States out of its jurisdiction a year ago, decided to be reborn as a CEO with his Megabox project. Since he had so many complaints about how crazily insane the U.S. had treated him, he was asked what would be his policies if... more »
Seventeen Points Toward an Environmental Citizenship
*“The true revolutionary is singing the canary’s song in the mine shaft. It is a song of alarm and a song of beauty. He has become hyper-alert and what he observes is that the injustice has gone on too long and his people are suffocating. They are dazed from asphyxia and he is singing furiously to wake them up while they can still be woken, while there is still power in their limbs to knock a hole in the walls and let in the air they have been denied. That is the revolutionary’s alchemy—to transform this great anger he feels into a life-saving song that will command the attention ... more »
One Watershed at a Time: River of New Zealand Develops Bioregional State Principles
*New Zealand; North Island, Whanganui River* The Whanganui, the "river with rights" is hardly the point of this post: it is the social institutions around these granted rights. They are an interesting mix of centralized and decentralized similar to the recommendations of the bioregional state. In the specific context of New Zealand's North Island where this river is located, the *decentralized institutions* of ecological self-interest are the traditional geographic, regional, and long-term indigenous traditional * iwi* groups of the native Maori--around 15% (640,000) of ...more »
Ecological Reformation in Science and Education: Local Knowledge, Universities, and the Professions as Checks and Balances in Practice Toward Sustainability
[back for editing later, and for adding links.] *"Come on now. Is this country full of stupid, stupid, stupid weathermen or are they just gutless? Without the courage to talk about these things? I really have to wonder which it is. Are they stupid? Or are they without courage? It's one or the other because there's really no other choice." --Scott Stevens (5:25)** * *Corrupted Education Creates a Degraded Environment and a Degraded Humanity* *; So, What Kind of Education Would Create a Sustainable Environment and Better Society? One that Integrates Regional Knowledge--and Requires I... more »
Ecological Reformation in Consumption: Commodity Ecology and Other Points on Markets
[image: Photobucket] *Ecological Reformation in Consumption* This is the *first post of three* on details toward the wider *Ecological Reformation* discussed previously. The Ecological Reformation of the world has four parts: state, science/education, consumption, and finance. I've already published about one of these four parts, the state part about green constitutional engineering in *Toward a Bioregional State* (2005). For background before talking about the other three parts in general, the book *Toward a Bioregional State* describes the green constitutional engineering iss... more »
How the Bioregional State Can Save the Pandas Better than the World Wildlife Fund and Other Global Neofeudal Ownership Regimes
A more accurate logo of the World Wildlife Fund, born 1961, bastard child of the Bilderberg Conference born 1954, and full of Skull and Bonesmen. The Panda's a clear-cutter. Why give it money? [draft--back for editing later.] *"Everyone has their reason for doing things. And then the real reason." -- J. P. Morgan. * * The Silence of the Pandas (2011) and the Silence of the Bilderberg Group* This week saw the annual conference of the Bilderberg Group from May 31 to June 3, 2012. This year they turned the Westfields Marriott in Chantilly, Virginia into their twilight zone police stat... more »
California's "Independent" Redistricting Commission Only Opens Doors to District Manipulation from Outside
*The Ghost of Gerrymandering Has Shape-changed into Updated Forms in California* *Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814), inventor of "gerrymandering," one of many 'modern' techniques of subverting the representativeness of democratic elections, while keeping perversions of them alive. He went on to be Vice President of the United States. Corruption in the USA goes back a long time, and that is why a systemic rethinking of additional checks and balances are required--many suggested in Toward a Bioregional State (2005).* * * One crucial point about the bioregional state is that districts are to ... more »
Inventing the Bioregional State in Bolivia: Regional Autonomy Plus an Ecological Bill of Rights Almost in Place
*Bolivia's President Evo Morales (R) chats with Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera during celebrations to commemorate the 200-year anniversary of the uprising by the Bolivian people against Spanish conquistadors in El Villar some 800 km (497 miles) southwest of La Paz, May 25, 2009. * *(Re)Inventing the Bioregional State in Bolivia: Two Pieces Coming Together? * Since 2006, I've been following and posting on this story in Bolivia of the first indigenous government anywhere in the Americas for over 500 years. My interest here is that Bolivia seems the closest case yet of a count... more »
Differences of the Bioregional State Compared to Bookchin
*The Bioregional State: Walking the Middle Path Between the Scylla of Eckersley of Charybdis of Bookchin* Entirely without my awareness, I have recently discovered there are some uncanny resemblances of the ideas of the bioregional state with the capstone ideas of political theorist Murray Bookchin (1921 – 2006) —particularly in his “Communalism” ideas and ‘libertarian municipalism’ ideas. I was aware of him as a political and ecological thinker though I had yet to explore his thought seriously until a week ago from this post. As I discuss Bookchin, I recount some of my difference... more »
Whitaker On Trialectics: The Comparative History of Environmental Degradation and Sustainability
Spirit of the Staircase Notes about My Talk on Trialectics This two-part video is a 23-minute discussion of my method of trialectics with 7 minutes of discussion. Whitaker on Trialectics: Comparative History of Environmental Degradation & Sustainability (1/2) This was a presentation at "Norbert Elias and Figurational Sociology: Prospects for the Future," in Copenhagen, Denmark, April 4, 2012. For what Elias and 'figurations' are, read about it elsewhere, like at Wikipedia. The main point is that Elias's "civilizing process" is very abstract and artificially dichotomous to civiliz... more »
Is the Future of Korean Democracy Sustainable? Two scenarios for Korea, One Dictatorship, the Other Bioregional Democracy
South Korea is an interesting case that has many structural and cultural aspects of political bioregionalism. I will summarize my thoughts on Korea's wider bioregional potential in an upcoming post because this country's elites really lack any vision of the future that is positive. Elected as an Independent Mayor of Seoul, a city of 25 million in the metropolitan region (over half of the South Korean population), he is the first independent mayor in 600 years. Mayor Park Won-soon shows his office with his split bookcase symbolizing the harsh ideological divide in Korea, and the... more »
Quotes from Toward a Bioregional State, the Book
[image: Photobucket] This post summarizes some of the book, in quotes. I use the third person to describe myself below. In his 2005 book Toward a Bioregional State: A Series of Letters About Political Theory and Formal Institutional Design in the Era of Sustainability, Mark D. Whitaker argues for another version of the green state. This version of the green state is a slow strategic and institutional means toward greater sustainability starting from our lack of sustainability presently. This is different from other ideas of a green state for three rationales: first, other green s... more »
In the Bioregional State, Nuclear Power Would Have Required Local, Ecological Approval: So It Would Never Exist
In the bioregional state, doctors could spend much less time in politics and more on healing though these gentlemen help us understand politics in an unsustainable society is required as one of the arts of healing. Physicians for Social Responsibility: Out with the Parasite of Nuclear Power; The Regime Choice of Nuclear Power and Its Missing Long View April 26, 2011 52:31 min "Chernobyl's Ongoing Disaster for Economics, State Finance and Health; Fukushima Data Parallels" This is a video press conference from Physicians for Social Responsibility. It is a panel discussion by many of ... more »
The Raw Material Regime: How Politics Demotes Green Future Options for Clean Energy
Environmental organization members wear yellow rain gear and carry umbrellas bearing symbols of radioactivity as they launch a campaign for the prevention of pollution from radiation in front of Sejong Cultural Center in Seoul, April 6. (Photo by Kim Jung-hyo) Below is "Today's Column" from the Hankyoreh (English Version), the most respected paper in South Korea when journalists are polled. I wrote this last week. Now that radioactive rain has covered the world, including Korea, and milk is being dumped around the world because of the Japanese nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi... more »
Bioregional Videos: Savouring Europe, Severing the EU
[image: Photobucket] "With the lemon added to the eggs, and then the cooking water of the [native only] greens, a distinctively Arcadian taste is created--a taste that has survived Italians, Turkish, Germans, and others--though will it hold out against foreign fast food? For the momoment, they seem to believe so...The Lucius Gorge, this easily defended natural bastion, became the center of Greek identity, preserver of its religion, and its dreams of freedom from the occupying Ottoman Turks [or now the European Union's Euro?]. Monasteries cut into rocks high above the valley still cl... more »
On Trends and Questions of Individually "Voting From Abroad:" Instead Vote Watershed Abroad, Worldwide
("Yes, your vote is securely in our hands. Go ahead, you want to support this corrupt system, right?" A case of vote fraud by these men in white hats that had huge effects on U.S. history: the stolen election in Precinct 13 in 1948 in a small Texas town led to Senator, Vice President, and then President Johnson.) What does the bioregional state think of individually "voting from abroad?" Vote Watershed Abroad. Individually voting from abroad is disastrous for representation and sustainability because of the degradative system that it supports and in how it erodes locality, and beca... more »
Parrots, the Universe, and the Bioregional State and All That
I post this "last will and testament" of author Douglas Adams (d. 2001) particularly for the summation from 1:07:00 minutes into his talk. Paraphrasing him: we are caught up in our seemingly successful short-term thinking that most use to judge how successful we are based on how well we adapt the world to us, instead of how well we adapt ourselves to the world's ecology. The former myopically seems to serve us well as we pretend that the world was made for us to manipulate right up to when we pass a point of our own ecological self-destruction or self-poisioning. However, with our c... more »
Youth in the Bioregional State
"Our goal is a delightfully diverse, safe, healthy and just world, with clean air, water, soil and power--economically, equitably, ecologically and elegantly enjoyed. Period. Which part of this don't you like?" --William McDonough To adapt the quote of the architect above to socialization that facilitates sustainability, the bioregional state's goal is a delightfully diverse, safe, healthy and just world, and feels that it starts with youth. This is because youth can learn to create clean air, water, soil and power in their regions to be economically, equitably, ecologically and ... more »
Global Green Majority Organizing Against Ecological Tyranny in South America: Brazil and Colombia
[image: Photobucket] The Greening of South America: Green Colombian Presidential Candidate Gets 27% (2010); Green Brazilian Presidential Candidate Gets 20% (2010); Other News from Ecuador (2009) and Bolivia (2006-2010) Global polls show a global green majority. It's bound to organize sooner than later though will have both internal as well as external difficultiesfinding a way to organize this majority without the bioregional state. Soon there as well they will find participating against a corrupt, criminal edifice is pointless without formal institutional change. The majority ecolo... more »
Commodity Ecology
Two Institutions Required in Every Watershed: Commodity Ecology and Civic Democratic Institutions. Read that link for an explanation. And this one about maintaining biodiveristy and the bioregional state.
Smirking Chimp added a new photo.
Occupy Monsanto shared a link.
9 Chickweed Lane by Brooke McEldowney
- February 10, 2013
This Is What Democracy Looks Like shared Water Defense's photo.
Anyone know why the banker powers want to tax the air you breathe?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G69SFZekTS8
Tri-State Weather's photo.
Smirking Chimp added a new photo.
![@[271145583008892:274:Scott Dro]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u1_6k0g1BXJEstG7FAEWQkkwz_kjvmQk4oGigvy9_R4VAhZvI2N-iE3cW4QUsMeyqo_fY9Hf8FSPki8GhR6WFBxDuroMYTimuojLQFW66-LGvvUVkwX90beb1uZBvAkADKTLCG8VqukCHbvEqSHlf6PCRdd19PkmJYMpGkQOor=s0-d)
The People's Uprising's photo.
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Posts
I thought a sensible assessment would be in the ballpark of http://www.lobelog.com/irans-civilian-nuclear-program-a-primer/