Great piece, Max. I would say we have a similar situation in the world of science, "forest science" and "climate science" in particular, which is why it is so easily used by power to justify their projects. For decades, numerous scientists have argued that land change (damage) is also a cause of climate change, an equal or greater cause in certain aspects. Yet despite a small army of "climate journalists" no one knows. The same thing with this new idea that forests need "management" in order to cope with climate change. "Management" IS climate change.
Thanks Rob. I've found the drive towards further management aka logging a forest to be extremely concerning as well. Too many journalists, not enough revolutionaries.
RIght. But journalists aren't even being journalists. There's an army of climate journalists but not one has noticed that the IPCC modifies the titles of their big Assessments with the words The Physical Science Basis, or thought to wonder what that might mean.
Thanks for asking, Max. It means a number of things. First, it means that what is called "the science" of climate is actually the physics of climate. The biology of climate has gotten sidelined and there is a growing cohort of scientists, especially forest scientists, who are crying foul. It also means, in practical terms, that land destruction isn't treated as cause of climate change even though science knows it is. In fact, it is more direct and immediate, especially for things like floods, drought and fires. By extension, this means that the industrial "solution," is not only ecologically ruinous, but climatically incoherent. It's like robbing Peter to pay Paul. Causing climate on one side of ledger (land damage) while trying to solve it on the other side (atmospheric CO2). There even seems to be a potential legal violation in that the review process currently does not consider the climate change effects of land damage even though they have been thoroughly recognized by science for decades. But there's also a philosophical side to this. The physical basis puts computer models and technology at the center of climate. While the biological basis puts the land and life at the center. There is tons of science on this. It is not contested. It can't be. It's just ignored. In fact, before the IPCC was created, an organization called the International Biosphere Geosphere program was created to study the land change (damage) component. But it was underfunded and dissolved in 2015. My series on the scientist Millan Millan covers the history of how we got here. https://theclimateaccordingtolife.substack.com/p/millan-millan-and-the-mystery-of
Max, thx for the good overview with a lot of specifics, and i especially appreciated the 'from the activist' perspective and info. Also, a lot of people don't realize how the big media conglomerates have their tentacles and dollars in a wide array of venues including TV, films, music, internet, sports teams, publishing industry (including magazines), etc., controlling the messages of virtually all mainstream pop so-called culture consciousness. The big 6 (as of when the following was posted): National Amusements, Disney, TimeWarner, Comcast, News Corp, Sony. "The 6 Companies That Own (Almost) All Media" https://www.webfx.com/blog/internet/the-6-companies-that-own-almost-all-media-infographic/
It felt so refreshing to read your findings about the connection between journalism and activism as I didn't really know how to asses the so called neutral attitude in journalism. I find it insincere to act as if writers were not biased, yet being truthful is one of their values.
The nature of organized society demands a degree of conformity or there would be complete chaos, which appears to be coming either through the collapse of a predictable environment, or a Dark Ages like fundamental movement, or both. The media's underreporting of the climate emergency, realities of transitioning to so-called green energy, and feeding on ridiculous, far-right conspiracy claims shows it for the tool it is. The wealthy's goal is to impoverish us all to helpless servitude. Guys like you and me try to promote the truth and reality, which is not a popular job.
I hold my nose and subscribe to the NY Times and Washington Post, as occasionally some good journalism escapes from them, and they project overrated credibility in many's eyes. I read Reuters, the Associated Press, The Guardian. Common Dreams, Grist, The New Republic, scientific publications, a growing number of writers here, and more, and lament the state of journalism. Vice just went down, churning dirt, unless its celebrity gossip doesn't pay.
One can't read enough in trying to discern and present the truth.
Of course, most people don't want to hear the truth (that would confer unwanted responsibility to act) or can't see it even when presented clearly and forcibly. Your important words have garnered just a handful of likes, I know the feeling. Excellent article, some of us get it. Try to keep yourself safe.
Reminds me of the apocryphal quote misattributed to Mark Twain: "If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed."
I read mainstream news sources too, as well as industry news, activist news, news from all over the world from different perspectives, etc.
Absolutely brilliant, Max! But for a couple of spelling mistakes, this was a flawless article that informs the reader just how untrustworthy mainstream media is and how important it is to seek out alternative news sources. Thank you for all you do.
Haha, thanks. I'm glad you got something out of this. I fixed a few of the spelling mistakes since publishing, but a couple may have slipped through still. Appreciate the kind words.
I used an analogy of fire to designate the four elements that can lead us to another paradigm. I first used the three elements of the fire triangle and then added the fourth, Media.
"For there to be a fire, three ingredients are needed: oxygen, fuel and heat to be produced. If one of them fails, there is no fire. If there is no oxygen there will be no fire, if there is no fuel there will be no fire, and if there is fuel and oxygen a spark is needed to provide the activation energy and the necessary heat. In the same way, for this Planetary Wellbeing Society, we need a healthy planet, a society that helps each other and (individual) Wellbeing that is achieved in a meaningful way. They are all needed together. If we do not live on a healthy planet for humans, we will fall ill and disappear. If we do not maintain solidarity as it really exists when we care for the newborn, the sick and the elderly, life will be a hard daily battle that will defeat us in the end. If we do not follow a meaningful life, why live, just for the body? It will eventually fade away without giving light around it."
"However, there is a fourth element in the metaphor of fire (the fire tetrahedron) that I have often seen omitted and which is really at the centre. It is the chain reaction. That is to say, if we already have a fire (because the three basic elements have coincided) so that the flame does not go out as long as there is fuel and oxygen, the chain reaction is necessary. In the last 10 years I have seen synergistic projects that have emerged, some have remained with a low flame and others have disappeared. I remember I found a project, around 2013 or 2014, that in a really social and synergistic way wanted to be a kind of alternative Facebook, it was called World Wide We (WWWe) and it was founded by Joanna Brown. Amongst the patrons of that organisation were illustrious people like Fritjof Capra and Bill Mckibben. In the end that project died out, there wasn’t that chain reaction. However, the chain reaction that allowed Facebook to maintain a certain flame produced quite a few chain reactions in Brexit and in several democratic elections. Today in the year 2023 I could metaphorically say without being too wrong that this chain reaction or non-reaction has a component that used to be called the fourth power or fourth estate, the “media”. With two new guests that accompany it and that were not so present when it was called the fourth estate (social networks and a new one that arrives, Artificial Intelligence, AI). This fourth estate has probably been upgraded seeing who is behind the world’s main media. Although many projects and ideas share Elinor Ostrom’s personal, cooperative and Earth-helping significance, they lack the chain reaction that keeps them going. On the contrary, this flame is extinguished by the direct action (fakes), or indirect action (ignoring or taking our attention elsewhere) of the mainstream media that in a certain sense has lost that “code of ethics” of journalism that upheld values; such as truthfulness, independence, objectivity, fairness, accuracy, respect for others, public accountability…" https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/a-proposal-for-walking-the-energy-that-moves-the-world-6de4ce9b2ab7
Thanks for sharing this excerpt, Jesús. Very interesting. I love the analogy. And as someone who heats my small cabin with a wood stove and loves to camp out and make outdoor campfires, I love it even more. I've taught many people how to make fires properly and the triangle is the teaching method that I use as well. Thank you very much.
Ahh, real journalists are in the trenches, have had deep background in covering local and city and state issues; attended meetings with cops, school boards, agencies, state and local departments, the garden club and local buzinesses. You can't do much real work coming out of some star chamber (like Anderson Vanderbilt Cooper).
Thanks for your work. No Green Deal for Nature. Really. The same freaks supporting carbon credits supports "until the last Ukrainian" madness.
And, there have been, of course, many more than five extinctions, again, science and their mythology.
Under that Green Sky, no?
Asteroid strikes get all the coverage, but "Medea Hypothesis" author Peter Ward argues that most of Earth's mass extinctions were caused by lowly bacteria. The culprit, a poison called hydrogen sulfide, may have an interesting application in medicine.
Great piece, Max. I would say we have a similar situation in the world of science, "forest science" and "climate science" in particular, which is why it is so easily used by power to justify their projects. For decades, numerous scientists have argued that land change (damage) is also a cause of climate change, an equal or greater cause in certain aspects. Yet despite a small army of "climate journalists" no one knows. The same thing with this new idea that forests need "management" in order to cope with climate change. "Management" IS climate change.
Thanks Rob. I've found the drive towards further management aka logging a forest to be extremely concerning as well. Too many journalists, not enough revolutionaries.
RIght. But journalists aren't even being journalists. There's an army of climate journalists but not one has noticed that the IPCC modifies the titles of their big Assessments with the words The Physical Science Basis, or thought to wonder what that might mean.
What do you think that means, Rob? I'm not following.
Thanks for asking, Max. It means a number of things. First, it means that what is called "the science" of climate is actually the physics of climate. The biology of climate has gotten sidelined and there is a growing cohort of scientists, especially forest scientists, who are crying foul. It also means, in practical terms, that land destruction isn't treated as cause of climate change even though science knows it is. In fact, it is more direct and immediate, especially for things like floods, drought and fires. By extension, this means that the industrial "solution," is not only ecologically ruinous, but climatically incoherent. It's like robbing Peter to pay Paul. Causing climate on one side of ledger (land damage) while trying to solve it on the other side (atmospheric CO2). There even seems to be a potential legal violation in that the review process currently does not consider the climate change effects of land damage even though they have been thoroughly recognized by science for decades. But there's also a philosophical side to this. The physical basis puts computer models and technology at the center of climate. While the biological basis puts the land and life at the center. There is tons of science on this. It is not contested. It can't be. It's just ignored. In fact, before the IPCC was created, an organization called the International Biosphere Geosphere program was created to study the land change (damage) component. But it was underfunded and dissolved in 2015. My series on the scientist Millan Millan covers the history of how we got here. https://theclimateaccordingtolife.substack.com/p/millan-millan-and-the-mystery-of
Well said!
Max, thx for the good overview with a lot of specifics, and i especially appreciated the 'from the activist' perspective and info. Also, a lot of people don't realize how the big media conglomerates have their tentacles and dollars in a wide array of venues including TV, films, music, internet, sports teams, publishing industry (including magazines), etc., controlling the messages of virtually all mainstream pop so-called culture consciousness. The big 6 (as of when the following was posted): National Amusements, Disney, TimeWarner, Comcast, News Corp, Sony. "The 6 Companies That Own (Almost) All Media" https://www.webfx.com/blog/internet/the-6-companies-that-own-almost-all-media-infographic/
Absolutely. The consolidation of media power is such an affront to justice that it's absurd.
It felt so refreshing to read your findings about the connection between journalism and activism as I didn't really know how to asses the so called neutral attitude in journalism. I find it insincere to act as if writers were not biased, yet being truthful is one of their values.
I'm glad, Benja! It's a parallel topic to your recent piece https://benjaweller.substack.com/p/how-digital-media-suppresses-news
yes, Max, theater of the absurd!
Absolutely
Thanks for your work, Max.
Thank you, Erica! Same to you, thank you for your work.
The nature of organized society demands a degree of conformity or there would be complete chaos, which appears to be coming either through the collapse of a predictable environment, or a Dark Ages like fundamental movement, or both. The media's underreporting of the climate emergency, realities of transitioning to so-called green energy, and feeding on ridiculous, far-right conspiracy claims shows it for the tool it is. The wealthy's goal is to impoverish us all to helpless servitude. Guys like you and me try to promote the truth and reality, which is not a popular job.
I hold my nose and subscribe to the NY Times and Washington Post, as occasionally some good journalism escapes from them, and they project overrated credibility in many's eyes. I read Reuters, the Associated Press, The Guardian. Common Dreams, Grist, The New Republic, scientific publications, a growing number of writers here, and more, and lament the state of journalism. Vice just went down, churning dirt, unless its celebrity gossip doesn't pay.
One can't read enough in trying to discern and present the truth.
Of course, most people don't want to hear the truth (that would confer unwanted responsibility to act) or can't see it even when presented clearly and forcibly. Your important words have garnered just a handful of likes, I know the feeling. Excellent article, some of us get it. Try to keep yourself safe.
Reminds me of the apocryphal quote misattributed to Mark Twain: "If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed."
I read mainstream news sources too, as well as industry news, activist news, news from all over the world from different perspectives, etc.
Max, thank you for writing the truth.
Your list of people who have a profound influence is just so good.
I have added your name to my list. 🌱
That's very kind, thank you!
Great piece. Glad to have your stories out there.
Thanks, Justin.
Absolutely brilliant, Max! But for a couple of spelling mistakes, this was a flawless article that informs the reader just how untrustworthy mainstream media is and how important it is to seek out alternative news sources. Thank you for all you do.
Haha, thanks. I'm glad you got something out of this. I fixed a few of the spelling mistakes since publishing, but a couple may have slipped through still. Appreciate the kind words.
I used an analogy of fire to designate the four elements that can lead us to another paradigm. I first used the three elements of the fire triangle and then added the fourth, Media.
"For there to be a fire, three ingredients are needed: oxygen, fuel and heat to be produced. If one of them fails, there is no fire. If there is no oxygen there will be no fire, if there is no fuel there will be no fire, and if there is fuel and oxygen a spark is needed to provide the activation energy and the necessary heat. In the same way, for this Planetary Wellbeing Society, we need a healthy planet, a society that helps each other and (individual) Wellbeing that is achieved in a meaningful way. They are all needed together. If we do not live on a healthy planet for humans, we will fall ill and disappear. If we do not maintain solidarity as it really exists when we care for the newborn, the sick and the elderly, life will be a hard daily battle that will defeat us in the end. If we do not follow a meaningful life, why live, just for the body? It will eventually fade away without giving light around it."
"However, there is a fourth element in the metaphor of fire (the fire tetrahedron) that I have often seen omitted and which is really at the centre. It is the chain reaction. That is to say, if we already have a fire (because the three basic elements have coincided) so that the flame does not go out as long as there is fuel and oxygen, the chain reaction is necessary. In the last 10 years I have seen synergistic projects that have emerged, some have remained with a low flame and others have disappeared. I remember I found a project, around 2013 or 2014, that in a really social and synergistic way wanted to be a kind of alternative Facebook, it was called World Wide We (WWWe) and it was founded by Joanna Brown. Amongst the patrons of that organisation were illustrious people like Fritjof Capra and Bill Mckibben. In the end that project died out, there wasn’t that chain reaction. However, the chain reaction that allowed Facebook to maintain a certain flame produced quite a few chain reactions in Brexit and in several democratic elections. Today in the year 2023 I could metaphorically say without being too wrong that this chain reaction or non-reaction has a component that used to be called the fourth power or fourth estate, the “media”. With two new guests that accompany it and that were not so present when it was called the fourth estate (social networks and a new one that arrives, Artificial Intelligence, AI). This fourth estate has probably been upgraded seeing who is behind the world’s main media. Although many projects and ideas share Elinor Ostrom’s personal, cooperative and Earth-helping significance, they lack the chain reaction that keeps them going. On the contrary, this flame is extinguished by the direct action (fakes), or indirect action (ignoring or taking our attention elsewhere) of the mainstream media that in a certain sense has lost that “code of ethics” of journalism that upheld values; such as truthfulness, independence, objectivity, fairness, accuracy, respect for others, public accountability…" https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/a-proposal-for-walking-the-energy-that-moves-the-world-6de4ce9b2ab7
Thanks for sharing this excerpt, Jesús. Very interesting. I love the analogy. And as someone who heats my small cabin with a wood stove and loves to camp out and make outdoor campfires, I love it even more. I've taught many people how to make fires properly and the triangle is the teaching method that I use as well. Thank you very much.
Here's a great piece from Chris Hedges on this topic: https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/requiem-for-the-new-york-times
Ahh, real journalists are in the trenches, have had deep background in covering local and city and state issues; attended meetings with cops, school boards, agencies, state and local departments, the garden club and local buzinesses. You can't do much real work coming out of some star chamber (like Anderson Vanderbilt Cooper).
Thanks for your work. No Green Deal for Nature. Really. The same freaks supporting carbon credits supports "until the last Ukrainian" madness.
And, there have been, of course, many more than five extinctions, again, science and their mythology.
Under that Green Sky, no?
Asteroid strikes get all the coverage, but "Medea Hypothesis" author Peter Ward argues that most of Earth's mass extinctions were caused by lowly bacteria. The culprit, a poison called hydrogen sulfide, may have an interesting application in medicine.
https://ed.ted.com/lessons/earth-s-mass-extinction-peter-ward
Absurdity, no, military is the largest polluter and carbon emitter, but worse.
Milliions in Sudan facing starvation, several million in Gaza. Green-Washing has morphed into Green Porn.
.....
https://paulokirk.substack.com/p/its-never-a-pretty-thing-parsing