Plastic Trash Cleanup Cannot Be Done On The Cheap

The more there is plastic trash entering the oceans, the more there will be poverty, hunger, and disadvantaged people. Plastic trash kills fish. Plastic trash kills other wildlife. Hundreds of millions of people rely upon the bounty of the oceans for their protein and as their main food source. The more plastic and other non biodegradable trash enters the oceans, the less fish and other food there will be for people.
Plastic trash is killing the oceans. It is killing fish and other wildlife. It is causing hunger and poverty. Furthermore, the plastic particles that have entered the food chain, and that people are now consuming from food, water, and even in the air (breathing plastic microparticles that are airborne), are proving to be carcinogenic and disease causing.
It makes sense to remove plastic and other trash along coastlines. It makes sense to employ people in need of work to participate in this (very necessary for human survival) effort. Relying on volunteers to do the cleanups that are necessary are far too inadequate and insufficient. Employing people provides livelihoods, and it will clean the coastlines and other areas where they are employed. Employed people are far more reliable and dependable workers than relying on volunteers. Plastic trash poisoning is far too great of a problem to continue doing little to nothing about it. It cannot be done on the cheap.

A Small But Needed Minority

     It is not a racial group. It is not a religious group. It is not an ethnic group. It is a group that can come from any race, religion or ethnicity. It is the minority that does everything they can to give to the world far more than they take. They inflict the least harm possible upon other living creatures, human and animal, while walking the face of the earth. They do not shove their ideas, religions and beliefs down the throats of others. They believe that war is a crime against humanity, and that there is no such thing as holy war, martyrdom, or anything that glorifies war and killing. They oppose those who incite hate and inflame conflict and violence. They oppose those who dehumanize and demean others. They resist succumbing to a world full of evil, hate, bigotry, greed, cruelty, selfishness and destruction. They do not want the world turned into a sewer. They believe good stewardship of the earth is more important than their own individual wants and desires.

Social Media: Platform For Hate And Lies, Not Free Speech

     Social media companies have enabled hate, lies and propaganda to spread in a way that would be impossible if not for their existence. Hate speech, character defamation, and the deliberate spreading of lies are common on social media sites. Even the unfiltered comments to news stories are opportunities latched onto by every hate monger on the planet.
       
     

Chicago, Nationwide Animal Organizations And The No Kill Movement That Help Animals Suffer

     There are some very well funded Chicagoland and nationwide animal organizations that help ensure Chicagoland animals and other animals suffer. They do this in a number of ways. The people that volunteer for these organizations, or that are employed, may be unaware that the organizations they are associated with cause harm. Many of these people may be sincere in their desire to help animals. But as with anything when it comes to organizations, nothing changes for the better if no one is willing to rock the boat. And so the harm and pathology goes on and on, like a broken record.
     These organizations like to focus on the feel good aspect of what appeals to the public and donors. This includes emphasis by some organizations on adoptions and the false perception that less animals are killed because less animals are euthanized. Some of these organizations enter public animal control facilities on a daily or near daily basis, removing for free many of the most adoptable dogs, cats, puppies and kittens. They know that every adoption they make is not only a source of revenue, but may result in a lifetime of donations to their organization from the adopter. They are removing animals that are highly adoptable, and that would be adopted if they remained in the city or public facilities.
     By focusing on feel good animal adoptions and lower euthanasia rates, they ignore basic issues such as animal control and animal cruelty. They will only address animal cruelty if it is a means of getting publicity for themselves, or if it promotes one of their ineffective programs.
     Regarding animal control, many animal organizations could care less how poor is the response to animal control. This includes the response to injured animals and stray animals. The fewer animal control officers, the poorer the response to animal control, the fewer animals will be brought to public facilities. Most stray animals and injured animals living out on the streets are not the animals these organizations covet. Having these animals die out of sight, out of mind on the streets means they can get bragging rights that fewer animals are euthanized. They have no consideration whatsoever for the unfortunate animals that die slow deaths out on the streets. Only a heartless person prefers for animals to die slow deaths out on the streets often out of sight, out of mind, than experience a painless humane death by euthanasia.
     If there were true animal advocates -of which there are few if any- they would look at the response by Chicago and other cities to animal control. This includes looking at the number of calls, the nature of the calls, and what was the response. True animal advocates, this virtually nonexistence group of people, would be appalled at what they would learn. All of this is public information that can be accessed. Unfortunately, many so called animal advocates and animal organizations could care less.
     Likewise, they could care less about the police response to animal cruelty and dogfighting. The poor police response to animal cruelty and dog fighting (with few exceptions), including the record of calls to 911 regarding dogfighting and animal cruelty, have been ignored for decades now by many animal organizations and animal advocates. (Ineffective investigations by token police teams- which are little more than an excuse for larger law enforcement to continue to do little to nothing-and the ineffective and often harmful investigations conducted by a number of animal organizations, have helped animal abusers and dog fighters. This is discussed extensively in previous blogs.)
     If there was a proper response to the crimes of animal cruelty and dog fighting, many city facilities would be flooded with animals. There would be no choice but to dramatically increase euthanasia rates. The no kill movement does not want this. It seems they prefer that dogs die in fights and from cruelty than upset the fiction that no kill is being achieved.
     No kill ignores the fact that animals have to be killed to feed dogs and cats.
     The  movement to keep cats outside in feral colonies, even when the cats are neutered and spayed, means robins, other songbirds and wildlife are killed. Harm also comes to outside cats from vehicles and abusive people that shoot, stab and harm them in other ways.
     If people care about the police response to animal cruelty and dog fighting and the exploitative response from a number of animal organizations, and if people care about animal control - which means caring about millions of animals that are not part of feel good adoptions - then millions of animals will not needlessly suffer from cruelty or from the harsh reality of living out on the streets.
     Animal adoption may be called rescues, but they are not. They are adoptions. Many animal organizations know pet adoptions are highly profitable, tax free money makers. By focusing on adoptions or so called rescues, they get to continue ignoring or exploiting animal cruelty. They get to continue ignoring animal control. The no kill movement and many animal organizations will keep selling feel goodness, hence the misuse of the word rescue. The animals that could be helped and freed from misery, cruelty and pain, is a number that far exceeds all the combined adoptions that take place in the United States. Rescue, such things as running into burning buildings, diving into freezing rivers, running into traffic to save an animal or human being, has been trivialized.
     Feel good adoptions and the fiction of no kill have made a number of animal organizations very wealthy. It enables them to continue ignoring or exploiting issues related to animal cruelty, dogfighting and animal control.
     The harsh truths about animal cruelty, dog fighting, and animal control have long been kept under the rug or exploited, despite the plethora of all kinds of animal organizations and animal advocates.
      Many organizations and the no kill movement in general have helped animal hoarding, ensuring in many instances animals are kept in filthy, overcrowded conditions. There is also the hidden scandal about where many so called no kill shelters get their dogs and cats (which is the subject of an earlier blog).
     Animal misery is made possible not only by those that abuse and neglect, but also by those that are enablers. This includes those animal organizations and animal advocates that have turned a blind eye to animal cruelty and animal control, or that exploit animal cruelty, pain and misery for their own gain.
     Our oceans, our wildlife, much of the tapestry that keeps this precious earth healthy, alive and vibrant, is being damaged beyond repair. This is causing enormous human and animal suffering. The no kill movement and many animal organizations ensure money will keep being diverted away from truly helping not only dogs and cats that suffer, but so much else.
         

The Kurds' Safety Is At Stake, And So Is American Honor

     If Trump pulls American troops out of Syria and leaves the Kurds vulnerable to attack, it will not only harm the Kurdish people, it will significantly damage the credibility of the United States. The Kurds have been the major ally in the fight against ISIS. They have lost much, and sacrificed much in the war against the Islamic State fanatics. It is wrong to use people when needed, and then discard them when no longer needed. The honor and integrity of the United States is on the line. The Kurds must not be abandoned.

The Kurds, Not Trump, Putin, Turkey, Or Iran, Must Come First

     The Kurds must not be abandoned. The Kurds have been at the forefront of the fight against ISIS, from which they have suffered heavily. They have been an invaluable American ally in the battle against ISIS. Trump's decision for American troops to leave Syria will be disastrous if it leaves the Kurds vulnerable to all who wish them harm. American credibility is on the line if this ally is abandoned. America First, Trump's signature slogan, must not mean abandoning an ally and friend. If Trump pulls out of Syria and the Kurds are harmed, then Trump will have disgraced the United States.

If The Kurds Are Abandoned, Then Trump Must Be Rejected

     The Kurdish people have been the most reliable ally in the fight against ISIS. They have been at the forefront of the battle to defeat ISIS. The world owes them a huge debt of gratitude.

     Trump is determined to follow a line of American presidents that have caused great harm to religious and ethnic minorities in the middle east. First there was Bush and company that foolishly and recklessly rushed into war against Iraq, lying to the American people along the way. Then there was Obama, who foolishly and recklessly prematurely withdrew American troops from Iraq, further setting the stage for the rise of ISIS and the genocide that followed against the Yazidis, Christians, other minorities and Muslim moderates. 

      Trump must not abandon the Syrian Kurds by withdrawing American troops, as he is planning on doing. If Trump pulls out American troops and the Kurds are attacked and harmed by Turkey, the Syrian regime backed by Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, or by a resurgent ISIS, it will be a major blow to any credibility the United States has left in the region. Putin will be the winner, having proved that the United States is not a dependable ally that can be trusted. 

      The Kurds deserve better than Trump's hasty, reckless decision. There should be only one reason to determine if the United States should stay embedded with Kurdish forces in Syria or if they should be withdrawn. And that is, what do the Kurdish people want. What have they decided is best for themselves. If it is for U.S. forces to stay, then the United States must respect the wishes of this invaluable ally that has sacrificed so much. 

Plastics Are Destroying The Oceans

   It is not possible for millions of pounds of plastic and other oil based non biodegradable contaminants to enter into the oceans daily and not have a disastrous outcome. Plastic products, other oil based non biodegradable materials, clothes that release plastic fibers when washed (polyester, nylon, rayon, acrylic, etc), plastic bags and other plastic sources will be around doing harm for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

   So much needs to be done that is not being done. Thousands of people can be employed worldwide to clean up coastlines and other places. Clothing materials must change. Affordable materials must be found to replace plastic and other non biodegradable materials. Help must be provided countries that lack funds for proper waste management. Their plastics and other harmful materials go into waterways that make their way into the oceans, or they go straight into the oceans. 

   This is a major crisis that is unaddressed. Already marine life is being destroyed. These contaminants are in the air, water and in the tissues of many animals, including humans. It will only get worse. The oceans will not survive this assault without significant harm. This assault, combined with all of the other human inflicted assaults, is destroying the oceans and other waters.

    A crisis of this magnitude must not be manipulated in order to raise money for organizations that purport to address the problem. The problem is too great. This problem must not become yet another exploited problem or issue. 

   Voluntary ocean clean ups and technology to clean ocean garbage patches do not remove anywhere near the amount of plastics and other oil based non biodegradables that enter into the oceans daily worldwide. These are nothing more than placing band aides on a huge, gaping wound.

   This can become a massive anti poverty, environmental program that will employ thousands, if not millions to clean up this damaged world. Employing thousands or even millions of people to clean up coastal regions and other areas will provide employment, reduce poverty worldwide, significantly help the environment and reduce ocean plastic poisoning.

   The nature of packaging and how plastics are collected and disposed of worldwide must change and improve.

   Will people care enough about wildlife, the oceans, their own children and the future to stop this poisoning?

   Or will people continue to trash this world, with many believing this world does not matter and that only an afterlife matters?

   Will many so called animal advocates that care, or pretend to care about only a few dogs or cats or a few other species finally see the suffering in this world and actually want to help all animals and humanity?     
   Will people keep demonizing other religions, ethnicities or groups, selfishly disregarding that humans are one species? People consumed with demonizing and scapegoating others are too selfish, too weak minded to lift a finger to help humanity.

   There are many reasons why people will probably do nothing and continue to let this world deteriorate. It is unfortunate that people will not address a problem until it is too late. This problem, the plastic poisoning of the oceans, is far worse and far more dangerous than imagined.

Dogfighting, Animal Cruelty: The People And Organizations That Profit

     Some animal organizations use dogs left out in the cold to raise money. This pattern repeats itself every winter. If a dog is left out in the cold and it is life threatening situation, or if the dog is dying or has died out in the cold, then that constitutes animal cruelty. Animal cruelty is a crime. Who is best suited for handling crime? Existing law enforcement, which consists of over 1 million men and women across the United States operating every day of the year, 24 hours a day.

      But almost every dog left out in the cold in a life threatening situation will never be helped. Likewise, almost every dog and animal that are the victims of animal cruelty will never be helped. They will never be rescued, and the offenders will never be arrested. Why is this so? Because the pathological dynamic continues in which animal cruelty and dog fighting are minimally responded to by law enforcement, and in which there is maximum exploitation by a number of animal organizations and so called animal advocates. Having the public and donors believe that an animal organization is the answer to animal cruelty ensures donations. Exploiting animal cruelty is very lucrative.

       Do domestic violence organizations post pictures of abused women, or women left out in the cold, and claim to be the ones helping those unfortunate women? No, they would never do that, because the exploitation would be blatant, and it would backfire on them. Instead, domestic violence organizations have long advocated for a proper law enforcement response to the crimes of domestic violence. Dogs and other animals cannot speak. They cannot reveal how cruelty towards them are exploited by a number of animal organizations and individuals, and how crimes against them receive a minimal police response. No other crimes, except animal cruelty and dog fighting, are so easily dismissed, thanks to the well funded animal organization industry.

       Animal cruelty investigations by token police teams or by animal organizations granted police powers are ineffective and worthless. They are nothing but an excuse for larger law enforcement to continue to do little to nothing in regards to animal cruelty and dog fighting. Investigations by animal organizations that lack police powers (of which there are many) are ineffective at best and are often an opportunity for animal abusers and dog fighters to get a heads up notification that they have been discovered, and to move their animals elsewhere.

       Animal cruelty and dog fighting can occur anytime, anywhere. Imagine if other crimes like drunk driving and domestic violence received the same response as animal cruelty and dog fighting. There would be a minimal police response other than with ineffective token police  teams. Private anti drunk driving and anti domestic violence organizations would conduct even more ineffective and often harmful investigations. There would be exactly what there is for animal cruelty and dog fighting. Namely, an explosion of those crimes.

       In 1982, the beginning of one person's police career, the police response to drunk driving and domestic violence were minimal and poor. Anti domestic violence and anti drunk driving organizations made sure the police response improved.

       Animal organizations and animal advocates may agree in theory that there needs to be a better police response to animal cruelty and dog fighting. Some organizations and animal advocates even tell people to call 911, knowing full well that more often than not, the police will not respond appropriately to animal cruelty and dog fighting, if they respond at all.

       Starting over 20 years ago, a number of animal organizations and so called animal advocates were begged to fight for a proper police response to animal cruelty and dog fighting. They did nothing to help. They find it far more lucrative to have the public and donors believe they are ones doing something about animal cruelty and dog fighting. And because animals cannot speak, they get away with this exploitation.

       Dogs and other animals that are the victims of animal cruelty, which is a crime, will never be helped until there is true advocacy and an end to this entrenched animal exploitation.

       When a picture is shown of a dog left out in the cold and animal organizations ask for money, ask them why, if the dog is truly suffering, dying, or is already dead, they did nothing to make sure the police responded appropriately and recovered the dog and placed the offender under arrest.

        If animal cruelty and dog fighting laws are truly enforced, animal shelters would be overwhelmed by the number of animals truly rescued. The no kill animal movement fiction would finally end, and reasonable human beings that care about animals would have to conclude that humane euthanasia is preferable to a life of abuse and torment. Instead, many of the so called no kill animal organizations could care less about abused and fought animals. (However, if they can exploit an abused animal for fundraising purposes, they will not hesitate to do so.) They could care less what the police do or do not do. All they are interested in is the fate of a tiny number of dogs and cats in their shelters. They know that people love feel good stories, and that animal shelter businesses in and of themselves can be lucrative.

        In short, abused animals need true animal advocates. They need animal organizations that are willing to fight for an end to animal abuse and dog fighting, rather than use animal abuse and dog fighting as a way of raising money for themselves.

        If there is doubt about any of the above, then consider this: dogfighting is common and widespread. There are many gangs and criminals in the United States. Many gang members and criminals love to fight dogs. Of the thousands upon thousands of dogs fought in the United States every year, how many dog fighters get arrested? How many dogs get rescued? 

        There are not even close to 100 arrests nationwide for dog fighting in a given year. A dog fighter has a greater chance of getting struck by lightning than ever getting arrested. The number of misdemeanor animal cruelty arrests are pitifully small compared to the frequency in which the crimes occurs. Felony animal cruelty arrests are rare.

         All of this is made possible by the failure of law enforcement and by the exploitative animal advocates and animal organizations that are just fine with things as they are so as long as the money keeps rolling in. There is a lot of money to be made- fame, fortune, and careers to be had- being a so called animal advocate. Donations pour in to animal organization that claim to be against cruelty and the abuse of animals.

         In the world of animal welfare, animal cruelty and dog fighting, efficacy and accountability is virtually nonexistent. Exploitation is rampant.

         For almost every single dog left dying out in the cold, there will be no one to rescue them. For almost every single animal being fought, there will be no one to rescue them and that will arrest their offender(s). For almost every single animal that is abused, no matter how horrifically, there will be no one to help them. The lucrative animal no kill movement, so called animal advocates, and the lucrative against cruelty and abuse animal organizations have ensured that maximum exploitation and minimal law enforcement continues.

Red Tide Institutes And Red Tide Studies Are Not The Answer To Red Tide

    There was a news story recently regarding a million dollar grant provided to a new institute that will be funded to research red tide. It is well known that red tide is a natural occuring event made much worse by fertilizer runoff. The main sources of the fertilizers that pours into the Gulf of Mexico are from agricultural runoff. But lawns are also a major source of fertilizer, pesticide and other harmful contaminants that end up in the Gulf of Mexico and other bodies of water. All of these fertilizers are putting red tide on steroids.

     Dolphins, manatees, sea turtles, shorebirds, fish, invertebrates and more have been killed by red tide. Red tide is harmful to humans. It is hurting florida's economy.

     That million dollars would be put to far better use by simply getting people to change their lawns. By letting lawns go natural, by growing native plants and other environmentally beneficial trees and shrubbery, not only would red tide be reduced, but there would be a number of other benefits.

      Instead, people would rather study a problem than do the challenging work of changing the dynamics contributing to the problem. The flow of water contaminated with agricultural fertilizers and waste must change. But the most immediate thing individuals can do is simply give up on the English model of green grass - which requires enormous water resources, fertilizers and harmful chemicals - and embrace native lawns and beneficial plants and trees that contribute to environmental health and that do not contaminate the Gulf of Mexico and other bodies of water.

      People cannot have it all. It cannot be business as usual if a healthy Gulf of Mexico is to survive. Changing the nature of landscaping and lawns will open the door to a massive new industry. Biodiversity will increase. There will be more birds and more beneficial insects, including bees, butterflies and more. Red tide will be reduced. Natural lawns with native plants and grasses, beneficial trees and shrubs, will help restore bodies of water and improve the environment in general not just in the Gulf of Mexico, but everywhere they are planted. 

          

      

Bloodshed In Gaza Is What Hamas Wants

    Recently one of the Hamas leaders declared to an enthusiastic, brainwashed crowd that from Gaza will come death, martyrdom and killing. If one supports Israel, but opposes Israeli action on its border with Gaza, or if one opposes Israel but cares about all human life, supporting or excusing the actions of Islamic jihadists like Hamas does nothing but contribute to the bloodshed. Whether it is Hamas, Boko Haram, Abu Sayyaf, Al Shabazz, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, ISIS, Taliban and so on; all of the many Islamic jihadi groups revel in blood, killing, martyrdom and death. They do not care how many of their own populations are sacrificed in order to achieve their tyrannical, oppressive religious goals. The world, if it truly wants to stop the bloodshed and more loss of innocent lives, must quit indulging and supporting these groups.
     It is not easy to respond to Islamic jihadists. They view compromise as weakness. They are uncompromising in their fanaticism and hatred for those different than themselves. They do not hesitate to kill civilians and sacrifice their own civilian populations. But this does not free the nations forced to respond to fanatical Islamic jihadists from doing everything they can to minimize loss of civilian life and harm to civilian populations. Civilians are the innocent victims of this and other conflicts.
   

From The River To The Sea, The Call for Ethnic Cleansing And Genocide

     From the river to the sea means the ethnic cleansing and slaughter of the Jewish population living between the Mediterranean and the Jordan river. It means that only Islamic rule is allowed, and that religious minorities continue to be disregarded and viewed as dispensable. Far too many on the left eagerly embrace Islamic theocracies and religious tyranny. Genocide, murder, religious oppression, ethnic cleansing, rape, sexual slavery, and more are fine with them so long as these crimes are committed by Muslims or another group upon whom they bestow victimhood status and freedom from responsibility. Muslim against Muslim, Arab against Arab, black against black lives means nothing to them. They only feign concern when there are political points to be gained.
      Most of Israel's population are Jews and their descendants already ethnically cleansed from Muslim majority lands in the middle east and North Africa. Now that they are in Israel, their legitimate rights continue to be denied. Drive them to the sea, or to Europe from where none of them ever came, is the battle cry for those seeking Israel's destruction and a new genocide.
      The only answer to this conflict is for there to be mutual acceptance, compromise, and the willingness for all sides to accept the existence and legitimate rights of the others. This will never be achieved through constant incitement and encouragement of the Islamic jihadists that revel in the support they receive from Jew haters on the right and left.
   
     

Jews From Arab Muslim Majority Lands And The War Against Them And Israel

     The majority population of Israel are Jews and their descendants that originated from the middle east and North Africa. They did not experience the holocaust that European Jews experienced, but their history as a minority living in Muslim majority lands is not the rosy one that some portray it to be. Many of the Jews from the middle east and North Africa were ethnically cleansed and forced from their homes where they lived for generations. Israel absorbed its refugee population of Jews from Arab and other Muslim majority lands. Arabs made sure Palestinian Arabs maintain their refugee status in order to keep this conflict going.

      Now that the Jews from the middle east and North Africa are living in the State of Israel, many of the Islamic countries that ethnically cleansed their Jewish populations want Jews ethnically cleansed from Israel as well. Unlike Palestinian Arabs, Israeli Jews have nowhere to go. They cannot go back to such places as Yemen, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Algeria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, and more, where they will face certain persecution or death.
      When an Islamic jihadist organization like Hamas declares, as they often do, that they will defeat the Zionist enemy because Hamas loves death and martyrdom, and the Jews worship life, they fail to understand that it does not matter if Israelis worship death or life. People whose backs are to the wall with no place to go have no choice but to fight, no matter what it takes.
       Recognizing the legitimate rights of the Jews ethnically cleansed from Arab Muslim and other Muslim majority lands continues to be ignored. Their rights and claims are no less important than the rights and claims of Palestinian Arabs. The anti Israel crowd is too busy demonizing Jews and Israelis to ever acknowledge the ethnic cleansing committed by many Muslims against Jews, and how many Islamic organizations and nations, including Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Iran and others, do not hide their genocidal ambitions. These organizations and nations make it clear in their words and actions that killing Jews is not only acceptable, but is a religious duty.
       It is common for many in the anti Israel crowd to assert that the Jews of Israel must go back to Europe. Israel is a state for over 70 years. Most Israelis have no connection to Europe. The majority of Israelis never had a connection to Europe. Even if Israeli Jews were to go to Europe, they would find a hostile Europe greatly changed in recent years. Jew hatred is alive and growing among many of the Muslims now living in Europe. The Jew hatred that has long been Christian Europe's ugly stain has not disappeared.
       The only safe place for the Jews of Israel is Israel. The sooner the world stops ignoring, accepting, encouraging or promoting Islamic jihadist groups and jihadist ideology, the sooner the Israeli/ Palestinian Arab conflict and many other conflicts can be resolved. The legitimate rights of Jews ethnically cleansed from Arab Muslim and other Muslim majority lands must finally be acknowledged and addressed. When genocide and ethnic cleansing against the Jews of Israel ceases to be a real threat, peace and compromise beneficial to all sides can be achieved. The recent genocide against the Yazidis - the taking of the Yazidi women and girls as sex slaves (many are still held captive), the murder, rape and slavery of  the Yazidi religious minority by Islamists and jihadists - makes it clear that the Jews living in Israel, hated passionately by many Muslim and non Muslim Jew haters throughout the world, will be slaughtered, raped and enslaved if they lose just one war.
       
         
       
       
         

       

Southwest Florida's Gulf Of Mexico Is Becoming A Dolphin Graveyard

    37 dead dolphins have washed ashore since November 21, 2018 (less than a week), in two counties alone in Southwest Florida.

    Well over a hundred dolphins have washed ashore in less than a year on the southwest coast of Florida. The number of dolphins that simply died and disappeared into the ocean will never be known. 

    Many of the deaths are from red tide. Red tide is a naturally occurring algae bloom that is toxic and smothers ocean life. Agricultural runoff, fertilizers from lawns and so forth are like giving red tide steroids. They make red tide far more widespread, dangerous and persistent than it would ever be naturally. Now it is out of control.

   What is being done to stop the agricultural, lawn and other runoff that is killing dolphins, manatees, other marine life and the Gulf of Mexico?

   Oh, that is right. Nothing. Nothing as usual. 

   People get hysterical if you insult their God, or insult one of their inflated prophets. But destroy God's earth? No one cares.

          

    If people want to live near the ocean, then stop this destructive love affair with green, completely unproductive lawns. Green grass requires enormous amounts of water. It requires enormous amounts of fertilizers and chemicals, much of which runs off into the Gulf, fueling red tide and poisoning the ocean. Native plants and a different vision for lawns will significantly help the Gulf.

    Do not allow cats outside anywhere near the coast by miles. Cat feces runs off into the ocean and is extremely harmful to marine life. Make sure dog owners clean up their dogs' feces. 

    The Gulf of Mexico is simply not designed to be the recipient of agricultural run off and waste. Natural water flow must be restored, which means choosing the Gulf of Mexico over a few wealthy sugarcane and other agricultural interests. Destroying the Gulf of Mexico means destroying countless jobs and much of the Florida economy.

     When the red tide passes one day and many of the dolphins and other marine mammals are forever gone, along with countless shorebirds and seabirds, countless fish, invertebrates and sea turtles, people may look at the sunset and marvel at the view.

      But for those who have known the abundance and beauty that may be forever lost, they will see the sun setting over a graveyard.

      Those moments when dolphins happen by along the coastline are an incomparable sight. If the bottlenose dolphins of Southwest Florida are lost forever, living next to their graveyard will be a sad place indeed.

     

        

Freedom And The Right to Reject And Criticize Religion

     Freedom of religion is a basic human right. This includes the right to reject religion, and the right to criticize religion. In the same way people should not be persecuted because of their religious beliefs, no one should be persecuted because of their rejection or criticism of religious beliefs.

Ex-Muslim Somali Accused Of Being Sell Out Neocolonialist

      A Somali that chose to no longer follow Islam has been accused of being a neocolonialist sell out. Putting aside that free will and freedom of religion includes the right to reject and criticize religion, let us address who are neocolonialists. Arab Muslims and other Muslims were imperialistic and ruthless just like Christian Europeans. Both enslaved millions of black Africans. Both committed ethnic cleansing and genocide. Both invaded and colonized other lands. Both violently subjugated the people of different religions.The fact that Christianity and Islam also had voluntary conversions does not erase the fact that many conversions were forced. Fortunately, conversion by the sword no longer exists in Christianity.
      To this day, religious minorities in many Islamic majority places are relegated to second class status at best.  Enslavement, rape and murder simply for not being Muslim has not ceased to exist. Conversion by the sword and the violent expansion of Islam by jihad is a nightmare that continues.
      Leaving Islam or any religion is a personal decision. Free people must never be denied this right.
     

Sentinelese Don't Need Jesus, Don't Need Mohammad. They Only Need What They Already Have

     The Sentinelese people have existed on their small island for tens of thousands of years. Some put the figure as high as 60,000 years, while others assert the Sentinelese people have been on their island for at least 30,000 years. Tens of thousands of years on an island, and still the island sustains them. Modern mankind, convinced of its own greatness and perfect religions, severely degraded much of this planet. Plastic trash and other garbage are everywhere. So are all kinds of pesticides, heavy metals and other poisons. Wars, killing, religious hatred and other bigotry are abundant.
      The young man that gave his life intending on converting the Sentinelese to Christianity was misguided. As many articles already point out, his mere presence on the island could have exposed the Sentinelese people to pathogens for which they have no immunity, and that could have wiped out the entire Sentinelese population. He was aware that the Sentinelese do not want visitors to their island, and that by going there he risked being killed. Unfortunately and tragically, that is what happened.
       There are not many tribes left anymore that are out of the reach of so called modern civilization. The few uncontacted tribes remaining appear to make every effort to stay away from modern civilization.
       Who are more advanced? Tribal people like the Sentinelese who sustain themselves from their environment, without destroying that which sustains them, or modern mankind that has ruthlessly destroyed much of the planet? Modern mankind with nuclear weapons that are one step away from destroying most life on earth, or the uncontacted tribal people that have managed to survive on this planet for tens of thousands of years without destroying their environment or each other?
        Is modern mankind more advanced, with sheep like followers convinced that only their religion is the path to heaven, while all the nonbelievers will rot in hell? Only my way is the right way when it comes to religion has ensured the deaths of millions. Millions of native people have been wiped out by the aggressive expansion of two religions in particular. Christianity, which killed millions in its often violent expansion and conversion by the sword, and Islam, which also killed millions in its often violent expansion and conversion by the sword that tragically continues to this day.
      A world of one religion, which too many people try to establish, is a boring, sterile, horrible place. The world is better and more interesting when there is diversity in religion and thought, and when people have the decency to respect the beliefs of others and not shove their beliefs down someone else's throat.
      These uncontacted tribes live without doctors and dentists and all the trappings of modern civilization. They have an advanced knowledge of the plants and animals in the areas where they live that even the most knowledgeable scientists lack. They know what plants heal, what plants harm, and how to successfully live off of the land.
      The civilization called modern rapes and pollutes the land and wages endless war. Modern man would have overpopulated and destroyed the Sentinelese island within a century or two at most. The fact that the Sentinese have successfully survived there for thousands of years puts modern civilization to shame.

       

85000 Children Starve To Death In Yemen, While The World Turns Its Back

     It was recently in the news regarding how 85000 children in Yemen have starved to death because of the war raging in that country. An even greater number of Yemeni children have been violently killed. Millions of Yemenis face starvation. Starvation is excruciatingly painful.

     Yemen is caught between the Islamists on the Shia side, backed by Iran, and the Islamists on the Sunni side, backed by Saudi Arabia. No matter how many children are killed or starve to death, there is virtually no outcry. It has been made clear that when Arabs kill Arabs, when Muslims kill Muslims, many Muslims, many on the left and many others could care less. They only raise their voices if somehow Israel or Jews are involved and they can score political points or raise religious fervor. Otherwise, they treat life as if it is cheap.

     If there is any decency in this world, and unfortunately there is very little if any, there will be a strong demand for an immediate cease fire. Put this stupid, senseless war on hold for six months at least, during which time food and medical supplies will be allowed into Yemen to prevent further starvation and catastrophe. During the six month ceasefire, all parties to the conflict must sit at the peace table and negotiate an end to the war. One possible solution, divide the nation into two Yemens, just as there was before. This time, make it Shia on one side, Sunni on the other. 

      It is unfortunate, but intolerance in the Islamic world is only getting worse. Yemen is ground zero for what happens when Sunni intolerance meets Shia intolerance. Two of the world's most intolerant nations, Iran and Saudi Arabia, are neck deep in Yemen. Both are responsible for the horrific casualties and mass starvation of children. 

      An immediate ceasefire must be demanded by whatever remains in the world of civilized nations, during which time starvation and disease are addressed. After which, human right abuses common in Yemen, like child marriage, must be abolished.

Norman Finklestein: Keeping Alive The Israeli/Palestinian Conflict

     People that make careers demonizing Israel easily find an audience for their vitriol. There are enough people that hate Israel or Jews that gladly lap up every word of the inciters. The Finkelstein narrative is wrong, simplistic and commonly spun: Israel is a criminal nation, while the Islamists and jihadists that oppose Israel are innocent peace loving boy scouts. No matter how often, through words and actions, Islamic jihadist groups like Hamas, like Hezbollah, made it clear that their goal is the complete destruction of the State of Israel and the ethnic cleansing or genocide of its Jewish population, Finkelstein will find reason to cast all blame on Israel.
     There is a big difference between opposing the government of Israel, and seeking the complete destruction of the nation. The effort to destroy Israel, through war, violence and terror, has led to nothing but misery, displacement, and suffering on all sides. Absent from Finkelstein's narrative is  how Arab Muslim majority lands ethnically cleansed themselves of their Jews. These Jews and their descendents now form the majority population of Israel. The rights of these Jews from Muslim majority lands are completely ignored. Their rights and claims are no less valid than that of Palestinian Arabs.
      A two state solution means two separate states. It does not mean flooding the small State of Israel with millions of Palestinian Arabs demanding the right of return. Do the Israelis from Arab Muslim majority lands have the right of return? Can they go back to such places as Syria, Libya, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, Egypt, Algeria, and more, where they would surely be persecuted or slaughtered? Will Finkelstein leave North America for good and help return the land to the original native people, or continue with hypocrisy and the myth that in the entire world, only Palestinian Arabs have the right of return? No other native people have this right, including Jews, aboriginals of Australia, native peoples of North and South America, Sikhs, Yazidis, Hindus, Buddhists and millions of others displaced by war and religious imperialism, including by Christian and Islamic imperialism (fortunately, Christians no longer seek conversion by the sword).
      Finkelstein and others obsessed with hatred for Jews and/or Israel pander to Islamists and jihadists. No matter what the jihadists do, it is justified, excused or ignored. Even the Charlie Hebdo murderers found Finklestein making excuses for their crime. Religious blasphemy is never worthy of murder. In Finkelstein's infantilizing world, Muslims can only be victims. Of the many Islamic nations, some are the richest nations in the world with huge oil reserves. Most of the worst oppression of minorities and many wars comes from Islamic intolerance, including but not limited to the following: the recent slaughter of Yazidis and the taking of Yazidi women and children as sex slave captives, of which many are still captives. The treatment of the Baha'is in Iran. The treatment of Middle East Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere by jihadists. The treatment of Coptic Christians in Egypt. Boko Haram's war against Christians and Muslim moderates in Nigeria. The mass slaughter in Yemen by Shia and Sunni Islamists. The treatment of Hindus and Christians in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Islamic jihadist wars in South Philippines and South Thailand. Jihadist war in Somalia and Libya. Jihadist war by Afghanistan's Taliban. Genocide by Sudanese Arabs against the black Muslim population in Darfur. The never ending effort to destroy Israel and kill its Jewish population, backed by phony leftists worldwide and other Jew haters.
      In Turkey, where Finkelstein has taught his one sided narratives, the Armenian genocide by Turkey has yet to be acknowledged. Any Kurdish effort for independence or equal rights, including outside of Turkey in Syria and Iraq - where the Kurds are the driving force that destroyed Isis and did the world a favor- is met by war and violence by the Turkish state.
      If Israel retreats tomorrow to the indefensible 1967 borders, the war and terror will not end. When Hamas fires rockets, Finkelstein declares they are mere firecrackers. Hamas is not a peace movement. It is a dime a dozen Islamic jihadist organization that wants what all of these organizations want: domination by Muslims and the subjugation, ethnic cleansing and even genocide of non believers, especially if they are Jews.
      If Finkelstein really cares about Palestinian Arab lives, he will quit his pandering to the most reactionary forces in the Islamic world. He may call himself a leftist, but no true leftist supports religious tyranny and violent religious reactionary forces. He will stop purposefully ignoring, excusing and justifying the genocidal words and actions of Islamic jihadists. He will quit inciting hatred and contempt.
      Unfortunately, there are many in this world with hatred so deep they thrive on inciting the blood and violence they pretend to oppose. Israelis and Palestinian Arabs are not going anywhere. They have to learn to live with one another. The expression, "Blessed are the peacemakers", are what far too people preach or practice.
     

Rethinking Fashion; Clothes, Microplastic And The Oceans

      Besides all the styrofoam, food wrappers, packaging materials, plastic bags and so forth that are visible forms of oil based waste entering and harming the oceans, there is an enormous amount of microfiber contamination coming from synthetic clothing. Much of the clothing people wear comes from oil based synthetic materials, including spandex, nylon, polyester, and acrylic. When this clothes is cleaned or washed, it sheds microfibers that are not captured by municipal waste treatment facilities (many places in the world do not treat wastewater at all, and it goes directly into rivers, lakes and seas).  A single load of laundry can release hundreds of thousands or even millions of microfibers from synthetic clothes.These microfibers, like other plastic particles, are not only harmful, but are virtually indestructible.

       Since the world population is huge and growing, microfibers from synthetic clothing is not a problem that is going away. When something that looks good causes harm and ugliness, how can that be fashionable?  Wear less, wash less is a start. Wearing less means owning less clothes, and making sure the clothes worn have the least negative environmental impact possible. It should not put people's minds at ease knowing that already we are consuming, through what we drink, eat and breath, thousands of these plastic microfibers and microparticles in a years time or less.  

Nancy Pelosi And The Superior Human Being Syndrome

     Far too often people in power or that have great wealth that gives them power think they are a superior kind of human being. Power and wealth too often breeds arrogance. Nancy Pelosi is just one in a long line of people that believe the world is incapable of operating without them. The world would be better off if there were fewer leaders and people in power that make themselves permanent structures, and that believe they are God's gift to humanity.

The Right To Criticize Religion And The Assault On Free Will

     Freedom of religion includes freedom to criticize religion, otherwise there is no freedom. No religion should be held on a pedestal free from scrutiny. Especially when the religion insists only its way is the right way and that those that believe differently can be subjected to persecution, or will be treated as second class people. Too often, people become mindless slaves to a religion or doctrine and cease to think for themselves. Just because they become slaves does not mean everyone else has to mindlessly conform out of fear. The whole concept of blasphemy is an assault on human free will. One person's religion can be nonsense to another person. Neither the believer or the disbeliever have the right to harm the other for what they believe. Religious violence, bigotry and intolerance, instead of being universally condemned and opposed, is selectively tolerated or ignored. Accepting blasphemy as a crime is in itself a crime.

Social Media Companies; Giving Hate A Platform

     In the not too distant past, mere decades ago, hate mongers did not have the broad platform they have now to spread their idiotic messages. Some of these hate obsessed people passed out pamphlets or other printed materials that hardly anyone saw or read. Social media made it possible for hate mongers to spread their messages and reach a far greater audience. It does not have to be this way. Private sector corporations are under no obligation to give hate mongers and half baked lunatics an audience. All over the internet, including in the comment sections of news articles and in videos,  unadulterated hate finds its home. Social media companies eager for money have given hate mongers and bigots a reach and platform they never had before. Free speech does not mean an obligation by these companies to give hatred and bigotry a platform. Even though some of these companies are starting to reign in some of the bigotry and hatred they have allowed so freely to spread, it is too little too late. They need to start spending some of their easy to obtain riches on hiring people to put a check on the poison they have allowed to spread. No one should be surprised when the outcome of dehumanizing, degrading and demonizing other people leads to actual acts of violence and death.

Screw The Optics, A Coward Is Going In, The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting And Its Aftermath

     Before the man that entered a synagogue shot and murdered 11 people and wounded others, it is reported that he posted the message, "Screw the optics, I am going in".  An armed man shooting defenseless people in prayer is nothing but a coward. There are people that believe their hate, their beliefs, give them the right to kill. How does a society protect itself from hate filled cowards determined to murder?

      Synagogues and other places of worship may consider armed guards and metal detectors, depending on funds and other considerations. Places of worship vary in size and financial resources. Security guards instead of off duty or retired police might be more affordable options for many places of worship. Other options, including for places of worship that lack funds; find retired law enforcement or appropriately trained people that would consider volunteering their time or work at a reduced pay rate. These people may come from the congregation or community.
      The school shooting in Florida in which an armed deputy refused to enter the school and confront the shooter is an example that even a trained law enforcement officer may not be up to the task should the moment arrive. No one knows how they will act under fire until they are actually under fire. 

       

       

Jew - Preferred Target Of Black And White Racist Leaders

   
       The Jew is the most socially acceptable target to scapegoat and hate, and therefore hatred of Jews faces the least resistance compared to almost any other target. It is politically incorrect to demonize most other minorities. But because there are some Jews that are rich and powerful, even though most Jews are not, standing up against the Jew gives the appearance of standing up against the rich and powerful in warped, malleable minds. Never mind that in any religious group, including Muslims and Christians, there are plenty of rich, powerful people, including multi millionaires and billionaires. By going after the Jew, there is the false appearance of going against powerful interests because of the widespread stereotype that Jews control everything. People that oppose what seem to be powerful interests appear powerful themselves. Opposing the Jew makes a demagogue appear powerful in the eyes of their followers, even though the whole thing is based on a lie.
       The Jew hater, like any bully, seeks easy targets. The Jew, living in most places without an army of their own and as a tiny minority, is often highly vulnerable. They are a people following an ancient religion that puts great emphasis on education and service to others (which is the reason there are many Jewish academics, teachers, doctors, scientists, and so forth). Historically, they have been a vulnerable minority living under the thumb of Christian and Muslim majorities, in which they lacked any means of defending themselves. Jewish history would be vastly less bloody if the majority religions had a history far less replete with bigotry, violence and intolerance.
       The United States has been a land of religious tolerance. It is one of the few places where Jewish persecution has been minimal, and where Jews have been allowed to live free. American Jews have much to be thankful for. But narrow minded bigots on the left, on the right, that are black, that are white, that often profess to follow Christianity or Islam, are determined to bring back the darkness.
       Jew hating leaders act like they are unconcerned with what others think or feel. But they are pandering cowards that feed their audience the hate message the audience wants to hear. Like it or not, plenty of people enjoy dehumanizing, debasing and degrading a scapegoat. The Jew hating leader knows there is rampant Jew hatred in the world, and that by tapping into that hatred, there is fame and fortune to be made.
       Hitler mobilized Germany by using the Jew as the scapegoat and target of hate. The path of hate led to the  genocide of Europe's Jews, world war, the deaths of over 50 million people, millions of wounded and shattered lives, and Europe in ruins. In the United States, there are white and black Jew haters using the same hate, the same tactics to mobilize people of their race. The black and white racists may hate each other, but they hate the Jew, who gets blamed for everything, even more. The hatred they preach and teach does not free their followers. Hatred and bigotry makes people dependent and weak. They may scream, appear angry and militant, but that is  the sign of weakness, not strength. Strong men and women are not bigots.

Animal Welfare And Protection, So Much Could Have been Done...

Animal welfare and protection are some of the most lucrative tax free businesses. Fortunes are made off the backs of suffering animals. Efficacy and accountability are nonexistent. That is why, more than twenty years after sounding the alarm regarding animal cruelty and dog fighting (refer to previous blogs), only the illusion that things have gotten better has changed. In response to yet another person that could have done so much, all we can say in regard to his resignation is the following.....

We are profoundly ungrateful for X's unparalleled level of accomplishment and service to the exploitation of animal protection and welfare in order to further the financial and other interests of x animal organization.

Start Of A New Unwinnable Nuclear Arms Race

      Trump announced he will pull the United States out of a nuclear weapons agreement signed long ago by Gorbachev and Reagan. Trump's arguments include allegations Russia is violating the treaty, and that China, which is not a signer to the treaty, is free to develop nuclear weapons that the United States is prevented from developing. Putin has been boasting lately of Russia's new supersonic nuclear weapons that cannot be stopped.
      What does humanity get in exchange for the leaders that it has? Leaders that are fabulously wealthy, or that make themselves fabulously wealthy? Leaders that are far removed from the lives of ordinary people, many of whom live in grinding poverty. Most people struggle for nothing more than a decent place to live, enough food to eat, clean water to drink, a job, and a small sense of security. Their leaders, far removed from ordinary lives, seem oblivious to the serious issues ripping humanity apart, including enormous environmental degradation, grinding poverty, violence, and religious fanaticism, to name but a few. In exchange for leaders that are often corrupt, enormously enriched, live like kings, and give so little to the people from whom they take so much, is it too much to ask that they not embark on another senseless nuclear arms race that no one can win? These leaders seem incapable of providing even that. If only they would take their billions of often ill gotten wealth, and leave the world stage if they cannot achieve at the very least a reduction in the nuclear weapons threat. Nuclear weapons proliferation is one of the greatest threats to human survival. No one wins a nuclear war. The radioactive fallout alone will destroy human civilization. Even if one sides destroys the other, the radioactive fallout will travel the world, making human life uninhabitable on all sides.
       Before the dark days of the cold war return, before a new nuclear arms race begins, will sanity prevail?
       Imagine if the world had leaders that announced an 80 per cent reduction of nuclear weapons within five years. The 20 per cent left is still enough to destroy the world. And then, after another five years, the remaining 20 per cent is destroyed. Imagine if all nations agree that the destruction of one nation by others is completely unacceptable, which will greatly reduce the argument for any nuclear weapons.
       It is not too late to pull back from a new nuclear arms race. If Trump, Putin and other world leaders change directions and stop and reverse a nuclear arms race, it will grant them a legacy that they can be proud of. Do they have the moral strength and courage to do so?

       There are poisoned, radioactive places that were ruined by nuclear weapons testing or by the storage of nuclear weapons material. Some of these storage places are ticking time bombs where radioactive material is already leaking out. Many people have been genetically damaged by nuclear weapons fallout, whether from nuclear weapons tests or exposure to nuclear weapons material, or from the bombs dropped over Japan. If only these world leaders visit the casualties of high radiation exposure, which is one of the most ferocious, damaging forces on earth. If only they realize that if they develop or unleash these demons, it does not make them martyrs, even if they are not the first ones to unleash the weapons. It makes them mass murderers and the destroyers of mankind and mankind's future.

   
   

Saudi Sponsored Madrasas, Murdering Young Minds

     The focus on Saudi Arabia must extend beyond the high publicity murder that is in the news.
      Saudi sponsored madrasas or schools have spread throughout the world. Children are being indoctrinated into following rigid, intolerant, supremacist versions of Islam. The west claims Saudi as an ally and valuable partner, including in the fight against terrorism, forgetting that Saudi style indoctrination creates the very terrorism that is being fought.
      Moderation in the Islamic world is falling to the wayside, and is being overtaken by fanaticism and hate, whether it is the fanaticism, bigotry and intolerance promoted by Iran, on the Shia side, or the fanaticism, bigotry and intolerance promoted by Saudi and a number of other Islamic nations (not all of which are aligned with Saudi Arabia) on the Sunni side.
       Many children in the Sudan and elsewhere are forced to study nothing but the Quran all day long. Those that resist are beaten and chained in many of these schools. These children are completely at the mercy of their often cruel "teachers".  There is an entire, complex world that exists beyond the Quran that these children and millions of others will never get to know.
        Saudi sponsored madrasas are poisoning young minds with an agenda of hate, bigotry and intolerance in Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Philippines, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and in many other places, including in the west.
       When children are taught to be narrow minded bigots, the groundwork is set for a future of war and terror. Unless the world wants to endlessly fight fanatics and their senseless jihads, the way many madrasas are brainwashing young minds must no longer be ignored. Saudi Arabia is an extremely wealthy nation. It must moderate and change the vast network of madrasas that it sponsors, or watch the world continue to be soaked in blood. It must ensure that no child anywhere is raised on a diet of hate, bigotry and intolerance. The west is complicit by blindly accepting the brainwashing and destruction of young minds.

Ocean Plastic, Putin's Supersonic Weapons, And A Dismal Future

       Serious ecological problems are dooming mankind to a miserable future. The long list of death by a thousands cuts includes the thousands of tons of plastics and other non biodegradable waste pouring into the oceans daily. Almost all of these contaminants break down and disperse, damaging ocean ecosystems worldwide. Only a small amount makes it to the ocean garbage patches, where there is a much hyped effort to clean up the patches by technology, while ignoring the massive flow of contaminants that enters daily, and that far exceeds the small amount of trash that can be removed from the ocean garbage patches. Enormous amounts of non biodegradable trash can be removed from coastlines and elsewhere, if only there is the political and economic will. Millions of people worldwide can be employed to do ongoing cleanups, coastal and elsewhere. Occasional volunteer cleanup days are good publicity for organizations, but do virtually nothing for the oceans.
        Trillions of dollars are floating around this world. The money is there to provide massive employment worldwide to clean up coastlines and other environments before it is too late.
        Forests, especially vulnerable rainforests, continue to be destroyed. The world is increasingly polluted and contaminated, with an ever increasing human population relying on an increasingly degraded environment.
        Putin announced a new supersonic nuclear weapon systems that cannot be detected and that can destroy the world. In a world massively degraded and impoverished, how can anyone take pride in or respect this huge waste of money, time and effort that does nothing for humanity except bring it closer to annihilation?
     

Overcharging For Moringa (The Poor Man's Vegetable) And Cannabis

     Moringa is an easy to grow tree in a favorable climate. Moringa is now grown throughout Southeast Asia, India, Kenya, Florida, Haiti, and many other places. In the Philippines, many people refer to it as the poor man's vegetable. Moringa grows fast. Once established, it tolerates drought along with heavy rains. It does not like cold weather, but that is not a problem, as there are many places in the world where the weather is just right for the tree. The leaves of the tree are edible, as are other parts of the tree. Unlike many vegetables, the moringa leaves are often available year around. When leaves and branches are removed from the tree, new ones grow back rapidly. In times of drought, it may drop most or all of its leaves, but once given water, the moringa rapid growth continues. Moringa grows easily in many places without the use of pesticides, fertilizers, or much care of any sort.

      Why do the leaves of this inexpensive to grow tree cost a small fortune? One large store that is part of a national food chain sells moringa powdered leaves for around 23 dollars for less than half of a pound. Other places sell moringa powdered leaves from 40 dollars and up for a pound.

       Moringa is billed as a miracle food. It is indeed healthy. It sustains many poor people that have access to no vegetable or green food source. Moringa leaves are high in antioxidants and nutrients. So why the high prices charged in the states for a food that is easy to grow, requires little care, and where expensive pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers are not needed? Perhaps for no other reason than that they can get away with it. 

        Some people say moringa is an answer to deforestation and the food needs of impoverished nations. In the states, people in warm climates can easily grow this tree and help kill the overpriced commercial market for moringa products. Marijuana and cannabis, as legalization increases, can also be commonly grown, and hopefully will kill the overpriced market for those products.  

Marijuana Hype And Keeping MJ Away From Big Business

       Cannabis plants, including marijuana, are being legalized or are moving in the direction of legalization in many places. Big shot republicans, big shot democrats, big shots from other walks of life that never lifted a finger when it was politically unacceptable to promote marijuana legalization, are suddenly on board. They expect huge profits will be made.
      Cannabis is getting taken over by big money interests. But it does not have to be this way.
      When marijuana is legalized, people can do what many have been deterred from doing. Grow it themselves. There are many suitable places where it can be grown. In unsuitable places, it can easily be grown indoors. There is no reason for marijuana to get owned by big shots and big business. For the millions that like to smoke or use marijuana, they can become small scale harvesters and grow their own.
         Legalizing marijuana will end the black market, and stop being a cash cow for gangs, criminals, and terrorists. But is marijuana or cannabis the wonder plant that many people are making it out to be? The claims that it will help with arthritis, sleep, pain, anxiety, and a host of other ailments and illnesses are still unproven. Cannabis was proven to be beneficial for a certain form of childhood epilepsy. However, the alleged miracle powers of cannabis may prove to be another dead end road for many that will find cannabis or marijuana provides little to no relief for their pains and ailments.
          There are hundreds of thousands of vascular plants in this world, including thousands of undiscovered plants, in which some may provide benefits far beyond what marijuana or cannabis can provide. Unfortunately, as rainforests and other habitats are destroyed, many of these plants will never be found. Hyping marijuana and cannabis, including cbd oils and so forth, will leave many disappointed. The wonders of the plant world, and the tremendous benefits that plants can provide humanity, hardly starts or stops with marijuana or cannabis.
       If only more people were concerned about the preservation of biodiversity, including rainforests, before plants that can really do what marijuana and cannabis are alleged to do are lost forever.
     
   

Suze Orman And Other Media Stars Never Go Away

     The media likes to make stars out of people, no matter how mediocre, harmful  or incompetent they may be. Stars are money makers for the non profits they represent and for the corporate interests they promote. Stars bring in fortunes for media companies. A mediocre dog trainer was turned into a dog whispering superstar. Sadly, many were the times teenagers and children had to be stopped from emulating his training methods, which in the hands of the inexperienced youths were harmful. A woman that studied a species of animal was turned into a superstar, bringing in huge sums of money for herself and the nonprofit she represents, even as the species that brought her fame and fortune has collapsed by more than 90 per cent. The nonprofit grew into a giant, while the animal that brought fame and fortune has fared poorly. (Hype and minimal protection ensured that.) Image, not substance, has come to mean everything.
       Suze Orman is billed as a personal finance expert. She is a media money maker. Her advice, when it is good, is not uncommon knowledge. Other times, her advice has caused harm. During the last market crash, when she advised some people to get out of the market all or partly, those that followed her advice missed the upswing that followed, and lost money. Now she is advising people to stay in the market. Not selling in downturns is commonly accepted, mainstream advice, as is dollar cost averaging. She said that people should wish for a recession, because that is when stocks can be bought cheaply. No sound financial adviser or financial expert would wish for a recession. Recessions cause people to lose their jobs, their homes, and their money. Is it worth it just so someone can make money in the stock market? The Suze Orman debit card debacle and fico score nonsense campaign should have ended her career as a personal financial expert. That, and unoriginal, and at times bad advice, does not stop the media from giving her a voice.
        Media stars do not go away.

Israeli Jews, Yazidis, And The War Against Israel

      The simplistic narrative of Palestinian victimhood and Israeli oppression does not serve the interests of Palestinians or Israelis. Israeli Jews are a small minority in a sea of Arabs, which includes the Arabs now called Palestinians. Israelis have only their one small country. Without it, their fate will be no different than the Yazidi people. Yazidis, a religious minority, were slaughtered by Muslim fanatics. Their menfolk were murdered, their young women and girls were taken as sex slaves. Their male children were kidnapped to be turned into brainwashed Islamic jihadists. The Yazidis are but one cruel example of the too often plight of non Muslim religious minorities living in Muslim majority lands.
       The propaganda that Israel is nothing but a European colonial state is nothing but that - propaganda. It ignores the majority population of Israel that originated from middle east and North African Muslim majority nations, where the Jews were expelled and sent fleeing for their lives to the new state of Israel. It ignores the Jewish connection to the land of Israel for thousands of years. It ignores the fact that Jews have never stopped living in what is now Israel.
       The apartheid label is best applied to those Arab and Muslim majority nations that expelled their Jews. Where are their Jews? Most are in Israel. If they return to Arab Muslim and other Muslim majority lands, they will be slaughtered. They know that, and so do millions of Jew haters that would love to see another mass slaughter of the Jews.
        Jews and Palestinian Arabs are stuck with each other on one small piece of land. Every effort to promote coexistence, mutual acceptance, peace and tolerance must be lauded. Every effort to fan war, hate, killing, conflict and death should be opposed by people of any faith that have a shred of decency.
        Many people want Israel destroyed. That, and the belief of many Muslims that only Muslims can be allowed to rule, condemns the region to endless war. Islamists and their apologists, of which there are many (they will support anything the Islamists and jihadists do as long as they are killing or trying to kill Jews) have ensured  blood keeps flowing on all sides.
         

Nobel Peace Prize. Yazidi, Congo Genocide. Islamist Sexual Slavery

     Will the Nobel peace prize given to Nadia Murad and Dr. Dennis Mukwege for raising awareness about sexual violence change anything?
     Millions have died in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Many have been hacked to death. Gang rapes, rapes of infants and children, have been committed by warring soldiers. The atrocities have not stopped. The world has been silent throughout it all. (The world focuses on Israel and little else, and ignores the mass atrocities and horrific human right abuses that occur throughout the world, including by many of Israel's accusers.) There is little to no outcry about the ongoing atrocities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or in places like Syria and Yemen.
     The second largest rainforest, most of which is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is no less important than the Amazon rainforest. Unlike the Amazon, great apes live in the Congo rainforest. The Congo rainforest is being destroyed, including by mining and logging. Wildlife, including great apes, are hunted and eaten. This rain forest is a lung of the planet. Its rich biodiversity, which holds plants that very well may be the cure for many human diseases, will soon be lost forever.
      Few care or pay attention to the human and environmental catastrophic in the Congo region. Will the Nobel Peace prize awaken eyes to the unfolding tragedy of the Congo? The environmental destruction? The mass rapes? The mass murders? The ongoing atrocities?
         
      Thousands of Yazidi women and girls are still held captive as sex slaves to brutal Islamists, even though ISIS has lost most of its territory. Many ISIS members are now blended into civilian populations. Many Yazidi women and child captives have yet to be freed.
      Many Islamists and jihadists believe that sexual slavery of non Muslims is acceptable, and that sex slaves are their rightful reward as the booty of war. It is not enough for the west to say it opposes sexual violence. Does the west have the moral courage to stand up to demented religious beliefs that allow for persecution, slavery, rape and murder of certain so called infidels?
      Yazidis practice a religion far older than Islam. The poisoned religious beliefs that drew Muslims from all over the world to Syria and Iraq to fight for ISIS and to attack Yazidis and others considered infidels are still widespread in the Islamic world. Yazidi menfolk and older women were murdered. Yazidi young women and children were taken as sex slaves. Yazidi boys were taken to be used as brainwashed jihadi child soldiers. Most of these children and women have not returned home.
       The sickening hatred for religious minorities by many in the Islamic world, especially for Jews, is alive and well and unchallenged, and waiting for the next opportunity to kill and enslave.
     

World Leaders That Turn Themselves Into Millionaires And Billionaires

     World leaders that loot their countries and enrich themselves, their families, friends and cronies beyond imagination are traitors and thieves. Traitor does not have a singular definition, and is not limited to the actions of spies and double agents.

Sexual Abuse By Clergy Will Not End If It Does Not End In The Philippines

     Instead of reacting to scandal after scandal regarding sexual abuse of minors by clergy, the Catholic Church must demonstrate a true commitment to ensuring this never continues. In places in the world where the church is powerful, where poverty and powerlessness is widespread, and where the unequal relationship between clergy and commoners is most striking, the church must become proactive. If abuse is not uncovered and stopped in the most vulnerable places of powerlessness and poverty, then it will not end anywhere.

Losing Paradise While Financial Markets Climb

    While this planet becomes increasingly impoverished and degraded, the illusion persists that human wealth is increasing. Stock markets, real estate and everything man made are fleeting at best. The real riches of this planet, the things that should be enduring and protected, are rapidly being lost.       Recently, a place was revisited that some thirty years ago was a vibrant coastal coral reef teeming with marine life. Now it is but a shadow of its former self. A young person seeing this coral reef might think the shadow is a sight to behold, never having known anything else.
       Few coastal coral reefs are left that are healthy and intact. This is only the tip of the iceberg. While real wealth disappears, people vainly follow the illusionary wealth of financial markets and their own accounts.

David Cosby. Pain, Anxiety; Marijuana And CBD Hype

     Now that Canada is in the process of legalizing marijuana, marijuana related stocks are flying through the roof. Big money is like a bulldozer, and where it goes most everything else is rolled over. Caution is thrown to the wind, and the once pariah marijuana and CBD have now become the cure all and answer for everything.
     Singer David Cosby, a big advocate for marijuana, announced his own weed brand. He declared CBD, or cannabidiol, will become a "hugely successful painkiller".
     Marijuana and hemp are cannabis plants. The active ingredient that makes people high, THC, is present in marijuana but is very low in the hemp plant. CBD is present in both plants. A variety of medical and therapeutic benefits are ascribed to CBD. THC is said to also have certain medical benefits. However, THC makes people high, while CBD does not. (CBD, now legal in a number of states, is poorly regulated. People may be getting too much or not enough of the dose they pay for).
     THC can increase anxiety in people. CBD is believed to have anti anxiety properties, but this is unproven. Cosby believes CBD will be a new family of painkillers. (The placebo effect may be why some people think it works.) CBD has been shown to be effective for certain forms of childhood epilepsy.
     There are compelling reasons to legalize marijuana. It will kill a black market that enriches gangs, criminals and terrorists that profit from keeping marijuana illegal. 
     The thus far unproven hype regarding marijuana, CBD and THC will leave many sadly disappointed. People in severe or chronic pain or anxiety may find it offers no relief. This will be another dead end that will leave them even more desperate in their search for relief. Legalize hemp, and perhaps marijuana. But stop using false medical claims and unproven therapeutic benefits as the justification.

Institutions, Organizations And The Lack Of Accountability

 Many organizations, institutions and people believe themselves above accountability. As long as they serve a cause, or greater good, then many believe transgressions should be ignored. This thinking is the road to hell. Without accountability, there is inefficiency at best. More often there is a much worse outcome. Far too many organizations and institutions are not held accountable. If questioned, many perversely condemn it as an attack, and do nothing to reform or change for the better.
 The pursuit of accountability gets lost in ideological conflicts. It is lost by those that put reputation over accountability. Nothing should trump accountability. No organization, no institution, no religion, no leader, no government, no politician; nothing whatsoever.  Unfortunately, the media and press, one of the few ways to get accountability, is too often beholden to powerful interests, and lacks accountability itself.
 Without accountability, exploitation, corruption and harm run rampant.

Sexual Abuse Scandal In Catholic Church Ignores Developing Nations

     Institutions and organizations must be held accountable. People operate institutions and organizations, and because they are fallible, so are their institutions and organizations.
     Too many defend any effort to make institutions and organizations accountable as an attack. They forget that institutions and organizations were formed for a purpose, and that purpose, with certain exceptions, is to achieve something good. Good never results from the lack of accountability.
     The harm that certain priests did to children, and the harm that was done by those in the priest hierarchy that protected and shielded them, violates everything good that the Catholic Church stands for.
      Predatory pedophiles can come from all walks of life. The church must expel from its midst all who harm children, and those that protect harmers instead of children. Instead of shielding predatory pedophiles by internal church investigations, allegations must be investigated by law enforcement and civil authorities.
      Most of the scandal about predatory priests and those that protect them are from the developed world. In developing countries, people, especially children, often are extremely vulnerable and at the mercy of those more powerful. Reports that predatory priests were moved from developed countries, when accusations of abuse emerged, to places like the Philippines, where the Catholic Church is very powerful, must raise concern. The President of the Philippines, Duterte, has said that he himself was molested by a Catholic priest. In the effort to come clean and protect present and future generations of children from predator pedophiles hiding in the priesthood and those that shield them, the developing world must not be ignored.
     People with position and title are often given a free hand to do as they wish in impoverished places. Cleaning house means no stones are unturned anywhere in the world. Victims of abuse in developing nations must not be ignored or forgotten. Thus far, civil and criminal actions against predatory priests and their protectors in the developing world are virtually nonexistent. Furthermore, the press, which too often serves the powerful, has not given voice to victims in developing nations.

Will HSUS Profit From The Legal Trade In Giraffe Skins?

     For many years now giraffe skins and parts have been legally imported, traded and sold in the United States and elsewhere, even though giraffe populations are in significant decline in the wild. Giraffes, like other large animals, suffer from the serious loss of habitat, poaching and more.
     HSUS is in the news today for conducting a supposed undercover investigation in the use of giraffe skins and parts. This has generated significant publicity (and more than likely donations) for them. Investigating what is a legal trade can hardly qualify as an undercover investigation. Furthermore, if this was an investigation of a criminal trade in giraffe skins and parts, then it belongs in the hands of law enforcement, not an animal organization.
     Conservation is not achieved by animal organizations generating publicity for themselves. Conservation is achieved by the bread and butter of saving habitat, and ensuring sufficient resources are in place to protect the habitat and wildlife therein.
      Trading giraffe parts and skins, and certain other declining animal species, have been legal and out in the open for decades. Why this has not been on the radar for so long speaks of failure, as does the massive decline of wildlife and their habitat. While they have declined, the coffers of a number of animal organizations have grown exponentially.
       

Path To Misery: Seeking Israel's Destruction

     Many people have a pathological hatred for Jews and Israel. They do not want any settlement between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs. They only want death, misery and the complete destruction of Israel. They do not care how many people are killed in the process.
      A road to peace starts with marginalizing those that want to keep this conflict inflamed. It starts with marginalizing those that hide their true agenda behind their support for the Palestinian cause; namely, the annihilation of Israel.
      The goal to destroy Israel has brought enormous suffering to both Jew and Arab. The continued goal to destroy Israel will bring nothing but more death, destruction, misery and poverty.
      There are not a lot of great options as to how to resolve this seemingly intractable conflict. It has to start with a period of time in which there is the renunciation of violence. This period of time will be a cooling off period of up to a decade or more. (A new generation has to be nurtured that will not be steeped in hate.) It will be a time in which there is bridge building and the cessation of hostilities. These different people living on the same small piece of land are stuck with each other. The leaders on both sides need to prepare their people for a future of coexistence. Whether this ultimately results in two states or one state can only be decided peacefully in an atmosphere of nonviolence by both sides.
        Both sides have to accept the existence of the other. Ethnic cleansing as an option must be completely rejected.
         The fiction about Israel as a European colonial state is a ploy used to keep the death and destruction going. A peaceful resolution to this conflict must recognize the legitimate rights of Palestinian Arabs and also the legitimate rights of the the hundreds of thousands of Jews (and their millions of descendents) that were ethnically cleansed and driven out from Arab Muslim majority lands.
          War, violence, terror and the continued effort to destroy Israel brings nothing but war, violence, death and misery. The road to peace will only come from nonviolence and mutual acceptance.
               
             

       

Germany; Unsafe For Yazidis And Religious Minorities And Safe For Islamic Jihadis?

      A young Yazidi woman in Iraq was taken as a slave by ISIS. She was sold to an Iraqi man who kept her as a slave and raped her repeatedly. She was able to escape after a number of months. Eventually she went to Germany, where she had been admitted as a refugee. While in Germany, she encountered her former captor, who had also been admitted into Germany as a refugee.

      Terrified from encountering her former captor, she fled back to Northern Iraq where a few members of her family still live. Most of her family, taken by ISIS, have never returned.

       Germany should treat this story with the utmost seriousness. German investigators should make their way to Northern Iraq, a relatively safe area under Kurdish control, and interview this young woman. She should be brought back to Germany, if she agrees. If not, the investigation should still continue. Surely with the high tech country that Germany has become, there are sufficient photographs of Iraqi refugees that were settled in the area where the young Yazidi saw her captor. Every effort should be made to identify the rapist captor. 

        Germany should also reach out to the small number of Yazidis that have been settled in Germany, and to Yazidis living elsewhere that survived ISIS, to develop a database of ISIS offenders. The murderers and rapists that blended in with the refugee population that was settled in Germany and in other European countries should be ferreted out. They should know no rest.

         There are enough survivors (Yazidis and others) of the ISIS genocide and enslavement that a thorough database can be established of ISIS murderers, slave owners and rapists. When Germany lost WW2, many Nazi war criminals blended in with refugee populations. Some made their way to the United States and other countries where they lived out their lives peacefully, never having been brought to justice. 

          No such peace should be granted murderers, slave owners, slave traders and rapists. They never must know security in Germany.

                

       

Hate And Bigotry In The Islamic World Will Keep ISIS Alive

     The intolerance and Islamic supremacy that fueled ISIS is alive and well. Many Muslims that dissociate from or condemn ISIS hold the same or similar hatreds, intolerance and supremacist beliefs. It is easier to view ISIS as a fringe lunatic group then face the wider problem of Islamic hate, intolerance and supremacy. Unless this is faced, ISIS itself will disappear, but ISIS type organizations, which include many Islamic jihadist groups, will continue to grow like cancer.
       Many Muslims that blame non Muslims for strife in the Islamic world ignore how their own intolerance and hate are the source for much of the wars, killings and sufferings. All hate, intolerance, religious, racial and ethnic supremacy must be opposed. Otherwise, ISIS will always be with us.
       
       

Does Animal Rescue By Animal Organizations Harm Animals?

     Imagine an abused animal never having a chance of getting rescued from an abusive situation. This is the reality for almost every single abused animal. This is because law enforcement ignores or minimally responds to animal cruelty related crimes. The animal organizations that investigate animal cruelty enable law enforcement to do this.
      Imagine if drink driving, domestic violence, bicycle theft, auto theft, or other crimes, were responded to by private organizations, and minimally by public law enforcement. There would be an explosion of those crimes. This is exactly what has taken place with animal cruelty. Because animals cannot speak for themselves, there is no outcry.
      No other crime is responded to by private organizations, and minimally by public law enforcement. The organizations and their animal advocate supporters are too interested in the publicity and money generated from having the public believe they are the answer to animal cruelty to ever change this pathological dynamic. (Previous blogs discuss how the actual investigations of animal cruelty by animal organizations and token police teams are often ineffective and harmful.)
       There are over a million law enforcement officers in the United States. If they encounter crime, including animal cruelty, it is their obligation to respond appropriately. This will never happen as long as animal organizations continue to be the poor substitute for the police.
        Crime belongs in the hands of public law enforcement. It is shameful that animal cruelty has been allowed to be the exception.

Affluent, Modern Day Scrooges, And Their Satisfaction In Underpaying

       The fictional character Scrooge was Charles Dickens' effort to make greedy, selfish, affluent people take better care of their employees. He appealed to people's sense of God and something greater than our earthly existence. Dickens hoped that Scrooge like people would see there is no benefit in being Scrooges because of punishment in the afterlife, and that these Scrooge like people would therefore change.
       Unfortunately, Scrooges, male and female, are alive and well. There will be no visiting spirits getting them to change their unempathetic hearts.
       What is it in certain rich, affluent and well off people that they either derive satisfaction, or are indifferent, to the needs and concerns of their employees? Many are the caregivers, for example, working for well off people that do everything they can to underpay and take advantage of the caregiver. Some of these well off employers operate out of a sense of entitlement. They believe that since they are rich and privileged, only their lives matter.
        Liberal, conservative, Democratic, Republican; these selfish Scrooge like people of the modern age come from all walks of life. Who they are is not determined by race, religion, gender or ethnicity. What they share is a coldness, a lack of empathy, a cold heart, no matter how warm and politically or religiously correct they may seem. They should be shamed, not praised, for how they get over on less fortunate people.
       
         

Ways To Reduce Gulf Of Mexico Red Tide

     Here are partial, but important steps to fight against red tide and help the Gulf of Mexico.
             1.  The health of the Gulf and all the industries and businesses a healthy Gulf supports must come before the interests of a wealthy few politically connected people in sugarcane/agribusinesses. This includes restoring the everglades and surrounding ecosystems and the natural flow of water.
             2. Create no fertilizer, no chemical zones for all lawns within 20 miles or more from the coastline. This means lawns go natural or native. Fertilizer and chemical runoff is fueling red tide and damaging the Gulf.
             3.  No feral or outdoor cats allowed within ten miles or more from the coast. Their feces is dangerous to wildlife, marine life, and unhealthy for Gulf waters and for people (domestic cats kill wildlife not only from their high prey drive).
             4. Heavy fines for dog owners that do not pick up their dog's waste.
             5.  Provide incentives for native plant and tree restoration and other vegetation beneficial for the Gulf region.           

Green Lawns, Red Tide And A Dying Gulf Of Mexico

     People are good at talking problems to death. Talk and no action. It happened with dog fighting, animal cruelty, and a host of other concerns. Organizations and activists jumped all over those issues, enriching their pockets and ensuring everything dysfunctional continues (discussed extensively in previous blogs). Saving the Gulf Of Mexico must not be talk and no action. Otherwise, the Gulf will die, tourism and many other businesses will collapse, and people and wildlife will suffer even greater than they are now.
                                           ............................................................

      Red tide occurs naturally. Some use that as the excuse to do nothing. If it occurs naturally, they argue, then human activity can continue unabated. Scientists give conflicting reports. Some scientists serve parochial interests and not the public good. The interests they serve do not want to lessen the use of chemicals and fertilizers that are killing the Gulf. They might use the argument that it is inconclusive if human activity causes, exacerbates, or impacts red tide. Therefore, in the absence of conclusive evidence, we can all continue to do nothing. (When it is too late and everything is destroyed, they can then say they have the proof they need to finally do something.)
      Some people have protested. But protest without a clear course of action and direction accomplishes nothing.
      What is known is that there has been an enormous expansion of human activity along the southwest coast of Florida. In the process, a great amount of mangroves, seagrasses, forests and wetlands have been lost, and continue to be lost. This has harmed the Gulf of Mexico. So does the flow of agricultural and other waste into the Gulf. Changing the flow of harmful waters away from the Gulf requires an enormous amount of advocacy and political will. It can and must be done if the Gulf of Mexico is to survive.
       There is an important course of action that individuals can take that will help greatly. Green lawns require an enormous amount of valuable water, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals. In exchange, the green lawns produce nothing. They are near dead zones that give little more than a show of green color. They do not feed people. They do not enrich the environment. They are not a magnet for birds, butterflies, bees and other important creatures that are vital for a healthy planet.
        All the fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals required for a green lawn ultimately wash into the Gulf. The nutrient surplus alone is like putting the algae that causes red tide on steroids. The lawns look pretty, in the eyes of those that see sterile green as beauty, while the Gulf of Mexico looks and smells awful and kills wildlife and harms people. What is more important, green lawns or the health of humans, the Gulf and wildlife?
        The single critically important step individuals can take to protect the Gulf of Mexico is to change the nature of landscaping. Lawns can be turned into highly productive places that feed people, wildlife, and that attract birds, bees, butterflies and more. This can be done by growing native plants and trees and certain other plants and trees. At the very least, it is better that lawns turn brown so that the Gulf does not turn red and dead.