On occasion, some of you haven’t exactly supported/subscribed to my assertion that the world is quickly being overpopulated by human beings, who are resulting in climate change, aka: global warming. Granted, I’m much more of a wiseacre . . . wise guy . . . wise ass – take yer pick – than an actual wise man, but I am certainly not alone in my contention.
A reader of Parade Magazine, a Mr. Don Vollmer, posed to “Ask Marilyn” if the growing human population was enough to cause climate change. The noted genius, Marilyn vos Savant, pointed out what I’ve said numerous times. It took around 100,000 years for us to get to a population of 2 billion by the year 1900 – or so – which was just as the Industrial Revolution was getting into full swing, but since then we’ve skyrocketed to nearly 8 BILLION souls! In a mere 122 years we’ve quadrupled what took us 99,878 years (998 CENTURIES) to *achieve*! A lot of the growth is because we’ve solved smallpox and many other major killer diseases, but also it’s because of how of our modern conveniences have increased our standard of living. Until a few hundred years ago human life expectancy averaged around 28.5 – 32 years. By the 1950s it had grown to an average of 45.7 – 48 years. Now, the world average is up to 72.6 – 73.2 years. And, it’s even higher in first-world countries, like the U.S. and Canada.
Marilyn pointed out that if we lived the simpler agrarian lives, of days gone by, the population increase would be sustainable, but because of how we now live – our increased standard of living – the continued growth cannot be sustained. She didn’t go into detail, but one can infer she meant we’ve all become such huge consumers, and a lot of that consumption comes in the form of burning fossil fuels, both in the generation of electricity, and in powering our automobiles. And, also the petroleum we use to create all the plastics, that so much is made of these days, and the rare earth metals that our electronics use. And, all of our single use paper products – like toilet paper, napkins and paper towels – are contributing to the global deforestation, just as the reliance on palm oil – in the foods that we eat – is causing deforestation in the rain forests of the world. We’re spoiling too much of our ground water, and we’re running out of places to put our trash. The genie is out of the bottle, folks!
Marilyn vos Savant has the highest recorded I.Q. in the Guinness Book of Records. She has served on numerous boards of directors, and was the Chief Financial Officer for Jarvik Heart, Inc., as well as authoring “Ask Marilyn”. No one is saying that she’s the smartest human on the planet, or anything, but she is a very respected thinker. Dismiss my diatribes if you will, but don’t mess with Marilyn! Be well and do good, friends. — YUR
Image courtesy of DeviantArt
Unclerave's Wordy Weblog 
Nakba Remembrance Day! 05/15/23
Published May 15, 2023 Commentary , Current Events , Education , History , Race Leave a Comment“2023 marks 75 years since the Nakba (“catastrophe”), the violent ethnic cleansing of nearly 800,000 Indigenous Palestinians.
In 1948, violent militias destroyed hundreds of villages, massacring and forcefully removing two-thirds of the Palestinian population. For 75 years, stateless refugees have been denied the internationally-recognized right of return to their homes.
The Nakba never ended. To this day, the Israeli government is still trying to erase an entire people by systematically displacing and dehumanizing Palestinians.
In violation of international law, Israel’s government continues to massacre, imprison, and steal land from Palestinians—all while denying Palestinians basic freedoms and needed resources such as water and electricity.
The U.S. is the top provider of military aid to Israel, using billions of taxpayer dollars each year to support this apartheid system. As far-right Israeli officials in power call for “another Nakba” and escalate human rights abuses against Palestinians, we cannot look the other way. We cannot allow this unbearable status quo to continue.
Israeli propaganda denies that the Nakba ever happened. We must tell the truth about the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.
Educating U.S. lawmakers and residents is an important step toward Palestinian liberation.
Now is the time to speak out: May 15th is the 75th commemoration of the Nakba. Representative Rashida Tlaib just re-introduced a resolution in Congress to recognize the Nakba and support Palestinian rights.
The resolution calls on the United States to continue to support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency—which provides social services to millions of Palestinian refugees—and to support the implementation of Palestinian refugees’ rights as enshrined in United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” — Rashida Tlaib
The More You Know! — YUR