Category: Environment

Do not feed an idle mind

On By StevoIn climate change, conspiracy, critical thinking, Environment, nature, Science, UncategorizedLeave a comment

True story.


I recently visited the local recycling station to drop off some items. While there, I noticed several vehicles just sitting, idling, air conditioning on, doors open – while their owners made several trips back and forth from their cars to the bins to drop off their recycling/garbage.
I suppose I could understand it if your juvenile offspring, canine, feline, or elderly family member were in the car…but no, all your cars were empty.

About an hour later I find myself sitting in my silent, solar-charged, electric vehicle (a 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV) in a bank drive-through teller line – again listening to the idling internal combustion engines all around me. I could not help but wonder if the drivers of all those legacy vehicles, at the recycle station and now at the bank, were aware of or even cared one little bit about how much fuel and money their highly inefficient vehicles were wasting while sitting there just idling…just burning up so much fuel and wasting their hard-earned money while blowing copious clouds of toxic life and climate harming exhaust effluent into our shared atmosphere…all while the fat fossil fuel pushers laugh all the way to the bank.

The biggest fact about idling that many are probably not aware of: When idling, your vehicle is getting ZERO miles per gallon. If that is not enough to make you rethink idling then check this out:

Now, please consider the following.

I have questions – lots of them:

Do the people who let their vehicles idle for extended periods care at all about the air they breathe? I’m sure most of them do, but maybe they are not in a place where they are able to upgrade to an electric vehicle. OK, I can understand that – I have been in that place.

Answer: Turn off your engine while you wait.

Do they want their children and grandchildren to breathe polluted air – the same air they are polluting by their inefficient transportation choices? I would say no, they do not want their kids to breathe toxic air.

Answer: See the previous answer.

Do they want to send their kids and grandkids off to fight wars over finite, polluting, resources? I sure hope not, what a waste of lives, resources, time, and money.

Answer: See the previous answer.

Are they at all concerned about all the money they are wasting by using such an inefficient fuel source? Many people are not aware of how much fuel/money is wasted by idling.

Answer: See the embedded video.

Are they hot so they need to run the air conditioning to be comfortable. In today’s ever-warming climate change-impacted world – yes, they may be hot. They may have children, pets, elderly/infirm people, and/or ice cream in the vehicle with them. Heat could harm these individuals/frozen confections.

Answer: Get an EV. They do not need to idle an engine to keep the AC/heat on. Their HVAC system runs off the traction battery and is far more efficient than idling an internal combustion engine just to run the HVAC system – and it does not pollute the air.

Have they ever thought about what they will do when the finite fuel source that powers their vehicle becomes harder to find* and eventually runs out? Will their legacy vehicle become a yard ornament, a monument to the energy sources of the past?..or will they sell it before its value bottoms out and it becomes a stranded asset. *When this happens these finite fuel sources will become far more expensive thereby creating even more environmental destruction and even more wars to acquire them.

Answer: They will either pridefully pay a premium to continue driving/idling their legacy vehicle – or they will upgrade to electric.

I do not fault most* of them because they are products of the culture we live in. Many are just living day to day, blissfully unaware that many things in their comfortable, predictable, comfort zone are not exactly what they seem.

They are complacent in their societal and self-imposed little boxes and they do not and will not step outside because their fear of change stops them. They are not bad people – just everyday good people who have not or can not try thinking about what their life would be like if they took the needed steps to make it better and made a change. Many of us find it very hard to change, and to think about tomorrow, even though change is the way of nature and tomorrow is all we have.

*The ones I fault for these problems are not the ones who created these technologies – they did what needed to be done with what they had, and without their ingenuity and resourcefulness, we would not be where we are today. The ones I find the most at fault are the ones who are intentionally trying to stop positive progress from happening, the ones who have loads of money and resources tied up in the toxic energy and transportation choices of the past, and those who promote the continued use of these toxic products that are harming all of us and all our shared futures.

Answer: Step up and step outside of your comfort zone. Change is the way of nature. Change is good.

All these things are most concerning to me.

These are only a few of the reasons why, a decade ago this month, my wife and I chose to make the switch to driving fully electric vehicles powered by locally sourced renewable energy whenever possible.

Electric vehicles use almost no energy when sitting still therefore: Driving electric = no idling = no wasted fuel, no wasted money, no polluted air, no degraded future.

Think about it.

Sadly, many still refuse to think about it or accept it so this is still many of us…

…but there is hope on the horizon.

Only you can prevent the next generation from becoming addicted to the finite and highly expensive* subscription to dependency that the big oil pushers keep pushing. *Expensive in out-of-pocket costs, environmental costs, health costs, energy security, and national security costs.

It is time to fight for our independence from fossil fuels. It is time to fight for a cleaner, healthier environment for our kids, and grandkids, for all our futures.

It is time to go electric and go distributed domestic renewable energy sources. It is time to kick the dirty old fossils to the curb and vote with your money by investing in companies and technologies that work to make a better future for us all.

These changes may take time, but as long as we are all moving in the right direction we are all doing good things.

Kill the idling.

Kill your idle mind.

Think.

Do good things.

Be the change.

Leave the world better than you found it.

Improvise, adapt, overcome, evolve, survive, thrive.

Deep Quality Time

On By StevoIn critical thinking, earth, Environment, nature, Science, space, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The power of nature, of earth, air, fire, rock, and water, of the immensity of cosmic and geologic time…is beyond anything any of us tiny, insignificant humans can ever really contemplate or totally understand…but we can try.

When we climb a multi-million-year-old rock face such as Yosemite or Looking Glass, wade in an ancient living river like the New or Yangtze, fish a thriving estuary such as the Everglades, dive an ageless reef, explore the depths of a limestone cavern, hold a handful of beach sand from a New Zealand or Carolina beach, wander the sheltered rich coves of the ancient Appalachians or Amazon, or traverse the frozen expanses of the Columbia glacier….we see first hand the products of deep time and we must stand in awe and wonder at the power and beauty of nature and the incredible spans of time, evolutionary experimentation, gravitational and geologic forces that it has taken to arrive all of us–the luckiest survivors–at this moment.

You, the being science calls human, that is reading these words, you are alive, thinking, and understanding these words I am writing due to the millions of environmentally dictated successful mutations passed down in the DNA of millions of interconnected creatures stretching back through deep time to the first spark of life on this planet. You are connected through your DNA to me, to that fruit fly, to that houseplant, that snake, that cat, that bacterium clinging to your cat’s foot, the bird singing in the tree, the tree, the whale swimming in the ocean, and even the fossilized T-Rex buried in the depths of the earth…every creature, plant, bacteria, fungi…every living thing that is living and has ever lived on earth – you are connected to and are a part of them all–without all of them you, human, you would not exist. To know, to understand, and to accept this knowledge is just an amazing and incredible–and powerfully humbling yet upliftingly spiritual thing.

You are a way for life and the universe to know and contemplate its own existence.

This knowledge we possess is powerful, humbling, and could be very dangerous or extremely productive for all life on spaceship Earth. We must decide how we are going to use this knowledge – for “good” or for “evil.” The future of all life, all that is human, animal, and vegetable is in our hands.

Please, make good choices that benefit not just you and your “club” “group” “flock” “tribe” “clan” or “people” – but everyone and everything living.

Please learn and then teach your kids – or the “kids” of others if you are a teacher – about better ways to share, accept, relate, communicate, and coexist with each other and with nature.

Please share with them the workings of nature, art, music, and the sciences.

Please take them for long walks in the forest.

Please spend quality time with them and let them play, grow, read, create, make, do, experience, grow, and live for something greater than themselves.

Improvise, Adapt, Overcome, Evolve, Survive, Thrive.

Make good choices.

Do good things.

Be a good human.

One Love.

Imagine.

Unless.

Happy Independence Day

On By StevoIn climate change, critical thinking, earth, Environment, nature, religion, Science, wildlife conservationLeave a comment

I’m all about celebrating Independence Day, but I have never understood how blowing things up is anything more than intentional littering/sound/air pollution, a waste of resources, creates a huge fire hazard, and places unreasonable stresses on wildlife, pets, and people – especially those with sound sensitivity and PTSD. Here are a few ideas for a meaningful, lasting celebration of independence that can improve our communities, our country, and our connections with each other and with nature:

  1. Plant some trees that will provide oxygen, shade, and sequester carbon. You could make it an annual tradition and call them “Freedom Trees” and over time you would have a “Freedom Forest.” If you and your kids planted fruit trees you could produce some of your own “Freedom Fruit” and before long you would have a “Freedom Orchard” – you get the idea.
  2. Plant a vegetable garden to produce some of your own food. You could call it the “Freedom Garden” or as they did IN WW2 a “Victory Garden” – whatever you called it, it would be a great way to grow some of your own food and teach your kids where their food comes from and how to be more self-sufficient and therefore, truly free.
  3. You could add some solar panels to your roof/property to lessen your reliance on coal and foreign oil and in doing so you would become more energy secure and self-sufficient by farming the sun and producing your own “Freedom Electrons” to power your personal energy needs – and if you installed more than you need – be an energy provider freeling giving other tthe benefit of locally-produced, clean, renewable electricity. .
  4. You could trade in that old gas guzzler for a new or used electric car. If you only used it to go to work/town and back as a daily driver for even just a few times per week – it will save you loads of money on fuel, oil, and maintenance – especially with fuel prices as high as they are now – oh and you can charge it up with those solar panels I mentioned earlier and have zero fuel costs.
    True self-reliance comes when you are not tied to the grocery stores and fuel pumps – which are tied to corporate factory farms and oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico and the Middle East by several hundred to thousands of miles-long supply chains. Operating and protecting these supply chains – especially the petroleum “umbilical cord” without which all gas/diesel vehicles would be useless yard ornaments – costs all of us billions of our hard-earned tax dollars, the lives of our loved ones in the military who work hard and give their lives to protect it, and what about all the toxic, health, earth, life and future-destroying air, water, and future pollution that comes with every step of the process?For a moment just forget all your pre-conceived and/or religiopolitical notions about this idea and just imagine never, ever paying for gas and oil ever again. What would you do with all that money? Imagine quietly making your own clean fuel and energy at home and being able to unplug from your self-imposed subscription to dependency at the gas pump and the local monopolistic power plant and not needing to feed off of the ever-shriveling twisted teat of the greedy, toxic, destructive war-mongering, fossil fuel-based energy/economic system we have created over the last 200 years.
    There is a better way and it leads to true energy independence – I know how it feels because I have done it. I have been driving fully electric cars for almost 10 years and I charge them with “homegrown” sunshine so my fuel costs are around 1 cent per mile! I never stop at gas stations, and never worry about tune-ups, exhaust pipes, mufflers, catalytic converters being stolen, emissions inspections, etc…driving electric is an amazing feeling of freedom and it is a great feeling in every way. If I can do it, so can you.
  5. Here is another good idea – what about eating less meat even if only for one day a week.
    Aside from the obvious health benefits, eating less meat means less land and resources will be used up for industrial animal farming – “Factory Farms” and all the horrible problems they create. If you just cannot fathom that move then maybe you can just raise or ethically hunt and fish for your own meat instead of supporting dirty, unhealthy, industrial animal farms. Like gardening, raising your own meat and hunting and fishing teaches the next generation where their food comes from, it teaches respect for other life forms, and it teaches self-reliance – aka freedom – and besides, getting outside in nature, be it for hunting, fishing, farming, gardening, planting trees, installing solar, driving your solar-charged EV, or taking a hike in the forest with your kids, family or dog or alone – is just so good for you and your loved ones and it is a great way to celebrate our country’s and maybe your own independence day.
  6. Do good things.

The choice is yours.

On By StevoIn climate change, conspiracy, COVID-19, critical thinking, earth, Environment, nature, religion, Science, space, UncategorizedLeave a comment


I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why people believe in and follow ideas/”theories”/things/beliefs/systems/and people that:

  • Lack solid evidence to support that the idea/”theory”/thing/belief/system – actually exists.
  • Support people who promote ideas/”theories”/things/beliefs/systems that lack any supporting evidence.
  • Claim to be the only “way” and do not allow questioning or deviation from the ideas/ideals/idols of the “home team.”
  • Are harmful or potentially harmful to the believer, their loved ones, society, or the natural life-support system of the planet that supports them (often while making the leaders of their chosen belief system richer in the process).

Have these folks ever just sat back and asked themselves any of the following questions?

  • Is this idea/belief/thing/person/”theory” – actually helping me, or is it doing more harm than good?
  • Why do I believe in/support this idea/system/belief/thing/person?
  • When did I start believing in this idea/thing/way of thinking/person?
  • Who/what was it that brought me to believe in this thing/way of thinking/person and why?
  • Is it possible that I may have been/am being conned by a charlatan only out for propping up, profit, power, or prestige?


I have come to a few of my own off-the-cuff ideas as to why people follow these things – but I am sure there are many more.

Some people may just want to believe that they/their idea/belief system/their chosen path or person to follow is somehow special or mystically “chosen” above all other options.

Some may want to believe in things/ideas/persons/beings/”theories” because they feel small, inadequate, and/or insignificant – so they are looking for something bigger than they are, something or someone to give them advice or direction on which way to go in life, which path to take – someone that will take on the role of the father figure in their lives. On one hand, I can understand this because we are all just tiny, insignificant, ant-like beings when compared to the unimaginably vast grandeur of nature/the cosmos, and when we realize this humbling and mildling terrifying fact, it may help to have someone with more knowledge and experience to help us make sense of it all – as long as that someone is not a charlatan trying to take you for a ride and/or control/coerce you into doing something nefarious – or just give the troll all of your hard-earned money. On the other hand, not believing in yourself or your abilities to do your own research – your own ability to unearth the facts and the truth and just accept whatever pseudo-facts or absolute hogwash those you look up to are feeding you to make you feel better – well, that is just a recipe for absolute and total disaster.

They may want to feel special and/or in some way “chosen” and/or above all those outside of their “flock” that they have been tought to see as “outsiders,” “other,” or “lesser.” It is interesting to me that those within these bizarre groupings, congregations, and “clubs” are often taught that any individual/group/or ways of thinking that are “outside” of their “tribe” are conveniently labeled as wrong, bad, lost, lesser, infidels, unclean, or inferior and therefore not to be trusted or accepted…unless they pay to play – then, they are accepted and all is well within the “flock.” Bizarre.

Some people just seem to want to believe that there are all kinds of twisted conspiracies all around them.

Some people may want to feel like their chosen thing, person, or belief system has all the simple answers to all the complex questions – therefore, they have no need to actually try to think for themselves.

Some people may have deep tribal tendencies and whatever their chosen tribe does, whatever they believe, whomever or whatever they follow – no matter how twisted, bizarre, dangerous, destructive, or detrimental it is to themselves or their tribe or others on the “outside” – they will blindly accept it, believe it, and/or do it without question.

Some people seem to have been taught to fear the experts/authority and/or anyone with more knowledge than they have – especially if that knowledge involves them changing their way of thinking. This is an extremely dangerous way of thinking.

They may fear change and resist or refuse to adapt.

They may deeply fear the unknown and/or new things.

They may simply lack the needed knowledge to make the needed change and/or refuse to learn/accept the freely offered and/or easily available new knowledge – especially when that new evidence/knowledge is counter to what they have always held as the truth.

They may be comfortable with their position and do not want to step outside of their comfort zone and no amount of facts, evidence, or example presented by the experts or even others will ever convince them that stepping out of their bubble would be better for them….unless, the unthinkable/unbelievable reality suddenly happens to them or a loved one and finally wakes them up out of their toxic self-imposed mind fog…but by then it is often too little too late.

Examples of all of these misguided individuals are all around us.

  • Flat earthers
  • Moon landing deniers
  • Conspiracy “theorists”
  • Anti-maskers
  • Anti-vaxxers
  • Science deniers
  • Religious fanatics
  • Political fanatics
  • Racists
  • Homophobes

The twisted list goes on and on.


Don’t be a close-minded denier.


Open your mind to the realities and the endless possibilities.


Believe in and follow whatever you like if it offers you comfort, peace, guidance, advice, and/or genuinely helps you or your family/loved ones/others in need in some positive, measurable way.

But if your chosen way of thinking and believing requires you to hate/bully/harm/kill others, and/or serves only to cause harm to you, your loved ones, other innocent people outside of your chosen way of thinking/living, and/or your environmental life-support system – then maybe, for your own good and for the good of others, and of everything moving forward into the future – it is time you seriously rethink the ideas/”theories”/things/beliefs/and people you have chosen to follow and work very hard to purge, delete, and/or render extinct all those harmful ways of thinking and living from your existence.


Here is an idea: try letting peer-reviewed facts, evidence, and knowledge be your decision-making guide.

Choose wisely.

Do only good things.

Be the change.

Everything amazing is often found on the other side of fear.

Ponder it.

On By StevoIn climate change, critical thinking, earth, Environment, NASA, nature, religion, Science, space, wildlife conservationLeave a comment

This photo was taken on 11/16/2022 by a camera on the Artemis 1/Orion spacecraft on its way to the moon.


This is the first view of our pale blue dot of a water-soaked rock of a planet from this distance (~58,000 miles at this point) from a human-rated spacecraft since the Apollo 17 mission of 1972.


From this view, we see…

everything that gives us life and a future, everything we hold dear to us, everything that truly matters…

there are no countries, no dividing lines on maps, no walls, no human-created barriers, no labels, no division other than that imposed by nature.

All the things that divide us were created by us to divide us…all these divisions exist only within our minds.

These things we have fought over for so long, killed countless people over, claimed as ours – they just do not exist in reality.


In reality, what you see is what you get: a single, shining, incredibly fragile oasis of life in the ice-cold wastelands of space…a pale blue water-soaked marble giving all of us – the entire human family and all our animal, plant, and fungal friends – a place to share and call home.


Now is the time we stop fighting over what we should be sharing.

Now is the time for us to stop harming our only life support system.

Imagine.

Imagine what we could do if we all just worked together toward the common goal of a better future for us all.


Dare mighty things.

Do only good things.

Ponder it.

My PSA for today – adopt your pet.

On By StevoIn critical thinking, Environment, Uncategorized, wildlife conservationLeave a comment

Please, do not buy dogs/cats/ birds and reptiles from pet stores – they often come from “puppy mills,” “kitten mills” and even bird and snake “mills” and/or they are poached out of the wild.

If you want a pet – adopt.

My puppy mill story.

Many, many, years ago, while working as a power meter technician (meter reader) for the local power company, I looked at my work order to find one of those addresses that had a gate. The instructions indicated that the gate was usually closed but that that HQ had been in contact with the homeowner who said the gate would be open during a small window of time during my shift. I timed it just right so I would arrive when the gate was open and could get my job done.

Once I arrived on site my orders indicated that I needed to disconnect the power service for the house, a run-down old mini-mac-mansion behind a high iron fence, for which the owner had not paid their power bill in months.

While behind the house looking for the meter, I found a dozen or so tiny metal cages full of what looked like Bichon Frises of all ages – they were so unhealthy, sad, filthy, and inhumanely housed – I had stumbled upon a puppy mill operation. I noted the dogs and their living conditions with disgust and sadness, and went on about my job of locating the meter (but I fully intended to report the operation after I departed the property).

I eventually found the meter hidden behind some junk* beside a screen door I had passed earlier. *I had seen this before. It was probably an intentional attempt to hide/block access to the meter.

I knocked on the nearby screen door and peered through into a dimly lighted dirty kitchen to inform the homeowner (and 6 or 8 children of all ages – a human mill apparently – yes, I said it) that I was there to turn off the power for nonpayment. A very large woman smoking a cigarette and tilted back in a recliner in the corner said something like “Do what you must, the @#%&*! church would not pay anymore…”

Yikes…

I pulled the meter out, the lights went out, and suddenly the woman went totally nuts yelling, screaming, shrieking, cursing at me, and said “you’re going down!” “I’m suing you – you little @#&!!@ …she paused for a moment, coughed several raspy, deep, wet, smoker’s coughs, and then yelled at the top of her cigarette smoke-filled lungs “did you just assault my @#!%* child! I saw you touch my !@#%*! child!”

Yikes, what manner of fresh hell did I just unleash upon myself and the unsuspecting world?!!

That woman was totally bat-shit crazy!

I was outside the house, on the other side of the screen door, holding a power meter in my heavily-gloved hands, and at least 10 feet away from the nearest child – a dirty little kid in a high chair wearing only a diaper and being fed what looked like ice cream by what may have been a sibling – obviously, there was no possible way I could have ever touched the child. I say again – that woman was totally friggin nutterz!!

At the sound of smoking-woman’s shrill, hateful, raised voice – the dirty baby in the high chair started to cry and all the other children in the room went totally silent, petrified still, and looked absolutely terrified. They had probably see the crazy dog-lady’s temper before and knew exactly what it meant – I had only just been introduced to it and I was also totally terrified.

I didn’t say a word – no need to feed a rabid wolf. If you feed them they only grow stronger.

I quickly finished locking down the meter base and took off running, jumped in my work truck, tossed the power meter on the passenger seat, ducked down into the seat, and tore out of the driveway fully expecting to hear gunfire from the vicinity of the now dark house. Luckily – no spinning hot lead slugs flew past me – only the vociferously venomous rantings of a crazy, power poaching, puppy mill perpetrating, low-life of a person – who was now in the dark.

I felt terrible for the kids and the dogs, but nonpayment is nonpayment and orders are orders.

I was really shaken up so I drove a few miles down the street, pulled the truck off in a safe place, took out a pad and pen and started to write down everything exactly as it happened. After I finished writing out the details of the bizarre encounter I called my supervisor and gave her a full and detailed report including the discovery of the puppy mill and all the madness from the toxic lady. My boss stood up for me and later we collaborated on sending in the police, investigators, and others to get the place investigated, exposed, and shut down for animal and human cruelty and negligence. I assumed I would be called to court to testify but it never happened – possibly because the place was so obviously in great violation of so many health and safety, animal, and human abuse and cruelty laws.

The last time I drove by the place it was still dark, overgrown with weeds and small trees, and the house was falling in. Hopefully, the human filth was dealt with accordingly and the innocent dogs and children found new forever homes.

My lessons from this encounter:

  • My first-hand evidence, and the evidence from many other sources, reveal that people who treat animals humanely – will often do the same to people.
  • Do not buy pets from pet shops that often source their stock from and animal mills and or wildlife poaching operations.
  • Adopt.

There are many wonderful orphaned animals out there in need of new homes, maybe you will be the one that gives one of them a wonderful place to call home and to be loved.

Don’t be your own limiting factor

On By StevoIn climate change, conspiracy, COVID-19, critical thinking, Environment, nature, religion, ScienceLeave a comment

It is a very sad fact that the toxic, tribalism-focused, divisive, narrow, me-first way of thinking that some humans practice is their prime limiting factor.

In the end, they will probably do themselves in (taking many of us along with them) as they cling to their ancient emotion and fear-driven ideas, ideals, idols, crystals, horoscopes, and divisive, evidence and reason-lacking ancient dusty tablets and texts – all while the real miracles come from the readily available peer-reviewed and often freely offered findings of science, application of engineering, and acceptance of reality.

Sad indeed but it seems this fact may be one of the ways natural selection is exhibited in the human species.

Improvise, adapt, overcome, evolve, survive, thrive.

“Science the shit out of it.”

Dare mighty things.

Do good things.

Be the change.

One Love.

Peace.

Another orbit completed successfully

On By StevoIn climate change, COVID-19, critical thinking, earth, Environment, NASA, nature, religion, Science, space, Uncategorized, wildlife conservationLeave a comment

Another trip around the sun completed successfully.

Some perspective: On this day (July 15th) in 1968 I came into this reality – whatever this reality really is – and as of today, I have existed in this reality for 54 earth years.

Some perspective and observations.

I was premature so I had to cook in an incubator for a while until my body took over and I could support myself without the assistance of science and technology.

I was soon adopted by two amazing people Cathy and Clayton – who accepted me into their home as their own child. They later adopted another child in need and named her Lesly who then became my wonderful sister. She met Jonas and they raised two wonderful children – Cody and Ashlyn – who I just know will go above and beyond and do great things. I am lucky and proud to be a part of this family.

I was born in the middle of one of the times of the greatest scientific and engineering achievements humankind has ever experienced: the Apollo-era moon missions and landings…and, fitting the space exploration and cultural turbulence of the times, the first incarnation of Star Trek – my favorite TV series – was on TV…and it still is and all of its incarnations and I love them all for the messages they bring to all of us – if we have the capacity to understand and accept them and put them into practice.

I have been alive (whatever that means) for ~473,040 hours and accruing. I have orbited our closest star Sol 54 times. I have now traveled around 31,536,000,000 miles (50,752,272,384 kilometers) through space in an ever-spiraling circle around a rather remote and average little yellow star while riding on a water-soaked living rock along with you and over 7.9 billion other naked, bi-pedal, mostly hairless, multi-colored, fire and tool-using, thinking apes, and countless other amazing life-forms – while spinning at an equatorial rate of around 1000 mph (1,609.3 kph) while at the same time passing through the icy blackness vacuum of space at around 67,000 mph (107,826 kph) in our orbital path around the sun while also orbiting around Sagittarius A* the supermassive black hole in the center of our home galaxy at a rate of around 514,000 mph. At this rate, it will take me, you, our wet rock, and our star – about 229 million years to make one trip around the galactic center thereby completing one Galactic Year. And all of this, all of us, everything, our entire Milky Way galaxy – is traveling through intergalactic space at around 1.2 million mph (1.9m kph) relative to the cosmic background radiation.

Ponder it.

So far, I have had an amazing existence full of tons of excitement, exploration, friendship, laughter love, and light as well as periods of loss, pain, hardship, and a little bit of darkness.

I was here the last time Haley’s Comet passed by our pale blue watery rock of a dot in 1986 (and I plan to be here to see it again when it comes back around again in 2062).

I rode along in spirit and in support of every space exploration mission humanity has launched since I can remember way back as a 4-year-old kid watching it happen live (well, almost live since round trip communication time between the earth and moon is 2.6 seconds) on TV and then running outside in the yard to look up at the moon where the last Apollo astronauts were bouncing about the lunar surface in the early ’70s. I have since watched in awe, great appreciation, and hope as the space programs of planet earth sent many amazing interplanetary probes to the Sun, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Titan, Neptune, Pluto, asteroids, comets, asteroids, and more. I watched as the incredible Space Shuttles flew on huge pillars of flame and 15 nations set aside their differences to build the International Space Station – a castle of science, discovery, and international cooperation 249 miles above all of us in the “sky.” Today I am elated at the rapid evolution of non-governmental space exploration and travel organizations and I hope to see us back on the moon soon – and then sometime before I kick off – great shiny Starships landing on Mars. Go SpaceX! Just a few days ago I witnessed the mind-blowingly beautiful and deeply data-rich images from almost the beginning of time and space come beaming down to all of us overly encephalized hairy tit-sucking mammals living upon this pale blue dot from the incredible James Webb Space Telescope – and I look forward to seeing more that will come to us over the next 20 – 30 years and am so excited for how much the JWST’s imagery will increase our knowledge of our own cosmic evolution.

I chased nature and wild animals, first as a child for personal interest sake, and later in the name of science, education, and conservation of species. My favorites being the misunderstood creatures of the world such as reptiles, amphibians, bats, Opossums, and vultures.

On a few occasions, my body was invaded by festering armies of microscopic “wildlife” that tried to use me as a replicator for more of their kind and/or end me, and yet, my own immune system as well as the findings of many, many great scientists that came before allowed me to boost, augment, and bio-hack my body through the use of antibiotics and vaccinations thereby giving me a “force field of science” inside and out so I could continue awkwardly onward into the future.

In 2014 I came closest to feeding the soil, worms, and trees when a rather archaic and not that useful part of my internal anatomy (my appendix) malfunctioned and suffered a massive R.U.D. (Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly) – so I had it removed by a robot that was designed by science and piloted by a scientist we all call a doctor so I could continue in my present state of gangly existence.

In 2016 I had an encounter with a wild venomous serpent (Timber rattlesnake) who was only defending himself due to my accidental stupidity and, while I was in no danger of meeting my end – it did really hurt a bit and slow me down for a few weeks (yes, the snake still lives in the wilds of the forest 🙂 ) The only way I was able to overcome this one without losing a finger and possibly suffering lasting damage to my body was through the findings of science. Yep, there is that science thing again. Ain’t it wonderful 🙂

This past year the current plague impacting humanity (SARS CoV2) finally caught up with me. It was no fun at all and took me out for a week or so but I recovered – again thanks to science and my science-augmented immune system.

On all these close calls (and many I have not even been aware of due to my science augmented/trained to recognize and destroy the “bad guys” immune system via all the vaccinations I have gladly rolled up my sleeves to receive since I was a small child 🙂 ) I was given another chance at existing in this reality through the findings of science, miracles of modern technology and engineering…and possibly a little bit of some as yet to be discovered by science mystical energy field or omnipotent ancient and possibly extraterrestrial/interdimensional intelligence that, for some really disturbingly strange reason, many individuals/cultures/factions on the planet have coined many different names/stories/belief systems for – yet cannot ever seem to agree upon…and often even choose to childishly take sides, argue, fight, and believe it or not even murder each other over…so bizarre and childlike is the proudest monkey.

IMHO – if this intelligence exists – it is as far “above” us as we are “above” our closest relatives the Chimpanzee and Bonobo…or maybe the bacterium…or the virus. Whatever the case, I’m pretty sure that if it does exist it might be studying us as we study the animals…or the virus…and it cares not one single bit about our posturings on its behalf, the myriad of books we write about it, our childish bickering on who/what it is, who or what is “right” and “wrong,” who uses which bathroom, who’s skin is what color, who is “left” and “right,” etc. – just like we do not care about the comings and goings of bacteria and viral organisms…until they invade our personal space and become overpopulated…hmmmm…something important to ponder if you are able to see deep enough or large enough to ponder it…

At an early age, I became tired of all the factions telling me what to do, how to believe, how to think, how to live my life, and how to be a human – so I chose to follow my own path. I chose to listen to nature, to the evidence and logic and teachings of the wilderness, and to the findings and ponderings of the great minds and philosophies of history. Some may call me a “free spirit” – nice! – thank you! Some have called me “lost” – really, how rude! But whatever the case may be this is my path, no one can choose it for me and likewise, I will never try to force it on you or anyone. You must all find your own path.

I learned to drone a didgeridoo – so very ancient and cool!

I fell in love with a wonderful, beautiful, and intelligent human female called Marian and we settled down a bit…but not too much 🙂

A few years later I fell into a wonderful career inspiring, leading, and sharing nature, science, and reality knowledge with amazing at-risk youth on the connections, beauty, and joy of nature, wildlife, science, and life the universe, and everything.

While working to inspire tomorrow’s youth to better themselves by connecting with nature, wilderness, wild things, and to trust science and let it be their guide in life – I have connected with so many amazing human beings in my students and my coworkers – my life has been so deeply enrichened from my time with all of you amazing people and I am so grateful for all of you and your lasting contributions to your classroom and to my personal journey.

My incredible students, interns, volunteers, amazing friends Jim and Bob, and I all worked together over many solar orbits with many more amazing project supporters to build a photovoltaic solar power plant that benefits not only our classroom and campus but the entire local community with clean, locally-produced renewable energy from our nearest fusion reactor in space – the sun! Update: During my most recent solar orbit we all – and some wonderful and most-generous new friends – worked to create a solar-powered mobile outreach classroom called the SS NaSA PoD (Science Steve’s Nature and Science Adventure Pod of Discovery) – that will allow us to bring our nature, wildlife, and science messages to our students and to the region – so cool!

About 10 orbits ago my wife and I started phasing out almost all our connections to nature, life, and future-harming dirty fossil fuels. We have been driving mostly electric since 2013 and intend to soon go fully electric with most of our transportation, energy, and fuel needs coming from EVs and local renewable energy sources.

Just a few solar orbits ago the amazing findings of the science of genetics and DNA sequencing allowed me to connect with my wonderful biological father, sister, brother, and other awesome family members and answer many of the questions about my genetic roots and my connections to nature that I have had since an early age.

And now I find myself near the end of a global viral pandemic that has sadly ended the lives of many and upset the lives and plans of most. As before, I will follow and trust the science as I ignore all the other randomly repeated, vociferous, evidence-lacking, overly emotional, opinions and options and roll up my sleeve and gladly accept the expertly recommended vaccinations against this microscopic attacker (but I did still get the virus – only not as bad as some I know who did not or could not roll up their sleeves). I will continue to trust in science, even with its changeable and incomplete nature, to give me guidelines and support during this global human emergency. I hope you will choose to join me and in doing so, together, you and I will get through this thing – and hopefully, I will still be here to rewrite this yet again next year on this day.

Whatever all the facts and reasons may be, I am very glad to still be here on this incredible and sometimes bumpy but always interesting wild ride through the cosmos with all of you other crazy wonderful, and beautifully mixed-up mosh pit of humans and always wonderful animals.

I’m not sure where we are going or when, where, and why we exist – but wherever, whatever, whenever, and whyever – at least we are making good time and it has been and will continue to be one heck of a wild ride through the cosmos on this one strange rock we all call home.

Thank you all for being here and for riding along on this roller coaster called life with me 🙂 Now let’s all take another spin around the sun together on spaceship Earth!

Improvise, adapt, overcome, evolve, survive, and thrive.

Live long and prosper.

Bring the change.

Be the change.

Do good things.

Coexist.

One Love.

Peace.

Dreams are fun

On By StevoIn climate change, Environment, Science, UncategorizedLeave a comment

My dreams are usually bizarrely twisted versions of reality – but they are usually not anything to share…until now. I’m sharing the next two dreams purely due to the bizarre comedic nature of their freaky fun content.

Dream 1: I find myself in a vehicle traveling dangerously fast along an autobahn-like superhighway. I am in the back of the vehicle. It is a boxy, obviously an off-road “Jeep” type vehicle. It has many features that remind me of the 1960’s Series Land Rovers that I once owned and drove. A truly off-center difference is that the entire interior is carpeted in plush, deep, black shag carpet. It was really quite nice – in the dream. I then notice that I am sitting, not in a vehicle seat – there are no standard back seats or inward-facing jump seats as in some jeep-style two-door vehicles – I am facing forward and sitting in an old folding aluminum lawn chair with green plastic webbing. There are no seat belts and the seat is not attached to the floor as it should be. It and I are just at the mercy of physics should this wild ride abruptly end.

Weird. But it is about to get even weirder.

There is someone in the driver’s seat and someone in the passenger seat.

The driver turns to say something to the passenger and I recognize him – it’s Elon Musk. Then I recognize the passenger- it’s Neil DeGrasse Tyson. They are chatting about this new truck – so it must be that we are in Elon’s Cybertruck.

Cool.

But it sure does not look like a Cybertruck on the inside. Anyhow, Elon then says into the air “Autopilot Engaged” then he gets up, climbs over the seats, walks past me, and gets a drink from the built-in bar, the bartender is a shiny stainless steel (probably 304L) robot who reminds me of Bender from Futurama – only chrome plated and more menacing with a HAL 9000-like huge red camera-lens-like eye and many more arms – I would guess at least 6 but he is waving them all around like Dr. Octopus so it was hard to count them. The bizarro-bartender-Bender-bot then handed Musk the drink – I believe it was a Mojito…but it was bubbling and glowing blue and had a mad scientist-like smoke-like vapor sublimating from its bubbling surface – Musk passes it to DeGrasse Tyson who thanks him and is laughing while sipping his drink and acting as if all this is nothing new.

All the while the Cybertruck is expertly navigating around all manner of speeding swerving cars that are smashing into each other, exploding into conflagrations of twisted metal and flesh, running off the roads, and smashing head-on into trees and careening off cliffs…suddenly the Cybertruck abruptly swerves and takes an exit onto a dirt road not much wider than the truck itself, it then accelerates to an unbelievable warp-like speed and everything out the windows is an unrecognizable blur – yet its electric drive train is noticeably and eerily silent…and somehow the Cybertruck is staying attached to the road – I think to myself “maybe it is using its cold-gas thrusters and/or Elon and team have invented anti-gravity technology…”

Cool.

Elon and Neil are laughing and drinking their bubbling blue smoking Mojitos and Neil says “How is it that physics isn’t coming into play here – by my best calculations we should be dead in the pool of glacial meltwater at the bottom of that giant crevasse?” I look left and yes, a giant crevasse – we are now on a glacier that is melting fast due to anthropogenic climate change brought on by excessive fossil fuel consumption…Musk says “It’s bad-ass Tesla technology Neil.” he laughs and Neil laughs with him and they drink more of their strange blue mojitos and all the while the Cybertruck is just carrying on without any issue as all hell is breaking loose around us…wait, are we flying?

All I can think about is how I am in a lawn chair, not wearing a seat belt, and the shag carpet was a nice choice – and then I wake up. WTF? I really wanted to see how that one ended.

Now I am worried that when I finally do get my Cybertruck – it won’t have the shag carpet or a bizarro-bartender-Bender-bot.

Dream 2: I’m in a public place. It seems to be a festival of some sort. I see a very buxom woman with long brown hair and a very low-cut tank top running a hot dog stand specializing in vegan brats – her sign reads “My wieners have all the length and girth you can stand.” Woah – really! That’s bold.

I then notice she seems upset. I move closer and she leans down to tell me something – when she does her massive breasts almost fall out of her tiny pink tank top and I notice she has sweat beading up all over her body and she is trembling with fear. She then says something about a snake. For a moment I wonder if her “snake” comment is just her way of coming onto me. My query is answered by her total fear-based reaction – she is clearly terrified of something. Obviously, I investigate further to see if I can assist her with her snake issue. She tells me there is a snake under her hot dog cart and she points in the direction – and I notice she has 2-inch-long electric-blue fingernails.

I look where she is pointing under the cart and discover a smallish snake. It is coiled in the grass near one of the cart’s tires. It is about 2 feet long. At first, it seems to be a Copperhead. Venomous, yes – but not anything to worry that much about as long as you do not get too close. So I get ready to go in and move the snake to a safe place so she can get back to selling her oversized phallically themed sweaty vegan brats.

As if all that was not strange enough…

Suddenly, the snake starts to rapidly grow! It grows and stretches to thousands of times its earlier size to become a monstrous snake-like creature about 20 feet in length with a girth like an elephant’s trunk. It has several rows of unusual crab leg-like venomous talon-tipped appendages below its head and dozens of black, unblinking eyes, and a huge venom-dripping stinger on the end of its whip-like tail. As it is writhing around above the hot dog cart the buxom woman and all the people nearby run off shouting in absolute terror…

I stand there watching the carnage and then say to myself: “This is just not possible, this is not reality – so this must be a dream and I am the dreamer. That is the only logical explanation of this event.”

Then I wake up.

Dang. I really wanted to see how that one ended.

No drugs, alcohol, or unusual foods were ingested before I went to bed. These are just the natural drugs produced by my own brain and some wild drugs they must be.

Dreams are fun.

Happy Independence Day

On By StevoIn climate change, critical thinking, earth, Environment, nature, religion, Science, Uncategorized, wildlife conservationLeave a comment

A few years ago on this very same night, I was trying to go to sleep and my next-door neighbor across the holler had other ideas – so he shot my roof with fireworks! I listened as at least four mortar shells launched, soared into the sky, exploded, and then their spent shells impacted and rolled down my roof! I do not believe it was intentional but then again one never knows. I had to climb up on the roof in the middle of the night while fireworks exploded all around me – just to be sure the spent noisemakers did not light my house on fire!!

Grrrrr…there he goes again…I may have to have a talk with him…or better yet have the sheriff pay him a visit.

Luckily, my house did not burn down. However, my warmongering pyromaniac neighbor ran out of fireworks and started shooting his guns into the air around 11:30 pm all while cranking ’60-’80s music over his overbuilt car stereo so loud I could hear it inside my house over 1200 feet away – even with a thickly forested buffer between us.

While I totally support celebrating Independence Day – damn, I really hate fireworks. There was a time when I liked them but that was long ago. Now that I’m older and wiser and I have cultivated a reverence for all life, I see fireworks as only a celebration of littering, war, and bloodshed and a garish waste of money and resources that needlessly scare wildlife, pets, people, create unnecessary pollution and cause fires and loads of other issues when used incorrectly.

It is no wonder they are illegal in many places. Grrrrr!!!

I was just about to call the sheriff when he powered it all down and all went quiet.

I can only imagine the scene – his house and yard littered with spent fireworks, shotgun shells, and beer cans, a bare-chested, drunk, passed out male bipedal primate – or possibly female …or both…or an assortment of drooling, inebriated, bipedal primates…I have no idea since I have never seen the house where the fireworks originate or the primates that live within it – reclining in a lawn chair with a smoking shotgun in one flaccid pale white hand, a bud “dumber” can in the other spilling warm beer into a puddle being lapped up by a filthy mongrel of a dog while another stinking drunk canine sleeps upside down – tongue and gonads hanging out – on a moldering couch covered in beer cans, cigarette butts, and empty firework and shotgun shell boxes, in the middle of the driveway while a dollar store likeness of a “murican” flag hangs limp in the clearing smoke.

A sad scene to be sure and a scene that is becoming all too common in some parts of this country. In my opinion, this blatant disregard for public safety, wildlife, and nature has little to do with patriotism and more to do with childish machismo, dangerous patriotism, and inane stupidity. Our brave forefathers would be sad and disgusted at the level at which many of us have fallen.

At least the bozo has good taste in music.

Here are a few ideas for a meaningful, lasting celebration of our independence that can improve our communities, our country, and our connections with each other and with nature:

1. Plant some trees that will provide oxygen, shade, and sequester carbon. You could make it an annual tradition and call them “Freedom Trees” and over time you would have a “Freedom Forest.” If you and your kids planted fruit trees you could produce some of your own “Freedom Fruit” and before long you would have a “Freedom Orchard” – you get the idea 🙂

2 – Plant a vegetable garden to produce some of your own food. You could call it the “Freedom Garden” or as they did in WW2 a “Victory Garden” – whatever you called it, it would be a great way to grow some of your own food and teach your kids where their food comes from and how to be more self-sufficient and therefore, truly free.

3. You could add some solar panels to your roof/property to lessen your reliance on coal and foreign oil and in doing so you would become more energy secure and self-sufficient by farming the sun and producing your own “Freedom Electrons” to power your personal energy needs.

4. You could trade in that old gas guzzler for a new or used electric car. If you only used it to go to work/town and back as a daily driver for even just a few times per week – it will save you loads of money on fuel, oil, and maintenance – especially with fuel prices as high as they are now – oh and you can charge it up with those solar panels I mentioned earlier and have zero fuel costs.

True self-reliance comes when you are not tied to the grocery stores and fuel pumps – which are tied to corporate farms and oil fields of the Gulf of Mexico and the Middle East by several hundred to thousands of miles long supply chains. Operating and protecting these supply chains – especially the petroleum “umbilical cord” without which all gas/diesel vehicles would be useless – costs billions of our hard-earned tax dollars, the lives of our loved ones in the military who work hard and give their lives to protect it, and what about all the toxic, health, earth, life, atmosphere, and future-destroying pollution that comes with every step of the process?

For a moment just forget all your pre-conceived and/or religiopolitical notions about this idea and just imagine never paying for gas and oil ever again. What would you do with all that money? Imagine quietly making your own clean fuel and energy at home and being able to unplug from the subscription to dependency at the gas pump and the local monopolistic power plant and not needing to feed off of the teat of the twisted, toxic, destructive fossil fuel-based energy system we have created over the last 200 years.

There is a better way and it leads to true energy independence – I know how it feels because I have done it. I have been driving a fully electric car for almost 9 years and I charge it with “homegrown” sunshine so my EV electron fuel costs are around 1 cent per mile! I never stop at gas stations, never worry about tune-ups, exhaust pipes, mufflers, emissions inspections, etc…driving electric is an amazing feeling of freedom and it is a great feeling in every way. If I can do it, so can you.

5. Here is another good idea – what about eating less meat even if only for one day a week.

Aside from the obvious health benefits, eating less meat means less land and resources will be used up for industrial animal farming – “Factory Farms” – and all the problems they create. If you just cannot fathom that move then maybe you can choose to raise and/or ethically hunt and fish for your own meat instead of supporting dirty, unhealthy, industrial animal farms – like gardening, it teaches the next generation where their food comes from, it teaches respect for other life forms, and it teaches self-reliance – aka freedom…and besides, getting outside in nature, be it for hunting, fishing, farming, gardening, planting trees, installing solar, driving your solar-charged EV, or taking a hike in the forest with your kids, family or dog or alone – is just so good for you and your loved ones and it is a great way to celebrate our country’s and maybe your own independence day 🙂