Our Earth, Our Home, Our Future–

Our earth’s human population is now at more than six and a half billion and multiplying exponentially every day. No country talks about it. Even Al Gore, in his excellent book "An Inconvenient Truth", only ever-so-lightly touches on the topic. Politically, it would be a "mine field". In my mind, the burgeoning human population is a topic that is critical to issues relating not only to environment, climate change, and dwindling animal habitat, but also to our crime rate, economics, food production, and human dignity ... in the U.S. and throughout the world. So I’ve often pondered the situation. The act of procreation takes only a fleeting moment, is such a natural thing and, so often, just "happens", even when birth control is accessible. I asked my minister for her thoughts about the human population dilemma. She thought on it for a while and then said: "Suppose people would consider adoption as a first – rather than a last – resort, thus providing a loving family for a homeless or orphaned child and doing this wonderful thing for our world"! This was a stroke of loving genius and I wish I could say that I came up with the concept! Considering adoption – as a first resort! If people and countries begin to talk about population, this simple concept would be a logical and compassionate place to start.

Song Population –

I wonder if there are millions or even billions of songs that have been composed and are still known throughout the world. Just closing my eyes for a few minutes and letting that mental ticker-tape of song titles travel across my mind makes me realize the incalculable amount of creative energy that has gone into song writing through the ages. I’ve contributed majorly, even disproportionately to the song population (if we were to imagine for a moment that everyone had a permit to give birth to two songs). Fortunately, the realm of artistic creativity doesn’t work that way!

And, to sum up on a kinda-sorta frivolous note: Two song titles popped up in my head, as dueling opposites of each other ... at opposite ends of the music spectrum in the world of cover songs (songs composed by other people); they are "Who Let The Dogs Out?" and "Let’s Build A Stairway To The Stars." Think of these as bookends to the vast library of songs out there in the world, and you may smile!

Our Economy, Ourselves –

Recently, while talking with a friend about the economy, job situation, and such, one of us mentioned that people may now begin (as they did in the "olden" days) to repair and maintain what they have, rather than throwing it away and buying a new one (of anything, but specifically vehicles). My truck is a 1991, which he already knew. As the conversation continued, I ventured that maybe some people snicker about my truck’s age, though not in my presence (because I’m so fiercely in love with my truck, Lance, about whom some of my earlier posts speak). "Well", I said, "we could say that’s how I walk my talk, or in this case, drive my talk". (I'm not shy about airing my disapproval of discarding things instead of maintaining them, of buying a new vehicle every couple of years, of manufacturing gazillions of new cars every year and filling up landfills with cast-offs.) Also, what I was referring to were the twin realities of our population growing exponentially (here in the U.S. as well as in what we think of as third-world countries) and our being among the most insatiable users of resources and a major influence in getting the people of other nations to follow our example as users. All facets of our economy have, over the years, become driven by blatant materialism and keeping the market glutted with products. So now we are seeing that train coming to a screeching halt, even jumping off the track. I often think in terms of imaging and that is the picture our predicament brings to my mind. I believe it will take a major shift in the way we view things and the way we do things ... and setting things in a direction that is more congruent with sincere bipartisan efforts to bridge the chasm between rich and poor.

Kids & Obesity --

I’ve been reading magazine articles lately and saw the introduction of a television report this evening about overweight U.S. kids and their health problems.

I know there are no simple answers to remedy the dangerous trend of children who weigh way too much; in fact, I think to find answers, quite a few of today’s ways of living would need to be adjusted or overhauled. I may be dating myself with what I’m about to say ... but I clearly remember that there was only one overweight child in my entire elementary school ... and I think her weight was due to family genetics. Sitting here recounting memories of my childhood, I realize the myriad of things that are missing, different, or negative in the lives of today's children in our country.

There are now too many cars in the streets. Years ago, kids were relatively safe in most streets and car drivers knew that kids had the right-of-way. We used to bike ride for miles all day, literally all day.

The girls had two time and energy-consuming outdoor activities that we did almost daily: hop scotch (hopping, tossing a small stone, bending to pick it up, and balancing on one foot on squares we would draw on the sidewalk, street, or in the dirt) and jump-rope (a twirler on each end while we’d each take turns jumping in, jumping in time to one of several chants until we’d miss a step or jump out ... or maybe ‘double-dutch’, with two ropes going at the same time in opposite directions).

Tag – We enjoyed this running, hiding, and chasing game for girls and boys that we did constantly in our neighborhood yards.

Red Light, Giant Steps, and Red Rover were three more outdoor yard games.

Climbing Trees – Yes, I did that and a few other girls did, too, although it was an activity mostly enjoyed by boys. I did much of my childhood reading while sitting in a favorite tree. What a great feeling of connection to Nature, too!

Boys had their own games: the concentration skills of Marbles, played in the dirt or on the sidewalk almost anyplace and Fist-Fighting. I’m serious ... they worked off a lot of energy in playground fisticuffs, boxing-style.

We expended a lot of energy in walking and running, just as a way of getting from one place to another.

I’ve noticed that there are many, many organized athletic, competitive activities for kids; but, that’s just the rub – they are very organized and competitive and, therefore, stressful – and only attempted by kids who don’t mind dealing with stress (or whose parents enjoy cheering on their child’s team). Children's physical games, in the past, were done in situations where the kids were able to create their own "stakes" (of win/lose) among friends; that was very different than competing successfully in front of the general public.

Another factor that is glaring is the lack of open, uncultivated places where kids can play anything freestyle. Except for the few parks (which also, necessarily and properly, serve as a mini-habitat for dwindling wildlife fauna and flora) where such activities are possible, everyone everywhere is concerned with liability. Liability has become big business, so it definitely is a concern if kids are playing or skateboarding on business property (and, let’s face it – almost everything’s paved over as business property or roadway). Schools now are monitored like fortresses, with video cameras and rules galore. When I was a child, you could tell if it was OK to use the playground during non-school hours, by observing whether the swings were attached to the swing frame. And years ago, when we fell or a big kid beat us up, another kid would rush to our home and alert our mother so that she could come to our aid ... nobody got sued. So the issue of liability has changed a lot of things for kids.

There was an "ole swimming hole" at Nesbitt’s in the town where I grew up. It was frequented by many of the boys in town; I think I was the only girl who went there and, when I did, I was escorted by my father and his fishing pole. The swimming hole had a jagged-shaped dirt bank around it; I would say the circumference of the swimming area was about equivalent to a 30-foot pool, by today’s standards. The water was untreated and totally natural, with a few fish swimming in it; it was fed by a large creek surrounded by skunk cabbages. It was very picturesque. Can you imagine such a place existing now ... unfenced, unpatrolled? It was owned property. My guess is that was owned by someone named Nesbitt. The mindset of that day and time was different.

Another large factor that influences the many things that have changed for children (and everybody) is population growth. There were way fewer people a few short years ago ... and there was way more space in any given town.

Too, now there is fast-food. Fast, fat-laden, easily accessible food; kids' school lunches are loaded with unhealthy, processed foods (some of which were unrecognizable last time I looked).

Kids’ recreational choices currently are organized sports, television, video games and (thankfully still existing) reading. I think a lot of kids choose video games. I can sit here today and remember all the things I’ve just written about. The memories are vivid -- some good, some bad. Will today’s kids, many years from now as they think back, remember fondly their activities? Maybe, will they say "yeah and I used to play such and such video game...it was great!" How can we be puzzled about today’s childhood obesity? To me, it’s easy to understand the dilemma kids are in.

#s, #s, #s

Of people. I wrote a post about human overpopulation a few months ago. All of our efforts to "go green" will miss the mark unless we become willing to talk about putting a halt on population growth, which is really at the heart of the world’s most serious and pervasive problems. I’ll copy and paste here a portion of an e-mail response I sent to a friend of mine recently (he’d sent me a website URL about overpopulation).

"Yes, the burgeoning human (over)population is at the core of almost every problem the world is dealing with. I count the exponential growth of US population as a big part of it, as we are big "users"/consumers. Recently I put up a blog post that talks about population and how no politician is willing to mention or even acknowledge the population factor. Without humane human population control (war being a popular but inhumane method of population control), recycling can never be enough. Al Gore mentioned the factor of population growth in his book "An Inconvenient Truth", for which I give him a lot of credit (although the topic needs a book of its own)...the author, though, would need to be very brave and probably would be majorly criticized and could even be imprisoned or assassinated".