When Recep Tayyip Erdogan defends Gaza , that’s the least of his worries. He defends Gaza as World Energy Markets die. Erdogan is one of the few leaders in the Middle East to openly criticize Benjamin Netanyahu for his callous bombing campaign. In addition to providing hope for Gaza in her ongoing trial, Erdogan also reminds us that the Levant has seen better times. Palestine was under Turkish rule for four hundred years prior to the days of the British Mandate of Palestine. Apparently, Erdogan has not forgotten this long-lost child of the Ottoman Empire. On November 29, after Netanyahu continued to spew his vile threats at Gaza, Erdogan called Netanyahu the ‘butcher of Gaza‘.
(more…)Category: Protecting Mother Earth
Protecting Mother Earth is a priority in our Season of Creation. If we are protecting Mother Earth, we will also be protecting the human race. This includes addressing the food systems that provide daily sustenance. The main enemy to this agenda today is war and its effects on human sustenance, both now and in the future. For example, white phosphorus dropped on ‘enemy’ populations destroys human lives in the short term and in the long term, it destroys the source of the human sustenance– farmland.
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Agricultural Policy and Food Security
One of the reasons I supported Bernie Sanders for president was his support of family farms against the abuses of agribusiness. Agricultural policy and food security should be at the center of our plan for the future. This makes sense because we have a large and growing global population and dwindling resources.
I want to discuss an article in the February 2016 issue of Harper’s entitled The Trouble With Iowa. This article makes it clear that agricultural policy in the United States is not concerned with a quality life for farmers, promoting food security, or encouraging the responsible use of resources. We must find a way to end the abuses of agribusiness.
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Laudato Si’ and the Progressive Movement
Some people were surprised by Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’. However, the Catholic Church is the most obvious entity in European history to take up the cause of the environment. The progressive movement shares Pope Francis’s concern. We should make ourselves familiar with this document, discuss it, and build on it.
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Agribusiness Meets Reality
I recently said that the words of those who criticize Laudato Si’ have no substance. Now I’ll try to be more specific. Laudato Si’ is a rebuke of current practices, including agribusiness, but it is not the only dissenting voice. In this post, agribusiness meets reality.
My concerns about the environment are based on an undeniable fact. Regardless of whether we manage to slow the birthrate, the human population will reach 9 billion people by 2050. The world has never had this many people before. Since we can’t see the future we have to plan according to the facts we do have. If our goal is to support the projected number of people, our first priority should be food and water. However, current policy-makers are oblivious to this goal.
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