Preventing extinction of species is a major concern of many countries in the world today. Legislation to accomplish this is usually based on an endangered species list. Such a list should include any animal or plant species that has been deemed likely to go extinct in a few generations. Listing would normally trigger protective actions to […]
Whenever I need a brief respite from my work, I get out on my fire escape for a little air: Astoria, Queens, New York City, USA air. From my wrought iron perch, I am regularly treated to a wide range of urban bird companions. In these moments, I can’t help but imagine what it might […]
Think “out-of-this-universe” rights (Universal Rights, my ass), hint hint, chuckle chuckle. Universal Rights Given to Us By Whom? In USA? This is a joke beyond jokes. I was at a Chamber (local) meeting with 50 folk. Yesterday. Yeah, jolly jolly, out to a community college room, with pastries from the local bakery, and people there […]
What it means to stand on the sidelines while others do the heavy lifting.
The post The Uninvolved first appeared on Dissident Voice.
“These big brains are more burden than bargain.” (Kurt Vonnegut) In your life, you may face no greater nemesis than your own mind. The tradeoffs for these big brains of ours are big problems. We fixate, ruminate, self-sabotage, over-react, and seemingly do everything in our power to avoid staying in the present moment. If only […]
The post How to Lose Your Mind first appeared on Dissident Voice.
Once upon a time Dostoevsky wrote a passage in The Idiot (1868) about an abused donkey passed from owner to owner which inspired Robert Bresson’s classic 1966 film Au Hasard Balthazar. Polish film director Jerzy Skolimowski, 56 at the time, watched the Bresson film and it became the first, last and only movie that ever […]
The post EO: Bearing Witness in the Hell of Speciesism first appeared on Dissident Voice.
Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar had so much money that he literally could not spend it fast enough. He and the Medellín cartel he started dominated the cocaine trade in the 1980s. By then, he was earning about $420 million per week. Storing piles of cash in fields and warehouses, he’d write off 10 percent […]
The post A Drug Lord and His Hungry, Hungry Cocaine Hippos first appeared on Dissident Voice.
In a country expert in killing off mammal species at a rate exceeding that of others (to be fair, there are so many more to destroy, with more to come), Australians now face the prospect that the koala, one of its most singularly recognisable animals, has its days numbered. Divergent attitudes to such animal species, […]
The post The “She’ll Be Right, Mate” Syndrome: Australia’s Doomed Koalas first appeared on Dissident Voice.
The oceans of the world are undergoing a dangerous and damaging upheaval that manifests throughout scientific studies of late. Whether it’s the world’s fisheries of the Bering Strait or coral reefs of the Mediterranean Sea or emaciated Gray Whales along the Pacific coastline, study after study after study describes sudden, sharp downturns in all categories […]
The post Ocean Heat Killing Spree first appeared on Dissident Voice.
Somewhere in Kansas, there’s a long plodding line. In it, as on any given day, some 5,000 cattle slowly amble forward, each steer or heifer following the one just ahead. For the most part, they’re calm; it’s just another bovine line; cattle get used to them. Abruptly, for a few near the front, the familiarity […]
The post One Small Step for Man, One Giant Hot Dog for Mankind first appeared on Dissident Voice.
