Before, During and After Total Solar Eclipse 2017 / A windfall environmental discussion opportunity

THE ECLIPSE IS A ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY FOR PEOPLE TO COME TOGETHER AND LEARN ABOUT SCIENCE AND THE WORKINGS OF THE UNIVERSE.

I can imagine brighter days in the near future when Americans start to get smarter about science and more personally involved in environmental and ecosystem issues before, during and and after the sun comes out from behind the moon at the Total Solar Eclipse next August 21, 2017.

Earth Day 2017 was celebrated on April 22. The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970 activated 20 million Americans from all walks of life and is widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement.   This year, 2017,  national and global "Marches For Science" were held on April 22.  The Earth Day Network is suggesting that the Scientific "Teach-in" concept deployed in the first Earth Day be used again now. These teach-ins could help jump start community discussions about the environment before, during and after the Total Eclipse of the Sun on August 21, 2017.

Below is an temporal outline of the scenario I envision.  ( Online I have written more about each of the following topics and will amplify each in more detail in the the near future)

1.  I am starting the creation a collaborative/interactive Google map to identify grassroots opportunities to learn about and take positive actions on environmental and ecosystem issues. List of topics include:  Native Wildlife, Native Flora,
Native Americans, Wilderness, Ecosystems, Endangered species, Public Lands and Rivers, and Air -Water-Climate.  


https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_HwGgiyKc4E0PDw-Rtmz1aabpH4&usp=sharing 

2. The "dark days"related to nature and the environment in America have been around us for many generations known most dramatically by Native Americans. 

3.  Crazy Horse of the Oglala Lakota in 1877, prophesized that in 7 Generations... the whole earth would become a circle again.  We are living in that time now and many tribes are coming together to address land, water and animal treaty rights.

4.  1960's and 70's Environmental Movement.  (public trust doctrine)
      Wilderness, Clean Air, Clean Water, Wild and Scenic Rivers, Endangered Species Acts

5.  The Northwest 1979 Total Eclipse of the Sun - Moonshadow 79'. 
https://www.facebook.com/501785396/posts/10151123892770397/

5.  1980's to the present time and the recent Trump presidential election.
     Reagan election and the influence of conservative think tanks

6.  Cities in the 2017 eclipse path are promoting economic windfall opportunities.  Grassroot environmental groups can also us the  eclipse for educational and activism opportunities before, during and after the eclipse date.  I hope the Collaborative/ Interactive Google map will aid in this effort.

6.  7 Generations into the future.  The Nez Perce and other Native American tribes are cooperating  with the 7 Generation fund to focus on supporting grassroots development through Native community empowerment and action.  http://www.7genfund.org

7. The Our Children's Trust project is very current and obvious  example of the potential for actions to protect the environment for future generations. Imagine the results of an election a few years from now when these youths and others in their age group who might better understand their responsibilities as citizens to protect the broader environment issues are able to vote!  (Public Trust doctrine)
https://www.ourchildrenstrust.org

8.  Imagine that the 7 Generation Native American vision for the future can become synonymous with all Americans.  See the Nez Perce NIMIIPUU Protecting the Environment non profit Facebook page as an example.
https://www.facebook.com/NimiipuuProtectingTheEnvironment/

9. Overview of Gary O, Grimm Background related to outoor and wilderness community networking.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_oK57isCk3yM0V1V3A1SlBZY2M/view

Hey Bear -GOAL & Grizzly Times

At the Speak For Wolves 2016 meeting in West Yellowstone in July I recorded video of presentations given by Hey Bear - Goal and Grizzly Times about the history and future of Grizzly Bear management. 

Below are a few of my own grizzly photos and links to these important organizations.

After the meeting a few days later I was eye to eye with a "Great Grizzly Bear" through a telephoto lens.

Hey Bear - GOAL Tribal Coalition

"Grizzly Bears are sacred endangered animals and GOAL is a coalition of nearly 50 tribes dedicated to stopping delisting & "senseless trophy hunting."

Facebook Page:

Web Site:

This female Grizzly bear and cub are in danger if delisting is allowed.

This article in Grizzly Times, by David Mattson is titled:

"Disserving the Public Trust:  The despotic future of grizzly bear management"

'In brief, wildlife management by the states of Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana is a corrupt and despotic system enslaved through culture and financial dependencies to serving the interests of those who have a worldview that features violence, iconizes weapons, makes fetishes of sexual organs, and instrumentalizes animals. Moreover, state wildlife managers have a history of demonizing carnivores in defiance of the best available science as part of a narrative that features killing predators to purportedly boost sport-hunting opportunities for “customers.”'

Namby-Pamby

"Namby-Pamby"

Years ago Doug Newman at the University of Oregon Outdoor Program used the term to describe easy, laid back, no commitment, Common Adventure, day hikes. I have just seen the term used again by Jim Hightower related to the Bernie Sanders populist insurgency. "—It yanked the national debate out of the hands of the Washington and corporate elites: both devoted for more than 30 years to rigging all the rules to further enrich the 1 percenters at the expense of everyone else — and proved that future success requires Democrats to abandon their effete namby-pambyism and embrace the vision, message, and issues of unabashed populism."  

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/08/03/populist-insurgency-ratcheting

"Commoning as a transformational social paradigm"

I found this interesting article that explores the meaning of the word "Commons" and how it relates to Economics, Ecosystem Stewardship and transitional system change from the bottom up.

"Commoning as a transformational social paradigm" by David Bollier, The Next System Project.

http://www.thenextsystem.org/commoning-as-a-transformative-social-paradigm/?mc_cid=1abc0d562f&mc_eid=cce9d4cff0

Speciesism, The Myth of Human Superiority, Barry Lopez, E.O. Wilson, Wolves, Grizzly Bears, etc.

Attempts to rationalize the killing of wild wolves, grizzly bears, bison, coyotes  because of human attitudes and behavior does not adequately consider how we are systematically practicing "predator speciesism," an important ecological term rarely discussed in our contemporary media.  The term speciesism can also be applied to human recent contributions to the catastrophic earth wide extinction of other animals and plant species.

These topics are of great concern to me and I am trying to reconcile how to engage productively in discussions and actions that will affect changes that I really believe are needed. 

I recently read this article about Barry Lopez talking about his work dedicated to inspiring a sense of community between humanity and the natural world. 

http://www.thestylus.net/news/view.php/1019842/Barry-Lopez-speaks-on-the-need-for-commu

Clearly, Lopez's concerns can be related to the this important issue discussed in  "The Myth of Human Supremacy," a book by Derrik Jensen. 

http://www.derrickjensen.org/work/books-dvds-cds/#myth-of-human-supremacy

Furthermore, E.O. Wilson is promoting the idea of "Half-Earth, devoting half of the surface of earth to nature" and also notes that politicians are not talking about the extinction catastrophe and asks the question - "In a logical living ecosystem do all flora and fauna, including humans, have equal rights to life? 

https://aeon.co/essays/half-of-the-earth-must-be-preserved-for-nature-conservation
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/can-world-really-set-aside-half-planet-wildlife-180952379/

Surpise - Republican Focus Group finds Bernie Sanders has highest favorability rating.

Bernie Sanders is seen by voters as being honest, trustworthy, authentic and genuine.  People are not voting on policy but on persona or personality which matters most. To Republican strategist Frank Luntz's surprise the  focus group had a consensus that Bernie Sanders could be the "third party candidate" who could beat Trump, Clinton and others still in the race.  Bernie Sander's integrity is galvanizing the base of both democrats and republicans and national polls indicate that he has the most favorable rating.  

Watch the YouTube interview below.

Holy Moly! - A political revolution and a new "Peoples Party."

Robert Reich speculates on the emergence of a new "Peoples Party."

And Holy Moly -  In Boise,  Bernie Sanders on March 21, 2016 talked about "A Future to Believe In"  and asked us to be involved in a "Political Revolution."   Bernie has listened to women, young people, latinos, African, and Native Americans.  Saying what politicians hardly ever admit -  "First Americans have been lied to, cheated, treaties broken, yet we owe so much to First Americans.  They have taught us respect for environment and that we as people got to live as a part of nature - not destroy nature."  "Climate change is caused by human activity and it is real.  The future is bleak if we do not have the guts to tell the fossil fuel industry that their short term profits are not more important than the future of this planet."

"Everybody here knows that real change has never taken place from the top on down, it has always taken place from the bottom on up!  Please don't expect the status quo as being something that has to go on forever -  We can make change if we have a vision of where we want this country to go.  If we stand together as black and white and latino and asian American and native Americans and gay and straight, as men and women, if we stand together there is nothing we cannot accomplish."  Don't tell Bernie that we can' t solve our current health care, economic, environmental and other big problems.

I intend to post here as well as, or instead of on Facebook.

I have fallen into the practice of responding, sharing and posting my thoughts on Facebook, and sometimes on Google Plus, Twitter, etc.

However, I am not interested in the way Facebook handles my incoming feeds or my outgoing posts.

As time permits, I intend to repost some of my most personal posts from Facebook in the past over to this blog.  I also have numerous notes that I have archived for posting over the past few years that I will try to prepare for posting here.

The next post here will be about my Facebook post today regarding Robert Reich's idea for a new "Peoples Party" and Bernie Sanders promotion of a "political revolution."

Rugged Individualism and Government Subsidies

In this good article, posted in The Wildlife News on January 7, 2016  George Wuerthner points out government subsidy dollars ranchers and the rest of us benefit from that should be obvious to any curious person. The problem may be that many are not open to discussing the pros and cons of these subsidies, especially as they relate to the past, current and future degradation of local, regional and global ecosystems.

Regarding the "past" and "current" times it is also sobering to read about the U.S. Government, land speculators, ranchers, towns, etc., history of  greed for land and power that decimated the Native American tribes as the United States was being developed from the time of the first European settlements and also via the concept of "Manifest Destiny" and Western expansion and interventionism in the 19th century.

I try to imagine what America and our world would be like if the Native American cultures and attitudes about land and wildlife, had been recognized as equal to the early European "invaders."  Personally, I believe future generations will condemn this embarrassing history.

 I found an "Indian Country Today Media Network site with this animated map that illustrates the amount of land still recognized as being "Indian Lands" in 1784 and how that land was lost progressively through the 1800's to the present time.  It should be noted that the original cultures of the Native Americans today has been almost totally destroyed even if tribes still have rights to small reservation lands.  In partnership with Indians, we might have learned valuable lessons about how to treat the land, wildlife, plants and our fellow humans.
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The same Indian Country Today page noted above also provides the two maps below:

What the U.S. Indian Lands looked like before European Contact:

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What the U.S. Indian Lands look like today.