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The old button from the Environmental Club days which I just happened to find on Earth Day! It is a little beat up (particularly the ends of the ribbon), but no worse for the wear, I think. And it is one of the few items that I have left from those days, so it carries a lot of great memories for me! Nothing Changes Until You Do!
Here is a picture of a very similar logo, with the same message, that was on the t-shirt that I purchased from the BCC Environmental Club and, if memory serves me correctly, may even have helped to make. There were a few projects like that which club members, myself included, were regularly involved with. It has been so long, however, that I no longer recall specifically if I actually helped to make these or not, although I do believe so, since I remember seeing the process of the t-shirts being dyed. In any case, I loved this t-shirt, and have kept it ever since, even if I do not regularly wear it. Since it was part of my experience with the BCC Environmental Club days, as well as more generally having an environmental theme, it seemed appropriate to share it here.
"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed."
~Mahatma Gandhi
"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."
~John F. Kennedy
“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”
~ Chief Si’ahl (Seattle)
“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”
~ Chief Si’ahl (Seattle)
Last year, Brazil elected it's own version of Donald Trump.
Yes, Jair Bolsonaro won Brazil's highest office with many of the same kind of promises that Donald Trump made to the United States, and many of the same clear conclusions.
And nowhere is the similarity between the two as striking as with their positions regarding climate change. Both have made polluting and lowering environmental standards in their respective countries.
Trump quickly made dumping into the nation's waters much easier for major polluters. He took land from the national parks, and tried to make offshore drilling not only easier, but mandatory. He undermined this by granting Florida an exception, and Floridian politicians were - surprise, surprise!- allied politically to Trump.
Even worse, Trump denies climate change even exists, something that most of the rest of the world, and even most Americans (70 percent, according to polls) have come to terms with being reality. Even many prominent Republicans opposed to climate change have acknowledged that it is a reality, even though they now base their opposition to action on the notion that human activity did not cause it. But Trump simply believes it is a big hoax invented by the Chinese, with the intention of hurting the American economy.
To that end, Trump made worldwide news headlines - and received deserved worldwide condemnation in the process - for pulling the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord. This was a dubious distinction for Trump and his country, as the United States now stands as the only country in the world to reject the Paris Climate Accord on the grounds that it is skeptical of the science behind climate change.
But just like the rise of Trump politically sparked hate crimes and staggering levels of polarization here in the United States, his official position against climate change, and more importantly, his actions taken to confirm this belief (or professed belief), have emboldened other world leaders to apparently flirt with some controversial measures. And none more than Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro.
Yes, Bolsonaro has toyed with the idea of pulling Brazil out of the Paris Climate Accord, much like the United States did.
And not surprisingly, Bolsonaro's Brazil is now telling the world to back off in criticisms and concerns regarding the rapid deforestation of the Amazon rain forest. It is not a concern for the rest of the world, but strictly a domestic issue for Brazilians, apparently.
General Augusto Heleno Pereira, in an interview in Brasilia, had this to say:
"I don’t accept this idea that the Amazon is world heritage, this is nonsense. The Amazon is Brazilian, the heritage of Brazil and should be dealt with by Brazil for the benefit of Brazil."
He continued:
"There’s a totally unnecessary and nefarious foreign influence in the Amazon. NGOs hide strategic, economic and geopolitical interests."
Summing up, Pereira said:
"We have the capacity to carry out sustainable development in the Amazon without harming the rest of the world. Now I can’t accept the rest of the world giving lessons on the Amazon."
It is a bit ironic that Trump keeps talking about stronger borders, and criticizing opponents who, he claims, want softer, open borders. It seems that his weak ideas have too easily spread, like a virus, beyond America's borders. Sadly, this has emboldened idiotic politicians, and their apparently numerous supporters, in numerous nations around the world, as well. Tragically, none may have quite the detrimental impact to the world as Brazil under Bolnosaro.
Brazil Tells the World: The Amazon Rainforest Is Ours, Not Yours By Samy Adghirni May 10, 2019:
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