http://nautil.us/issue/14/mutation/if-the-world-began-again-would-life-as-we-know-it-exist

... food for thought for the non-Creationist ... and also appreciation for the fact that we do exist if there was no Divine intervention.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173478

... this poem is one of those that always remained in my heart from the moment I first came across it in high school.

Especially the line "His soul stretched tight across the skies".

And the lines just before that:

"You curled the papers from your hair,
Or clasped the yellow soles of feet
In the palms of both soiled hands."

Anchored by the passage:

"I am moved by fancies that are curled
Around these images, and cling:
The notion of some infinitely gentle
Infinitely suffering thing. "

The idea that we are all as much a part of Nature as Nature itself, and that we should reflect on our vulnerability and suffering.

I remember the teacher, a Mr. White, a young passionate sincere soul with a beard, almost hippie like but not quite.

Perhaps Sustainability lies in breaking the mould of how we see ourselves, and that chipping away at the steel that constrains us and limits our creativity and imagination lies in the collective power of a myriad different things.

This was an immediate thought that struck me as I read this article:

http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/06/26/first-ladies-are-regal-maternal-and-patriotic-should-they-be-sexy-too/

The modern grace of the First Lady Michelle Obama, one dimension, the proud affirmation of womanhood by the First Lady of Mexico, Angelica Rivera de Pena, another.

Different styles yet both a positive force to change our mindsets, as we evolve towards a more profound understanding of who we are as a species and how do we flow like water into a sustainable future.

Perhaps the meme shattering phenomena of say Madonna or Lady Gaga, the musicians of the Sixties and Seventies when the Great Western Revolution took place, the gentle lyrics of Rodriguez, all of these are part of the evolution?

Somehow we need to keep on moving towards the collaborative compassionate society that is the nature of our collective - with unfortunately a number of defectors as flies in the human ointment.

We need to collectively be ever alert for the Pavlov game players that stand in our way, and check mate their every move.

Perhaps then in a collective humanity, wherein an ethos of fairness prevails, the ethos necessary for the collective to maximise the sum of individual happiness, perhaps then we can find that which our nature makes possible.

http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html

... some of the ideas herein make climate change seem like a triviality ... !

www.postlibertarian.com/2014/01/global-climate-snapshot-state-of-the-planet-2013/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Postlibertarian+%28PostLibertarian%29&utm_content=FeedBurner

... less alarming, and prepared with a fresh look ... the author, a libertarian who now sees himself as a post-libertarian, writes with an interesting view point.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/26/upshot/why-you-should-root-for-nigeria-or-brazil-mexico-or-ghana.html?_r=0

... a simple utilitarian model to show the teams that would achieve the greatest number of happy people if they won the world cup; surprisingly it is not Brazil but Nigeria!

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/06/20/uk-carbon-hacker-idUKKBN0EV1EE20140620

... cyber theft of carbon credits is a crime against humanity.

So too the continuous carbon emissions by vested interests.

http://www.theconsensusproject.com/news.php?p=2&t=140&&n=170

... the 'tragedy of the commons" wherein vested interests that do not co-operate play an instinctive Pavlov strategy; devoid of any morality whatsoever, the Pavlov strategy can only be counter acted by the classical Tit-For-Tat strategy.

In the case of climate change, a sufficiently enlightened global consumer population that reaches a critical mass can significantly consumer boycott vested interests that play the Pavlov game, delivering a Tit For Tat response that impacts negatively on their bottom line.

At the individual level, the Pavlov strategy is played instinctively by financial sociopaths e.g. cheating on business partners or unsuspecting consumers.

At the corporate level the Pavlov strategy exhibits itself as e.g. the cigarette industry's historical denials that passive smoking causes cancer; as the tide of global awareness rose so these interest have been put in their place, making smoking in lublic places illegal in many countries.

At the national level the Pavlov strategy gets even worse wherein e.g. wars are fomented to achieve ideological or national goals.

The masses, with an overwhelming sense of goodwill towards others, are continuously exploited by the unscrupulous individuals and the collective vested interests they serve.

An important collective realization for global mass goodness (that most of Humanity forms) is that Pavlovians are 'wolves in sheep skins', all around us, in places of worship or government institutions or in any of the many respected institutions in all spheres of live that we encounter, ready to pounce on the unsuspecting, ready to cheat, infringe, exploit, take advantage as long as they benefit.

http://dishwashers.reviewed.com/features/chinese-3d-printers-build-10-houses-in-one-day?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=USAT%20Recirc

... one way to house the South African homeless ...

http://qz.com/221137/six-charts-that-show-how-stingy-america-is-toward-its-own-families/

... and the UK's economy is becoming healthier by the month ...

http://phys.org/news/2014-06-sea-shepherd-faroes-dolphin.html

... you would no longer expect such a ritual to be taking place, especially in the Euro Zone.

How thin is the veneer that separates our apehood from our manhood?

Is this still how a male Faroe Islander needs to behave in order to secure a female mate?