Author: Marilynne

Afraid of Being Mugged?

Last week we discussed the impact of population on the planet. Since then, several friends told me they started carrying pepper spray. I decided to delve into a subset of that question to see if population density affects crime. Following is a summary of my findings. For more information delve into the references at the end.

I started by exploring the mid-to-late 1990s, a period when homicides and property crime rates dropped without warning, a time when many of the myths that had been spouted unraveled. Most people believed that with spatial distances reduced, aggression will increase along with the chance of being victimized. But, instead of investing in their neighborhoods, residents join networks of like-minded people spread throughout the city.

Despite logic, homicide rates plunged in the late 90s by 43 percent. It occurred in all geographic areas and democratic groups, and every type of crime. Curious as to why, Steven Levitt, writing for the Journal of Economic Perspectives, compiled numerous studies conducted at the time. Through his research, he recognized six myths that played little or no role in crime’s decline and mentioned four that did.

Myths

1) A strong economy reduces crime. Levitt didn’t find proof connecting the drop in crime rate to the strong economy of the late 90s aside from the fact that local governments had more money to spend on community policing.

2 ) Aging demographics played a role–older citizens commit fewer crimes. This statistic was counterbalanced by the baby boomer echo, a group that committed most of the crimes.

3) Gun control laws reduce crime. Buy-backs and gun control laws had little impact on crime reduction. Those who commit crimes don’t take advantage of these programs.

4) Better policing strategies reduce crime. New York, the most innovative state, didn’t do significantly better than states that didn’t employ their methods though this finding is somewhat controversial. With community-based policing, crime-fighting enforcement of nuisance activities like panhandling was helped, and improved technology helped in identifying criminal hot spots.

5) Laws allowing for concealed weapons reduced crimes. Studies don’t support the claim that armed citizens defer potential offenders. Unless you wear a holster, it’s hard to grab a weapon when surprised by a criminal.

6) Increased use of capital punishment. Capital punishment doesn’t explain why robberies declined and it isn’t likely to influence a murderer bent on revenge.

Likely factors for the decline

1) Increased policing meant a faster response time.

2) The Rising Prison Population. More people were incarcerated. Most were drug-related offenses, but parole revocation increased and longer sentences were dolled out.

3) The Receding Crack Epidemic. Crack cocaine, used primarily by young black males, began to decline.

4) The Legalization of Abortion. Twenty years after Roe vs. Wade, it was recognized that unwanted children are at a greater risk to become criminals. Legalizing abortion reduced the number of unwanted births. That in turn put fewer criminals on the streets.

Crime today

The so-called scaling law accounts for the size of a city’s wealth creation, knowledge production, criminality, and other aspects of urbanization. Yet its use is not straightforward. When researchers look at different crime types, they find vast differences between homogenous and mixed communities. It is best not to use unequivocal statements like, “the greater the population the more crime.” Our citizens are not rats in a caged experiment and the current increase in crime isn’t the same for equally dense populations. Governance, poverty, and social norms may be more important.

Crime rose dramatically in the U.S. during the Covid-19 pandemic, increasing by 30 percent in large cities, and 20 percent in those with fewer than 50,000 residents. It grew equally in cities run by Republicans and by Democrats, though red states experienced some of the highest murder rates. The rise was concentrated among younger people in poor and disadvantaged communities.

Murder Trends by Region and Population Group (2019-2020)

Percentage of Increase

Northeast 36.1%

Midwest 36.2%

South 26.0%

West 26.7%

Population Groups

Major Cities (250,000) 34.2%

Metropolitan Counties 17.4%

Nonmetropolitan Counties 19.7%

Suburban Areas 20.0%

Aside from motor vehicle thefts, property crimes decreased. Despite the overall increase in crime, the nation hasn’t returned to the high rates of the early 1990s. The Brennan Center for Justice illuminates the following myths and reasons for the increase in crime post-Covid.

Myths

1. Recent criminal justice reforms, like early release from jail, bail reform laws, and pretrial detention law changes, aren’t significant contributors to the upward trend.
2. Policing practices don’t have a direct link to crime. De-policing policies don’t explain why violent crime rose and property crime didn’t.

Likely reasons for the increase

1. More guns are in private hands. 77 percent of murders last year were committed with a firearm, the highest share ever. The time between its legal purchase and its appearance at a crime scene was shorter than in previous years.
2. Covid-19 created the most unequal socioeconomic situation in U.S. history. Those challenged to meet basic needs faced the added trauma of sickness and death. Non-profits that ordinarily play a key role in public safety had to limit their services. Violence intervention programs dealt with clients virtually instead of on the streets. The closing of community spaces, schools, summer programs, pools, and libraries left communities without safe places to go outside of homes. Remember that most crime occurs in poor communities.
3. Mental health issues worsened as inequalities in the delivery of services widened.
4. Racially and economically disadvantaged communities became more segregated from the rest of society. Many struggling communities fell apart.

The Brennan Center warns against responding to rising crime rates with policies that failed in the past. Punitive sentencing and pretrial detention never worked and the collateral consequences of incarceration were disastrous. Despite that, the prison population remains four times higher than in the 1980s at a tremendous cost to the public. It is a drag on the earring potential of the millions of incarcerated Americans who can’t vote or find jobs.

Understanding population statistics in relation to crime has to be nuanced. New York City, with a population of 8,467,513 has 5.8 violent crimes per 100,000 and 15.6 property crimes per 100,000. It ranks among the safest of large cities in America.

The most dangerous city is St. Louis, Missouri, with a population of 304,709 down from 750,177 ten years earlier. It has unstable housing, a poor education system, and a crippled economy. Detroit, Michigan with a population of 624,177 down from 713,026 in 2010, is also crime-ridden. With the loss of manufacturing jobs and desegregation politics, it has become one of the poorest major cities. Baltimore, Maryland with a population of 578,658 has been trending downwards for decades and is also plagued by poverty and unemployment.

10 Most Dangerous Cities in the U.S. according to Forbes. (Population recorded within city boundaries, not the metro area)

1. St. Louis, Missouri (304,709)
2. Jackson, Mississippi (426,000)
3. Detroit, Michigan (624,177)
4. New Orleans, Louisiana (1.26 million)
5. Baltimore, Maryland (578,658)
6. Memphis, Tennessee (630,348)
7. Cleveland, Ohio (383,331)
8. Baton Rouge, Louisiana (870,569)
9. Kansas City, Missouri (1,698,000)
10. Shreveport, Louisiana (323,000)

Safest Large Cities ( population over 300,000)

1. Virginia Beach, Virginia (457,672)
2. Honolulu, Hawaii (352,335)
3. Henderson, Nevada (322,178)
4. El Paso, Texas (963,000)
5. Mesa, Arizona (517, 302)
6. San Diego, California (1,402,838)
7. Raleigh, North Carolina (480,419)
8. Anaheim, California ( 345,940 )
9. San Jose, California (1,000,008)
10. Santa Ana, California (309,441)
11. New York City (8,467,513)
12. Austin, Texas (964,177)
13. Arlington, Texas (400,032)
14. Las Vegas, Nevada (651,124)
15. Riverside, California (317,261)

Conclusion: Unless you live in a very poor neighborhood, it is not likely that you will be mugged. With the possible exception of your automobile, your property won’t be robbed. To reduce crime, poverty has to be eliminated and people assured a job even if social programs are the means to do so. It is much less expensive to have everyone employed than to have them remain poor, drug addicted, and have to pay for social services and incarceration.

References:

Oliveira, M. (2021) More crime in cities? On the scaling laws of crime and the inadequacy of per capita rankings-a cross-country study.Crime Science Journal.  retrieved from https://crimesciencejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40163-021-00155-8

Levitt, S. (2004) Understanding Why Crime Fell in the 1990’s: four factors that explain the Decline and Six that Do Not. retrieved from https://pricetheory.uchicago.edu/levitt/Papers/LevittUnderstandingWhyCrime2004.pdf

Website (2022) 100 Safest Cities in America in 2022.  CCTV Camera world based on FBI information. retrieved from https://www.cctvcameraworld.com/safest-cities-in-america.html

Website 15 Cities with Highest Crime Rate in the US (2022). USA by numbers. retrieved from https://usabynumbers.com/cities-with-highest-crime-rate/#:

Grawert, A. & Kim, N. (2022) Myths and Realities: Understanding Recent Trends in Violent Crime.Brennan Center for Justice.  retrieved from https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/myths-and-realities-understanding-recent-trends-violent-crime

Bloom, L.. (2022) Crime in America: Study Reveals the 10 Most Unsafe Cities. (It’s Not Where You Think) Forbes. retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2022/02/23/crime-in-america-study-reveals-the-10-most-dangerous-cities-its-not-where-you-think/?sh=58b53e8e7710 —————————————————————————————————————————–

          Storyteller dolls form my collection. 

Should the population be controlled?

Several weeks ago, I mentioned how time-consuming it is to research the pros and cons of moral dilemmas. I presented ten ethical issues our country faces.  They are all complicated. I decided to tackle a few to help you fm an opinion. I only ask that you put away preconceived notions and be open to new information. Consider debating the issue over dinner and switching  sides halfway through the discussion. It’s the best way I’ve found to understand ethical issues.

Should we impose population controls as suggested by numerous scientists, or should we listen to religious leaders and economists?

Background

In 1798, Thomas Malthus, an Anglican clergyman, predicted that the earth would have standing room only by 1890. The population at the time was around 500 million but growing so fast in the former colonies that it doubled every 23 years. He was concerned that food couldn’t keep pace. Malthus’ arguments were embraced by the British who used them as an argument to get rid of the poor. 

Charles Darwin’s theories added fear as improved healthcare interfered with natural selection. The poor, who were the most prolific, were surviving into adulthood. Plague, pestilence, and unfiltered water were being managed to help them live longer. As their ranks grew, there became a push to stop the “unfit” from having children, and Eugenics was born. 

The Nazis grabbed onto U.S. research and took it a step further by promoting pure bloodlines and arousing fear in the wealthy who already felt threatened by the poor.  The controversy grew as to who was considered fit and who was not. John D. Rockefeller’s draft charter of the 1952 Population Council had a paragraph encouraging parents with above-average intelligence to have larger families. Research centers were established in poor countries with the goal of developing population control programs. William Vogt, national director of Planned Parenthood in 1948, wrote The Road to Survival, a widely read book documenting the negative effects of an expanding population on the environment. 

After World War II, developed countries sent medicine and aid workers to developing nations to the distress of eugenicists.  The result was a reduction in mortality rates with birthrates remaining high.  Over the 200 years following Mathus’ prediction, Western technology and agriculture increased food production so the world could feed itself. Advances in seed breeding, soil nutrient replenishment, irrigation, and mechanization kept the food supply staying ahead of the population curve. At the same time, the demand for energy, water use, transportation, and communication also rose.

Then came the bomb and the fear of a mega-ton Nuclear explosion. Dixie Cup founder, Hough Moore, initiated the population Action Committee to mobilize against the impending crisis.  He The Population Bomb, a pamphlet promoting that overpopulation would “create an explosion as disruptive and dangerous as the explosion of the atom.” 

Moore convinced the public that population controls would stop the Communists from raping women, a method they used to gain power. Though it was a lie, it didn’t seem so far-fetched, for impregnating women was often used by conquering warriors as a means of spreading their seed on foreign soil.

In Malthus day, no one thought that advances in public health, family planning, contraception, and urbanization might decrease fertility rates. But, that is what happened, and the public started to believe that the population rate was on the decline.

But halt! The Industrial Revolution came along, initiating a negative environmental trend as fossil fuels were fed into machines. Nations dug deeper for minerals, fished the oceans with more giant nets, and dammed rivers for electricity. Forests were cleared for agriculture, housing, and factories. A burgeoning population consumed rich stores of resources, depleting the earth’s natural capital.

In more affluent areas, fertility rates lowered to 2.6, slightly above replacement. In poorer regions, it was 5.1 children per woman. Yet, the fewer children in the wealthier countries caused the most damage. They consumed most of the resources and kept the rest of the world in poverty. The United Nations Population Division recently warned that the world is on course for 9.2 billion people by mid-century and the trend will continue. Is it Inevitable?

WHY POPULATION MATTERS

“All our environmental problems become easier to solve with fewer people, and harder — and ultimately impossible — to solve with ever more people,” said Sir David Attenborough who believed that women’s empowerment, easy access to high-quality education, and family planning will help ensure that everyone can have a decent standard of living on a healthy planet in the future. 

Romania went the other way and banned abortion and contraception in 1966. Maternal mortality rates jumped and thousands of children were placed in poorly funded orphanages. A culture of fear was created that eroded social relationships and affected the broader society. There weren’t enough doctors to care for the increase in babies and mothers, and a generation of mentally ill, retarded children plagued the country. Black market abortions flourished until the ban was repealed in 1989.

Statistics can be difficult to interpret. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that between 2007 and 2020 the Total Fertility Rate went from 2.12 to 1.64, below the necessary rate of population maintenance. They project that it could go as low as  0.5 percent by 2050.” That, however, is not the same as population growth, for it doesn’t take into account immigrants or continued improvements in healthcare. Between 2010 and 2020 (census data) the population of the United States increased by 7.4 percent. It now stands at 338,289,000 people. Is this alarming?

Many economists argue that a lower birthrate will bring about unintended consequences. There will be fewer working adults to pay taxes and more elders in need of support. A declining population will make fewer purchases causing the GDP to tank and cause a recession. Though China’s One Child Policy is credited with preventing 400 million births, it also produced 30 million bachelors with too few eligible women.

Despite an eightfold increase in population since 1798 and the climate crisis they instigated, objectors to population control tout that more births will raise the number of geniuses to invent what’s needed for progress. They say that if genocides from war aren’t replenished it will impact economic and societal growth. They want humans to be free to reproduce and believe entrepreneurs and scientists will find new ways to govern the planet that produce a moral, socially responsible sustainable society.

Will future technology develop ways that don’t deplete our natural capital? Can solar and nuclear power produce unbounded energy to meet our needs? Will the government stop industry from polluting streams, oceans, and air? Do we want the poor to earn fair wages so they’re not homeless? And–if they do become wealthier, will their purchasing power be good as it adds to pollution and global warming?

Is the world doomed to Malthus’ projections?  No one really knows, but we do know that the earth cannot support the seven billion people who are alive today in the style of middle-class Americans. 

References:

Attenborough,Sir David (2022 website) The Facts about Population. Population Matters. website. retrieved from https://populationmatters.org/the-issue?

2022. Steven Mosher.  References: Human Depopulation Agenda/ facts vs myths. Population Research Institute. https://www.pop.org/wb-subscribe/?

Sachs,J. (2008)  Are Malthus’s Predicted 1798 Food Shortages Coming True? Scientific American. retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-malthus-predicted-1798-food-shortages/

Cossins, d. (2017)The ethics issue: Should we impose population controls? retrieved from https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23531331-300-the-ethics-issue-should-we-impose-population-controls/

Bianchi,J. 2017) Population Controls are Ill Advised and Inhumane. Fee Stories. retrieved from https://fee.org/articles/population-controls-are-ill-advised-and-inhumane/

Gallagher, M.(2011) Population Control: Is it a tool of the rich? BBC News. retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-15449959

Oliveira, M. (2021) More crime in cities? On the scaling laws of crime and the inadequacy of per capita rankings_a cross-country study. BMC Springer Nature.  retrieved from https://crimesciencejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40163-021-00155-8

Kligman, G. (2022) Romania’s abortion ban tore at society, a warning for U.S. The Washington Post. retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/09/15/romania-exposes-how-abortion-bans-kill-women-rip-society-apart/

Website. U.S. Population 1950-2022 Macrotrends. retrieved from https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/USA/united-states/population

website. Why is the U.S. Birth Rate Declining. PRB.retrieved from https://www.prb.org/resources/why-is-the-u-s-birth-rate-declining/

“If you don’t like something, change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.”

— Mary Engelbreit, artist

Power of Positive Thinking

Last Tuesday was Positive Thinking Day. Established in 2003, the day was set aside to celebrate the rewards of positive thinking. Though cynical thoughts may prepare you for the worst, too much pessimism impacts your emotional well-being.

Human beings possess an intrinsic instinct for mimicry. If you smile at someone, it’s most likely they’ll smile back. If you frown you’ll probably get a reciprocal glare meant to put you on edge. The same thing happens when you think positive thoughts. By consciously choosing to introduce positive thinking into your mind, your body will respond instinctually. It will send a signal to your brain that all is well and reduce stress, improve immunity, reduced physical illnesses, and help you become resilient when faced with adversity.

Numerous studies show that positive thinking can increase a person’s life span. Optimistic people tend to live healthier lifestyles than those who are pessimistic. They have healthy diets, don’t smoke or drink excessively, and get more physical activity.

We’ll never get rid of the ups and downs of life, but we can look at low points as a normal part of living and turn our focus upward. Being open to possibility and setting your intention to grasp it, is what positive thinking is about. But, how do you do it? How do you get leave gloom and doom and negative self-talk behind to become positive?

It doesn’t mean ignoring unpleasant situations, but it does mean approaching them in a more productive way. It involved thinking about what can be done to get the best result possible and not dwelling on despair. Negativity can come from not having adequate information, not understanding your options, or being stuck with preconceived ideas. By opening your mind to possibilities and ways around problems, you will find more paths forward than you might imagine.

Start by catching your negative thoughts and reframing them. When I  interned at a mental health clinic, we had a patient who was depressed by negative thoughts. His therapist suggested that he put a rubber band around his wrist and snap it whenever a depressing idea passed his way. At the time, I thought the therapist was out on a limb and it would never work.

But, I was wrong. It helped the patient see the tricks his mind played and opened him to reframing his thought with something positive. After recognizing his negative thoughts, he was taught to identify the time, place, and reason for them, and this allowed him to conceive of a positive step to take to solve the situation. It’s good to have a friend or counselor to focus you on a small step toward the result you’d like. Keeping it simple with short-term goals in a positive direction gives you a path to success. When that happens,  dopamine is released in your brain, making you happy and want more.

Common pessimistic sink-holes people fall into are:

• Personalizing bad occurrences by blaming yourself.
• Anticipating the worst without the facts.
• Blaming someone else instead of taking responsibility for your thoughts and feelings.
• Telling yourself you SHOULD do a task and then blaming yourself when you don’t
• Magnifying a minor problem until it becomes a big deal.
• Setting perfectionist standards that are impossible to meet.
• Viewing yourself as good or bad, without a middle ground.
• Filtering out the positive parts of your day and concentrating on the worst.

The Mayo Clinic lists suggests ways to put positive thinking into practice.

Negative self-talk	Positive thinking
I’ve never done it before.	It’s an opportunity to learn something new.
It’s too complicated.	I’ll tackle it from a different angle.
I don’t have the resources.	Necessity is the mother of invention.
I’m too lazy to get this done.	I couldn’t fit it into my schedule, but I can re-examine some priorities.
There’s no way it will work.	I can try to make it work.
It’s too radical a change.	Let’s take a chance.
No one bothers to communicate with me.	I’ll see if I can open the channels of communication.
I’m not going to get any better at this.	I’ll give it another try.

To enjoy life, check on yourself and evaluate your thinking. Be open to humor, follow a healthy lifestyle, and surround yourself with positive, supportive people. Most of all, be gentle and encourage yourself with things that you’re thankful for in your life. If you are immersed in negativity, positive thinking will take practice, but do give it a try. You’ll become less critical of those around you and more willing to accept that we and all of nature have flaws.  

“Optimism is the most important human trait because it allows us to evolve our ideas, to improve our situation, and to hope for a better tomorrow.”

— Seth Godin

References:

Website. Positive thinking: Reduce stress by eliminating negative self-talk. Mayo Clinic. retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/positive-thinking/art-20043950

Website 13 Quotes on the power of Positive Thinking. Inspiring quotes. retrieved from https://www.inspiringquotes.com/13-quotes-on-the-power-of-positive-thinking/YTD0f4T5EQAH_Ism?utm_source=top-content&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1561566189

Website. Positive Thinking Day, September 13, 2022. National Today. retrieved from https://nationaltoday.com/positive-thinking-day/

Art is always for sale. Mother Earth is an acrylic painting on a 30” x 24” deep canvas.  It is available for $ 485. 

Do comment on my blog site at www.eichingerfineart.com/blog. It is good to read your thoughts.

Strength 

It comes from physical and mental exercise.

Are Moral Dilemmas Too Complicated to Consider?

A few weeks ago, I discussed groupthink, and how much easier it was to conform rather than do the research necessary to form your own decisions. It made me wonder whether moral dilemmas have become so complicated that most of us won’t try to figure them out. Immigration for instance raises social and ethical questions.

Ask yourself this-If a tree lands on your neighbor’s house are you apt to offer food, clothing, and temporary shelter? Do you take elderly neighbors to doctor’s appointments and help with groceries if they are incapacitated? Many of you will say yes for most of us are empathetic to those we know and will do what we can to alleviate their distress. 

But when nameless migrants are facing starvation brought on by drought, fires, floods, and wars beyond their control, empathy stops at the border, most especially if they aren’t white. Texas doesn’t want them. They’re now bussing border migrants to blue states like New York and D.C. Does this mean that Texans are callous and uncaring? 

My guess is that their morality is very much intact when it comes to family, friends, and church. But when their values are tested by unknown migrants with different beliefs, they are confused and shut down, finding it easier to say no.

Emerging technologies are also creating uncertainty that challenges past wisdom. Computing and medical ethics are forcing us to select among poorly understood choices. So rather than delve in to research that they half understand, people listen to advertisements and pundits who shout emotional jingles.

In Yuval Noah Harari’s bestselling book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, he writes that rather than do tedious research to understand the facts and consequences, of their decisions, people resort to myths. He mentions four. One way minimizes issues by assigning either good or bad to each conflicting side. ie; all Russians are bad, and all Ukrainians are good. Another grasps emotional stories that stand for the conflict as a whole. ie; Illegal migrant Juan robbed a 7-11, therefore all migrants are thieves.

A third way is to weave conspiracy theories into the framework of the issue. ie; The FBI is out to get Trump so evidence was planted when they swept his compound. By diverting the focus away from the pros and cons of absconding with national documents, the issue gets confused and people accept the conspiracy as being real. 

The last myth deals with moral issues through the thin veil of dogma so it becomes an all-knowing theory. ie; religious dogma is stretched to cover a woman’s right to choose whether to have an abortion or not. 

Moral issues are complex and often don’t lead to answers that will satisfy all. The democratic approach is to trust the voter. The Native American way is to reach a consensus. The Vatican’s way is through papal proclamations. All approaches leave vast numbers of followers unsatisfied.

What makes moral choices difficult is that they are not a matter of one party being right and the other wrong. Rushworth Kidder, the founder of the Institute for Global Ethics, considers choice a matter of “right” vs “right.” It’s right to protect our country from outside meddling by Russia in elections. It’s right to interact with Russia because their oil is needed by millions of people. It’s right to listen to Tchaikovsky’s symphonies. It’s right to fear Russian oligarchs. It’s right to share space exploration with Russia. Are Russians evil or good?

Kiddler writes of four dilemmas to consider when faced with a moral question, and suggests adopting an “and” approach to solve them. 

• Good for the individual (unit) and good for the whole
• Good for the long term and good for the short term
• It involves truth and loyalty
• It fosters justice and mercy

I like his approach as a framework to consider hard questions. When I ask myself whether a raped woman should be able to abort and put it through Kiddler’s structure I see it as a question of whether women are on earth to be incubators or have free will over their bodies.

When analyzing whether parents should monitor their teen’s social media activities, I concluded that social media is acceptable if ground rules are agreed upon that include how much time is spent on social media and that it will be monitored until the child is old enough to understand its risks and their obligations online.

My 11-year-old granddaughter was given a phone for her birthday. It buzzed one day when she wasn’t around and I noticed a newsflash about abortion across her screen. We’ve never discussed abortion, but flashes like this are commonplace. Parents have to pay attention to what their children see, so they can discuss its meaning together.

According to New Scientist, the greatest ethical issues of today are?

• Should we edit our children’s genomes? ( How far do we go to extend life, and insure that we produce “normal” children?)
• Should we make everyone ‘normal’? (Should we genetically engineer children? If everyone acted the same way, societies might be happier, but at what cost?)
• Should we give animals rights? ( Do we have a right to control animal populations or do research on animals for the benefit of human well-being?)
• Should we abandon privacy online? ( What is more important, individual privacy or national security)
• Should we give robots the right to kill? (Who should takes responsibility for their actions?)
• Should we let synthetic life forms loose? (Is it worth the risk if they tackle global warming and famine)
• Should we geo-engineer the planet? ( how far should we go to save the world from ourselves?)
• Should we impose population controls? (Listen to common sense or religion)
• Should we populate other planets? (Do we have the right to take over another planet?)
• Should we stop scientific research? (Do we quit while we’re ahead or continue to do research even if it is harmful to the planet’s existence?)

How do you make ethical decisions?

Do comment on my blog site at www.eichingerfineart.com

Art is always for sale. Strength is a20″ x16″ acrylic painting on canvas/ Available for $ 299. contact me at Marilynne@eichingerfineart.com

References: 

Demmos & Harrison, T. ( 2021) Unique ethical challenges for the 2ast century; Technology and virtue education. Journal of Moral Education. retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03057240.2020.1781071

McGoff, C. (2022 website). How to Solve ethical Dilemmas in a Way That Works for Everyone.Inc. retrieved from https://www.inc.com/chris-mcgoff/make-tough-decisions-more-easily-get-your-team-on-board-using-these-3-tips.html

Harari, Y.N. (2019) 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, Random House Books. ISBN 976-0-5255-1219-6

New Scientist website. (2022) The ethics issue: The 10 biggest moral dilemmas in science .Retrieved from https://www.newscientist.com/round-up/ethics-issue/

Transformation

I received a letter from a reader complaining that a painful year had turned into a more painful summer and that if the pieces couldn’t be repaired, would I pray for her transformation? I hope the anonymous person doesn’t mind that I am sharing her request. Many of us feel this way, and I can only guess what the individual had in mind in wanting to be transformed. With the pieces of her life no longer making sense, I imagine she wonders why she’s still here.

Hearing that synthetic meth from Mexico was being packaged as rainbow candy for teens was what put me over the top. It was another bad story added to an accumulation of disturbing news. With so much negativity in the airwaves, I too felt a need to transform so I could cope gracefully in the changing world order. I prepared for the task by reevaluating my morality and the purpose of existence in an era where the mores of my past no longer matter.

I believe that society will eventually evolve rules that will let people live in harmony with emerging technologies. Social media will be managed better, limits set on bio-engineering, and we’ll have manners around the use of electronic devices.  It may not be in my lifetime, but new norms are bound to emerge. Until then, I plan to navigate through this time of unprecedented change without getting upset. And, since I don’t know the future, I’ll have to prepare my mind to cope.

Yuval Harari, in Lessons for the 21st Century, discusses how to prepare youth for the future. He writes that teachers need to help students make sense of information rather than stuff their heads with facts. To be resilient and open to the challenges of ongoing change, they’ll need skills to take them through multiple transformations.

Yet, it’s not only youth who have to learn to shift with the tide without drowning. We all need training in how to accept continuous change as a given and to enjoy the unexpected. Living calmly through periods of chaos can be aided by having a liberal arts education, one that provides insights into how to manage the twists and turns of change. Its purpose is to develop well-rounded individuals with general knowledge of a wide range of subjects and matters and give them a range of transferable skills. The liberal arts cover the humanities, social sciences, natural science, and formal sciences with an emphasis on;

• inquiry and analysis 
• critical and creative thinking
• clear and fluent written and oral communication
• effective teamwork
• ethical consideration and judgment

Its curriculum is based on the notion that people are naturally curious about themselves and how they fit into the world. It exposes students to a range of concepts that will open them to jobs of the future. The liberal arts provide a foundation for the in-depth learning that may follow, whether it be plumbing, auto mechanics, health care, the law, or business. Students acquire the skills needed to become valuable members of the community so they can adapt, communicate, and thrive because of having a broadened perspective.

Socrates believed that human wisdom began with the recognition of one’s own ignorance. His method of teaching was by debate aimed at helping pupils dissect sentiments and motives. He asked questions that challenged shallow thinking. I embrace his way of teaching and suggest it be practiced more often.

When a young bride, my husband and I often discussed controversial topics through debate. After an hour of arguing one viewpoint, we switched places and argued for the opposing side. Imagine what would happen if politicians debated in that way before enacting laws. I’m certain issues would be better understood before solutions are suggested.

A paradox Socrates explored was whether weakness of will–doing wrong when you genuinely know what is right–ever truly existed. He thought that people only do wrong when the perceived benefits of the moment outweigh the costs. The development of personal ethics was a matter of mastering the art of measurement by understanding the distortions that skew one’s analyses of benefit and cost.

The January 6th insurrection was a demonstration of what happens when authoritarian leaders make a move to benefit few at the expense of a constitutional democracy that benefits many. By not fully analyzing the motivations of their leaders, people joined the bandwagon shouting platitudes like Make America Great Again (whatever that means).

Did these insurrectionists consider the morality of their actions, the fact that they were bringing down democracy, and that more than 50 percent of the public wasn’t with them? Did they understand the cost such divisiveness would have on the nation and how it denied people the right to have their votes counted? Do they really think that a dictatorship is better than a democracy? My guess is that most didn’t consider the consequences that would arise from not taxing the wealthy—how middle-class taxes will escalate if they want to get rid of homelessness and provide healthcare, roadways, and bridges that didn’t collapse.

The nation’s problems are multi-faceted and should be thoroughly analyzed for long-term consequences before decisions are made. Since that doesn’t always happen and laws are enacted that have a negative effect, our job remains one of maintaining resilience. So after you analyze yourself again and explore how you fit into the change, it may involve working for a different solution. It doesn’t mean giving up or losing yourself to despair. It’s simply another challenge to think through. We live in a democratic country. Let’s keep it that way.

Socrates is also known to have said that the unexplored life is not worth living. Today we might add that self-exploration has to be conducted over and over again. With arts and science pursuits increasing mental flexibility and emotional balance, you will be able to explore with a purpose. The process becomes transformative and will dampen that hopeless feeling that occurs from being hammered by bad news. A broad perspective helps you manage the unknown so you are resilient and can adapt. It keeps the door open to possibilities.

It is easy to lose your soul, forfeit your individuality, and become a disposable cog in a fabricated machine. It is harder to transform so you keep your soul, and it’s much more exciting.

References:

website (2022) The Value of a Liberal Education, U Mass Dartmouth. retrieved from https://www.umassd.edu/universitystudies/liberaleducation/

Website (2022) Socrates. History. retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/socrates

Haidar, H. (2022) What is Liberal Arts Education? QS Top Universities. retrieved from https://www.topuniversities.com/blog/what-liberal-arts-education

Do comment below. It is wonderful to hear from you.

Art is always for sale. Clarity is an acrylic painting on canvas, silver frame / 43” x 36” / available for $699. For shipping or pick up arrangements contact marilynne@eichingerfineart.com

\

The 2020 election ended with a lie, a false claim that the election was stolen. And since January 6, 2021, according to a recent NPR investigation, conspiracy theorists have taken that message on the roads. Four prominent purveyors of voting disinformation crossing the country have spoken at over 308 events in 45 states and the District of Columbia. The highest-profile person tracked is MyPillow CEO, Mike Lindell. The speakers meet small audiences at restaurants, car dealerships, community centers, and churches, and are effective at changing minds to their way of thinking.  According to Chris Krebs, a former Department of Homeland security official who oversaw federal election security measures in 2021, they work to change minds at the lowest level possible. 

Leaders who make allegations without credible evidence corrode our democratic way of life. Yet despite the January 6th committee investigations and efforts by Republican and Democratic election officials from every state, they prevail and their voices continue to rise. Their goal is to take back the country, never considering that it was stolen from the Indigenous people who lived here before them. Like the Crusaders, they want the country to be Christian and white. 

Ignoring the facts, the big lie is promoted as a means of getting legislators to enact laws that make it harder for poor, minority, and marginalized people to vote. Carly Kopeks, an elections coordinator in Weld County, Colorado thinks that many people see it as a religious campaign and believe they are doing the Lord’s work. 

Is it possible to fight misinformation and outright lies? Shouting certainly doesn’t work nor does an appeal to empathy. Rebutting disinformation makes people dig their heels in more deeply. So what can be done other than throw up your hands and walk away? One thing is for sure—you can’t negotiate with someone who won’t sit at the table. 

Dr, James Giordano, Professor of Neurology and Biochemistry at Georgetown University Medical Center, says it is important to understand why conspiracy theories work. “As stress levels escalate, biological, psychological, and social fatigue sets in that makes the perceived stress and the stressor viewed as threatening. The more vulnerable people feel the more volatile they are likely to become.”  Volatility is the prompt for aggressiveness and violence. In a volatile world, wild theories bring peace of mind by painting events as being either black or white. Unfortunately, most of life is bathed in shades of gray.  

Conspiracies are successful in part because they encourage community and are a way to hang out with those who share beliefs. After joining the group it is difficult to leave. People become emotionally attached to their beliefs and form relationships they don’t want to sever.

According to Robert Kozinets, at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, social media is the cuprite that fosters stress by turning lies to the extreme. False news is emotionally arousing and more interesting than the truth. When it’s presented by influencers, the more extreme the information, the more the brain becomes engaged. It doesn’t matter if the stressor is legitimate. Perceived threat is all that is needed to instill a sense of dread. And, that sense, drives behavior.

When our minds are vulnerable and we feel uncertain, we look to others to confirm our worst fears and show a way forward. Social media accentuates the process by provided a validation feedback loop for those who are afraid,  Fearful people are vulnerable to influencers who have special agendas, and are easily manipulated. These influencers are the ones fanning the political divide. They use the psychology of fear to change minds for their political gain.

So, how do you combat conspiracy theories and open minds to fact-based thinking? You start by dampening stress hormones in the brain and eliminating negative emotions. In other words, the person has to “chill out” and feel respected. Only by meeting people where they are can they be brought to more rational conclusions. 

Analytic thinking has to be introduced in tiny steps that take patience. The process can be started by mentioning the facts without discussing the person’s misconceptions. Don’t dwell on the conspiracy for that will embed false ideas more deeply. Only with the person is relaxed and talking about unrelated issues can you chip away at the conspiracy with occasional comments that make the person think.

These comments, however, have to be in harmony with the person’s preexisting beliefs. For example; climate-change deniers are more likely to shift their view when told stories that have cause and effect conclusions. If the person holds on to a false belief, respond with,” That’s interesting. Do you mind sharing your data?” By showing the person respect, you’ll have more success than negating claims as though speaking to an idiot.

George Layoff of UC Berkeley framed the Truth-Sandwich Method. To debunk an inconsistency, he suggests repeating factual information twice. Let’s say someone you know believes they don’t need the COVID-19 vaccine because the survival rate is 99 % (it isn’t). A response might be, “The survival rate may be high, but the virus is still incredibly dangerous. In a country like ours with 328 million people, a 1% death rate would cost over 3 million people their lives. That’s why, even though the survival rate is high, the virus is still incredibly dangerous.” (See below for the actual rate.)

Another way to bring about change is to mimic Socrates who engaged in back-and-forth debate, pointing out inconsistencies on both sides along the way. People don’t feel attacked by this technique since they’re not being forced to change their beliefs. The debater’s goal isn’t to convince his opponent that he is wrong, but to introduce questions that will help the person come to a better conclusion. Though Socratic arguing takes time, it can bring about change in the long run.

I implore you not to give up when speaking to people who spout conspiracies. Practice patience and find a way to tune into their emotions. Only then that you can open their minds to analytic ways of thinking. Democracy depends on us engaging with one another, not throwing up hands and walking away in frustration.

Horrors of Groupthink

To punk artist Henry Rollins, being inactive and unimaginative is among the biggest errors one can make. He wrote, “I believe that one defines oneself by reinvention. To be yourself. To cut yourself out of stone.” As well as being the frontman for the band Black Flag, Rollins was an advocate for social change. He challenged himself to break the mode as a musician, poet, radio host, and actor. Rollins is intense in whatever he does and refuses to stop creating. Rollins tells his audiences to travel unbeaten paths, to do things in their own way, and grab onto the unique qualities that make them different.

Rollins also questions groupthink, an attribute that drives much of our social interactions. Groupthink can pull society down. It occurs when group members prioritize unanimity over a realistic appraisal of a situation. It leads to people accepting lies, joining hate groups, promoting conspiracy theories, and making poor political decisions.

Groupthink fails to consider all factors and alternatives before reaching conclusions. It occurs when social identities are so embedded in the group’s psychology that individuals won’t act on their own conclusions. Though facts may be disputed, group cohesion is stronger. It’s what drives religion, racism, and legislation. Congressional groupthink that holds political parties as more important than the citizens they serve, threatens democracy.

In the 1950s, The Asch Conformity Study conducted a series of psychological experiments about why don’t act independently. The study concluded that people are more prone to conform than they believe they are. In Asch’s experiments, people who were in on the experiment (plants) pretended to be regular participants alongside unaware subjects. All participants were shown a line segment and then asked to choose a matching line out of a group of three segments of varying lengths. When subjects were given the test privately, they all choose the right length. But when the plants were with the subjects, 75% of the subjects changed their mind after hearing the plants select an incorrect length.

Asch’s study led to the following conclusions:

• Conformity increases when more people are present.
• Conformity increases when the task is more difficult. People look to others for information on how to respond.
• Conformity increases when other members of the group are viewed as more powerful, influential, or knowledgeable.
• Conformity decreases when people respond in private.

Over the years, Asch’s research inspired many other social scientists to look into motives as to why people conform.

• Some individuals are motivated to avoid conflict.
• Collectivist cultures are more likely to conform.
• People are more likely to conform in situations where they are unclear on how to respond.

The Stanford Prison Experiment conducted in 1971 reconfirmed the power of groupthink. It was set up to study what happens when you put good people in a evil place. It had to be stopped after 70 students, randomly assigned as guards or prisoners, became so immersed in their roles that it affected behavior to the detriment of their health. The prisoners cowered and were traumatized while the guards became aggressive. The experiment ended less than a week after it started.

Conformity appears to be a regular part of most social circles. Understanding the mechanisms of groupthink can help you make sense of why people go along with the crowd even when the choice seems out of character. It can be dangerous as it was on the January 6th insurrection.  But, by being aware of the pressure to conform, it’s possible to analyze what is going on and see how other people’s behavior is influencing your choices.

It is difficult to be yourself and speak up for what you value. We have only to look at Liz Cheney to see how she has been targeted for standing up for the truth. Though I don’t agree with many of her policies, I admire her courage. Riddled by threats, much like Salman Rushdie, she is a target of radical thinking. 

Traveling unbeaten trails, seeing issues in broad light, and being willing to stand up for the truth against those who pressure you to conform—that is what individuality and freedom are really about.

Do comment on my blog site at www.eichngerfineart.com/blog.

Art is always for sale. For information contact me at marilynne@eichingerfineart.com

Hope Exploding is an acrylic painting on deep canvas. 24″ x 30″/ available for $495.

Books: Over the Peanut Fence and Lives of Museum Junkies are available online and in bookstores in ebook and paperback formats.

A Society Creating Itself

When British poet WH Auden moved to the United States in 1939, it wasn’t because of the war. It was because he wanted to live in a society that was creating itself. During that time, the question of whether Communism or Capitalism was the superior system was on many people’s minds. Note, I didn’t mention democracy  or authoritarianism, but rather the economic structure that drives daily life.

It’s been eighty years since the start of the second world war. Communist countries like Russia and China, have since loosened their policies to include free market competition. Capitalist countries like ours have embraced socialist ideals. We now have welfare programs and aid organizations. Through social engineering and because of modernization across the globe, the two economic systems no longer battle for superiority as they become more alike than different. As technology continues to advance, both systems face the challenge of adapting to technologies never imagined. Facebook and Twitter have already caused social and moral confusion that turned society topsy-turvy. 

Entrepreneurs believe that their inventions will better society and give people an improved quality of life. What they say they want is to increase happiness in this life. This differs from a religious goal that considers life to be a test to go through to reduce suffering in the afterlife. Because people are innately curious, research will continue with developments in artificial intelligence and genetics leading to upheaval as great as the industrial revolution.

Naysays think that claims that society is better off are misguided, and most people across the globe agree according to a study by Ruut Veenhaven published in the National Library of Medicine. Negativity prevails when people contemplate drug use, criminality, ethnic troubles, terrorism, and labor disputes. Ecologists point to pollution, global warming, and the degradation of nature, adding to our unease. People from all parts of the world believe we are drifting away from human nature and on an uncontrollable downward slide to paradise lost. They think that the past was better and today worse for the average person. Their claims are made even though we live longer and better than the kings of yesteryear.

If life is so awful, isn’t it surprising that we continue to promote modernization? If the average person can’t cope with change won’t capitalism collapse? If the future is more stressful, unhealthy, and less satisfying won’t communism dwindle?

The 2022 World Happiness Report was issued after three years of Covid, the breakout of war in Ukraine, extreme weather events, and a looming economic crisis. Yet, despite it all, global reports of personal happiness haven’t dropped significantly. The most hopeful finding reported was that humans are remarkably resilient in the face of crisis and catastrophe. 

Investigators believe that happiness is driven by benevolence and generosity, the freedom to choose what you do with your life, and having balance, harmony, money, and health. If this is so, then what about using these indicators as a strainer to evaluate innovations that affect our future? Native American elders consider the next seven generations before making a decision. The rest of society might do well to be grounded in that approach. 

You and I and our children have the chance to participate as society recreates itself. Let’s get energized, not fearful, and do it with as much forethought as the nation’s founders did when drafting the constitution.  Ask whether what we are doing will give us more freedom, and make us better balanced and less stressed. Will we be able to live harmoniously with nature, become healthier, and have enough money to care for ourselves? If we keep these questions in mind as modernization continues, we will be in good shape as the nation recreates itself.

References:

Ruut Veenhaven (2010) Life is Getting Better: Societal Evolution and Fit with Human Nature. National Library of Medicine. retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2848343/

@022 World Happiness report website. retrieved from https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2022/overview-on-our-tenth-anniversary/

It is wonderful to hear from you. Please comment below.

Art is always for sale. Onions is a framed acrylic painting on canvas / 24” x 28”/ Available for @299.  For information contact me at marilynne@eichingerfineart.com

 Douglas Firs have been known to live for over 1000 years. They were able to outlive changes in weather patterns and political upheavals. Will they survive global warming and the pressure of population growth?

Last week, my grandson asked me what world events had affected me the most. As I thought about it, I realized there were several that influenced the way I act and think today.

The first one that came to mind was the polio epidemic. I remember magazine photos with people’s heads sticking out of iron lungs. When a child at the summer camp I attended came down with polio, the camp closed and I received a painful shot of gamma globulin. Having a physician for a father made it less fearsome, for I naively trusted him to keep me safe. It wasn’t until the Salk vaccine was distributed that fears receded and my family returned to the beach for vacations.

The next major influence was the Cold War. Children were drilled in school to duck and cover while neighbors built bomb shelters in their back yards. In Boston where I lived at the time, I was sure the historical city would be among the first to be destroyed. I begged my husband to move further inland where, again naively,  I was sure Russian bombs couldn’t reach. The Soviet Union’s demise with the Berlin wall coming down was a high point in my life. I could sleep soundly, believing that under Gorbachev, our enemy nation would become democratic friends. 

Now as I watch Putin rebuild an empire, I don’t trust Russia and wonder why anyone would. My grandparents suffered in pogroms and had to escape Russian brutality. I feel  pain when I see how Ukrainians are treated as they fight to keep their freedom. It is unleashed cruelty.

The sixties and seventies civil rights marches, the women’s movement, and the Vietnam protests ring loudest in my ears. Though it was an epoch of anger and civil disobedience, it was also a time of hope and caring. My friends and I believed it was possible to change minds through marches and by standing up for what is right. We were known as the love generation and fought for compassion. Our call for equality, justice, and peace remains embedded in my psyche. It influences my thinking about abortion, gun control, and freedom. I believe people have the right to vote and live with their beliefs without being bullied and disavowed. The era made me question demigods who make decisions benefiting a few at the expense of the masses. 

The era also introduced a way to stay calm in the face of chaos. The Beatles, Ram Das, and the Marahashi brought eastern thinking westward. The practice of meditation and yoga gave people tools to deal with difficult issues from a calm center. Meditation and pilates (related to yoga) gave me the strength and courage to manage large organizations and a rambunctious young family. 

Though other there were other wars over the last fifty years, it wasn’t until the World Trade Center came down, that the ground under my feet shook again. It ushered in an era of paranoia, lies, and hatred that continues today. We were told to distrust and invade Iraq and found out later that they didn’t have weapons of mass destruction. People began paying attention to a bandwagon of conspiracy theories that made no sense. There are still those who believe that our government brought about the trade building’s demise, that Hitler didn’t exterminate Jews, that the Sandy Hook massacre wasn’t real, oxycontin isn’t addictive, and that the 2020 election was stolen. Lies, lies, lies.

The Middle East wars escalated drug use and immigration fears. Propaganda took over newscasts so that now half the country wants to throw daggers at the other half, whoever they may be. It is confusing to know what to believe, but everyone knows it’s good to have a scapegoat. Who cares if you hate the gays, the immigrants, the abortionists, the Muslims, and Jews?

Amidst global warming, a media that promotes false information, escalating pandemics, electronic communication, artificial intelligence, nuclear war drums, and genetic breakthroughs, society is shaken to the core. The word compromise has taken on sinister meanings that negate empathy and common sense. Authoritarianism is pushed by oligarchs and religious fanatics who are sure they know best for everyone. No longer valuing freedoms granted in the constitution, they want to control the laws of the land and manipulate the way people behave. All I can say about such behavior is to beware and resist. Demigods are self-serving and dangerous.

My hope is that children receive a broad, balanced education that teaches them to think broadly so they can solve complex issues. We need intelligent educated leaders to cut through the bullshit. And since the country is a melting pot of races and religions and is a player on the world scene, we need people who believe the whole to be more important than any one individual. As a woman of peace, I maintain hope that the wrong being done today rights itself.

I’d love to hear what events influenced your life. Please comment below.

20″x 16″ canvas prints of my tree paintings are available for $70. To see the entire collection of 28 trees go to https://www.eichingerfineart.com/collections/142242. The best way to reach me is at marilynne@eichinigerfineart.com.

An Overheating Planet

119 Degrees Fahrenheit was painted in 2021 when the temperature in Portland reached record highs. Sweating through July and August changed the way I looked at summer and the many trips I used to take to blistering cities nearer the equator. No longer did I feel superior when hearing how Arizona, New York, and Southern California suffered through heat waves. My northwest home, now bathed in sunlight, seemed worse off with polluted air from wildfires forcing me to stay inside. Since my house wasn’t air-conditioned and the air was not purified, all I could do was stay indoors and pray for cooler weather.

This year, I’m better prepared with two room air conditioners and two air purifiers humming in the background. Though the constant sound of their motors is unnerving and I don’t like having to keep windows closed, I am reluctantly getting used to the fact that Earth’s temperature will continue to go up.

I suffer along with most of the Northern Hemisphere from China to North Africa to the United States and acknowledge the change in temperature and weather patterns as the new norm. Temperatures will rise and storms will become more violent.  Long-lasting heatwaves and droughts will dominate my summer months. Rather than look forward to fun days at the beach, I will seek shelter from damage from the sun’s rays. Heatwaves are dangerous to health and well-being.

How anyone can still deny global warming is beyond imagination. It is forty years since a small group of scientists met at the world’s first climate conference in Geneva raising the alarm about global warming. Though over 11,000 scientists have now signed on, not much has been done to alter its trajectory. 

Last March, at opposite ends of the globe, the Arctic and Antarctic had record high temperatures. Simultaneously, a two-month heat wave covered India and Pakistan. By June the U.S. and Europe were breaking heat records and wildfires were devastating crops in Tunisia. It is difficult to imagine what the world will be like by the end of this century.

Summer temperatures in the Pacific Northwest and Canada are as much as 30 degrees Fahrenheit higher than normal. Their traditionally cool cities don’t have the infrastructure to support citizens through heat waves. Until last year, I never considered owning an air conditioner. Today I pay attention to the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research’s prediction that says heat deaths globally could equal those from all infectious diseases combined by the end of the century. Communities are in a catastrophic loop that will make many regions of the Earth uninhabitable.

There is much to do if the human race is to survive. To deal with overheated cities we can look at cities like Athens, Greece, and Ahmedabad, India for advice since they have been dealing with heatwaves for generations. They put public cooling spaces in malls, libraries churches, and community centers where people don’t have to walk a half-hour in the heat to get to them. They plant trees to create shady street corridors that allow people to walk safely.

Miami-Dade County, Florida is aggressively dealing with global warming. Despite the fact that many Floridians don’t believe climate change is anthropogenic in nature, they hired a new chief heat officer to tackle issues of equity associated with rising temperatures. They are paying attention to scientists who predict devastating impacts on infrastructure, human health, and the economy if they don’t make changes.

But, more to the point, is what you and I can do to stop the warming trend. The message is clear we can’t stay complicit, sit back, and do nothing. As states make rules against abortion, legislators must consider the impact of population growth and poverty in their communities. Increased numbers lead to a decrease in tree cover, a rise in fossil fuel use, and a greater demand for water and social services.

Though it may not be to our liking, we need to cut the frequency of car use and air travel that expels carbon dioxide and nitrous oxides into the atmosphere.  We can lobby against land clearing and timber companies and developers that chop down forests they repent with monocultural tree farms.  Let’s be conscious of food waste, push for ending subsidies for fossil fuels, reduce meat consumption, and move from the notion that ever-increasing economic and resource consumption is good. An ever-increasing GPD is not sustainable for the planet. 

We can show our children that we care about their future by leading the way. After a year of research, I completed a novel about the water crisis facing our warming planet. When Rightfully Mine is published, I hope it will inspire people to protect our right clean water rather than let it be traded as a commodity. Not only is bottled water 2000 times more expensive than tap water, but its plastic also harms fish in our oceans. 

A recent New York health study found that hot days are associated with more emergency room visits for substance abuse, mood and anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, and dementia. It puts outdoor workers and elderly people at particularly high risk. Heat is also linked to lower performance on standardized tests. 

The health effects of global warming are serious, my friends. What each of us does daily to lower affects the planet.

References:

Website for climate.gov (2022) Climate Change: Global Temperature

Website for Council for Foreign Relations (2022) A world Overheating.

Website for The Brink, How Does Heat Exposure Affect the Body and Mind?

__________________________

 Do comment on my blog site and share how you stay cool and mentally fit during scorching summer days.

Art is always for sale. Contact me at marilynne@eichingerfineart.com.

119 Degrees Fahrenheit is a 24” by 24” acrylic painting on deep canvas. Available for $785.