Will We Destroy the Place We Call Home?

The waste dump, a result of unbridled consumerism

 (Photo Credit: Shutterstock; Copyright: Public Domain)

An uninhabitable earth at some point in our future is not an unreasonable thought. Years of disregard for mother earth can cause components of the earth system to change. Consequently, humankind should not shrug off warnings of cataclysmic environmental transformations.

Living with a Control Freak Is Not Easy

Do you have someone in your life that doesn’t trust your judgment? One who feels they need to control every aspect of your life. If you do, chances are that that someone is a control freak.

My someone, like so many control freaks, has a high opinion of himself. He is obsessive.He easily becomes agitated and will engage in long, loud, and angry one-way arguments (whether there is a reason to be angry or not) over any issue. He is not interested in what I have to say. He talks down to me. He attempts to intimidate by rapidly and loudly talking over anything I attempt to say. If I should be able to make a counterargument that in anyway threatens his argument, he will shut down and not speak to me for days. It’s a behavior demonstrate not just toward me but others as well.

‘We Have It in Our Power to Begin the World Over Again’

If we’re not satisfied with things the way they are, if we’re concerned how we are governed and the decline of our freedoms, if we truly want to change things, then, in the words of Mahatma Gandhi and so many who have gone before us, who all essentially have sent the same message, 'Be the change you want to see in the world.’

It means, “… [an] awareness that one person, alone, can’t change anything, an awareness that unjust authority can be overturned only by great numbers of people working together with discipline and persistence.”

The message resonates once it’s understood that it’s the takeaway message of Thomas Paine's "Common Sense", in which he wrote, "We have it in our power to begin the world over again.”

A Post-antibiotic Era That Threatens the Achievements of Modern Medicine

Author: United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The overuse and misuse of antibiotics meant to fight infections by killing or inhibiting the growth of disease-causing bacteria are increasingly becoming ineffective. Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, reports, “Things as common as strep throat or a child’s scratched knee could once again kill.”

The CDC Threat Report 2013 claims, “Each year in the United States, at least 2 million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and at least 23,000 people die each year as a direct result of these infections. Many more people die from other conditions that were complicated by an antibiotic-resistant infection.”