Glad To Be Old

I am glad I'm old.

I'm sure this sounds odd to many people, particularly when our modern culture values youth above wisdom. After all, who wants to deal with creaking bones, arthritis, dimming eyesight and all the other things that happen to our body as we age? But with the way the world, especially the United States, is going, I am glad I won't be here to face the aftermath of the wholesale destruction of the planet currently taking place.

I don't want to live in a world where all the apex predators such as lions, tigers, bears and wolves have been exterminated, whether for 'sport' or loss of habitat or because they might pose a threat to the cows that are overrunning our planet. I don't want to live in a world devoid of elephants and rhinoceros to feed the insatiable Asian demand for ivory trinkets and 'magic virility potions' of rhino horn, which, by the way, is made of the same material as human fingernails. 

I don't want to live in a country that sells off its public lands to corporations for drilling and mining. I don't want to live in a country that refuses to participate in a global climate agreement signed by nearly 200 other countries. I don't want to live in a country that seeks to remove protected status from national monuments and wilderness areas. I don't want to live in a country that rolls back environmental protections that keep our water and air clean and safe. And I certainly don't want to live in a country that allows the slaughter of hibernating bears and their newborn cubs in their dens, or of mother wolves and their pups in their den.

I have spent my whole adult life being an environmental activist and an animal activist. I recycle everything that is recyclable. I keep a supply of reusable grocery bags in my car and cringe when I see people roll their shopping carts through the parking lot filled with plastic grocery bags. I pick up trash as I go about my daily walks. I drive a car that gets great mileage. I have owned two hybrid vehicles. I consume as little as possible. I refuse to buy anything that is endangered or threatened. I do my best to avoid buying anything that includes palm oil (due to the destruction of palm tree forests that are habitats to endangered orangutans). I stopped eating beef to protest cattle ranchers' ongoing war on wolves and bears. I won't wear wool clothing or socks for the same reason.

The current administration and its storm trooper followers, not to mention the entire Republican party (with the possible exception of Sen. Susan Collins) care nothing about anything other than getting as much as they can in profits for themselves and their corporate masters right now. Forget about the future. 

They give not a damn about the average American citizen, international alliances, the environment or anything else. And they better not utter another word about how 'pro-life' they are. Anyone who is truly 'pro-life' would not destroy our children's and grandchildren's futures. Anyone who is 'pro-life' wouldn't remove millions of people from having health insurance. Anyone who is 'pro-life' wouldn't slash benefits from the most vulnerable among us -- children, the disabled and the elderly. 

So yes, I am glad I won't be around to face the barren, polluted, wildlife-free planet we humans call home. Once the planet is destroyed, it will be too late to do anything about it. What a sad legacy we 'advanced' humans will leave behind.

Planet Under Attack

Our American wilderness and the animals that live there are under attack by the  Republican administration led by Donald Trump and his billionaire cronies.

Consider these facts:

• The secretary of the Environmental Protection Agency has in the past filed 14 lawsuits against the EPA. Republicans would love to eliminate this agency entirely, and its programs to protect the environment.


• Some 225 members of the US House of Representatives have voted to overturn a federal law developed over many years by professional wildlife managers at the US Fish and Wildlife Service. This legislation, if passed by the Senate and signed by Trump, will permit the killing of wolf pups in their dens, the killing of hibernating bears, using aircraft to spot bears so killers on the ground can slaughter them, and trapping grizzly and black bears with steel-jawed leghold traps, a barbaric practice that has been banned in many progressive countries. Worst of all, this slaughter would be allowed on our national wildlife refuges, specifically the 16 national wildlife refuges in Alaska.


• US senators from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Wyoming have introduced the War on Wolves Act, a companion bill to legislation introduced in the US House of Representatives that would strip federal protections from wolves and allow trophy hunting and trapping of the species in four states. In addition to the states mentioned above, Michigan would also be included. These states have historically been determined to exterminate wolves through a variety of means.

• Republicans want to cancel the Clean Power Plan -- the EPA’s program to reduce carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants. Republicans dismiss it as part of former president Obama's so-called “war on coal”.

• Several members of Congress, led by members from western states, want the federal government to turn large swaths of federal lands over to the states so they can be exploited by mining, timber and oil companies.

• Trump has already approved the Keystone XL pipeline.


• A bill recently proposed by Republican Congressman Paul Gosar would eliminate regulations related to oil and gas drilling, including fracking, in America's national parks. Under the proposed law, companies would not be held accountable for leaks and spills, and could build roads through national parks to reach drilling sites. 

• Trump has directed the Interior Department to "review" the past 21 years of federal monument designations. Ryan Zinke, secretary of the department, has said that he will review whether monument designation of up to 40 sites should be "rescinded, resized or modified in order to better benefit our public lands."  A particular focus of Republicans' ire is the Obama-designated 1.3 million acre Bears Ears National Monument. And let us be clear -- this review is not about better benefit to public lands. It is about better benefiting oil and gas companies, timber companies and other businesses that see these protected areas as sources of huge profits.

• Trump plans to sign an executive order to allow increased oil drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans. 

Republicans see no value other than financial in our public lands, monuments, forests, national parks and wildlife. If it can't be exploited, it has no value to them. Republicans are threatening to eliminate the Endangered Species Act. They want to remove protections that help keep our waters and air from being polluted. Predators such as wolves and bears will face even more threats to their survival. 

Several environmental groups are gearing up to file lawsuits in federal court if any of these anti-environment measures passes. Millions of Americans are appalled by these abhorrent threats to our planet. We will not stand by quietly and let the Republican party destroy our planet. This is the only home we humans have. Will we let greed and ignorance destroy it. Is this the legacy we want to leave for future generations?


A German friend recently asked why Americans don't do something about the Trump administration's attacks on the environment, wildlife, women's and gay rights, healthcare  and many other areas. The question many are asking is "What can we do to stop this insanity?" 

Trump is busily working to eradicate Obama's legacy of environmental protections. Never in recent history have we had such a hate-filled, incompetent president. Millions of us don't like the direction this country is heading, but we feel powerless to force it to change direction. Most of us are not rabid 'tree huggers.' But we are concerned about our planet. We do see value in open space, in wilderness, in wildlife. In a system that awards the highest office in the land not to the person who garners the most popular votes but who wins the antiquated Electoral College, it seems that we are screwed. Our voices are not being heard.