ALASKA SLED DOGS - The Edge of the Wild?

For as long as your lead author can remember, I have always been captivated by Husky and Malemute dogs, even though I grew up in the sunny southlands of San Diego.

Maybe it was because I read the "Call of the Wild" at least ten times by the time I was 12. I got to know many great ones living in Montana in the 1990s, though I had an amazing feral chow/german shepherd canine companion, Coyote, then (we found each other at the Missoula pound in 1991). Who would routinely hunt and eat whole, rabbits, marmots, and squirrels, on all our wilderness jaunts in Montana, and here in Alaska, before he passed away late in 2003, at the age of 13.

Alaska "sled dogs" are a mix of breeds, husky (Alaskan and Siberian), malemute, and various domestics (lab, shepherd, etc...). http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/sleddogs.htm

They are bred by dog mushers for speed, endurance, and docility, so that they will be able to relate to people and generally not be too quarrelsome amongst themselves.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaskan_Husky

Many of them also come from the hundreds of Alaska Native villages, where they live outdoors all year, and even around Fairbanks and other major road-based settlements they also live outdoors, since most serious mushers will have 25-50 dogs, or more. On the edge of the wilderness. This also means that traveling wolf packs, if a female sled dog is in heat, will breed with them, if no precautions are taken. Hence, many sled dogs have a detectable wolf influence, both in their physical characteristics, and in their demeanor.

Since they are born and bred for speed and endurance and to live and thrive in our harsh sub-arctic environment, they make excellent companions for anyone with an active, outdoor-based lifestyle, here in Alaska, or anywhere where colder winter temperatures occur. A typical active sled dog is easily capable of running up to 160 km (or more!) a day, at average speeds of 20 kilometres per hour! And most effectively/efficiently when temperatures are -15 to -40C!

Unfortunately, with so many dog mushers in Alaska, with so many dogs, the many that "don't work out" as racers, or effective members of a team, have to find other homes, or face euthanasia or dumping at the nearest animal shelter. This link shows the dogs available at our Fairbanks North Star Borough animal shelter. Note that most of them are husky's or mixed husky breeds (sled dogs). It is estimated that just here in Fairbanks, 300 or more of these beautiful, hardy beings are turned in to the animal shelter every year. Most of them never get adopted...

http://www.petfinder.com/shelterSearch/shelterSearch.cgi?&shelterid=AK12&Animal=Dog&sort=Identifier&preview=1

Therefore, here at the A.P.R., we feel it is our duty to always have two of these wonderful companions, so at least they will have a new lease on life, and return to us manyfold, the love, care, and protection that we give to them.

All that said, I'd like to introduce to you to the previous sled dogs I've been fortunate enough to have lived with, since moving to Fairbanks in 2001. This was Stikine, a beautiful fluffy little girl, of mixed husky and wolf origins. She came from the kennels of my friend Rebecca Chandler's then-husband, Eric Nicolier. Who was a musher training for the Yukon Quest, in the early 2000s. After losing Coyote in 12/03, I decided I should have two sled dogs for companionship. Stikine was born in Jan. 2004, and she came to live with me that summer.

She grew quickly, surpassing 20 kg by the time she as 4 or 5 months old. Homer, our research assistant, here at A.P.R., is Stikine's uncle. Her mother Elizabeth, is Homer's sister. Stikine had the same blue eyes and fur thickness/colours as Homer, and would probably reached his large size, had she been able.

I also adopted another beautiful sled dog at this time, Frost, a nine year old classic Alaskan Husky. More about her later.

Frost and Stikine grew to be great companions, in all our outdoor adventures, and during our routine neighbourhood runs.

She loved to sit on my lap while I drove, between my arms, looking out over the steering wheel. I tried to discourage this, as she grew, but she really loved being there.

Unfortunately, like many sled dogs, she had a penchant for running off, if allowed, returning a half hour to hours later. I tried limiting this possibility. But one evening in November, 2004, I opened the door of our little house we were living in, which is just off the busy Goldstream Road, in the Goldstream Valley, north of Fairbanks. She rushed out the door, and wouldn't come back. After calling out, I decided to wait, figuring she'd be back, like the many times before. But it was not to be. About an hour later, I saw cars stopped on the road, and flashing state trooper lights. Not knowing what was up, I went back to my evening. But a little while later, someone called from Ivory Jacks, the nearby bar/restaurant. Stikine had been struck and killed by a hit/run driver. My phone number was on her collar.

This was a big blow, she had been such a beautiful and loving companion, to Frost and I, and had a very strong, dominant personality. Frost was just as grief-stricken as I, but we helped each other through that winter, along with our other friends.

The next summer, 2005, I wanted another companion for Frost and I. While running on the Denali Highway near Maclaren Summit, I ran into Zoya Denure, a musher, who is married to John Shandlemeier, one of Alaska's mushing stars. He and his teams had won the grueling 1000+ km Yukon Quest race a few times in the 1990s. http://www.yukonquest.com/

They have a large summer-time sled dog kennel operation near Maclaren River Lodge, where they give tours to groups on tour buses. They also take in "rescue dogs", ones that have been taken from abusive and neglectful mushers or homes. They introduced me to Nahanni, the little black beauty here, at their lodge.

She was only six months old, and had been rescued from a very abusive situation. She was very skittish and afraid when I brought her home in July, 2005. It took me weeks of gentle conversation and treat-handing, to re-domesticate and bond with her. She took to running though with Frost and I immediately, greatly enjoying it. She never ran off while we ran together, or were in the wilderness.

She grew to be about Frost's size, 25 kg or so, while she was with us. But she was very independent, always wanting to run off, if we were just around town. In Nov. 2005, whilst the Chena Ridge Research Centre was under construction, she wouldn't return to our van, as we were leaving the job-site. So, Frost and I just took off slowly in the van. She followed us on the back dirt roads of Chena Ridge. I'd stop every now and then, she'd edge up close, but then back away, when I tried to grab her. Finally, I decided to try something different. We sped at a higher speed of 50 kph for several km. She ran at full speed after us. After about 15 minutes of this, I stopped, opened the sliding door, and she popped right in!

She also had a very strong, independent, domineering personality, a true "alpha". For those not in the know, wolf and dog packs are led by a dominant pair, an "alpha male and female". They call the shots and maintain discipline in the pack.

Of course, Nahanni loved running in the cold with Frost and I, the colder the better. Always amazing to me was that we could rush out our cozy 19C house, into the -40C winter air, and run for 1-2 hours. Me in my four layers, but them with nothing! And they couldn't be happier.

Unfortunately for Nahanni, her independence also proved to be her undoing. In February, 2006, after a beautiful snowfall of 15 cm or so of fresh powder, I wanted to snowshoe around the neighbourhood with Frost and her. I only had her out of my sight 30 seconds while adjusting a strap on my snowshoes, and she ran off. Frost and I combed the neighbourhood for half an hour with no success. Then we saw a truck stop on Goldstream Road, 150 metres from the house. We knew. We raced up there. She was lying in the ditch, severely injured. She had been lying there for some time, while we were searching. I rushed her as fast as possible to the animal hospital.

The vets there did their best. But her thorax was crushed and she had uncontrollable internal bleeding. She screamed and cried out in her terror and pain, for 20 minutes or more, before she departed. When the vets could do no more, they came out, in tears to tell me the news. But they didn't have to. I came home from the hospital to Frost without Nahanni. She ran out to Nahanni's little house and let out mournful howls. Frost was already 11 years old at this point, and Nahanni's loss hit her very hard. She lost some of her energy and drive after this.

Of all my canid companions to date, Frost was my favourite, and most loyal and loving. She came from my friends Doug and Lea Hutchinson, who were recreational mushers, with sixteen dogs. They were going to be leaving Alaska in 2005, so were trying to find homes for their sled dogs. Frost was the cream of their crop. She had been the lead dog on their team for many years. Her parents were both veterans of the Iditarod and Yukon Quest, from prestigious musher Rick Swenson's kennel. When I took her in with Stikine, in summer 2004, at the age of nine, she was in her last heat! I regret not having her bred, she would have produced beautiful, strong puppies, and been a loving mother to them. But I was not ready to sacrifice the time and energy to deal with 3-9 puppies, so had her neutered.

Frost was extremely loyal, but also very timid. She rarely ever ran off, and was always by my side, wherever we were. In her prime, as lead dog on the Hutchinson's team, she would run 150 km or more a day at times, at speeds of 20 kph. On all of our long runs and skis, at least before mid 2006, when she startedto slow down, I was incapable of tiring her out.

Her timidity though, required vigilance on my part. Sled dogs, more than domestic breeds, often have extreme jealousy issues. This may be a combination of their wolfiness, and lack of adequate human interaction when living in a large dog-yard.. On several occasions, I would gave attention to a different dog, then leave off, and turn to Frost. The other dogs attacked Frost, sometimes savagely. The worst was in April 2006, while we were running around Chena Ridge. A larger sled dog, outweighing her 5-8 kg, after I petted him, and we ran past, set upon her brutally. She was in a ball, while the other dog went for her throat. I didn't have time to think, I beat and kicked him off her with all my strength. He ran off, leaving Frost screaming and quivering on the road. I had to gently talk to her for a few minutes before she got up, and were able to resume our run. Fortunately she wasn't seriously injured.

A few weeks later, she returned the favour. My friend Jeff Gordon and I decided to just do a short day-ski/snowshoe on the frozen Delta River, through the Alaska Range, on a bright sunny, Easter sunday, 2006.

Here she is, midway through, helping us break trail through 30 cm or so of heavy packed powder.

The Delta River flows through a 1500-2000 metre deep canyon of the Alaska Range, funneling north or south winds through it. On this day, we began our outing with light south chinook winds.

But, three or four hours later, after lunch, we decided to head back, as the winds were increasing. By the time we got back near the river, after going up a side canyon, we could see we were in for a rough go.

You can see the blowing snow on the river there, with 3000 metre Mt. Silvertip looming above.

Jeff was ahead of me on snowshoes, retracing our route, while I followed behind, after stopping for a late lunch. When we caught back up to each other on the river, the winds were easily 80-100 kph sustained, and all the snow was being scoured off the river, creating a ground-blizzard, with near-zero visibility at times. It was difficult getting back across the river, because the snow was completely scoured away in spots, and edging across the sheer river ice on skis in that wind was a chore. There were also some open-water leads to skirt. Jeff and I got separated a few times, but Frost kept us together, by going back and forth between us. Thus, making our return trip much easier and safer! I had to stop and get her the biggest steak I could find, on the way home, for that.

She was starting to slow down though that year, and she even had some breast tumours removed in fall 2006. By April 2007, she was very slow and frail, in part due to another grief incident (more on that later) several months previous. Finally in May, 2007, she became very ill, and I rushed her to our vet. She was shaking and quivering, trying to run off into the woods and die. Her abdomen was filled with inoperable cancer, and she expired that month. Never to be forgotten, for her loyalty, affection, strength, and endurance.

After Nahanni's passing, in February, 2006, I wanted another companion for Frost and I.

That May we went to the Fairbanks animal shelter, and were captivated by this large, beautiful, gentle being.

His name was Nimbus, and he was just two or three years old. All that was known about him, was that he had been dumped after-hours at the pound with a note, saying he "didn't work out" as a sled dog. He was large, about 37 kg, and thought to be McKenzie River Husky/Wolf hybrid.

He came home with Frost and I in mid-May, 2006, and we had quite a challenge. He obviously had suffered hard times at the hands of other men, as he would shrink away from my approaching hand. And, not even take an offered treat, but would only eat it if I threw it to him, then looked away, while he ate it. He was also not housebroken. So it took weeks of gentle persuasion and encouragement to domesticate and bond with him. While keeping him roped to me at all times, out of doors. It took him a few months, before he would not run off for hours, if he accidentally got away.

He took to running with Frost and I immediately though, and was a majestic sight, with his wolfy appearance and plume of a tail. On our longer runs, up to 32 km or so, he wouldn't even drink water (at temps. of 15-25C!), though I tried to encourage him to do so.

He loved all our wilderness outings, as well our regular in-town runs and hikes. His large size and wolf background belied an amazingly gentle and timid demeanor. He always backed away from other dogs, if challenged (requiring my intervention at times). And never barked, just let out squeeks, if he needed something. He really took to women as well, perhaps because of his earlier experiences.

Unfortunately, his previous abuse at the hands of other men, proved to be his undoing. On 04 November, 2006, I rushed home to the Chena Ridge Research Centre, from work and bounded up the stairs, to change, so we could go for a run. But Nimbus always was perched at the top of there, that was his lair. Not knowing who I was, he panicked and bolted down the stairs. He tripped and broke a leg, and plummeted past me, too fast for me to grab. When his head reached the tile floor at the bottom of the stairs, it folded under his body, breaking his neck. I got to him and held his head in my hand, as he left this world, for the next. It took only a few seconds. Frost was there at our side, and she knew what happened. I rushed him to our local vet, just down the road, hoping for some miracle, but when I got there, we all knew it wasover. But Dr. Jean Battig worked on him just the same, more for my benefit than Nimbus'.

He was only three. But he had six good months at least, before his untimely end. I have to tell you what happened next, even though it is very graphic and sad. Dr. Battig said I could take Nimbus body to the pound for cremation. So in my shocked state I did, and asked the staff there what to do. When I came back with Nimbus' loose 37 kg body in my arms, they opened a door and had me put him in there. There were 20-30 other dead dogs on the floor in there. I almost dropped straight-away. It was the bi-weekly quota of dogs that didn't make it, that couldn't find homes. At least half of them were sled dogs. If this is happening here in Fairbanks, think what it is like in Anchorage, or other large cities in the lower 48. I stumbled and lurched out of there to my car, and collapsed for a few minutes in the driver's seat, before I could get it together for the drive home.

Frost was never the same after that, she became withdrawn and much less energetic that winter, and her end to cancer then came in May, 2007. I found myself dogless that summer, of 2007. Which did not feel right, and I knew that would change. My friend Jeff Gordon was thinking about adopting one, so after we got back from running the Whitehorse marathon in early August, we went to the animal shelter. He didn't find a dog there that really grabbed him, but my attention was quickly caught by this little beauty.

She was named Jinga at the time, by the shelter staff, and was thought to be two. She had been dumped at the shelter, limping on her back legs, and starving. I immediately was attracted to her beauty and sweet smile. I had her checked out by Dr. Battig, who said she would recover from her injuries.

So, a week later, she came home to the Chena Ridge Research Centre, with a new name of Kiana. After a village in northwest Alaska, known to be a very friendly place. What I didn't know, was anything about her past (which was surely very abusive). My room-mate at the time, Sabine, a very sweet German graduate student, had a timid little blue-eyed Siberian Husky named Ophie, a girl of eight. As soon as I brought Kiana in the door, and she saw Ophie, she charged! Straight for her neck! I grabbed Kiana in mid-air and threw her out the door.

It took weeks of attention, discipline, and treats, to get her to accept other dogs, and bond with her. But, as with all the others, she took to running with me right away, and greatly enjoyed it.

Here she is in her prime, September, 2007, after we bonded and she became accepting of other dogs.

In late September, 2007, we, along with my friend Janice, went for a hike up to the Gulkana glacier, in the Alaska Range. Just a half-hour after Janice took this picture, I slipped on some snow-covered ice, with boulders studded all round. I fell full-force, jamming my left knee onto a knobby rock. The pain was incredible, I fell to my back, writhing and gasping, trying to get my pack off, because I thought I was going to vomit. After about 5-10 minutes of pain and gasping, I was able to collect myself, and Janice (a radiologist!) and I assessed the damage. There was a hole in the kneecap down to the fascia, and it was rapidly swelling. I was able to get up, and with the aid of my trekking poles, was able to stumble the ten kilometres back to our car, with Janice and Kiana helping me as needed. Kiana was always by my side, whimpering and concerned.

With a broken and bandaged knee, I was unable to run or hike much for several weeks. So, two weeks after the injury, we drove up the Dalton Highway, to Atigun Pass and back, 13 1/2 hours in one day. We had never been there. I was able to stumble around in the tundra for about an hour near Atigun Pass, and Kiana had a great time. When I got back and looked at my pictures though, this one set me on edge. She looks like a spirit, flitting over the tundra, and with the past history of my otherdogs...

Jeff Gordon moved back in as my room-mate that fall, and brought Mattie with him, our now assistant-editor. He had gotten her from the pound on the Emerald Isle of Kodiak, when he lived there for a year. Mattie and Kiana had a great time that fall and winter together, and grew to be great companions.

On a mid-January evening of 2008, when this picture was taken, Mattie, Kiana, and I went for our usual 90 min. neighbourhood run. A few kilometres of which is on Chena Ridge Road, which has a 90 km speed limit, meaning most people are doing 110 or better.

When we were on a straight stretch of that road, Mattie pulled me hard, and I let go of Kiana. She got out into the traffic lane. I immediately went after her, but it was too late. A large 4WD truck was bearing down at us, easily going 120 kph. I got out of the way just in time, and felt it brush my shoulder. It went right through Kiana, and her remains ended up on the other side of the road. The tan/white mid 1990s Ford 4WD extra-cab never slowed or stopped. I was dressed in bright reflective red, and Kiana had alot of white on her, so the driver had to have seen us. I ran over and just lay with her in the road, not caring what happened, at that point. A nice older man in another truck stopped, came out, and helped us all into the bed of it. He took us the two km home. I called my friend Rebecca, and she came over to help me deal with the situation, and took Kiana's remains for me to the pound. Mattie of course was traumatized as well, but her recovery was much faster than mine.

It took me a few months before I could look again at large trucks without great fear and anger, and drive or run past that spot on the road without re-living the experience.

Jeff decided he couldn't take very good care of Mattie, and asked me if I would adopt her. I was happy to, she was and is a very sweet, loyal, and extremely brave and tough companion.

When she was just 15 months old, and weighed 25 kg, we went for a short pack trip in the Alaska Range in August, 2008. At our campsite, by this pond, just after I took this picture, around 2000 in the evening, I heard a snorting and pawing sound, while in my tent. I rushed out, hoping it was not a bear. A large bull caribou, easily more than 2 metres tall, and weighing 180-200 kg, was displaying displeasure that we were in his area (I had seen large amounts of caribou scat there when we were setting up camp earlier).

Before I could stop her, she charged after him, barking and running circles around him. I couldn't believe it, and the moreso, because he ran off! He could have easily dispatched her with one kick. After that surge of bravery and protection on her part, she could do no wrong in my eyes!
She has incredible endurance, even though she is half-lab. When our friend Erik Hursh and I skied in to the Chris McCandless bus on the Stampede Trail last March (about 68 km round trip), Mattie ran along. Going back and forth, constantly. So, we figure she must have easily ran about 140 km that day. She was a little tired at the end, but the next day, was not sore at all!

We were thinking another canine companion would be a good idea, over the past year. Then our friend Rebecca notified me that her 12 year old boy, Homer, needed a new home. Rebecca had moved to Oregon last year, leaving Homer with another family. Who couldn't give him the care and attention he needed. So he came to us this past June. After just a few weeks of running with us, he had shed at least 3-4 kg, and was looking, acting, and feeling much better.

Since Homer had lived with Rebecca and her ten year old daughter Isabell his whole life, he was fully trained and domesticated, in spite of his wolfiness. Which is quite apparent in his long legs and method of running; he lopes along much like a wolf.

He and Mattie quickly bonded, and are now inseparable, as we work and play in and around the Chena Ridge Research Centre, or go on outings in
more wild settings.

Such as this beautiful area, on the Mt. Healy trail, in the Alaska Range, near Denali N.P. This was late last July, when he surprised a young hiker, who thought he was a wild wolf, before he saw me and Mattie.

In spite of his relatively advanced age, for a canine, of 12 or 13, Homer is in very good shape, physically and mentally. He participates actively in all our activities, and has run as far as 30 km with us. We think we'll have the pleasure of at least a few more

good years with his strong, yet gentle presence.

Which brings us to the end of this narrative. In spite of all the misfortune of losing Stikine, Nahanni, Nimbus, and Kiana, so quickly, and at such young ages, I don't regret having taken them in at all. For they all at least had several good months to ayear, before they were taken from us.

And their love and affection was real and strong, greatly enriching us. They always reinforced strong ideas for me too, interacting with them. For they never worried about past or future events overmuch, living much more in the moment. And when tragedy has struck, while grief-stricken for a short while, they have always recovered much more quickly than I.

For those of you living in Fairbanks, if you don't already have a canid companion or two, please think of adopting one of these hardy, strong, loyal and affectionate beings.

http://www.petfinder.com/shelterSearch/shelterSearch.cgi?&shelterid=AK12&Animal=Dog&sort=Identifier&preview=1

Even though some of them may require focused work and attention, to bond with and re-domesticate them, it will be well worth it. They may even save your life, if a bear or other large animal becomes aggresive. You can count on that! And for routine companionship, especially if you like to run or hike alot, they can't be beat, the colder the better!

If you don't live here, but are just visiting, consider visiting our animal shelter, and taking one or two home with you. You won't regret it! We never have. Cheers.

THE OCEAN BLUE / NOBEL THOUGHTS

THE OCEAN BLUE

Your lead editor just returned from two weeks of beach activity, visiting my siblings in San Diego, and father and stepmom in Florida. Surfing lessons, scuba diving, packrafting, running, and general beachcombing. I love being by and in the ocean almost as much (sometimes more) than being in inland, mountainous terrain, with all that has to offer.

Unfortunately, while returning from a shore dive off La Jolla Shores, 15-25 metres down in the La Jolla Canyon, I had to walk back out with my 28+ kg of dive gear through just .8 metre surf, while trying to get my fins off. The waves were breaking every few seconds, and while I was struggling with my fins, the A.P.R. Dive Cam came off my arm, and floated away. I didn''t realize this until I was well onshore, heading toward the OEX Dive Shop, where I'd rented my gear.

I ran back and looked for over an hour, but it is lost to posterity. As are all my San Diego surfing and diving pictures. So, we'll just have to make do with some generic ones from the area(s).

My brother Greg is amazing as a surfer, since he's been at it since 1976. We took a couple sessions at La Jolla Shores, on the southern end of that beach is where the smallest break is, ideal for learning. The last day we were at it, I borrowed his friend Mike's longboard, which was over two metres long. Making it more stable for a beginner. But it was very windy, onshore west winds 25-35 kilometres per hour, so the .5 to 1 metre waves were blown out and breaking every two seconds. Tough conditions for learning with that fast wave period and strong current, so all I was able to do in our hour of struggling was to get on my knees for a few rides. Greg was still able to get a few decent rides though, it's neat seeing how all those years of experience enables him to use that board as an extension of himself and just flow through the surf. Reminding me alot of really good alpine skiers, when they can just shoot through heavy powder, down through trees and steep, rocky chutes.

My shore dives in the La Jolla canyon, were very beautiful. I had a guide both times from OEX, a dive shop right in La Jolla Shores, two blocks from the beach. My guide on both was a cool 30 yr. old Cypriot (from Cypress) and UCSD physics student, Alexis. One of his two jobs was as a divemaster there at OEX. Our last dive was the best. We paddled out 100 metres from La Jolla Shores near the Beach/Tennis Club, dropped down to 8 metres or so, then underwater headed east another 50 metres or so, to 10 metres depth. At this point, the La Jolla Canyon is reached. Here it was only 30-40 metres deep, but it quickly drops to depths ten and more times that as it cuts through the continental shelf, to the abyssal plain below. The visibility was an amazing 10 metres at 20 metres depth, often it's only 2-4 metres there. We saw plenty of lobsters and crabs in the rocks of the canyon wall at 20 metres (this area is a protected marine reserve, no harvesting of any fauna allowed), and smelt swimming around. The water was about 20C on top, but only 13C below the thermocline at 10 metres, requiring a 7mm wetsuit, hood, gloves, and booties.

My two dives from Jupiter, Florida were even more spectacular, the reefs 4-8 km offshore (accessible by boat only) have stunning corals and tropical fauna at depths of 20-30 metres, in warm 28-30C water (even in a 3mm suit, with no gloves and hood, I was too warm!). With visibilities of 15-25 metres.

This picture, from a different area in Florida, was very similar to what the ten of us on the dive charter saw. Three big loggerhead turtles were nestled in the rocks of Area 51 reef, and we also saw a few small reef sharks, large groupers, and many multi-coloured tropical fish species. In fact, I have to rate this area as almost as spectacular as the Great Barrier Reef in diversity and colour of fauna, combined with usually excellent visibilities in very warm water. Almost like a secret, as there have never been that many boats out on these reefs in my four charters I've done there.

So it was, that when I came across this article during my time in San Diego, I found it very distressing. We here at A.P.R. don't always want to be bearers of bad news. But things like this will directly and adversely affect all of us in the coming decades, if no actions are taken to limit CO2 and methane emissions.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/10/04

Published on Sunday, October 4, 2009 by The Guardian/UK

Arctic Seas Turn to Acid, Putting Vital Food Chain at Risk

With the world's oceans absorbing six million tonnes of carbon a day, a leading oceanographer warns of eco disaster
by Robin McKie

"Carbon-dioxide emissions are turning the waters of the Arctic Ocean into acid at an unprecedented rate, scientists have discovered. Research carried out in the archipelago of Svalbard has shown in many regions around the north pole seawater is likely to reach corrosive levels within 10 years. The water will then start to dissolve the shells of mussels and other shellfish and cause major disruption to the food chain. By the end of the century, the entire Arctic Ocean will be corrosively acidic.

(Juniors Bildarchiv/Alamy)"This is extremely worrying," Professor Jean-Pierre Gattuso, of France's Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, told an international oceanography conference last week. "We knew that the seas were getting more acidic and this would disrupt the ability of shellfish – like mussels – to grow their shells. But now we realise the situation is much worse. The water will become so acidic it will actually dissolve the shells of living shellfish."
Just as an acid descaler breaks apart limescale inside a kettle, so the shells that protect molluscs and other creatures will be dissolved. "This will affect the whole food chain, including the North Atlantic salmon, which feeds on molluscs," said Gattuso, speaking at a European commission conference, Oceans of Tomorrow, in Barcelona last week. The oceanographer told delegates that the problem of ocean acidification was worse in high latitudes, in the Arctic and around Antarctica, than it was nearer the equator.

"More carbon dioxide can dissolve in cold water than warm," he said. "Hence the problem of acidification is worse in the Arctic than in the tropics, though we have only recently got round to studying the problem in detail."

About a quarter of the carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere by factories, power stations and cars now ends up being absorbed by the oceans. That represents more than six million tonnes of carbon a day.

This carbon dioxide dissolves and is turned into carbonic acid, causing the oceans to become more acidic. "We knew the Arctic would be particularly badly affected when we started our studies but I did not anticipate the extent of the problem," said Gattuso.

His research suggests that 10% of the Arctic Ocean will be corrosively acidic by 2018; 50% by 2050; and 100% ocean by 2100. "Over the whole planet, there will be a threefold increase in the average acidity of the oceans, which is unprecedented during the past 20 million years. That level of acidification will cause immense damage to the ecosystem and the food chain, particularly in the Arctic," he added.

The tiny mollusc Limacina helicina, which is found in Arctic waters, will be particularly vulnerable, he said. The little shellfish is eaten by baleen whales, salmon, herring and various seabirds. Its disappearance would therefore have a major impact on the entire marine food chain. The deep-water coral Lophelia pertusa would also be extremely vulnerable to rising acidity. Reefs in high latitudes are constructed by only one or two types of coral – unlike tropical coral reefs which are built by a large variety of species. The loss of Lophelia pertusa would therefore devastate reefs off Norway and the coast of Scotland, removing underwater shelters that are exploited by dozens of species of fish and other creatures.

"Scientists have proposed all sorts of geo-engineering solutions to global warming," said Gattuso. "For instance, they have proposed spraying the upper atmosphere with aerosol particles that would reduce sunlight reaching the Earth, mitigating the warming caused by rising levels of carbon dioxide.

"But these ideas miss the point. They will still allow carbon dioxide emissions to continue to increase – and thus the oceans to become more and more acidic. There is only one way to stop the devastation the oceans are now facing and that is to limit carbon-dioxide emissions as a matter of urgency."

This was backed by other speakers at the conference. Daniel Conley, of Lund University, Sweden, said that increasing acidity levels, sea-level rises and temperature changes now threatened to bring about irreversible loss of biodiversity in the sea. Christoph Heinze, of Bergen University, Norway, said his studies, part of the EU CarboOcean project, had found that carbon from the atmosphere was being transported into the oceans' deeper waters far more rapidly than expected and was already having a corrosive effect on life forms there.

The oceans' vulnerability to climate change and rising carbon-dioxide levels has also been a key factor in the launching of the EU's Tara Ocean project at Barcelona. The expedition, on the sailing ship Tara, will take three years to circumnavigate the globe, culminating in a voyage through the icy Northwest Passage in Canada, and will make continual and detailed samplings of seawater to study its life forms.

A litre of seawater contains between 1bn and 10bn single-celled organisms called prokaryotes, between 10bn and 100bn viruses and a vast number of more complex, microscopic creatures known as zooplankton, said Chris Bowler, a marine biologist on Tara.

"People think they are just swimming in water when they go for a dip in the sea," he said. "In fact, they are bathing in a plankton soup."

That plankton soup is of crucial importance to the planet, he added. "As much carbon dioxide is absorbed by plankton as is absorbed by tropical rainforests. Its health is therefore of crucial importance to us all."

However, only 1% of the life forms found in the sea have been properly identified and studied, said Bowler. "The aim of the Tara project is to correct some of that ignorance and identify many more of these organisms while we still have the chance. Issues like ocean acidification, rising sea levels and global warming will not be concerns at the back of our minds. They will be a key focus for the work that we do while we are on our expedition."

The toll by 2100
■ The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change forecast in 2007 that sea levels would rise by 20cm to 60cm by 2100 thanks to global warming caused by man-made carbon-dioxide emissions. This is now thought to be an underestimate, however, with most scientific bodies warning that sea levels could rise by a metre or even higher. Major inundations of vulnerable regions such as Bangladesh would ensue.

■ The planet will be hotter by 3C by 2100, most scientists now expect, though rises of 4.5C to 5C could be experienced. Deserts will spread and heatwaves will become more prevalent. Ice-caps will melt and cyclones are also likely to be triggered.

■ Weather patterns across the globe will become more unstable, numbers of devastating storms will increase dramatically while snow will disappear from all but the highest mountains.
© Guardian News and Media Limited 2009"

This is terrible news, because it is already happening, and it seems unlikely anything will be done by 2020, at the earliest. However, the industrialised countries of the world did come together in the 1980s to limit the use and emissions of chlorofluorocarbons as refrigerants and aerosol-can propellants because they were destroying the high latititude stratospheric ozone layer. Since the Montreal Treaty was signed in 1987, the ozone "hole" over Antarctica has lessened in severity, and should recover completely in a few decades. So, perhaps the industrialised countries can act again for the health of the planet, but it will take strong grass-roots pressure and activism to make this happen within 10-20 years, which is necessary.

NOBEL THOUGHTS

We at A.P.R. were just as shocked as everyone when we heard the news that this year's Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to our President Obama. And it's been somewhat difficult for us to make up our minds about how we feel about this.

On the pessimistic but realistic side of things, Howard Zinn, one of our favourite progressive figures, and author of the seminal, revealing, "Peoples History of the United States"

(http://www.harpercollins.com/book/index.aspx?isbn=9780060528423
Book Description
Since its original landmark publication in 1980, A People's History of the United States has been chronicling American history from the bottom up, throwing out the official version of history taught in schools -- with its emphasis on great men in high places -- to focus on the street, the home, and the, workplace.

Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, A People's History is the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of -- and in the words of -- America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, the working poor, and immigrant laborers. As historian Howard Zinn shows, many of our country's greatest battles -- the fights for a fair wage, an eight-hour workday, child-labor laws, health and safety standards, universal suffrage, women's rights, racial equality -- were carried out at the grassroots level, against bloody resistance. Covering Christopher Columbus's arrival through President Clinton's first term, A People's History of the United States, which was nominated for the American Book Award in 1981, features insightful analysis of the most important events in our history.

Revised, updated, and featuring a new after, word by the author, this special twentieth anniversary edition continues Zinn's important contribution to a complete and balanced understanding of American history.)

presented this article. http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/10/10-3

War and Peace Prizes
by Howard Zinn

"I was dismayed when I heard Barack Obama was given the Nobel peace prize. A shock, really, to think that a president carrying on two wars would be given a peace prize. Until I recalled that Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Henry Kissinger had all received Nobel peace prizes. The Nobel committee is famous for its superficial estimates, won over by rhetoric and by empty gestures, and ignoring blatant violations of world peace.

Yes, Wilson gets credit for the League of Nations – that ineffectual body which did nothing to prevent war. But he had bombarded the Mexican coast, sent troops to occupy Haiti and the Dominican Republic and brought the US into the slaughterhouse of Europe in the first World War, surely among stupid and deadly wars at the top of the list.

Sure, Theodore Roosevelt brokered a peace between Japan and Russia. But he was a lover of war, who participated in the US conquest of Cuba, pretending to liberate it from Spain while fastening US chains on that tiny island. And as president he presided over the bloody war to subjugate the Filipinos, even congratulating a US general who had just massacred 600 helpless villagers in the Phillipines. The Committee did not give the Nobel prize to Mark Twain, who denounced Roosevelt and criticised the war, nor to William James, leader of the anti-imperialist league.

Oh yes, the committee saw fit to give a peace prize to Henry Kissinger, because he signed the final peace agreement ending the war in Vietnam, of which he had been one of the architects. Kissinger, who obsequiously went along with Nixon's expansion of the war, with the bombing of peasant villages in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Kissinger, who matches the definition of a war criminal very accurately, is given a peace prize!

People should be given a peace prize not on the basis of promises they have made – as with Obama, an eloquent maker of promises – but on the basis of actual accomplishments towards ending war, and Obama has continued deadly, inhuman military action in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Nobel peace committee should retire, and turn over its huge funds to some international peace organization which is not awed by stardom and rhetoric, and which has some understanding of history."

© 2009 Guardian News and Media Limited

Howard Zinn is one of our favourite progressive voices here at A.P.R., and we take his views very seriously, and he makes strong arguments here.

However, other progressive voices have written that they hope this award will spur him to be realistic about the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan, to end them quickly. Since nothing but more death and destruction will occur to innocent civilians there, before the U.S. is forced out, as all empires have been in that region since the Greeks of Alexander, 2500 years ago. Fidel Castro even wrote supportively about Obama's award, which was interesting, viewing it as given for his potential, and to spur him on. Since the right-wingnuts like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and all the rest on Faux News are all spewing forth their usual vitriol condemning it, our instinctive reaction is to support Obama's award.

We here at A.P.R. always try and want to make the best of every situation, and present positive, constructive views. Nevertheless, we are more in agreement with Howard Zinn about Obama's Nobel Peace Prize. Because the U.S. defense budget has increased this year, and no real signs of rethinking the tragedies and crimes that are the wars (and occupations of a sovereign countries that posed/poses no threat to this one) in Afghanistan and Iraq seem to be occurring. The 9/11 attacks were carried out by criminals and murderers, and should have been handled as such. As a police action. International support would have been very strong for that, at that time. Instead, innocent civilians continue to suffer horribly and die in remote-controlled aerial drone bombing attacks, and from manned bombers as well, in both these countries and in Pakistan. That is not making it safer "over here" by "killing terrorists over there". But maybe that's the point?

Sad to think that way, to be sure, but as we have seen from our previous post, "Making Out Like Bandits" http://akprogressive.blogspot.com/2009/08/making-out-like-bandits.html, corporate profits accelerate during wartime. And since the corporate media won't allow the reality of the Iraq/Afghanistan wars/occupations to be exposed, politicians are afraid to go against the status quo, for fear of being destroyed by conservatives calling them weak and unpatriotic, supporting "terrorism". Despite the fact that "War is Terrorism With a Bigger Budget", as one of our favourite bumper stickers reads, since 80 percent or more of the casualties in every modern war are innocent civilians. Families, with children often.

And we also know what happened to several historical figures who were strong forces fighting for peace and economic justice (Malcom X, MLK, RFK, Senator Paul Wellstone). It's going to take many years, we are afraid, for the US to extricate itself and/or be forced out from the Middle Eastern imperial actions. Meaning many more thousands of innocent civilians will suffer and die.

SOUTHERN UTAH ROCKS [and] SHIFTING THE PARADIGM

SOUTHERN UTAH ROCKS

Greetings from sunbaked San Diego, CA where only 9 cm of rain have fallen since 1 January (the average is about 2.5 times that). But an El Nino wind/sea surface temperature event is currently taking shape in the Pacific, which should help California have a more robust upcoming winter rainy season.

Your lead A.P.R. editor is visiting his brother Greg (who is an avid surfer), and sister Mischelle, and soaking in the sights/activities of the area. One thing I've long wanted to do, is tour southern Utah more in-depth, than I have in the past. This was a good opportunity. So, the morning after my arrival here on 9/22, Mischelle, her partner Lisa, and I set out in our little rented car.

First stop was Las Vegas, for two nights. Mischelle and Lisa both love it there. I find it compelling, for different reasons, as an epitome of what our current financial/economic system represents, and an excellent metaphor showing how unsustainable it is. Las Vegas receives only about 10 cm of rainfall a year, yet has a population of 1.5 million, with green lawns, golf courses, and swimming pools evaporating water into the desiccating desert air. Water comes not just from the Colorado River (the entire output of which is allocated to the states it flows through, leaving nothing but a salty trickle for Mexico!), but other smaller waterways in Nevada. Which are also fully used up. Then there is the incredible power load for all the casinos, the lights, machines, etc.. Which uses the bulk of the electricity from Hoover Dam, which will silt up and become useless in 20-30 years, because of the extreme evaporation from Lake Mead (this is not factoring in any drought effects).

So, I think of these things alot when I'm there, but still try to have some fun! And, I did win 500.00 on a keno machine my second evening there at Sam's Town, one of the older casinos, north of "the strip" (which necessitated a trip to REI the next day, to make sure I'd have something to show for it). And a couple hundred the last day on the slots in different places.

We had two objectives for this trip, to spend the bulk of our time visiting Bryce Canyon N.P., then drive back through Zion N.P. An anomalously strong high pressure ridge (imagine that?) was over the western states, and so the weather was perfectly sunny and very warm during our entire trip. The drive from Cedar City, east up through the Cedar Breaks country was very beautiful, the aspens were in full fall yellow/red colours from about 2000 metres elevation up. Unfortunately, in the ten years since I had last been through here, half the high-elevation stands of lodgepole pine and white fir were dead from bug kill and diseases, caused by the warmer winters now, which allow more pests to over-winter. Making for some bleak scenes at times.

This route, Utah state highway 14, east from Cedar City, is highly recommended, for those of you who haven't driven that way. Of course, you won't find it on this old map of the region, but we here at A.P.R. happen to like it, so included it, to serve as a reference. It pre-dates the designation of Bryce and Zion N.P.'s as well, so you'll have to poke around a bit on it.

Lisa reserved us a nice "wet" cabin in Kodachrome Basin state park for three nights, which is about 40 km east and south of Bryce. Not having heard much about this area, I was not sure what to expect.
This is a view of the Basin. Amazing orange/red rocks, with interesting "sand pipe" formations in different shapes and sizes.

There were about 25 km of trails in it in different places, and the lighting at different times of the day made for beautiful views and photo-ops. We all hiked around quite a bit, and I did a few short 10K runs, once in the evening, and again on our last morning there.

One of my favourite rock formations was just down the road from our cabin, a sand-pipe (thought to be composed of sand from an ancient stream bed), next to the orange rocks, which had a strange horizontal groove in them. This picture, taken in the evening, shows how the lighting really accentuates the colours here. I liked having the moon in close proximity as well.

Kodachrome Basin is lower than Bryce, only around 1800 m, so it was quite warm, up to 30C by day, and only dropping to about 10C at night. It is cold enough here in winter for snow and frost, but not cold enough to limit nasty insects. Our second evening there I discovered a 12cm diameter spider with a tan/black body in the shower. Argh! I slipped a paper coffee cup over it, then slid a coffee bag envelope over the cup, and ran it out the door, fast! Just as I took off the covering envelope, it raced up the cup toward my hand. I yelped and dropped that sucker fast! It fell under the floor-boards of the front porch. We are not too crazy about spiders...

Both of our of two days in Bryce NP dawned hot and sunny. What makes Bryce so noteworthy are the tan/pink/orange sandstone eroding rock formations on the east side of a high plateau, which is at an elevation of 2300-2800 metres. The dropoffs on this amazing east-side are around 200-700 metres. You can see these interesting colours from near the start of our hike on the first day, the Queen's Canyon and Navajo Loop trails.

The fall colours from the aspen (and vine maples, where there are denser coniferous stands of white fir, ponderosa pine, and douglas fir) combined with those from the rocks were fantastic.

On our 9 km hike the first day on the Queen's Canyon and Navajo Loop trails, here are some of the interesting sights. Not bad for such a short excursion!

Dropping down into a slot canyon pretty quickly on this hike, the orange rocks combined with the deep blue high-elevation sky were stunning.

I really liked these Douglas Fir (Pinaceae Tseudotsuga Menziesii) trees in the narrow slot. This one was almost 30 metres tall and and had a one metre diameter trunk at breast height.

The bright orange colours even made me look like that. The warm and dry conditions, combined with the high altitude, made me have to carry lots of water and fuel. Even on this short hike, I must have drank two litres of water.

At the tail end of the hike, at the top of the rim near Sunrise Point (at an elevation of 2700m), was this interesting bristlecone pine. I named it the Walking Tree. Erosion has been steady, but slow enough, for the tree to keep pace with it by extending its roots. Interesting. The late afternoon colours were of course amazing here. There are about 15 km of trails above the rim that are groomed for skiing in winter. What a beautiful place to get some nordic skiing in, something we'd love to do there.

I had wanted to do a full 48km fast-pack of the Under The Rim Trail from Rainbow Point north to Bryce Point, then the Rim Trail to the visitors center. But that saturday night it was so hot in our cabin, none of us slept well, and instead of getting up at 0630, so I could be on the trail by 0900, we slept in until 0930. So, I decided just to do the first half. Starting at Rainbow Point, the southern terminus of the park road and trailhead for the 38 km Under the Rim Trail. I got to the Rainbow Point trailhead at 1330, and ran the first 10 km downhill, from 2780m to 2260m. I was able to keep a good pace on the downs and levels, but any upslope, and I had to walk, with that altitude. It felt like 30C, even that high, with strong sun, so used alot of water and fuel, more than double than I would at home in the lowlands of interior Alaska. By the time I finished my 23K, 3 hours later, I had gone through 4 liters of water, 3 energy gels, and a lunch. Since there was no water available on the trail, it would have been difficult to carry twice that much for the full 48K. My pack on this outing was just about 8 kg.

The Under The Rim trail drops down from the high plateau, to the base of the rim, which all the multi-coloured rock formations jut up from. This it follows, in up and down sections through three drainages, to Bryce Point. I cut out though halfway through, to get back to the highway, where Mischelle and Lisa could pick me up. Scenes like this were common though, looking up through the fir and aspen trees to the bright orange rocks toward the top of the rim. I was warned by a ranger the previous day to be careful of the altitude, but I just felt a little more tired than usual, the heat was just as much a factor.

After our three days exploring Bryce Canyon and Kodachrome Basin, we had to drive back to Cedar City, and hop south on I-15 to Vegas, then San Diego. But were able to drive a different way, south on US-89, to Utah 9, which bisects Zion NP.

Zion was even more stunning than Bryce. The rocks are more solid sandstone here, and are almost reminiscent of Yosemite's granite, except with more colour. Which makes for incredible scenery, with sheer vertical rock walls 500-1200 metres high.

The hot, dry weather continued, under the high pressure ridge. Since the highway through Zion descends here to only 1200 metres, it got quite hot, up to 35C! And this is the last day

in September. But the deep blue sky and dry air made the colours of the rocks, that more vibrant.

Unfortunately, we didn't have time to stop and hike any of the many trails there. So, a multi-day exploration here will be necessary some time in the coming years. Preferably in a cooler month.

We got to Vegas in the evening, where we stayed at the Fitzgerald. The largest casino in the old area north of the strip, 34 stories of hotel rooms, with a casino at the bottom. None of us did very well this time. It was even hinted at by one of the workers there, that the casinos aren't paying out as well as they used to, because fewer people are coming in, due to the poor economy and higher unemployment.

SHIFTING THE PARADIGM

From Wikipedia...

"Another use of the word paradigm is in the sense of Weltanschauung (German for world view). For example, in social science, the term is used to describe the set of experiences, beliefs and values that affect the way an individual perceives reality and responds to that perception. Social scientists have adopted the Kuhnian phrase "paradigm shift" to denote a change in how a given society goes about organizing and understanding reality. A “dominant paradigm” refers to the values, or system of thought, in a society that are most standard and widely held at a given time. Dominant paradigms are shaped both by the community’s cultural background and by the context of the historical moment. The following are conditions that facilitate a system of thought to become an accepted dominant paradigm:

Professional organizations that give legitimacy to the paradigm

Dynamic leaders who introduce and purport the paradigm

Journals and editors who write about the system of thought. They both disseminate the information essential to the paradigm and give the paradigm legitimacy

Government agencies who give credence to the paradigm

Educators who propagate the paradigm’s ideas by teaching it to students

Conferences conducted that are devoted to discussing ideas central to the paradigm

Media coverage

Lay groups, or groups based around the concerns of lay persons, that embrace the beliefs central to the paradigm

Sources of funding to further research on the paradigm"

For all of modern U.S. history, and especially since the 1980s, when a concerted effort seems to have been undertaken by the "power elite" and corporate media to reinforce this, the dominant paradigm of our culture has been that the "free market", or unregulated capitalism, would see to all of our needs. That although capitalism is based on greed, market forces would weed out the "bad apples" and the general population would benefit greatly from commerce unfettered by government regulations. And, the last four U.S. administrations (and seemingly now, the fifth) have driven policy by this paradigm.

What has it gotten us? Well, just since 2001, two immoral, illegal, and un-necessary wars, leading to the deaths of at least 1.2 million people in Iraq and Afghanistan (with millions more homeless and unemployed). A semi-depression economically, with true jobless rates approaching 25 percent, brought on by the near-demise of many of the largest financial institutions in the U.S. Who through their greed and short-sightedness, and abetted by the deregulation of the financial industry over the past 25 years, bankrupted themselves through greedy and short-sighted decisions, and keep begging the government for more aid, since they are "too big to fail". Not to mention the thousands of corporate lobbyists in Washington D.C. working on behalf of the defense, fossil fuel, financial, and insurance industries, who are intent on keeping the system unchanged. As well, increasing atmospheric CO2 and methane concentrations from our fossil-fuel based way of life are continually increasing, with no real end in sight. Which will unleash global climatic catastrophe unless concerted action is taken within 10-20 years, at most.

With all these problems as a result of the "dominant paradigm", isn't it time for something new and different?

http://www.commondreams.org/further/2009/10/02

I urge you all to look at this link, and see Michael Moore's new movie, when you can. He puts everything we just discussed in great perspective, and in a very convincing, yet entertaining way.

I came across this article last week.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/09/30-14

I thought it was an excellent summary of where we are at, concerning the Obama administration, and very disheartening. We knew Mr. Obama, from his senatorial record, was not going to effect much change, on his own, and warned you in several previous posts. Yet, it still is discouraging, to see this borne out.

I'd like to present you with the best part of this article:

"And given the global financial meltdown that has hit working people so hard, can anyone really say that those who critique the entire capitalist system don't have a point?

Rather than being a mere "abstraction," as Obama claimed, capitalism is an economic system that functions on a set of rules that we created, which inevitably leads to massive inequalities between the haves and have-nots and the easily avoidable deaths of millions around the world every year who simply cannot afford basic medical care or food. It rewards greed and is based on a belief that continual, limitless economic growth is not only possible, but necessary.

The planet's atmosphere and natural resources, however, are finite and being quickly exhausted by the developed world's gluttonous consumption.

In his new book, All My Bones Shake, Robert Jensen succinctly sums up our predicament: "Capitalism is fundamentally inhuman, antidemocratic and unsustainable. Capitalism has given those of us in the First World lots of stuff (though much of it of questionable value) in exchange for our souls, for our hope for progressive politics, and for the possibility of a decent future for children. Either we change or we die -- spiritually, politically, literally."

Obama's dismissal of mass nonviolent action was disingenuous for other reasons as well. Behind his desk in his Senate office, Obama prominently displayed pictures of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

In an interview last year, he explained that the portraits were there "to remind me that real results will not just come from Washington, they will come from the people." And only weeks before the G-20, during his "controversial" address to school children, the president brought up Gandhi, calling him "a real hero of mine."

Could anyone possibly argue with a straight face that King, who was killed while planning the Poor People's Campaign, would not be on the streets with those calling for economic justice? Would Gandhi not oppose the diversion of $700 billion this year from meeting people's basic needs to fund the Pentagon and the military occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan?

The interview with Obama also revealed a growing chasm between his approach to social movements and that of Franklin D. Roosevelt, to whom he is widely compared.

After listening to the concerns of the legendary labor organizer and civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph during a meeting, as the famous and perhaps apocryphal story goes, FDR replied: "I agree with everything that you've said, including my capacity to be able to right many of these wrongs and to use my power and the bully pulpit ... But I would ask one thing of you, Mr. Randolph, and that is go out and make me do it."

During his presidential campaign, Obama even used this story. He told his supporters that he was just one person who could not make the changes they wanted to see by himself. Obama's final message was clear: "Make me do it."

Now that Obama is in the White House, however, he is singing a different tune. Rather than encouraging grassroots protest to help push the public debate and further a progressive legislative agenda as Roosevelt did, Obama is unfortunately publicly trying to quash pressure from the left.

As a counter to the recent mobilization of right-wing tea-baggers, it would seem that now is as good a time as ever for the president to embrace the protesters who are championing at least some of the causes that he once claimed to believe in.

Instead, Obama disgracefully sent in the militarized police -- with the National Guard on the ready -- to silence their dissent."

This sums things up nicely. It really is time for a "Paradigm Shift", because the future of the planet, and the human race, is at stake. Instead of a system based on greed, how about one based on empathy and concern for one's fellow man/woman?

What would such a system be like? Very much like what the Green Party espouses. A governmental system with tightly regulated capitalism, universal health care, education, gainful employment and housing as human rights, and vastly reduced military expenditures, combined with an end to all overseas military operations.

The closest analogues to this can be found in the social democracies of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Western Europe (and Japan to a certain extent). If more people in this country could visit these countries, especially those who are blue collar and socially conservative, traditionally voting Republican, they would understand how they are being manipulated. And we would become much closer to being able to realize the dream of a more sane and just political and economic system. But since this is impossible, we have to try and educate people about what is possible here, since other countries are providing for their citizens much more effectively than ours. And work in our own lives, to promote peace, tolerance, and justice. Then change can really occur. Cheers.