Robert Raven, Author at everythingismc2.org

Measure A Needs Rewrite to Focus on Public Lands

Post author:Robert Raven
Post category:Environment Local Advocacy
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I voted for Marin's Measure A last time, but millions of our taxes went to wealthy ranchers instead of to our public parks and playgrounds. Public money should go to public parks, not to politically powerful ranchers who exclude the taxpaying public from their subsidized ranches. Zoning prohibits developing the ranches anyway. And the ranches are a major source of water pollution and greenhouse gasses in Marin. Measure A should be modified to only fund protection of land that allows public access, or that removes cattle permanently with the goal of rewilding West Marin.…

Air

Post author:Robert Raven
Post category:Current Events Environment Global Issues
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Many people today feel alienated from one another, Red vs. Blue states and counties, racial and religious divisions, choice and sexuality. We even argue over science, like climate and vaccines. No matter our politics, race, religion, or gender identity, everyone breathes the same air. We are breathing the same recycled oxygen atoms once breathed by our ancestors. Air also connects everyone to life on Earth. Animals, bugs, plants and trees breathe the same air that we do. We need to protect forests and preserve ecosystems that absorb carbon and release…

True Democracy

Post author:Robert Raven
Post category:Democracy Historical Perspective
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I’ve long had a replica of the Declaration of Independence, but it recently broke in two. Our democracy is likewise broken. The former president and his supporters refuse to accept their loss in a free and fair election, and violently tried to overthrow the results. America’s democracy has evolved from a few wealthy and white Founding Fathers to include all adult citizens today. Our nation’s demographics are changing with minorities gaining political power. Sadly, the GOP is trying to turn the clock back a century. Voter suppression disenfranchises people of…

Pt. Reyes

Post author:Robert Raven
Post category:Current Events Global Issues
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I am very disappointed with the horrible decision to continue the status quo at Point Reyes. The ranch leases were supposed to expire decades ago, but now they are being extended, despite the degraded land, polluted creeks and seashore, and trash dumps on public land. Instead of protecting our environment and wildlife, a duty that NPS is entrusted with, the decision will keep damaging the environment at Pt. Reyes, and keep killing the rare elk. The vast majority of the people who commented demanded that the leases be ended. But…

No Diablo

Post author:Robert Raven
Post category:Environment
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Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant is scheduled to close their reactors in 2024-25. They are closing because reactor 1 was commissioned in 1968 and reactor 2 in 1970, so they are both very old. They were built in a quake and tsunami zone, with the Central Valley and Southern California downwind, and should close today. They tried to build a nuclear plant at Bodega Head on the San Andreas Fault upwind from the Bay Area! Nuclear power plants cool themselves by either transferring their heat to air towers, or they use water like…

Gaia

Post author:Robert Raven
Post category:Environment Global Issues Science & Spirituality
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We live on a wonderful planet that has air and water, plants and animals big and microscopic. Mother Earth, or Gaia, has been worshipped for millennia in many forms with different names. The fertility goddess, she represents life giving birth, growing crops, and the bounty of nature. Gaia supports life with a thin layer of soil and atmosphere between solid rock and outer space. Gaia breathes in and out each day and season in various ways. Plants and animals both breathe what the other exhales. Life is connected by our…

The Sun

Post author:Robert Raven
Post category:Environment Science & Spirituality
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The Sun has been honored or worshiped on the Solstice since Stonehenge, up to today. Ancient mythical stories tried to explain our Sun’s creation. Scientists calculate that the Sun is at least four billion years old, while the Universe is over thirteen billion years old. We don’t know what created the Big Bang, but that energy is still with us in the trillions of stars in 100 billion galaxies, and also in the cosmic background energy that has been detected on Earth. Most of us feel that we are more…

End Violence

Post author:Robert Raven
Post category:Current Events Global Issues
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Jerusalem, “God’s City of Peace,” is yet again at the center of the conflict between Israel and Palestinians. The fight goes back fifty-five or seventy-five or thousands of years, depending on who’s counting. Both sides want their families to live in peace. Palestinians and Jews must stop fighting, talk to each other and compromise, and end the occupation of Palestine. They must learn to peacefully live side by side as equals in either one nation or in two states. We are brothers and sisters, or at least distant cousins,…

Peace Officers

Post author:Robert Raven
Post category:Current Events
Post comments:8 Comments

Recent killings show that the police should be retrained as peace officers. They should defuse tense situations without killing anyone, and provide assistance to people in crisis. Smart phones have exposed outrageous actions and lies by some cops, yet the outrages still occur. Does a Black life really matter? Militarized police forces and mass incarceration look and feel like an occupying army. Trust in our police is low for many Americans, leading to calls for less funding. Most police officers have been in the military, where they learned how to…

Outside in Nature

Post author:Robert Raven
Post category:Environment Global Issues
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The pandemic has forced most of us to stay home in one lockdown after another. Exceptions were made for essential work, or buying groceries, or going for a short walk with or without a dog. My daily walk on a fire road to open space feels like freedom from the prison of my apartment. Breathing fresh air, basking in sunshine and exercising my body helps me physically, spiritually and even emotionally with happiness inducing endorphins, views and hawks. Many of us have discovered the priceless value of getting out into…

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