energy versus money

Scientists say that the energy in the world is limited. That's part of Einstein's theory of relativity. Value or money is not limited. Or is it? The amount of stuff that my money will buy seems to be limited by the value placed on that money by the great god of finance. If the United States has a deficit, then that money (or its value) has to have gone somewhere. In this case, much of it has gone to nations overseas. They have bought the value of the United States in buying stocks and making loans.

Okay, so this is convoluted. As the number of people in the world increase, does the value of money increase. Supposedly, productivity increases value. But, productivity also decreases the resources available and should decrease value. If we use up all of our oil resources, then our value has decreased by that amount. We don't seem to be able to convert whatever energy the use of our oil resources creates (law of relativity) into value. Instead, the use of our oil resources not only decreases our value of resources, it decreases the value of the earth as a whole by producing gases that make holes in our ozone layer leading to global warming and all that jazz.

Wait, I'm getting to a point where I understand something. The more people in the world, the more we are using resources that have value and producing something that decreases value. So, the more people in the world, the less value is possible for each person. The more value/resources/money that one person has decreases the value possible for other people.

The balance between the law of relativity and the law of value is alike. We cannot reconvert the "by products" of using resources into another resource - like energy converts into matter and vice versa - one valuable resource must convert into another for the balance to be maintained. That's not happening.

We are using our resources to burn ourselves out of existence because we don't know how to reconvert the by products of our used resources into different valuable resources. We cannot go on this way.

The points of this post are
1. We are using value faster than we are creating value.
2. The more value that I accumulate, the less someone else has.
3. Value is limited because we cannot convert "by products" back into value.
4. Someday the people of the world will use up too much value and people will die.
5. I wish this were not happening in my lifetime.

Neighbor kills bear

Yesterday I went to the little service station/grocery/burger counter two doors down to get lunch. A pickup truck pulled out just as I approached leaving the only open parking space to me. (and, yes, I could have walked, but I'm lazy) As I approached the doors, I glanced into the back of a small pick-up truck parked at the gas pumps. Something black was bulging over the top of the truck bed. A 400 pound black bear was there - dead, tongue lolling out of its mouth. With the exception of two small propane tanks, this bear filled the bed of the truck.

I would rather have seen my first eastern North Carolina black bear alive and at a distance, but I certainly would not have wanted to be up close and personal with this Goliath. I grabbed my cell phone and got a picture - which I am not printing here. I wanted to be reminded.

I ordered my burgers to go and went back outside to talk to the man who shot it. He said that the bears had been eating his livestock and his neighbors' livestock. What would he do with the bear? Eat it. Nothing would be wasted. He lives about a mile down the road from me.


















Picture is borrowed from Animal Trial.

We live on the edge of a large national forest where some minor logging is permitted and hunting is permitted, but the dirt roads through the forest show a few hiking trails and lots of trees - no human habitation - not even litter. The bears in eastern North Carolina have flourished and grown huge and hungry. As their habitat grows smaller - even with a large protected forest - they grow more numerous and food is scarce, especially in years when winter comes late. The bears are normally in hibernation by now; however, our warm weather has delayed their usual habits and they are hungry. They seek food; black bears are omnivorous. The grasses, berries and small animals are gone now. So they find fenced animals that are easy prey. And, the owners of these animals hunt them in return.

I took the picture with my cell phone to remind me that all of us are responsible for climate change. I am responsible for the death of this magnificent creature. And, corporately with the entire world, we are responsible for changes in this Earth this make species extinct before their time. I want to see polar bears live before they are gone from the north and live only in zoos. I want to see our black bears survive in this habitat.

My prayer is that I be made more conscious of my impact on the world and our climate so that others may live.

The bees aren't all dead

The magnolia blossom with the bee was taken on May 22, 2008 in my front yard. All the blossoms were covered with bees sucking pollen. The previous bloom was a cotton blossom from a farm in the Mississippi delta near Clarksdale.

One step toward an ecologically sound world

Padre Mickey tagged Juanuchis for this meme, and I liked the idea; so I'm doing it, too.

Steps towards an environmentally (ecologically) sound world - what am I doing and what can I do to leave a smaller "footprint" in the world.

First, let me say that I do many things that leave "footprints" large and unsound: I use way too much gasoline with too many vehicles on our property. I drink too much bottled water even though the bottles are recycled. I forget to take the plastic bags back to the grocery store and get sick of seeing them and throw them in the trash. But, I do get paper bags at one grocery and I reuse them for our recycling. I don't have a compost heap here. We have far too many things with little LED lights and instant on/off controls; so we use more electricity. I use poison for fire ants.

Okay, so what am I doing to help the world:

1. We do recycle everything possible except table scraps.

2. I mostly drive a Prius which uses little gas.

3. I am conscious of how much water I use. We do not water our lawn most of the time. Our water shortage here is not as bad as other places, but we let the grass die.

4. I donate clothing that I have under-grown (Weight Watchers does work.) to friends or to our local non-profit thrift shops.

5. During our recent house renovation, everything possible in salvage went to Habitat for Humanity. And, we still have some light fixtures and other things to go there.

6. I am reusing old deck boards for bordering flower beds. And, we bought less toxic treated wood for the recplacement boards on the deck. We used the composite stuff for our front porch instead of treated wood.

7. We turn off lights when we leave a room. Maybe this saves the electricity that all our little LED lights use. LOL

8. We are conscious of things that should not go into the landfills and recycle batteries, ink cartridges, and such in the proper places.

9. I cannibalize old computers from other people for parts and to recycle them for use by unwed mothers to complete schooling. The remaining parts are appropriately discarded. Although I read recently that far too much high tech waste goes to foreign countries for salvage in unhealthy manner.

Enough.