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Sunday 7 April 2013

Sleepwalkers



As that hormonal adolescent-race ‘Monetary-marketopithecus’ sleepwalks on zombielike through his dying paradigm, weather extremes and social instability abound across his stressed home planet. A year after the driest March on record, Britain has just come through the wettest winter and coldest March on record, and the record freeze continues into April. America is still recovering from Hurricane Sandy - their fiercest ever storm, while Australia has just had to add a new category of heat level to their firestorm events. They have also seen the arrival of a whole new weather phenomenon – the firenado. 
In Canada, The Green party has proposed spending $5 billion to pre-emptively burn off the methane gas escaping from the Arctic Tundra as the region warms and begins to thaw for the first time in recorded history. Methane is a far more effective greenhouse gas than CO2, and this action would help to reduce a positive feedback event which would otherwise further accelerate warming of the arctic in a vicious circle.
In Britain there are further signs that our public are giving up on mainstream political parties and that those who still vote at all are seeking alternatives. Last month saw the Eastleigh by-election, in which the Conservative party came third behind UKIP.  The growing support for UKIP’s stance against immigration is a worrying sign that nationalist fervour could be on the rise in the UK as our economic situation worsens.
Meanwhile in the USA (and largely under the radar of the mainstream media) the economy has finally dropped over the fiscal cliff. President Obama has signed the order to begin cutting 85 Billion dollars from the annual budget. Luckily though, the US Government found there was still enough money available to invest in 7,000 armoured vehicles, 10,000 rifles and a million rounds of ammunition for homeland security - in case those ungrateful American citizens don’t appreciate all that their public servants are doing for them! Time will tell what humanitarian impacts these events will have on an already stressed population as they leave their foreclosed homes in droves and set up tent cities in forests.
And at number-one in Cyprus recently was ‘we’re all going on a bank holiday’ by Fiscal-Cliff Richard! The latest emergency Euro bailout has been agreed just in time to prevent a disorderly exit from the Euro. Confidence is the only thing keeping the beleaguered and leveraged European banking system in play, and there can’t be much of that left after billions are literally being stolen from savers in order to qualify for the latest ECB bailout! The biggest losers in this deal are likely to be Russian Oligarchs who hold billions offshore in Cypriot bank accounts. Hopefully, they won’t miss it too much, and will brush the whole thing off with that well-known forgiving sense of humour of theirs! This move is being seen by some as a ‘Canary in the mine, a small scale test to gauge the level of public outrage and civil unrest before the same policy is implemented in larger countries of the Eurozone.
In China, Terry Gou, CEO of Foxconn – component manufacturers for the iphone – has announced a freeze on hiring workers following a spate of high-profile worker suicides at the plants. He plans to install a million new industrial robots, stating that these are more economical, and won’t commit suicide or demand coffee breaks. Technological unemployment is coming big-time to the world’s premier manufacturing economy.
France is moving in the direction of Greece as the trade gap with Germany widens.  Pierre Jovanovic has told Max Keiser (the Keiser report, RT/ Youtube) about the Goldman Sachs suggestion to reduce French salaries by 30% to stave off the need for another huge bailout. Let them eat cake!!
And from the world of energy production, recently published figures show that the Peak oil phenomenon is well under way. Averaged production figures from five of the world’s leading international Oil companies show a steady decline 2.1% for each year since 2004.
Food for thought: The hundredth monkey
A few years after World war 2, a nuclear bomb was test detonated on a remote Pacific Island. A key experiment was being conducted to see how long it would take for a living ecosystem to be re-established following a direct nuclear blast. The highest animal native to the island was a monkey species - a colony of some 10,000 of which were temporarily re-located to a safe haven during the test. The scientists re-located the colony to the island once the radiation levels had reduced to a level deemed sufficiently safe. The main threat still facing them was elevated radiation levels in debris that had accumulated on the husks of the island’s coconuts – the monkeys’ main food source. So the scientists conducted another experiment – in primate social behaviour. They took a group of about ten monkeys and trained them to wash coconuts in a fresh water stream before eating them. Then they released them onto the island with the rest of the colony and observed. Gradually, other monkeys would start to copy the washing behaviour one or two at a time. This gradual adoption of the behaviour continued until the converts reached one hundred in number. Then something curious happened. After the hundredth monkey started washing its harvest, the remainder of the 10,000 all spontaneously adopted the behaviour as well. Something in the monkeys’ psyche had triggered a group behavioural tipping point after just 1% of the population had transitioned into a new paradigm.
Will you be the one that awakens humankind’s hundredth monkey?
What could I be doing?
Well we’re all stuck with the existing system for now, but what could we all be doing in the meantime to make the best of life, prepare for the approaching storm and be an inspiration to those around us?
Here are eight ideas to consider as to how you can make some small steps in the right direction: -
    Dig for victory! – During the Second world war, recognising our vulnerability to disruption to food distribution, the government introduced the ’Dig for victory’ campaign to encourage everyone to grow their own food. Gardens throughout the land were dug up and turned into allotments and chicken houses. Window boxes were put up and panted with herbs.We are already seeing food prices steadily rising and average earnings declining.  As our economy declines, food supply chains will become increasingly vulnerable. Do you have the use of a spare plot of land or even just a window sill? Now’s the time to roll up your sleeves and prepare for the spring planting season. And why not give your spare seedlings to friends and family and encourage them to do the same.
    Home composting – Don’t throw away your raw vegetable waste and grass cuttings. Put them in a compost bin and recycle them back into your garden soil. You could even take it one stage further and install a composting lavatory in your home. Safe and hygienic systems are now available that make it possible to make your home part of a closed-loop ecosystem.
    Install DIY wind turbines and solar panels for home power generation – or if you’re a technical wiz in this area help others do the same. Information on DIY wind turbines is on http://www.mdpub.com/Wind_Turbine/. You may be interested in joining Open source ecology who are making plans freely available for anyone wishing to develop their own sustainability initiatives: http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/OSE_Europe/UK. There is also the transition network http://www.transitionnetwork.org/
    Build a biomass stove to heat your home, using brushwood as fuel. Here’s a website to show you how: -http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp
    Failing that, why not switch to a more ethical provider of electricity? The RSPB are partnering with Ecotricity who are committed to turn away from fossil fuel sources in favour of renewables:  http://www.ecotricity.co.uk/for-your-home?partner=RSPB1
    And talking of switching to more ethical providers, are you still banking with any of the big banks? Then be sure to switch your account to one known for more ethical practices, such as the Co-operative or even a credit union.
    Would you be willing to spend a free afternoon distributing some flyers to help raise awareness for TZM? Or can you get along to your local university or college, leave them some flyers or even offer to give them a screening of Zeitgeist: moving forward? Please get in touch with us at http://www.tzmuk.com/contact-us
    Get streetwise about where you stand with Common law, and avoid falling victim to unscrupulous companies out there who would have you believe that they have the jurisdiction and right to label you as an offender, and use the accusation as justification for demanding money with menaces from you. For example, did you know that when private parking companies send you a ‘fixed penalty’ notice for overstaying in a car park, they are in fact trying to trick you into accepting a contract with them – which is only valid if you choose to accept their ‘conditional offer’. If you receive any such penalty notice from these companies, simply write on the envelope ‘No Contract – return to sender’ and pop it back in the post to them!
    This must see video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME7K6P7hlko reveals the secret of the ‘Strawman’ legal fiction used by Government agencies to keep you subservient to their corporate rulebooks. If you or your family are struggling with debts,  then www.getoutofdebtfree.org   is another site you might want to consider joining.
And finally, a series of very informative and well attended Z-day events were held in The UK, USA and elsewhere around the world last month. To see video footage of some of these events, go to here
thezeitgeistmovementuk.

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