MIT Technology Review

The effects of global warming will persist for hundreds of years. What are our responsibilities and duties today to help safeguard the distant future? That is the question ethicists are now asking.

By David Rotman on April 11, 2013

The Real Casualties of Global Warming Probably Haven’t Been Born Yet | MIT Technology Review.

One of the defining characteristics of climate change is poorly appreciated by most people: the higher temperatures and other effects induced by increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will persist for a very long time. Scientists have long realized that carbon dioxide emitted during the burning of fossil fuels tends to linger in the atmosphere for extended periods, even for centuries. Over the last few years, researchers have calculated that some of the resulting changes to the earth’s climate, including increased temperature, are more persistent still: even if emissions are abruptly ended and carbon dioxide levels gradually drop, the temperature will stubbornly remain elevated for a thousand years or more. The earth’s thermostat is essentially being turned up and there are no readily foreseeable ways to turn it back down; even risky geoengineering schemes would at best offset the higher temperatures only temporarily.

To read this article in its entirety, click here

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It has been a while since I have felt drawn to write.  With the recent passing of my Dad, it is as if the scales have been lifted from my eyes; and once again, not only do I see… I see very differently.

I share the following observations of my own perceptions in the hope that you might notice your own.  To observe, is one thing.   To live what we discover from that observation, is quite another.

“Inside every experience is the seed of a greater possibility.”

Impeccability and Manifestation

My life has been profoundly and forever changed by the recent passing of my father. Being at my Dad’s beside for 40 hours as he chose to journey from a being of Light in matter, to one of Light, free from the constraints of tissue, was a significant and life-altering experience for me.

Throughout the process of loosening the grip of the body that he was, on the Spirit that he now is, there were heart-stopping moments as he sought to relax into the struggle of tissue seeking to hold its ground; letting the moments pass, without fighting back.. and knowing that the time would come.

As I sat with and talked to my Dad; as I watched this most sacred of dances unfold, the word that kept coming to mind was the word ‘impeccable’. For me, there are so many associations of that word to notions of ‘perfectionism’ or ‘rigor’, as requirements for impeccability to be claimed and expressed. Yet, as I watched my Dad, that is not what came to mind for me. [...]   

To read this article in its entirety, click here ; to view the PDF file  click on the PDF icon .

Impeccability and Manifestation  by Louise LeBrun is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License. Based on a work at www.wel-systems.com.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at www.wel-systems.com/copyright.htm

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“We find ourselves lamenting the state of our lives, looking around us and trying to figure out what’s ‘wrong’ with our lives; with our work; with our friends and family. Yet maybe there’s nothing ‘wrong’ at all. Maybe what’s missing is a creative outlook – a different perspective or new world view – on what’s already there.“

 Louise LeBrun

Louise LeBrun’s article  is appearing in today’s edition of  OmPlace/AltWire – Conscious Living and Best Bets From the  Alternative Web.

Take a moment from your busy day to revisit what is most meaningful for you, in your life. As Louise shares her insights about her life with you, consider that the transformation you seek lies waiting… inside, where you live… to be freed, into how you’re living today!

To read the full article Thoughts on… Creativity and Daily Living, click here

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“Every year, more than 500,000 women are sold into sex slavery. Roughly 60 million girls worldwide are child brides. In conflict zones, rape and sexual violence have become all too common weapons of modern war. All told, an estimated seven out of ten women alive today experience physical or sexual violence at some point in their lives.”

Every day, several times a day, I am made aware of the density and intensity of this seemingly intractable and heinous situation.

Every day, I am reminded that like a cell in the organ of a living being, I cannot live in a larger whole that is in collapse and expect to go merrily about my day, without consequences.

It is said that we become what we talk about.  I choose to talk about a different way for women and men to be, in the same world.  No more looking away.  No more dismissing the moment because where I am is, seemingly, so far away from where it lives.  Not so – it is already,  in all of our lives.

We focus on the women and their struggle to protect themselves and their children.  Here’s what I want to know:

Who are the men who perpetrate these crimes?  Who protects them from the consequences of their actions?  And how do we stop grooming perpetrators?

The video near the end of the article left me in the place of my own tears of determination.  Maybe it will touch something in you, too.

Ending Violence against Women and Girls

By Haley Edwards | March 8, 2013

One of the focuses of this year’s International Women’s Day, as well as the theme Commission on the Status of Women, is ending violence against women and girls, and with good reason. Last fall, the point-blank shooting of a Pakistani girl, Malala Yousafzai, while she was carpooling home from school riveted the world, drawing attention to the plight of women and girls in Central Asia. But a few months later, we were reminded that gender-based violence is hardly relegated to one particular country.

In December, a 23-year-old medical student, Jyoti Singh Pandey, was beaten and gang-raped on a bus in India, sparking international outrage. And at the end of January, at least 19 women were brutally attacked in Egypt, where public violence against women has continued to rise precipitously in recent years. Just recently, the high-profile shooting of Reeva Steenkamp in South Africa tore through the international media yet again, spotlighting gender violence in a nation where a woman is raped every 17 seconds.

To read the rest of the article, and watch a video on UNiTE Survivor Stories (SayNoToViolence), click here

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“Many devote time and effort to creating balance in their lives. Consider for a moment: what might our lives become if we were to free ourselves from the notion of ‘balance’ and seek, instead, to create meaning in our lives?“

 Louise LeBrun

Louise LeBrun’s article Balance: Bogus Bounty? is appearing in today’s edition of  OmPlace/AltWire – Conscious Living and Best Bets From the  Alternative Web.

Take a moment from your busy day to revisit what is most meaningful for you, in your life. As Louise shares her insights about her life with you, consider that the transformation you seek lies waiting… inside, where you live… to be freed, into how you’re living today!

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Military rape victims: Stop blaming us

BriGette McCoy, former specialist in the U.S. Army testifies Wednesday in Washington

By Josh Levs and Ashley Fantz, CNN

(CNN) — BriGette McCoy described how she was raped on her first military assignment, two weeks before her 19th birthday. She described how, later that year, she was raped by another soldier in her unit.

Then came sexual harassment by two officers — including one who requested that she be moved to work directly for him, she said Wednesday.

Testifying before lawmakers, the former Army specialist described the “anguish” and “entrapment” she felt, and the horror of the ordeal that followed.

“I no longer have any faith or hope that the military chain of command will consistently prosecute, convict, sentence and carry out the sentencing of sexual predators in uniform without absconding justice somehow,” she told the Senate Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on personnel.
“It even starts at recruitment,” she said. “We have quite a few of our men and women that are being raped and sexually harassed during the recruitment process.”

McCoy was one of four alleged victims who testified Wednesday about a problem the military has acknowledged.

About 19,000 men and women suffer sexual assault each year in the military, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said, though he noted that only about 3,200 assaults were reported. About 10,700 of those cases — 56% — involved male victims in 2010, based on anonymous reporting collected by the military.

In painful, dramatic testimony, three women and one man, all of whom have left the military, described their suffering — and explained why, in some cases, they never filed reports. They helped paint a picture of the military as a place where victims are often pressured to remain quiet or endure having their reputations and careers tarnished for coming forward.

High-ranking representatives from each military branch also gave statements, each one saying how brave they thought those troops had been in telling their stories openly. They stressed that special victims’ units have been established along with training to recognize, investigate and prosecute cases involving rape.

To read the complete article… click here

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Perhaps, we are awakening to that which must end… now.

This article, Ten Things to End Rape Culture,  was written by David Lee, Director of Prevention Services at the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA).  You can find the complete article at this link.

Here are the Ten Things to End Rape Culture, conveniently located so you can’t miss them!

Here is the Ten Things to End Rape Culture list:

1. Name the real problems: Violent masculinity and victim-blaming.
2. Re-examine and re-imagine masculinity.
3. Get enthusiastic about enthusiastic consent.
4. Speak up for what you really really want.
5. Get media literate.
6. Globalize your awareness of rape culture.
7. Know your history
8. Take an intersectional approach
9. Practice real politics.
10. Lobby your community.

And they added two additional actions:

1. Don’t laugh at rape.
2. Tell your story.

This is everyone’s issue!   As much as we may seek to dismiss the essential and required change by saying that rape, like prostitution, has always been around – we are not who we used to be.  We choose.  And if we stand visibly and out loud, in the presence of each other, for a different world, our chances of creating that world increase enormously.  Now is not the time to slink into the shadows and fall back into silence.

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“Celebrations all. Each unique in its form, its structure, its offerings and its intentions. Each calling forth a hope, a dream, a moment of gratitude. And yet, what is often overlooked in the small silence of its expression is that moment – or those series of moments – that fill us from the inside and happen frequently, from one day to the next.“

Louise LeBrun’s article Celebration is appearing in today’s edition of  OmPlace/AltWire – Conscious Living and Best Bets From the  Alternative Web.

Take a moment from your busy day to revisit what is most meaningful for you, in your life. As Louise shares her insights about her life with you, consider that the transformation you seek lies waiting… inside, where you live… to be freed, into how you’re living today!

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There is such comfort in ignorance; in believing that if we don’t know, it can’t affect us.  The following information from Food Matters suggests otherwise.

GMO Corn Linked to Cancer Tumors

By Mike Adams, Natural News

Eating genetically modified corn (GMO corn) has caused rats to develop horrifying tumors, widespread organ damage, and premature death. That’s the conclusion of a shocking new study that looked at the long-term effects of consuming Monsanto’s genetically modified corn. The study was published in The Food & Chemical Toxicology Journal and was just presented at a news conference in London.

The study has been deemed “the most thorough research ever published into the health effects of GMO food crops and the herbicide Roundup on rats.” News of the horrifying findings is spreading fast, with even the mainstream media in shock over the photos of rats with multiple grotesque tumors; tumors so large the rats even had difficulty breathing in some cases. GMOs may be the new thalidomide.

Continue Reading…

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“Do we really need another article on melting ice?”  That’s the thought that crossed my mind as I clicked on the link.  For me, it’s not about any single perspective, it’s about seeking to connect the dots.

Personally?  I think we’re on track for some big surprises.  You have to decide for yourself.

Antarctic Ocean Alliance

The dangers of West Antarctic warming

“West Antarctica holds enough fresh water to raise sea level by 11 feet if all the ice melted, and even a fraction of that amount could prove catastrophic to coastal areas where hundreds of millions of people live.” Click to continue reading…

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