SEF News-Views Digest No. 139
Clifton Ware, Editor-Publisher
Citizens for Sustainability: Meeting-Forum, Sat., August 13, 10am-noon, St. Anthony Village Community Center, 3301 Silver Lake Rd. Free & open to public.
Stormy weather conditions have always existed around the globe, but there’s growing evidence that conditions are becoming more common and severe. The intensity, frequency, and duration of extreme storm events—droughts, floods, tornados, hurricanes-typhoons, etc.—inflict considerable short and long-term damage to both natural and human-made environments. Many climatologists confirm that climate change is the primary cause—wrought chiefly by rapidly expanding humankind’s vast consumption of fossil fuels.
Ever since America’s founding, “The American Dream” has become a popular social meme, expressed both by foreigners and native-born citizens who desire freedom and opportunities to enjoy a better life. But over the past five decades the dream has undergone a metamorphic decline, especially for the majority of working-class citizens, those who aspire to typical middle-class lifestyles. Future expectations for these folk have evolved, from optimistic dreams of great promise and hope, to pessimistic nightmares filled with dreadful uncertainty.
In this post I’m relying principally on material borrowed from the first article in the Views section: “Anti-Intellectualism and the Dumbing Down of America” (by Ray Williams). I’ve written on this topic previously, but because it relates so systemically to creating sustainability, I think it’s worth pondering and discussing further, even though the article was written in 2014.