The Connectedness

Skillful speech not only means that we pay attention to the words we speak and to their tone but also requires that our words reflect compassion and concern for others and that they help and heal, rather than wound and destroy.

- Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, “Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness

As we close another decade, I want to give thanks to everyone who came into my life this year: good, bad or indifferent. I have to admit that this year has been one of disappointments as I realize that the older (and wiser) I get, the more discrimination I hit up against, both personal and professional. My goal for 2011, is to put an end to age discrimination in all forms and venues, especially at work.

PERSONAL

I have met some wonderful people this year who I have become friends with and some that I wish I had never met at all. While the saying goes that everything and everyone is a learning experience, there are some experiences I could do without at this stage of my life. I have found that just because a group of people couch themselves as a “professional organization”, doesn’t mean that they act professionally or with character. I found that out as I was unceremoniously booted out of the Association of Environmental Professionals San Francisco Chapter Board of Directors after serving honestly and faithfully as Treasurer for over two years. I lost all respect for a group that behaves so immaturely. To those people who voted me out for no good reason but to sooth their own fragile egos, I remind them that what goes around, comes around.

I thought I had met a creative and honest man who tried to show how compassionate he was by holding social events on his boat where he lives. This man turned out to be the most egregious dissembler – not only two-faced (which we all are), but a back-stabbing ego-maniac. To him I say again, what goes around, comes around.

I have tried in my life to be a most honest person. What you see, is what you get. One of the most disturbing things about humans is their ability to manipulate others for their own benefit and hide it. This trait is one that you don’t often see in other primates or animals. In the last year I have read many books about the emotional lives of animals. Now I know why I relate better to them than most humans. I can’t help what I am and I won’t change to fit in with social habits I consider distasteful. Lying and cheating are the most distasteful habits of all to me. I have also discovered that I can express myself better and better in writing. Unfortunately, I tend to be somewhat lazy when it comes to my writing, but I try to make my points when it is important.

POLITICS

I am hopeful that people still crave change – even if they are misguided (e.g., Tea Party). In San Leandro, where I live, we voted for a new Mayor who promised transparency in government. Now that’s a trait that I can wholly respect, so to Stephen Cassidy I give kudos to you. We have ended one nasty war abroad and just need to give up on the second futile skirmish, which nobody will ever win – just like Vietnam – except for the industrial war machine. These wars have succeeded in making a few men rich, and the rest of the country maimed, dead and fiscally unsound. When will we ever learn, when will we ever learn?

ENVIRONMENT

COP 16 in Cancun was a bit more successful than COP 15 in Copenhagen. People are finally responding to the incessant arm-twisting necessary to change old habits of waste and over-use of unsustainable practices. To those who keep the pressure up – I give many kudos. To those who still think that Climate Change is not man-made, think again and travel around the world to see just what is happening in places like the Maldives, Australia and African countries where there are more prolonged droughts, violent storms, and no land left due to sea-level rise. It is happening right now, the question is: how will we adapt and continue to be the worthy self-appointed guardians of this blue planet?

THE FUTURE

So as this decade winds down, let us reflect on history once again lest we forget the past. We keep fighting unwinnable wars in the name of our brand of democracy and freedom while millions die or are permanently traumatized. We talk about conservation, but not if it will affect our way of life. We talk about tolerance, but not if it conflicts with our dogma. These and more petty thoughts and actions are what keeps politicians in office, shuffling between the good, bad and ugly vocal minorities of this nation and others. I don’t live my life for a nuclear family since I have none. I live to see another day when the bickering ends and everyone can be who they want to be as long as it doesn’t inflict physical pain on other beings – human or otherwise. Remember John Lennon’s wise words: Give Peace a Chance. AMEN.

To everyone who links to this blog and all my friends who don’t, here’s to a very happy and more prosperous New Year in 2011!

Los Angeles Times | December 15, 2010 | 3:46 p.m.

The city of Bell extracted tens of thousands of dollars from plumbers, carpet cleaners, even people scavenging for bottles and cans by seizing vehicles for alleged code violations then pressuring the owners to pay arbitrary fines.

In hundreds of cases, city officials created documents that looked like official court papers declaring individuals were making a payment to the city as part of a “civil compromise.”

Normally, such cases would be reviewed by a judge to ensure that they had been settled fairly. But the vast majority of these cases were never presented to a court. Times reporters reviewed 164 cases, roughly one-third of those located in the city’s records, and found only three that were filed. All three were dismissed.

The practice took place for at least eight years until The Times inquired about it recently.

Interim Chief Administrative Officer Pedro Carillo, who said he had been unaware of the scheme, has now stopped it and said code enforcement officials were no longer impounding vehicles. He also said he is looking into allegations that some confiscated property disappeared.

“It stinks, honestly,” he said. “I see no pattern in these things. It just seems targeted.”

More at http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bell-code-enforcement-20101216,0,4958937.story

As a person who works in code enforcement for San Francisco, this is a travesty of justice. Bell should be disbanded as a city and be taken over by L.A. County to straighten out their egregious mess.

EPA Expands Lead Monitoring Program · Environmental Management & Energy News · Environmental Leader.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced yesterday that it will expand the nation’s air quality monitoring network to better measure exposure to lead.
Even at low levels, the EPA says that exposure to lead can impair a child’s IQ, learning capabilities and memory.
EPA is strengthening lead monitoring requirements to ensure that air quality is measured near industrial facilities that emit a half ton or more of lead per year. Previously, the agency required monitoring near facilities emitting at least one ton of lead per year. EPA is also requiring monitoring at a network of multi-pollutant air quality monitoring sites in large urban areas.
Monitors will continue to be placed at airports emitting at least one ton of lead per year. EPA will also require the states to conduct a year-long monitoring study at 15 airports that emit less than one ton to determine how these sources impact air quality in the surrounding area.
According to EPA, this rule will help it implement a 2008 requirement to lower the amount of lead allowed in air. States have one year from the publication date of this rule to have the new monitors in place.

Do not choose bad friends. Do not choose persons of low habits. Select good friends. Be discriminating. Choose the best.

- Dhammapada 78

Environmental Groups Sue ExxonMobil Over Air Emissions · Environmental Management & Energy News · Environmental Leader.

Two environmental advocacy groups, Sierra Club and Environment Texas, yesterday filed a lawsuit in the federal district court in Texas against world’s largest publicly traded oil and gas company Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM: News ) that alleges thousands of violations of federal clean air act at the nation’s largest refinery at Baytown, Tx.

The groups sent two notices of intent to sue ExxonMobil in November 2009 and July 2010 for these violations.

The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring ExxonMobil to end its Clean Air Act violations. ExxonMobil faces civil penalties of up to $37,500 per day for each violation of the Act. The action could potentially result in a maximum of $81.25 million in fines against Exxon for violation of the Clean Air Act.

Does this make sense? Good for the rest of the Democrats for opposing this madness.

The compromise package, carrying a price tag of a $700 billion increase in the nation’s deficit, includes the tax cut extensions, unemployment benefit extensions, a 2% cut in FICA taxes withheld from paychecks of working Americans, reinstatement of a 35% estate tax on inheritances of more than $5 million from a single decedent and $10 million per couple, and extension of the college tuition tax credit due to expire December 31, 2010. Also, businesses making capital investments next year will be permitted to expense the entire amount, rather than amortizing it over the life of the asset. The tax savings in 2011 are expected to total $120 billion for wage earners, and $150 billion for businesses.

Please see the latest edition of the APA Northern California newsletter for my book reviews on: Eaarth by Bill McKibben and Green Metropolis by David Owen.

http://www.norcalapa.org/assets/chapter/newsletter/Dec_Jan11.pdf

Federal Appeals Court Upholds San Joaquin APCD Fee · Environmental Management & Energy News · Environmental Leader.

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that air quality regulators in California’s smog-laden San Joaquin Valley have the right to charge home builders a fee to control their pollution emissions, the Associated Press reports.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld the local air district’s rule requiring developers to reduce emissions from new housing projects by building features like bicycle lanes and energy-efficient cooling systems. If they don’t do enough to preserve air quality, they must pay fees that have averaged about $500 per house.

The valley, stretching 240 miles from Stockton to Bakersfield, is one of the dirtiest air basins in the nation for emissions that create ozone, the main ingredient of smog.