Ignorant official killing in Newton Massachusetts

They found a bear cub in the city of Newton, MA, which has a large population percentage of wealthy, elites, and "well educated" persons.  What to do?   The quickly arrived solution:  Kill it. The options of relocation, sanctuaries, and consultation with wildlife and animal agencies were not even considered.

I wrote to the mayor:

"Treatment of the bear cub -- What a shameful commentary on your community.  What ignorance is revealed.  Can we hope that officials and police of your city can become aware of the evolving consciousness about the web of life itself and the human relationship to all of life?  Unless we develop an enlightened perspective on the natural world a day will come – and not in the far distance but closer to now than you think – when humanity cannot live on this planet. 

 It’s not namby-pamby to protect rather than going immediately to killing when encountering other forms of life.  A more enlightened perspective has to do with our survival. 

 Additionally, is this kind of killing the example you want to hold up to children?  In an increasingly violent time the examples held up from leaders need to be for thoughtfulness, peace and kindness, not knee-jerk murder at random."    

 

China Altman 1 Melrose St #4  Boston MA 02116  617 933 9926

Androcles Says

Androcles Says

RAMPANT KILLING OF WILD HORSES, BURROS AND WOLVES - Speak to the new Secretary of the Interior

Comment to Secretary Sally Jewell:  https://secure2.convio.net/ida/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=2437&autologin=true


Androcles said:  The "wild" animals are as valuable and intrinsic a part of the American landscape as any of its historic buildings and monuments.  American advisors continually plead with emerging countries not to destroy their native wildlife because of their irreplaceable value, not just in terms of tourism but in many other ways.  Will we be more ignorant than the emerging cultures we counsel?.

U.S. FORESTRY ALLOWS LOGGING TO DESTROY 800 YEAR OLD TREES

U.S. Forestry allows logging of old growth trees in the Tongass Forest, our nation's largest forest.  Go to http://act.alaskawild.org/sign/Tongass_pcomments_3-20-13/?akid=488.39845.TMS5ww&rd=1&t=3    to add your comments.

 I said: 

These old trees are treasures of our country, of the world, and of the planet.  They are irreplaceable.  In recent times we humans have begun to recognize that trees and other green things sustain the air of the earth -- without it we cannot breathe, we cannot live.  Additionally the old trees --, just like the old virtues of care and kindness and looking beyond the moment -- teach us by example and give us a unique way to see and reflect upon present time, past time and future time.  Just as they are inextricably linked to the air we breathe they are inextricably linked to our spirits.  To kill them is similar to saying, as a culture, that we will kill all our elders.

Harvard Finally Agrees to Close its Primate "Facility"

Harvard will close the sprawling unclean and horrendous primate facility, affecting at least 2,000 monkeys.  Now the fight will be to persuade this institution of higher learning to allow the survivors to go to sanctuaries rather than selling them to other research facilities. I wrote to Harvard's president and to the facility: 

“At last this school has agreed to stop the atavistic, inhuman and ignorant torturing of the animals who are the nearest relatives to human beings. I was relieved to hear it but noted the size and duration of the effort necessary to bring it about. 

Closing the lab is obviously the right thing to do but it comes late, after years of torture, abuse and killing. The next step is to arrange for these sentient beings to go to sanctuary rather than selling them to other laboratories. What will Harvard do?

In a more reasonable world all the staff and particularly the leaders and "professors" connected to this facility would go through an extended period of mourning, atonement, and re-education about their status and their thinking in regard to the world in which they live.

 Harvard University triumphantly regards itself as a leader and a light for the entire world -- how many other medieval and unnecessary enclaves does the university support? Time to look. Time to see. Time to wake up. Thank you.”

On the White House site and Facebook I submitted the following reactions to the State of the Union Address:

China Altman The lack of emphasis on climate change and the welfare of the planet itself were glaring omissions. Re-examine traditional triumphalism -- it's a confabulation made up of denial of reality and blindness to new and necessary visions. Not just as Americans but as humans we must live within the whole of humanity as guardians caring for the earth. We live WITHIN not above or outside the web of life. 

 

As president it would be wise for you to meditate upon this. It's difficult but citizens are more weary than you realize of the same old cliches. We need truly new visions, and recognition of the greatest reality: what to do about mankind's destruction of our only home, the earth. How many think you will be among those chosen when space ships go to another home, after this one is uninhabitable? How many think about the reality that your children and grandchildren -- if not yourselves -- will be alive when the waters rise?

 

-0-

 

He did state that we can't solve our financial problems on the backs of senior seniors and the poorest citizens.  I commented: 

 

"We slipped into a kind of capitalism that allowed corporations to become "people," meaning - in reality - they became separate nations within our nation, with their own rules, laws, and privileges that allowed them to be excluded from the laws and ideals of the larger society. Admit they are now imperial units. Bring them back onto the tax rolls and back into the Union. Think of Lincoln.  His abiding idea was preservation of the Union, with participation of all parts, including especially those who disagreed, in order to work out the ideals of democracy within the inevitable and useful contentions of competing ideas and people."

 

CHARM CAN ENDANGER

Many people find delight in the Jacquie Lawson ecards developed by a talented British artist. I like their dancing teddy bears, their signature cat, the two dogs and the continuous representation in so many ways of a world of wonder and innocence, a quite sophisticated world that offers the kind of soothing and solace we wish could exist. Or that, in our dreams, we dreamed of as children. 

 

 Just now when I went to their site, I saw they are offering a desktop animation, their delightful version of a circus with dancing elephants and so on. Oh oh.

 

Though they don’t intend it, they are enlisting in the romanticism of circuses. I wanted to speak up but to keep my thoughts within their so amiable world of whimsy and beauty. Here is what I said: 

 

“Your cards and the Advent Calendar have brought me much joy. However, I am concerned about your Circus offering which I have just previewed. While it’s beautifully done, I ask you to re-consider its present form. I am among those who feel deeply that elephants and other "wild" animals should not be exploited in circuses. They are prisoners, ill-treated. They can not sign on or agree. The social life necessary to their well-being is not possible.

 

 

"Many countries now are passing laws forbidding the use of these animals in circuses and supporting another kind of circus that stars humans (who can consent and who are paid) or companion animals such as dogs who work only with their guardians. Although I'm sure you do not intend to promote the abuse of elephants and tigers and others, yet presenting a romantic circus according to the out-of-date version of the past is sending a message that indirectly supports that abuse. Though you haven’t intended it, the very success of your considerable and beguiling charm is indirectly enlisted in the anachronistic and atavistic meme about circuses and the archaic world represented, part of which is based on the mistreatment of animals. Thank you for reading this. I admire your company VERY much.”

 

Not just anger but charm can harm. There are several relevant quotes which I can't just now call to mind.  They all say something like this:   Of all things be most careful of life.

http://www.jacquielawson.com/thecards.asp?c=3349101&hdn=0