Call to reason

Questions and answers selected from an interview for “Seeing Beyond” on Internet Radio-Santa Cruz, California, with host Bonnie Piper, covering topics such as the United Nations, the environment and peace.

Questions and answers selected from an interview for “Seeing Beyond” on Internet Radio-Santa Cruz, California, with host Bonnie Piper, covering topics such as the climate crisis, and unity in diversity among nations.

Although clean water is essential for human life, statistics indicate that we’re facing a global water crisis. A quarter of the world’s population lacks access to clean drinking water, and over 800,000 people die every year from diseases directly related to unsafe water or inadequate sanitation. Moreover, the impacts of climate change are exacerbating water problems everywhere. The World Meteorological Organization reports a 134 percent increase in floods since 2000 and a 29 per cent increase in drought duration.

Rachel Carson would have compassion for young people who face daunting issues of pollution, disturbed climate, the rising threat of nuclear war, and shattered economies — they confront the same forces of greed that caused Carson to describe her century as “an era dominated by industry, in which the right to make a dollar at whatever cost is seldom challenged.”

The ether could be described as the background field of energy that is always present everywhere. And that’s something very abstract at first, because we can’t see or feel that at all. It can be thought of it like this: every atom and every molecule in the universe is connected to some kind of substrate, with which it is all connected.

Mounting income and wealth inequalities are among the most pressing issues of our time. People around the world are becoming aware of their detrimental impact on our social and economic lives, and are looking for solutions. Having access to accurate and comprehensive data on inequalities is therefore crucial if we are to collectively take the right actions and decisions.

Using plants, trees and techniques of grazing and farming to capture carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the soil, biosequestration renews ecosystems, increases crop yields, and has the potential to reverse climate change when applied on a global scale.