Before we start, here are some interesting facts:

1. If every cow on the entire planet were gathered together, each of them given six square yards of space (we don't want them to be too cramped for this), they'd fit comfortably within the state of Delaware.

2. If every man, woman, and child on the entire planet... you know what? I'm not going to spoon feed you this one. Do the research for yourself and find out which US state would most accurately represent the space needed to hold 8.3 billion people if given one square yard of space each.

Okay, let's get on with it. What do you know about the people you don't know? Logically, you know almost nothing about the people you don't know. What do you know about George Washington? Most people immediately respond, "He was the first President of the United States." Was he? Do you know that, or do you simply accept that as the truth? The simple truth is, you were told, and you believed it. Who told you?

Babe Ruth, Cesar Chavez, Pocahontas, Pol Pot, Marie Curie... what do you know about these people? You know what you were told. They're all dead now-- that's one thing we know. What about Elvis Presley, Osama Bin Laden, Tupac Shakur, and Princess Diana? Are they all dead, or is that just what we've been told? The simple truth is, whether they're dead or alive, we were told. We do not know. Who told us?

Besides being Hollywood actors, what do Tom Cruise, Natalie Portman, Dwayne Johnson, Orlando Bloom, Hilary Duff, Tom Hanks, Jeff Goldbloom and Brad Pitt have in common? Well, one thing we can say is that they're all alive-- or at least we haven't been told otherwise. In this way, we assume that news, such as the death of a prominent celebrity, would certainly be a huge story. If we haven't been told, we assume it didn't happen. This seems like such a simple and uninteresting truth, but it's actually instrumental in keeping people under control.

These are huge premises to keep in mind: If the source is trusted, we believe it; and, if it isn't in the news, it didn't happen. What does this mean to us?

Think logically-- in America, we have a three-pronged constitutional government, described as a system of checks and balances, designed by people who had seen, first-hand, what power unchecked will inevitably become. They not only designed the three branches of government, they also designed back-ups in case any, or even all three, branches became corrupt. Those back-ups are empowered by the First Amendment, and given teeth by the Second, but let's just concentrate on the First. We have the power to elect different representatives and a different president, but what good is that power if we have no idea what our representatives and president are doing? What good is information if it's not shared? This is why we have freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and the right to assemble.

All of this hinges on the integrity of our nation's media industry. Without it, the American people are in the dark.

Have you ever met an American president? Have you ever met a presidential candidate? Most people have never and will never meet a even a school superintendent, let alone a congressional representative, let alone a president. Most people will never meet a B-list actor, let alone an A-list actor. For most people, one hundred percent of the things they know about any politicians or actors or any other celebrities is fed to them by someone on a television or a radio or a computer, with the intent of dispensing information in return for something which benefits them.

Why do they dispense this information? Logically, maybe four reasons: because they receive a paycheck, because they enjoy it, because they believe they have a responsibility to share it, and/or because they want people to believe something. It's that last one that spells trouble for a nation with corruption spreading through its upper echelons.

More logical thinking: Media sources are businesses. Businesses are owned by people. People can be biased, indifferent, and/or bought. Corporations and government entities employ people whose soul purpose is to release information to media sources. They want the public to know certain things. They also want the public to not know certain things. For instance, During the war in Afghanistan, the US supplied fuel to Afghani battalions based on the number of US-supplied vehicles they had in their use. The cost of bringing diesel fuel to an Afghani base, on average, was $1.23 per liter. The cost of diesel at the pump, in Afghanistan, was about $0.61 per liter. Also, it didn't matter than only sixty percent of the vehicles were operational. The extra barrels of diesel were unloaded on the bases, then rolled away and sold in the streets. Is highly unlikely that you will ever hear these numbers from a trusted media source, because, even though it's the tip of the iceberg, the general public does not respond well to knowing that the money we pay in taxes was spent delivering free, unnecessary diesel fuel to corrupt military forces at twice the price as it would have been if we'd just given them money to buy it from their own gas stations.

I am nobody. If I have this information, there is no way that nobody in any media business also has this. Yet, here we are.

There's been a lot of talk, lately, about Hunter Biden's infamous laptop. Some government agents went to great lengths, and paid millions of dollars, to make sure all media outlets understood, months before the laptop's existence was known to the masses, that they may receive information about Hunter or Joe Biden regarding a laptop--that it was likely an effort by Russian hackers to corrupt our election process--and that the information stored within the laptop was unreliable--it simply was not credible information worthy of media coverage. In spite of top government agencies having possession of the laptop for as much as eleven months before its existence became known to the media, they refused to speak to the authenticity of the information, paid millions to social media sources to have any mention of it erased, and even compiled a list of government operatives

who signed a document stating that the laptop had all the markings of a Russian disinformation campaign, all the while knowing full-well the laptop was 100% legitimate. The guy who spear-headed the entire media manipulation campaign, making sure the American public was as uninformed as possible about the millions of dollars received by Joe Biden, and at least eleven of his family members, from China and Ukraine before the 2020 election-- he's now the Secretary of State.

This is possibly the biggest political corruption scandal in American history, but unless the media covers the story, nothing will happen. If people don't hear about it, from their preferred trusted news source, it didn't happen. When the government controls (or manipulates) the media, the back-up system, which America's founders ensured by guaranteeing in specifically in the very first amendment in the Bill of Rights, fails. If you don't know anything about this monumental scandal, it's because the media sources, which you trust most, didn't tell you.

Now, what does all of this have to do with the environment? Think logically-- every single thing you know about the threats to our world's environment, every last bit of information you have the ability to seek out for yourself across the vast Internet, was compiled and presented to you by people whose paychecks would likely disappear if their reported information ran contrary to the narrative established and upheld by the same government entities that told us Covid-19 was not developed in a lab in Wuhan, China, but was actually a naturally-occurring Coronavirus variant that developed in bats... or what is it now... raccoon dogs.

Please keep in mind the diesel fuel provided to vehicles that don't run at twice the local price. That's not just a waste of money, it's also a profit to the companies which supply the fuel. On April 20, 2023, Joe Biden agreed to contribute $1Billion to a UN climate change fund, millions of which will go to China, because even though China is the one of the world's worst polluters, and has the second-largest economy on Earth, it clearly can't afford to, both, fight climate change within its own borders and continue to pay for Hunter's artwork. The United States is one of the world's least polluted nations, and one of the least culpable polluters among industrialized nations. China and much of Southern Asia, all the way to the Middle East are the opposite. My personal opinion is that we should stop rewarding China and other polluting nations by sending them money to combat an issue they don't even care about. To them, it's just another barrel of free diesel fuel.

Why are we told that our world is crumbling around us? So that when governments and corporations exchange billions of taxpayer's dollars with absolutely no measurable benefit to the people who pay one-third of their income to their government as the prices of products continue to rise, there will be an army of misinformed people praising the people and institutions who are robbing them blind. An army? Yes, an army. An army of people who have been fed information and are willing to fight like crazy to defend it, even though it came from the same institutions which sold us on global cooling, WMD's in Iraq, Russian collusion, and vaccines that don't prevent the contraction or spread of a disease. Just like all of these hoaxes, it's just a matter of time before the truth comes out, and no one will be held accountable, because the media will hide it from seventy percent of the nation.

The missing link between Tom Cruise, Natalie Portman, Dwayne Johnson, Orlando Bloom, Hilary Duff, Tom Hanks, Jeff Goldbloom and Brad Pitt... over the years, one by one, they were all reportedly killed falling from Kauri Cliffs while visiting a luxury golf resort in New Zealand.

There was a time, not long ago, when the young people lived by the slogan, "Question authority." Now, it seems the people are more than willing to ostracize anyone who does.

No matter,--volcanos, ice, tectonic shifts

Earth equilibrates

Tornados, vise, continental drifts

Birth dominates--

No matter whose

The systems are doomed, come what may

Dearth motivates

Eco-, solar-, Copernican-soufflé

Mirth masturbates

Backscatters diffuse

Blips on steep, maudlin timelines

Wide berth germinates

Flora, fauna, sleepwalking fine lines

Rebirth alternates

Packswaggers recuse

Observer du jour solipsizes

Net worth terminates

Each short run capsizes

Self-decapitates

Accommodates next refuse

Imagining life forever

Earth equilibrates

With or without the deluded or the clever

Nothing can ingratiate

To outlast Earth's next muse

We've got another one! yelled the Captain. I gave him a sideways glance over the tablet I was using to listen to the news on, glaring over it, as I was only on my second cup of coffee to get going this morning. He looked at me and said "Yep some lunatic down on Kayla street only about a half a mile from here". "Apparently she's got one of those damned super dangerous minivans stashed away somewhere, possibly back behind the house". I leaned back in my chair scratching my head and thought man, are we ever going to learn? why can't everybody in Yelm accept that these things are banned? Illegal! You know? Oh well I thought, I suppose we need to get to it. I vaguely remembered that in the Washington State training videos they said that minivans can hold something like 12 people at least. "Mass killing machine if you ask me"! the captain said as I quickly attempted to suck down the last few drops that delicious coffee. "Come on, let's get to it"! he barked at us. I ran and slid down the pole to the garage where I quickly grabbed and threw on my protective gear then jumped aboard the squadrons hovercraft. Our hovercrafts are one of very few vehicles left in this day and age. You see, vehicles were banned because the government soon realized after registering weapons and banning weapons,that registering them only kept of track of people who owned and kept them legally, and that motor vehicles had killed far more people than any weapons ever did domestically. And back in those days they were letting children drive these things. Yes children! Can you imagine 15 and 16-year-olds weaving around in those one or two ton death machines? Outrageous! And the lady down the street from us possibly has a minivan! A minivan! Seriously that thing could hold so many people that it's on par with one of those old military vehicles like the MRAP, or Striker, or Bradley. You know, what they used when they infiltrated and assaulted armies in other countries during military operations? When people had vehicles back then they should have been minimized to one or two passengers in one at max. That could have reduced the number of deaths. Things are so much safer now that we have the CGTN, the Centralized Government Transportation Network of busses trains and subways. The air is cleaner, and the country is much much safer. We cruised down the street and as we did I wondered how emergency crews of any sort could deal with the hassle of getting anywhere during those street clogged archaic times. As I daydreamed about attempting to do our jobs in those days, our driver Spence quickly sped the hovercraft up to the legal limit of 20 mph and we made our way down 510 towards the residence in question. As we pulled up to Cherry Meadows I could see the house. It was one of those old 2 story Orcas type houses that were common in the early 2000's, and I could also see a shed tucked into the trees out back. Spence pulled the rig into the driveway and quickly brought the hovercraft to a stop and as he did, all three squads hopped off. We quickly got into our normal formation,two squads going around either side of the house with my squad going up to the front door, and moved out. I walked directly behind the Captain as he moved forward and knocked on the decrepit screen door. However, in the back of my mind, I knew this was only his way of being civil. Everyone knew that once you were suspected of holding something as serious as this in your possession that the federal government gave us the legality to just enter and search your residence for said object without your consent. A woman slowly came to the door. She was an older woman probably about 75 to 80 years old, caucasian,gray hair ,deep set blue eyes, wrinkled skin and breathing heavily probably because she was a little overweight. From the look in her eyes I knew before we even asked a question, that she knew what we were here for. The Captain had barely opened his mouth to speak when our radios blared. Second squad was reporting that on their way towards the shed they had passed a garden with vegetables and chickens... Vegetables AND Chickens?! Everyones jaws dropped.. Well everyone except the Captain. He stood there as expressionless as before, but now seemed to be waiting for the woman to speak before he did. Even without finding the vehicle yet, she was caught red handed in violation of the Monsanto/Purdue genetic monopoly act of 2020 ( also called the Food Freedom Act), by attempting to personally grow non-genetically modified crops and livestock... I looked back at Taylor and he smirked back at me. I knew this was going to be a long, strange day....

My take on this challenge:

In Native American culture we believe that all life is connected. From the rocks to the trees to the dirt and the seas. Life on earth is cyclical meaning everything has a space of time to impart its wisdom and energy to those who listen.

The connection thing is a prove fact now.

Its humanity who needs to take responsibility individually for their actions.

Don’t want more plastics washing up on beaches? Then change the way you shop. Don’t want more crap ending up in landfills? Change what you buy, compost, garden, recycle and by that I mean stuff that you can reuse for something else.

Im a farm girl, organic. We did stuff on the farm with our animals that didn’t require harsh chemicals, so very simple basic habits.

Its been shown the earth will repair herself to a point.

Humanity has to understand that some things like Chernobyl, is irreparable.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Ten years ago I found myself in a...similar situation.

I was a very passionate young man.

Posting statistics to urinals, so no one could claim ignorance.

Research, interviews, seeking the truth.

I was an angry young man, an anxious young man, and it was killing me.

My skin hurt...everything hurt.

I went to doctor after doctor, all telling me...

That I was just fine.

I was losing my mind...

Eventually I ended up in a psych ward

Ten days

I found it funny that the one thing that could really help those people

Would have been a walk in the sunshine

To sit beneath the leaves in the summer time

Instead it was a bleached linoleum prison

When I got out

I went for walks

Long walks

I meandered down by the sea shore

Collecting pieces of crabs, shells

Stones that took my fancy

Stones encrusted with baby oysters

Creamy white, little snowflakes from the sea

I'd go to the woods

I love the smell of earth after a rain

Walk down by the pond

Watching the beavers make their dams

Lo and behold, there were mussel shells

Freshwater mussel shells, huge ones

Littering the shore

Then i'd return home, to my garden

Oh, my garden

That garden was the joy of my life

Every season a new catalog would come in

And I'd spend hours poring over it

Flipping through the pages

Dreaming of which new seeds, which new plants, could grace my garden

Mint, thyme, rosemary, basil

Heirloom corn

Squash, collards...woof were they good!

In my room I made a little shrine, of all the living things

I'd build "totems" to give me strength

To remind me that life finds a way

That despite all the death, all the poison, all the pain...

Despite everything I saw on the news...

Birds still sing among the trees

The warm, sweet wind of summer

Still caresses my cheek through the car window

The oysters still grow like flowers in the sea bed

The crabs still scuttle along, through the cold, clear brine

And i'm still here, too

Eternal as the wind

Earth is my shepherd

Earth is my rock

I have tried to write this more than once, it is just a complicated topic, with a lot of things I could talk about.

Environmental issues are complicated, and a little terrifying. They cover everything from CO2 emissions, to Stratospheric Ozone, to water contamination, to extinction, to Urban Heat Island effect.

They effect everything from rocks, to coral, to frogs in the rain forest, that will soon become extinct.

I do not think that I have Climate Anxiety.

I am no Climate Warrior.

I do my part, it is not enough but I do my part. I carpool, I recycle, I compost, I ride my bike places, I volunteer at a garden that is almost organic (the wood for our raised beds was treated with chemicals, other than that it is organic.)

I know that I don't make a big difference. I took a quiz once that said that if everyone on earth lived like me we would need about four earths... at least it is not five right?

My feeling about the environment are complicated and hard to express, I have done the best that I can here, but just like my efforts to help, it is not good enough.

To start, I really don't see climate change as a political issue. There is no ideological or cultural war to be won here. To think otherwise is to evade the issue.

Some climate advocates may come off as overly self-righteous, pretentious, and condescending in their efforts to do what they believe is right. Additionally, the idea that we need to save the planet only to keep it habitable for humans can be seen as arrogant in that we assume the Earth exists only for us, and that without us the Earth would just be a random rock in space. However, the argument that because the Earth itself will still physically be here after humans are extinct, making any concern regarding climate change unwarranted, is lazy and selfish. It is selfish because it ignores every other organism on the planet that suffers from man-made pollution, as well as future generations that will have to find ways to survive. That kind of detached attitude of, "whatever happens happens" is not a justifiable excuse to pollute ourselves into an early extinction. I would say that it's possible to care about the Earth and Humanity at the same time.

In terms of actions that be taken to curb climate change, I feel like most of the responsibility (and ability) falls on major corporations to adopt more sustainable practices. Although, a general shift in the public's habits and climate consciousness needs to happen as well. Daily, personal choices are also important. Being more conservative with electricity at home, driving less, using re-usable shopping bags and containers instead of plastic bags, and cutting back on meat production are all significant choices that can integrated easily into your daily life.

As proof that progress in this area is possible, the hole in the ozone layer has been slowly repairing itself and is projected to return to normal by 2045. This recovery is thanks to the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which prohibited chemicals that are harmful to the ozone layer from being used and produced.

I am but a voice, whispering through the winds,

Calling to the Earthlings, pleading from within.

For I have witnessed the scars that mar her face,

The consequence of actions we can no longer embrace.

I hear the cries of forests, once vibrant and alive,

Now silenced by the chainsaws, our greed they cannot survive.

The rivers weep in anguish, polluted and defiled,

Their plea for restoration, lost in a world so wild.

Mountains stand as witnesses, their majesty now marred,

By the ceaseless mining, leaving scars forever charred.

The creatures of the oceans, their habitat destroyed,

Struggling for survival, their destiny deployed.

But amidst the devastation, a flicker of hope remains,

For the Earthlings awaken, recognizing their refrains.

Together we can heal her, with actions bold and true,

Preserving her beauty for generations, not just a chosen few.

So let us stand united, hand in hand, heart to heart,

Embracing sustainability, for this world we're a part.

Let our voices echo loudly, as we strive to make amends,

For the Earth deserves our love, our care, and to make amends.