Utopia, you are standing in it!

Ruy Teixeira writes at his substack blog From Environmentalism to Climate Catastrophism: A Democratic Story (Part 1 of 3).  Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images.

Conservation, the Environmental Apocalypse, and the Birth of Modern Environmentalism

The beginnings of the environment as an issue can be traced to the conservation movement of the late 19th and early 20th century associated with figures like Gifford Pinchot, head of the Forest Service under Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club. They were Republicans but many Democrats also embraced the movement; Woodrow Wilson created the National Park Service in 1916. And the New Deal in the 1930’s had a prominent place for conservation activities, most famously in the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) where young men were employed to improve forests and national parks. Trail systems and lodges from that era are still widely used today.

Following the death of Edward the Confessor on January 5, 1066, he was buried in Westminster Abbey on January 6. The Witan met that day and elected Harold Godwinson as the new King of the English; Harold is crowned the same day, sparking a succession crisis that will eventually lead to the Norman conquest of England.

Harold was a son of Godwin (c. 1001–1053), the powerful Earl of Wessex, and of Gytha Thorkelsdóttir the daughter of Danish chieftain Thorgil Sprakling (also called Thorkel).

Gytha was also the sister of the Danish Earl Ulf Thorgilsson who was married to Estrid Svendsdatter, the daughter of King Sweyn I Forkbeard of Denmark (died 1014) and sister of King Cnut the Great of England and Denmark. Ulf and Estrid’s son would become King Sweyn II of Denmark.

In 1045 Godwin reached the height of his power when the new king married Godwin’s daughter Edith. Godwin…

Before I move onto Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, I would like to finish telling the story of his father, Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge, husband of Anne Mortimer

Southampton Plot

In the Parliament of 1414, Richard was created Earl of Cambridge, a title formerly held by his elder brother, Edward, 2nd Duke of York, who had earlier ceased to be Earl of Cambridge either by resignation or deprivation of the title.

Richard’s creation as Earl of Cambridge in 1414, however, brought with it no accompanying grant of lands, and according to Harriss, Cambridge was ‘the poorest of the earls’ who were to set out on Henry V’s invasion of France.

As a result, he lacked the resources to equip himself properly for the expedition. Perhaps partly for this reason, Cambridge conspired with Lord Scrope and Sir Thomas Grey to depose King Henry V and place his…

The biggest problems in New Zealand’s schooling system are poor literacy and numeracy. This results from factors such as too little direct instruction as compared to child-led learning, inadequate use of phonics, and “fads” such as modern learning environments. We also lack a knowledge-rich national curriculum that gives all New Zealand students a good educational start in life, and with this a basis for democracy and civil society. The evidence is that socio-economic background is the main determinant of differences between Māori and non-Māori educational achievement.

Given all this, it is surprising how much emphasis the Ministry of Education (MoE) is giving to race as a key variable in education. MoE seems more focused on promoting Māori racial and cultural identity than, for example, professional identities. “Māori succeeding as Māori” is a recurring trope. A wisely sardonic Māori kuia once said to me that New Zealand has too few Māori…

Last week Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, a New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence hosted the 10^th International Indigenous Research Conference. Dr Rhys Jones from Auckland University delivered the keynote address titled: “Indigenous climate justice: from decarbonisation to decolonisation and relational restoration.”

Dr Jones argued that “climate change is really just one manifestation of colonialism or an intensification of the environmental impacts of colonisation.” He stated that “modern colonial societies have really been built on the process of genocide and ecocide, and can only continue through ongoing genocide and ecocide.” He then said “we have got to think not just decarbonisation but decolonisation. What that really means is committing to upholding indigenous rights and restoring indigenous sovereignty.”

The relationship Dr Jones posits between colonisation and carbon emissions is not well supported statistically. The largest cumulative emissions since the industrial revolution have been from the US, China, Russia, Germany and…

The worst of all the  damage this government has done,  and is continuing to do, to the country is racial privilege and division.

Creating victims in the present and future because of what happened in the past, creates more problems for them and for the rest of us.

Compensation for  past wrongs is fair and just. Political and economic privilege for a few because of past wrongs is not.

Policies to help people must be based on what is needed now, not past injustices.

Casey Costello explains why we must all be treated equally and that the government has a role in  providing equal opportunity but not equal outcomes.

Interesting that this is on Australian television.

Would local broadcasters give air time to these views?