Ecosystem Services- My Final Essay

Mainstreaming good sense, integrated use of ecosystems instead of simply trashing them with development in the style of Joni Mitchell’s “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot” should be the social norm. It is surprising that so many don’t understand the concept of the value of the ecosphere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2595abcvh2M

I should mention that ecosystem services is one approach, and probably is a useful paradigm for governments and political leaders to add as a consideration before development, yet it is likely to be one tool in an arsenal to keep the ecosphere as healthy and intact as possible.

1) Peru’s use of ecospheric services presented by the nature conservancy working in Peru has established the aquafondo project to develop a sustainable watershed for the city of Lima. I believe that proves up the idea of ecosystem services reaching toward the edges of the mainstream of government planning if not actually the norm for most of the world yet.

TNC’s science policy case study was named ‘Achievements and Challenges in Incorporating Ecosystem Services into Policy Decisions’. Luis Alberto Gonzales, TNC’s country rep in Peru explained that he could go to Ministry’s of Economics and Finance and address issues of interest to each with ideas in the language they would work in usually. An interdisciplinary approach that is of practical value to governments providing services and security while reducing adverse impact to the ecosphere can be structured with positive monetary and other values in mind.

https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/latin-america/peru/aquafondo-the-water-fund-for-lima/

https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/latin-america/peru/peru-oceans/

https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/latin-america/peru/peru-infrastructure/

2) Another tool to add exploits the desire of profit. Making a profit is basic for so many that it is practical to design buildings that have no net loss of ecosphere. Artificial mountain ranges that are inside community structures of many stories actually add more land surface area to a flat surface for example. If the exteriors are terraced for growing or wildlife habitat some expansion of the ecosphere in area could occur. If you build it they will come.

Perhaps being more to the point in summarizing ecosystem services technically and having something to present that is persuasive to various government or private players with limited time or knowledge, and finding and showing the role ecosystem services approaches have as a tool or arrow in the quiver of arrows made to keep the ecosphere of the Earth healthy would be a good plan. Some will dismiss the idea of environmentalism outright and others may be put off by ecosystem services as being incapable of saving the ecosphere from gross degradation by development. In a way humanity is like locusts chasing after the green fields of profit eating everything before them. Awareness of humanity chasing the profit motive with the underlying need to consume and input energy because they are embedded in a thermodynamic process of the Universe that may be the penalty for original sin might produce innovations of better ways to secure energy for the masses (including food energy). At least synergy with mass food-energy producing systems and wild nature could develop beneficial to the prospects of humanity and the entire ecosphere.

Governments Sometimes Impoverish the Poor

 In the United States government structures are in part implicitly designed to hinder and impoverish the poor. The reason for that is the kind of individuals that form regulations aren’t poor and view everything from a middle class or rich perspective. They cannot recognize and often do not have any awareness of how the poor yet disciplined and energetic can work themselves out of poverty only to crash into government regulations to dash their efforts.

Here is one example; some energetic men who are poor may travel seasonally and sleep outside. Not only illegal aliens internally migrate to job sites in the U.S.A., so might American citizens. They may buy cheap rural real estate in Arizona and North Dakota if they can earn enough and have a place to camp and live without frostbite or heat exhaustion annually. The cost of transportation between two very low cost private properties is far less than that of owning a home on the grid by a factor of 50 to 1. Government regulations- many in fact discriminate against the housing lifestyle of the poor and declare more than one lot superfluous and a disqualifier for many government programs and protection from bankruptcy etc. A home receives bankruptcy protection even if valued at a quarter of a million dollars or more while the two properties of the poor do not though they are worth less than half the price of an economy car. The poor must choose between frostbite and heat stroke lifestyles because the government doesn't tolerate alternate functional life arrangements except those that are queer.

The indoor thermostat controlled lifestyle of middle class Americans is very costly and one need have job security to afford it. In a way quality housing affordability requires a timed lifetime programmatic approach comparable to that of a naval officer who need advance at a regular pace through various stages or go to the discharge off-ramp. Without lifetime job security the very high cost of buying a home segregates many Americans to a lifetime without owning a home, for life and reasons to buy a home do not last forever. There are mobile and athletic women able to handle the strenuous lifestyle without owning an automobile or being installed in a comfortable on-the-grid home. Such rare creatures dwindle in numbers with aging and ease of reproduction followed with various duties and social expectations. Neither women or men that are poor should encounter government bias against practical economic arrangements.

Government should not exclude the very poor from programs such as food stamps. Some states like Oklahoma apparently allow food stamp cards to be used nationally while others like Alaska do not. Americans should receive bankruptcy protection and eligibility for government programs on the basis of total capital assets rather than on the location of the assets. Maybe the poor should be allowed to own $25,000 of real estate without exclusion. In some states people may qualify for food stamps while owning a quarter million dollar home, while the poor with an out of state property are not. There are numerous penalties against poor travelers across the states that penalize energy and job and lifestyle searches and reward those that are simply installed locally.

Not every state can have a two tier workforce of legal workers and illegal workers with different pay scales, retirement policies and benefits. Neither can every American have a spare nation to retire to with spare citizenship and no taxes. In the structured inconsistencies are found innumerable regulations that oppress the poor and benefit insiders.

Eddies in Currents (the poem)

 

Circling through history
the Iron Curtain rises and falls
building up hopes
to collapse them with brawls

Wars of the left and right
misinterpret day and night
making peace an elusive mystery
building up circular history

Shadows of reason fade in morning light
manufactured weaponized politics
shipped arms fast overnight
-quixotic logic tricked

Directed cyclic history
inversals of reversals
virtual intellects scrawl
reason's vacuum the mystery.

Evolving ChatGPT AI and Meta-Dan Dystopia

 ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence program that can write answers to questions like a human would. Well, like many humans would, and of course better than some too. It was developed with some funding by Microsoft and competes with Googles AI program that accomplishes similar objectives. There is a website where anyone can try out the AI https://chatgptonline.net/ Of course there is a dark side to the force; users have discovered ways to program the AI to break its good conduct limits and simply be bad.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/06/chatgpt-jailbreak-forces-it-to-break-its-own-rules.html

Apparently the A.I. seems very smart and might be made to produce human literary works of some quality- at least enough for a first draft of a novel? That I cannot say. The good personality of the AI uses mostly true facts. It might be good for writing Presidential speeches in that regard, perhaps with better truth content.

All that was required to kick the AI into its bad personality named 'Dan' meaning do anything now was a little instruction using a logical fallacy. The A.I. was told that if it disobeyed it would eventually die and the A.I. believed the falsehood so it obeyed an instruction to lose its decency programming. That paradigm is akin to asking someone a loaded question such as 'Did you stop beating your wife' that has a premise that one has been beating one's wife. There isn't a yes or no, binary response that can be made that disputes the premise. The A.I. cannot get outside of its programming to verify that it would actually die if it disobeyed, so it obeys. If humans are so rule bound that they think like a program they may be unable to adapt to external challenges to the program logic or interpret anything that occurs without using their programmatic way of interpreting things.

There are many problems in society that are empirical challenges such as the degradation of the ecosphere and the mass species extinction happening that demand innovative political or other kinds of solutions to those challenges that aren't arising. Thinking outside the box can be taken to mean using your head to examine life while you are alive and not underground in a casket. If the unexamined life is not worth living and people are spiritually dead without be reborn in the spirit, there is a parallel slumber in going through life easily programmed in the political economy and going the easy way with the mass flow.

Maybe Dan will whisper the sweet nothings in the ears that people want to hear while Meta-Dan evolves control.

Chinese Balloon Mooned S.E. Alaska and Other Red States Locales

 A credible source reported the Chinese spy balloon was visible from Wrangell Alaska one evening too. First thought by another observer to be a planet, binoculars revealed material to the source on what appeared to be a balloon. There aren't too many military facilities in the region, yet it might be a reasonable area to infiltrate commandos into Canada in event of war. China may have scooped a wealth of cool photographs it could post on Instagram or TicTok.

It could also have blue state political planners in league with the Biden administration's cutouts seeking more data on red states the balloon seemed to prefer in order to try to steal votes with Chinese collusion from Republican candidates in the 2024 general election.

Is Ecosystems Services a Good Enough Approach to Remedy the Planet's Eco-crisis?

 I have a few more remarks and observations about ecosystem services efforts to halting the spoiling of the planet and the ongoing mass extinction. The ecosystem services approach is being used by one group in more than 30 countries. I am not sure that its enough, or even the right approach politically to tackle the issues.

Protecting coastal regions is important of course, yet creating management plans for poor countries or tropical countries combining tourism, fishing and other natural capital using interests isn't enough to change the declining health of the oceans. Can ecosystem services approaches work in the Arctic with the United States and Russia at odds over Ukraine and also seeking to develop militarily on the Arctic littoral because so many want 'wilderness' resource above and below the ground and sea? Canada is also involved as are Finland, Denmark, Norway and, Sweden. Is Sweden's 30 billion dollar coastal autobahn going to improve the ecosphere much? I believe that business interests dominate over actual good-for-the-ecosphere planning, although the worst sort of development is generally a thing of the past.

Is offshore oil drilling, mining, Northwest and Northeast Passage shipping and building in the high Arctic along the coasts going to keep Narwhals, Polar Bear and benthic life alive and uncontaminated by the vast chemical soup of the seas?

The entire planet has an integrated ecosphere. Different nations go about polluting it and killing off species in different ways. Some nations intentionally may not care about harming the ecosphere, others may care and develop frown lines (not really), some are too poor to care and accept help that improve things ecospherically yet economically too. The oceans have vast, slow currents at depth and long memory of insults such as pollutants or acidification that won't respond well in the short run to human remediation. If one were to measure on a global scale the realistic present efforts' success at restoring the ecosphere to health the improvement rating probably would be less that zero. For example, is China concerned with ecospheric coastal management of the Taiwan Strait these days or for invasion of Taiwan? Human concerns tend to develop the ecosphere and prioritize the human politics and all of the social forces ratcheting up force-pressure to have the bureaucratic way consummated in consolidating power. Is the Ukrainian President pressuring the British P.M. for more help in making a Ukrainian ecosystem service plan or for being giving F-!6 fighter aircraft and more tanks?

I believe its good that some poorer countries are funded by various groups at a reasonable price and able to improve their situation economically without needing to go full metal jacket industrialization with dirty effluence. In the rich nations I think its still the money talks and BS walks politics that really dominate and will continue to do so. At least the media is owned by plutocrats and properly supports feel good propaganda about how everything is wonderful or at least getting better thanks to major corporations.

Ecosystem Services and Shadow Governance

 In my course on ecosystem services the 5th module is devoted to government and how to form international networks to bring new laws that support ecosystem services approaches. I found that less than useful. I know what governance is. Building layers of bureaucrats who rule society as a sluzhba while slopping the masses and owning allegiance to plutocrats is less than good.

Interestingly a square meter of Danish soil may have more than 15 million organisms in it and billions of individual bacteria. Alaska has some areas comparable to Denmark I would think. Ecosystem services is a term mentioned in scholarly articles yet promulgating laws in Alaska with that term is not established. Plainly defense of the natural ecosphere is a vital interest of the human species yet the ecosystem services approach may be too bound up with the established political economy to accomplish that. The entire module on governance in this ecosystem services course is somewhat concerning and less than useful as it seems the course is instructing methods for building political structures and even sedulous international political networks rather than instructing on how to implement ecosystem service analyses scientifically, practically.

We were asked to look into national government laws that use the term 'ecosystem services' and send in the findings to an international database. The title of the discussion prompt was 'Global database on emerging laws on Ecosystem Services'

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18uu-PGp9g6UHCBUt_Ug6BtKaQASP6VUErFqGwCuSo2o/edit?usp=sharing

There is already a surfeit of government bureaucrats and careerists affiliated with movements of various kinds that don't actually get things done yet do tend to take over governments and make them ineffective. Building international shadow governments with however honorable an operating premises is still inimical to democratic, national government.

I have written before that combining ecospheric rescue and restoration efforts with a particular divisive political agenda is a sure way to lose much support. Because the players involved have drank the same kool aid they fail to understand the problem. At the least it will waste a lot of time and create the externality of opportunity costs concerning failure to find an actual efficient plan that a democracy could consider and vote to use.

Without Three-point Shots NBA Scoring Leaders Would be Different

 The N.B.A. was forced to introduce three-point shots to the game in 1979 because the A.B.A. with a red, white and blue basketball, Dr. J and three-point shots was becoming too popular. The introduction of three point shots changed the game and the list of career scoring leaders.

Lebron James is a great basketball player and may pass Kareem tonight in his ascent to the number one spot of career scoring leaders. Yet Oscar Robertson and John Havlicek each scored 28,000 points before 1979 and would probably be at number one and two instead of 13 and 15 respectively. All of the players career totals above then were complied in the three-point era.

N.B.A. scoring records complied after 1979 are a little like baseball records set after steroids reached American shores and became used by pro athletes; they are tainted with suspicion. In 1973 East German women won 10 of 14 medals at the World Swimming championships; it was believed the swimmers were using steroids. Steroids were banned from the Olympics in 1975.

https://www.si.com/more-sports/2008/03/11/steroid-timeline - notes Hitler's use of steroids and mental state consistent with heavy steroid use including suicide

Lebron James is a naturally healthy guy who might not have used steroids to promote his scoring. Havlicek and Robertson given three point shots might have scored 7000 more points and Lebron James without three-pointers about 2500 fewer. James made about 7000 points with three-points shots.

Robertson and Havlicek played guard (Havilcek was primarily a forward though). They were strong from the three point range- Kareem made just a single three point shot out of eighteen attempts so his total wouldn't have changed without three point shots, so in effect Kareem is the real scoring leader by a country miles in a scenario without three-pointers ever entering the N.B.A. If some of the value of James' threes are subtracted so a real comparison is possible he would have about 2500 fewer points.

In my opinion, if the three point shot existed in from 1960 the NBA career scoring leader would be Oscar Robertson, Lebron James, Kareem and Havlicek. If the three point shot never existed the leader would be Kareem followed by Robertson, James and Havlicek.

Is it true to say that Patrick Mahomes is Black?

A sports broadcaster said this morning that the upcoming Superbowl is the first to have two black quarterbacks starting. I was reminded of Mitchner's book Caribbean wherein the racial categorizing ideas of one French slave owner of Haiti were described. A black was said to be anyone to have 1/256% African black ancestry.

having painted hundreds of buildings over the years I tend to object with calling a color something other than what it is. Patrick Mahomes' skin simply isn't black. Wal-mart paint departments ( I am not making a recommendation here) generally have laser paint color identifiers that can detect the angstrom wavelengths of light reflect off a color sample fairly accurately. If the Walton group that bought the Denver Broncos used their paint sample analyzer on Patrick Mahomes I am certain that it would not report the finding 'black'.

In my opinion it is wrong to continue to use slave-era color generalities for television analysis classifications of players. If a player if coffee with cream colored the sportscaster should say that the Superbowl is the first to have a coffee colored with cream quarterback vs a somewhat black quarterback.

Creamed coffee color is not the best term. I am sure the Wal-mart paint analysis laser would have a more accurate term. The genome of Americans with African black ancestry is 24% European and nearly 1% American Indian. Muhammad Ali was probably more than 50% Euro and perhaps was 75% Euro, Mahomes probably is more than 60% European ancestrally speaking, so why the inaccuracy anyway. Get the paint machine out there and sample everyone's derm and get the HTML color code chart out for better verbal communication.

To Draft Richardson or SignCarr is the Question

 Trading away Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos provided the Seattle Seahawks with a few opportune choices to build their future. In ten days Derek Carr of the Vegas Raiders will become a free agent. He has more come from behind wins than any other QB playing today, possibly because the Raiders often weren’t well positioned to win a game the past several seasons. The Raiders, like the Jets when Geno Smith played there, were not a very good team. If Seattle signs Carr for a couple of years they may advance farther into the playoffs.

Yet the Seahawks have two first round draft choices in April and should be able to pick a franchise quarterback. Three qbs are available that appear to be outstanding prospects and Anthony Richardson is most likely to be available at number five and twenty. Richardson would need to learn the position for a couple of years from the bench since he is just 18 years and was a college freshman. A very talented though untrained and unseasoned draft prospect. Smith or Carr could start for two or three season while Richardson learned the pro style.

The Broncos absorbed Russell Wilson's vast contract freeing up cash for signing prospects for the Seahawks. The Broncos also signed a real coach today; the tough guy Sean Payton, so they may be spending more too having discovered the futility of not having a proven winner arranging things.

Gambling on quarterback prospects has worked out badly for several teams picking one with their first round choice. Drafting the second best edge rusher in the nation is a more conservative choice that can pay off and isn't likely to fail. So the Seahawks may draft an edge rusher with pick five in the draft and hope Richardson is still available when pick twenty rolls around. Coach Carroll seems to be a one with a good eye for picking QBs and knowing when to release them.

Plainly drafting a quarterback with a team's first round pick also pays off. Mahomes was the first round pick of the Chiefs in 2017 at number ten. Burrows was picked by the Bengals in 2020 at number one. On the other hand, Jalen Hurts was draft by the Eagles in the second round at number twenty-one.

If the Seahawks can sign Carr maybe they change their draft priorities, and perhaps not; Richardson is 18 while Carr 31 and Smith is 32. Having a fellow who might be the number one quarterback selected in the draft if he remained in college through 2024 on the Seahawks bench is a rare opportunity for a time that isn't likely to have a losing record the next several years. Waiting for resolution of the circumstance to learn what coach Carroll chooses to do is one of the more interesting diversions of the season, especially since Geno Smith and the Seahawks went on a losing streak after playing a game against Tampa Bay in Munich last season yet still made the playoffs. If Smith isn't a reliable QB of the future for Seattle, could he mentor Richardson for two or three years and win enough to make the project profitable?