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Eco-logical vs. Eco-mythical: The Edenism Manifesto

By Zarakyah Ben Ahmadiel (Feb. 2009)

21 July, 2010
Countercurrents.org

Position Paper Co-Sponsored by The Office of Environmental Affairs for The African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem and The RBG Environmental Restoration Agency

Myth:

1.

a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, esp. one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature.

3.

any invented story, idea, or concept: His account of the event is pure myth.

4.

an imaginary or fictitious thing or person.

5.

an unproved or false collective belief that is used to justify a social institution.

 

Once upon a time, hybrid cars purred down green paved roads. The streets, lit by solar powered lights, buzzed with the excitement of the new black king in the great white castle exuding his green power throughout the land. The dark ages of peak oil and resource scarcity were a faraway memory, as the king's wizards solved what nature apparently could not…If you add a white princess (oh yeah, I forgot about Hillary Clinton) and some hobbits, you've got the makings of a good fantasy. Sounds like a nice story to be sure, but it's just that, a story—complete fiction.

The reality is that we face very serious crises in the coming years as we enter the post-carbon era. The worst recession since the Great Depression is worsening by the day and yet, we anxiously await this mythical “green economy” full of economic bounty, new jobs, and global restoration. So what you're saying is that you can somehow fund futuristic technologies (see “The 11 th Hour” by Leonardo DiCaprio) and an immediate divestment from more than two centuries of petroleum dependence, but you can't support three car companies. But wait, Barack Obama can fix everything, right…right?! He did promise to focus on green technologies and save us from oil dependence. Unfortunately, it's a promise that he can't keep. The earth has a promise, though, and unlike us, it's always honest.

 

Logic:

1.

the science that investigates the principles governing correct or reliable inference.

2.

a particular method of reasoning or argumentation: We were unable to follow his logic.

3.

the system or principles of reasoning applicable to any branch of knowledge or study.

4.

reason or sound judgment, as in utterances or actions: There wasn't much logic in her move.

5.

convincing forcefulness; inexorable truth or persuasiveness: the irresistible logic of the facts.

 

It is quite interesting to me that we use the term “ecological” so cavalierly, when in fact, our outlook on the ecosystem has become much more myth than logic. First, we have “eco” which is a prefix for words relating to the environment and is derived from the Greek word “oikos” referring to house or household. Then we have “logical” which infers reason or sound judgment; inexorable, unyielding, and even cruel truth. There is an old saying that God is in the details and the devil is in the avoidance thereof. Etymologically speaking (there goes that pesky logic again), there is a very hard truth regarding our environment and the crisis it faces which is very clearly apparent if we would only choose to face up to it.

“And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.”

Mark 26-27

That is why it's called The American Dream. This deceptively dangerous idea of American exceptionalism combined with the noxious compound of hope and change have poisoned our thinking. We sleep on and enjoy the wet dream of an attractive American empire, nice full employment rolls, blue seas and amber waves of grain. The problem is that when we wake up, the seas aren't that blue anymore, instead their filled with dead zones replete with dead, floating organisms coated with pharmaceutical waste and chemical dumps. The amber waves of grain are being bred for bio-fuels to feed energy monsters instead of hungry men, women, and children. As a matter of fact, talk about irony, those waves of grain are largely responsible for the petroleum addiction of this country and the Western influenced world in that it takes more than 400 gallons of oil to feed each American according to the current form of agriculture. And they called it the Green Revolution. Isn't it ironic, don't ya think?!

The new “Green Revolution” will be just as harmful and misleading as the Rockefeller led global shift to petroleum based agriculture in 1945. This time, the corporate masters of today would have us to harvest the rare earth minerals and resources that are left after draining the earth of its oil. The problem with pseudo-revolutions is that it offers the false hope of progress and change, but instead simply changes the course of the corruption. The Civil Rights Movement, the various color coded revolutions of Europe , even the “Obama Revolution” didn't really change anything. The common thread, though, was that the status quo reached an impasse. We reached a point in the course of history that change had to happen, unfortunately the powers that be co-opted the change and redirected the energy to further serve their interests. They paid lip service to the needs of the people and to the desires of the downtrodden, offering false promises and vain gestures. In keeping with the Western mindset, their logic became that of empty words and inaction. In the non-technical Greek origin of the word, in fact, logic is actually the antithesis of work and action. This time, though, there is too much at stake to believe them. The earth and its inhabitants are now the downtrodden, being given the false promise of sustainability through vain green gestures. It is incumbent upon us to face reality. An inevitable crash of immense, life altering consequences is on the horizon. We must accept this Truth and adjust our way of living to embrace our future. There is in fact a new beginning, a Genesis in progress…

“In a beginning, a Yah-empowered body of men and women created a new heaven and earth. And there was utter confusion amongst men, and ignorance and obscurity was upon the face of the earth; and the Spirit of Yah moved upon the people.”

Hebraic Interpretation of Genesis 1:1-2

 

The Crash—Environmental Crisis in Correct Perspective

"When the ice thins to a vulnerable state, the bottom will drop out...I think there is some evidence that we may have reached that tipping point, and the impacts will not be confined to the Arctic region."

The recent presidential campaign, along with the new marketplace of all things “green”, have presented the concept of correcting or halting climate change. The unfortunate reality is, though, that the climate has already changed. Global warming has set in and the consequences are set. The tipping point, the level at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable, has been reached. We face a perfect storm of ecological disaster—peak oil, climate change, mass extinction, population overshoot, deforestation, eutrophication, and so on. The pall of darkness has descended decidedly upon the earth, as the increasingly lifeless waters rise to drown out the remnants of the petroleum powered civilization.

“We're gonna run out of air to burn before we run out of oil to burn. In other words, the fossil fuels are creating the global warming problem, the CO2, and the pollution problems. And if we keep using those, it's not really a matter of when we run out of fossil fuels. It's when we befoul the atmosphere so much and create so much global warming, it's irrelevant how much gas we've got left.”

Richard Manning

Since approximately 1780, coinciding with the advent of the Industrial Revolution and the subsequent boom of petroleum usage, the climate temperature has increased by .78 degrees Celsius. Furthermore curious is that we (I'll get back to “we” later) have raised the CO2 concentration from approximately 280 parts per million in the late 18 th Century to the current levels of 385 ppm, and steadily rising by an average of 2 ppm per year. To be perfectly clear, for the vast expanse of human life on earth, the CO2 levels have stayed around 275-280 ppm. Since the very moment that human life became less important than human consumption, desire, and hedonistic will (a mere two centuries), the earth and all that depend upon it have been brought to the precipice of disaster. You know what… disaster is a poor choice of words. Disaster implies that it was a mistake, an oops, a “boo-boo” moment. Like “my bad, I broke the planet”. There was no mistake here, though. It was planned, understood, and foreseen by those that perpetuated this catastrophe (much better word). Since the Genesis itself, those that came to rule this world knew that they only had so much time. They knew that there civilization was transient, simply passing the time until we took the opportunity to be what our destiny requires. Their destiny is the lake of fire that it seems that they're intent on creating. Fate always has its way, it seems. For the time being though, it seems that they will not stop their headstrong descent into destruction. Scientist James Hanson, in his paper “Target Atmospheric CO2” determined that “if humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm(now 392.04 ppm) to at most 350 ppm." On the other hand, William Schlesinger, dean of The School of Environment at Duke University , projects that the levels will reach 550 ppm by the year 2050. You can do the math, I'll wait…

Beyond the math, let's understand the mind behind the mayhem. There is absolutely no way that this world system based upon voracious consumption, capitalism, the lassiez faire democratic will to do as one pleases, would be pleased or even content to stop the runaway train to mass modernity. In order to achieve this monumental goal, in order to halt big bad “global warming, they would have to shut down all of the operating coal plants, building no more and cap further carbon emissions. Not likely, actually it's quite laughable. Not funny, ha ha. More like that uncomfortable laugh when you'd rather cry, but you can't because it hasn't quite hit you yet. With the ascension of China and India , the need for cheap energy will only increase. As a response to the threat of impending Eastern supremacy, America and the West will certainly escalate their consumption, need, and usage of cheap energy just to keep up. Point being, they're not going to change. Instead, they'll attempt to lie; that in fact has never changed. They'll tell us about the wondrous possibilities of green doo dads and alternative energy this and that. They can rebuild it, they have the technology. Remember though, that the mind still has not and will not change. As a matter of fact, even if they did change, it might not matter. Were all carbon emissions to stop immediately, the earth's temperature would continue to rise due to latent heat and global dimming.

Latent heat and global dimming are actually the realest indication of the “utter confusion” that the Genesis story intones. Global dimming is the phenomenon of human caused aerosol accumulation (such as air pollution, smoke, smog, and actual aerosol spray) that limits the direct irradiance of the earth's surface by the sun. This creates latent or hidden heat that has been trapped by the overabundance of aerosol and air pollution. As the industrial nations have attempted to address and eliminate air pollution and its effects, the curtain of global dimming is being pulled back to reveal decades worth of global warming emissions. In fact, the current statistics only reflect what had been emitted until the 1970s. Latent heat commits us to approximately .45 degrees C, while the aerosols are holding back 20% more. From there, the calculations are simple and disturbing. If all carbon emission--along with the other greenhouse gases, methane and nitrous oxide—were to stop at this very moment, the current temperature (.78 degrees C) plus latent heat (.45 C) plus global dimming (20%) equals 1.5 C. This is double the increase of the past two centuries. This means that the damage has been done, the concomitant droughts, famines, wars, mass extinctions, and extreme weather catastrophes are inevitable. Furthermore, it leaves us only .5 C from the assumed tipping point of a 2 C increase. I say assumed because no one is really sure at what temperature the critical threshold would be reached that would trigger the release of greenhouse gases stored in the oceans, trees, and the soil. At that point, the effects would be unstoppable and irreversible as runaway greenhouse gases trapped in the earth for centuries, if not millennia, are released to increase the global temperature from 6-10 C. The margin of error is staggering, considering the consequences and the culprit. It is clear that the Western mind itself cannot be trusted to solve the problems caused by the Western mind.

The world's problems are nothing but extensions of our personal problems.' –

U.G. Krishnamurti

“One of the extraordinary things about human events is that the unthinkable becomes thinkable.”

Salman Rushdie

Now I understand that as I mention global warming, we are experiencing skin-bitingly cold temperatures throughout the United States so your inclination may be to dismiss the seriousness of the subject. Just the other day, I read a cartoon in which Al Gore had to hide his face with a scarf as he and those around him trudged through inches of snow. Well, the truth is in fact quite inconvenient and unflinching. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we have not miscalculated, overestimated, or even fabricated “global warming” as some would mislead us to believe. The confusion is that global warming is a simple, umbrella term for the general warming of the earth. As the earth's temperature rises, though, it enacts a myriad of effects more accurately dubbed “climate change”. Simply put, the rise in the earth's temperature will not just produce a hotter globe. Warmer climates will get warmer, but that means that lands will become more arid and less able to produce crops. As a matter of fact, certain regions are already experiencing a decrease in crop yield and early harvests as the natural cycles of the Creation are being disrupted. Already being starved, people in tropical climates would also become the victims of drastically increasing vermin borne (mosquitoes, rats, etc.) diseases-- malaria, encephalitis, dengue fever, etc.-- due to greater precipitation stemming from changes in rainfall patterns. It gets worse…As the CO2 levels in the atmosphere increase, the oceans—which would normally serve to absorb the excess carbon—become acidic, creating dead zones of which scientists estimate are now 150 throughout the world. They are called “dead zones” because they are hypoxic or oxygen depleted. Technically, then, these areas don't even consist of water anymore (H 2 O minus the O=not water). Not only is that a problem for ocean life, fish and all, but oceans are a major source of the oxygen that we breathe. Not for long it seems…

WILKINS ICE SHELF, Antarctica (Reuters) - A huge Antarctic ice shelf is on the brink of collapse with just a sliver of ice holding it in place, the latest victim of global warming that is altering maps of the frozen continent.

Alister Doyle

Now tell the truth…To yourself, you don't have to admit it out loud. That headline doesn't really strike you like that. I mean, if you don't live in Alaska (shout out to Sarah Palin) or Antarctica , ice shelves and glaciers melting is not going to make or break your day. Well, what about the day after tomorrow?! The situation is developing to make the movie look tame by comparison, but unlike the Hollywood blockbuster, the effects will not be CGI; they will be real and change life as we know it. The melting of the Arctic ice is actually one of the most interesting and relative or karmic feedback loops of global warming/climate change in that its effect is striking directly at the heart of the cause of the problem, that being the Western world. In brief, the temperate climate that we enjoy here in North America-- as well as European locales such as England—is the result of the ocean current know as The Great Conveyor Belt which carries warm surface water from the equator to northern regions that otherwise would be so cold that they would be covered in ice even in summer. The melting of the Arctic ice pours cold fresh water into the warm salt water current, in effect, shutting down the current leading to the colder temperatures that we are beginning to experience. Some scientists predict that with the current rate of melting, the Great Conveyor Belt will stop within 15 years causing the next ice-age for the northern U.S. and all of Europe . These are but a few of the effects of the drastic climate changes on the horizon—release of “super viruses” trapped in rapidly melting permafrost, methane hydrate release, phytoplankton dieoff, and so on.

“And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

St. Matthew 24:11-13

“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.”

St. Matthew 24: 21-22

 

Green is the New Black?!—

“For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are stupid children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge, I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger. For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it. And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.”

Jeremiah 4:21-23

In light of the aforementioned calamity, the powers that were would have us to believe that driving to the recycling center in your new Prius can magically overturn centuries of global breakage. I'm not saying that one shouldn't recycle, or compost, or drive hybrids. What I am saying, though, is that the idea that green technology or alternative energy can reverse the damage or allow this civilization or life like it to continue is as Ben Ammi would refer to as “evil reasoning”. The Western idea of ecological certainly leans toward the spirit of the logos. The Hellenist Stoics of the 3 rd C. BCE believed that the logos was the active reason pervading and giving order to the universe, and was often identified as the god of nature. It is this god complex, this pervasive perception of self-deception that allows the Western world to believe that their end is not near, but they know that it is. They've read the end of the book. They know how the story ends and they know that their world is over. The logos, though, has infected the minds of the people to give the false hope of survival. This creates the errant idea that if we run out of oil, we can just switch to solar or wind or hydrogen or hybrids to fuel our desires. In fact, the concept of green technology is just as unrealistic and exploitative as the petroleum era has proven.

There is a lot being said regarding the promise of green technologies, but the concept of technology itself is the scourge that will doom this world system. As the access and availability of oil wanes, even the multi-trillion dollar oil companies are extolling the promise of alternative energy sources. Truth be told, even we have come to believe the hype. Please don't! The bottom line is that technology is a symptom of the problem which is this corrupt, debilitating system. Now, yes I realize the irony of that statement given that I am typing these words on a computer, powered by electricity, and so on. We have all become entrenched in the manifestation of an idea, the ideas that there will always be enough of something to give us what we want. Consider that the petroleum era that everyone is all up in arms about, the very fact that we are approaching the peak of oil availability, started because coal was becoming obsolete. As we approach (or as some would say, have passed) the peak of petroleum access, society finds itself scrambling for alternatives to satiate our need for comfort and convenience. In 2003, President Bush announced a $1.2 Billion hydrogen fuel initiative. Captain Planet aka President Obama has pledged at least $150 Billion over 10 years for green technology. I think that we are asking the wrong question, though. The question shouldn't be what else can we use, but rather what are we using it for?! We have fallen into the trap of “resource substitution” in which once one resource is exploited to the point of extinction, we just find something else to exploit to the point of extinction, and so on, and so on...This new Genesis, this precipice of progressive possibility, requires that we stop upon this path to self and global destruction, turn around, and seek the old paths. Whether we like it or not, the road upon which we travel is approaching a dead end.

“Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD. Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet…”

Jeremiah 6:15-17

“Question: When oil runs out, what resource will be substituted in order to keep the industrial economy running? Unstated premises: a) equally effective substitutes exist; b) we want to keep the industrial economy running; and c) keeping it running is worth more to us (or rather to those who make the decisions) than the human and nonhuman lives destroyed by the extraction, processing, and utilization of this resource.”

Derrick Jensen, Endgame Vol. 1

“Small but mighty, rare earth elements are key ingredients of green technology. They may soon be in short supply.”

Greenlivingonline.com

As we embark upon the old paths, journeying toward the paradaisical future of Edenic promise , we must remember that they are in fact pathways—roads we must travel in order to arrive at our final destination. They are not the destination. Green technology has its place, but that place is not long for this world, or rather our world. The stark reality is that the rare earth minerals required to produce the solar panels, wind farms, hydrogen fuel cells, etc. that Obama and co. would have us to believe will maintain life as we know it are—wait for it—rare. Hafnium, which Intel just paraded as the major piece of its new green computer chip designed for energy effeciency, will be gone within 10 years. Platinum, a key component of catalytic convertors and the infamous fuel cells, could run out within 15 years if Bush and Obama get their wish. Indium, which combined with gallium is a key component of solar cells, is expected to run out by 2017. They don't even know how much gallium is left, but the fact that it is running out lends to the fallibility of the green dream. Along with indium, gallium is used to make indium gallium arsenide, the semiconducting material at the very heart of the solar cell industry. In a recent report, Renï Kleijn, a chemist at Leiden University in the Netherlands , concludes that current reserves "would not allow a substantial contribution of these cells" to the future supply of solar electricity. He estimates gallium and indium will probably contribute to less than 1 per cent of all future solar cells - a limitation imposed purely by a lack of raw material.

And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants. And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: Who consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another's flesh, and drink the blood. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones”

Book of Enoch , Ch. VII

"Virgin stocks of several metals appear inadequate to sustain the modern 'developed world' quality of life for all of Earth's people under contemporary technology." ( Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , vol 103, p 1209) And when resources run short, conflict is often not far behind. It is widely acknowledged that one of the key motives for civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1998 and 2002 was the riches to be had from the country's mineral resources, including tantalum mines - the biggest in Africa . The war coincided with a surge in the price of the metal caused by the increasing popularity of mobile phones ( New Scientist , 7 April 2001, p 46).

Earth's Natural Threat: an audit, New Scientist, 23 May 2007

We cannot afford the development of the New World to be limited by the old way of thinking. As they approach peak oil and even the peak of the oil substitutes, the best they can think of is either recycling what they have left or finding some other toy to break. It is incumbent upon us to change the behavior, the habits, and the lifestyle that has brought us to the brink of nothingness. We have, in fact, entered the era of peak America , the peak of the Western idea of abuse and exploitation of people, places, and things. The new Genesis gives us a great opportunity, but a great responsibility as well. The “confusion amongst men” is real. It is a life or death conflict between what we've been taught and what we must learn; between reality and fantasy; between the Truth and the lie. We must embrace a New Heaven in order to create a New Earth. Rather than green technology, let us incorporate an indigenous ingenuity—a compromise between new ideas and ancient wisdom. Let us ask the question: what did the ancient Egyptians, Hebrews, Ghanaians, Chinese, Mayans, Native Americans, etc. do for energy, food, water, and shelter? From this we can learn, adapt what is useful and discard what is not. We must understand that the problem didn't start in New York , Chicago , or London . The very ideas of civilization, agriculture, cities, water consolidation, and energy distribution must come into question. Seeds of ecological disharmony were planted long ago, cultivated by practice and watered by errant beliefs. We now have the opportunity to ensure that our children do not harvest the hybrid growth of our ancestors' ignorance, our oppressors' impudent iniquity and our cowardice. To this end, I propose a new standard beyond the binding clichés of environmentalism or greenness. The end to the confusion will be Edenism—the reclamation of our responsibility, the acceptance of the wholesale destruction of this world, and our willingness to build anew.

Edenism—the cultural principle that advocates a return to the original form of living; the re-establishing of indigenous lifestyle systems, focusing on veganism, localism, naturalism; the recognition of a new beginning, effectively severing ties with old world lifestyle; exaltation of Africa and the “3 rd world” as the new centers of society; a cultural practice designed to protect the earth and its inhabitants rather than exploitation and manipulation; right recognition of natural boundaries/definition (inherent in the Hebraic understanding of Gahn Eden); the ideological opposite of environmentalism as defined by Western civilization, incorporating the proper understanding that one's environment is the aggregate of the cultural influences that affect one's life and surroundings, therefore emphasizing the ecological necessity of cultural reengineering to a way of thought centered on the Creator and His Creation, not ours; stewardship as opposed to dominion/domination; the acceptance of and preparation for the impending societal crash and the concerted creation of the aftermath

--Definition /Philosophy by Zarakyah Ben Ahmadiel (Excerpt)

“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”

Romans 8: 18-23