Critical Issues?

Critical Thinking on Key Issues: Con-Science Sell-outs, Con-Spiracies, Con-Trails, or simply Turtles all the Way Down?

Image source – www.theifod.com/turtles-all-the-way-down/. Ironically, of the 356 species of turtles worldwide, about 61% are threatened with extinction (Ref., Ref.). Thus even the smartest of Flat-Earthers are losing Jenga-like foundational support for their dumb ideas. Snookered and flailing like a proverbial “turtle on the fence post” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5az1CrVUHY – their “global” (surely they mean “planar”?) conspiracy theories flounder.

There are many fringy, flaky and frankly cuckoo-woo ideas in circulation. Who is responsible? Mainly the false, fake, sold-out science (small “s”) that has lost much of its direction, ethics, honesty and integrity. Thus its respectability.

How can we trust in a Rational World when between 50-90% of published science is false and ridiculously rigid Religions (in contrast to a deeply-held spiritual appreciation of Nature and all humanity) yet persist?

“Science is the search for Truth at the boundaries of what is known about the Natural World. It is a difficult and perplexing task, one in which we make progress by finding and correcting errors” (Ref.). There is no shame in making honest errors during this search; but when faced with rational and compelling evidence to the contrary there in no shame either in revising. Only cults and idiots hold on to defunct ideas despite facts. Realizing too that, as JFK quoted: “An error doesn’t become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.”

E.g., a theory on whether flapping leaves cause the wind, as seen on Youtube, may easily be falsifiable.

Now discredited heritage media and its new replacement news say “Follow the Science” but often in almost the same breath “and pray to baby Jesus”. NO! They are incompatible so it is either one or the other. While Arabs (who formulated most Science before it was ‘adopted’ by the ancient Greeks who also had a pantheion of many fantastic gods and fabulous mystical stories) are now required to worship every few hours and say “Inshallah” at every opportunity.

If your stubborn view of Life and the World is confined to a single text dogma or a political agenda (that is also now used as the singular of “agendum”), fine; you can stop reading now.

Otherwise… there are many meaningful & important battles or debates, but all under the beauty & grace (i.e., elegance of form, manner, motion, or action) of Darwinian evolution (unless you are smart enough to come up with a better theory?). Similarly, if you think in your tiny mind that you are smarter, better read and higher intellect than Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de’ Galilei please go ahead and publish your theses so that people may yet defer to you in 400 years or more… That notwithstanding, some important key issues are raised here – https://vermecology.wordpress.com/2022/03/29/eco-taxo-bio/, others herein.

A shocking revelation was when Dr Marcia Angell NEJM’s editor found it “no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research”. In 2005, John Ioannidis explained why most published science research was false (https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124). According to an Atlantic article (Freedman, 2010) he charged that as much as 90% of the published medical information that doctors rely on is flawed. Subsequently, Dr Richard Houghton, chief editor of The Lancet in 2015 concurred that perhaps 50% of science is simply untrue (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60696-1/fulltext); he said: “The case against science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness”.

This may be summarized and rephrased as: Most trite science is venal, banal and/or anal.

The deeply corrupt situation was restated just last week in a March, 2022 Opinion piece in BMJ on “The illusion of evidence based medicine”where the authors’ state: “While universities fail to correct misrepresentations of the science from such collaborations, critics of industry face rejections from journals, legal threats, and the potential destruction of their careers.”

It also reinforces what searches for flaws and corruption in the “peer review” system reveal.

Thus “real” science is faked, and false “science” is super fake also ridiculous and undeserving of any critical air time [e.g. sometimes clinically ridiculous ideas about UFOs, Flat-Earth, Chemtrails, Tartaria (sometimes misspelt “Twataria” or, now they know it was powered by methane not just whips, it’s called “Fartaria”), or Life on Mars (oft misspelt “M’arse”) – seemingly from mostly uneducated people (and/or religious fanatics promoting “intelligent design” rather than the beauty of brave Darwin’s natural selection) who almost always saw it on YouTube* as their primary source of info; the most universal of their uncritical “badges of honour” being the literal lunacy to deny Moon landings (as if it was any of their concern!) – https://physicsworld.com/a/fighting-flat-earth-theory/]. As an aside, I thought “Flat-Earthers” were a joke, as rare as unicorns but it seems they are now as common as muck (i.e., poo they can claim came from a unicorn’s rather than a horse’s arse).

Edo period conspiracy Chemtrails (凱風快晴) caught by Hokusai san (1760–1849) before Youtube* muscled in on the action. Just like sarcastic poem by Wordsworth (if that was his real name?) in 1802: “I Wandered Lonely as a Chemtrail..“.

* Google Youtube search for “Santa Claus” has 35,900,000 results (0.57 seconds); “Tooth Fairy” only 9,770,000 results (0.48 seconds): how sexist, racist and dwarf-misogynist; “Chemtrails” 18,800,000 results (0.44 seconds): how anti-fairy!; “unicorn poop” 25,200 results (0.38 seconds)**: so cute, but it’s still less than childish belief in Santa san. ** Seems it mostly tastes like tutti-frutti ice-cream. And that’s a fact!

A plausible YouTube true hero snippet: Memphis Belle WWII Bomber Contrails – 1944 . Relax! It’s mainly condensation water vapour; remember: all combustion produces CO₂ + H₂O and a bit of soot; not Al, Ba, Sr, etc.. Actually, perhaps it’s correct that the World’s Air Forces are evil, and the bombs were not the real pay load, it was the chemtrails as the next two images conclusively prove…

This obviously false Photoshoped photo* from 1940 Battle of Britain over London has a recently released true transcript: RAF pilot: “Hello Fritz, we can stop pretending to fight and just release the chemtrails now; don’t worry this secret information wont be released for another 80 years, over.” Luftwaffe pilot: “Allo Tommy, OK zee you in ze bierkeller später; it’s dein flat – hoch verdammpt ich gemeint Runde!”. Wow! They now openly admit they were trying to poison people as far back as then too! *[Seriously, it is faked – https://www.hurricane501.co.uk/history/sir-winston-churchill-raf-battle-of-britain-1940-hurricane-spitfire/ Sept., 1940. © IWM (H 4219)].

Just last weekend (June, 2022) yet more outrageous chemtrail evidence but now they are not even trying to hide it! I think red is boron (or is it moron?), white is obviously Ailiuiminiuim (with a couple of extra “i”s for our American friends), and blue is probably CelineDionium (for our Canuck chums).

May, 2022. When I saw these chemtrails I immediately though it proves the lizard aliens’ plan to poison us with snake venom. This most compelling evidence is from an evening over my area where there are the two largest military bases of US Army & Navy and JSDF with all their commanding officers and families. Notice that “they” don’t do this over the Air Force bases…. coincidence? I don’t think so. “They” would have us believe this is a natural phenomenon – just a beautiful sunset. As if we were that stupid… Actually:

Gosh it must be true! If only they were the same fonts. Relax – it’s a prank; a pilot laughing at you (Ref.). Ha ha ha (cough, cough).

But are such ideas dangerous or just a joke? Seriously dangerous, as they make true Scientists’ work twice as hard. Both fake “real” science & false “science” divert & distract energies & enquiries from real issues (as intended!). A need is for critical triage-priorities in context with honest facts open for respectful debate. [But you must have some platform of credibility, not just an adopted opinion without factual basis; so if your degree is in “Sports Science” or Musicology you are probably not qualified to comment].

For example, an irony is that the major science organizations to believe and promote a “Flat Earth” are NASA/NOAA. How so? They only ever quote land surface area as being planametric, mirror-flat, totally ignoring that – as even my dog knows – land is hilly & soil is bumpy. And my dog is retarded…

When topography is factored in, all global calculations of NPP, biodiversity, or soil C are “upped” and at least doubled (Ref.).

Moreover, the falsehood of “Climate Change” is not an undeniable fact of atmospheric carbon rapidly accumulating, it is that IPCC, etc. refuse to admit most, ~96%, is from critical topsoil loss (Ref.). Moreover, their latest IPCC WGIII AR6 Report just came out in April, 2022 and is not so smart, yet again. Topsoil gets just one mention, compost 19 cf. CCS/DAC 1,121 hits!*

The requirement, as always, is to cite original sources of information with quotes and authentic links. That your mate down the pub told you something over a beer makes it no truer than a dream fantasy of unicorn rainbow poop. In taxonomic nomenclature, to get the latest information may require referring all the way back to Linnaeus’ (1758) original. Such rigour & referencing gives credibility otherwise lacking.

Perhaps we should take some comfort that 10-49% of proper, honest Science is wellmeaningly true.

Yet in my own specialist field of research on worms and soils I cannot find a single academic author who is brave enough to unambiguously & publicly support the statement that agrichemicals (e.g. reckless GMOs, synthetic fertilizers & toxic biocide poisons such as carcinogenic, anti-microbial glyphosate that destroys soil biota, gut microflora and possibly our mitochondria?) are bad. Neither is there any serious funding for organic farming research despite its vital need. Why not? Surely their friends, family and pets are also declining in health, as with all other animals. Extinction is permanent, irreversible and affects all. My 2018 report of >80% decline in earthworms is mostly and deliberately ignored (see charts below).

Globally, 2% or less of farms are certified organic. This statistic is perhaps countered by ~80% of food supply being from small holdings or market gardens. These local and intensive operations are an order of magnitude more productive and potentially provide more healthy food if they are converted to wholly organic and use the principals & practices of Permaculture for water, soil & stock management. We have all the information needed to convert or restore our farms. [I could give all sources & references to support this paragraph, or you can research it yourself].

In the Westernized World only 2% or less of the population are farmers and only 2% of these are certified organic (0.04%). These few are my heroes I learn from, respect and address directly. I also talk to 99.99% of us with family, friends or pets we love or those who cherish all of Nature. Only a minute minority, perhaps 0.01% of humans, are so ethically and morally corrupt to as make money or profit off of death.

As Rachel Carson said: “Until we have the courage to recognize cruelty for what it is — whether its victim is human or animal — we cannot expect things to be much better in this world. We cannot have peace among men whose hearts delight in killing any living creature. By every act that glorifies or even tolerates such moronic delight in killing, we set back the progress of humanity.”

Permaculture maintains credibility firstly because above all it has a Code of Ethics, secondly because it actually and demonstrably works, and perhaps thirdly in that it does not have any egotistical hierarchy. For the same reasons most all Universities and other research facilities have lost their credibility.

Thus we are yet left in the dark, sleepwalking into catastrophe without basic information needed to sustain Life on Earth, now in the midst of a 6^th Global Extinction Event caused this time almost entirely by such wilful human ignorance, indulgence and indifference. A tangible biomass & biodiversity loss observable in our lifetime and on our stewardship watch is the most time-critically urgent of all issues. Hey you! Wake up! Collapse is coming if you don’t.

Animals are “falling like footballers“, insects are “dropping like flies“, and earthworms too are “biting the dust“.

The Living Planet Index has an average vertebrate animal decline of -68% between 1970-2016:

For invertebrate animals (a massive >99% majority of all Life on Earth) declines are much more stark, here rapid insects collapse between -75-80% in just the last few decades; tick tock!

For earthworms –we rely on for healthy soils – decline is -83% with a trajectory to 0 by 2050:

Trajectories of the charts above (Ref.: figs. 5 & 7) are not good. Our best options now may be for immediate damage control to protect what remains of our species/soils.

An Aussie (Ref.) study from 2009 “Collapse of an avifauna: climate change appears to exacerbate habitat loss and degradation” had already reported: “the collapse of the avifauna of interior eucalypt woodlands of south-eastern Australia” and “collapses in bird reporting rates and abundances suggest strongly that the availability of all types of food has crashed” – these are strong words for a scientific report.

Here is a topic worthy of taking time to digest and discuss: “Climate-driven declines in arthropod abundance restructure a rainforest food web” https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1722477115 ; this study comparing 1970s up to 2013 found insects declined 80% and 98%. Because of this, birds, frogs, lizards and other predators had also declined. This is catastropic:

Authors say: “We compared arthropod biomass in Puerto Rico’s Luquillo rainforest with data taken during the 1970s and found that biomass had fallen 10 to 60 times. Our analyses revealed synchronous declines in the lizards, frogs, and birds that eat arthropods. Over the past 30 years, forest temperatures have risen 2.0 °C, and our study indicates that climate warming is the driving force behind the collapse of the forest’s food web.”

A similar +2°C temperature increase in 30 years was indicated at Rothamstead UK, associated with decline of agrichemical earthworms by -83.3% compared to adjacent organic plots and fields, as noted above (Ref.: fig. 11):

It seems plankton & fish in Japan are also down by 83-91% in this 2019 paper (Ref.) due to neonicotinoid pesticide poisons on farms.

A Denmark splat study comparing 1997 to 2017 found “abundance of flying insects was quantified using a windscreen resulting in reductions of 80% and 97% at two transects” correlating with decline of swallows.

A 2020 La Selva study plots tropical Costa Rica’s rapidly collapsing caterpillars and their parasitoids (Ref.), heading to zero in a short-time, this they blame on climate, agri-poisons and encroaching agriculture:-

“The observed loss of common insect taxa may have cascading effects on many other organisms at La Selva; declines in insectivorous vertebrate predators, including bats and birds within and near the forest..” The authors also say: “In Costa Rica, rates of agricultural pesticide application rank second globally compared to other countries“. Here they discuss their findings – https://earthwatch.org/science-matters-webinar-series/insect-decline .

If you find such reports are too technical or impenetrable, National Geographic gives a “popular” summary with nice pics – https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment/2019/02/why-insect-populations-are-plummeting-and-why-it-matters?; its warning is no less stark though. Or perhaps read the NYT article https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/27/magazine/insect-apocalypse.html that obliquely cites my “earthworm crisis” research and says: “The guilt of letting a unique species vanish is eternal.” [Not that I necessarily endorse either of those rags]. The message is clear: we are in a pickle…

So, what are we to do?

Much promoted “solutions” following UN’S 17 SDGs offers no respite as many are themselves false. E.g. there is almost no mention of “soil” yet ocean or water are promoted (with mostly fake information – Ref.). Organizations claiming to be organic, such as IFOAM, promote and follow the SDGs (Ref., Ref.) that advocate agrichemical & GMO agriculture (promoted as precision, “sustainable”, regeneration or conservation, but not openly promoting 100% organic as is required to actually solve the problem and not just make more corporate profit). IFOAM too may have lost original honest integrity from its foundation with such heroes as Lady Eve Balfour in their recent open World-Board election shenanigans with the votes seemingly deliberately rigged, although, as Dr Andre (and Orwell?) says: “the voters are always right” (Ref.):-

rigged-ifoam-1Download

Result? :

“The IFOAM – Organics International World Board is democratically elected by our membership.” (Ref.) Gag. How many of these knew it was rigged before “election”? And how many gag now they know??

Can they really be so smug, self-congratulatory and proud of their achievements when – on their watch – the World continues to spiral into decline with soils and worms being destroyed because, for some reason, they are not promoting organic as a true & honest alternative? For example “Despite these rich experiences, the organic sector suffers growth difficulties in contemporary Japan, e.g., while the farmland share of organic agriculture is 1.4% worldwide, that in Japan is 0.2–0.5% [3, 4], being lower than those in the advanced economies of Europe and North America, and countries in the East Asia region” (Ref.).

A mere 0.2-1.4% share for organic agriculture could reasonably be called an almost complete failure…

Seriously, yet more Orwellian New-speak as Dr Andre says: “IFOAM values democracy” to “be fair to all candidates“:

2021-10-05-letter-rb-1Download

(Ref.)

Who is this Franco-Deutsche chimerically named Aussie “banana-bender” Mr/Dr/Prof. André Leu?

Well, it seems (Ref.): “He is the International Director of Regeneration International [RI from Dec 2017 – Present – What!? The same “regeneration” that has “92 percent of respondents” using GMOs and agrichemicals! Really?! (Ref., Ref.)]… He was the President of IFOAM – Organics International, the world change agent and umbrella body for the organic sector from 2011 -2017…[What? Not in 2021!? So this was the period when Organic had the chance to grow and turn around all the chem lies & corruption?]. Andre has a degree in Communications, with a double major in Video/TV Production and Socio-political Theory. He has post-graduate qualifications in adult education. Andre worked as a professional musician for many years. Education: Rajamangala University of Technology Tawan-ok, Thailand Doctorate of Science.. University of Technology, Sydney Bachelor of Communications and Grad Dip Adult Education Double Major, TV and Video Production, Socio Political Theory.” [Oops, sorrys my bad, Dr Andre Leu DSc.]

Actually I have never heard of this Uni (perhaps I need to get out more?), but despite being next to a golf course and between Bankok and Pattaya beach (and I am not judging!), being taken over by the Thai Government in 2016 because is was “incapable of administering itself” (Ref.), and listing just 4 employees in Linkedin (Ref.), it seems quite legit to me as its website says it is one of the top 5% in the world (Ref.): “University ranking. Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi is, without a doubt, one of the most prestigious universities of Thailand sitting comfortably among the top 20 universities of the country. Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi is quite famous as it ranks high in the top 5% of the best universities of the world…[Presumably it ranks: Cambridge – Oxford – Harvard – Stamford – Rajamangala, yes, that’s it!]. Application process and the cost of tuition. The applicants must pass examinations as a part of the admission process [Wow! E.g. can you spell your name?]. The competition is quite mild with a ratio of 1 to 2 [Double wow!! E.g. it that the same name on your bank account?]… A master’s degree of RMUTT will cost a student a significant sum of 5,000 USD per year [Quintuple wow!!!!!].”

Maybe I can get my dog a Diploma in Butt-Sniffing? He is very good at it, almost an expert, and he never lies… Here the Thai uni’s website pic for its Science & Agriculture faculty (with no listed staff PhD members nor MS students but a whole pile of BS):

Rajamangala University of Technology …rmutto.ac.th ; https://www.rmutto.ac.th/en/index.php?menu=Agriculture_and_Natural_Resource ; https://www.rmutto.ac.th/en/img/bg-img/agri4.jpg.

I looked and looked but I could not find how much it cost for a “Doctorate of Science” = DSc? degree neither could I find Dr Leu’s thesis (and Publons only list two publications from Alumni in this Uni’s entire history – https://publons.com/researcher/?institution=1200123&is_core_collection=1&order_by=num_reviews). But, then again, Dr Leu’s FaceBook page lists his quals as: “Studied at Doctorate of Science Class of 2022 Doctorate of Science... Studied at Rajamangala University of Technology Tawan-Ok Chantaburi – Rmutto Doctorate of Science, 2022“:

What!? Now I am really confused as if it is “Class of 2022” in 2022 why does Google search “Dr Andre Leu” give “About 282 results (0.30 seconds)” and why are there quotes of “Dr Andre Leu” for the last ten years, at least? E.g.: “Dr. Andre Leu and Dr. Vandana Shiva” from 2012: https://web.archive.org/web/20220605174954/https://www.organicsnet.com.br/site/wp-content/uploads/Statement_RIO20_Prime_Minister_of_Bhutan_June_19_2012.pdf ; also 2014 “講座：Dr. Andre Leu (President, IFOAM, Australia)” (Ref.); also “Stakeholder Advisory Board (StAB) – CIRCASA projecthttps://www.circasa-project.eu › About-us › Stakeholde…Jul 30, 2018 — IFOAM organics international: Dr Andre LEU ,President; COPA-COGECA Creation date : 19 December 2017” and “Why Regeneration International Is Resonating Across The Worldhttps://www.pinterest.com › … › Building Jun 1, 2020 – I had the pleasure of having a conversation with Dr. André Leu, The executive director of regeneration International” and “Dr. Andre Lue Presentation At The First Agroecology Conference| #OrganicAdventures 50 views Premiered Sep 4, 2019” (Ref.). I am declaring ‘shenanigans’… In that last incredibly drunken (not that there is anything wrong with that) or stoned 2019 presentation video at about 5 mins in he says “I have been.. an organic farmer.. for over.. close on 50 years“…”papayas” blah, blah; so from 1969ish but his facebook page says “Went to Sydney Grammar School Class of 1969” then “Went to Australian International Independent School AIIS February 1970 – March 1971“. No, stoppit, you can be a temperate school boy and tropical fruit farmer at the same time. No probs bro. Heck, I grew up living and working on farms and could milk a cow & drive a tractor (including reversing a trailer) from aged about nine, well over 50 years. Then again, this 2019 article says “Leu bought his 150-acre farm 20 years ago“. What!? Not 50 years ago!? But I digress…

Maybe it’s too skeptical (if that is how it’s spelled?) or cynical, but all we need is for Dr, or is it Prof?, Leu (pronounced “Lie” as in German with an Aussie accent Ref., Ref.) to publicly state that he is 100% opposed to toxic agrichemicals & GMOs and 100% pro soils/worms. And he can stop saying there is more carbon in the ocean than in the soil, supporting 4p1000.org that claims just 1,417-1,500 Gt C in the soil (e.g. “The top 1 m of soil contains an estimated 1417 gigatonnes (GtC) of SOC,5” Ref., “Yet an estimated 1,417 gigatonnes [1,417 Gt] remain in the first metre of the soil across the globe” Ref., “around 1500 Gt C” Ref.) whilst also promoting more meat not least by affiliating with Savory Inst. Mistruth is fine in business, religions or politics, but no proper Scientist lies. Oh! And just one more thing, please provide a link to your DSc thesis. Not toooo much to ask I hope, Dear “Dr Andre”.

“Lt Frank Columbo” (not a real name but certainly not “Philip” as some liars claim!), the legendary LAPD homicide detective.

[Oops, my sorrys. Seems “Sir Dr Andre Leu” was given an Honorary Doctorate in March, 2022 (Ref.) – “Andre Leu @Andreleu1 · Mar 24 I was awarded a Doctorate of Science, presented by Crown Princess Maha in Bangkok yesterday. I’m very grateful to Dr Professor Nopchai Chansilpa of Rajamangala University of Technology – Tawan Ok for support and advocacy for this great honor.” (Ref.). By convention it’s considered highly “tacky” (Ref.) and smacks of “charlatanry” (Ref.) for Honorary recipients to self-apply “Dr” outside of the awarding institution and, anyways, it don’t explain why he was calling himself “Dr” for at least ten years before this.. neh? Absolutely not implying “Dr” Andre is like a fence-post turtle – www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Post%20Turtle. However, it is pretty funny that even the uni calls him “Mr” Lie (Ref.) – or mebbe my Thai auto-translate is faulty…].

Just one lie (or one donkey!) is enough to destroy a brand name, as is one error if uncorrected.

Perhaps I am too critical or a poor researcher but, rather than a respect-worthy DSc, I am a mere PhD from UQ/CSIRO double in Tropical AgroEcology and Earthworm Eco-taxonomy with my thesis here: https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:366290 plus my 40+ years experience in organics starting with a survey in 1980 on Lady Eve Balfour’ organic Haughley farm (Ref.) for my BSc Honours project; or my 250 other scientific papers and reports including naming of 500 new taxa or new exotic species records (as recently as 2 new species & 4 new exotic records published yesterday). Heck, what would I know…

IFOAM’s heavily promoted UN-SDGs will inevitably fail without a solid soil foundation (i.e., proper triage and realistic context). Image source – https://vermecology.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/image-27.png from https://vermecology.wordpress.com/2021/03/09/triage-time/. Official global SDGs mention “soil” only twice in passing – www.globalgoals.org/goals/15-life-on-land/ (“forest” gets 15 hits, “water” 4!); many of the deadlines are by 2020 and all have failed. Soil erosion & species extinction rates are now at extremes.

Despite all these petty distractions and pathetic diversion, since soil supports >90% of biodiversity, provides 99.7% of human food, 100% of our fibres, minerals & building materials, plus it stores, filters & recycles almost all freshwater we have on land (Ref.), some critical information that researchers (like me) require urgent support with is:

               1/. What is the true topographical surface area of land (to the mm scale)? [Note: ocean topography and bathymetry is measured by satellites to <1 mm scale (Ref., Ref., Ref.)].

               2/. How much soil organic matter (humus and SOC) is eroded and how much remains?

               3/. Where is the SOIL ECOLOGY INSTITUTE to study soils, organic agriculture and earthworms?

               4/. How can any Life on Earth prosper when all topsoils are eroded, acidified and/or poisoned?

This catastrophic ecological collapse has happened on the watch of most Media, Science & Medical institutions undeserving of respect that should be dismantled to be replaced by more honest endeavours.

How do I know that I am correct? By negative inference:-

Despite their manifest importance, there yet remains not one SOIL ECOLOGY INSTITUTE anywhere on Earth, and not one full-time earthworm eco-taxonomist at any Museum nor University to my ken.

Here is WWF (possibly honest unless disproven) “Earthworm Manifesto” (Regenwurm Manifest in German) from 2015 – https://www.wwf.de/themen-projekte/landwirtschaft/internationale-agrarpolitik/der-boden-der-lebensvielfalt/das-regenwurm-manifest ; https://www.wwf.de/fileadmin/fm-wwf/Publikationen-PDF/WWF-Regenwurm-Manifest.pdf . Anyone care to translate better than my effort below?

earthworm-manifesto-translationDownload

Following up, a 2015 “International Year of Soils” article (https://news.mongabay.com/2015/01/earthworms-under-threat/) summarizes: “Over the past 150 years, overuse and erosion has washed half of our planet’s topsoil downstream to smother coastal reefs and fisheries. We have denuded soils of their nutrients, and polluted them with heavy metals and salts. The pesticides we apply might temporarily increase yields, but they also disrupt soil biodiversity. Earthworms have declined. Soil fertility has been lost. Oh, and did I mention that we depend on healthy soils for 95% of the food we eat?” Actually, it is more like 99.7% of all human food…

Star-trails as anyone can see for themselves from anywhere on spherical spinning Earth — stationary stars appear to move counter-clockwise around a polar star cluster in N, clockwise in S hemisphere (just go there and look up, at night of course dummy) — here a North Shropshire timelapse nightsky with credible image from discredited BBC.

Further, responses for the UFOers, Chemtrailers and Flat-Earthers who use airplane pilots as justification for their conspiracies are asked to please take a PPL pilot’s or Great Circle and celestial navigation course (as I did, starting from a young age – see “Junior Birdman” below) before you blab on and check out holding patterns or fuel jettisoning dump prior to landing. For flight Meteorology 101 ask why everyone knows the Coriolis Effect means that in the Northern Hemisphere when the wind is on your back the low pressure area is where your outstretched left arm points, the reverse in the Southern Hemisphere [that also has reversed seasons and views of the Southern Crux as on the Australian and NZ flags – duh?, rather than the Northern Polaris Star both of which I have seen simultaneously from on or near the Equator just as I have personally observed both the Aurora Borealis and the Aurora Australis but not simultaneously of course, the latter in 1997/1998 (Nov-Feb): while on ANARE Antarctic duty – see “King and I” below]. It is called the Buys Ballot’s law. Pretzel your argument out of that doozy. Or, don’t bother; if you’re not going to use rational or reasoned argument but blind immovable faith – e.g. non-falsifiable beliefs unlike true Science that is all testable & totally falsifiable to its core (back to Aristarchus of Samos, Galileo or Newton or other brave heroes). If asked which is better of fake science or false science? My answer is NEITHER. Both groups refusing to reform their ideas or be fact-based are equally culpable so can all just Avaunt off! You are welcome to your own stupid opinions but not to our shared scientific facts. That is a problem…

Junior Birdman on farm (ca. 1961)

Thruster T300 Ultralight as I flew in Tasmania (not my photo though, this maybe from instructor Capt. Eugene Reid).

King & I (1997/1998) – yours truly in the sub-Antarctic at the “edge of the Earth” and lands of the midnight sun…

Here endeth the latest of my hugely successful Science & Sarcasm (or, rather, Satire) Series contributions.

(Using levity for gravity, apologies if some of my jokes fall round – oops! sorrys, i mean fall flat. And, if we do meet in a bar, it’s your flat — oops! dammit sorrys again, i meant it is your round. Wow! it is tricky).

*POSTSCRIPT 6th April 2022 – just yesterday latest UN’s IPCC WGIII AR6 Report came out with 0 hits for either “soil ecology” or “worms”, one hit for “topsoil”, just 11 for “Permafrost” (despite it being possibly the greatest store, and source, of carbon on Earth), just about 500 evens each for “soil” or for “ocean/marine” (as if these were of equal concern!), but less than 20 for “compost” and only a dozen for “vegetarian”. Their stupid, dangerous and childish solutions are: mainly fossil fuel emission “reductions” with a thousand hits, or “CCS/DAC” with 1,121 hits and “biochar/biocrap” with 188 hits. Obviously they are not proposing any sensible solutions, such as organic farming or Permaculture, and do not seriously want to improve our lot. How could they? Not one “expert” author, as far as I can tell, is a Soil Ecologist nor an Organic Agronomist. Mainly it is a political/corporate report with very little proper/honest Science.

Their unimaginative alternatives to fossil fuels (that truly cause ~4% of GHG) are “solar/wind” 1,527 hits, or “nuclear” with 246 hits, only 80 for “geothermal” that is surely the most abundant, available, unlimited & safest energy supply available to all, anywhere. At the very least with terrestrial heat pumps or binary.

100% organic husbandry with less red meat are the best and only answer to our problems. And, as I explained in some detail earlier for atmospheric carbon sequestration, S/ECCS is our best option. In comparison to BECCS/CCS, S/ECCS is entirely safe & essentially cost-free with no penalties since composts are economical & benign, earthworms work tirelessly for free, and non-farmed land is simply set-aside to regenerate naturally. Ditto free & clean energy from rain power, trompes & geothermal…. https://vermecology.wordpress.com/2020/07/30/ame-power/. All solutions are, simply, under our noses and under our toeses.

27th April, 2022 Update: Latest UN report shows up to 40% of land degraded due mainly to bad ag – www.unccd.int/sites/default/files/2022-04/UNCCD_GLO2_low-res_2.pdf this is summarized in this lady’s news report – www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/27/united-nations-40-per-cent-planet-land-degraded . At Earth’s ecological boundary it is time now to compost, eat organic & to study Permaculture (not just Regen!). As she says; “Restoring degraded land can be as simple as changing farming methods to terrace and contour farming, leaving land fallow or planting nourishing cover crops, practising rainwater harvesting and storage or regrowing trees to prevent soil erosion. Many farmers fail to take these steps owing to pressure to produce, lack of knowledge, poor local governance or lack of access to resources. Yet for every $1 spent on restoration, the UN calculates a return of between $7 and $30 in increased production and other benefits.” All basic Permaculture practices, but Permaculture is also energy, housing, society, etc.

A final stern shot for the incredibly dumb flat-Earthers. Hey, I just found water is not level! It’s a question of observation scale: Zoom in or zoom out and you will maybe see your stupid fat head in the reflection…