Words of Power: Earth Day 2017: “We are at a critical juncture. Science is under attack ...”

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Earth Day 2017: “We are at a critical juncture. Science is under attack ...”

March for Science. Earth 2017. San Francisco

The foundation of empire is art and science. Remove them or degrade them, and the empire is no more. Empire follows art and not vice versa as Englishmen suppose. William Blake
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_science.html

The foundation of empire is art and science. Remove them or degrade them, and the empire is no more.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_science.html

"The foundation of empire is art and science.

Remove them, or degrade them, and the empire is no more."

-- William Blake

Science is not politics. Gaia is not a theory. Gaia is our world. We "live and move and have our being" within Her. We march for Science. We march for Women. We march for Gaia. We march for Reason. We march for Love. We march against Sociopathy as a philosophy of governance. We march against the Zombie Cult (Ryan, McConnell, et al). We march against the Death-Eater Overlords (Koch, Adelson, Mercer, et al). We march against the Mad King (you know who). -- Richard Power

March for Science. Earth Day 2017. San Francisco.

Scientists in cities around the globe are celebrating Earth Day by taking to the streets to defend their work from the heightened political attacks of the anti-science Trump administration. Saturday's marches in over 600 cities around the world—including a massive march in Washington, D.C.—mark an unprecedented mobilization of researchers and experts who are fighting back against President Donald Trump's war on science ... -- Nika Knight, March for Science Sweeps Cities Around the World. Common Dreams, 4/22/17

Thousands of people gathered in the rain Saturday on the soggy grounds of the Washington Monument to turn Earth Day into an homage to science. After four hours of speeches and musical performances, they marched down Constitution Avenue to the foot of Capitol Hill, chanting “Build labs, not walls!” and “Hey, Trump, have you heard, you can’t silence every nerd!” ... “We are at a critical juncture. Science is under attack,” said Cara Santa Maria, a science communicator who is one of several emcees of the four-hour rally that kicked off at 10 a.m. “The very idea of evidence and logic and reason is being threatened by individuals and interests with the power to do real harm.” She went on: “We’re gathered here today to fight for science. [The crowd cheered.] We’re gathered to fight for education. [Cheer.] To fight for knowledge. [Cheer.] And to fight for planet Earth.” [Cheer.] -- Joel Achenbach, Ben Guarino and, Sarah Kapla, Why people are marching for science: ‘There is no Planet B’, Washington Post, 4/22/17 , Washington Post, 4/22/17

March for Science, Earth Day 2017. San Francisco.

Neil deGrasse Tyson has an urgent message for Americans, especially for some of our most powerful politicians. In a video posted April 19 on his Facebook page, which already has more than 16 million views, the famed astrophysicist warns that science denial could ultimately destroy democracy. Alongside the video post, Tyson wrote: "Dear Facebook Universe, I offer this four-minute video on 'Science in America' containing what may be the most important words I have ever spoken. As always, but especially these days, keep looking up." The video shows how the U.S. rose from—as Tyson calls it— a "backwoods country" to "one of the greatest nations the world has ever known" because of science. "But in this, the 21st century, when it comes time to make decisions about science, it seems to me that people have lost the ability to judge what is true and what is not," he laments. "When you have an established scientific emergent truth it is true, whether or not you believe in it," he says. "And the sooner you understand that, the faster we can get on with the political conversations about how to solve the problems that face us." The video then shows debates on heated scientific topics, including GMOs, climate change and vaccines, as well as a clip of Vice President Mike Pence, then a congressman, saying on the House floor, "Let us demand that educators around America teach evolution not as fact, but as theory." Tyson says this shift in attitudes is a "recipe for the complete dismantling of our informed democracy."-- Lorraine Chow, Neil deGrasse Tyson Slams Science Deniers for 'Dismantling of Our informed Democracy', EcoWatch, 4/21/17

VIDEO: Neil deGrasse Tyson on Science in America, "What may be the most important words I have ever spoken ..."

March for Science, Earth Day 2017. San Francisco.

About Richard Power

Richard Power is a writer, speaker and yoga teacher. He offers workshops, classes and private instruction in yoga and meditation. He is the author of 14 books, most important are Wyrds of Power: New Languagee for A New Reality (2017), I, the Dragon: Chronicles of An Epic Life Among the Humans (2018), and Secret Engine of the World: Further Notes on Primal Reality, Gaian Politics & the Arc of Human Evolution (2021). For more information on all of Power's other books, visit his author's page on Amazon.com.

For much of his life, Power worked in the fields of security and intelligence. He delivered briefings and led training in forty countries, and was an adviser to governments and corporations. His views have been featured in interviews on CNN, PBS, NPR and the BBC, and quoted in mainstream news media, including Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Reuters and Associated Press.

This blog explores new language for the truths of the ancient future, and reflects insights into Vajrayana Buddha Dharma, Kashmir Shiva-Sakti philosophy, Hatha and Tantra Yoga, the Shamanic path, and other aspects of the world's collective mystical heritage. It also offers commentary on art, music, literature, human rights, sustainability, independent journalism, economic justice and the Climate Crisis.