Community Voices

By Richard GrahnEvanston, Illinois, USA Energy.gov lists the following resources as the primary sources of energy on Earth: Nuclear energy, fossil energy (oil, coal and natural gas), and renewable energy (wind, solar, geothermal and hydropower). The following are listed as clean energy (solar, wind, water, geothermal, biomass and nuclear). (I have to beg the difference where nuclear is concerned because spent fuel rods need to be stored somewhere and whenever a power plant has a disaster, the surrounding area becomes a toxic wasteland. It's also interesting that the fact that fossil fuels are "dirty" is conveniently omitted.

By Richard GrahnEvanston, Illinois, USA "I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity." Dwight D. Eisenhower. I will add that war is distracting humanity from solving the real problems we face on this planet as a species. It is the antithesis of collaboration, something we desperately need in order to be able to share this planet in a sustainable fashion.

By Richard GrahnEvanston, Illinois, USA As the world's superpowers flash their muscles, the following, chilling thought comes to mind . . ."The prospect for the human race is sombre beyond all precedent. Mankind are faced with a clear-cut alternative: either we shall all perish, or we shall have to acquire some slight degree of common sense. "Bertrand Russell, "The Bomb and Civilization" (1945) https://web.archive.org/web/20200807144106/http://www.personal.kent.edu/~rmuhamma/Philosophy/RBwritings/bombCivilization.htm

By Richard GrahnEvanston, Illinois, USA Human Rainbow "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Martin Luther King Jr."I have a dream" speech, August 1963

By Richard GrahnEvanston, Illinois, USA According to the World Food Program, ~783 million people in the world are hungry. Of those, 333 million face severe hunger and 47 million are on the brink of famine or worse. We live on a planet with finite resources. As the world population swells to over 8 billion, now more than ever, the human trait of compassion is needed. Not something easily reproduced by a machine.

By Richard GrahnEvanston, Illinois, USA empty parking lot—a breath of foggy airfrosts my glasses Today marks the first of this year’s snow. It’s been frigid enough the past week for crystals to accumulate. But autumn blankets the snow with its trademark flare—leaves falling so fast, it’s hardly a fair contest.A child shakes her snow globe . . .  The where-I-stand-now erupts with a gale-force howl, snow and leaves rise from the pavement in painted pirouettes—here-to-there-to-here. I lean into the flurry—face frozen—this moving picture spinning me in a dance between the seasons . . . But, quickly as the howl arises,…

By Richard GrahnEvanston, Illinois, USA I know there are stars; I have seen them at night. I have floated among them my entire life. They seem far away in these city lights. But inspired, I am, by the way they gleam. The slightest star in the dimmest dream ignites my beacon for all to see. aurora sky . . .the flickering treetopsof my childhood

By Richard GrahnEvanston, Illinois, USA Per the National Museum of Natural History, recent studies estimate that there are about 8 million species on planet earth of which about 15,000 are currently threatened with extinction. Scientist generally agree that the rate of extinctions today is many times higher than the natural extinction rate. Pollution and habitat disruptions are just two factors in this reality.

By Richard GrahnEvanston, Illinois, USA We really do need to be vocal about the things that matter to the future of this planet. Silence is no longer a viable path forward. Inaction is no longer tolerable. It's time to wake up, roll out of the proverbial bed, and rouse the neighbors.

By Richard GrahnEvanston, Illinois, USA Antartica is dripping into the sea. The world's largest glaciers are melting at an alarming rate. We live on an evolving planet. It's reacting to us. The question is, what are we going to do about it?

By Richard GrahnEvanston, Illinois, USA Pollinator populations are declining because of habitat loss, disruptions in nesting and breeding sites due to construction, pesticides, and other factors such as climate change and pollution. These insects play a crucial role in the propagation of crops and other flora. Without them, the world would be a hungry place, indeed.

By Richard GrahnEvanston, Illinois, USA Despite all the doom and gloom in the planetary forecast, I like to believe there is hope the human race will see that violence and greed are detrimental to its survival and that cooperation is the only sustainable path forward.

By Richard GrahnEvanston, Illinois, USA I don't know much about butterflies. I can recognize a Monarch when I see one, but other than that, they're just nice to look at. Today a white one, with a wingspan of only about an inch and a half, was flitting around in the garden from hosta to vinca to sunflower to rose but never landing. Maybe it was looking for the best place to rest its wings. To and fro, lifted by the wind occasionally up to twenty feet or more, then zigzagging its way back to the flower bed—it seemed to be…