A neighbourhood coyote joined our vegan potluck at Locarno Park down on the beach for a while (though he had a non-vegan snack shortly after leaving the party :), then calmly trotted away. Throughout the encounter, he was not harassed, and in fact given a quiet and respectful berth.
Coyote lecturing humans: "Take what you need and leave the rest."
One life's loss is another life's gain, as is nature's way.
Shannon Wright, Lauchlan Ashdown, Lori Fitzgerald, John Pranger, Beth (Battersea Powerstation) and friends.
Anthony Marr, Founder and President
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
Global Anti-Hunting Coalition (GAHC)
Anthony-Marr@HOPE-CARE.org
www.HOPE-CARE.org
www.facebook.com/Anthony.Marr.001
www.facebook.com/Global_Anti-Hunting_Coalition
www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr
www.youtube.com/AnthonyMarr
www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com
www.DearHomoSapiens.blogspot.com
www.HOPE-GEO.blogspot.com
www.ARConference.org
Friend X asked me what I thought of Dale Carnegie's 1936 million-seller [How to Win Friends and Influence People]. My first answer was: "Sorry, I haven't read it."
X: You have a lot of friends and have influenced a lot of people. So, you have your own way of doing it?
AM: Do I?
X: Do you what?
AM: Have a lot of friends and influenced a lot of people.
X: Relatively speaking, yes.
AM: Relative to what?
X: Joe and Jane Doe.
AM: Wow, you're pitting one of me against two of them? I guess I must be doing okay.
X: More than okay. So, what's your formula.
AM: No formula.
X: There must be a formula.
AM: If there is one, it'd be the formula of no formula.
X: Carnegie stated a number of formulae.
AM: Such as?
X: Such as under "Fundamental Techniques in Handling People", Carnegie's formula is:
1. Don't criticize, condemn, or complain.
2. Give honest and sincere appreciation.
3. Arouse in the other person an eager want.
4. Never show others that you are not interested in what they have to say.
AM: Uh huh.
X: And under "Six Ways to Make People Like You", Carnegie's formula is:
1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
2. Smile.
3. Remember that a person's name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
5. Talk in terms of the other person's interest.
6. Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely.
AM: Well, these are good points, where being parts of a formula goes.
X: What do you mean?
AM: I just don't need such a formula, or any formula.
X: Again, why not?
AM: Alright, here is a tid-bit. "Do it sincerely" is manipulative and in fact insincere.
X: So, again, what is your formula?
AM: And again, no formula. Just be.
X: Are you religious?
AM: Used to be, but not now. Why?
X: You might be following some religious formula and not know it.
AM: Just the opposite is true.
X: Explain.
AM: I learned from religion to not be religious.
X: Man, I see why you are not following any formula.
AM: No, you don't, yet. What I learn from religion is that Jesus Christ rebelled against the 1400 religious laws of the Pharisees, and replaced them with a singularity of spiritual essence called Unconditional Love, and this is what he died for, but which has lived on till today, and will live on past tomorrow. "Love is all we need. All we need is love," remember?
X: So, you're saying that to win friends and influence people, all we need is love?
AM: No.
X: You're getting me totally confused.
AM: As I told you from the beginning, I have not read the book.
X: So again, why not?
AM: I have never been interested enough to focus on winning friends and influencing people to find out how. I guess I'm just too much focused on the animals and the planet, and not as much on people, though I do love them.
X: Well, you do have a lot of friends, over 5000 in FB at last count.
AM: I do value them, but I do not send out friend requests as a rule.
X: And you cannot deny that you have influenced a lot of people.
AM: As a rule, I just speak my mind and do as I please. If my words and deeds influence people, then I thank THEM - the words, the deeds and the people.
Anthony Marr, Founder and President
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
Global Anti-Hunting Coalition (GAHC)
Anthony-Marr@HOPE-CARE.org
www.HOPE-CARE.org
www.facebook.com/Anthony.Marr.001
www.facebook.com/Global_Anti-Hunting_Coalition
www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr
www.youtube.com/AnthonyMarr
www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com
www.DearHomoSapiens.blogspot.com
www.HOPE-GEO.blogspot.com
www.ARConference.org
Back when I first started in AR (animal rights), I was incredibly naive, as exemplified by the following line of "reasoning":
1. My intention for joining AR is based on love, compassion, honor and justice. Society teaches moral values, including love, compassion, honor and justice, therefore, society should value ARAs (animal rights activists).
2. The anthem says, "land of the free, home of the brave", therefore, freedom in speech and bravery in action in its citizenry should be highly valued by the leaders of the nation.
3. Americans and Canadians seem to love animals, therefore they should and would laud their ARAs for dedicating themselves to furthering the rights and welfare of what they love.
4. In fact, I went as far as to think that since our motive is pure, and that we are devoted to the greater good, and that we are not after selfish gain, and that we are against what society frowns on, e.g. cold-bloodedness and cruelty, that we would be treasured by the politicians and law-makers as the country's best and brightest, the guiding lights in social evolution, the vanguards to a higher civilization.
Well, if you would stop laughing hysterically for just a moment, I will confess to being, w-hell, incredibly naive.
The facts of the matter are:
1. The power that be wants a dumbed-down and docile populace - for ease of rule and manipulation.
2. The extant culture has a life of its own; its top priority is self-preservation; the last thing it wants is change. Another top priority of the extant culture is economic growth at all health and environmental cost; any growth-slowing change is considered anti-social, unpatriotic and even treasonous.
3. Politicians, even governors, even the President himself, are not leaders of the nation, nor followers of the people, but are puppets of sociopathic corporations and their psychopathic CEOs.
4. The law is not about love, nor compassion, nor honor, nor even justice itself. What it wants is total obedience, even if a law is immoral or even unconstitutional (e.g. google the Jan Haagensen case where she was convicted of 9 counts of violation against the Pennsylvania Hunter-Harassment Statute for asking 9 hunters to leave HER property).
In fact, the freer one is with ones speech, and the braver one is with ones action, the more one is targeted for persecution. And if you step one inch out of line, even in something that used to be celebrated and is still being celebrated in the context of Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, i.e. something as innocuous as non-violent civil disobedience, especially if your activism is successful, i.e. causing economic damage to unethical and destructive corporations, you will be classified as a common criminal, if not a domestic terrorist.
Such was the rude awakening of a naive ARA.
Anthony Marr, Founder and President
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
Global Anti-Hunting Coalition (GAHC)
Anthony-Marr@HOPE-CARE.org
www.HOPE-CARE.org
www.facebook.com/Anthony.Marr.001
www.facebook.com/Global_Anti-Hunting_Coalition
www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr
www.youtube.com/AnthonyMarr
www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com
www.DearHomoSapiens.blogspot.com
www.HOPE-GEO.blogspot.com
www.ARConference.org
Back when I first started in AR (animal rights), I was incredibly naive, as exemplified by the following line of "reasoning":
1. My intention for joining AR is based on love, compassion, honor and justice. Society teaches moral values, including love, compassion, honor and justice, therefore, society should value ARAs (animal rights activists).
2. The anthem says, "land of the free, home of the brave", therefore, freedom in speech and bravery in action in its citizenry should be highly valued by the leaders of the nation.
3. Americans and Canadians seem to love animals, therefore they should and would laud their ARAs for dedicating themselves to furthering the rights and welfare of what they love.
4. In fact, I went as far as to think that since our motive is pure, and that we are devoted to the greater good, and that we are not after selfish gain, and that we are against what society frowns on, e.g. cold-bloodedness and cruelty, that we would be treasured by the politicians and law-makers as the country's best and brightest, the guiding lights in social evolution, the vanguards to a higher civilization.
Well, if you would stop laughing hysterically for just a moment, I will confess to being, w-hell, incredibly naive.
The facts of the matter are:
1. The power that be wants a dumbed-down and docile populace - for ease of rule and manipulation.
2. The extant culture has a life of its own; its top priority is self-preservation; the last thing it wants is change. Another top priority of the extant culture is economic growth at all health and environmental cost; any growth-slowing change is considered anti-social, unpatriotic and even treasonous.
3. Politicians, even governors, even the President himself, are not leaders of the nation, nor followers of the people, but are puppets of sociopathic corporations and their psychopathic CEOs.
4. The law is not about love, nor compassion, nor honor, nor even justice itself. What it wants is total obedience, even if a law is immoral or even unconstitutional (e.g. google the Jan Haagensen case where she was convicted of 9 counts of violation against the Pennsylvania Hunter-Harassment Statute for asking 9 hunters to leave HER property).
In fact, the freer one is with ones speech, and the braver one is with ones action, the more one is targeted for persecution. And if you step one inch out of line, even in something that used to be celebrated and is still being celebrated in the context of Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, i.e. something as innocuous as non-violent civil disobedience, especially if your activism is successful, i.e. causing economic damage to unethical and destructive corporations, you will be classified as a common criminal, if not a domestic terrorist.
Such was the rude awakening of a naive ARA.
Anthony Marr, Founder and President
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
Global Anti-Hunting Coalition (GAHC)
Anthony-Marr@HOPE-CARE.org
www.HOPE-CARE.org
www.facebook.com/Anthony.Marr.001
www.facebook.com/Global_Anti-Hunting_Coalition
www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr
www.youtube.com/AnthonyMarr
www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com
www.DearHomoSapiens.blogspot.com
www.HOPE-GEO.blogspot.com
www.ARConference.org
I want to tell you all a short story of the two great women in my immediate family: my mother (1919-2008) and my sister Wendy (1945-2012). Wendy just passed away this morning.
My mother and sister Wendy, circa 1970
In 1999, while I was in India helping save the Bengal tiger from extinction, Wendy was hit by a runaway garbage truck and sustained severe brain damage, but my mother withheld the bad news from me until my return to Vancouver. I asked her why, and she said, "What is the point to weigh you down for two months when you couldn't do anything about it?" Such was the deeply considerate person that my mother was.
Some years later, accompanied by her husband - University of Hong Kong Sociology professor Dr. Nelson Chow - in a visit to Vancouver, Wendy could not even recognize me and, much to her sorrow, my mother. She could not recognize Nelson either when she first woke up from her coma back in 99. Even during that visit circa 2005, she still thought that Nelson was "just a friend".
In her heydays, Wendy was a champion athlete (track and field), and gutsy to boot. By education and training she was a social worker, which often required her to go into the slums to visit her clients, where even the police feared to tread. And yet, she just marched right in, head held high, and no hoodlum would dare touch her.
My cousin Betty (who became a doctor), I (already plotting how to save animals and the planet), and Wendy (in her innate dignity).
Last week, my dear cousin Chris (FB name Siu Chris), who lives in Hong Kong, informed me that Wendy had suffered a fall, resulting in a blood clot in her brain, and had gone into a coma, one from which she would not this time awaken. Chris messaged me today that Wendy had passed away.
I wrote back to Chris, "Dearest cousin. Please again convey my eternal gratitude to Nelson. Ill-fated as my sister's life was in this matter, she, and we all, were fortunate to have him as her care-giver. It takes a real man, true love and total dedication to do what he has done for Wendy and our whole family. A lesser man would have just walked away. I believe that in my sister's heart of hearts she knew she was blessed at least in this regard."
Chris wrote back, "Just bid farewell to her. May she find joy, peace & eternity in God's Home together with aunt & uncle... Will send your heartfelt & sincere message to Nelson."
On a philosophical note, Wendy was the most devout Christian (Catholic) in my family. There was not one day I was with her back in Hong Kong as a teenager when she did not fall on her knees and pray, while I was not only the black sheep of the family, but of the Church, and later blasted away at its incredibly evil Inquisition, slammed its ultimately arrogant "Infallibility", and lapsed into having "no religion" (John Lennon). If God wanted to strike one of us dead, it should have been me, not Wendy.
My aunts (back row), Wendy in dad's arms, my grandmothers, mom, cousin Naam, baby brother Matthew and me.
Finally, these are two great Chinese women, whom I love deeply, of whom I am immensely proud, and next time I hear anybody say anything like "I HATE the Chinese" and/or "the Chinese is an evil race", I will tear his/her head off.
Anthony Marr, Founder and President
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
Global Anti-Hunting Coalition (GAHC)
Anthony-Marr@HOPE-CARE.org
www.HOPE-CARE.org
www.facebook.com/Anthony.Marr.001
www.facebook.com/Global_Anti-Hunting_Coalition
www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr
www.youtube.com/AnthonyMarr
www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com
www.DearHomoSapiens.blogspot.com
www.HOPE-GEO.blogspot.com
www.ARConference.org
This is about the overall health and beauty of our Mother Earth, her ruination in my country Canada, and the betrayal of Canada by the current Conservative government.
For those who do not follow Canadian politics, there are four main federal parties: from left to right: the Green Party (GP), the New Democratic Party (NDP), the Liberal Party (LP, the "Grits"), and the so-called "Progressive" Conservative Party (PC, the "Torries"). The current ruling party is the PC, and, more so, theirs is a "majority government", i.e., they have more than 50% of the parliamentary seats, and therefore, have absolute power.
This article http://www.thenorthernview.com/news/148451245.html reports that the PC has just inserted a killer clause into the Joint Review Panel's ground rules, that even if the panel end up rejecting the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline Project, the federal PCs will have the final say, i.e. to approve it.
As I have said before, these "public hearings" are essentially, and will work out to be, fronts for foregone conclusions drawn behind closed doors prior to the first word being said by the public, and a public show of pseudo-democracy at its most blatant.
If we play the game by their rules, we will lose. If we play their game, we will lose. The only way for us to win is to think, and act, outside of their box.
Here is my counter-measure. Please read my blog titled [CITIZEN-LAUNCHED "REFERENDUM" ON PIPELINES, TANKERS AND TAR SANDS] - http://homosapienssaveyourearth.blogspot.ca/2012/04/citizen-launched-referendum-on.html
Presenting: Anthony Marr's revolutionary new idea in NON-LETHAL and HUMANE urban deer population management known as the RUTTING-SEASON BUCK/DOE AUTO-SEPARATOR.
You will be amazed at how simple this idea is, yet how powerful it can be in displacing culling (killing) as a conservation measure once and for all, so much so that you may kick yourself for not thinking of it first. Though I have been fighting urban deer culling for years, I myself didn't conceive of this idea until 2 days ago, and I did kick myself for not thinking of it sooner.
It involves no bullet, no arrow, no bolt, no chasing, herding or manhandling of deer, nor any form of abuse or traumatization, nor even darting or injection of vaccine in the highly acceptable non-lethal method of immuno-contraception, to keep urban deer populations in harmony with their environment. It is non-violent, humane, labor-unintensive, inexpensive, and can and will save thousands of deer lives every year.
Sometimes, when a certain new idea occurs to you, it would come like a bolt of lightning, and you'd slap your forehead and say to yourself, "It is so simple and obvious why haven't I thought of it before?" I had one of these Eureka moments this morning, and so much more so, since the idea can save deer by the thousands.
Yesterday, I saw on TV news that the BC town of Princeton, population less than 5000, is having a deer population problem, and that the city was considering culling (killing) as a solution.
It is to be understood that, due to the Compensatory Rebound Effect (meaning that a culled population will have more food per deer, leading the does to each have 2-3 fawns than in the preculled population where it would be 0-1), culling DOES NOT WORK, and if put to use, will be necessitated year after year (which in those towns where the culling is administered by hunters, especially bow-hunters, it is what they WANT.
I called the Princeton city hall this morning and spoke with Deputy Mayor Jason Earle, outlining to him my alternative method in NON-LETHAL deer population management employing a previous invention of mine called the Deer Auto-Assembler (DAA).
Mr. Earle was very receptive, assured me that there was no plan to cull at present, but that, if culling is called for, he would welcome my input in forming a solution. After the phone call, I sent Mr. Earle an email, upon his request, as follows:
Thank you for your time on the phone with me this morning. Here is an article on my deer Immuno-Contraception (IC) vaccine delivery technique by means of a device of my invention called the Deer Auto-Assembler (DAA).
An even simpler method is to make the one-way gates so narrow as to admit only does and juveniles, but not bucks with large antlers, thus separating the breeding males and females during the rutting period. By this method, much less bullets and arrows and bolts, not even immuno-contraception is required.
My phone number (206-259-9679) is a Washington state magicjack number, but I am a Candian living in Vancouver. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Anthony Marr
The "simpler method" mentioned above is what I'm talking about regarding that "lightning bolt".
The whole idea is simply to keep the breeding bucks and does apart for the duration of the rutting season, so much the better if we could set up a structure where they could do it themselves, by the following simple means:
1. Set up a DAA: an enclosure of a predetermined size with 10' deer-fence in a semi-wooded area at or near the center of mass of an urban deer population. The size can range from a tennis court to larger than a football field, depending on the number does to be kept fawnless for the season. Install inward-going one-way gates along the fence, ones wide enough only to admit does and juveniles, but not large breeding bucks with wide antlers.
2. Place corn piles inside the DAA at the one-way gates as attractant.
3. Shortly before the rut begins, after the bucks have grown large antlers, activate the one-way gates. Does will enter the enclosure to feed at the corn piles, but the bucks cannot.
4. After the desired number of does have entered the DAA, close the one-way gates.
5. Supplement-feed the enclosed does during the rutting period to prevent over-browsing and environmental damage within the DAA.
6. When the rutting season is over, disassemble the DAA and let the deer roam. In doing so, the exact number of deer in any given year can be precisely controlled, with practically no work needing to be done.
And how expensive/inexpensive is this method? The cost of building the DAA + zero operational cost (using the occasional volunteer labour). Deer fences usually last 30 years if exposed to the elements year round. When disassembled and dry-stored in the off-season (9-10 months), it can last half a century. Amortize the cost over 30 years and it will cost next to nothing.
What can the hunters and cullers say against non-lethal deer management now?
Anthony Marr, Founder and President
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
Global Anti-Hunting Coalition (GAHC)
Anthony-Marr@HOPE-CARE.org
www.HOPE-CARE.org www.facebook.com/Anthony.Marr.001
www.facebook.com/Global_Anti-Hunting_Coalition
www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr
www.youtube.com/AnthonyMarr
www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com
www.DearHomoSapiens.blogspot.com
www.HOPE-GEO.blogspot.com
www.ARConference.org
PS: I receive a comment saying, "Leave the deers (sic) alone,they are God's creatures."
My response:
"Not sure if I am reading you correctly, but if you are against non-lethal deer population management, you are sentencing the deer to lethal deer population control, mostly administered by bow-hunters. I've been engaged in fighting deer culling in dozens of cities across America for years. If you don't take my word for it, try a few yourself.
"When I hear some say that deer are wild animals and should be left alone, I would agree, AS LONG AS THE HUNTERS AND CULLERS LEAVE THEM ALONE. If they don't, we can't.
"When I was fighting hunters and advocated non-lethal deer management, in that case by immuno-contraception (IC) instead of bow and arrow, a so-called AR group charged in and said that they were against IC, and that the deer should be left alone. The lethal operators, mostly bow-hunters, were phobic about IC themselves, because they wanted to use culling as a new form of hunting, by bow and arrow, in urban environment where the discharge of firearms is prohibited. They jumped for joy when they heard that comment from "our" side, and redoubled they effort to snuff out non-lethal deer management. The result is that the cull went ahead and several hundred deer were shot with arrows. With "friends" like that so-called AR group, who needs enemies?"
Announcing: the RUTTING-SEASON BUCK/DOE SEPARATOR - the most potent anti-culling device
Sometimes, when a certain new idea occurs to you, it would come like a bolt of lightning, and you'd slap your forehead and say to yourself, "It is so simple and obvious why haven't I thought of it before?" I had one of these Eureka moments this morning, and so much more so, since the idea can save deer by the thousands.
Yesterday, I saw on TV news that the BC town of Princeton, population less than 5000, is having a deer population problem, and that the city was considering culling (killing) as a solution.
It is to be understood that, due to the Compensatory Rebound Effect (meaning that a culled population will have more food per deer, leading the does to each have 2-3 fawns than in the preculled population where it would be 0-1), culling DOES NOT WORK, and if put to use, will be necessitated year after year (which in those towns where the culling is administered by hunters, especially bow-hunters, it is what they WANT.
I called the Princeton city hall this morning and spoke with Deputy Mayor Jason Earle, outlining to him my alternative method in NON-LETHAL deer population management employing a previous invention of mine called the Deer Auto-Assembler (DAA).
Mr. Earle was very receptive, assured me that there was no plan to cull at present, but that, if culling is called for, he would welcome my input in forming a solution. After the phone call, I sent Mr. Earle an email, upon his request, as follows:
Dear Mr. Earle,
Thank you for your time on the phone with me this morning. Here is an article on my deer Immuno-Contraception (IC) vaccine delivery technique by means of a device of my invention called the Deer Auto-Assembler (DAA).
An even simpler method is to make the one-way gates so narrow as to admit only does and juveniles, but not bucks with large antlers, thus separating the breeding males and females during the rutting period. By this method, much less bullets and arrows and bolts, not even immuno-contraception is required.
My phone number (206-259-9679) is a Washington state magicjack number, but I am a Candian living in Vancouver. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Anthony Marr
The "simpler method" mentioned above is what I'm talking about regarding that lightning bolt.
The whole idea is simply to keep the breeding bucks and does apart for the duration of the rutting season, so much the better if we could set up a structure where they could do it themselves, by the following simple means:
1. Set up a DAA: an enclosure of a predetermined size with 10' deer-fence in a semi-wooded area at or near the center of mass of an urban deer population. The size can range from a tennis court to larger than a football field, depending on the number does to be kept fawnless for the season. Install inward-going one-way gates along the fence, ones wide enough only to admit does and juveniles, but not large breeding bucks with wide antlers.
2. Place corn piles inside the DAA at the one-way gates as attractant.
3. Shortly before the rut begins, after the bucks have grown large antlers, activate the one-way gates. Does will enter the enclosure to feed at the corn piles, but the bucks cannot.
4. After the desired number of does have entered the DAA, close the one-way gates.
5. Supplement-feed the enclosed does during the rutting period to prevent over-browsing and environmental damage within the DAA.
6. When the rutting season is over, disassemble the DAA and let the deer roam. In doing so, the exact number of deer in any given year can be precisely controlled, with practically no work needing to be done.
And how expensive/inexpensive is this method? The cost of building the DAA + zero operational cost (using the occasional volunteer labour). Deer fences usually last 30 years if exposed to the elements year round. When disassembled and dry-stored in the off-season (9-10 months), it can last half a century. Amortize the cost over 30 years and it will cost next to nothing.
What can the hunters and cullers say against non-lethal deer management now?
Anthony Marr, Founder and President
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
Global Anti-Hunting Coalition (GAHC)
Anthony-Marr@HOPE-CARE.org
www.HOPE-CARE.org www.facebook.com/Anthony.Marr.001
www.facebook.com/Global_Anti-Hunting_Coalition
www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr
www.youtube.com/AnthonyMarr
www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com
www.DearHomoSapiens.blogspot.com
www.HOPE-GEO.blogspot.com
www.ARConference.org
Recently, when I called for action on behalf of our children's children, I received a response that said, "I don't know them, I will never meet them, I will be long gone. Why should I sacrifice a single dollar in my pocket for a hoard of total strangers who don't even exist yet?" This person, and those like him, can stop reading right now. For those who will stay with me, I thank you in advance.
In 1996, I was head-campaigner in a Western Canada Wilderness Committee campaign nick-named the "Bear Referendum", which was a formal citizen-launched initiative, registered with Elections BC, towards banning bear hunting in British Columbia. This necessitated me to execute a 60-day road tour from June to August throughout BC covering 50 cities, in most of which I was confronted by townhalls full of hostile hunters and guide-outfitters, many times over 50, once up to 130. WCWC founder and project Proponent Paul George wrote, "Anthony's blunt and unflappable style infuriated the opposition". All in all, I returned to Vancouver after the tour unscathed.
My mission for this 60-day tour was to build a volunteer force throughout the province for collecting the prescribed amount of certified signatures for the Initiative Petition during the ensuing 90-day period (August-December) from at least 10% of the registered voters of each and every one of the 75 electoral districts in British Columbia. By the time the tour was concluded, the volunteer force had grown to 1800 strong, even though more were still needed.
The campaign was a huge media draw. By year end, it had generated over 250 newspaper articles and dozens of hours of radio and television debates and interviews, and was hailed by the Canadian national newspaper the Global and Mail as the "highest profile Canadian animal advocacy campaign in 1996". Though a few electoral districts fell short of the 10%, the project was nonetheless widely recognized as the most massive public outreach campaign on the issue of Recreational Hunting and Trophy-Hunting, ever, which raised public sentiments against them to a red heat.
Please see this blog for details of this campaign, and excerpts of some of the media generated: http://homosapienssaveyourearth.blogspot.ca/2010/12/gratitude-4-to-1800-volunteers-of-bear_26.html
Now, it is 2012, and the world is a much different and far more dangerous place, one in fact in a state of global environmental emergency. Now, it is pipelines, tankers, the tar sands and the threat of runaway global heating. My friend and co-author (of book [HOMO SAPIENS SAVE YOUR EARTH]) Dr. Peter Carter asked me to speak at the public hearing next week at Smithers in northern BC along the "Highway of Tears" and the proposed pipeline route. I was in process of mulling it over when, lo and behold, the commission issued a statement barring input on the environmental effects of the tars sands themselves:
"2.3.1 Assessment of Environmental Effects Associated with Development of Oil Sands
The Panel heard requests from numerous participants that it include environmental
effects associated with the development of Alberta’s oil sands in its assessment of the environmental effects associated with the Project. For the reasons that follow, we have not added consideration of the environmental effects of oil sands development to the revised List of Issues."
This is like trying the Michael Jackson murder case while barring all evidence of the source and effect of the drug.
But I'm not surprised. Through my 7 long CARE-tours, the last - CARE-7 - covering 40 states in 7 months, I have participated in and spoken at dozens of public hearings in numerous provinces and states. Perhaps with a few rare exceptions, they are all by-and-large foregone conclusions cemented in closed door meetings of the power-that-be - prior to the public hearing, which then become little more than public displays of pseudo-democracy.
This has driven me to again consider DIRECT Democracy - another citizen-launched Initiative a la the 1996 "Bear Referendum" campaign, this time, by means of a formal Initiative Vote on whether or not the citizens of British Columbia want a pipeline conveying the dirtiest oil in the world from Alberta to the BC coast, and from there via hazardous tanker traffic to China.
Of course, this may not succeed, but, let's face it the "public" hearings will end in the pipeline being built, so, WHAT DO WE HAVE TO LOSE? At least, we will have the 250 newspaper articles and dozens of hours of radio and television debates and interviews, and the project will at least succeed as a huge public outreach campaign.
For the rules of the engagement as set up by Elections BC, please see:
http://www.elections.bc.ca/
The time frame I have in mind is as follows:
May and June - preliminary networking period to build an alliance of environmental and animal advocacy groups in support of the Initiative Proponent which, according Elections BC rules, must be an individual, to counteract the Opponents, which can be any number of groups and organizations, which will include raising funds for the project, given that both the Proponent and the Opponent(s) are both allowed the same expenditure ceiling, and, believe me, the Opponent(s)' funding tank will be filled with oil money.
July and August - the prescribed 60-day organizational period, when I will conduct a 60-day road tour to build the volunteer force and generate media coverage, and of course confront and be confronted by the Opponents, which will generate even more media coverage. This will inform, educate, energize and mobilize the people of BC to action.
September through December - the 90-day Initiative Petition period where the volunteers in all 85 electoral districts will collect the required 10% signatures in all 85 electoral districts.
Whether or not this project will go ahead will depend on how much participation and support will come from the environmental and animal advocacy communities of BC, but by the end of April a firm decision will have been made. If you or your group wish to join this project and make some history, please contact me.
I call, further, for international and global participation in and support for this project, since not just British Columbia, but the entire planet, for now and in our children's future, are at stake.
3-hour-flight over the tar sands in 50 minutes - by Anthony Marr.
Anthony Marr, Founder and President
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
Global Anti-Hunting Coalition (GAHC)
Anthony-Marr@HOPE-CARE.org
www.HOPE-CARE.org
www.facebook.com/Anthony.Marr.001
www.facebook.com/Global_Anti-Hunting_Coalition
www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr
www.youtube.com/AnthonyMarr
www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com
www.DearHomoSapiens.blogspot.com
www.HOPE-GEO.blogspot.com
www.ARConference.org
It would be strange enough for a human to dream of being a non-human - a lion maybe, an eagle, even a dragonfly, but of everything on Earth, he dreamed of being an amoeba, one living on the bottom of the pond beside which he was sleeping.
"He", the amoeba, had climbed up the stem of a bulrush, a “Stairway to Heaven” in amoebal lingo, for the pond was his universe, the realm beyond which being "Heaven".
He was pushing as hard as he could to penetrate the water/air barrier, in vain. Finally, in frustration, exhaustion and resignation, he began his dispirited descent back towards his bottom-feeding, amoeba-eat-amoeba existence, when he heard, “What are you doing, my friend?”
He looked around and encountered a spherical being attached to the Stairway, glowing luminously in the filtered moonlight. Despite its being many sizes larger than him, it seemed benign, and he felt at ease.
“I'm trying to go to Heaven," he said, without shame.
"I'm glad you've failed, since you would have died had you succeeded."
"Who are you?”
“My name is Raminothna."
"What are you?"
"I am an egg.”
“What is an egg?”
"An egg is a single cell that will develop into a multicellular organism."
"What is a, what you say, multicellular organism?"
"In the present context, it is something that, unlike you, can go to your Heaven - without dying in the process."
“I want so badly to go!" he lamented without reservation. "I'm tired of my mundane existence. I want to transcend to a higher realm and live with the gods!”
“I can appreciate the sentiment, but I’m afraid you are going about it the wrong way,” said the egg without condescension.
“Oh yeah? Well, if you know the right way, why are you still stuck in here, eh? At least I have some freedom of movement, unlike you!”
“I will be out of this pond before the next full moon.”
"You are quite sure of yourself, aren't you?"
"I know what will happen."
"So, how will it happen?"
“By means of Integrative Transcendence."
"Come again?"
"Integrative Transcendence."
"Two huge words. I can't handle even one of it."
"Tell me. How do you reproduce?”
“I beg your pardon?"
"How do you reproduce?"
"That’s a bit personal, don't you think?”
“You did ask.”
“Okay, I reproduce asexually, by dividing into two, then two into four, four into eight, eight into sixteen, and so on. How about you?”
“The same.”
“So, what is the difference?”
“You are a single cell and I'm a single cell, but the difference lies in how we reproduce, and how our descendants will behave. Now tell me. Are your descendants detached or attached to each other?”
“Detached.”
“Are they differentiated or identical?”
“Identical.“
“Are they mutually competitive or cooperative?”
“Mutually competitive, for food - bacteria mostly, if not other amoebae. And what about your descendants? Are they detached or attached?”
“They are attached to each other.”
“So they can't crawl about as we do?”
“No, they cannot.”
“So, they don't even have the freedom of movement? Then I don’t see how you can teach me anything.”
“Here is how. Unlike your descendants, mine will be differentiated in relation to each other, both structurally and behaviorally. And though they will be stuck fast to each other, they will share a discontinuously higher level of collective freedom.”
“I don't see it.”
"Of course not, since you have no facility of sight."
"Now that's un-called-for!"
“My apologies. Okay, let me explain. Some of my descendants will become eyes so all can see the sights of your Heaven; others will become legs so all can walk with gigantic strides; some will form protective armor so all can live in the rarified atmosphere; still others will become wings so all can fly in the heavenly winds, not just from pond to pond, but clear over the mountain, not at your amoebal speed of a meter per day, but at 100 kilometers per hour. A quantum leap in power if you've ever imagined one.”
"Wow! What kind of a god that would that make?"
"A dragonfly."
"A DRAGONfly, sounds formidable. How big is it?"
"On your scale, immense, like a spaceship, one that can delivery its own millions of highly social crew members out of this pond into your Heaven, there to live together as one, as the living dragonfly itself."
"Can you take me along?"
"I would love to, but I can't. You are a non-social cell, and do not qualify. You'll have to socialize yourself first."
"What do you mean 'socialize'? You mean to get my kids to stick together, differentiate and cooperate? That'd never happen."
"Not for a billion years or so."
"That's an eternity!"
"But from what I hear, amoebae never die, they just multiply forever. You'll get there one day."
"You think?"
"Just remember those two words."
"Those two huge words? You'll have to run them past me again."
"No problem. Ready?"
"Ready."
"INTEGRATIVE TRANSCENDENCE."
"Integrative Transcendence."
http://youtu.be/LtKcGIc9doo
Anthony Marr, Founder and President
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
Global Anti-Hunting Coalition (GAHC)
Anthony-Marr@HOPE-CARE.org
www.HOPE-CARE.org
www.facebook.com/Anthony.Marr.001
www.facebook.com/Global_Anti-Hunting_Coalition
www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr
www.youtube.com/AnthonyMarr
www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com
www.DearHomoSapiens.blogspot.com
www.HOPE-GEO.blogspot.com
www.ARConference.org
The Earth is a Planetary Egg, in which we live, of which we are integral parts.
It was first formed 4.6 billion years ago, and its gestation period IS 4.6 billion years, if you know what I mean.
Its Geo-Embryo is the Biosphere, which has undergone 4 stages of Geo-Embryonic Metamorphosis, and is now undergoing the 5th and last.
If it succeeds, it will hatch and an integratively transcendended Planetary Organism will emerge - into interplanetary space. If not, it will die, or die back by hundreds of millions of years of evolution.
Many planetary eggs have failed, and their geo-embryos were still-born, making cesspools of their atmospheres and hydrospheres. There are usually 2 ways for a planetary egg to fail: the fast way, by global nuclear holocaust, and/or the slow way, by runaway global heating.
The Universe is filled with billions of planetary eggs in various stages of geo-embryonic metamorphosis, each with its own metamorphic schedule based on its physical properties. Planetary Egg Earth's time of hatching is now; its moment of truth has come.
And the key, and the truth, according to Anthony Marr's Omniscientific cosmology, is INTEGRATIVE TRANSCENDENCE.
http://youtu.be/7vjA0xqZd3E
"Anthony Marr's OMNISCIENTIFIC COSMOLOGY - 22nd Century philosophy for the 21st Century - so that there will be a 22nd Century."
From UC Berkeley:
Paleontology, Dr. Carole S. Hickman: “… an extraordinary intellectual undertaking… unique… aesthetically stimulating… a bold and eclectic piece of scholarship… exceptional… a delight… optimism, concern and compassion for humanity…”
Anthropology, Dr. Tim White: “… Anthony Marr’s OMNI-SCIENCE is formidable…”
Astronomy and Physics, Dr. Marc Davis: “… a forward looking moral framework… an important contribution to society…”
Botany, Dr. Herbert G. Baker: “… extremely interesting… an important contribution towards understanding cosmology.”
Paleontology, Dr. Donald E. Savage: “… powerful… erudite synthesis...”
Zoology, Dr. Richard C. Strohman: “… original… a thoroughly logical system… might indeed fill a large gap in the way we think...”
Biology, Dr. Richard W. Holms: “… a remarkable broad perspective… great depth... truly deserves the name OMNI-SCIENCE…”
Institute of Human Origins, Dr. William H. Kimbel, President: “… a profound contribution to the fundamental definition of humankind in relation to the broader universe... unifies the fragmented Western scientific disciplines… implications of great depth and breadth for the future course of human actions… too important to ignore.”
For more accolades (from Stanford U, UO, UW & UBC), see http://homosapienssaveyourearth.blogspot.com/2012/03/anthony-marrs-omniscientific-cosmology.html
Anthony Marr, Founder and President
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
Global Anti-Hunting Coalition (GAHC)
Anthony-Marr@HOPE-CARE.org
www.HOPE-CARE.org
www.facebook.com/Anthony.Marr.001
www.facebook.com/Global_Anti-Hunting_Coalition
www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr
www.youtube.com/AnthonyMarr
www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com
www.DearHomoSapiens.blogspot.com
www.HOPE-GEO.blogspot.com
www.ARConference.org
