barking dog(s)
observations on creating panic
“Do you really think our readers want to hear more about 3 am barkhowlbarkbarkbark?” asked the Muse of Many Questions.
“Yes! Of course they do… anybody who was up in the middle of the night will feel an automatic solidarity in our suffering… Shared drama is what gets people up in the morning?” asked Thalia with a giggle.
“Ahem!” Urania cleared her throat. “So the wee hours barking continues, but Typist has a new approach. She no longer flies out of bed to silence the fourleg. She stretches, rolls over, waits a moment or five to see if barkhowlbarkbarkbark will run out of steam… It never does, but a Typist can hope? Then without anger or frustration she calmly gets up, pulls on her boots, takes Henny outside, gazes at the stars, and reminds herself how much joy the fur ball brings to her days. This too shall pass… just a sign of the times.”
“Diving right in after our mini-vacation, eh? No small talk this morning — How was your Thanksgiving? Was eating pie your favorite par…”
Thalia cut Cal off before she could enunciate the “t”. “Is that even a question? Yes! Pumpkin and pecans, yum!”
“Ahem!” Urania cleared her throat again. “We should explain the photo?”
“Oh that!” Thalia picked up her watercolored notes from the documentary Closing the Loop. “We learned the difference between a linear and circular economy… with very minimal Chicken Little the Sky is Falling language. The film offered possibility and experimentation with a dollop of thought provoking nudges.”
“So much better than the nightly news,” Calliope sighed. “Instead of panic, drama, gloom, and doom… I was left with a different sort of feeling. Humans will continue to evolve. Centuries from now we’ll be bouncing around in the mind of a different Typist who’ll be pondering — What’s next?”
Going Circular… Another documentary on the same subject: https://curiositystream.com/goingcircular/index.html?utm_source=social&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=startgoingcircular+link+Going+Circular+landing+page&utm_id=startgoingcircular+link+Going+Circular+landing+page
It is on Curiosity Stream… a subscription service. The muses are discussing the merits of signing up. Seems unanimous that 2.99/month is a small price to pay for creative work that drives possibility instead of fear.
You threw this old dog a tough bone to chew on with today’s BFN! Let me put on my liberal, snowflake hat and ask if there is general agreement, in the linear model, that extinction of species is simply collateral damage that does, and must occur, for a “ healthy” economy. Now, wearing my linear businessman attire, I ask if the fad for electric vehicles and their lithium batteries, warrants the destruction of natural features around the world. Are oil rigs providing the materials for refining gas for our cars that much more obtrusive than windmills in the Atlantic off Nantucket??
Arguing either position convincingly requires value judgements by all parties. Am I grateful for the linear processes that gave rise to the 3-D printers that produced components for my back surgery last week? Yes. Could other methodologies, possibly circularly derived, have also provided relief? I don’t have that answer.
For me notions of sentient beings (like all living things, plants, etc.) has to play a dominant role. While we devastate major ecosystems on our planet, we feign concern for our home by developing a system that might launch a rocket to intercept approaching giant “heavenly bodies.” Irony intentional. Otherwise we will have the fate of dinosaurs and other species that became extinct after a previous impact event. The linear rocket boys have been quite adept at missing production targets and budgets, so that’s of little comfort for earth’s survival in such an instance. Would a circular process fare much better? Unknown.
What do I favor? Stop the Rocket Man business, and love one another! And this planet!