A Big Shoutout to the St Mary’s College of CA Class of 1970

Here's my new posse that sent me on my way this Memorial Day

We are celebrating having survived these 45 years and I am thinking of you from Albuquerque NM. I am traveling across the country in a pilgrimage in an attempt to deepen my understanding as to why in this 21st Century we still engage in warfare. I am bicycling to spread the word to those who believe that climate change is truly a threat to our civilization then we need to be engaged in the effort to promote public policies that lead to peaceful relationships with other nations as opposed to those that, in attempts to secure greater concentrations of wealth, lead towards conflict. 

The Pope and the World Council of Churches have recently brought attention to climate change and inequality. Today just one hundred individuals have as much wealth as the poorest 3.5 billion people. Inequality is not just an economic issue. Vast wealth has captured our democracy and democratic institutions across the globe. The devastations of climate change if not addressed will surely lead to the destruction of modern civilization. 

I believe there are legitimate defensive reasons to fight. But the purposes of offensive warfare seem to have little to do with national interests and much more with the political standing of individual politicians and their financiers. That is the sentiment of Paul Krugman’s August 2014 NYT article “Why We Fight Wars.” 

A roadrunner that stood still long enough to get photo