Introducing Dr. Robert Hieronimus

"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."
- Douglas Adams


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ExoHash^{sm -} Introducing Dr. Robert Hieronimus

Gia Scott's Dawn of Shades℠ 04/22/2008 – (http://www.exogenynetwork.com/default.aspx

http://www.giascott.com





Welcome to another episode of the dawn of shades. I am your host, Gia Scott, and today is April 22, 2008...also known as Earth Day. I have been having a technology failure month, so maybe it's made me very conscious of the new world we live in, which has very little in common with the world of my childhood when the message of taking care of our planet was first getting some serious attention. Yes, I know there were ecology pioneers far sooner, but we're going to stick to the latest bit right now.



See, I had a very unique childhood; I grew up with people who had been born in the 1800s as an active part of my day to day life. My great grandparents literally saw the world go from telegraph and trains and horses to a man landing on the moon, and still they lived on. They were proud to be American, even though by today's standards, my great grandmother was an illegal alien, as she was born in Canada and came across the border in a wagon with her family, without paperwork or anything, to live in their new home near Hesper, Iowa. One of their sons, my great uncle, was killed in a plane crash in the Gulf of Mexico in the fifties, in the air force, and the flag that had covered his coffin remained on display on my great grandmother's piano every single day.



They had been still raising their family when the depression struck, and no one had to tell them to recycle and reuse. That was how you survived, by using everything over and over until there was no possible way to use it again, and then...it became a rag or tinder or something else for its final duty. For them, taking care of the earth sort of happened as a result of economics, I suppose.



Today, we have a disposable culture. Things aren't fixed; they are designed to have a finite life, and to be disposed of somehow at the end of that relatively short life. Most of them land in the landfills, despite having reusable components and recyclable parts because of the difficulty in finding anyone to do that. I live in New Orleans, and the recycling here is minimal, we're still trying to get things fixed after Katrina, so most recycling is a more personal experience.



Then we have our national economy, rising gas prices, massive layoffs of employees, financial institution crises lining up like ducks in a cheap arcade, and we're told we don't have a recession...yet. Sure am glad, hate to see what one of those would be like. We hear of food riots in other countries, but we still have food available, although the prices are rising dramatically with each trip to the grocery store. I'm starting to wonder if buying the freeze dried foods like are marketed to survivalist groups might not be a better pay off than a savings account or stocks. I've noted some items in the grocery store jumping as much as 25% in a single week. I've seen gas jumping by twenty and thirty cents, not by a few cents. My income has not increased, but my cost of living has steadily increased, so that it is like I have taken a 25% cut in pay. I find myself staying home more, buying less, and taking care of more things on the phone and internet, rather than having to physically go to a business. I am refusing to use my air conditioner yet, despite rising temperatures, which haven't been too bad yet this week. I have to admit, my cats and dogs are filing complaints though.



I am sure that I am not the only one that is cutting every corner possible, which has the trickledown effect of reducing our impact on the planet. With rising temperatures, I don't cook much, it's just not worth its effects of increasing the temperatures in the kitchen, so I use the microwave and heat up something or I have a cold meal. I have windows open for cooler fresh air to come in, and use a fan instead of the air conditioner, and for now, that will work, but when the temperature and the humidity are the same, I will have to break down and turn on the air conditioning or move to a cooler climate. I am truly understanding why everyone who could afford it left New Orleans in the spring in the old days.



So, what are YOU doing to reduce your planetary impact and ease the crunch on your budget? Almost everyone I know is doing SOMETHING, whether it's installing the low profile florescent light bulbs or adjusting their thermostat or staying home more or not replacing their appliances or shopping for used goods. ALL of those things are a form of recycling and saving, good for our budgets and good for our planet. We don't all have to run out and buy solar panels and start wearing weird looking clothes made out of recycled grocery bags while we stomp around in clumsy shoes made by cutting up old tires in order to be good for our environment. What is good for our budgets is also usually good for our planet. Instead of buying throw away plastic containers to send leftovers home with the neighbor after a party...save the containers that dairy products or something came in. so what if it says "fat cow dairy" or whatever on the side? Shop at yard sales, thrift stores, and second hand stores...you can save money and instead of worrying about someone looking down their nose at you for buying USED goods, you can look down your nose at them, say you are RECYCLING and don't have to add that you saved enough money on buying used items to pay this month's electric bill. Re-using is the most cost effective method of recycling, as there is a ZERO cost of processing in terms of energy use.



Use the internet to research where to go and how to find your desired used items with minimal driving. Most cities and areas now have an organization called freecycle, which is geared to giving your used goods to someone who wants it, without a middleman. It's fun, I've used it myself both to acquire something I needed and get rid of things I didn't need. It's all done through the internet, and in the case of New Orleans, it's a yahoo group, free to join.



Fads come and go, ideas shift, and where recycling was once a sign of hard times, it's now become the fashionable thing to do, whether its recycling plastic or adopting your new pet from an animal shelter. Ideas do that over time.



Tonight's topic is about symbolism, and specifically, America's national symbols that appear everywhere. Some have been claiming they are symbols of all sorts of diabolical ideology of our founding fathers, and few of us have a clue what their true origins really are. Tonight's guest is Dr. Robert Hieronimus, and that is exactly what our topic is, but we are going to start off with twisting his arm to do his own introduction, as he is far more articulate than I am, as well as far more knowledgeable about his own achievements.

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