Wendy Says Things Episode 2 Talking with Tonya Part 3 is available to listen here.
Tonya Floyd 
Wendy Kheiry
Tonya: Yes, well, you know, 20 years ago who would have thought that there would be national chain stores of organic health foods.
Wendy: Right, that’s what I’m saying: it ended up being profitable. It worked, right?
Tonya: Mmhmm.
Wendy: They did it! They took over the things, they kept the integrity of them. Annie’s is still organic and it’s available.
Tonya: And like, Trader Joe’s [WK1] are popping up everywhere, now. It used to be, uh: “Oh, wait, I got to go to Indy for that.” You know?
Wendy: Oh. Yeah. No, I don’t know. I don’t…I have to go to Trader Joe’s [WK2] and find out what is there. I only want to go to one store, and I have a very small list. I’m one person. I like…I eat the same thing all the time. So, it’s kind of like the place that I go has the things that I need.
Tonya: Yeah.
Wendy: And, you know, it saves my budget to not go into a new place. I really should go into Trader Joe’s and see what they have there, one time, at least[WK3] . Because there’s one just right by me. It’s not like it’s a hardship, or far away, like I don’t have to…
Tonya: Yeah.
Wendy: Yeah, I hear quite a bit about everyone says that in the organic movement, and do they have and…and like Trader’s do they have organic food[WK4] s, at Trader Joe’s?
Tonya: Oh, yeah, and like, they have a wide variety of, like, sheep and goat cheese products because a lot of people with dairy issues…it’s not really the lactose but casein [WK5] which is the cow dairy.
Wendy: Right, right, right. I remember reading about that.
Tonya: And you know, normally it’s very hard to find those in any variety, if at all. And they have wonderful, tasty ones.
Wendy: Well, yeah, it would be really better for the environment, too, to have milk from the smaller animals[WK6] as opposed to the cows.
Tonya: Yes.
Wendy: So, it’s good that we have some alternatives.
Tonya: Well, I think the US is really the only country that is really so stuck on cow milk. It’s much more popular in Europe to use sheep and goat cheeses.
Wendy: Sure[WK7] . That makes sense[WK8] . I’m trying to think about there is a big thing, you know, the big cow[WK9] , the white cow with the black spots on it is like an icon, an American icon.
Tonya: Mmhmm.
Wendy: How did it get that way? Did the dairy industry [WK10] do that? You know, my dad’s parents were dairy farmers, so I used to hang out at the dairy farm. I know all about the dairy farm.
Tonya: There are much more like a factory[WK11] these days.
Wendy: So yeah, with sheep and goats for milk, and food, and meat. There’s so there’s so much opportunity. The thing is…is it’s disorganized, but there’s a lot of opportunity. There’s opportunity for growth[WK12] but I think that if companies don’t understand that their long-term strategic planning has to really, really look beyond the lip service for public relations, because that’s what it is. You know, like the energy. So I keep seeing things for electric vehicles, and it’s kind of like the idea is that if you’re using electric vehicles you’re not using gasoline.
Tonya: Mmhmm.
Wendy: So then I started thinking: that’s interesting but that electricity has to come from somewhere, so where does it come from? So, I started looking at the energy company, and I just started here in Wisconsin[WK13] [ßthis link has maps], I almost said Vermont because I see snow, but I started here in Wisconsin[WK14] just to see. And so I was really pleased to see that we have wind[WK15] and solar power, but I looked a little bit deeper in the problem is that it’s not scalable, really, in a meaningful way because the solar and wind plants that provide energy have like acres and acres and acres devoted to it and hundreds and hundreds of little propellers for the wind farms to be the equivalent of like one of the coal unit. You know, like the solar and wind it may be, maybe the equivalent output of the one thing. And so, I was really kind of distressed by this. Like so…so where’s [the extra electricity for electric powered vehicles going to come from?]. Now we’re going to have more coal. You see what I’m saying?
Tonya: Yeah.
Wendy: Everyone puts their electric vehicles over it, and it sounds good, right? And it feels good, like, “Hey, my electric vehicle,” because I’m not using gas.
Tonya: Mmhm.
Wendy: But it hides it even further, so it’s like buying your meat in the grocery store in a package that you forget that it actually came from a cow or a chicken. Like, there are people who literally don’t know this because they can afford to not know this, because they never go to a farm, and they never make the connection between cow, chicken, animal, and the food that they eat on their plate. So, in the same way the electric vehicles are going to hide our energy further away. We have to…
Tonya: Well, one of the things I was looking at like, I mean looking at, you know, states like Arizona[WK16] and New Mexico[WK17] you could put up solar panels. Solar panels would be fantastic there. And there are other places that are much windier like Chicago, and out in the Midwest where they have a lot of Chinook winds. And so I think part of it is…is looking at where is…where can we maximize this and instead of everybody having their own small[WK18] grids[WK19] , you know, create a larger grid [WK20] so that, you know, when it’s rainy and cloudy up North we can still use sun energy that is coming from Arizona.
Wendy: Right, so the biggest problem with that is physics because you can’t…it’s…you lose…the farther you transport the energy the more you lose along the way.
Tonya: This is true.
Wendy: So…
Tonya: But, you know, Tesla[WK21] had it all figured out so we could all have free wireless electricity.
Wendy: I know, where is that?
Tonya: On geothermal stuff. Well, government took it.
Wendy: Yeah they’re putting that out in some places.
Tonya: You can get access to some of them. I went through a big Tesla period. But JP Morgan took a lot of it.
Wendy: Okay.
Tonya: And it is hidden somewhere in the annals of the government.
Wendy: So there’s some…there’s some geothermal things that are really exciting[WK22] that are coming up. There’s actually right on the fission…nuclear fission, we’re very, very close to having some good breakthroughs on that. So, I started looking, because I was worried about it. Because I want there to be electric cars, because I want there to be a reduction in the use of gasoline.
Tonya: Yes.
Wendy: Right? I believe in this, but at the same time I’m always looking at the cost because when solar first came out there was a cost. There was a cost in rare earth minerals that was prohibitive. It kept them prohibitively expensive.
Tonya: Yeah.
Wendy: They were mining the rare earth minerals. They were scarce and then also I think they were mainly found in China and child labor [ßthis article is on child labor currently being used to mine cobalt for electric cars and phone batteries] was being used, so there are a couple of problems.
Tonya: Yes.
Wendy: I remember, at the time, that I’m telling somebody, like, you sound very sanctimonious because you’re using solar, but I said, “If it’s not green all the way from beginning to end it’s not green enough.”
Tonya: Exactly. And there’s a lot of…because a lot of the plastic[WK23] and industrial[WK24] type waste[WK25] goes to these smaller countries. We dump it on them. They take it for…we give them money to take our trash, and then, like you said, they have children[WK26] digging through this toxic garbage to pull out, you know, metals that…you know a lot of these rare earth metals are radioactive[WK27] or contain arsenic or Mercury, other toxic things.
Wendy: And so then, solar power…it also uses a great deal of fresh water and makes it undrinkable[WK28] , if I am remembering that study. Anyway, that was back then. That was, like, when I did solar research back then, and in the future…so looking forward there’s still opportunities, like, we haven’t got there yet. We’re on the…
Tonya: The Tesla company is making solar more affordable.
Wendy: Oh yeah. No, all the advances are fantastic. The advances[WK29] that we’re making in battery [WK30] power…uhm, my daughter is actually an engineer at an electric truck company.
Tonya: Awesome
Wendy: I know, right? I’m so proud.
Tonya: Well Mama raised her right.
Wendy: I know. She’s doing great, but so, I’m interested in it and I support it. And my question and my thing is: let’s get these electric cars out there. Let’s do that, that’s great, but don’t just let people feel good about it, let’s make the origin…
Tonya: Let’s figure out the little…let’s fix the bugs before they become a problem.
Wendy: The thing is, we can develop both. Get the electric cars out there, yes, by all means shoot them out there. Electric cars, electric trucks, let’s find out how to do that, but we still need to really ramp up phasing [ß graph shows unrealistic benchmarks of Paris agreement] out[WK31] coal.
Tonya: Mmhm.
Wendy: Right?
Tonya: Especially here.
Wendy: We need to find solutions, and when I say that wind and solar is not scalable, my point is that: the installation…to get enough installation to do the wind, to pay, like, if you wanted to close…if I wanted to close the three coal…the 3 coal plants and replace[WK32] them with wind[WK33] and solar that we have in Wisconsin, those are the ones I looked at. There is like I think was three to one, and that one, like, all of the alternative[WK34] energy it was like one of the units at one of the locations.
Tonya: Mmm.
Wendy: And each location had three to four, so that’s about 6, you know what I’m saying? Like…so to be able to be able to turn that off tomorrow, I would have needed to start seven years ago, or ten years ago.
Tonya: Yeah.
Wendy: And so, it’s not that we shouldn’t be investing and putting our money into solar and wind because we absolutely should, but we have to continue doing the research and development for the Tesla stuff. We need to get that in production. You know, we are at a critical stage. How can our military keep our country safe, if they can’t deploy because of winds and hurricanes and fire? You know what I’m saying? It’s…
Tonya: Yeah.
Wendy: Anyone who hasn’t…who wants to move anything anyplace across the world, we have to be able to adjust and adapt, and we can’t do that. It’s good for the military[WK35] if we take our gasoline cars off the road, because there’s more for them. We would have a surplus which they could use. I mean, for people for whom that’s an issue, what’s the military[WK36] going to do. I mean, like, there’s an interest to this. And the military has been, you know, using nuclear power for some of their submarines and things like that, but they also need power out there on their boats and things like that. We need to find ways to harness it, and so it is mind boggling to me that we don’t have alternative energies.
Tonya: Yeah, I mean the industrial era, it’s been over 100 years, and we’re…and people are still wanting to use the same things, and it’s like, but we’re evolving.
Wendy: Right.
Tonya: We should be evolving beyond this.
Wendy: Yeah, and we have the Sciences and scientists who can look at it. We have to look from beginning to end. Like you were saying, we have to look at the unintended consequences. It’s not OK to say, “Look we found a solution, all we have to do is, you know, contaminate this other place.” That’s no longer OK. We’re running out of places we can contaminate.
Tonya: Yeah. We’re contaminating everything.
Wendy: We’ve already contaminated it [<–Global Pollution Map].
Wendy: Like we need to stop with the contaminating. We need to stop with the contaminating and start to clean up. And we can’t start to clean up until we have the alternate solutions to some of the issues that are going on.
Tonya: Yes.
Wendy: And so, you know, because military is big business, and business is business, and the government needs to be the driving force behind the paradigm shift. The people need to encourage, and need to vote with their dollars, and with their support. You know, and to continue to articulate and to, as you say, put the pressure on and put the awareness out there. These things need to be fixed, and we’re not going to just sit down and shut up because you, like, told us…because you said, “Solar.” You can’t just say solar and now we’re fine. You know?
Tonya: There’s always there’s always plenty of research that needs to be done. And we need to invest more in it.
Wendy: Right. We need to invest in it, because our future depends on…our future depends on us getting a handle on, you know, our energy issues.
Tonya: Renewable sources.
Wendy: And reducing the…the effect we’re having on the climate, and the climate changes that are coming in the next 5 to 10 years are going to be devastating if we don’t get a handle on it. It’s like, we’re out of time, you know. We are now running against the Clock. And I think that, you know, in the midst of some of it, you know, the Covid issues and the pandemic issues[WK37] , we can’t lose sight of the climate.
Tonya: Yes. Just because there’s a crisis, we can’t forget the long-term problem.
Wendy: Right, and we…you know it’s all a crisis.
Tonya: Yeah.
Wendy: That’s what I’m saying: “The whole world is in a crisis, now” And we’re at a crisis on a physical level. Personally, like, individually, because of pandemic[WK38] , and globally, because of climate change. We are at a social crisis because all the past is coming up and it’s demanding an accounting. And it deserves not just demanding an accounting, it should demand an accounting. It should have already had the accounting. We’re beyond the time we should have…where we should have started to make some of these things right. It’s beyond time. And so, we are, at an emotional level, we’re in a crisis. We are people in a crisis. On a collective and individual emotional level, we are in crisis. And we’re in crisis at a time when our religious institutions cannot be counted on to be particularly helpful because they have become industrialized[WK39] . They have been Corporatized[WK40] , incorporated[WK41] .
Tonya: Yes.
Wendy: Right? And so they exist to continue existing. I sat on the board, in high school, of a church and I looked at the budget and, oh my God, like 1% of your tithes[WK42] to the church maybe, maybe goes to help. Half of 1% of your tithe to your church goes to actually help people. And the rest goes to keep the church going. You know what I mean? The rest goes to keep the church going, so people feel good [WK43] because they go to church, but they’re not actually, necessarily doing anything.
Tonya: Yes. There’s not enough money left over to feed the hungry.
Wendy: Like, we’re all great. And that’s not to say that churches don’t do good, because, man, the Presbyterian Church in Finley, Ohio is freaking amazing. They opened up their rooms, you know, to self-help groups to come in and use their rooms, and their coffee makers and have meetings. They had the food bank there, and it was huge. It was amazing. They had the volunteers, and they did it like, I think, once every four weeks they were the host for it. It was amazing and it wasn’t my church, but I almost wished I were a church goer.
Tonya: Yeah.
Wendy: It was that kind of place. Like you went in and people were all kind to the people who are coming in to get the food.
Tonya: The way it should be.
Wendy: I know, the way it should be. I often got confused for being someone who was getting food, and I’m like, “No, I’m volunteering.”
Tonya: Yeah.
Wendy: I’m like, “I just came to help out, man.” But it gives me, often, the…the view of how you get treated if they think you’re coming there for food. I couldn’t really pinpoint why it was until I had to look closely at how other people were dressed in Ohio[WK44] to find out why…to find out what the indicator was that I might not be a volunteer. I think it was my shoes…it was all of it. Anyway, apparently, I wasn’t dressed for volunteering.
Tonya: Yeah, but you know, it’s one of the things I find is that unfortunately so many of the churches have really forgotten the basic roots of what Jesus Christ says in the gospel. I mean, you know, there was something that they wrote up where it was saying it had the list of the beatitudes it’s called or something: feed the hungry but only if you’re working to earn it. And you know home the…house the shelterless, but only if you can pay rent. And the…we’ve taken what was actually, you know, no matter what faith you are, when you look at, you know, feed the hungry, care for the sick, those are just kind of common sense be kind to people things.
Wendy: Right.
Tonya: It’s…it’s so hard for me to understand: How did the narrative get twisted so much that people who claim that you should feed the hungry are having all these reasons why they shouldn’t?
Wendy: Right? Well, here’s the thing, too. There are two things. One, so, the churches became businesses, and they exist to keep themselves existing. And so, there’s a spiritually…
Tonya: The organizational psychology…
Wendy: Right. So, there’s a spiritual crisis. And the other thing…shoot what was the other thing? I…in the 90s I actually talked about being a steward of the earth. Like, I went to a national Baptist program thing, and, like, that was part of the theme: how we should care for the earth and be steward of it.
Tonya: That’s awesome.
Wendy: I know. Where did that go?
Tonya: That’s a good question.
Wendy: It says it. It’s biblical. That we care for…
Tonya: That’s why I took a workshop that a friend gave, and he was talking about, I think it was in Genesis somewhere, where it talks about the Lord giving people Dominion over the earth. And how for many years we acted like that Dominion meant dominate, and that when you actually go back and you look at the original Aramaic and Greek text that the word they use comes from the root word domicile not dominate. And how you treat your home is far different from dominating something.
Wendy: Well, sure, it should be.
Tonya: When God gave us Dominion, he was giving us the earth is our home that we were to take care of and be stewards to the earth. That’s something that every indigenous tribe that I’ve ever been in contact with agrees that we all feel a personal responsibility to care for the earth and it was a gift that was given to us that we are supposed to take care of. We are caretakers not bad people stomping through with giant boots, you know?
Wendy: Right. So, it kind of goes like this. So, the people who go to the churches is hire…form boards and hire ministers who are going to tell them they are doing a good job and support their…support their goals. And so, if those people are business people, conservative business people, they want to be told that their business practices are fine. One of the last times I went to church, actually. One of the last times I went to church, oh, Tonya, I was so mad. I was so mad I almost stood up and said something. the minister had gotten it so wrong. And I was like, I can never ever go to church again. Like, I cannot listen…I can’t listen to this kind of wrongness. He was, like, the parable of the lost sheep is all about how you spend your time going out for the person who’s suffering and lost their way.
Tonya: Yes.
Wendy: OK. And this minister was upfront talking about how God was blessing them because they weren’t out on the golf course, in direct contradiction of the parable of the lost sheep. I’m like really, in truth…in truth Jesus would be out on golf course…
Tonya: Well, it’s just…
Wendy: …ministering to the other golfers. So, the thing is…here’s the thing. The thing I think I was trying to get to: the churches became these businesses and they started setting up these more insulated things. So, like the church that I went to growing up separated from the national organization that had been a part of that kind of kept it, like, more neutral…more central? And it diverged away and then it made its own gym, so now you don’t have to go to the Y or a gym to workout with regular people. And they insulated themselves. And so, this is when you get those echo chamber type things. So, now you do everything at the church. I went to church all the freaking time.
Tonya: And you can’t see outside that box.
Wendy: Right and I tell people. People’s like, “Don’t you go to church?” I’m like, “I already did all my lifetime’s worth of church before I was even 18.” Like, I went all the times. All the time to church, you know what I mean? Like, I don’t need to be going to church anymore. I did it. And so, they exist to continue existing. They hire in the people who tell them what they want to hear, and they fire…
Tonya: They stop actually trying to understand the words of their savior.
Wendy: No, they know it’s a scam. A friend of mine went to Divinity school, and I studied extensively all the leadership things. And we were like, you know the people who become ministers know that the… know that the going religious doctrine is bunk. OK?
Tonya: Some of them do. Some of them are brainwashed.
Wendy: They learn it in Divinity school. I mean you learn about like the Aramaic and the shifting things, and how there’s more room…more margin for error than most religions wanted to put forth. Because they feel like the margin of error for like how you interpret then degrades their authority.
Tonya: Well, it’s just like when, you know, the Romans took over the Catholic Church they were creating laws that they wanted people to follow not necessarily going by what was actually said.
Wendy: Right.
Tonya: Which is part of where I find a lot of the Nag Hammadi [WK45] and the Dead Sea Scrolls[WK46] and a lot of the texts that were actually written much closer to the actual time of Christ I can relate more to what they say than I can to the version that has been purported.
Wendy: Right. Even the way that the books were, excuse me, the non- Catholic books[WK47] were canonized[WK48] leads a lot to manipulation.
Tonya: Well, one of the things I always found very, very interesting…I was probably in my early 20s when I met really neat gal who lived at Findhorn[WK49] and knew Edgar Cayce and Edmonds Szekely and all these really awesome people. She got me into reading Edmunds Szekely who was…he had originally been a Catholic priest and his specialty was translating down in those hidden archives of The Vatican, and he left the Catholic Church as a result then he started writing his own…he became a Gnostic, might have been Essene I don’t remember, but he started writing these books. And I was so shocked and pleased at the same time to learn that actually the “Our Father” has 2 verses and the second verse starts: “Our Mother…”
Wendy: Oh my gosh. That’s amazing. I would love to get a look inside the Vatican library.
Tonya: Yeah, I believe he calls that…I will have to look up it’s been a while and of course I have the book somewhere in a box. I have too many books to put them all out. But it’s one Edmonds Szekely. It’s SZEKELY something like that. I’m sure if you put it into Google, they’ll fix any errors. And I think it was called the Gospel of Peace, it was in that. But I actually I put it all to music back then because I thought how fantastic because even like in the Jewish tradition there was the female component the…the Shekinah.
Wendy: Shakti.
Tonya: That’s the other. That’s Vedic.
Wendy: Yes, that’s Vedic.
Tonya: Yeah, yes, the feminine…the feminine was not neglected it wasn’t until much later, in fact, I think it was Pope Innocent, the third, was the one who decided that Mary Magdalene[WK50] was a whore.
Wendy: Right. It’s…we always…if we could start…ugh…
Tonya: You know, I did. I spent a long time…I’ve read all the old stuff. I’ve read every major scripture that’s religious.
Wendy: Oh yeah, me too.
Tonya: …or spiritual and the thing is that, you know, there is a balance. There is a masculine and feminine. There always has been.
Wendy: Yes.
Tonya: The thing that’s hard for people to understand is that truly the creator is neither masculine or feminine. You identify with what is most comfortable and safe to you. Divinity has no gender.
Wendy: Right. Divinity approaches you in the way…in a manner that you can, hopefully, accept, if you’re open. It’s…so, yeah, we have a spiritual crisis. And our leaders, our alleged spiritual leaders, and our church leaders are puppets that we put up there to tell us that we’re doing good even if maybe we’re not doing so good. And so, it’s a spiritual crisis. And it’s not that I have anything against, man I’ve read the Bible whole bunch of times it’s full of great stuff. It has a great, wonderful idea that: “Wow, take care of the poor.” You know, these are, like, fabulous.
Tonya: And that’s kind of where I come back to that whole concept of what Interreligious harmony that the Dalai Lama[WK51] was talking about. Where if you have found a path that works for you, instead of arguing with other people on a path about whose path is best, what if we help the people who are lost living in pain and suffering and lashing out at others because of that. What if we help them find their path?
Wendy: Right. What if we just care about people?
Tonya: Yeah. Loving kindness, he says, we should come together in a spirit of loving kindness to help those who are lost.
Wendy: Right. I always just find it mind boggling [WK52] that someone would have a problem with that.
Tonya: Well, because some people have this concept of what is right and what is wrong, and they want to be right in their box.
Wendy: Right.
Tonya: And you know, it’s…it’s such an illusory concept. It’s totally a perception.
Wendy: It’s not…it’s…we have a not well-educated populace. Our educational system leaves a whole lot to be desired.
Tonya: And it’s…they’re destroying what little value it had and trying to go back to purely private schooling, but you know there’s…there’s a problem with that because good schooling costs money, and it’s unfair to disenfranchise the poor youth just because they were born poor.
Wendy: Right and…
Tonya: I think it’s a good thing that we have a public education for everyone.
Wendy: Yes. Definitely.
Tonya: It helps all of us. You know, we’re only as strong as our weakest link, so, why wouldn’t we want everyone to be successful in what they’re good at?
Wendy: Right and learn…and to learn ways to be good at it. To able to…to be able to excel to the best of everyone’s…to the best of people’s abilities.
Tonya: Yes.
Wendy: So, you know, the better educated and…and a healthier population is just beneficial to everyone.
Tonya: Yes
Wendy: And I think that it’s short sighted. There’s…in some of the planning stages that some short-sighted people thought, “Oh well, you know, if we keep people poor and they don’t have any power or they don’t have any money…”
Tonya: They’re easier to control.
Wendy: Yeah, and they’ll be able to force…we can force them to do what we want them to do[WK53] . And I think that that’s shortsighted.
Tonya: And well, that’s part of why they bring up and continue things like racism because these are reasons for us to be separated and divided and fight over. You know, they’re always finding ways to keep us divided because when the people unite and remember that “we the people” have the actual power and stop letting ourselves get distracted by this rhetoric and propaganda.
Wendy: I’m really glad you agreed to talk to me today.
Tonya: Yes, thank you for inviting me.
Wendy: We covered a lot of ground.
Tonya: We did.
[WK2]Their marketing is funny: “NOTE: Since posting, the details of this item may have changed due to fluctuating market prices, federal regulations, currency rates, drought, bandits, rush hour traffic, filibusters, zombie apocalypse, punctilious product developers… Contact our Crew for current price and availability.”
[WK3]I have not done this yet.
[WK4]I used to be really strict about keeping my pantry mostly organic, but it’s currently a fair mix which reflects budget concerns, availability, and a lack of resolve. When my kids were young, I was more concerned about the possible effects on them from bovine growth hormone, pesticides, and the potential unintended consequences of genetically altered plants. My first child was born in 1994, the same year the first genetically modified food was introduced into the market.
“Shortly thereafter, the European Union, at its December 16 and 17, 1999 Council of Ministers meeting in Finland, prohibited the use of rBST in the European Union (although this further ban was based on animal health concerns, as the EUs scientific bodies found no negative effects on humans)” https://www.cga.ct.gov/2007/rpt/2007-R-0159.htm
“But pesticides are also potentially toxic to humans. They may induce adverse health effects including cancer, effects on reproduction, immune or nervous systems.” https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/food-safety-pesticide-residue#:~:text=But%20pesticides%20are%20also%20potentially,reproduction%2C%20immune%20or%20nervous%20systems.
“In 1994, Calgene’s delayed-ripening tomato (Flavr-Savr™) became the first genetically modified food crop to be produced and consumed in an industrialized country. “
[WK5]“The curds formed in the stomach during the gastric digestion of some non-cattle milks are considered to be relatively softer than those formed from cattle milk, which is thought to contribute to the degree to which non-cattle milks can be easily digested or tolerated.”
[WK6]There is a Raw Milk movement in the US. Read more about it here: “Once you decide that raw milk is a priority for your family, how exactly do you acquire it? If you are like us, purchasing raw milk for human consumption is illegal in our state. In fact, Wyoming just barely starting officially “allowing” cowshare or goatshare programs. So unless we want to drive out of state, we are out of luck.”
Effects of pasteurization on milk here: http://www.realmilk.com/health/abstracts-on-the-effect-of-pasteurization/
[WK7]“Until the late 19th century, cows were commonplace at the White House, since Washington, D.C. had no dairy or milk delivery companies.
Our 27th president, William Howard Taft, was one of the last presidents to keep a cow on the White House grounds. He brought his cow Mooly Wooly with him to Washington.”
Please, I beg you, read the presidential cow stories.
[WK8]“Early on in the Great Depression, demand for milk dropped while production rose, putting pressure on small dairy farmers. Part of the problem was the rise of new farming technologies.”
Cheaper isn’t always better. Economic interests plus more American cow stories.
[WK9]Balance attempts in the Dairy industry: “He teaches dairy staff low-stress methods, which allow the animals to move more freely between the milking parlor and their pens, focusing on how workers place their bodies in relation to the large bovines.”
[WK10]“In May 1887, a noteworthy event in the history of the Holstein breed in America took place. It was the Madison Square Garden dairy cattle show where the four leading dairy breeds – Ayrshire, Jersey, Guernsey, and Holstein-Friesian – met for the first time to see which was the greatest producer of milk and butter. Prizes of $200 were offered for both 24-hour milk production as well as butter production.”
[WK11]“CAFOs have proven difficult to regulate, say environmental activists. Many companies have found loopholes in the federal Clean Water Act to avoid monitoring their contaminants or obtaining permits. Many of the air pollutants emitted by livestock are not regulated under the Clean Air Act. Meanwhile, some state agencies tasked with enforcing those laws lack the resources or interest to crack down on pollution.”
[WK12]“Milk production in South Dakota rose by 12% from December 2019 to December 2020, and farmers added about 14,000 new dairy cows during that one-year period, according to the USDA National Agricultural Statistic Service.”
[WK13]“The Wisconsin Office of Energy Innovation provides assistance to residents, businesses, and local governments interested in investing in clean energy and energy efficiency projects.”
[WK14]“Overall, Wisconsin consumes almost six times as much energy as it produces.”
“Renewable resources power nearly one-tenth of Wisconsin’s electricity net generation”
[WK15]“It consists of nearly 12,000 acres under lease with 44 landowners. “ ~ https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2016/11/26/quilt-block-wind-farm-updates-county-board/
“Quilt Block Wind Farm has an installed capacity of 98 megawatts (MW). Quilt Block’s generation is equivalent to the consumption of more than 36,000 Wisconsin homes.”
“More than $6.3 million has been paid to the wind farm’s landowners through 2019.”
So, that’s a half an acre of wind farm to energize a single home.
[WK16]“Both Arizona and Nevada states are among the sunniest in the country: The National Renewable Energy Laboratory ranked Nevada and Arizona first and second, respectively, among U.S. states in solar power potential in 2006.”
2018
“Voters in Arizona and Nevada faced an identical choice when they headed to the polls on Tuesday: Should their utility companies be required to get half of their energy from renewable sources by 2030?
The two electorates delivered different verdicts. Proposition 127 failed in Arizona.”
[WK17]““Community solar makes solar power available to people who can’t access it for reasons such as renting, finances, apartment ownership, home type, etc,” Stefanics said. She added that the bill would likely lead to job creation and other economic benefits.
“There’s a great deal of job creation in the solar industry. There are lease payments to landowners, as well as to other sectors, and many economic benefits to the state and counties,” Stefanics said.”
[WK18]“This system was found to offer reliability and efficiency benefits over a traditional distribution service. Another investigated system included a low-voltage network with numerous distributed generation sources and a “cellular” approach to islanded operation. The cellular approach enables separation into sub-grids as needed when parts of the grid were damaged, or it could consolidate into one large micro-grid.”
[WK19]“With falling costs of renewables and improved electricity storage technology, there is an increased interest in decentralized power supplies because, unlike the extension of the centralized electric grid, smaller scale grids can be set up as a viable business using local investment. It can also serve to increase skill levels and employment opportunities in local populations who may be employed in the construction and maintenance of the decentralized systems.”
[WK20]“…the main challenges are introduced and categorised as follows: control systems from both security and reliability perspectives, network complexity and power grid congestion. On the other hand, the benefits of electrical grid interconnections are substantial [7], [12], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18], such as pooling of electricity generation and load, lowering of generation costs, opening and expanding the electricity market and reducing the need for baseload generation.”
[WK21]“One of Tesla’s most extraordinary experiments was to transmit electrical power over long distances without wires or cables — a feat that has baffled scientists ever since.”
[WK22]“Each Super Hot EGS project can produce the same amount of energy of about 10 traditional EGS projects, and are much more cost effective per megawatt-hour. “
[WK23]“Currently, the EPA considers products ‘collected’ and sent to secondary processing facilities as ‘recycled’, regardless of whether the material is reused or reprocessed into something new.”
[WK24]““Consumers, especially those in the West, are conditioned to believe that when they separate their recyclables and throw them out, that it’ll be properly taken care of. But that’s been exposed as a myth.”
“US companies, despite making broad promises about reducing waste and promoting recycling, are often unaware of where their used products and packaging end up.”
[WK25]“We are admitting there is a serious problem where we export, do not audit where it is going, and then credit it as recycling when data from the Basel Convention shows it has not been recycled.””
[WK26]“The informal nature of the industry makes it difficult to put a definitive figure on the prevalence of child labour in this stream of e-waste management, although research states that in developing nations and third world countries, thousands of children are working in unsafe conditions on these dangerous e-waste disposal sites every day.
In fact, reports have found children as young as just 5 years old employed to pick through waste, scavenge for parts, break down and burn old electrical equipment.”
[WK27]“Rare earth minerals are processed primarily from ores and minerals that naturally contain uranium and thorium. Processing rare earth minerals involves the separation and removal of uranium and thorium, which results in TENORM wastes.”
“Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (TENORM) is defined as, “Naturally occurring radioactive materials that have been concentrated or exposed to the accessible environment as a result of human activities such as manufacturing, mineral extraction, or water processing.” 1” ~ from TENORM link in above paragrahp
[WK28]“In this industry, manufacturing and production processes require large amounts of water that result in important discharged industrial effluents containing different pollutants such as hydrogen fluorides, suspended solids, mixed acids, SiO2, and high oxide particles. Among discharged pollutants, the hydrofluoric acid is significantly used in photovoltaic’s (PV) manufacturing for both quartz cleaning and wafer etching. In fact, wastewaters from PV industries have high concentrations of fluoride, typically in a range of 500–2,000 mg/L. They are considered highly toxic and need to be strictly monitored and regulated.”
[WK29]“According to MIT, material advances in SES’s batteries make them twice as energy dense while maintaining safety comparable to the lithium-ion batteries used in today’s smartphones, EVs, wearables, drones and other devices.”
[WK30]“ReCell seeks to accelerate the growth of a profitable recycling market for spent electric vehicle, electronics, and stationary storage batteries by developing novel technologies. These technologies would use less energy-intensive processing methods and capture more valuable forms of materials for direct reuse in batteries.”
[WK31]“More than 20 years after the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, some power plants still do not control emissions of toxic pollutants, even though pollution control technology is widely available.”
[WK32]“So the first answer is that just over 350 wind turbines are required to replace a coal generation plant which likely has 2–3 generating units. That means that about 120–175 wind turbines are required to replace a single generating unit.”
[WK33]“Consumers Energy would have to double the number of wind turbines currently operating in this state to replace the electricity produced by just one of the coal- and gas-fired power plants it intends to close as part of its plans to rely more on renewable sources.”
[WK34]“Great River’s decision to close Coal Creek by 2023 would make it the first Upper Midwest electricity producer to exit coal completely.”
[WK35]“…90 days to devise a plan that fully transitions the federal fleet’s roughly 650,000 vehicles — including about 225,000 postal vehicles, 173,000 military vehicles and 245,000 civilian vehicles — into “clean and zero-emission vehicles for Federal, State, local, and Tribal government fleets, including vehicles of the United States Postal Service.””
[WK36]“The Department of Defense is the largest single user of fuel in the world and accounts for 76% of the United States federal government’s total energy usage. Energy costs account for billions of dollars of the DOD’s budget each year, and reducing energy costs and boosting both efficiency and sustainability is a key part of its current energy strategy, but it may also be critical to the success of its future operations.”
[WK37]“As a result, many nations are reporting significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions for the year 2020, edging them a bit closer to meeting the initial emissions targets to which they committed under the Paris Agreement on climate change. “
[WK38]“…at the height of the pandemic and amid state coronavirus lockdown orders, Pastor Tony Spell held multiple services with more than a thousand people in defiance of Gov. John Bel Edwards’ coronavirus restrictions — then sued the governor to keep his megachurch open. Spell has challenged the constitutionality of the restrictions on religious gatherings, but thus far the courts have supported the governor. Spell is appealing the rulings.
Now, a year later, Pastor Spell still stands firm in his decision to hold those Sunday services. And with several vaccines now available to the American public, his message is crystal clear: Don’t take the vaccine.”
[WK39]“The corporate megachurch represents a pecuniarily (monetarialy) driven institution that both emphasizes marketing for the purposes of constant growth and focuses on the manufacture and delivery of consumer-centric goods and services.
Because of its strategic work to distance itself from traditional Christian churches and focus instead on creating homologies with entertainment, self-help, and retail, the non-place church normalizes the banality of consumer capitalism.”
[WK40]“Megas promote their own interpretations of traditional scriptures and are committed to continuous growth in members, revenue, property. The underlying premise is that such growth enables the congregation to bring the message to larger and larger audiences.
Mega-church pastors perform from the stage; they do not perform pastoral counseling, weddings of funerals or pay hospital visits. (emphasis mine)
Still, several credible studies indicate that megas are indeed delivering on what they promise to their members.
In one study, the vast majority of attendees (84 percent to 96 percent) described their worship experiences as joyful, thought-provoking and filled with a sense of God’s presence. Mega-church attendees also gave high marks (86 percent or higher) to their congregation on its values and beliefs, its vitality, clarity of its mission and purpose, and its willingness to innovate and change. To top it off, 42 percent of mega-church attendees reported that they had experienced much spiritual growth during the past year.”
[WK41]“As part of their study, Wellman, Corcoran, and Stockly-Meyerdirk analyzed 470 interviews and about 16,000 surveys on megachurch members’ emotional experiences with their churches. Four themes emerged: salvation/spirituality, acceptance/belonging, admiration for and guidance from the leader, and morality and purpose through service.
The researchers found that feelings of joy felt in the services far exceed the powerful but fleeting “conversion experiences” for which megachurches are often stereotyped.”
[WK42]In this sample budget, the church gives only 12.5% of the total budget to Mission work, local and foreign. Only 5% of the budget goes to helping people locally. The rest of the budget goes to buildings, programs, salary – money spent to just keep itself running.
[WK43]“In contrast, older adults who pray more often when they are alone say they have a closer relationship with God and they report receiving more support from their co-religionists as well as their secular network members. So of the two religious practices that are examined in this study, private prayer seems to have more far-reaching effects.”
[WK44]When we moved from Vermont to Ohio, there became apparent that social status due classism was indicated by clothing. Not just type and kind, but also by variation – meaning people would comment if they viewed the same shirt/sweatshirt/shoes etc over and again.
In Vermont where we lived for 5 years, people were more inclined to value putting money into activities, and no one looked down on anyone else due to frugality in clothing or seemed to mention it. In fact, if someone was putting on airs by flaunting or flexing possessions or wealth, that might draw some teasing or comment.
[WK45]“Thus, while adherents of Gnostic Christianity certainly acknowledged the role of Jesus in their faith, their theology placed greater significance on the intellectual revelation of his message than on his crucifixion and resurrection.”
[WK46]“The Dead Sea Scrolls are ancient manuscripts that were discovered between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves near Khirbet Qumran, on the northwestern shores of the Dead Sea.”
[WK47]“Catholic Answers is pleased to provide this unabridged entry from the original Catholic Encyclopedia, published between 1907 and 1912. It is a valuable resource for subjects related to theology, philosophy, history, culture, and more. Like most works that are more than a century old, though, it may occasionally use anachronistic language or present outdated scientific information.”
[WK48]“At the time of the Reformation, Protestants decided that, because the additional books weren’t in the Hebrew Bible, they shouldn’t be in the Christian Bible, either (though they were included in early editions of the King James Bible). Catholics, at the Council of Trent (1546), decided to keep the “deutero-canonical” books.”
[WK49]“The Findhorn Foundation is a dynamic experiment where everyday life is guided by the inner voice of spirit, where we work in co-creation with the intelligence of nature and take inspired action towards our vision of a better world. We share our learning and way of life in experiential workshops, conferences and events that take place within a thriving community and ecovillage.”
[WK50]“Reanalysing that reputation that she had we can see she was probably a woman of greater social status, higher social status, a woman of wealth who accompanied Jesus as we see in Luke 8:2, helping Jesus and his disciples with her own resources.”
[WK51]“Interdependence is a fundamental law of nature. Even tiny insects survive by mutual cooperation based on innate recognition of their interconnectedness. It is because our own human existence is so dependent on the help of others that our need for love lies at the very foundation of our existence. Therefore we need a genuine sense of responsibility and a sincere concern for the welfare of others.”
[WK52]“But new research co-sponsored by the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center suggests that the highly religious are less motivated by compassion when helping a stranger than are atheists, agnostics, and less religious people.”
“The more religious, on the other hand, may ground their generosity less in emotion, and more in other factors such as doctrine, a communal identity, or reputational concerns.”
[WK53]Military recruitment
Hazardous, or menial jobs for little pay (or both)
Other things I haven’t thought of
Health problems, mental problems, social problems, and financial problems all take a toll that is more difficult to quantify, but the research is starting to come together to prove that by taking care of people (health/mental health/housing etc), and by paying people decently for work – that people will work, and will be able to work, and might join the military without so much recruiting effort needed, because what they have is/feels worth preserving.
Notwithstanding that meat processing, food processing, harvest, cleaning, building, fixing, and tending the young, old, or sick are all vital services without which none of the rest of business or life could really take place. The pay and benefits should reflect the necessity of these jobs, and our society/culture could begin, perhaps, to honor the service workers who make the rest of it (life) possible. The best way to understand the vitality of a position is to imagine what happens if no one does the job.
