“How can you have a war on terrorism when war itself is terrorism?” – Howard Zinn

President Dwight Eisenhower gave a chilling warning in his farewell address on January 17, 1961 about a threat to democratic government. This threat, he warned, was the infiltration of the military-industrial complex, which was a “formidable union of defense contractors and the armed forces.” In his 1961 address Eisenhower elaborates, “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist.”(1)

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the military spending for 2013 in the U.S was approximately $640 billion. China came in a distant second with $188 billion, and Russia spent a mere $87.8 billion.(2) The threat of any military conflict in the U.S from foreign invaders seems remote, yet like the Cold War, America overstated the potential threats in an effort to continue to support the military industrial complex. This ensured certain corporations continue to thrive, prosper, and benefit from the ongoing industrial military industry while millions suffer from the conflict and destabilisation these wars promote.

“It would be a mistake to think this culture clear-cuts only forests, it clear-cuts our psyches as well. It would be a mistake to think it dams only rivers. We ourselves are dammed (and damned) by it as well. It would be a mistake to think it creates dead zones only in the ocean. It creates dead zones in our hearts and minds. It would be a mistake to think it fragments only our habitat. We too are fragmented, split off, shredded, rent, torn.” ~ Derrick Jensen

Colonialism, expansionism, imperialism, call it what you will. It has systematically destroyed both our psychological and ecological environments. It is a heartless man-machine hell-bent on conquering, consuming, controlling and repeating, ad infinitum. Like Frantz Fanon said, “Colonialism is not a machine capable of thinking, a body endowed with reason. It is naked violence.”

And in its naked violence it leaves paths of mass destruction that transform healthy environments into burnt-out husks. Unhealthy and unsustainable, colonialism is an engine with outdated machinery and parochial, dyed-in-the-wool equipment. It rampages over environments like a mindless, hyper-violent backhoe; close-minded and dogged in its obsolete dog-eat-dog worldview.

By Carmen Allgood
Contributing Writer for Wake Up World

In the last five years a super-phenomenon has been rising from the mists as urban sprawl decays around the globe. In the midst of a sea of concrete and tar, a mirage of living, breathing architecture is forming before our very eyes, taking shape and emerging as an Oasis.

No longer just a place to escape from the maddening crowds and stress of inner city life, the hit song “Up On The Roof” takes on a fresh new meaning as we — the citizens of our collective home — strive to tidy up the planet and green up our world. Our survival as a species just might depend on this action.

Top This!

The bigger picture reveals that Green Roofs, as they are called, reduce the amount of energy needed to cool and heat buildings during summer and winter months. Rooftop gardens are also a practical way to combat air pollution and global warming (in case it is true!) and deliver a more peaceful environment. Some spaces are being used for beautification and atmosphere, but more importantly, many hands are busy transforming these spaces into lush and vibrant vegetable gardens.

By Paul Lenda
Guest Writer for Wake Up World

There’s a heightening level of awareness within the human race with regards to nature and all that it contained within it. Everything from the discoveries of the rudiments of language in monkeys, metacognition in dolphins, self-awareness of elephants, the ability for animals to tell “right” from “wrong”, to the creation and extension of bills of rights for animals and plants by countries such as Switzerland and Ecuador as well as the acknowledgment of dolphins as being non-human persons.

There’s a growing awareness within humanity that nature and its inhabitants are not as primitive and simple as we once believed them to be. With this growing awareness comes growing understanding of the unity that humanity has with the environment within which it exists. This sense of unity with nature is not something new and indeed has been the primary position of awareness for many societies in existence before their industrialization.

Diabetes currently affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide. In America alone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that number to be approximately 20 million. Potential cures and methods to reverse the disease are showing some promising results, and one of them is a chemical that’s commonly found in a number of plants around the world. It’s also a main ingredient in the psychoactive mixture commonly known as ayahuasca.

Diabetes is an autoimmune disease that prevents a person’s pancreas from producing insulin, which is a hormone that enables people to receive energy from their food. This occurs when the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, which are called beta cells. Apparently, the cause is not well understood, but scientists believe that genetic and environmental factors play a role. Modern day mainstream science tells us that there are no cures.

Again, types 1 and 2 diabetes affect some 380 million people worldwide. Both ultimately result from a deficiency of functional pancreatic insulin-producing beta cells, which is where this chemical is showing the most promising results.

God said:

Our relationship, yours and Mine, began way back. We did not erupt in this century, although I must also remind you that relative time does not exist except in the mind of man. Time is merely a backdrop to the world. Of course, inasmuch as We exist in Eternity and Infinity, We have been together Eternally and Infinitely.

Our acquaintance is not new. It is more true to say that you become reacquainted with Me. I have an inalterable memory. Your memory flashes on and off, yet you are regaining your memory. Sometimes your memory comes in a flash, and sometimes your memory recollects itself in bits and pieces. I am reminding you that your memory is not new. Your memory is not a flash in the pan. It is immemorial.

For some it may seem as though We have never met. The truth is that We have never NOT met. We have been together always. We have never been apart. We meet every day – no, rather - Our meeting is a constant. We always reverberate.

Yes, however, you are a good forgetter. In the same way as you can’t get some things out of your mind, you also have not been able to let some aspects of life enter your mind. Perhaps you think it would be too much for you, or that you might lose your identity, and you feel that you cannot live without it.

Dear Ones, without Our Identity as One, without your memory of Us, you have been missing out on a great deal of the Preciousness of Life on Earth. Our memory is the memory of count.