U.S. 2015 Bombing of Hospital, War, and Need for Alternatives

Please forgive me for pontificating on one of my hot-button issues. Perhaps it is because I grew up during the Vietnam War era, but I despise war.

I read in an April 29, 2016 New York Times website article that sixteen U.S. military officials are being administratively disciplined due to the prolonged accidental bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital in 2015.

I understand that under stressful wartime conditions accidents happen, that decisions often must be made quickly with limited information, etc. But I think that makes it even more crucial to find alternatives to war.

What if instead of a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan, one in the U.S. had been hit? What type of discipline would the United States government have sought for the offending country? In 1898 the U.S. went to war with Spain, and a primary reason was an explosion on the U.S. military vessel Maine that apparently was caused by a fire that led to an accidental ammunition explosion, as stated by a History.com piece, among others. How would the U.S. government have felt about an accidental hospital bombing in the U.S.? What about all the accidental bombings of civilians, including wedding parties, in other countries by the U.S. military?

I think the U.S. military is creating more terrorists than it kills by its military actions. Personally, I am tired of the war-mongering American military. As a March 27, 2016 Los Angeles Times website article  noted, "Syrian militias armed by" the FBI and others armed by the CIA "have repeatedly shot at each other."

If the U.S. had not been involved in major military actions in Iraq and Syria, I think that ISIL would not have risen to power. Most persons in Iraq were probably happier and better off before the U.S. overthrew Hussein than they are now. Iraqis had more freedom of religion, and probably more dependable electrical power, water supplies, and experienced fewer violent deaths.

The U.S. has provided arms to a huge number of countries, often to oppressive leaders who used their weaponry to abuse their own people. Our nation even provided aid that helped Osama Bin Laden. He was called a "freedom fighter" and "sponsored by the CIA" according to an opinion piece on DefenceJournal.com article. Numerous other sources note U.S. military aid benefiting Bin Laden in his fight against Russia. Other U.S. military aid helped Saddam Hussein in his earlier years. And the U.S. currently supports an oppressive Saudi Arabian government, among others.

Even in our own country the abuse of Native American Indians and African-Americans has been horrendous. And we fought a horrible Civil War; that war led to the end to legal slavery in the United States. But many countries around the world abolished slavery without fighting a war to do it. Why didn't or couldn't we? I think we could have with better leaders.

Long before the Civil War, some leaders sought to abolish slavery in the U.S. For example, although Thomas Jefferson owned slaves, he apparently strongly disliked slavery and even condemned slavery in at least one early draft of the Declaration of Independence. If that segment had not been deleted, would slavery have been abolished earlier in the U.S.? Maybe our country would have remained part of England, never seceded, and the Revolutionary War averted. Jefferson in 1784 again sought to end slavery in a proposal that was narrowly defeated in the Continental Congress.

Concluding Thoughts
Somehow we must learn to solve problems peacefully. Sadly, those of us in the United States often do not know about abuses committed by U.S. military forces overseas. Even in the horrendous Abu Ghraib tragedies, the government denied them until photographic evidence emerged. And I think the first person that was prosecuted was the person who took the photographs.

Let's seek to love even our enemies as Jesus taught. Let's seek to "be good and do good" as Buddha advocated, as stated in approximate translations of his words into English on various websites. I think treating people fairly will help make this country and this world a much better place and greatly reduce the violence. You may think I am naive. Maybe I am. And if you have a better alternative, I'd love to read or hear about it. Thanks for taking time to read this diatribe.

Mining Remains Important Despite Recent Job Losses

Many materials mined around the world (coal, limestone, copper, gold, silver, iron ore, etc.) have a wide variety of uses. These uses include building and highway construction, cell phones, cooking utensils, and even solar panels and wind turbines.

Steve Gardner (2015 SME President) spoke today (April 21, 2016) in Lexington, Kentucky about the importance of mining and the current situation of mining around the world. Among other things, Gardner noted that drops in commodity prices, environmental regulations, etc., have cost hundreds of thousands of jobs around the world although mining is important and will continue.

According to a January 8, 2016 Mining.com piece over 100,000 mining/mining support jobs were lost in the U.S. alone in 2015.

Coal Mining
Coal mining may be especially impacted as most folks in Kentucky where I live probably know due to the number of mines shut and miners put out of work in recent years, and as a February 1, 2016 Kentucky.com article noted. Furthermore, a February 22, 2016 Reuters article stated that China (the world's largest coal consumer) plans to close over 1,000 of its own coal mines this year.

Coal mining will continue. However, as I see it, coal mining may never rebound to its levels of a few years ago. It's unfortunate for miners though that its decline has happened so fast with environmental regulations, cheaper natural gas, lower oil prices, and renewable fuels, along with a recession all impacting it negatively.
 
Concluding Thoughts
Though I strongly favor reasonable environmental regulations and am glad for many major improvements made that reduce pollution from coal-fired plants in the U.S., automobile exhaust, etc., let's not forget that mining and materials mined fueled the Industrial Revolution and remain important now and will in the foreseeable future.

I am impressed with worldwide efforts to improve safety and environmental standards and to explore alternatives to fossil fuels. It's also great to reduce unnecessary energy consumption and to avoid buying or making unnecessary products. But try to think a bit about all the products that you (or others) own and use daily and think about how many materials had to be mined to produce them.

Let's try to keep things in perspective. Mining is important and will remain so for many years to come as I see it.

Disclosure: Although I am not a practicing mining engineer, I do hold a mining engineering degree from the University of Kentucky, worked two summers in the mining industry during college, and some of my relatives worked in the mining industry, including both my father and paternal grandfather who worked as mining engineers. I wrote this article after hearing Steve Gardner speak this evening. Though I didn't hear all of his talk, I got there in time to hear most of it, and this article is based on my own knowledge and research as well as his talk.

Is Global Warming Occurring?--If Not Let's Still Take Action

I am not convinced that global warming will be a problem in the upcoming decades and centuries. Still, I think it makes sense to take many actions that a lot of environmentalists advocate. Please let me explain.

First, Is Global Warming Really a Problem?

I want to make it clear that a lot of the talk about global warming may be hyperbole.

Scientists claim that the Earth is over four billion years old (a claim I dispute, but that's another story). Furthermore, scientists believe that we are in an ice age, with current temperatures significantly lower than the average temperature over Earth's lifetime. These are well documented facts (according to scientists) that you can find in various articles.

The trend toward warmer temperatures is very short term compared to the planet's supposed lifetime of a few billion years. When I was in high school in the 1970s, after a few years of cooler than average temperatures, scientists warned about coming colder temperatures. Probably the best known of numerous articles about this is an April 28, 1975 Newsweek article titled "The Cooling World."

What about the future? In another ten, fifty, or one hundred years currently unknown factors may result in cooler temperatures again. I am not convinced of the accuracy of scientists' long term forecasts based on short term data.

Second, Let's Take Action Regardless

However, point number two, my other main point, is that regardless of whether or not global warming is occurring, many of the actions that persons advocate taking to combat global warming are worthy to do.

For example, reducing our use of fossil fuels is a wise move. I grew up in southeastern Kentucky and know firsthand that the production, transportation, and consumption of coal involve health risks. We need to at least gradually progress toward cleaner alternatives to coal.

And, for better or worse, a lot of people living in coal mining areas need to find new jobs, even if it means relocating. Sadly, the fact is that due to mechanization, limited coal reserves that are easily and cheaply minable, etc., the mining industry in Kentucky will never again employ as many people as it did when I was a child in the 1960s and 1970s or even a few years ago.      

But, remember that coal is just one of the fossil fuels. Gasoline is another polluter. I have bicycled down Lexington's Nicholasville Road during rush hour (rarely thankfully) and strongly disliked breathing the automobile exhaust from a long line of cars—cars that often were moving slower than I was on my bicycle. I advocate for persons to drive less, drive more fuel efficient vehicles, carpool more, use mass transit more, bicycle more, walk more, etc.

Furthermore, global warming supposedly will lead to ocean levels rising enough to flood many islands and coastal areas. Even if such horrible flooding does not occur, it makes sense to build a bit away from the ocean, as I see it. This helps protect against hurricanes, if nothing else. We don't need millions of people living near ports or other coastal areas, especially in the age of jet aircraft travel. Let's reduce construction in such areas and gradually relocate many who currently live there.

It also makes sense to build smaller houses and apartments that require less energy to heat and cool. Most of us have more space than we need.

Common sense actions can improve our lives much, whether or not global warming actually turns out to be a big problem. And those of us who don't believe much in predictions about the horrors of global warming may need to take the leadership role in this, because many who speak so strongly about the horrors of global warming seem to choose to drive SUVs and live in large houses.

Please, let's all seek to take actions to help improve conditions in our world. If we do, we may live happier, healthier, longer lives.