Image by RANT 73 via Flickr
with Chris Hedges
RT America on Jul 21, 2018
Adam Frank, astrophysicist, describes the shifting state of planet earth and alien planets with journalist Chris Hedges for On Contact.
See also:
Light of the Stars–Alien Worlds and The Fate of The Earth by Adam Frank
Saying Goodbye to Planet Earth by Chris Hedges
From the archives:
Capitalism on Mars by Lowell Flanders
Capitalism is Killing the Planet by Eric Schechter
Plastic Oceans, Poisoned Air, Criminal Neglect by Graham Peebles
The End Of The Road For Capitalism Or For Us All? by William Bowles
Dandelion Salad 
Great conversation….a desperately needed sense of cosmic proportion! Anyone who is prepared to think very hard and deeply about these mind-bending questions, might want to try Stuart Kauffman’s Humanity in a Creative Universe ~ not an ‘easy’ multi-disciplinary read, but rich in detail!
I’ve been very keen on the ‘imaginal’ concept of an Indigenous Civilization for many years now; as arguably, in real evolutionary terms, an authentic planetary civilization can’t be anything else. When you interrogate this context, what it suggests & implies is a universally coherent, reciprocally adjusted, intelligent biodiversity ~ health and life.
I also subscribe to a metaphysical view that humankind is still in its cosmic infancy. To survive as a species, we have a lot of urgent growing up to do. In authentic indigenous cultures, growing up meant coming of age; grounded initiation ~ direct experience of ‘cosmic’ Earth-based inter-relationships.
So far as the English-speaking world is concerned, with its educated, enlightenment privilege, progressive “open society” ethos, self-regulating sciences and emerging multicultural social consciousness, I think it is fair to suggest that the US still has many material advantages, despite the egregious faults and dramatic problems of which we are all so crucially and painfully aware.
On a planetary scale, the critical point has arrived, we are at this epic moment right now; in this gigantic crisis of civilization, the USA has a supreme role to play. Somehow, authentic intelligence must prevail, the voices of true wisdom need to be heard and our shared, pellucid visionary capacities, fully acknowledged, exercised and implemented.
There is no alternative; unrestricted, incorruptible vision has somehow to over-ride the fractious din of gibbering ignorance, that assaults us from every specious quarter. As Adam Frank makes so abundantly clear, our mutual potential is colossal; for which biological systems-theorist, Professor Emeritus Kauffman, has coined the term “adjacent-possible….” while Professor Emerita ~ the exceptional ~ Donna Haraway, exhorts us to “stay with the trouble…” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrYA7sMQaBQ