USDA Rewrites Roadless Rule to Benefit a few Timber Companies, destroying 22M acres of Old Growth Timber in the process – Screwing Alaskans out of Revenue and all Americans out of Indispensable Wilderness Area
Effects of clear-cutting an entire section of the Tongass – Clarence Strait, Wrangel, AK
AUGUST 2, 2018 Washington, D.C. —
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that it intends to create a special rule to undermine safeguards for the Tongass and the Chugach National Forests, prized expanses of glaciers, fjords and old-growth rainforest spanning more than 22 million acres in Alaska. The USDA seeks to create an “Alaska state-specific” version of the Roadless Rule, signaling a gift to a couple of timber companies that will mire the U.S. Forest Service in unprecedented, costly and needless controversy for years to come.
Aerial View Price of Wales Island, AK Inside Passage Foreground showing Sitka Forest Clear cutting
In my November Blog Post I discussed the details of my upcoming book “S.E Alaska’s Inside Passage – The Vanishing Wilderness”, I’ve placed an excerpt of the book at the bottom of this post. Since then I’ve been asked several times, “come on, is this region really vanishing?” YES IT IS! The above is a clear example of why. For the benefit of two or possibly three Timber interests and friends of former Governor Bill Walker and current Senator Lisa Murkowski, two measures were squeezed through by Senator Murkowski thus allowing the USDA to exempt the Tongass and the Chugach National Forests from the Roadless Rule. The destructive effects of building roads for the exclusive use of a money losing timbering industry in S.E Alaska’s Inside Passage, will result in plundering the region’s pristine, natural progression ecosystem of old growth Sitka and Hemlock trees, salmon population, mammals and plant structures over several lifetimes.
Clear-cutting entire sides of rare mountainous temperate rainforests, causes erosion of the entire ecosystems plant structure. Equally important, clear-cutting these trees will create the loss of storing almost 8% of our planet’s destructive carbon emissions that these trees convert to breathable oxygen. The same carbon emissions raising Alaska’s temperature causing acceleration of the region’s glaciers to melt. This meltwater goes directly into the Gulf of Alaska in the Pacific Ocean raising seawater levels to a destructive magnitude! The Tongass region will no longer look the way it does, nor perform the functions it does today for our planet. In essence it will vanish in less than 30 years!
Destructive effects of timber clear-cutting
Little known facts about this action are purposely hidden from the public view – chief of which is that taxpayers lose $.93 of every dollar spent selling rare ancient Tongass trees. It is very costly to build and maintain roads and access to areas required to support an industry that provides few jobs and an unsustainable revenue model. Another fact is that the most economically valuable big-tree stands were unsustainably “cherry-picked” in a pulp mill boom from the 1960s to the ‘90s, and it will be hundreds of years – generations – before they again become diverse old growth forests. Finally, the highly successful, environmentally friendly, eco-tourism business generates 35 times more jobs than the timber Industry along with a sustainable revenue model directly benefiting the people of Alaska and the ecosystem rather than offshore timbering interests.
Symmetry of Three – Glacial runoff from hanging glacier | Holkham Bay, AK
Humpback Bubblenet Feeding 4 whales surfacing | Frederick Sound, Admiralty Island, AK
Heavy Club Moss on Sitka Spruce branches | Kelp Bay, AK
Dawes Glacier Calving 50 ton Serac Ice Tower into tidewater fjord | Endicott Arm, AK
So this is why I’m doing this book. I wanted to show this regions astonishingly haunting beauty – while it is still here – to tell its incredible story, provide historical context, show its beautiful pristine ecosystem and its importance to all humans.
It is also my hope to reestablish “humans” emotional connection to the environment while providing a better understanding of what a sustainable ecosystem is, how it works and how it applies to the rest of our planet. Please enjoy the photographs and look for the full book to be released in the next month or so. We are establishing our relationship to an Alaskan publisher that will enable us to “self-publish” my book.
Of Sitka Spruce, Glacial Streams and Ice in the Mist.
Book Update…
Latest Dust Jacket
Folks have been asking, “Dude, what’s up with the book S.E. Alaska’s Inside Passage The Vanishing Wilderness?” Well, lot’s actually and no one’s called me dude in a long time. Amidst all the distraction of a most important mid-term, estrangement of my son due to harbored resentment, and two side trips to Colorado and Sleeping Bear; I’ve still made great progress keeping things moving forward. We’re down to writing the final chapters, and then it’s the final publishing template. Additionally, I’ve brought on Parachute Partners as the books publicist and aligned with Phil Gerbyshak my social media mentor and wonderful friend to head up and put some heat on the social campaign. While all that was happening I’ve been able to lock up some key booksellers for the launch and signings. so, quite a bit for a so called retired person lol.
Preserving a wilderness area – or why do this book at all.
The image at the beginning of this post contains key elements of an endangered wilderness environment area – water (and ice and mist), forest and streams ( I took this photo here in Endicott Arm Fjord on the way to Dawes Glacier). The Inside Passage wilderness area contains all of these, with water consisting of saltwater, freshwater and clouds;jord and the forest being one of the last remaining temperate rain forests on the planet. I’ve include some photographs that reveal some of these elements. Oh, and something new and I think you’ll like, each image is linked to the exact location in the region I took the photograph. Just click on the link in the caption the location in Google Maps. You can click on the 3D button to achieve the perspective of the area. These images are also included in the upcoming book, also tagged with the location’s coordinates. They are available here at Imagewithvision for fair price purchase to hang on your home or work wall. For every book or photograph sold I will donate 5% of the proceeds to the The Nature Conservancy. TNC is one of the only conservation groups making a significant difference with our environment. Please check them out here.
Holkham Bay just outside Endicott Arm fjord culminating at Dawes Glacier (Click here to see foto’s location)
For my family, my friends and friends of nature everywhere.
Why is this preservation so important, why am I so passionate – dare possessive about this particular Wilderness area? First and foremost, and I wish to be very clear – this region’s prime features are disappearing rapidly due principally to our planet’s natural warming and cooling cycles. However, our current cycle of warming is and has been accelerated by carbon based greenhouse gas generated by fossil fuels for at least the past few hundred years.
The Inside Passage has been further affected by “Old Growth” forest clear-cutting, contamination of shorelines and streams, melting & receding glaciers and fish (especially salmon) and wildlife populations quickly declining. This kind of “climate change” can be prevented, slowed – even stopped! However, that may not happen anytime soon or ever. So I felt compelled to use my God given talent as a photographer to document and record the Inside Passage and its associated wilderness areas before it disappears. I wanted my family, children, grandchildren, friends and really all people who’ll never get a chance to witness in person this incredible, unique wilderness region of our planet; have the opportunity to see it in all it’s stark, oft times haunting and changing beauty, through this book. I wanted to provide a rare glimpse into one of earth’s last remaining “pure” ecological “infrastructures”. This was the principal reason for this book project’s existence.
I used the medium of black and white because of its astonishing ability to show detail, definition and tonality without any distractions like oversaturated color and the artifacts it creates, or the prejudices that digital color photography introduces into today’s images (see two exact photos below – the color image is dull and boring). I’m a pictorial realist. I show things as they are in nature without changing any of natures complex and beautifully detailed DNA. In fact, digital photography only offers me two things – the instant nature of scene capture and the elimination of long hours slaving in an analog darkroom developing film and making prints.
Tracy Arm Fjord morning brilliance BW version (click here to see foto’s location)Opening to Tracy Arm Fjord – color version
Reconnecting man and the environment.
My second objective with The Vanishing Wilderness was to try and reconnect, in a positive way, man’s emotional relationship and connection to the environment. By having a better understanding of what obstacles it’s up against in just one region of the world (the Inside Passage area of Alaska), perhaps man would be more willing to do something about it. This area’s unique environment has a preserved ecosystem that’s pristine and exact in both process & execution. Thus it can replicate itself without having to worry about outside or invasive species influences. Second, its ecosystem can be closely studied – the results of which can be leveraged to replicate additional, similar ecosystems. Third, these ecosystems have been proven to be sustainable for successfully creating nutrients that provide the food to germinate and grow plants and feed fish, mammals and other wildlife without fail through eons of time. This can only be done effectively in this climate with its temperate rainforest and temperatures ranging from 30’s to 70’s with moderate humidity and rainfall amounts north of 200 in/yr. – that’s why the Inside Passage is so important. There’s really no other place like it in the world.
Hanus Bay Cutthroat Trout and Chum Salmon Stream | Baranof Island, AK (Click here to view foto’s location)
The Inside Passage environment is protected from extreme temperature conditions by the warmer ocean currents of the Pacific Northwest. This also allows all things to grow uninterrupted, again, without external interference.
Why and who is threatening this areas preserved status? Bearing the most responsibility is our government – its people who are responsible for the environment, governance of it and land management. The departing Sec. Interior Ryan Zinke (under investigation for illicit activities and extravagant spending habits), opened up drilling rights for all his energy friends along all the coastlines of the U.S. without regard whatsoever to the environment including 19 lease sites in Alaska. Acidification of offshore waters is contaminating food sources for fish, mammals. It is also leading to deterioration of earth’s underwater structures which adversely affects the movement of the earth’s crust. Both issues are altering and changing the climate adversely. Also responsible are Alaska’s Congressional representatives and their friends in the timber industry who provide the money that keeps them all elected.
Receded (Hanging) Glacier (Click here to see foto’s location)
As much as a protector of resources Sen. Lisa Murkowski portrays herself to be, she has advocated on behalf of the timber industry to clear-cut millions of acres of the Tongass National Forest, along with cutting roads through mountainous and glacial regions in the process. Since the Inside Passage’s fragile ecosystem is so dependent on the forest, clear-cutting even a small amount of valuable old growth and established timber will force the area to rapidly deteriorate through erosion and subsequent destruction of shoreline nutrients for salmon streams, bear, wolf and bird populations. Since timber cutting has been long proven to provides no long term sustainable revenue source to the state, why is there continued insistence on doing it. In the alternative eco-tourism for example, provides financial growth potential far beyond timber, or any other current or future revenue sources that destroy land, streams and wildlife.
The forest, glaciers and watersheds were, and still are the first and predominant architecture of S.E. Alaska’s Inside Passage and Northwest region of the United States. Native American peoples of North and South America migrated here first. It’s rare wilderness environment of glaciers, glacial valleys, islands, rainforest and wildlife can be preserved and conserved and remain sustainable for many years to come. It can also co-exist with man. Unless we make it vanish first.
The Author (Click here to see where I took this foto)
Liseron – Cosmos Cove safe out of storm | Baranof Island, AK
Wow, good to be back again under the pen so to speak – well, my mouse pen anyway. I’ve been away from writing posts for a while, as I started and nurtured Image with Vision, Inc. into a real live, breathing entity. So, what else have I been doing. Well, I’ve been working on large format coffee table book about the vanishing wilderness of S.E. Alaska’s Inside Passage. More about the book later on in this post.
Uber Water Taxi Float Plane passengers ready to board Liseron | Frederick Sound, AK
This is region of Alaska wife Rose and I spent a full week off the grid on a wilderness eco-cruise in June 2017. We went again the following year in July. The cruise with only 20 passengers was sponsored by Orvis, the fishing and outdoor outfitters. It was conceived and incredibly executed by Hunter McIntosh’s The Boat Company and his crew of the MV Liseron, a converted WWII minesweeper. This has been a bucket list item for both us for as long as we’ve known each other.
As many of you know, I’ve specialized in Landscape and Macro Photography for years. In fact, I was privileged to be a pioneer in this area, including during my years at Motorola shooting extreme close ups of IC chips under a scanning electron microscope (highly abstract with every color in the spectrum), and later with Agfa’s very expensive digital camera back on a Sinar view camera.
Adobe Lightroom CC Classic 7.3
My Sony Alpha Gear – 2 bodies, 3 lenses
Much of my work today is produced with the Sony Alpha camera system. I’ve also done away with enlargers and chemicals in the darkroom in exchange for Adobe’s Lightroom (thank god).
Both macro photo images and color landscape photographs have become extremely popular in today’s post-modern photography era. In fact I rarely see still lifes anymore. Over the last ten years, I’ve written, posted and published many of my photographs in both categories and I’ve enjoyed creating and bringing them to you.
Cowles Bog Skunk Cabbage “aliens” 1st bog plants to show themselves in spring – Rich Ackerman
For a long time now I’ve been telling folk to stop, get down on your hands and knees and look deep into the incredible world that’s invisible to us – in flowers, water and dirt!
I’m happy to say, many people have now caught on to this miniscule “macro” world beyond what we normally see. We now see a great number of close up and landscape images on Instagram, Facebook and other social platforms. However, for me at least, here’s the rub. Most are in color – dripping with obscene amounts of color – “photoshop altered” and well beyond reality. So, outside of all this retouched color, where’s the meaning behind these photos. Aside from just eye candy, where’s the conveyance of any real information? My IG inbox is crammed with hundreds, if not thousands of these photos, close up water drop reflections (often narcissitically including the photographers face) and beyond realistic.
While I often enjoy overloading my visual senses viewing these images; as I said, most do not represent reality in our world today, and our young “photographers” are missing the chief point of photography’s intended purpose – realism, meaning and perhaps even a story. I’m sincerely hoping we haven’t lost this intended purpose. Maybe these new photographers shouldn’t classify their work as photography anymore, just call it “digital art for fun”.
I’m hoping that via my black and white photographs, I can bring back some of the stark reality of content and haunting beauty of mountains, streams, forests, dunes, towns, people and wildlife of our remaining wilderness areas. I’m hoping to achieve this reality in my Alaska book as well.
So, now that I’ve firmly returned to my roots in black and white landscapes and macro photography, you’ll be seeing more of this genre from me. As you’ve followed my work, you know many of my black and white images are posted on both my Image with Vision Facebook page and my Image with Vision Photos Display page out on FineArtAmerica. Yes, I have succumbed to Instagram (where photos I refer to in the above discourse can be found) with both B/W and color photos out on my own feed – Reflexoneplus, I have to post there to stay relevant to my IG connections, customers and of course, my grandkids lol. I will be publishing exclusively only my black and white photos to my Image with Vision website and FB Fan Page, my twitter page and FineArtAmerica Sales site .
Tlingit Totem in Sitka Museum – Rich Ackerman
Mendenhall Glacier – Rich Ackerman
OK, that explains where my head is at today with my photography. So,with Rose by my side, we traveled to a place I’ve been reading about for decades, S.E. Alaska’s Inside Passage. I finally got to see, photograph and explore the wilderness areas of The Inside Passage.
The Inside Passage region of Alaska is one of the most unique, delicate and beautiful wilderness areas left remaining on earth. What we discovered were haunting, enchanting, amazing vistas of mist shrouded islands and mountains, active glaciers, and one of the only remaining intact temperate rainforests on earth. We traversed astounding bear trails through the Tongass rainforest and discovered 100’s of old growth Sitka and Hemlock spruce – some 9 or 10 feet in diameter and over 800 years old! We stepped back in time, yet saw what the future will bring as we traveled past logged clear-cut areas.What an unforgettable heart, mind and eye opening experience.
If you’ll recall your history, this is the area of North America where early explorers from Russia, England, Spain and other places, first came to discover North America via the pacific northwest. They came to explore and trade trinkets for pelts, fish and oil with the local natives of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian tribes of the Northwest Pacific. But for the Brits, they came to find the all elusive passage from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. Explorer George Vancouver never found this passage.
The earliest humans thought to inhabit North America (the Clovis People), were thought to have crossed the Bering Strait land bridge from Siberia around 13,000 years ago (oddly, right around the time of the glaciers last retreat) and settled in The Aleutian Islands and S.E. Alaska’s Inside Passage. These early humans evolved and expanded into many of the native cultures throughout North America up to the present time. Tlingit native indian cultural habits and artifacts can be found as far south as South America.
As we traveled more into this region, it became clear to me how important it was to document an area on earth that is rapidly vanishing due to our earth’s natural warming cycle, along with inept and careless handling of our environment and natural resources. We’ve all heard and read about the depletion of our protective ozone layer thus increasing heat & glacial melt due to our rampant CO2 emissions. You’re also aware of the toxic chemicals deposited in the sea areas around oil drilling facilities increasing acidification and killing adjacent fish populations.
Heavy Moss on Old Growth Sitka Spruce – Rich Ackerman
However, what you probably haven’t heard about is the massive destruction of vast and entire forest, stream, and wildlife ecosystems in Southeast Alaska as a result of timber companies – endorsed by the Forest System – systematically clear-cutting entire 800 year old forests that sustain much of the salmon, bear, eagle, deer and whale populations of this entire region.
Scouting Pybus Bay estuary | Admiralty Island, AK – Rich Ackerman
The Tongass Forest is actually one of the last remaining rainforests left on earth and as we saw, many parts of it are disappearing rapidly along with the ability to provide the nutrients to sustain the surrounding ecosystem.
I felt that the stunning tonal range and stark effect of black and white photography was the only way to reveal and portray this area in all of it’s remaining beauty. Digital color photographs with their inherent over saturation and other artifacts, would be a intrusion and huge distraction to realistically capturing this region.
Holkham Bay, Inside Passage, Alaska – Rich Ackerman
This is a rare part of our worlds geography that will very different in less than thirty years, and I felt strongly about showing it the way it was, preserving the beauty and wildness as it stands today.
I returned from Alaska with over 3000 images and an intense desire to create and produce a book of black and white photographs of this region. I didn’t want this to be yet another color travel book that would just sit on bookstore shelves along with the 100’s of other typical color travel books. Instead, I wanted this to be an “uber” quality large format 13 x 11 inch coffee table book. A photo essay “monograph” of my black and white images, conveying the expansive and haunting beauty of the Inside Passage and the Tongass rain forest, wildlife and wilderness area. A book that would that would show this region as it deserved to be shown – large size photos, and with crisp, bold starkness. I wanted to do a book that when opened, would display these large format photographs, in all their splendor and beauty to a full 26 inch width. When people open the book to a double page spread, it should take their breath away! I want my book to be reminiscent of the early Ansel Adams “Yosemite and the Range of Light” or Edward Weston’s “Last Years in Carmel” style books. A photo like the one below of Mendenhall Glacier at 26″ wide should be unforgettable!
Mendenhall Glacier and Lake Mt McGinnis (l) Mt Stroller White (m) | Juneau, Ak
I’ve called my book “S.E. Alaska’s Inside Passage The Vanishing Wilderness” and I am honored to have Dr. Brandon Shuler renowned environmentalist, activist and Executive Director of the Outdoor Writers Association of America provide the narrative for these photographs. I wanted Brandon’s knowledge and understanding of the environmental impact, along with his love and appreciation of the Tongass region, to showcase our vision of one of the world’s last remaining wilderness areas. Only he could expound best the significance this area represents to preservation, protection and sustainability of forest, sea, stream and wildlife ecosystems.
The photographs here in this post have not published anywhere else, and are examples of the type of high resolution, high quality offset printed monographs that will be in the book. Every line and crevasse of the evolution of a once under water, U-shaped glacial valley can be seen clearly. The clarity of reflection of a glacial face or shoreline (like below), provides the why and how to the Tlingit totems. Turn any water or mountain reflection photograph 45 degrees and you’ll better understand the meaning of the native culture. They’ll be more in the book on this phenomenon. Spoiler alert – water, salmon, halibut, whales, ravens, bear and eagles – play a big part on how they reveal the history and culture of this area along with the natives along the entire pacific coastline.
“Hanging Glacier” resulting in the typical U-shaped Valley – Rich Ackerman
“Dawes Glacier Reflection” near Juneau, Alaska – Rich Ackerman
The ecosystem of The Tongass rain forest is complex but not complicated. It’s actually fairly simple to understand. Yet this amazing ecosystem is unlike any other in the world. The ancient sitka’s and hemlock trees and their root system provide nutrients to the forest understory (smaller trees, shrubs berry plants, mosses and lichens), which in turn drain into the adjoining streams and estuaries that feed the salmon who provide food humans but also bears, eagles other birds and deer and sea mammals. Although the photographs in my book will be black and white, the Tongass rain forest offers an large tonal range of green color. When photographed in black and white, this tonal range gets expanded further still, along with immense detail and definition a color photo won’t show. I provided a photo (below) showing the absolute stunning green lushness of the Tongass rainforest with it’s old/new growth trees, mosses and lichens.
In the photo where I’m fly fishing for Dolly Varden Char (similar to salmon and trout), we’re at low tide and and it’s important to note how close the Sitka trees are to the shoreline. When timber companies clear-cut these trees to more than a mile up from the shoreline, there’s nothing left to sustain anything living in or about the streams, including the salmon that are consumed by a substantial portion of the world’s population in one form or another.
Tongass Rainforest with new growth trees, moss, lichen and blue granite glacial boulder – Rich Ackerman
“Fishing for Dolly Varden Char in Saook Bay” – Rich Ackerman
Clear-cut area on Prince of Wales Island S.E Alaska – courtesy of Erika Nortemann/TNC
Here are two photos of timber clear-cutting and the after effects on the forest (left) and on the stream. These photos were taken in North Prince of Wales Island in the southern portion of the Inside Passage.
Effects of Clear-cutting Tongass Forest trees on stream ecosystem – courtesy of Peter Mach | Stand For Trees
Today, most of the 800 to 1000 year old Sitka trees on the northern part of the island have been cut down and destroyed. To our benefit though, it appears that recent failure of legislation to open up more of the Tongass to timber companies and more clear-cutting, have earned the Tongass and it’s ecosystem a reprieve from the inevitable. So for now, efforts to preserve the forest, streams, salmon, bear, eagle and other wildlife will continue. Oh, and have I talked about the whales…
So with that, please look for my book of black and white photos, and Brandon’s magical narrative at the mid – February, when it’s anticipated to be released. Again, it’s called “S.E. Alaska Inside Passage The Vanishing Wilderness”. We will be sending out press releases for signings and a special offering for initial book orders. I will be updating this blog often with updates and progress. Hope we can meet at some of the signing locations.
Recently two of my best buds from #HDI – Brandon Caudle and Jason Wischer have created a wonderful yet compelling podcast called “#Two Dads with Hats”. In their weekly casts they feature folks they feel have contributed significantly to the industry and culture of our HDI family and colleagues. Jeebez, how the hell I got included in this group I don’t know? Was it something I did – something I said?
In the podcast Jason refers to and discusses some of my photos. They included some beavers, lily pads in still frozen ice and other abstract nature work that I do at #Spicer Lake Nature Preserve in New Carlisle, IN (right on the MI/IN state line). Since I’m very much into studying the 15,000 to 20,000 year old ecosystems of the last glacial age, including a recently competed wilderness trip to S.E. Alaska (that will be another post coming shortly). Spicer is one of the best guarded and untouched examples of a glacial kettle lake that transitions to marsh to bog to mature forest of Mature Red, Sugar and Norway Maples; White, Black and Green Ash along with several other categories of trees. Here is a video of Spicer Lake with some of photos talked about in Two Dads with Hats podcast.
KIRAbook – a pretty good Ultrabook
Beautiful to look at, incredibly easy to use, much more than I anticipated – even
beyond the already great experiences I’ve had with Toshiba products.
Instant on – works as advertised, the SSD makes a difference; if you buy a laptop make
sure it has this type of drive. My KIRAbook has a 256GB SSD, leaving plenty of
space for storage.
Screen graphics – awesome at extreme angles for tight viewing on a plane, great color, definition and contrast. Videos and movies look great.
Weight – just a tab heavier than my Portege, but better components are
packaged in, thus keeping it cooler, and making it run faster. Toshiba finally got
smart and put higher quality and larger rubber feet on the bottom, to keep it from
sliding off your desk. In previous laptops they came off after about two weeks of usage.
Speed – I’m on the road often and use my cellphone’s 4G
capability. It runs equally as fast as when I’m at home with my router. No
latency with YouTube vids or Vimeo presentations.
A couple of minor issues, and one major one.
The touchpad scroll capability needed to be enabled as it wasn’t working upon
delivery. Not being totally comfortable with W8, I had to poke around to figure
out how to get to settings then the control panel to turn on scrolling. I
learned subsequently the much easier W8 way to manage devices. The other issue
is not one of the laptop in particular. Because the screen resolution of the
KIRAbook is so high it creates a full screen with such tiny text that when using
Remote Desktop (to access remote networks) it is very difficult to work
effectively.
A major issue is the lack of a VGA connector. If you do presentations or work with a large screen monitor, this laptop will not work with either. It has a HDMI-Out, but how many external projectors, and large monitors have HDMI cable connectors – very few.
All in all incredible laptop value for what will be perceived an
elevated price.
Awesome Customer Service Experience
The Amazon partner I purchased my KIRAbook through, ElectroNick, deserves a huge shout out. The product was late by a day in getting to my home, which created some delays with my work project. They threw in a copy of Office 2013 Pro for the trouble (a $400 value) – that was service beyond expected. I highly recommend them.
I’m going to write this and get a lot of comments. I try and stay apolitical out here in social and twittersphere with one exception – Healthcare, who by the way allows most of congress to continue getting re-elected. keep their jobs, and is responsible for why many Americans are poor, or Americans that have little disposable income to buys goods and services from American companies.
This Time magazine supplement should be read by every American – rich, poor, young, old white, black, or Hispanic. It exposes what’s really going on in healthcare, one of our largest business segments, and a large part of what happens in our lives. It’s also an industry that the payer (insurance companies) and provider (hospitals, physicians and clinical practices) side is mostly unregulated and is perhaps the root cause of many of our ills (pun intended). Last, it’s an industry that provides one of the largest lobby groups in Washington and the most money funding our elected officials in Washington’s campaigns.
Roughly half of all Americans are unknowing of what really goes on in backrooms and behind closed doors to cause and foster the economic and governmental environment we’re in. Simple stuff, basic stuff, things that are really pretty easy to understand, like the article here. Bonus Article by Robert Reich.
Why are these people ignorant of this? A lot of reasons – they don’t care because they think there’s nothing they can do to affect outcomes (that’s bs because part of the Romney dissed 47% got Obama re-elected), too much reality TV – Honey Boo Boo’s ignorance fosters more ignorance – perhaps and playing video games way too much . Whatever the reason, they haven’t taken the time to read about and understand any of the mechanics that get people elected and sustained in office; or why executives of a healthcare industry that continues to profit from the public financially while destroying people’s lives and their self-esteem make more money than Warren Buffet.
Whatever the reason, 47% or 50% is one hell of a lot of people, that if educated about the reality shows going on in Washington, in healthcare and the environment, and then mobilized; I believe, maybe, just maybe, substantial change could come about – for America and Americans. But, not what would we have to bitch and write about.
If you think social media networking and it’s corollary Social Marketing aren’t working, listen to my story about buying Rocker Style shoes. Like many today I try to walk 3 to 4 times a week (running wreaks havoc on my shins). At the same time I’ve been looking for the nirvana of shoes. Shoes that emulate more our natural walking style yet stimulate all parts of the foot, calf muscles, and buttocks while going easy on and lowering back pain.
For years the industry leader promoted a shoe that emulated how the Masai people walked across the flat plains of eastern Africa. Wow, I thought, got to get me pair of these shoes. Being the social media gadfly that I am, I decided to do some research first. Here’s what I learned – not from the sites that carried these types of shoes – but from the people that purchased and wore them. People that had social media networks as their message carrier.
Some of us have excellent stability in our lower ankles and feet, and others (like many of us older folks), less stable feet, with wobbly ankles and calf muscles. So through various industry sites I learned that if you ever walked at all over uneven terrain, the industry leader’s more spongy shoe might create problems for those of us with weak ankles. I also learned that the industry leader had gone through bankruptcy and that many shoe outlets had limited stocks or support for the shoe.
Also, as is the case in many product designs competitors build better mousetraps, with better manufacturing capability, suppliers better skilled and greater attention to customer support. As it turns out there were several other rocker style shoe manufacturers that took our natural walking style and accommodated us weak ankle folks by providing a more stable shoe.
Even though there are many great web consumer sites, forums and online industry watchdog sites, I’ve now found that many of these sites are loaded with pop up ads, vendor endorsements and very little actual customer experiences. I did find that just a quick search in the Twitterverse yielded much more meaningful information in my pursuit of the near perfect walking shoe. Not only did I find actual customer experiences with rocker shoes but also where I could get them and find them supported. So thank You Twitter now my back no longer hurts, I’m feeling good from the excercise – finally nirvana.
Every year at this time Wired Magazine releases my favorite piece of technology muckraking – Wired, Tired, Expired. This years list really gets down, as good as any James Brown or Sam and Dave tune (dating myself am I), even more cool is the writing style, especially the sarcasm in each of the “expire” sections our industry really deserves. My favorite is “The Mobile Web” “Get our new iPhone app” what total busllshit, and how true is is the commentary on that.
