Life Expectancy.

 I'm sixty-five years old.  

I retired early at 62.  My life expectancy then, as a white female in the USA, was 81.2 years or almost 20 years left to go.

If I had retired at 65, I could have expected 15 years---covid, opioid crisis, whatever dropped expectancy. But wait, there is more, since I'm in Oklahoma, it actually is only 78.6 for a white female, about 13 years--and that was figured before the pandemic.

Reality is, neither statistic is going to kill me--unless I catch Covid and die of it, or start taking opiates and become addicted, I'll die the same time I would have no matter what.

So what is all this life expectancy stuff.

It's statistics.

Statistics help us to see the big picture.  They show us where we are progressing, where we are failing and how we compare to other places on those same things.  But they are not a simple picture---call them abstract art---because to understand the stats, you have to dig around and find the causes of the changes.

In 1860, life expectancy was 39.1 but  in 1865 it 35.1.  

What happened?  Short answer--the Civil War.  But it is complicated as those statistics may not include anyone in the country but white people. (And there were other people here, there always have been--at least since written history in this country and we have evidence of people here more than 20,000 years ago).  

While many people died of the war, many also died of the consequences of war, broken supply chains, farms burned or left fallow because of where they were or who was not around to care for the farm--so hunger thrived.  And hate thrived.  Never underestimate the ability of hate to kill people.

Life expectancy has seldom gone down, it takes big things, but some big things really make a difference---Before the USA, Bubonic plague dropped us tremendously, but after in the USA, it has happened seldom enough.

In 1915, life expectancy was 54.14, by 1920, only 53.22.  That was a combination of WWI and the Spanish Flu pandemic.  There were 117,465 deaths of military and nonmilitary personnel in WWI.

The flu pandemic killed 675,000 during that same time period.  The Population at that time was less than 107 Million.

Right now, our life expectancy in this country is being affected by Covid-19, gun violence, climate change, no access to healthcare, no access to abortion/reproductive care, poor education, food deserts, homelessness, income inequality and hate.

What are you and your loved ones being affected by?

Life expectancy in years - USAFacts

List of U.S. states and territories by life expectancy - Wikipedia

• United States: life expectancy 1860-2020 | Statista

How Many Americans Died in WW1? - History (historyonthenet.com)

Covid overtakes 1918 Spanish flu as deadliest disease in U.S. history (statnews.com)

Let's Fix the United States of America by updating the constitution.

 The Constitution - Full Text | The National Constitution Center (for your reading pleasure)

Back when the constitution was new, the country was 13 states that had been 13 colonies whose loyalty was to their owner nation.  Each colony wished to maintain it's special individuality.  The constitution, which was always more compromise (to get the approval of 13 varied colony's leaders) than work of brilliance.   The idea of a country without a monarch was very new, with most pointing to Ancient Greece and it's republic as the only example of a non-monarchy in existence---ever.  They knew nothing except European practices after the Church.

Yet, here we are, 246 years later, still acting like our government is the cat's pajamas.

We can AND should do better.

1. The checks and balances of a three part leadership of the country is fine, but why is the executive branch appointing the Top of the Judicial Branch---for life.  No one should get handed a lifetime guaranteed job.  AND the people should vote these people in with 8 year terms and NO second terms.

2. The President should remain 4 years with one possible second term but the qualifications need to include a thorough background check, tax audit, AND a sitting president needs to have ALL assets (except one home and one vehicle) placed by the country in a holding status for the duration of their presidency, no access to any family members.  Also, no family members, including in-laws can work for the president/white house or hold appointed positions in his cabinet/advisors.  Presidential elections need to be a national primary with ranked voting followed by a November election between the TOP TWO primary winners.  Both will be by popular vote, so that each citizen has one vote equal to every other citizen's vote.  Every Citizen, upon achieving both age 18 AND U.S. citizenship status shall be registered.  Every Citizen shall receive a government photo ID for free that is provided upon the same date. 

To clarify, while States still will run state elections, National elections will be run by the Nation, no more party-run primaries, or caucuses, no more Electoral colleges where states with hardly any people have more power than states with huge populations.

National elections will include President/Vice-President, Supreme Court Justices, all Federal Judges,  and the Attorney General every 4 years,  Cabinet Members every 4 years (what?  oh yeah! no more crap with executive branch putting anti-education folks over education and anti-environmental people over the EPA), Senators (Every 4 years) and representatives (every 4 years).  Every candidate for every position will pass the same background check that the presidential and vice-presidential candidates must undergo.  No person can run for the same position more than 2 times, whether they win or not.

Monies for all national elections will be be a set amount provided by the US government and Citizens United will be Stopped completely, as will grassroots donations.  NO MORE BUYING ELECTIONS!  Every Media Organization will be required to provide free and equal time to each candidate.  Lying to get elected will not be allowed.  Campaigning before Six months prior to the primary will not be allowed.  Starting conspiracy theories, spreading untrue rumors about opponent will result in disqualification.

US States - Ranked by Population 2022 (worldpopulationreview.com)

Next up, ungerrymander the country.  Either re-divide the states or allow each state 1 senator for every half a million people.  then wyoming (the District of columbia, Vermont, Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Delaware) gets 1 senator, Rhode Island, Montana, New Hampshire, Hawaii, West Virginia, Idaho, Nebraska get 2  senators, New Mexico, Kansas and Mississippi get 3 senators, Arkansas, Iowa, Nevado, Utah and Connecticutt get 4 senators, Oklahoma, Oregon, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Alabama get 5 senators, all the way up to California getting 40 senators.  (you could also have the same number of senators as representatives, which would also be by population)

OR, we keep 2 senators per state-district and go for areas with over 30 million million each.  With that we get about 11 states.  (I've added the District of columbia and Puerto Rico, sense we should not have US citizens with no vote.)

Districts 1 and 2, California and Texas each get 2 senators.

District 3, Florida and Georgia combine to get 2 senators.

District 4, New York and Pennsylvania combine to get 2 senators.

District 5, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio combine to get 2 senators.

District 6, District of Columbia, Virginia and West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina and Puerto Rico combine to get 2 senators.

District 7, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennesse, and Kentucky get 2 senators.

District 8, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho Utah and Hawaii get 2 senators.

District 9, Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska get 2 senators.

District 10, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska get 2 senators.

District 11, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticutt, New Jersey, Vermont, Delaware, Rhode Island, Maine, and New Hampshire get 2 senators.

Or, we just eliminate 2 houses of congress, and stick with 4 year terms in the currently apportioned house of representatives and give both the job of the house and the job of the senate to the single house.  (K.I.S.S.)

Comments and suggestions welcome.  

expected high--113 degrees.

 It is July 18th of 2022.  

In February, it was so cold the old houses in my neighborhood were hanging quilts inside over the doors and windows and still by day three the heater was struggling to keep it above 60 inside.

In May, it was raining so much we thought we were going to get a repeat of the 2019 floods.

By June, we had stopped raining and hit 100 degrees (F) several times.

By today, we have hit over 100 as many days as not.  

Tuesday, expected is 113.  

That's tomorrow.  

The days that haven't gone over 100 in the last week have hit 98-99.  

They always feel hotter--heat index.

No rain since June 10th.  None. Not even the usual July 4th post fireworks shower.

People are saying stupid stuff, like "perhaps climate change is real".

Why climate change became popular

While attested since the 1850s and notably used in some 1950s research and reporting, the phrase climate change spread in the 1980s. There was no official call for everyone to start saying climate change instead of global warming, and it’s a myth that scientists changed the name global warming to climate change because they weren’t finding evidence for average rises in temperature across the globe. You can still find resources that use both terms.

However, many organizations, such as NASA, use climate change more frequently because it encompasses all of the predicted effects of global warming and “temperature change itself isn’t the most severe effect of changing climate.” (It’s changes in sea levels and precipitation patterns.)  The Changing Language Of Climate Change | Dictionary.com

And don't forget the term "greenhouse gases".

The greenhouse effect is a process that occurs when gases in Earth's atmosphere trap the Sun's heat. This process makes Earth much warmer than it would be without an atmosphere. The greenhouse effect is one of the things that makes Earth a comfortable place to live.

What Is the Greenhouse Effect? | NASA Climate Kids

Venus may have had a shallow liquid-water ocean and habitable surface temperatures for up to 2 billion years of its early history, according to computer modeling of the planet’s ancient climate by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. 

Venus today is a hellish world. It has a crushing carbon dioxide atmosphere 90 times as thick as Earth’s. There is almost no water vapor. Temperatures reach 864 degrees Fahrenheit (462 degrees Celsius) at its surface.

NASA climate modeling suggests Venus may have been habitable – Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet

Overview | Venus – NASA Solar System Exploration

Amazingly, the main issue climate change deniers have is the belief that humans could affect the climate of the whole world.

The deniers also frequently think that an asteroid striking earth could not cause the ice age and that dinosaur bones were placed in the rocks by the devil to make the faithful question God's word---the bible, which makes no mention of such and seems to describe an earth less than 10,000 years old. 

So, let's talk about human effects on environment.

The Dust Bowl of the 1930's was well documented.  There are both pictures and written testimonies of it as it occurred.  

It was no accident that it occurred after the Land Rush and statehood.  Suddenly, a huge prairie was being cleared, plowed, and farmed.  

Many current farming practices, strip planting, terracing, crop rotation, and planting fallow land were a result of lessons learned from the Dust Bowl: Cause & Impact On Great Depression - HISTORY

That, and the rather ridiculous statements of belief by those profiting by selling land, that the act of starting a farm would make that land more lush and fertile.

The old practice of plowing up endless fields with no attention to erosion, watershed, or normal rainfall in an area resulted in a topsoil, loosened by drought, being blown by the winds of the plains---for miles.  

Science.  

It's not magic.

It's literally learning from what we can check with our 5 senses and the instruments we can create that help us to use those same senses to see smaller things, detect smaller amounts of a chemical (like taste and smell)  feel smaller movements (touch) or hear soundwaves outside the realm of human ear detection.  

Ignorance is not the answer---a full-bodied education is.

Thoughts and prayers is not the answer---use of the information we learn from those that study such things, to decrease our own human impact  is.

Humans can not continue to live as locust on the surface of our home planet.

We are too many and too impactful.

It is time to view ourselves as actual stewards instead of just consumers.