David W. Oaks portrait by Isaac Paris c 2016

More than 42 Months After I Broke My Neck, I Do a Stand-Up Comedy Act this Saturday, 30 July 2016

Or perhaps I should say “sit-down comedy”? My intro for my act by the MC will be this:

“From right here in Eugene, our next sit-down comic is David Oaks, also known as PsychoQuad. That means he can slay any audience and then plead insanity!”

If you live in the Eugene-area, or know someone here, get there early to save your seat at Sam Bond’s Garbage, the bar Blair! I will bring my own seat. The monthly show, Bleepin’ Funny, is hosted by an indisputably leading comedic talent in our area, Leigh Anne Jasheway-Bryant. And it is a free event.

I have been going with my loving wife, Debra, for most months to Bleepin’ Funny, for years. I have been in the audience, in fact Sam Bond’s saves a table or two for my friends and me. But this Saturday, 30 July 2016, when the show starts at 5 pm, I am slated to take the stage about the fourth slot.

I have been practicing my stand-up. Before my fall I had the disadvantage of speaking “seriously” in about a dozen countries, for a fee. But humor is better and more fulfilling than boring non-stop seriousness. Or not?

Today, 27 July 2016, above we scoped out the stage at Sam Bond’s, where I am to perform this Saturday. I have two plans for getting on the stage. They involve four strong, sober volunteers with strong backs. I will bring a hold harmless clause printout so they will not worry about lawyers. But should I wear a bike helmet?

Bleepin’ Funny always features some stand-up, plus Leigh Anne takes the stage with a crew and does some lively, fresh improv. The show ends about 7 pm. It is all-ages, so bring the kids and do not worry about blue material. Call me crazy, but, I say get there early. Heck, even if it is nearly empty you might volunteer for my chair-hoisting crew! See Ian if you want to help out.

The comic Isaac Paris drew me to this amazing possible career, if these weird people known as stand ups can tolerate a professional weirdo. Move over Josh Blue, you no longer are the king of cripple comedy.

Isaac helped arrange for me to do comedy and be on this show. He is up in his native Alaska this week, so he will miss this Bleepin’ Funny. My documentarian and good friend David Zupan plans to video my act, with permissions of course!

Last week, I rehearsed at the Lane Independent Living Alliance (LILA) Peer Support Club, and Zupan was out of town so I did not pursue the documentary. But a relative shot me with their laptop for my own edification. You would think we had somehow violated the law, because an unsmiling employee had her boss e-mail me a verbal unfriendly terse note, I guess government-funded places like that can never have documentaries? My friend Mark Roberts is the brother of the famous Ed Roberts! I guess if Ed were still alive, and tried to speak at a Center for Independent Living, he would not be able to be taped for broader distribution. Hey, protect those privacy rights, cash our taxpayer-money checks, and let us celebrate there are now several-hundred Center for Independent Living (CIL’s) in the nation today, the backbone of the USA disability movement. I love CIL’s, but it is time to start an ADAPT local chapter; I hear you ADAPT headquarters in Austin, Texas.

Humor is Necessary: Please Laugh Once Per Minute (Just Joking!)

Anyway, the good humor, at least we hope it is good humor, will be at Sam Bond’s Garage, a down-home community center with good beer, great little menu, and even great outdoor seating in the back during warm months when it is appropriate. See you there, I will get there very early to save a place or get drunk.

Some Actual Real Humorous News! Well, True Anyway, and I Think it is News-Worthy Mental Health Revolution News

During my rehab, over these more than 42 months, I have had one (1) paid gig doing my work. Incredibly, probably because of a recommendation by my good friend, psychiatric survivor New Yorker Celia Brown, of MindFreedom, my solitary paid gig during my rehab has been to be one of the many independent contractors in the mental health reform field to review and comment on drafts of several manuals, mainly about mental health peer support, by the World Health Organization (WHO), based in Geneva, Switzerland.

The WHO, yes, the same global health agency that tackled some nasty viruses in recent years, has a small but active division working for global mental health. Five years ago, I had the good fortune to visit WHO headquarters in Switzerland, because a number of us psychiatric survivor activists met with and consulted for the head of WHO mental health at that time, the passionate and brilliant Italian psychiatrist, Dr. Bendetto Saraceno. The doctor now directs a psychiatric non-governmental organization in Europe, and has retired from WHO.

This year, the WHO mental health manuals have not yet been released to the public, and so the content is private. However, for my generous independent contractor fee, I tried to provide online input for all the draft manuals. I tried to provide written comments that were both practical and revolutionary.

Some of the non-normal written comments that I made about these drafts, as an actual official paid WHO consultant, were:

• The world very much needs a revolution, especially because the climate crisis has been so ignored for too many years. Yes, as the Pope recommends, I also suggested revolution for our planet in my official written comments to WHO, as a contracted consultant. In fact, since another round of input is to be requested, I currently still am an WHO independent contractor. Of course, I am speaking for myself and my opinion alone here, not in any way for WHO.
• Repeatedly, I made sure that my position was crystal clear, that one hundred percent of all people, all the time, every moment, from womb to tomb, are in a state of mind that is in extreme, life-threatening crisis. That is right, my 42 years of activism in psychiatric survivor revolution provided me with four words as my lesson: “We are all nuts!” Nothing wrong with being nuts, if that word has any meaning at all. We may always all of us be nuts, but we can choose what kind of nuts we will be. Will we be creative positive nuts? Or destructive divisive nuts? We must choose.
• Everyone alive, everyone, has a crisis. Maybe your’s will be very short, but we all have at least one crisis. We are moral. We love. So, prepare for your crisis! Hey, all you need to do is get ready for the unexpected. May I humbly suggest building your community of friends and family?
• We must act now! We cannot wait for perfect information, in fact science has a theme: Mystery! Whether it is quantum physics, black holes, fractals, chaos theory, string theory, dark matter, dark energy, etc.: As Socrates noted over and over, we do not know much, to this day. But we still need to act, we still need to ask questions. Just as the wing of a butterfly can later influence the course of a hurricane, we must flap our wings! Note we have enormous influence, but not control.
• The other side of the Butterfly Effect is that as the climate crisis triggers dozens of positive feedback effects, we are entering unpredictable chaos. No way I am giving up hope! Hey, that was me lying on the floor with a broken neck 42 months ago! But my paralysis is mild next to our society’s paralysis. Everyone, all of us, get off the floor!
• A first step is to realize that internal revolution in our hearts and minds, is not stoppable. Let us make this shared goal more visible now, to help our global morale. I am not saying we will win a quality revolution, but I am sure we can try right now! I believe in you, you all are Supreme Commanders this time! OK, not all of that went into my comments to WHO.
• But, I made it very clear in my written comments to WHO as an official consultant, that the thing we the public have been calling “normal” does not actual exist. Yes, like some horrible nightmarish virus, “normality” has been eliminated, it does not exist. Since I know that several WHO people have a great sense of humor, it turns out they are human, then I hope they take some credit for finding their funny bone and realizing the seriousness of saying, “There is no normal!”
• Yes, normal is not in fact, well, normal. Eliminating all traces of “normal” is not the same thing as going after a virus. Yes, some people choose to take drugs to address mental and emotional issues. That is their choice. But “normality” and mental wellness in general, is about something far deeper and more profound than any “normal” medication.
• I encourage folks to use the easy online interface with WHO to provide resources, suggestions, feedback, important points about the mental health industry, and more important the revolution in mental well being, which uses choice/freedom as a kind of umbrella for recovery, and once shielded there are thousands and thousands of approaches! Just use your search engine to search for the following phrase and then type in your comments: World Health Organization Contact Form. Dr. Saraceno told me, that every comment made to WHO must be treated with respect, and logged. Yes, even so-called irrational comments. Please send your favorite empowering alternative, ask WHO to send this to their mental health division! At the bottom of this is a three-minute video to promote reaching out to WHO. The revolution does not apply only to us consultants, but to everyone, even non-human animals, plants and maybe every particle.
• Hey wouldn’t it be cool if the whole universe, you included, are equals all working as one? Now that is a Revolution!

On the Birthday of My Friend Leonard Roy Frank (LRF) 15 July 2016

David W. Oaks and his wife Debra react to publicity about the debut of Ghostbusters 3 on July 15, 2016, which is also the birthday for the late and amazing Leonard Roy Frank, psychiatric survivor, editor, friend, revolutionary.

I first wrote this on the 8th day of Creative Maladjustment (CM) Week, which was 7 to 15 July 2016. Yes, Creative Maladjustment Week is now eight days long to end on the 7/15 birthday of this psychiatry-surviving, electroshock defying, mystic-being, beatnik-pioneering, quote-editing San Franciscan Leonard Roy Frank (who would have turned 84 this year of he were still alive).

During these three and a half years of my deep recovery I estimate that I have listened to more than 4,000 hours of National Public Radio news, tuning in every morning via our local KLCC-FM. For example, I feel as if I am personal friends with John Hockenberry, host of Takeaway, because he first got his start here in Eugene KLCC-FM, he is in a wheelchair, but he only exchanged one message before he moved to the East Coast and became a national radio star. He still seems to support revolution, and you do not have to use your imagination much to hear that.

So, for better or worse, I have had more time to think, with my brains, heart, great support folks. Leonard, you showed us that after incredible torture the human spirit can still come back and help humanity. Every time I spoke privately with Leonard, we laughed and laughed. What a keen and at times wicked sense of humor, informed of course that near-biblical personal moral code.

A bunch of my friends in our movement are now dead, or as some of us joked very, very disabled: Rae, Judi, Howie, so many more, and now Pat Risser. If we remember to reform the corrupt mental health group, NAMI, even half as much as Pat wanted, always keeping our sense of humor and outrage, think of all the loving parents who we can support, now being tricked by this drug company front group!

More info about Leonard can be found all over the web, or go to any major bookstore and ask for their huge book Quotationary. Leonard lovingly edited this book of thousands of quotes, and subversively inserted dozens of great quotes very critical of the mental health industry, psychology, psychiatry, electroshock, etc. While he did not hide his identity as a psychiatric survivor during his work as one of the world’s experts on quotes, the fact is that he ended up gathering quotes as part of his strategy to re-create his incredible mind after psychiatry tried to destroy his loving spirit, unsuccessfully.

Sounds like LRF got the last laugh on the mental health industry torture machine. Since this apparatus apparently lacks a spirit of humor, getting the last laugh may be very winnable! I know that so many people have been cheering me on and sending support in so many ways, thanks! My Mom used to send out personal thanks with hand-written cards. As Mom got into her late 90’s she stopped sending cards. Her death last year really put a crimp in her card writing!

But do MindFreedom members really know that this shy Mom of mine worked for years as a volunteer in the main office, sometimes three days a week! Truly, Violet Oaks, my Mom, was MindFreedom’s top volunteer. So far.

For those of you who have read this long post, despite my many severe disabilities, or perhaps because of my creative maladjustment to these extreme challenges, I am talking with board members about coming back in some way, perhaps as a consultant. If I can crawl back to the work place, with extreme accommodations, so can anyone!

So a MindFreedom folks, do you want me back helping on our ship after these 42 months? If you can work together with other members, and ask me to come back, maybe I will, in some way. Before I fell, during my 25 years at MindFreedom’s helm, I raised about one million dollars for this grassroots human rights coalition.

We always prided ourselves about being independent of government money, and working for donations, often from very poor folks. Now, your feedback is appreciate, here, or via Facebook, or with your hearts. And the Oddsquad Advisory Team, and others, I need your advice right now. I must find the tight rope between recovery and revolution.

You may also refer to MindFreedom’s portal about Leonard.

Breaking your neck is never a good idea but if you must break your neck, I would recommend Eugene, Oregon, USA. I have so very many of you to thank! Surprisingly, the absolute winners in the “Support David W. Oaks During His Recovery,” is the Fair Family connected to Oregon Country Fair.

This message is to you all: The rest of my life could be weeping tears of joy thanking you all, every moment! How do I know? I can’t wait, I must act now and thank you! Thanks, thanks, thanks. The word for thanks in Lithuanian, origin for all my grandparents, sounds like a sneeze:

Ah-h-h-h-h Ch-o-o-o-o-o! That word is spelled “aciu,” with some pronunciation marks. Sorry, no time for that, just thanks thanks thanks!

DISCLAIMER: Thanks to homecare worker Sara and my admin for taking my raw notes and fashioning that into the blog, though I take full responsibility and finished my final edit today 27 July 2016. Because of the coincidence of Ghostbusters 3 debuting on 15 July 2016, I was eager to get something out that day. Thanks everyone, especially my darling wife Debra, when I fell, I know that we fell. I hope people give you, Debra, support that is even better than the amazing support so many have given me this past 42 plus months!

OK, Here is a Three-Minute Free Video Encouraging You to Contact the World Health Organization, Now!

It is easy, you can suggest your favorite humane alternative to the inherently flawed, corrupted-beyond-comment mental health industry to our World Health Organization, just direct your search engine to their Contact Form:  http://www.who.int/about/contact_form/en/

Above entry was a originally posted on my personal blog, which can be found here: 

www.davidwoaks.com

Protected by Creative Commons, only for non-commercial use with attribution. 

Mad Memo #1

Dear Supreme Commander (You!):

Did you know you are a key leader of a global peaceful revolution? Surprise! My guess is that many of you reading this may not yet know that you are one of the “Supreme Commanders” of  world revolution.

In fact, if you wish, and you reflect the values of Martin Luther King, you may say you are leading the organization that he first envisioned, International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment (IAACM.)

Let me explain.

Yes, during World War II, Dwight D. (Ike) Eisenhower was the Supreme Commander during D-Day, which was one of the biggest operations in human history. This time, we need to do something far bigger than D-Day, encompassing the whole world. You and everyone are Supreme Commanders.

So I have a question for you:

“What does it look like if humanity even begins to attempt a global revolution?”

However you stand on the USA presidential campaign, you might admire the way Bernie Sanders has talked openly and frequently about “revolution.”

I have been calling for revolution for many decades. As a young adult back in the 1970’s, I experienced forced psychiatric drugging, and so I have spent my whole life

(We are continuing to hold events in the Square. You may download & print a color PDF of the February 12, 2016 event here: Feb12Keseyevent

The previous protest event poster can be downloaded here: eugene-climate-silence-kesey-square.)

Let’s Gather to Speak Out!

Ken Kesey, the late author of ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,’ lived in Lane County. A statue of Ken is in the middle of Eugene’s downtown, informally known as Kesey Square.

4:00 pm, Friday, February 12, 2016

Kesey Square, Broadway & Willamette, Eugene

All peace-loving people are welcome!

Brief speaking by David Oaks and others. Public speak-out to hear your voice. We will Youtube this event to the world!

Save Earth!

More info: [email protected]

Sponsored by International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment (find IAACM, founded by MLK, on Facebook). We are self-organising this network through the leadership of everyone who supports our principles of mutual respect. You are a leader here!

Previous Event News Release — January 2016

More information: [email protected]

Citizens in Lane County encouraged to Gather to Save Kesey Square, and Break Climate Silence.

Because they say our society has been to silent about the climate crisis, concerned citizens are invited to speak and sing at Kesey Square, on Broadway and Willamette, which is targeted by developers.

Peaceful events will begin at 3:30 PM on Friday 29 January 2016.

During the vigil organizers plan to visit nearby to Summit Bank, 96 Broadway. Their president, Craig Wanichek, is outgoing chair of Eugene Area Chamber, which has for years stayed silent about the climate crisis despite repeated community outreach. The Chamber new chair is Nigel Francisco, Chief Financial Officer of Ninkasi Brewing. Protesters encourage customers to ask Summit and Ninkasi to lead the local Chamber to finally speak out about the climate.

January 29 is a special day according according to holiday web sites such as Brownielocks. That day you are invited to peacefully celebrate “Freethinkers Day, National Puzzle Day, Seeing Eye Dog Day, and Thomas Paine Day.”

Sponsored by International Association for the Advancement for Creative Maladjustment. Your group endorsement is welcome. Protest is dedicated to the memory of the late activist Peg Morton. We’re round pegs facing square holes!

Plan to speak out that day? Tell us! Find our group on Facebook: LeadOn Lane!

# # #

by David W. Oaks

KEZI TV covered the protest. That’s me in the power chair.

Here in Eugene, Oregon, in the middle of downtown, there is a small public square with a statue of the late author and local legend Ken Kesey. I knew Ken, famous for writing One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, one of the main novels celebrating counterculture and challenging psychiatry.

I organized a small protest in Kesey Square on January 29, 2016 for two reasons: First, developers threaten commercial expansion. Second, I encouraged people to speak out against the climate silence that paralyzes the general public. Below I expand upon the speech I delivered in the middle of the eccentric  chaos.

Europe is laughing at us. You, the whole world, laughs at us. With Trump and Sarah Palin dominating the news, and with gun-toting militants taking over an Oregon bird sanctuary, hell, we are laughing at ourselves! We do look crazy.

I am an American nut. So I feel qualified to reply to the world about the USA’s mental health. The diagnoses I received throughout five lock-ups in psychiatric institutions back when I was a student at Harvard in the 1970’s include “psychosis”, “schizophrenia,” “bipolar,” and “depression.” Somehow, I graduated with honors anyway in 1977. Since then I have been a psychiatric survivor activist working in our little-known social change Mad Movement. I still see a psychotherapist regularly with my diagnosis of “PTSD.”

And I am thoroughly American. I grew up in the south side of Chicago. I lived on the east coast for eight years. I have close relatives down in Texas. And for the last 33 years I have lived here in Oregon.

Ken Kesey worked in a psychiatric institution in Roseburg, Oregon and this helped inform his 1962 book One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. Ken had a favorite phrase in the story, “Bull goose loony,” which referred to the alpha-crazy on the ward.

We Americans are giving Donald Trump, through all the media obsession, the status of bull goose loony. I have learned during my lifetime working for human rights in mental health is that we are all a little crazy, from womb to tomb, 24/7. (I am very glad that the voters of Iowa rejected Donald Trump tonight in the presidential Iowa caucus, by coincidence the moment I finished and sent in this blog about my speech on Friday!)

Yes, Donald is nuts. But we are all nuts. The real question is, “What kind of nuts are we?”

Hey world, sometimes you want us American nuts. The good kind of nuts.

My dad was in D-Day in 1944, as Americans and Allies ran into machine gun nests on the French coast. Dad told us a story about D-Day several times. Dad arrived on the fifth day of D-Day as an MP, military police. He watched a lot of young Americans head into battle. Dad was struck by how one young man was so frightened about the war that when he pulled up his shirt, the muscle spasms in his abdomen went up and down, up and down, like the waves on the sea. World, you wanted American nuts then as they headed on roads to Berlin to take out Hitler.

In 1963 Martin Luther King gave his famous speech, “I Have a Dream.” But did you know that he did not deliver his written speech that day, and it was called “Normalcy — Never Again”? That sounds a little nuts, the good kind. The world seemed to like Martin, who got his Nobel prize in 1964 in Oslo, Norway. Dr. King talked a lot about “creative maladjustment.” He often said that the world was in dire need of a new organization, the “International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment.”

Now the world is in a tipping point toward chaos.

Positive feedback loops in this climate crisis, such as methane release, may lead to a worst case scenario, which I call “Normalgeddon.” A smarter quad than I, Stephen Hawking, said that because of the risk of runaway greenhouse effect he is worried there is a chance of boiling oceans.

Talk about explicit madness! If the word “madness” has any meaning at all, then risking all life on earth would seem to qualify.

At a time when even the Pope says that the climate demands a global revolution, Trump is a distraction from where we should be directing our attention. There are far more fascinating stories that are far more important today.

For instance, the Kogi Indians in Colombia, South America, warn us about how the “younger brothers,” as they call the West, may ruin the world. They have had villages for thousands of years, that somehow escaped European invasion and remained intact. See the absolutely-riveting 2012 documentary “Aluna” on Netflix, in which the Kogi leaders use a gold-colored thread to illustrate how all of nature is inter-connected. That is the kind of good madness that I like to see! Why have most people not been informed about the Kogi’s message?

The “butterfly effect” gives us each potential, enormous power. We need something far bigger than D-Day to save the climate, and this time we are all Ike. That is, because of the butterfly effect we are all Supreme Commanders, as crazy as that sounds.

Yes, I have many disabilities.

In 2012 I fell down and broke my neck, and now I am a quad in a powerchair. I have been here before. I remember being on the floor and feeling the paralysis coming over me, unsure if it would kill me. I looked deeply into the eyes of my darling Debra. Today, world, you seem paralyzed. I have some familiarity with paralysis.

I try to empathize with you, world, and love you all. But generally we, the world, seem spiritually sick. We seem morally paralyzed. Our collective disabilities seem far bigger than mine.

There is no assurance we will win this global revolution. But at least we can break the silence, and make it undeniable that we are seeking revolution. Yes, we are all nuts but the question is:

What kind of nuts are we?

I challenge Donald Trump to prove that he should be our bull goose loony. What are we nuts for?

I am #Nuts4 love!

I am #Nuts4 Debra!

I am #Nuts4 revolution now! Now! Now!

——————-

At the end of my speech, several of us walked the half block from Kesey Square to Summit Bank. In the bank lobby about five employees stood ready to help. I asked to speak with the bank’s President, Craig Wanichek, who also served as the chair of the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce. Several times I have tried to ask Craig to speak about the US Chamber, and how they are complicit with the climate crisis. He has maintained silence and now I know why.

“Craig is right behind you,” said the employees. He was. Craig quickly walked to the door and invited us to leave. Instead I turned around and said, “I would like to open an account.” Craig came back and threatened to call the police if we did not leave. For more information about the chamber and climate, search the web for this term: Normalgeddon

You are invited to tweet what you are most mad for. Use: #nuts4 as in #nuts4life

At the tasting for Ninkasi Brewery we spoke out about climate silence. So far no one from Ninkasi is talking with us but we will keep drinking their beer and asking them to speak up.

You would think that the whole world would be talking every day, all day about the threat to life itself on this planet due to decades of delay in addressing the climate crisis. Here in Eugene, Oregon at this point one would think our very progressive community would be discussing this topic all the time.

So why is there such silence?

Last week, our local weekly newspaper printed a little letter from me about the silence in our community regarding the climate crisis, a copy of the text is below.

Each of us individually can and must break the silence about climate chaos, or what I call climate silence.

Earlier this month the Paris climate meeting ended and we heard some mixed messages about the progress the resulted.

As the poet Dylan Thomas said:

“Do not go gentle into that good night,
… Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

Below is my letter to the editor (12/17/15) summing up my own activism on our climate chaos:

OUR CHAMBER IS SILENT

 

COP 21 in Paris focused on what is most certain about climate change, such as the amount of sea-level rise. I am most concerned about uncertain disasters, such as positive runaway feedback loops, like methane release. We might hit a tipping point that could result in a chaotic Russian roulette with our planet. With such a worst-case scenario a possibility, our local response is far too silent.

 

For several years I have helped a campaign by the well-respected national group, 350.org. They ask local businesses to say that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce does not speak for them! Our local Eugene Area Chamber is actually independent from the U.S. Chamber, but unfortunately, after years of emails, visits and publicity, their leadership has stayed silent about global warming and refuses to put out a simple statement that the U.S. Chamber does not speak for them! Only about 56 local chambers, out of thousands, have spoken up.

 

Approaching friendly local businesses to talk about this issue is a good test of our nonviolence, compassion and civility. For example, several of us have communicated and visited with Ninkasi Brewing Company, whose Chief Financial Officer Nigel Francisco is the chair-elect for the Eugene Area Chamber. The Chamber’s website has a convenient business directory so that anyone can easily see if their favorite businesses are members. Eugene Weekly is a member.

 

Info about this is on my blog: davidwoaks.com. Click on the tab marked “Normalgeddon.”

 

David W. Oaks, Eugene

For more information about our trip to Ninkasi and the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, please see my blog entry about this with a link to how you can sign a petition.

Two of the leaders who went to the event at Ninkasi have commented about why this action is important:

“It’s really rare when the consequences of speaking up, or not, are this dire.  So for the sake of our children and grandchildren, who will need a stable planet to live on, let’s speak up before it’s too late!” — Ron Unger, mental health counselor and activist, please see his blog here.

This is a giant hole — actually called End Of The World — in Siberian permafrost that illustrates feedback loops involving methane release.

Update 12/2015:

Several of us have visited Ninkasi Brewery because their Chief Financial Officer is the chair-elect for the local Chamber of Commerce. You may see the results and photo here.  

Updated 9/21/2015:

If you live in or near Eugene, Oregon, there is a very easy way to look on the web and see if your favorite business belongs to the local Chamber. If so, please ask the business owner to contact the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce and request that our local Chamber acknowledge that global warming exists, is caused by humans, and the US Chamber in Washington, DC, does not speak for us!

Welcome to Normalgeddon!

I invented the word Normalgeddon to describe the risk of ending not only civilization as we know it, but ending life on Earth over the next few decades. Yes, I realize that things like sea-level rise and hurricanes are more certain, even currently-existing, outcomes of global warming. But there is an uncertain and real chance of “run-away” global warming, when positive feedback loops bring our chaotic climate system into uncharted waters. In this case, a tipping point of no-return could be reached and a very different and unlivable environment unfolds. I call this phenomenon Normalgeddon because it is our collective complacency and adherence to so-called Normality that are driving us toward catastrophe.

For example, one of the most famous scientists, Stephen Hawking, said: “I am afraid the atmosphere might get hotter and hotter until it will be like Venus with boiling sulfuric acid.”

I like to think that by acting urgently and based on our highest principles, we have a chance of turning things around.

Here is a brief list of resources both on this blog and in the web about preventing Normalgeddon.

Links to my blog entries:

1. My latest blog entry about the Chamber of Commerce and Global Warming:

April 2015 Update: We visit the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, and now you can see both a four-minute and 44-minute videos by David Zupan and Jana Thrift about our protest here:

http://www.davidwoaks.com/eugene-area-chamber-of-silence-about-climate-crisis

We visited Ninkasi Brewery, which is a member of the Eugene Area Chamber of commerce. Their Chief Financial Officer is the chair-elect. So far they have not responded to our concerns. You may see our public note and photo of our visit here:

Here is a previous post about the campaign to encourage our local chamber in Eugene to speak out about global warming:

http://www.davidwoaks.com/global-warming-normalgeddon-mental-wellness-chamber-of-commerce

Here is an earlier post about the local chamber:

http://www.davidwoaks.com/eugene-area-chamber-global-warming

2. Other blog entries about this topic, please read them one after another here:

http://www.davidwoaks.com/category/normalgeddon

Here are a few other resources about runaway global warming risk:

1. A google search for videos on this topic that you should check out:

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=runaway+climate+change&tbm=vid

2. If you are ready to hear from someone who is respected but apparently is a bit more pessimistic than me about the future, please read about Guy R. McPherson, author of the book Going Dark, here:

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=mcpherson+going+dark

Thriving despite the risk of Normalgeddon:

Readers of my blog know that I am informed as an amateur about the science of emergence, or as I like to call it “the butterfly effect.” In other words, if we all act from our best values of unity, activism, and love of Earth, then we may have unexpected great results — a Climate Miracle! So remember that hope involves taking action without knowing exactly what the outcome may be.

Everyone ought to be familiar with this revolution in the sciences sometimes called systems sciences or complexity theory. You may read about this here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory

Books such as Web of Life, by physicist Fritjof Capra, apply this type of thinking to living systems.

By coincidence, earlier this year I spent a whole session with my great counselor, psychologist John Bundy, about this very topic because I found I was losing a lot of sleep as I did research. After all, this may be the end of human life. I like to think that we all act together and save life. But I know this topic can be very upsetting.

May I suggest that we use the power of peer support, and I plan to do a lot of protesting and speaking out about this topic. I sure hope we work together now about this, no matter what the results, and hopefully we will celebrate later on!

There is an ancient Persian saying: No one is tired on Victory Day!

This page will change as more material arrives. Speaking of which, the great leader for connecting our movement to his career of mental health counselor, Ron Unger, sent me the following:

Ron provided one of the main links about a worst case scenario that one of the main climate crisis scientists brought up in 2013:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2311699/Could-Earth-barren-Venus-Climate-change-scientist-warns-planet-ice-free-human-free.html#ixzz3StLDobcd

Ron said, “Nice expression – a ‘human free’ planet.  It sounds kind of pristine!”