Let There Be Light!

WELCOME TO THE EARTH MANIFESTO

The goal of Earth Manifesto essays is to contribute to the improvement of the condition and prospects of human societies by shining the bright light of awareness, incisive observation, clarity of reason, common sense, and spiritual enlightenment into all arenas of human thought and understanding. These ideas will help create a valuable and needed restructuring of our activities, behaviors, policies and institutions, and make our societies fairer and more sustainable.
                                                                                                                 --- Dr. Tiffany B. Twain

       'We make our destinies by the gods we choose.’
                                                                       --- Virgil, the Roman epic poet of antiquity

The Earth Manifesto is dedicated to Mark Twain, the great American writer, humorist, satirist, and lecturer, whose quotes inform almost every essay herein. An in-depth exploration of these enlightening understandings by high school and college students, and teachers and professors, and journalists and philosophers and politicians would help change the world for the better, and could prove conclusively that the pen really is mightier than the sword.

Transformational Impulse: Art Serving Society!

                                          SAVE THE WORLD

BEFORE PART ONE.

HONESTLY SEEING THINGS LIKE THEY REALLY ARE

VISIONARY INSIGHTS 2024

A BILL OF RIGHTS FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS. Lights, camera, action!

THE CRITICAL IMPERATIVE OF THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

UNBALANCED: SUPREME COURT POLITICS, CHICANERY AND CORRUPTION

REVELATIONS OF A MODERN PROPHET. Revelations related to the increasing need for new spiritual and practical ways of seeing and acting in the world.

SALVATION FROM THREATS POSED BY MAGA TRUMPMANIA.

DEMOCRACY, AND THE PROBLEMATIC AND PATHOLOGICAL PERILS OF "ELECTORAL AUTOCRACIES".

DIVIDE-TO-CONQUER ROGUERY

FOX NEWS TREACHERY: PROFITEERING BY PUSHING POLARIZING PROPAGANDA

TIFFANY TWAIN TELLS A TANTALIZING TAUTOLOGICAL TRUTH

SUSTAINABILITY INDEX: AN ASSESSMENT OF PROGRESS TOWARD SUSTAINABLE EXISTENCE

SEE CLEARLY - SANITY DURING INSANE TIMES. This compendium of ideas promises to revolutionarily alter the corruptly rigged status quo in the USA and transform the future from a destiny of dystopian Trumpism to a much more providential path to salubrious times for humanity.

WOMEN'S RIGHTS: LET FREEDOM RING - HONESTLY

MODERATION, TRUE JUSTICE AND THE GOLDEN RULE

INTELLIGENT PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLES ENUNCIATED --- HOLY COW!

COMMON SENSE REVIVAL. This set of observations transforms Thomas Paine's famous pamphlet of 1776 into a modern incarnation of cogent Common Sense arguments with the hope that these ideas may revolutionarily improve our society. Thomas Paine and Mark Twain would approve this message.

A FUSILLADE OF PHILOSOPHY

CLIMATE CHANGE CONSIDERATIONS, CARRYING CAPACITY, AND ECOLOGICAL OVERSHOOT

PRESS RELEASE. A top-level summary of Earth Manifesto ideas.

GOOD PROPOSALS FOR SAVING HUMANITY

"MY COUNTRY, RIGHT OR WRONG?"

AMAZING DISGRACE -- Reflections on times that try men's souls.

A CLARION CALL FOR ACTION. An Open Letter to the American People

           "Sail forth --- Steer for the deep water only,
              Reckless O Soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me,
               For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
                And we will risk the ship, ourselves, and all."

                                                                                              --- Walt Whitman

Note: This manifesto contains almost 150 essays and compendiums of ideas, thoughts and observations. Every essay linked to this Home Page is included somewhere in the Twelve Books of the Earth Manifesto. Sales pitch: Each of these handsome large format (8.5" x 11") books is 212-pages long, and all are available from the on-demand publisher Lulu Press.

Here are the titles of these books:
Common Sense Revival Book One of the Earth Manifesto
Entertaining Illumination Unleashed Book Two of the Earth Manifesto
Existential Enlightenment Book Three of the E.M. (Version 1)
Love in the Time of Choleric Book Three of the E.M. (Version 2)
Imaginative Perspectives and
Ecopsychological Insights
Book Four of the Earth Manifesto
Healthy Recipes and Provocative Worldviews Book Five of the Earth Manifesto
Incisive Global Perspectives Book Six of the Earth Manifesto
Comprehensive Global Perspective:
An Illuminating Worldview
Book Seven of the Earth Manifesto
Big Picture Perspectives, and A Pursuit of
Social Activism
Book Eight of the Earth Manifesto
The Original Earth Manifesto Book Nine of the Earth Manifesto
A Marvelous Miscellany of Musings and
Evolutionary Understandings
Book Ten of the Earth Manifesto
The Rather Ridiculous Ruses that Fuel
Revolutionary Unrest
Book Eleven of the Earth Manifesto
See Clearly: Sanity During Insane Times Book Twelve of the Earth Manifesto

Here is a link to view the Cover Pages and Table of Contents of each of these books:
The Contents of the Twelve Books of the Earth Manifesto


PART ONE. Observations, Introspection, Illumination and Revelation.

(1) Huckleberry Finn, the Forty-Niners Gold Rush, and Sensational Related Reflections
(2) Uncommon Sense and Fair-Mindedness
(3) Principal Reasons a Bill of Rights for Future Generations is Needed.
(4) A Quite Curious and Illuminating Biography of Mark Twain. An entertaining and insightful exploration of "the Lincoln of our literature".
(5) A Feminine Vision of an Achievable Better World: Anima Should Reign! A fresh way of looking at the world that would enable us to collectively improve our societies for the vast majority of people, including all people in future generations.
(6) Happy Harbingers in Good Ideas for a Better Future.
(7) The Common Good, Properly Understood. Big Picture understandings of the 'common good' and how people in the world should be creating fairer societies in harmony with the greater good and a healthier and more sustainable future.
(8) Core Values of Democracy
(9) A Sharp Exposé and Scathing Critique of Misguiding Leaders
(10) Existence, Economics, and Ecological Intelligence. An essay containing essential ideas concerning the farsighted understandings of ecological economists, together with eye-opening insights into economic realities, historical trends and required reforms.
(11) Gaia's Geological Perspective: Episodes Since Genesis.
(12) Transcendental Musings: A Bugle Horn Sounds for Solidarity of Purpose.
(13) Inspiration, Imagination, and the Deep Well of Human Impulses. An introspection into the value of reading and the marvelous inspirations that motivated the great authors Jack London and Mark Twain, together with some observations concerning famous art, literary classics and philosophy.
(14) The Odd Brilliance of Dante's Epic Poem The Divine Comedy
(15) Rapture Mania: Bizarre Beliefs and Epic Epiphanies.
(16) The True State of the Union.
(17) What's Happening Here
(18) Sad Implications of the Two Dueling Santa Claus Strategies in Political Economics.
(19) Calamitous Consequences of Success of a Secret Conspiratorial Scheme to Capture the Courts
(20) An "Intellectual Feast" of Decidedly Dubious Distinction
(21) Commendable Causes and the Cure for the Culture of Corruption in D.C.
(22) The Con Goes On: A Triumphant Coup by Crooked Conniving Crony Capitalists
(23) Demagoguery and the Dangers of the Demise of Democracy
(24) Our Conspiratorial Cartoon President During Almost Comically Consequential Times
(25) In the Firmament, Far Above the Twittering Trenches
(26) A Clear-Eyed Patriot Issues a Clarion Call for a Second American Revolution
(27) The Crucial Need for Fair Voting Rights
(28) Several Succinct and Sensible Observations
(29) Evolving Climate Change Considerations 2022
(30) The Top Ten Ways Our System is Rigged
(31) Thirteen Main Methods Used to Increasingly Concentrate Wealth and Power
(32) The Sixteen Worst Ways that Powerful People Abuse Power
(33) A Desultory Assessment of Curious Conundrums
(34) Comprehensive Global Perspective: An Illuminating Worldview. This philosophical treatise is the magnum opus of Earth Manifesto awareness. It contains 121 chapters of insightful observations and cohesive understandings that concern the nature of the human condition and the significant challenges facing humanity today. It also provides valuable ideas about how we can transform our lives into healthier and more meaningful ones, and our societies into fairer and more sustainable ones.
(35) Common Sense vs. Political Realities: An Anatomy of Dysfunctionality. Insights into the undesirable implications of the January 21, 2010 decision by the Supreme Court to allow corporations and unions to spend freely to influence elections.
(36) Insidious and Internecine Impacts of Inflation
(37) A Congratulatory Salute to Rachel Maddow. A close examination of California's budget fiasco and some detailed ideas on how to make sure that progressive initiatives improve our State and national governments.
(38) Ayn Rand, Jack London, and a Fountainhead of Philosophies.
(39) Love in the Time of Choleric
(40) Coronavirus and Disaster Capitalists: an Axis of Allied Forces
(41) Introduction to The Rather Ridiculous Ruses
(42) Views on High from an Angular Unconformist
(43) Occupy Movement: What's Next? - Occupy These Ideas!
(44) Real Live Experiments in Applied Trickle-Down Theoretics
(45) Press Release, Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020
(46) Profound Psychological Perspectives and Prescriptions for Trying Times
Overarching ideas about our current culture and economic, social, ecological and spiritual dilemmas.
(47) A Peaceable Proposition: The Golden Rule 'Greening' of U.S. Foreign Policy. Uncommon common sense, and the positive implications of these insights for the future of humanity.
(48) A Smart Goal: Turn Environmental Decline into Restoration.
(49) An Open Letter to President Obama and the American People in 2012.
(50) An Open Letter to Barack Obama. An appeal to the President to heed the ecological understandings of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and the new film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand titled Home.
(51) Three Open Letters Sent in December 2016
(52) A Second Open Letter to President Obama - Provocative Proposals for Real 'Change We Can Believe In'. A bona-fide top notch Tom Sawyer-like solution to the three biggest long-term challenges facing the United States today: the looming ecological crisis, the growing level of unfairness in our society, and the out-of-control federal debt.

BOOK CLUBS –- Discuss these ideas! -- ATTENTION HERE AND NOW

PART TWO. On the Cusp of the Obama Era (Sept. '08 to Nov. '08).

(1) Crumbling Ideologies, Hope, and Baby Steps Toward Wiser Ways Forward. Here is the scoop about economic re-regulation, and what's the matter with Kansas and America, and the foibles of the so-called Washington Consensus, and the ruses of a modern American 'Trojan Horse' subterfuge, and a recap of the latest ideas presented in the online film, Zeitgeist Addendum.
(2) Sliding Doors, Shifting Perceptions and Transcendent Visions. A timely introspection into the economic crisis of 2008, including insights into economic inequality, the fundamental misunderstanding embedded in measures of GDP, the Zoology of Desire, an 'elephant in the room', the "misoverestimation" of John McCain, and a nod to the perceptive Rachel Maddow, Doctor Of Philosophy, for her entertaining progressive-minded, greater good Rachael Maddow Show.
(3) The Bailout Blues and Gut Check Soul Revue. A music-informed review of vital insights into the true nature of unfettered capitalism and the global economic crisis, together with overarching principles, "Bet Situation" observations, and commentary concerning good governance, Greater Good goals, the government bailout plan, and better remedies to deal with the credit crunch, the foreclosure crisis and risks of recession.
(4) Beam Me Up, Scotty!  The Earth Manifesto Arrives …
Introductory observations about our political system and wiser courses of action, as viewed from the context of truth, honesty, comprehensive understandings and ecological sanity.  The wisdom of the Dalai Lama and the logic of Mr. Spock are invoked, and due consideration is given to the issue of loyalty and the real drives that influence our economic and political systems.
(5) Reporting Live from the Ground Zero Bleacher Seats in the Mega Bubble. Read all about the U.S. and world economy in this age of turbulence and turmoil, with insightful deliberations included that concern human nature, capitalism, deregulation, the housing bubble, the Enron Loophole, oil futures contracts, the process of “creative destruction”, causes and consequences, curiosities and conundrums, intrigue, predicaments, ambitions, fraud, shameful ignominy, triumphant potentialities and positive ways forward.
(6) Twelve Compelling Reasons to Have Chosen to Elect Barack Obama and Not John McCain.

PART THREE. Soliloquistic Expressions - A Feast of Ideas (Nov.'06 to Oct.'08).

(1) Tall Tales, Provocative Parables, Luminous Clarity, and Evocative Truths: A Modern Log from the Sea of Cortez. A curious story, and some deep thoughts, about a voyage and its attendant experiences, together with observations about biology, evolution, politics and philosophy. These ideas were developed during an excursion with seven sexy gals afloat on a catamaran sailboat on the Sea of Cortez at the beginning of Spring 2008.
(2) Tyrants and Damsels and Associated Incisive Insights. Entertaining and enlightening stories, speculations and insights provided by an ethical ecological philosopher.
(3) The Implications Associated with Modernity and the Coming of the Age of Aquarius. An explanation of astronomy, the zodiac, astrology, and insightful observations about the future.
(4) Reflections on War - and Peace! Critically important insights into the nature and motivations of war, and into perceptions of security, freedom, democracy, peace, economics, militarism, patriotism, demagoguery, and extremism.
(5) The Art of Peace.
(6) Optimizing Change through Clarity of Awareness and Right Action. Common sense perspective of the common good, as seen through the eyes of Mark Twain's modern alter ego. Visionary, philosophic, authentic, perhaps even revolutionary, this essay contains vital economic, social, political and ecological truths.
(7) Freedom: Utopian Idea and Unifying Objective. Observations about American ideals and hopes, and the obstacles we face today in achieving them, framed with the perceptive understanding of a Zen master, and containing important perspectives of Victor Hugo, Adam Smith, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Mark Twain.
(8) Crystal Clear Conceptions. An essay about essential principles, forward thinking ideas, democracy, oil politics, ecological truths, and American empire.
(9) The Reality and Ramifications of Peak Oil.
(10) Sow Justice, Harvest Peace!
(11) Salvation and the Further Adventures of Humanity: Grasping Reality and Glimpsing the Fairest of Big Picture Perspectives.
(12) Mississippi River Reflections: An Ode to a Lost Friend.
(13) An Open Letter to the Mayor of Hannibal, Missouri A declaration of the author's discovery and intention, containing revelations about the nature of freedom, and such information as that concerning Hannibal's own 'Unsinkable Molly Brown' and the shocking 1811-1812 earthquakes in the New Madrid Seismic Zone in Missouri.
(14) An Open Letter to the Hannibal High School Black & Red
(15) Mission To Be Accomplished is a "big picture" essay that deals with the paramount goals that humankind must embrace to create a free, just and sustainable society.
(16) A Personal Plea for Voter Sanity.

PART FOUR. Overarching Considerations – Transformational Ideas and Enlightened Proposals

(1) Radically Simple Ways to Make America Fairer, and to Fix Both Social Security and Health Care So We Can Move On to Address Much Bigger Issues.
(2) Three Bills of Right: A Triumvirate of Responsible Actions for the Greater Good. Proposals to help solve three of the most crucial challenges we face today.
(3) One Dozen Big Initiatives to Positively Transform Our Societies. This is my prescription for the top 12 ways that we should be creating healthier communities, fairer institutions, and more sane societies.
(4) Progressive Agenda for a More Sane Humanity. This is an extensively detailed summary of the most important priorities that the human race should be undertaking to ensure a better destiny for ourselves and our descendents. The Agenda is essentially a social, economic, ecological and political platform for our species.

PART FIVE. A Marvelous Miscellany.

(1) Twelve Delicious Recipes for Good Health and Gourmet Appreciation
(2) Tiffany Twain Entertains: A Philosophic Cookbook. A purposeful digression on how to cook our lives.
(3) Recommended Reading for a Broader Understanding and Appreciation of the World
(4) An Earth Manifesto Publishing Project.
4A. Table of Contents for Twelve Books of the Earth Manifesto
4B. Table of Contents for Original Three Books
4C. Earth Manifesto Banner

(5) Earth Manifesto Film Script. The writings above have been consolidated into a vision of how the richness of imagery might effectively and entertainingly convey these ideas.
(6) Noah's Ark 2008. A humorous joke about government, together with the Top Ten Reasons we should improve our government by voting for Progressive candidates in national elections.
(7) An Autobiographical Obituary.


PART SIX. Evolutionary Understandings: Blue Period (Oct. '04-Jan. '06)

1. Intelligent Redesign.
2. Evolutionary Understandings Overview.
3. Important Principles Illuminated.
4. Visionary Perspective --- The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.
5. The Big Picture.
6. Katrina Revelations
7. Patriotism and Christianity.
8. Materialism, Aggression, and Militarism.
9. Strategic Imperative --- Oil Independence.
10. Superstition, Prophecy and End Times.
11. Faith, Fundamentalism, and Practicality.
12. Practical Idealism, Political Philosophy, and Fairness.
13. An Ode to Liberty and Justice for All.
14. Strategic Planning Truths.
15. Reason, Morality, and Progressive Adaptation.
16. Top Ten Reasons to Adopt a Progressive Agenda.
17. Freedom, Fascism, Deception, and Rationality.
18. The U.S. Constitution --- Progress and Reaction.
19. The True State of the Union.
20. Media and Its Impacts.
21. A Weakness for Irresponsible Expediencies.
22. An Ode to Visionary Practicality.
23. Understanding the Universe.
24. The Control of Nature.
25. Quo Vadis --- Where Do We Go From Here?
26. Our Bubble Economy.
27. Empathy and Compassion.
28. Political Prophecy.
29. The Zeitgeist of America in the Winter of 2006.
30. Success, Failure, and Rationality.
31. Sex, Sexual Drives, Sexual Intercourse, and Personal Responsibility.
32. An Ode to Meaning.

PART SEVEN. The Original Earth Manifesto.
The original Earth Manifesto consisted of 121 timeless and far-sighted Soliloquies that began as passionate calligraphic expressions and evolved into the current manuscript. These Soliloquies represent a provocative, comprehensive and compelling exploration of ideas and principles that have been waiting to be discovered on this site since October 2004.

Pages 1-121
Press Release
Original Earth Manifesto Introduction and Overview
Index of Soliloquy Titles