Volunteer work

I started doing volunteer work when I moved to California in 1980.

In 1980 I joined The Planetary Society, a citizen based grassroots group to promote space exploration. I'm still a member

In 1983, I started volunteering for a local chapter of Amnesty International USA in Irvine. International group that deals with human rights.

1993, I was working as a staff employee for Toastmasters International. It's a non profit public speaking organization. But as a volunteer, I was part of a Toastmasters Club. A group of 20 people where you learn the skills of public speaking.

2011, I started volunteering with Sierra Club. Huge environmental Organization. I worked on climate change issues.

2022, I left Sierra Club to start my own group, Orange County 350.org group. 350.org is another environmental group working to make a fast transition to renewable energy.

 Climate Change comments

Today in the United Kingdom, which is in northern latitudes, it was 104 F degrees. Never happened in UK history. 1100 people have died in Spain and Portugal. Extreme forest fires in Portugal. Two airports in the UK, the runways have melted because of extreme heat. The climate for today's Europe was not supposed to happen until 2050. Yet here we are.

The UN Secretary General has said that we have a choice, collective action or collective suicide regarding climate change.

Everyday it seems, news of climate disruption around the world. So how do you stop this climate emergency. You don't. You can only slow it down. The Fossil Fuel Industry, coal, oil, natural gas, needs to be put out of business. But wait, you can't do that or could you. Most climate scientists know that we have very little time to drastically change the way we do everything. We must reduce our carbon emissions by half in just 8 years. Politically, that will be very difficult. It all comes down to politics and money. Lots of money. Money is useless on a dead planet...

 Space

Today and yesterday, NASA released new photographs of the far reaches of the universe from a new space telescope. James Webb Space Telescope. This new telescope is in orbit around Earth 1 million miles away.

It is expected to change how we see the universe out there. Where stars are born. Seeing galaxy's 13 billion light years away. It is estimated that there are as many as 2 Trillion galaxies and each galaxy has about 1 billion stars. That's a lot of stars. There are a few theories about how the universe began. A handful of scientists think the whole universe is one giant hologram. The great Stephen Hawking proposes that the universe has no boundaries. No beginning or end. 

But as we look up at the night sky and wonder... We are destroying the very planet we live on. We don't have the technology to move off Planet Earth. The nearest Earth like planet is Kepler-452b which is 1,800 light years away. With our current technology, it would take 30 million years to get there. 

 My take on current events

First some facts. I am a white previledged male living on Social Security. I don't have to worry about going out anywhere without getting arrested or killed (think African American). If I spoke another language other than English,  I would be harassed. 

The world I grew up in is very different from today. I grew up in rural America which has turned into a hotbed of hate about eveything. I now live in a world where the previous President tried to overthrow his own government. I live in a world where our top Judicial branch of government, the Supreme Court, has turned into a far right political agenda. I live in a world where half our population, women, are now regulated to second citizen. I live in a world where police officers can murder others with no consequences. I live in a world where most politicians are bought off by big corporations. I live in a world where one political party is a normal political party, while the other political party is one that does not believe in democracy. I live in a country where society as a whole is breaking down. Mainly because of a barely functioning government. Even truth is fake. Sad but true. In a poll taken of 1,000 people, 25% would take up arms against our own government. Democracy is dying here in the US.

So it's time to change direction. It is time to imagine a better world. Time to change our thinking about a new political and economic system. Because it ain't working very well. Sure it's hard work, but it must and can be done. Change is always going on. Like the Universe. The time is now. Everything is interconnected.  

 Policy - Climate Change

In 1977 I lived in Colorado. That summer I took a tour of a place called National Center for Atmosphric Research or NCAR. There I met  and talked to a man by the name of Stephen Schneider. At the time, one of the top climate scientists in the world. The previous year, Stephen, had published his first book on climate called The Genesis Strategy:Climate and Global Survival. By 1984, he published a second book called Coevolution of Climate and Life. 

I was hooked. The last 40 years I've been studying the issue of climate change. At the time 1984, carbon dioxide emissions were measured at about 345 ppm (parts per million) at a station in Hawaii. Today in 2022, carbon dioxide levels are 420ppm. So for the last almost 40 years, carbon emissions have constantly gone up. This is caused by the Greenhouse effect. Our planet as a whole, carbon dioxide traps heat and the Earth's temperature rises. When temperatures rise, ice melts. So both the ice sheets at the north and south poles are melting at a rapid pace. By 2030 there will be zero ice at the North Pole. When ice melts, sea level rise.

Today, we are in a climate emergency. Our "normal climate" is gone. The jet stream that controls our climate in the northern hemisphere is going crazy. For the last 10,000 years, our planet has had a relatively stable climate. Until now. The cause... Burning fossil fuels. Coal, oil, and natural gas (methane). In 2021, our planet produced 36 Giga tonnes per year. That's a lot.

There are solutions to our climate crisis, but it will take political will and a major change in our current economic system. 

 Vacations

1965 me and my family drove from Illinois to the East Coast. Highlight was going to the NewYork World's Fair. Very  cool.

1967 the family drove out to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.

1976 I went to Europe. Got around by way of Eurail pass. Spent 30 days traveling all over Europe.

1985 I went to Europe a second time by way of Eurail pass. Another 30 days.

2003 Went to the Island of St. Martin in the Caribbean. 10 days.

2004 Went to Puerto Rico and St. Thomas

2011 I spent four months traveling to every state in the country. This is a really big country, most of it rural.

2021 Spent 5 days going to the big 5 National Parks in Utah.

Go out and enjoy the country or the world. Lots to see and do. But nowadays only if you can afford it.

 Resume

A little backround of jobs I had.

I think my first job I can remember is working at my Grandfather's Drug Store. I would receive packages, check them in, put prices on the product and put them on the shelf. During the summer when I was in High School.

In the summer of 1973, I worked for the US Post Office at a mail distribution center. I would sort mail first by hand, then by mail sorter machine. Working at the Post Office helped me pay my way thru college. At the time I was attending Southern Illinois University. It only cost me $2100 a year to attend college. Even now if you tell me the first digit of any zip code in the US, I can tell you what part of the country it comes from. I can remember back in the day when there were no zip codes

In 1977, I moved from Illinois to Denver Colorado. While there, I worked in the microfilm business. A now deceased form of information storage. After a year in a half in Colorado, I moved back to Chicago where I continued in the microfilm business. In early 1980, I applied at a company that wanted my talents in microfilm, but they wanted me to work in their Los Angeles location, So I packed up and moved to California. 

Then for 6 years I worked as a couier/messinger service. Delivering court documents and graphic arts material.

Then for 11 years I worked for a non profit group called Toastmasters International. Public Speaking group.

Then my last paid job was working as a buyer for a wholesale company that sold dance apparel to retail stores.

I really didn't have a career in one field of study.

 Some backround

I was  born on November 7, 1952

Technically Harry Truman was President. Four days before was the 1952 Presidential election. Dwight Einsenhower was elected the new President. During that election, the public was introduced to a new kind of machine. A computer called Univac. It correctly predicted the winner of the election. So when I was born there were maybe a couple of dozen computers in the entire world. Now we have billions of computers. 

Another new invention that was becoming popular was Television. I know, I'm really old.

My first family vacation was to Florida. This was the age of Prop Planes. This was about 1955/56. Regular transcontinental jet travel didn't  begin until 1959.

I don't remember much of the 1950's. My mom and dad and two older brothers. We lived in rural America. I remember when Hawaii and Alaska were added as new States. As I think back, the world was very different than it is today. So many changes. Good and bad.

My ancestry includes on my dad's side German and on my mother's side Irish.

Going back to Presidential elections. My birthday falls on a Presidential Election every 28 years. The last time that happened was 2000.

In my almost 70 years, I have visited the Presidential Libraries of Lincoln, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Carter, Reagan. I've been to the Presidential homes of Washington, Jefferson, Monroe, and Andrew Jackson. 

What have I learned in the past 70 years.

Welcome to my Blog

July 1, 2022

Let me introduce myself.

My name is Steve Wicke. I was born in Dekalb, Illinois. The first 28 years I lived in Illinois and in 1980, I moved to Southern California. 

Contact:

Steve Wicke

P.O. Box 1311 

Westminster, Ca. 92684

stevewicke1@gmail.com

Face book - Steve Wicke

Twitter _ @StevenWicke

Phone - 714-795-4370

No Spam please. I have not eaten spam in decades. Haha

This is an experiment. What have I learned in the last 70 years on this beautiful planet. Let me tell you....