My name is Richard Garner. I have a background as an environmental and political activist going back almost fifty years. I was a volunteer leader for the San Diego chapter of an environmental group called Zero Population Growth in the 1990’s. I was also a volunteer for this group at the very first Earth Day in April 1970 at an information table at San Diego State University.
I have a B.A. in history from the University of California at San Diego. I took particular interest in American intellectual history, the history of American ideas and belief systems in their social and cultural context. I studied the original Populist and Progressive movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.I have knowledge beyond my formal education in a number of different areas including the history of economic thought, the history of philosophy, and a good well educated person’s understanding of physics and ecology.
I have participated in many different battles over different environmental and political issues, including the struggle against nuclear fission power, to protect American farmland, endangered species and many others.
I have had many jobs over the course of my life, including being a recycling center attendant, and assistant manager of a recycling company. Many if not all of my occupations have been unimpressive within the status hierarchy of our currently existing society. I do not believe that this is any reflection on my competence to have different, even dissenting views on the subjects upon which I am expressing my opinion here. The pursuit of the truth absolutely never depends upon who says something. We all have the responsibility as well as the right to ask questions and to try to see reality whole. I hope you will find something of value here and will share your thoughts as well. However, I want to be clear that I intend to pursue the truth here without fear or favor. We should try to live our lives as if all the children of the future were looking over our shoulders. What we do now in our time and how we think and our willingness to question our assumptions will determine whether or not there is any future at all for them to inherit.