If 2022 was a normal year, one could watch the riveting Hearings of the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol with sympathy, understanding – and foreboding for the plight of democracy in America.   2022: a year of climate emergency and war   But 2022 is not a normal year. It is a year of climate chaos and war.   The dreadful predictions of the UN climate summit of last year have had no effect on politicians or business the world over. Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General, minced no words saying to the rulers of the world (presidents, prime ministers, billionaires, and fossil fuel company executives) they have been setting the planet on fire.   No wonder 2022 is businesses as usual. The sky is full of airplanes and the asphalt streets are chocked with millions of cars and trucks emitting climate offending fumes and gases.   War in Ukraine boosting the petroleum economy    And as if human irresponsibility needed another excuse to maintain the

 Palaistra school in ancient Olympia: Children learnt reading and writing, music, mathematics, astronomy in the morning and trained in wrestling, boxing, and running in the afternoon. Photo: Evaggelos Vallianatos.   I have been writing for a very long time. My hope each time I write an article is that the argument I make will help readers now or in the future see things in a new light.   Influence – what influence?   I know that influence is invisible, taking decades and sometimes centuries to bear fruit. This fact does not bother me. I don’t expect money or recognition for doing things I love. But I am concerned that those in power and even intelligent human beings are often blind to deleterious anthropogenic effects on the natural world and society.   Greek Americans: restaurants and real estate   For example, Greek Americans seem to be oblivious to their own decline and potential disappearance.   I am a Greek American, too. I have been watching America for more than 50 years. My bro