Posts

Why is Our Lack of Agency Difficult to Accept?

Image
  Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Burning Man - The Failure of the Green New Deal

Image
This article is a collaboration with John Peach, from  Wild Peaches .  John Peach is an applied mathematician who held a research position at MIT Lincoln Laboratory until retirement in 2020. As lead investigator of a team of physicists and mathematicians at MIT, he spearheaded development of an atmospheric lidar propagation model accounting for scattering, refraction, and object response. This technology enabled 3D mapping of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria to locate and assess damage, expediting recovery efforts. As part of the disaster relief program, he made three trips to assist FEMA on-site with model implementation, and co-authored the paper  “To Expedite Roadway Identification and Damage Assessment in LiDAR 3D Imagery for Disaster Relief Public Assistance.”

How Do YOU Feel About Ecological Overshoot?

Image
  Cabwaylingo State Forest , West Virginia

It Bears Repeating: Best Of...Volume 2

Image
In addition to my regularly scheduled article this week, I also am providing a link to this hugely popular collaboration of writers started last year and continued with Volume 2 this year.  With a Foreword by Erik Michaels and Afterword by Dr. Guy McPherson, authors include: Dr. Peter A Victor, George Tsakraklides, Charles Hugh Smith, Dr. Tony Povilitis, Jordan Perry, Matt Orsagh, Justin McAffee, Jack Lowe, The Honest Sorcerer, Fast Eddy, Will Falk, Dr. Ugo Bardi, and Steve Bull. IT BEARS REPEATING: BEST OF...VOLUME 2 For those interested in accessing last year's compilation, follow this link: IT BEARS REPEATING: BEST OF...VOLUME 1

Why Won't WE™ Change Direction?

Image
People enjoying the shoreline at Sleeping Bear Dunes , Michigan

Why is Reductionism Such an Issue?

Image

The Double Bind With Mitigating Ideas

Image
  Mash Fork Falls, Camp Creek State Park, West Virginia

Are YOU Ready For Collapse?

Image
Recently I have seen a string of articles and videos that repeat the same basic theme - that within the next 5 years we face umpteen different symptoms of collapse . I don't like attempting to attach timelines to any of this, and so I am simply repeating the theme that I see in all of these articles - none of this is my own assessment. I will say that I agree with the assessments. We're running out of road, folks. As for whether anyone is ready or not, I think very few if any truly are. We've been discussing this for decades, now the time is drawing near for issues to develop that will be extremely difficult for society to deny (although people still will because that is what we do). I mentioned most of all this in my recent article about our actual reality . Still, the warning bells are getting louder. This article from Alice Friedemann mirrors my own feelings about the situation, quote: " The only way I can see this being prevented or the end of oil delayed a few ye

A Plea to Scientists, Teachers, Influencers, and Politicians Everywhere

Image
Clover Hollow Covered Bridge, Virginia

Popular Narratives That Do Not Hold Up Under Scrutiny

Image
  Pilot Mountain in North Carolina

Our Actual Reality - the Disappearance of Modernity

Image
Fog rising over a farm field in Virginia

What is Our Actual Reality?

Image
  The Blue Ridge Discovery Center  in Konnarock, Virginia I read many articles every month, which allows me to detect certain patterns within these articles. (I am working on slowing down on the number.) A large percentage of most of them contain so much bargaining and hopium that a reader who understands the predicaments we face can only laugh or cry at them. I try to glean what I can from them and ignore the parts of denial of reality and optimism bias , but some articles are so full of crap it's just not funny. Here's a prime example of what I'm talking about (although I often list these types of articles and have even written entire articles based upon them, named appropriately, Fantasies, Myths, and Fairy Tales ). That article (the prime example) lists an issue caused by several different symptom predicaments of ecological overshoot , namely, pollution loading , climate change, and ocean acidification (also a symptom of climate change).  Now, to be sure, the bleac

The Biggest Issue is NOT Climate Change; it is OVERSHOOT

Image
  Beartree Lake at Beartree Recreation Area

More Bargaining and Hopium

Image
Trail at Beartree Recreation Area in Virginia