Problems, Predicaments, and Technology

  Pictures of wildfire damage at Glacier National Park in Montana 2016 What type of activities will help in reducing the effects of ecological overshoot? I'm often asked this question when I point out that solar panels, wind turbines, nuclear energy, hydroelectric dams, EVs, and all other technological devices will not help climate change, pollution loading, or any other predicament under the parent predicament of ecological overshoot: "Well, what are your solutions?" Sadly, this question assumes that I am pointing out a PROBLEM, not a predicament. Predicaments don't have solutions. So, I don't have a solution (and nobody else does either, despite claims to the contrary - more on that in a couple of paragraphs). But I can tell them what WON'T help. Buying more stuff, REGARDLESS of what it is, WILL NOT HELP. Because ecological overshoot is a predicament with an outcome and not a problem with a solution , people need to adjust their expectations accordingly.

 T he Hungry Horse Dam located just outside Hungry Horse, Montana Let's talk about infrastructure, shall we? Living in the human-built world day in and day out, we often forget that all these buildings, roads, buried pipes, wires, sewers, and literally everything else we build is not actually natural. We require nature - other plant and animal species - for the ecosystem services they provide, but nature does not require our infrastructure. Think about that deeply for a moment and realize that no other species requires our electrical grid - it only serves us, and even we don't truly require it for survival; we got along fine for most ALL of the last 200,000 years or so (except for the last 150 years) without electricity. We *could* get along just fine without it now too, except we went into ecological overshoot. There is now no way to keep industrial civilization humming along without it, and this brings some rather uncomfortable facts to light as shown in this study  about our

What is hydrogen sulfide and what does it have to do with extinction events? In my last entry where I discussed James G. Anderson, I pointed out how the current behavior of the climate system will be interrupted and inherently changed by the loss of Arctic ice and the cryosphere in general. This loss of ice in sea ice, permafrost, glaciers, and frozen lakes and rivers will dramatically speed up the process of warming not only in the Arctic, but the entire Northern Hemisphere and beyond. As it does this, eventually, the temperature difference between the poles and the tropics will disappear. Without the large temperature difference, winds will be diminished, causing the world's oceans to mix less. This will cause hypoxic conditions due to less circulation and less circulation will lead to stagnation, and general anaerobic conditions will lead to the production of hydrogen sulfide leading to sulfidic oceans, also known as the Canfield Ocean .  Understanding that the cryosphere  is

  Recently, I had an opportunity to repost a video which I viewed several years ago from Harvard Professor James G. Anderson regarding climate change. I have actually watched the video two or three times in the past, but there are certain parts that have now become more interesting as time has moved forward.  In the video, Anderson reveals why the term "global warming" is very inappropriate and doesn't accurately describe what is really happening. Then he describes what will happen as times moves forward with warmth and moisture entering the stratosphere as a result of climate change - as ice continues being removed from both poles, eventually the temperature difference between the tropics and the poles will disappear. This is a hugely important distinction, as the global climate system today utterly depends on those temperature differences for the way it behaves. I will go into more detail regarding this phenomenon in my next article and how it will affect the planet

(SPECIAL NOTE: This article was originally written in January, 2020)  “It is the part of a great mind to despise wrongs done to it; the most contemptuous form of revenge is not to deem one’s adversary worth taking vengeance upon. Many have taken small injuries much more seriously to heart than they need, by revenging them: that man is great and noble who like a large wild animal hears unmoved the tiny curs that bark at him.” ~ Seneca Over the years, I have tackled several different ideas that I have seen emerging in many places regarding what I will call "romantic ideas" based upon false beliefs and ignorance. Occasionally, I am surprised by indignant outbursts by people I would never suspect of having the wool pulled over their eyes. Of course, the reason they are often so indignant is because they are simply suffering from grief (and anger and denial in this case), as we all are here. Either way, I want to make it clear that everyone is entitled to their own opinions as I

  Emissions Links Three large natural gas plants would wipe out climate gains from recent shutdowns of coal-fired plants in Illinois Controlled burning of natural environments could help offset our carbon emissions How measuring emissions in real time can help cities achieve net zero Vehicle emission declines decreased deaths, study finds The world is burning the most coal ever to keep the lights on Time lag between intervention and actual CO2 decrease could still lead to climate tipping point Seagrass is not a miracle solution against climate change Gas-passing plankton illuminate another piece of the carbon cycle puzzle Source of large rise in emissions of unregulated ozone destroying substance identified New tools will yield better estimates of methane emissions from permafrost How the holiday buying season adds fuel to a rapidly warming planet Novel model can aid decisions in electricity generation, stream water quality New source of the strong greenhouse gas nitrous oxide found in