Problems, Predicaments, and Technology

 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 ou...

 This facade of the main street in Thurmond, West Virginia, looks impressive but hides the fact that this is a ghost town. No businesses actually exist in these buildings today and the entire town only has 4 or 5 residents today. More info can be obtained here  and here . One of the pernicious effects of the mainstream media regarding climate change and indeed, all the other predicaments under the banner of ecological overshoot, is the sheer level of denial presented. This can easily be detected in many articles about different predicaments such as climate change and I found one in particular  (out of thousands; this is just one of the most recent ones) that brings this phenomenon into focus, quote: " Climate experts warn that, without urgent action, climate change will continue to cause an increase in the intensity of extreme rainfall that can lead to severe flooding. An international research team have concluded that increases in  extreme rainfall  and associa...

Naples Beach and Pier, Florida It really requires some true grit to begin making the determination that one needs to move to avoid serious consequences from any particular predicament; and the older one is, the more difficult it is to leave a loved area. Almost no area will be left untouched by climate change and all the other predicaments caused by ecological overshoot, but one predicament in particular, Sea Level Rise (SLR), brings forth a whole host of issues that many don't know about. Sadly, I had the experience of attempting to explain this to a friend who got mad at me for posting scientific articles regarding the situation. Many people are suffering from denial of reality  surrounding these issues, which doesn't help. Overwhelmingly, the easiest issue that almost everyone can see is street flooding caused by high tides (sunny day flooding). This makes the situation impossible to ignore, and building streets higher doesn't resolve the issue of water coming UNDERNEAT...

  Flooding 'We lost everything': Brazil floods leave thousands destitute Heavy rains displace thousands in northeast Brazil 14 dead, 70,000 displaced in Malaysian floods Pressure on river management leads to more frequent flooding Australia fights bushfires in west, floods in east Southwest France hit by flooding after heavy rains Floods are going to get worse, and we need to start preparing for them now Forests offer minimal protection against major flood events Why are homes still being built along rivers? Flooded residents disagree on the solution Flooding in India's Bangalore after heavy rains Climate uncertainty colors flood risk assessment Rivers play key role in destructive coastal flooding, new research shows Canada death toll set to rise as floods ravage Pacific coast Neurotoxins in the environment are damaging human brain health, and fires and floods may make the problem worse 9 dead after floods in Sri Lanka, southern India Flash floods in Bosnia prompt evacuatio...