Problems, Predicaments, and Technology

  Mash Fork Falls, Camp Creek State Park, West Virginia

  Pictures from Seneca State Forest, West Virginia

  Buchanan, Virginia

  Silver Springs Filling Station , US 176, South Carolina

  Bell Smith Springs Recreational Area

 

  What is ecological overshoot and why is it important? Is it a more important predicament than climate change? What about energy and resource decline - more important than it? The answer to the latter two questions is YES  and ecological overshoot is important because it is the predicament which is causing all the other (symptom) predicaments such as climate change, pollution loading, energy and resource decline, and the list of files included in this post . While one can read this peer-reviewed paper from William Rees, I found this video quite instructive and possibly more understandable to most people. Practically every article I've written here is about ecological overshoot in one way or another. Put simply, ecological overshoot is the collection of predicaments that our unsustainable lifestyles have brought forth. Collectively, humans globally use far more energy and resources than the planet can provide in a given unit of time and we produce toxic wastes that the planet ca

  The New River Gorge at Grandview, West Virginia Today, I have a new movie titled  Down To Earth   to discuss. One of my primary goals with forming this blog has to do with educating people not just about the predicaments we face as a species, but also how to reduce the collective harm these predicaments are causing and the grief which often comes with the knowledge of these predicaments.   This film is about a family who decides to go on a journey to discover a new perspective on life not based upon many of today's cultural values surrounding consumption, jobs, and economics but more on nature, spirituality, and the true meaning of life. During this five-year journey, they meet many different indigenous tribes who they call "Earth Keepers" across six continents. One of the many bits of wisdom comes with a quote from the father/husband, while they are exploring the rainforest: "The kids love the rainforest. Today they caught me off guard, asking about its destructio

Today we shall investigate this question: What would it take for humanity to experience radical transformation of individual and collective consciousness within the next decade? This picture looks inviting, doesn't it? But does it realistically represent the world we collectively live in today? In one word, NO. One look at the news stories of today can easily show how individuals, groups, corporations, and nations of all stripes are arguing and fighting for attention, for purposes, and for goals and strategies. Look at social media and it is ripe with every flavor of disagreement known to society. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that there are few things everyone can agree on, and even when one IS found, nobody can agree on the ways to solve what everyone agreed the problems are. Now, throw in a PREDICAMENT instead of a problem and guess what happens? From my experience, when a predicament is put into the mix, most people still look at it from the same standpoint the

  Resilience/Sustainability 'Snow guns' spewing man-made Beijing Olympics snow raise concerns Bamboo fibres offer strong, 'green' manufacturing alternative Implementing sustainable nitrogen use in smallholder rice Indigenous communities hold a huge and unique source of ecological knowledg e Reduced meat diet has many advantages Nations are overusing natural resources faster than they are meeting basic human needs Resilience of vertebrate animals in rapid decline due to manmade threats Renaturing insects in urban backyards 'Trade-offs' between wellbeing and resilience Report: Southeast Asia needs to boost disaster resilience Parasitic wasps turn other insects into 'zombies,' saving millions of humans along the way Peatlands protect against wildfire and flooding, but they're still under attack in Canada Seagrass restoration study shows rapid recovery of ecosystem functions Valorizing into urban biowaste locally: Conclusive results of the European DECIS