Problems, Predicaments, and Technology

  Looking down the trail at Whiteface Mountain, New York

Cliff View Park, Alto Pass, Illinois

  Philpott Lake, Virginia, as seen from the Visitor Center of Philpott Dam

Dale Hollow Dam on the Obey River at Celina, Tennessee Reservoirs behind dams are responsible for large amounts of methane emissions   One might ask a similar question such as "Why is carbon dioxide such a threat?" or "Why is nitrous oxide such a threat?" or even "Why is sulfur hexafluoride such a threat?" While I'm pretty sure that everyone reading this knows that these are greenhouse gases and that they are all ramping upwards as climate change progresses, I figured I might as well disclose those facts first. My next disclosure amounts to providing some sources for info regarding the statement underneath the picture above here , and  here , and  here , and here .  Update 2-24-24: Surprising methane discovery in Yukon glaciers: 'Much more widespread than we thought'   Update 2-12-25: A Spanish scientific expedition has discovered m assive methane leaks in Antarctica, posing potential risks for global warming.   Geologists also warn about th...

  The SkyWest KFWA Terminal at Fort Wayne International Airport after the June 13, 2022 derecho (picture courtesy of Charles Peek of The Weather Channel)

  Pando, the Aspen Clone, at Fishlake National Forest in Utah

  "Civilization is the child of the Neolithic Revolution, of the widespread adoption of agriculture as a mode of production, and agriculture necessarily causes leaching and loss of topsoil, as well as many other environmental consequences, including climate change. Nor does any city live by bread alone. It needs water, so it must build dams and aqueducts. It needs wood for fuel and timber, so it must chop down forests. It needs metal for coins, swords, and ploughshares, so it must dig mines. It needs stone to erect palaces, courts, temples, and walls, so it must quarry away mountains. And it must build roads and ports needed to transport all the necessities of urban life. In short, a city lives by both consuming and damaging a wide array of ecological resources."  ~ William Ophuls - Immoderate Greatness: Why Civilizations Fail See more here. "The illusion of control or agency and the attachment to it creates much suffering."             ...

  Pictures of wildfire damage at Glacier National Park in Montana 2016 Special note:   In reality, this series could have been titled,  " So, what can be done? "  to eliminate  the "we" issue  and the judgment issue ("should"). 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, REGARDLE...

  How often do you see people accuse those of us who actually fully comprehend the predicaments society faces of "giving up"? Why do people think we have "given up" just because we understand these predicaments? NONE of us has given up on anything that is worth pursuing - it is the false " solutions "  which actually take society in the wrong direction that we have given up on. Those of us who understand the situation with trees , for instance, haven't given up on planting trees. ( Also see this article here about trees .) We've simply given up on the IDEA that planting trees will have much, if any, effect on climate change. We still enjoy planting trees, we just no longer do it for the wrong reasons or think that by planting them that doing so justifies society's continued destruction of the environment. Likewise, we also know that purchasing "green" or "clean" or " renewable" devices such as solar panels or EVs...