What Does Extinction Mean?
Trail at Bell Smith Springs in Southern Illinois
Posts
The Beauty of The Silence
Recently, I have received several really awesome comments recently across the different media platforms I use, the subject of one of which is the topic for this article. However, I also wish to thank my readers for the encouragement you give for me to continue writing. That in and of itself is what actually keeps me going. Knowing that I am not wasting my time writing these articles and that others enjoy my musings keeps me active and researching. I also appreciate the opportunity to (try) to explain the science as I understand it. My understanding is constantly being reshaped and clarified by the science as new science becomes available. Part of the reason I tend to focus on psychology is because of how my own beliefs have changed over the past decade or two. Much of how society operates is based upon our psychology and how our behaviors affect the interactions between ourselves and the rest of the planet. Here is a rather poignant quote in this instance, from Albert Einstein: "...
Happy New Year!
A Wish For You by Neil Gaiman I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something. May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself. So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make new mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life. Whate...
The Beauty of The Darkness
Once upon a time in a faraway land lived a man who published the darkest truths about the happy clappy narratives that so many people appear to want to hear. OK, that is just sarcasm, but who can blame them honestly? Actually, I used to enjoy hearing stories about how mankind is providing all kinds of solutions to the problems which befuddle us. Of course, this was before I realized that technology is an evolutionary cul-de-sac - a big, fat dead-end . Since then, I have embarked on a journey of sorts, to discover why so many people drink the Kool-Aid provided by industry and those who promote it. Partly a phenomenon of denial of reality and optimism bias , most people simply cannot handle the truth. That truth is contained in a quote from William Catton Jr.'s book Overshoot : " Homo sapiens has exploited too much. Human "success" entailed enclosure of an unprecedentedly large fraction of the total environment within the expanding boundaries of proliferating man-t...
Bargaining to Maintain Civilization
Happy Winter/Summer Solstice!! As anyone reading my articles often already knows, ecological overshoot is the master predicament causing many different symptom predicaments . I constantly see many people blaming emissions or greed or capitalism or governments or oil companies or fossil fuels (and on and on...) for causing climate change (or their favorite symptom predicament). Playing the blame game gets us nowhere though , and unfortunately, it is also far more complicated than that. Reducing emissions is a great idea (NOT a solution as noted below in the new paper from James Hansen), but it cannot be accomplished without reducing ecological overshoot because ecological overshoot is precisely what is CAUSING emissions. Ecological overshoot is caused by technology use , which means that it is being caused by our behavior . In order to reduce emissions, there is no other choice than to reduce technology use. This requires changing our behaviors. Most emissions historically have be...
What Exactly is Collapse?
The (now defunct) historic Lowther Store property in Wheeler, West Virginia More info here
Why is Methane Such a Threat?
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 2-29-24: Surprising methane discovery in Yukon glaciers: 'Much more widespread than we thought' I have written extensively about methane in many of my articles (to see which ones, look for the keyword "methane" on the labels for each article) simply because of the e...
What is a Derecho?
The SkyWest KFWA Terminal at Fort Wayne International Airport after the June 13, 2022 derecho (picture courtesy of Charles Peek of The Weather Channel)
What Qualities Do the Predicaments We Face Possess?
The view from Sunset Rock near Sparta, Tennessee
How Safe, Secure, and Sustainable is the Electrical Grid?
The gift shop building at the Ocoee Whitewater Center in Tennessee in 2021. The building was destroyed by fire in April 2022. I haven't been able to spend much time writing this summer, as I have been quite busy with a project which has taken far longer than I would have ever imagined. It might be autumn before I actually finish this article, come to think of it. This article combines some of my other articles in a slightly different manner and combines them with two videos and a website which explain the electrical grid. The reason I think it is necessary to explain precisely what the electrical grid is and how it is made up and the components which comprise it is because most people have no clue how complex and complicated this system of energy delivery really is. Furthermore, even fewer people realize what kinds of losses (see these articles here and here ) are incurred by this delivery system, which are extremely substantial. One thing I constantly see people who advocate EVs ...