Category: Ecology

Any system of inter-relations between species and with the environment that results in a balance in the factors that allow the survival of those species and the environment that sustains them.

Collapse: Converging Crises and the American Oligarchs

April 26, 2014

Two new studies now being reported converge in frightening ways with the most recent data on climate disruption. Their results reflect the growing likelihood that the converging crises of economy, social justice, and ecology will lead to the collapse of civilization and even the sixth mass extinction. (Kolbert, 2014) First, Gillens and Page (2014) studied … More Collapse: Converging Crises and the American Oligarchs

Apocalypse When? Revealing the World, If We can See It

April 2, 2014

The Next Great Transformation is inevitable. We live in a world that is changing, and that change is accelerating and increasingly undeniable, despite the efforts of the fossil-fuel and related industrial, financial and media elites to cover up the hard facts of climate science and economic failure in a shroud of denial. The direction of … More Apocalypse When? Revealing the World, If We can See It

Tipping points need Paradigm Shifts: Paradigm Shifts are Tipping Points

March 16, 2014

If you are familiar with the history of science you have probably heard of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.  In it, Thomas Kuhn describes how science progresses not by gradual evolution but by revolutionary transitions or “paradigm shifts” between “normal science” and new models of reality.  Normal science chips away at small areas of ignorance … More Tipping points need Paradigm Shifts: Paradigm Shifts are Tipping Points

Necessary but Unlikely Total Mobilization to Curtail Climate Chaos

February 13, 2014

The inevitability of climate chaos leading to species extinction of humans, along with many other species, now seems assured without massive mobilization and collective action on a scale never before achieved by humans.  Necessary but seemingly impossible – that is not a comforting thought.  Yet, here we are, contemplating whether or not the president will … More Necessary but Unlikely Total Mobilization to Curtail Climate Chaos

Errors, Mistakes, and Stupidity: Why Magical Thinking Can Be Deadly

February 8, 2014

We humans are both rational and emotional beings.  The mix between the two can produce some strange and amusing results.  Conventional economics assumes that all human behavior is rational in the sense that everyone chooses only actions that serve their best economic interests and the result is the best overall outcome for everyone.  Yet all … More Errors, Mistakes, and Stupidity: Why Magical Thinking Can Be Deadly

The Great Jobs Myth and the Transformation of the Growth Economy, Part I

January 30, 2014

A lot of congressional politicians and media pundits of both Republican and Democratic persuasion are jabbering these days about “job creation.”  The 2014 mid-term elections are fast approaching and nobody wants to be caught looking indifferent to the lack of jobs for an increasingly large numbers of Americans. Their approaches are different, of course.  The … More The Great Jobs Myth and the Transformation of the Growth Economy, Part I