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.

Speaking the Unspeakable: Climate Reality vs Industrial Culture

May 6, 2019

The Green New Deal (GND) may or may not have much chance as a framework for drafting realistic climate legislation. Not only does a slavishly Trumpist Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, defy Senate tradition and democratic principles to fight any proposal the president does not like. He and his Republican cohorts block anything the Democrats propose, just … More Speaking the Unspeakable: Climate Reality vs Industrial Culture

Simple Complexity at ten thousand five hundred feet

April 19, 2019

I never stop marveling at the sophisticated complexity of modern technology. The fine performance of that flathead V-8 engine in my 1951 Ford when I was in high school was fully understandable by the average teenager at the time. Today, most of us do not have a clue about how the technologies we use every … More Simple Complexity at ten thousand five hundred feet

The Poverty of Environmentalism: II

April 2, 2019

A while ago, I read a post by Richard Heinberg on resilience.com titled, “You Can’t Handle the Truth,” after the famous line of Jack Nicholson’s character in the movie, “A Few Good Men.” Resilience.com is an excellent source for all sorts of analyses and opinion on the climate crisis, sustainability, and strategies for global-warming mitigation … More The Poverty of Environmentalism: II

The Best (only viable)Adaptation is Mitigation

February 25, 2019

A policy of adaptation to climate change as the primary response to climate change would not only be self-defeating. It would tax all human and material capital on the planet in pursuit of an impossible dream. It is fundamentally failure-bound because climate chaos would easily overwhelm it. That is why the Green New Deal is … More The Best (only viable)Adaptation is Mitigation

On the Ground Again: Flourishing Below Sea Level…for Now

December 21, 2018

Much of Holland is below sea level. Will the dikes hold? The Dutch have held back the North Sea for hundreds of years. They are the world’s experts on dike and canal building and pumping seawater. But they may be facing a whole new situation in the years to come. Traveling through the Netherlands one … More On the Ground Again: Flourishing Below Sea Level…for Now

The climate of Political Nihilism

October 30, 2018

In September 2018, the Trump administration produced a realistic environmental impact report that reflected current scientific estimates of emerging climate chaos. That alone was a bit shocking given Trumpist rhetoric claiming that climate change is a “Chinese hoax.” But the political misuse of that information was shockingly brazen, if not exactly surprising. After all, presidential … More The climate of Political Nihilism

Economic Growth or Societal Development: a Matter of Survival

October 24, 2018

For most “moderns” the role of economic growth in assuring human progress appears necessary, whatever problems it may cause. Yet, the evidence has grown to such undeniable levels that continued economic growth, at least as we practice it now, is simply unsustainable on this small planet. Climate scientists, ecologists, environmentalists, and Earth system scientists have … More Economic Growth or Societal Development: a Matter of Survival