Environment & sustainablity

The propaganda technique of the repeated lie has been applied obsessively, against the "hockey stick," the reconstruction of past temperatures on which Michael Mann and coworkers had been working from the 1990s.

It is rare in the history of science that a single piece of experimental evidence has been the object of so many attempts of demolition. Yet, all the serious reviews of the original data have basically confirmed the initial results. Being unsuccessful in demolishing the science, the attacks have moved against the scientist, Michael Mann himself, who has been subjected to an unbelievable denigration campaign, defamed, insulted, and even physically threatened.

Outrageous, snarky, “madly engaging,” bileful—these are a few of the terms that have been used to describe author and social critic James Howard Kunstler. But he’s actually a great deal more than these things, as anyone who's really come to know him, even if only through his books and Internet postings, can tell you. His most personal writings reveal a human, vulnerable, wonderfully versatile, cheerful side that few people know exists.

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

That the real, physical world is the source of our own lives, and the lives of others. A weakened planet is less capable of supporting life, human or otherwise.

Thus the health of the real world is primary, more important than any social or economic system, because all social or economic systems are dependent upon a living planet.

In order to achieve sustainability, we need scenarios of where we want to go: not only warnings and plans, but also reports as if we'd already made the transition. Who would have suspected they'd come from the South Pacific?

-Visions of Urban Agriculture
-San Diego deregulates urban agriculture
-Proposed city amendment provides potential for urban farming
-USDA awards $40 million grants to boost local food supplies

Nearly 40% of the global population currently lives within 50 km of a coast, and many of these people depend on the productivity of the sea. Inadequate fisheries management and widespread overuse of marine and coastal resources are eroding the traditional basis of life for millions of people. As coastal populations soar, pressure on marine resources has become unsustainable in many places.

Are no-take fishery reserves the answer?

Methane hydrates are a true climate bomb that could go off by itself as the result of a relatively small trigger in the form of a global warming. Sufficient warming would cause the decomposition of some hydrates to release methane to the atmosphere. This methane would create more warming and that would generate more decomposition of the hydrates.

The effects of the rapid release of so much methane would be devastating: an abrupt climate change that could bring a true planetary catastrophe.

Practitioners of wild farming, also called conservation-based agriculture, seek to reverse industrial agriculture’s devastating effects on wildlife by adopting farming methods that support nature. They envision a landscape where farms meld into the environment and mimic the natural processes that surround them. If wild farming sounds like organic farming, that’s because both are based on a similar vision: that farms should be managed as natural systems. Most wild farmers employ organic practices, like nontoxic pest management, composting, and crop rotation, all of which encourage biodiversity.

I've written the sort of book that someone conversant with Peak Oil etc. could give to a friend who is a committed Christian, and explains, not just the basic problems but *why* Christians should be concerned about it, how the real problems arose, and what in Christian terms should now be done.

It isn't about addressing Peak Oil etc directly (e.g. prepare to use less fuel, advice about growing your own vegetables etc), it's more about generating the required virtues that will enable those steps to then be taken.

- Vandana Shiva: The Seed Emergency
- Bloomberg: Farmers Can Grow Food for All, as Long as Ecosystems Hold
- Peak Water: The Rise and Fall of Cheap, Clean H2O

If I am right in saying "the key to resilience in the coming decades will be our ability, in the moment, to imagine ways around the crises we cannot prevent, predict or plan for", then how can we increase the imaginative capacity of our fellow citizens so they/we will be ready, in the moment?

- Science: Live Chat: Peak Oil—Is the Well Running Dry? (NEW)
- Michael Lynch: The Unfounded Fear of the 'Peak Oil' Monster
- Science: Technology Is Turning U.S. Oil Around But Not the World's
- Once, men abused slaves. Now we abuse fossil fuels
- Thomas Homer-Dixon: Our peak oil premium
- The End of Elastic Oil
- Power paradox: Clean might not be green forever
- How Much Energy Does Energy Efficiency Save?

Last December, after more than 40 years teaching at the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP) at the University of British Columbia, Bill Rees gave his last lecture as a full-time professor. As one of his last students, I found his class captivating, and in following up with many of his former students, realized they felt the same way. His career defined the modern science of sustainability, and touched the lives of many, inspiring individuals to devote their lives towards adapting our species to live responsibly on this planet.

Why would a fisher care about the forest? The person to ask is Shigeatsu Hatakeyama, an oyster farmer from Kesennuma in Japan’s Miyagi Prefecture. We can learn a great deal from Hatakeyama. He is one of those rare types of people who can see beyond the day-to-day preoccupation of how to make a living — in his case, with an oyster farm — and instead embrace the world around them.