Welcome to the Anthropocene June 28, 2008
Posted by Graham in : Environment, climate change , add a commentHuman’s effect on the planet has now reached geological proportions and as a species we are having a more significant effect on the Earth’s climate, geology, biodiversity and, hence, even evolution than any other single factor.
We are now officially in the Anthropocene, according to the Stratigraphy Commission of the Geological Society of London. This is presumably the first time in the Earth’s 4-billion year history that a new geological epoch has begun while being marked and recorded by the species that is responsible.
Essential reading:
Living on the Ice Shelf- Humanity’s Meltdown By Mike Davis
To the question “Are we now living in the Anthropocene?” the 21 members of the Commission unanimously answer “yes.” They adduce robust evidence that the Holocene epoch — the interglacial span of unusually stable climate that has allowed the rapid evolution of agriculture and urban civilization — has ended and that the Earth has entered “a stratigraphic interval without close parallel in the last several million years.” In addition to the buildup of greenhouse gases, the stratigraphers cite human landscape transformation which “now exceeds [annual] natural sediment production by an order of magnitude,” the ominous acidification of the oceans, and the relentless destruction of biota. This new age, they explain, is defined both by the heating trend (whose closest analogue may be the catastrophe known as the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum, 56 million years ago) and by the radical instability expected of future environments. In somber prose, they warn that “the combination of extinctions, global species migrations and the widespread replacement of natural vegetation with agricultural monocultures is producing a distinctive contemporary biostratigraphic signal. These effects are permanent, as future evolution will take place from surviving (and frequently anthropogenically relocated) stocks.” Evolution itself, in other words, has been forced into a new trajectory.
And supporting evidence can be found in this report suggesting that the rate of arctic ice-melting is once again confounding even the worse-case predictions and the Arctic could be ice-free for the first time in human history this summer.
Reinventing Collapse June 27, 2008
Posted by Graham in : General, Overshoot, Peak Oil, Population, Powerdown, Yurts, book review, collapse, survivalism , 2commentsBook Review
Reinventing Collapse- The Soviet Example and American Prospects
New Society 2008
When I met Bill Mollison at the International Permaculture Convergence in Croatia three years ago, all he wanted to talk about it seemed was cannibalism. He had traveled in Russia after the breakup of the Soviet Union and told me that, in Moscow, the joke was, if you go to the provinces, be careful what they serve you up for meat.
There had been widespread hunger and general hardship, resulting in a dramatic decline in life expectancy, an underclass of the homeless and unemployed and those unable to care for themselves, and a loss of hope in the future.
Despite this, things could get much worse in an even more energy dependent USA.
“Reinventing Collapse” is perhaps the most important and disturbing- as well as amusing- peak oil book you will read. A Russian emigre who had the opportunity to observe the collapse of the former Soviet Union from the vantage point of someone living in America, Orlov sees a similar process unfolding in an America all but oblivious to how quickly things may change there. Peak oil will result very soon in the vast nation beginning to fall apart at the seams as the lifeblood of its economy drains away with no backup available. Big systems like agriculture are so energy intensive that they will quickly collapse and there is barely any resilient, self-reliant communities left. (more…)
Crash Course- Preparing for Peak Oil June 23, 2008
Posted by Graham in : Food, Green Building, Overshoot, Peak Oil, Permaculture, Powerdown, survivalism , 1 comment so farBook Review
Crash Course- Preparing for Peak Oil
by Zachary Nowak
Green Door Publishing 2008
Peak Oil is upon us, and collective action on a large scale seems unlikely. Technical solutions are chimerical. Each of us must decide what the future may hold and begin working on a plan to face that future.
When Zachary Nowak began drafting this essential resource list oil was pushing $70 a barrel. Now nearly double that, peak oil seems ever more of a reality and its consequences are being felt even in the oil-guzzling west with an growing sense of urgency: the party really is over and all the chickens are coming home to roost (to mix metaphors): food riots, truckers strikes, inflation, rising unemployment, bankruptcies and the looming shadow of global recession.
It increasingly looks as if the time to prepare may have been yesterday, but as the title suggests, a crash course of emergency and more long-term preparation is still possible and Nowak provides an entertaining primer in the basics. (more…)
Ecological Enlightenment June 20, 2008
Posted by Graham in : Health, Science and Rationaltiy , 6commentsRichard Heinberg has recently written about how our understanding of our place within ecological systems- the ability to see the “big picture” of energy flows and resource constraints on human activity- could be seen as a kind of “enlightenment”- a new vision of the world not necessarily obvious or intuitive but closer to reality than that which our immediate perceptions and experience tell us.
John Michael Greer has also recently written an interesting post discussing the legacy of science and rationality and whether they can or will be saved as we move through energy descent.
The scientific trial, including use of controls and blinding to avoid observer or experimental bias. is a recent human innovation that has revolutionized the way in which we investigate and gain knowledge about the world. The whole point of this process is that it provides a way of checking our own experience and seeing if they are indeed correct. Evidence is collected and carefully verified by independent parties carefully checking the experiments. Over time, with increasing confidence, testable, verifiable data is accumulated and knowledge about the world and the universe and the nature of Nature can be asserted with increasing confidence. (more…)
Sustainability Volume 3 is Out June 20, 2008
Posted by Graham in : Environment, General , add a commentThe new issue of Sustainability is out with a focus on food security and also bringing world-class articles and reports on:
-the economic crisis
-global food security
-horse power
-bringing back a canal and rail system to Ireland
-renovating an old cottage
-Irish transition Initiatives
and much more.
Available from your local newsagent/wholefood store or from the Sustainability Institute:
office@sustainabilty.ie
Road Trip June 18, 2008
Posted by Graham in : Gardens, General, Permaculture, Renewable Energy, Yurts , 1 comment so farA recent trip up country took me first to Westport where I called in on the Sustainability Institute, home of the Irish Sustainability Magazine.
Right: Sustainability editor Andy Wilson hard at work
Andy Wilson’s creation of the Sustainability Magazine has been a remarkable achievement, bringing a much-needed serious journal into the Irish environmental landscape. Starting up a new magazine from scratch is no mean feat and the scholarly and well-researched articles on a wide range of topics is to be greatly welcomed. The third issue is out this week. (more…)
Energy Famine June 16, 2008
Posted by Graham in : Peak Oil, Powerdown , 1 comment so farEssential reading: Rob Hopkins Interviews David Fleming. David Fleming, creator of Tradeable Energy Quotas (TEQs) and author of “The Lean Economy” gives the most enlightening and clear explanation of how nd why oil prices are being driven skywards, what we should be doing about it… and what is likely to happen if we dont.
“The human race has been so entranced with admiration for its own intelligence that it has never worked out how to apply it.”
Charcoal Making at Manch June 8, 2008
Posted by Graham in : Food, Renewable Energy, Tools and technology , 4commentsI have recently been experimenting with some simple charcoal making in an oil drum. I did a couple of demonstrations a few weeks ago for first a Biodiversity day and second the Slow Food “Munch at the Manch” events at the Manch Forestry project, near Dunmanway.
Charcoal will potentially play an important role in the post-oil world, with many important uses including for use on a blacksmith’s forge-i it burns much hotter than wood; I have read that it can even reach welding temperatures. (more…)
