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.
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
Monbiot on Population February 1, 2008
Posted by Graham in : Environment, Human Ecology, Overshoot, Peak Oil, Population , 8comments[Update: See John Feeney’s excellent response to Monbiot here.]
A few people have pointed me to George Monbiot’s recent article on population in the Guardian. While it is welcome that Monbiot addresses the issue I wanted to reply because I found it really disappointing, failing to join the dots and in some ways misleading.
The main thrust of the article is that some environmentalists complain the issue of population is ignored- perhaps for political reasons- even though it is the “number one environmental problem” and Monbiot sets out to discuss whether this is in fact true. The basic issue in this debate is, can we really give out as it were about the large populations of the developing world when over-consumption in the West is in fact having a bigger environmental impact? (more…)
The Last Christmas December 24, 2007
Posted by Graham in : Environment , 2commentsGuest writer Andy Wilson editor of Sustainability Magazine has kindly sent me this piece expressing his thoughts on Christmas:
The Last Christmas – A True Story?
Every Christian knows of the Last Supper, in which Jesus joined his disciples for the last time before being betrayed. The festival of Christmas, in which a billion or more people worldwide will ‘celebrate’ – if that is the right word - the birth of Christ, appears to have begun about 300 years after the death of Christ. Possibly, the Christian movement had gathered sufficient momentum by this time for it to require distinctive festivals of its own. It is probably no coincidence that the time of year chosen coincided with the much older pagan festival of the winter solstice, and this no doubt helped the new religion gain acceptance among the non-believers. (more…)
Back to nature #2: Deep Ecology- Nostalgia for Eden December 10, 2007
Posted by Graham in : Environment, Human Ecology, Science and Rationaltiy , 6commentsNostalgia for Eden
A widely held belief amongst environmentalists, Deep Ecologists and other “post-modern” humans who yearn for a return to the idyllic world of an imagined Garden of Eden is that the struggle for sustainability is a new one: for most of human history, hundreds of thousands of years, people have lived in stable societies with minimal impact on natural resources, and have had the wisdom and respect for the natural world that is required to be sustainable. (more…)
Back to Nature #1 December 1, 2007
Posted by Graham in : Environment, Human Ecology , 2commentsBack to Nature:
Exploring Humans’ Relationship to the Natural World
Modern humans have an uneasy relationship with the “natural world”: there is a sense of separation, of loss, but also an ambivalence and uncertainty in knowing how to relate to Nature.
What we even mean by “the Natural World” or “Nature” is unclear. Some might say, for example, that since culture has emerged from nature, it must in some ways still be governed by the forces of nature.
In what ways can it be said that we are still a part of nature? In what ways, if any, have we escaped the confines of natural processes with our tools and technologies, medicines and machines? And if human society is still governed primarily by the laws and limitations of the natural world, what does this mean for a future of diminishing natural resources and energy after Peak Oil?
This is the first of a series essays in which I want to explore some different approaches to the question of human’s relationship to nature. (more…)
Powerdown Roundup November 24, 2007
Posted by Graham in : Environment, Food, Gardens, Peak Oil, Permaculture, Powerdown , add a commentIt has been a busy few weeks and I only now have a chance to catch up by reporting on a few events I have attended over the last few weeks.
On November 8th and 9th I presented an introduction to permaculture workshop at the Tipperary institute, for final-year students on the Sustainable Rural Development degree course.
After an overview of permaculture design principles and some edible landscaping techniques, students were asked to do a design exercise on a proposed permaculture garden outside the canteen.
Making use of some of their proposals I will write up a design for the garden which the Institute will implement early next year. This is an exciting development for the TI and the garden will be partly managed by students on a new degree course starting next September, Environmental and Natural Resource Managment, which will include a Permaculture component. This is a ground-breaking new course designed to provide relevant third-level training to address the coming environmental and resource challenges we will be facing as we continue down the slippery slope of energy descent. (more…)
The Great Magic Water Conference November 16, 2007
Posted by Graham in : Environment, General, Science and Rationaltiy, water , 4commentsAnatomy of a Scam
A few years ago I attended an extraordinary event in Co. Monaghan which I still refer to as “The great magic Water Conference”. Organised by local environmentalists to promote the “discoveries” of an outfit called Perfect Science, it drew together an extraordinary mix of council water engineers, environmentalists and water diviners, pendulum swingers and other purveyors of New Age religion.
I wont reveal the names of those involved in setting up the conference; some of them are old friends I havn’t seen for a while. Ill refer to the main organiser as “John”- not his real name. John had managed to gain the support of the County Council who opened the event and reputedly put up money to pay for it. (more…)
Bursting point: The World’s Unsustainable Population November 11, 2007
Posted by Graham in : Environment, Overshoot, Peak Oil, Population , 11commentsBursting point: the world’s unsustainable population
from the latest edition of Sustainability Magazine
by Graham Strouts www.zone5.org
“It is a simple logical truth that, short of mass emigration into space, with rockets taking off at the rate of several million per second, uncontrolled birth-rates are bound to lead to horribly increased death-rates. It is hard to believe that this simple truth is not understood by those leaders who forbid their followers to use effective contraceptive methods. They express a preference for ‘natural’ methods of population limitation, and a natural method is exactly what they are going to get. It is called starvation.” ~Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene
Population is a sensitive subject. It is not only political leaders who are reluctant to address it; most environmentalists also feel it is quite beyond their remit in working towards sustainability. It is often seen as an unmentionable subject, something only touched upon by racists and xenophobes –which is exactly why environmentalists need to engage in the debate. (more…)
Film Review- What a Way to Go November 4, 2007
Posted by Graham in : Environment, General, Geo-politics, Peak Oil , 4commentsFilm Review:
What a Way to Go- Life at the End of Empire
“If we knew all the facts, we’d have discarded the myth of the techno fix a long time ago. To my eye, our crisis, at its deepest levels, is a crisis not of technology, but of meaning and purpose… “Talking about this is the first step. Without this catastrophe is inevitable.”- Tim Bennett
What a Way to Go is a groundbreaking movie.
I watched this week for the first time with a few friends, most of whom have been watching Peak Oil films and discussing the issues around them for much of the past three years. (more…)
