While the world wrings its collective hands over how little we must do to thwart climate change, two other sinister threats lurk in the wings – overpopulation and our rapacious excessive consumption of very finite resources, renewable and non-renewable. Any one of those three, on its own, is more than
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The Disaffected Lib: Faint Hope
These days good news on climate change is hard to find. Yet recent progress by major emitters, specifically China, give hope that the world might just meet the Paris Climate Summit goal of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius by 2100. Over the past half-century, growth in the global
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Another Sign? I Sure Hope Not.
Something has changed over the past two years. My home is bordered along the back by a row of large cedar trees. When I moved here some 15 years ago one of the delights I discovered was being awakened in the mornings by the chirps and songs of a seemingly
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: As I Stare at My Smoke-Clouded Sky, a Thought or Two About Tipping Points
A tipping point isn’t that instant when water begins pouring over the canoe’s gunwale. The tipping point is actually before that, when the canoe is heeling over and can’t be stopped. It’s summer time. Get in a canoe and try it. There’s a brief moment, perhaps not more than a
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: And the Band Played On
It’s generally accepted in the scientific community that it takes one to several centuries, on average, for species to truly adapt to a 1 degree Celsius shift in temperature, up or down. Look around today and you’ll see species “running” for their lives, continually migrating ever further away from the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Big Question Now is When?
Several years ago a non-governmental organization, the Global Footprint Network, came to my attention. GFN’s purpose was to monitor the state of the biomass around the world on a global, regional and national basis. GFN published this annual report marking what they called “World Overshoot Day.” This was the date
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: When Overshoot Meets Inequality
Tuesday marked Earth Overshoot Day, 2014. August 19th was the day by which humankind had consumed an entire year’s production of renewable resources. Overall that means we’re using resources more than 1.5 times the rate at which the Earth can replace them. EOD is a moving target that, unfortunately, keeps
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