Global ecological sustainability is imminently threatened by a massive ecological bubble. Global terrestrial, atmospheric, aquatic and marine ecosystems are no longer adequately intact to maintain conditions for life. The mark of progress and an equitable, sustainable economy is not how fast the economy grows at the expense of destroying these ecosystems. It is whether the basic needs and more of all Gaia's people and creatures are being met, while maintaining forever the ecological sustainability of their shared ecosystem habitats. [continue]
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From whatever perspective we choose this fact is clear “there is a threat to life as we know it”, and this threat is being constantly amplified by the actions of man. The actions of modern technological man have helped bring this threat very close to becoming real for us on this planet Earth. In a fundamental sense, life can exist only in low entropy “islands” within the isothermal energy system that is the universe. Descriptions of these phenomena can extend from gas clouds, to nebulae, to stellar and planetary systems. Information allows for more detailed descriptions of greater complexity, be it of physical or biological systems, all being organized and sustained by the differential flows of energy possible in such “islands”. [continue]
Stern warnings followed by stern warnings, as drought pushes up grain futures
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Human activity cannot expand forever on our finite planet. An economy growing at 3% a year doubles its size every 24 years. Centuries of such growth have brought us to a mature size. As with individual maturity, there comes a time for societies to stop growing, recognize their power and take responsibly for their impacts. As a mature species, we have two responsibilities to Earth and ultimately, to ourselves. The first is to live within the availability of natural resources. Global production of oil has stalled for three years at about 85 million barrels a day, yet demand continues to increase. (Presently reduced by about 5 million bpd due to recession) This results in rising prices. The increased cost is reminding us all about how dependent we are on this particular resource. [continue]
Faced with today’s economic crisis, many pundits are acting like fundamentalist preachers. Their rants accept certain centering truths as pure and eternal. They view the ‘free market’, for example, as a manifestation of nature, not a socially constructed model—not a crafted, even legislated, rationalization designed to yield general ‘economic’ predictability and control. Accordingly, they regard alternative interpretations and environmental accounting as unnatural market interferences. [continue]
As reality becomes harder to deny, I'm hearing an increasing number of cries,
growing in intensity and tinged with urgency welling up from the grassroots regarding
Peak Oil, catastrophic climate destabilization, biospheric toxicity, rapidly dwindling
quality of life, increasing wealth gap in the Global North, and increasing poverty in the
Global South: "What can we do?" However, all the proposed solutions from the
mainstream simply involve putting band-aids on the symptoms of industrialism and
empire. [continue]
The environment movement is failing because of a dearth of truth telling and a profound lack of ambition. Apart from what sells, is compatible with public opinion, or may remain unknown at the time; ecological truth exists and matters deeply. These truths include the laws of the universe and requirements for existence of organic life. When Homo sapiens perceived themselves, and lived, as one with the Earth, there was no problem. But now the ever so pugnacious hairless ape has asserted mastery over nature, with dire consequences that remain to be fully realized. [continue]
Climate change, peak oil and all the other unfolding crises associated with pollution and resource depletion are all symptoms of one problem. There has been a fundamental change in the relationship between people and the Earth. We no longer have new frontiers to expand into when resources get scarce or our waste becomes intolerable. This change marks the maturity of the human species. Well-being now requires an equally fundamental change in how we manage our societies. [continue]