Category Archives: Biodiversity Loss

If we lose enough species, we’ll drive ourselves extinct as well

Menhaden: the fish at the bottom of the ocean food web

Preface. Oil has allowed us to extract 90% of the fish in the ocean by being able to go to the ends of the earth using sonar and spotting planes to find the last schools. Menhaden have been overfished for … Continue reading

Posted in Biodiversity Loss, Fisheries, Jobs and Skills, Starvation | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

The pillaging of Native American coal, water, uranium and more

Preface. This is a book review of: “Unreal City: Las Vegas, Black Mesa, and the Fate of the West” by Judith Nies.  This book is about how stealing the resources of native Americans lands was made legal, despite enormous Native … Continue reading

Posted in An Index of Best Energyskeptic Posts, Biodiversity Loss, Coal, Energy Books, Energy Infrastructure, Global Warming, Infrastructure & Fast Crash, Mass migrations, Peak Resources, Pumped Hydro Storage (PHS), U.S. Congress Energy Policy, Water Pollution | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The pillaging of Native American coal, water, uranium and more

Nuclear attack on U.S. could kill 90% of Americans

A map showing modelling by Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security showing the worst-case scenario effects of a strike on America’s nuclear missile silos. Researchers found as many as 300 million people would be at risk of a … Continue reading

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The 10th planetary boundary: Salt

Preface. In 2009, Johan Rockström proposed that there were nine planetary boundaries we must not cross.  In 2023, Richardson et al found that 6 of the 9 boundaries had been transgressed: Climate change CO2 and radiative forcing, Biosphere integrity, land … Continue reading

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California Governor Newsom goes furthest to soften collapse of any U.S. state

Preface. In September 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom passed 12 bills making abortion easier to obtain, and invites women from states where abortion is forbidden to come here.

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Human sprawl and wildlife destruction: a book review of “Nature Wars”

Preface.  This is a book review of Sterba’s “Nature Wars” and our interaction with wildlife as our insanely huge population growth wipes out nature.

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China is destroying itself

Preface. China has been destroying itself for many decades now.  In Mao’s “great leap forward” about 35 to 50 million are estimated to have died from starvation from 1958 on, as you’ll read in my book review of” Shapiro J … Continue reading

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The nine boundaries we must not cross or we may go extinct

Preface. This post has excerpts from the famous paper by Rockström et al (2009) as well as a more recent proposal by Running (2012) on an easier measure of how close we’re coming to rendering the planet uninhabitable. The media … Continue reading

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Why did everyone stop talking about Population & Immigration?

Preface. This post summarizes the 20 top reasons why population growth was abandoned the past 40 years. A deeper understanding can be found in the excellent Beck & Kolankiewicz (2000) “The Environmental Movement’s Retreat from Advocating U.S. Population Stabilization” and … Continue reading

Posted in Biodiversity Loss, Climate Change, Deforestation, Disease, Overpopulation, Pesticides, Pollution, Population, Transportation, Water Pollution, Wildfire | Tagged , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Heat effects on habitability, biodiversity, and invasive species

Preface. Due to limits of human heat tolerance, much of Earth’s surface may not be habitable by 2300 if we continue to emit greenhouse gases at the current rate. But we can’t continue at the current rate. Peak oil production … Continue reading

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