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Recent Posts
- The Mayflower from the book The Barbarous Years
- Deep Sea Oil
- Book review of “Livewired. The inside story of the ever-changing brain”
- The conveyor belt may be slowing down — Yikes!
- Battery Energy storage batteries (BESS) too complex to ever be commercial
- New war and energy alliances over next resource wars
- Book review of “Siege: Trump Under fire”
- Why do people vote for Trump?
- Book review of “Pandemic Politics: The Deadly Toll of Partisanship in the Age of COVID”
- The evolution of the Republican party from 1960 to 2024: from moderate democracy to extreme authoritarianism
- Why some people are conservative and others liberal
- Book review: Bring the War Home: The white power movement & paramilitary America
- Book review: How Democracies Die
- Book Review “Conservatives without Conscience” by John Dean
- Book review of “The Power Worshippers. Inside the dangerous rise of religious nationalism”
Category Archives: Farming & Ranching
Jason Bradford on reforming the current food system
Preface. Jason Bradford is amazing: He taught ecology for a few years at Washington University in St. Louis, worked for the Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development at the Missouri Botanical Garden, and co-founded the Andes Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Farming & Ranching
Tagged agriculture, bradford, cattle, crazy town, farms, Jason Bradford, organic
1 Comment
Book review of Fruits of Eden: David Fairchild & Americas Plant Hunters
Preface. Botanist David Fairchild is one of the reasons the average grocery store has 39,500 items. Before he came along, most people ate just a few kinds of food day in day out (though that was partly due to a … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Farming & Ranching
Tagged agriculture, botany, fruit, garden, vegetables
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Livestock threatened by toxic invasive species on rangeland
Preface. Will cattle, sheep,goats, and horses have to be raised on feed lots in the future to prevent range land poisoning from invasive plants? Each year poisonous plants adversely affect 3-5% of the cattle, sheep, and horses that graze western … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity Loss, BioInvasion, Farming & Ranching, Peak Food
Tagged biodiversity loss, Bioinvasion, invasive species, plants
4 Comments
Reforestation can cause rivers to disappear
Preface. We’ll need a lot of forests in the future when wood once again becomes our may source of energy and infrastructure as it was before fossil fuels. But care needs to be taken on where trees are planted. Alice … Continue reading
Nuclear winter could kill 2 to 5 billion people
Preface. Carl Sagan introduced the idea of a “nuclear winter”, which helped to end the cold war. The smoke from fires started by bombs would absorb so much sun the earth wold grow cold, dry, and dark, killing plants on … Continue reading
Posted in Extinction, Farming & Ranching, Fisheries, Nuclear War, Nuclear Winter
Tagged 1 billion deaths, agriculture, fishery, nuclear, nuclear winter, ozone loss, UV radiation, war
1 Comment
Can you grow enough fruit and vegetables to be self-sufficient?
Preface. If you want to try to feed yourself, buy John Jeavons excellent book “How to Grow More Vegetables, Ninth Edition: (and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops) Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land with Less Water … Continue reading
Phosphate: All hopes rest on Morocco with 75% of remaining reserves
Preface. Phosphate is absolutely essential for both plants and animals. It’s estimated that Morocco has of 75-85% of phosphate reserves that might last for 300-400 years. Or peak in 25 years. Walan (2014) has estimates of researchers who’ve predicted peak … Continue reading
Posted in Farming & Ranching, Limits To Growth, Peak Food, Peak Phosphorus, Recycle
Tagged agriculture, food, peak, peak phosphate, peak phosphorus, phosphorus, reserves
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Invasion of feral hogs yet another hazard for the future
Preface. The Decline category used to be Death By A Thousand Cuts. Feral hogs are yet another cut for anyone who survives peak oil. Not only will climate change be drastically cutting back food production, feral hogs will too, and … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity Loss, BioInvasion, Disease, Farming & Ranching
Tagged agriculture, Bioinvasion, disease, feral pigs, wild hogs
3 Comments
After peak oil we need small family farms. But U.S. farms are getting even bigger
Preface. Oh dear, wrong direction! Eventually 75 to 90% of Americans will need to be farmers to feed their family and support craftsmen and others in towns, just as it always was before fossil fuels arrived. These big farms are … Continue reading
Posted in Farming & Ranching
2 Comments
Northeast apple production suffering from Climate Change
Preface. Although this article is only about one crop in one area, it portends a darker future for food production in the future, with each region having their own issues (i.e. drought in California). It’s only a matter of time … Continue reading
Posted in Farming & Ranching, Food production
Tagged agriculture, apples, climate change, food
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