Tag Archives: climate change

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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Solar panels in the Sahara could cause global warming

Preface. Adding tens of thousands of square miles of solar panels to replace fossil fuels could cause climate change and heat up the planet. Of course this is a fantasy, dust storms would scour the panels rendering them useless, with … Continue reading

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Alaskan tsunamis threaten even California

Preface. A 9.1 magnitude earthquake in Alaska send a tsunami all the way to the California coast  and cause at least $10 billion in damage, forcing at least 750,000 people to evacuate flooded areas, destroy port facilities in the Bay … Continue reading

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The Green New Deal is not a solution for the real problem: Overshoot

Preface.  Seibert & Rees’ paper is very important.  And also well-written, unlike the usual scientific jargon perfect for putting you to sleep at night.  It’s short too. In just 13 pages Siebert and Rees cover the most important issues we … Continue reading

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Not enough fossil fuels left to trigger another mass extinction

Preface. Since both conventional and unconventional oil peaked in 2018, we clearly won’t be burning fossils at exponentially increasing rates until 2400 as the IPCC expected. Quite the opposite, currently the decline rate of oil is 8% a year, which … Continue reading

Posted in But not from climate change: Peak Fossil Fuels, CO2 and Methane, Global Warming, Mass Extinction, Planetary Boundaries, Runaway Greenhouse | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Increased flooding

Preface. It’s not just sea level rise, but increased precipitation, sinking land, hurricanes, and dam failures that will cause more floods in the future. Dams will fail more often in extreme rain as at least half are older than their … Continue reading

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Global Ice melting

Preface. As the Arctic ice melt accelerates due to climate change it could release more than 1 trillion pieces of plastic into the ocean over the next decade, possibly posing a major threat to marine life (Lewis 2014). The rate … Continue reading

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Was the fall of the Roman Empire due to plagues & climate change?

Preface. Harper (2017) shows the brutal effects of plagues and climate change on the Roman Empire. McConnell (2020) proposes that a huge volcanic eruption in Alaska was a factor in bringing the Roman Empire  and Cleopatra’s Egypt down. In addition, … Continue reading

Posted in Pandemic Fast Crash, Roman Empire | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Population explosion to destroy 11% of remaining ecosystems and biodiversity

Preface. According to a recent paper in Nature Sustainability (Williams et al 2020), we are on the verge of destroying 11% of earth’s remaining ecosystems by 2050 to grow more food. We already are using 75% of Earth’s land. What … Continue reading

Posted in Chemicals, Deforestation, Food production, Overpopulation | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Why we aren’t mining methane hydrates now — or perhaps ever

Preface. Methane hydrates are far from being commercial, and probably always will be. Scientists and companies have been trying to exploit them since the first energy crisis in 1973 to no avail. Nor are they likely to trigger a runaway … Continue reading

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