Facing the Anthropocene: An Update
By Ian Angus, Climate and Capitalism
It may be helpful to outline some important recent developments in Anthropocene science in the two main fields involved: geology, and Earth System science.
Triple Crisis in the Anthropocene Ocean. Part Three: The Heat of 3.6 Billion Atom Bombs
By Ian Angus, Climate and Capitalism
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects that even if emissions are substantially reduced, by 2100 the ocean will heat 2 to 4 times as much as it has since 1970 — and if emissions are not cut, it will heat 5 to 7 times as much.
Triple Crisis in the Anthropocene Ocean. Part Two: Running Low on Oxygen
By Ian Angus, Climate and Capitalism
Ocean deoxygenation is the 3rd but less-reported member of an evil climate change trinity, along with global warming and ocean acidification.
Triple Crisis in the Anthropocene Ocean. Part One: Corrosive Seas
By Ian Angus, Climate and Capitalism
Scientists call them a ‘deadly trio.’ If acidification, oxygen loss, and overheating are not ended soon, a massive die-off of ocean life may be unstoppable.
Dead Zones: Industrial Agriculture versus Ocean Life
By Ian Angus, Climate and Capitalism
Worldwide, there are now over a thousand coastal areas where fish can’t breathe. The nitrogen that makes crops grow is also destroying offshore ecosystems.
Profit vs. Ethics
By Ian Angus, Great Transition Initiative
Moral judgments in lieu of causal understanding—that phrase should be inscribed over the entrance of every department of environmental ethics.
Blue Acceleration: Capitalism’s Growing Assault on the Oceans
By Ian Angus, Climate and Capitalism
“The Blue Acceleration: The Trajectory of Human Expansion into the Ocean,” published in January in the journal One Earth, describes and graphs capital’s growing drive to industrialize the oceans and sea beds. Commercial activity in the oceans is expanding rapidly, and “considerable investments … are driving growth in existing industries and the emergence of new ones, spanning an increasingly diverse range of activities.”
Nitrogen Glut: Too Much of a Good Thing is Deadly for the Biosphere
By Ian Angus, Climate and Capitalism
Climate change deniers often claim that carbon dioxide cannot be harmful because plants need it to grow. The same false argument can be made about nitrogen, and our reply is the same: too much of a good thing can be deadly. Organisms and ecosystems that evolved in a world where the supply of reactive nitrogen was strictly limited are now being disrupted, in many cases destroyed, by an unprecedented nitrogen glut.