N-wrecked
The way that humans have messed with the Earth’s carbon cycle rightly figures as planetary eco-problem No.1 in public debate, but the way we’ve messed with its nitrogen cycle probably ought to get more attention than it does.
The way that humans have messed with the Earth’s carbon cycle rightly figures as planetary eco-problem No.1 in public debate, but the way we’ve messed with its nitrogen cycle probably ought to get more attention than it does.
Near-term population decline via falling fertility may be the most humane way to gift an intact world to countless lives of the future. Ideally, the 8 billion humans around today live full lives and spare future generations (not just humans) of a dismal fate by dialing things down.
Jason, Rob, and Asher try not to other one another as they explore the roots and consequences of othering, and the ins and outs of belonging as a key organizing principle of society.
While the polycrisis will emerge differently and at different times in different parts of the world, we will all experience it, so it’s worth reminding ourselves of this and mentally, personally, and communally preparing for it. As well as fighting to help navigate through it with our humanity intact, and our understanding of our dependence on Gaia heightened.
On this episode of the Mongabay Newscast, Indigenous economist Rebecca Adamson argues this financialization of nature comes with perverse incentives and fails to recognize the intrinsic value contained in biodiversity and all the benefits it provides for humans. Instead, she suggests basing economies on principles contained in Indigenous economics.
Investing in a small family farm is much more than an economic consideration: it can help to revitalise an entire village. Rural communities are rooted in multi-generational family farms.
Fast-forward: If many of these young individuals translate anxiety into action, this could initiate a great global fossil-hunting stampede, triggering a rough rocking motion for the fossilized apparatus of governments still beholden to fossil fuel dependencies and obsolete grids minus a plan.
There are over 200 million college students in the world. What are we teaching them and what curriculum will be more appropriate for the world we’re heading into? It is my hope that many professors, post-docs and university affiliates around the world experience this synthesis.
By aligning within and across communities, we will amplify our impact and create an unstoppable force for good. While we transition, our communities will provide insulation from shocks and harms along the way.
Today’s Reality Roundtable with Priscilla Trịhn, James Branagan, and Natasha Linhart, focuses on Generation Z’s perspective of the metacrisis, how learning the reality of the human predicament has affected their worldview, and what they see as viable future paths for themselves and the world.
In the end, something is making these trends go down beyond the model’s awareness, and that something is more likely to still be with us than to suddenly vanish. Perhaps the youth of the world are reacting in a “mature” fashion to the uncertainties of the future, and the justifiable sense that things are broken.
As mid-2024 approaches, the question remains: Can we humans stop making war on each other or preparing for yet more of the same and begin dealing with a planet heading to hell in a proverbial handbasket? Can we face the fact that the enemy is indeed us?