Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
• An interesting post from Riverford’s Guy Watson about climate change and crops
• Hobby gardeners boost backyard biodiversity
• Huge scale of California pollination event
• Proposed law could deliver huge boost to urban agriculture in California
Researchers have discovered a significant flaw in large swaths of ecological research into the impact of logging on tropical forests: Scientists have been dramatically overestimating the damage done by loggers, skewing conservation strategies paid for by the donations of millions of environmentally minded citizens.
•Report questions long-term productivity of gas wells in Barnett Shale•Town Sued After Barring Debate on Gas Extraction at Meetings•PwC: Shale oil surge poses threat to renewables•Gas company targets protected Manú park in Peruvian Amazon•NY fracking decision faces further delay on health study
A few weeks before I left, John Michael Greer published a fictional story about America losing its hegemonic grip entitled How it could Happen. The opening…focused on a proxy war between China and the US in east Africa over oil rights following a discovery in Tanzania…I was on the lookout for evidence of its feasibility when I visited Kenya. I didn’t have to look far.
Today, the United States and Mexico signed a landmark agreement that will return vital flows to the lower Colorado River and its once-bountiful Delta and reconnect the river to its final destination, the Gulf of California.
As it has grown in numbers and technological might, the human race has become a force of geophysical proportion, on par with the asteroid that struck the Yucatan during the Cretaceous era, dethroning Tyrannosaurus rex. Extinction is final. Yet no species is immortal. Extinction has been part of evolution since life emerged on Earth.
