Resource Depletion

Linking the past with the present: resources, land use, and the collapse of civilizations

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The human role in extinction of species and degradation of ecosystems is well documented. Since European settlement in North America, and especially after the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, we have witnessed a substantial decline in biological diversity of native taxa and profound changes in assemblages of the remaining species…We have, to the maximum possible extent allowed by our intellect and never-ending desire, consumed the planet.

Solutions & sustainability – Sept 30

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-Can one woman save Africa?
-Africa doesn’t need a green revolution. It needs agroecology
-Human-made Crises ‘Outrunning Our Ability To Deal With Them,’ Scientists Warn
-The Australian town that kicked the bottle
-Energy executives offer ideas on stimulus

Phosphorus Matters II: Keeping Phosphorus on Farms

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“Next to clean water, phosphorus will be one the inexorable limits to human occupancy on this planet” wrote Bill Mollison in Permaculture: A Designers’ Manual more than 20 years ago. It is that important that we design phosphorus recycling into our food systems. Phosphorus is an essential element for growing crops and no porridge, chocolate bar or cherry jam can be made without it.

Investing in durability

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If you are planning to withdraw, please tell me where you’re going, and send directions. If not, it’s time to start thinking about how you and your family or tribe will muddle through the years ahead. One word comes to mind: durability. If that wasn’t the first word that came to your mind, I’m not surprised.

Humanity’s Choice: A Series of Exits—Not a Fork in the Road

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The ecological and economic prognosticators who warn of a potentially unpleasant future for the human enterprise typically portray humanity as being at a fork in the road on our evolutionary journey. They contend that we are at a pivotal decision point at which we must make an “either/or” choice between a positive future outcome and a negative future outcome.