The return of nature

http://thebreakthrough.org/index.php/journal/issue-5/the-return-of-nature

by hmsln • 11 years ago

31 17 11 years ago

rpedela• 11 years ago

This article makes me wonder if we are headed toward a "peak resource" as a civilization. If so when and how would that change society?

Daishiman2• 11 years ago

We sure are. There's been a significant amount of research on this and there's a vas number of mined materials which will peak within this century.

ph0rque• 11 years ago

The good news is, we're also approaching (or have already experienced) peak demand for a lot of things. The root cause of demand, population, is set to peak later in the century.

13thLetter• 11 years ago

Only if you assume that accessible minerals are restricted to those that can be found on the Earth, which is not the case.

RyanMcGreal• 11 years ago

Americans now grow more food on less acres

Arrgh. We would have accepted "fewer acres" or "less acreage".

throwaway1967• 11 years ago

Wrong. "Less" instead of "fewer" has been standard English for over 300 years.

yarrel• 11 years ago

Apparently so but I've not heard it before and it's jarring.

Everyone else is clearly marching out of step.

mlinksva• 11 years ago

Podcast interview with the author http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2015/08/jesse_ausubel_o.htm...

subliminalzen• 11 years ago

The article reminds me of this quote from Carl Jung: "Nature must not win the game, but she cannot lose."

akamaka• 11 years ago

Can anyone explain how to read the CO2 vs GDP graph near the bottom of the article? Is there a name for this type of graph?

http://breakthrough.turing.com/images/elements/Figure_13.png

hammock• 11 years ago

It's a scatter plot with a line connecting the points in chronological order

bro-stick• 11 years ago

It's a mixed bag. Reintroduced wolves are breeding like crazy in some areas northern US states like Montana while not as much in Michigan or Wisconsin. 1

Also, this should not be taken as a free pass to stop conservation or efficiency efforts because of obvious anthropogenic climate change and the Holocene extinction.

I think we need to investigate "no arable land" ag in ultra-high density hydroponics and other approaches to dedicating less land (and urban colocation in buildings), inputs, energy and waste to boil down crop raising to the minimum necessary processes. And also consider cultured animal products.

The US and other countries must push much more aggressively to replace carbon fuels with renewables and non-carbon energy generation as the EU is undertaking. Big coal cannot be allowed to play Russian roulette with our planet to squeeze out more profit by maximally delaying critical changes to industrial habits through political corruption, PR talking-head FUD "expert" shills, ostensible issue groups and many other means. In parallel, the EU and US must help China and other emerging economies deploy technologies faster to cut pollution and reduce net long-term greenhouse emissions, or our grandchildren will face a much tougher battle for survival in the coming century.

At the same time and irrespective of supply-side revolutions, consumers must be educated do their individual part to reduce demand of wasteful growers/crops and avoid currently resource-intensive crops like almonds, cotton, irrigation-flooded rice, palm nuts/oil, livestock meat and similar ag products.

Globally, we're going to need uniform, strong, local environmental protections and industrial regulations to avoid turning the whole planet into Easter Island.

1: Wolf 2014 population report [pdf] http://www.fws.gov/midwest/wolf/monitoring/pdf/Year1PDMRepor...

Bartweiss• 11 years ago

Honestly, that first graph showing the de-link of corn production and land use should be at least as alarming as it is inspirational. That sort of breakaway from a limiting factor doesn't come for free.

In this case, it represents the outcome of GM monocultures and intensive irrigation.

GM crops are, so far, a nearly consequence free gain. The use of monocultures presents a bunch of risks, but until and unless they pan out, it's a simple gain.

The aggressive irrigation required to produce so much corn from so little land is rather more hair-raising. In the midst of a serious drought, we're finally facing the question of whether the Ogallala Aquifer is going to give out on us altogether. At current consumption rates, the answer appears to be 'yes'. This isn't about using the world more efficiently, it's about diminishing land use in favor of massively unsustainable water use.

When we see our production break away from it's usual constraints, that's not a time to celebrate the preservation of nature. It's a time to ask what we're consuming instead.

pvaldes• 11 years ago

mmmh... yes and no. This is only a part of the whole picture.

Nature is not returning, is being reinvented. This is a 'totally new rebranded' "american" fauna and flora.

New Jersey wild areas have currently: Japanese honeysuckle, Asiatic elm disease fungus, Japanese crabs, Chinese Chesnut blight, Red Bellied Pacus and Oscars from the Amazonas, Chinese grass carps, Freshwater jellyfishes from the Yangtze river, European green crabs, Northern Snakeheads from Russia and Korea, Nutrias from Argentina, Chinese softshell turtles, english Ivy, Australian Mimosa...

So you can remove the corn and end having a polyculture of mostly asiatic and south-american weeds and shrubs instead. Something totally new and that never coevolved before.

To the untrained eye, this could seem 'american nature', but in fact is 'now enriched with a 72% of alien plagues'.

The return of nature

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