At 7 Billion, What Happens Now?

World Population Crisis; At 7 Billion, What Happens Now?

Worst-Case Scenario for Oil Sands Comes to Life, WikiLeak Docs Show

As environmentalists began ratcheting up pressure against Canada’s tar sands three years ago, one of the world’s biggest strategic consulting firms was tapped to help the North American oil industry figure out how to handle the mounting activism. The resulting document, published online by WikiLeaks, offers another window into how oil and gas companies have […]

Fukushima Nuclear Situation Still ‘Very Complex’

The UN’s nuclear watchdog on Wednesday delivered a preliminary report on their review of Japan’s efforts to plan and implement the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station that suffered a meltdown during the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of 2011. Following a 10-day visit, a 19-member team of experts praised Japan for […]

BP’s learned nothing: The oil company is pursuing its riskiest strategy yet

BP is going after huge oil reserves that could make or break its fortunes In this Friday, July 16, 2010, file photo, drilling rigs and workboats operate at the site of the Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico. As of December 2013, BP is leading an industry-wide push to develop technology that can […]

A Home in Harmony with Nature? Why, that’s illegal!

When we look at any aspect of what we call “civilization,” we see tangible designs, arrangements of matter formed into specific shapes. And all this shaping and forming is done by the cultural paradigm—by the worldview or philosophy of the particular culture. Does this sound abstract? Well, if you really want to experience the tangible […]

Let’s Give This Era a Name: The Age of Denial

It’s traditional at this time of year to look back at what we have accomplished or how we have blundered, and to look forward at how we might fix things. So far, we should classify this decade of the 2010s as the Age of Denial. People, and Americans in particular, continue to avoid serious thought […]

Peak Oil as Wishful Thinking

Is our civilization doomed? I don’t think so, though I’ll admit that the case for doom is a pretty good one. But I wish to be clear on two points. First, it’s not too late to avoid disastrous climate change. We’re in trouble, no doubt about that, but we have the science, the technology, and […]

When Calamity Strikes, Think Local

More than a month after Cyclone Phailin battered Orissa, tribes in the eastern Indian coastal state are still feeling its wrath. Besides the damage to their homes and hearths, it has also meant a loss of their traditional food. “Calamities like Cyclone Phailin affect all equally, but the tribes are far more vulnerable to the […]

Radioactive Japanese wave nears USA

In the wake of the deadly tsunami that hit Japan in 2011 and severely damaged a nuclear reactor, Japanese officials say the levels of radiation are safe for everyone outside the reactor area itself. But as radioactive water from the plant nears the West Coast of North America — the water is expected to hit […]

Arab World Sinks Deeper into Water Crisis

The Arab world is widely perceived as blessed with an embarrassment of riches: an abundance of oil (Saudi Arabia), one of the world’s highest per capita incomes (Qatar), and home to the world’s tallest luxury building (United Arab Emirates). But it lacks one of the most finite resources necessary for human survival: water. “The average […]

The Tar Sands and the World Tree – can Ragnarok be avoided?

Norse mythology tells of Ragnarok, a cataclysmic disaster akin to ecocide. In order to avoid this fate we need new stories that reunite human experience with nature. What do the “selfish gene,” homo economicus and the idea that human nature is immutable all have in common? They mix selective evidence with supposition, and masquerade as […]

Robert Rapier: Oil Sands and the Environment – Part II

Introduction Today I continue coverage of my recent visit to the Athabasca oil sands near Fort McMurray, Alberta. I was there as a guest of the Canadian government, which hosts annual tours for small groups of journalists and energy analysts. I will be covering multiple aspects of oil sands production in a series of posts. […]

Human Beings Are Not the Problem, They Are the Solution

Whereas population controllers think having less people will solve the world’s problems, a new ad by Unilever shows a different hope for the future. When was the last time you recall seeing a major corporation promote the dignity of human life? At best, most might keep hush about the issue, not wanting to commit themselves […]

Namibian Govt fears tuna depletion as oil and gas exploration chase fish away

SEISMIC exploration of gas and oil on Namibian waters has led to massive depletion of tuna output from 1 800 tonnes last year to about 650 tonnes so far this year. This is a far cry from 2011 tuna output, which was 4 000 tonnes. In response, a government task force that completed its mandate […]

The Sky Is Falling: Chicken Little Was Right All Along

My obsession with sustainability dates back to 1969, the year I started my doctoral dissertation on human carrying capacity.  I became aware that there was real danger of overshooting that capacity and that if we consumed enough of our ecological capital, we risked a population crash and even possible human extinction.  In the meantime, I […]

A New One Child Policy

When China’s Communist Party announced it will loosen its one child policy to help its economy continue to grow, I thought it was a wise move. But not for the economy. Or for growth. In fact, I believe one child is the ideal number of children to have and that it is vital to lower […]

Critical worldwide shortages could lead to water wars

Get ready for the water wars. Most of the world’s population takes water for granted, just like air — two life-sustaining substances. After all, the human body is nearly two-thirds water. But a Hindustan Times blogger said that in India right now, as in many other places around the globe, drinkable water has become such […]

Powerdown: Let’s talk about it

We’re caught in the squeeze right now. Climate change is advancing at an incredible speed. We know we should do something, but we lack the political will to do what it takes to hold it to 2°C. UN committees are now being counseled to prepare for 4°C of warming. To keep it survivable, there’s got […]

Anima Mundi: Permaculture, Peak Oil, Climate Change and the Soul of the World

Many people do not realize that permaculture is much more than about growing fruit and vegetables, it is a whole view incorporating the environment, energy, resources, housing, technology, education, healthcare, the arts, spirituality, psychology, philosophy and agriculture. It provides a realistic alternative for our future sustainability, a gentler way that treads lightly on our Mother […]

Will Open Source Beehives Solve Colony Collapse?

Last year, a third of honeybee colonies in the United States quite literally vanished. Commercial honey operations, previously abuzz with many thousands of bees, fell suddenly silent, leaving scientists and beekeepers alike scratching their heads. The reasons remain mostly a mystery, but the trend has a name: Colony Collapse Disorder; a disturbing development drying up […]

Arctic oil spill is certain if drilling goes ahead

A serious oil spill in the Arctic is a “dead cert” if drilling goes ahead, with potentially devastating consequences for the pristine region, according to a leading marine scientist who played a key role in analysis of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The warning came as Russia filed court orders this week to have Greenpeace […]

The human health costs of losing natural systems

On the island of Madagascar, a team of researchers from University of California, Berkeley, Harvard School of Public Health, and the Wildlife Conservation Society has found that the loss of access to wildlife for sustenance can lead to …more A new paper from members of the HEAL (Health & Ecosystems: Analysis of Linkages) consortium delineates […]

Fukushima engineers begin removing fuel rods from damaged reactor

Workers started removing radioactive fuel rods from a reactor building at the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant on Monday, plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co. said. The painstaking and risky task is a crucial first step toward a full cleanup of the earthquake- and tsunami-damaged plant in northeastern Japan. The removal of the rods is the most […]

What 11 Billion People Mean for Food Security

By the end of this century, Earth may be home to 11 billion people, the United Nations has estimated, earlier than previously expected. As part of a week-long series, LiveScience is exploring what reaching this population milestone might mean for our planet, from our ability to feed that many people to our impact on the […]

Japan abandons plan to reduce environmental pollution in wake of nuclear energy shutdown

(http://www.nytimes.com)According to the New York Times, Japan will no longer be able to meet its earlier goal in cutting greenhouse gas emissions, citing nuclear plant shutdowns following the Fukushima disaster. Japan is one of the world’s leading polluters (along with China, the U.S., Russia and India), but they previously had a plan to cut emission […]

Sexual revolution leading to population decline crisis

The greatest crisis humanity will face in the 21st century, according to Don Feder, will not be global warming, disease, overpopulation, or any of the dystopian scenarios portrayed in science fiction. Instead, Feder believes, the crisis will be the so-called “Demographic Winter” stemming from a worldwide decline in fertility rates. “Sometime in this century we’re […]

World Population: How Many Billion?

In 1960, the population was about 3 billion. Now, in 2013, the world population is estimated to be about 7 billion. That’s right – in 50 years, the world population has doubled. And that means my parents and everyone in their generation have lived through a doubling in population. This got me to thinking: will the […]

Energy Crunch: the global picture

Three things you shouldn’t miss this week The dwindling emissions budget if we are to limit global warming to no more than 2°C. Graphic: International Energy Agency World Energy Outlook 2013 Article: Shale’s Effect on Oil Supply Is Not Expected to Last –  According to a report released Tuesday by the International Energy Agency, production of such oil […]

Peak Waste: What You Need to Know About This Important, Shifting Problem

You may think about peak oil every once in a while when filling up your car, but do you ever think about peak waste when you put the trash out on the curb?  The U.S. definitely has a waste problem problem — it produced 250 million tons of it in 2011, 13 million tons of […]

For Poland the Right Way Is Coal

These are busy days in the Polish capital Warsaw, even if it doesn’t show. The United Nations Climate Change Conference COP 19 has opened at the National Stadium, while on the other side of the river Wisla the Polish far right gathered for their annual march on Independence Day on Monday. But bar a large […]

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