World Population to Hit 9.7 Billion by 2050

The world’s population will climb to 9.7 billion people by 2050, according to a new French study on Wednesday, with India expected to overtake China as the world’s most populous nation with a staggering 1.6 billion residents. The report by the French Institute of Demographic Studies mirrored similar projections in recent months by both the […]

Tropical Storm Karen Heads toward U.S. Gulf Coast

The first cyclone to threaten the U.S. coast this year moved across the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday and was forecast to sweep through offshore oil installations before hitting the mainland between Louisiana and the Florida Panhandle, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Some energy companies in the Gulf started shutting down production and evacuating […]

The hour is darkest just before dawn: crisis as opportunity

As I look back from the year 2033, I would like to be able to tell you that the transition to our low-carbon society was smooth and rational. I would like to be able to tell you that, as a democracy, we shaped our nation with sensible, evidence-based decisions, and built a just and sustainable […]

Another Fukushima tank leaked toxic water

The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant said on Thursday another tank holding highly contaminated water overflowed, probably sending the liquid into the Pacific Ocean, in the second such breach in less than two months. Recent site mishaps have returned Tokyo Electric Power Co, or Tepco, to the spotlight, calling into question its ability […]

Radiation in Pennsylvania Creek Seen as Legacy of Fracking

Naturally occurring radiation brought to the surface by gas drillers has been detected in a Pennsylvania creek that flows into the Allegheny River, illustrating the risks of wastewater disposal from the boom in hydraulic fracturing. Sediment in Blacklick Creek contained radium in concentrations 200 times above normal, or background levels, according to the study, published […]

What Price for Extra Oil?

It has been very interesting to watch over the past few years the shift in public understanding of international oil and gas supply for the future. Not too long ago, the rush to renewable and alternative energy sources was strong, with public subsidies and private funds in full support of solar, wind, bio-fuels, and other […]

Civil resistance as deterrent to fracking: Part One, They shale not pass

Can we mobilize and prepare the towns threatened by hydraulic fracturing with action plans so well-devised, so widely and transparently publicized, that unconventional energy developers wouldn’t dare enter? See Part Two here. Image: © Marie-Neige Besner. It’s win before you fight. Using an innovatively designed civil resistance campaign as a nonviolent deterrent, the people of Quebec […]

Population Growth: Addressing the Real Problem

Uncertainty. Those skeptical about whether climate change is occurring and that we should do something about it are rather fond of it. Uncertainty of course goes in two directions and the rather one sided interest of many of these so called skeptics betrays their lack of genuine skepticism. We are now being told that we […]

Preparing for population growth

From skyscraper apartment blocks to green tech to water security—population growth requires forward thinking when it comes to infrastructure. Engineer Gregory Oates outlines what this means for scientists, architects and anyone involved with technology.   Population size has great implications for what is expected from science and engineering, yet we have seemingly little influence in […]

How New York Times Columnist Misunderstands Shale Revolution

In last week’s Opinion Pages of the New York Times, columnist Mark Bittman argues that natural gas has little potential as a bridge to zero-carbon energy and that gas should play a limited role in the country’s energy strategy. He concludes by urging the nation to dismantle its existing energy infrastructure, and filling the gap […]

Yale Professor: Fukushima Will ‘Threaten Humanity for Thousands of Years’

Top professor warns ’all of humanity will be threatened for thousands of years’ if Fukushima is not stopped, and it may soon get much worse A Yale professor is cautioning the world to wake up from its nuclear slumber and face the severity of the Fukushima radiation crisis, warning that ’all of humanity will be threatened for thousands of years’ […]

Is population growth out of control?

The respected broadcaster and naturalist, Sir David Attenborough, told the BBC recently that population growth was “out of control” – but one expert says the number of people on the planet could peak in 40 years. Who should we believe? “The world’s population is increasing out of control,” Sir David told the BBC’s Today programme. […]

Paving the planet: did someone say “anthropocene”?

This graph is taken from an article by Krausmann et al., (see below). It is not unexpected to see that the growth of all mineral commodities has been increasing during the past century. But what’s impressive is the growth of “construction minerals” which stands for sand, rock, cement and the like. Incredibly fast: in terms […]

Is there a ‘Transition position’ on fracking?

During August, at the peak of the campaign against the fracking for natural gas at Balcombe, West Sussex, the BBC ran a story called Dorking ‘green’ group in favour of fracking.  It stated, “One group in Surrey set up to encourage sustainable living has come out in favour of exploration and fracking, the process which […]

David 5, Goliath 0 (and Counting)

Love the underdog? Well, get this: people around the globe are going up against Big Oil and Big Mining—and winning. Okay, so we’re all depressed. The planet is going to hell in a bucket, Congress is a train wreck, the fossil fuel lobby is stomping us into the ground, the Keystone XL pipeline means game […]

Denial Of Nature’s Limit Is The Problem

Publisher’s note: This article from World Shift Vision is what the New York Times should run, instead of the nonsense it ran that is addressed so well here. This month, The New York Times published a fantastical piece on human exceptionalism entitled “Overpopulation Is Not The Problem,” in which author Erle C. Ellis claimed that […]

Study Of Best Fracked Wells Finds Low Methane Emissions, Skips Super-Emitters

The good news: A sample of what are probably the best fracked wells in the country finds low emissions of methane, a potent heat-trapping gas. The bad news: The study likely missed the super-emitters, the wells that are responsible for the vast majority of methane leakage. The ugly news: Same as ever — natural gas […]

Fracking Fluids in the Flood

The airplane banked right, bucking from the turbulence. I was blasted with freezing air as the pilot opened a window so the CNN cameraman could get good footage of the flooding South Platte River. I moaned. The fact that I was up there at all was a near-impossibility. Perhaps we all are allowed one irrational […]

Agenda 21 Revealed

Agenda 21 is a major tool of the New World order, conceived in 1992 in Rio DeJaniero at the “Earth Summit.” Its original name, “Sustainable Development”, began in 1987 with Gro Harlem Brundtland, VP of the World Socialist Party.  Heavily promoted to the public as the salvation for this planet and every human being, it […]

There is no population explosion on this planet

Our population problem isn’t too many humans on the planet, but too few owning too much of it Too many people for too little land,” David Attenborough said last week, makes it “barmy” to send food to Africa, before going on to say that he wants to “start a debate about overpopulation”. Stephen Emmott, author of […]

Radical Embrace: Breaking the Cycle of an Unfertile Demise

Every once in a while we read something that stops us in our tracks. But in short time, we forget about it. Less frequently, we read something that stays with us, grows in us, and rather than disappear, it changes us so that every aspect of our very lives is tinged by the new information. […]

A look at global population trends

Too many people is a big problem, but too few is a concern as well. The story of the 21st century has been one of falling birthrates, rising standards of living, and a revolution in food production. But the global picture is uneven: As populations decline in wealthier nations, in other countries – particularly in […]

Alan Weisman’s ‘Countdown’ points to Earth’s population explosion

Alan Weisman, the author of bestseller ‘The World Without Us,’ says population is going in the wrong direction to let us achieve ecological sustainability. How many people can the planet support? In “The World Without Us,” Alan Weisman took readers for a romp through the misty primeval forest in Poland and splashed into gin-clear waters […]

Plundering the planet: an update

This is a written version of a talk I gave at the meeting of the club of Rome, in Ottawa, on Sep 19 2013. Ladies and gentlemen, in this short talk I’ll see to give to you an update of the status of the “Plundering the Planet” book,  which, as you know, is a report […]

How Much Longer Can Earth Support Life?

Earth could continue to host life for at least another 1.75 billion years, as long as nuclear holocaust, an errant asteroid or some other disaster doesn’t intervene, a new study calculates. But even without such dramatic doomsday scenarios, astronomical forces will eventually render the planet uninhabitable. Somewhere between 1.75 billion and 3.25 billion years from […]

Colorado flooding triggers oil spills

Colorado’s flooding shut down hundreds of natural gas and oil wells in the state’s main petroleum-producing region and triggered at least two spills, temporarily suspending a multibillion-dollar drilling frenzy and sending inspectors into the field to gauge the extent of pollution. Besides the possible environmental impact, flood damage to roads, railroads and other infrastructure will […]

The next ten billion years: Ugo Bardi

Discussing the next ten billion years at the “Doomstead Diner“. A follow up of my previous posts on the subject (first one and second one).

The REAL Fukushima Danger

The fact that the Fukushima reactors have been leaking huge amounts of radioactive water ever since the 2011 earthquake is certainly newsworthy.  As are the facts that: Tepco doesn’t know how to stop the leaks Scientists have no idea where the cores of the nuclear reactors are Radiation could hit Korea, China and the West Coast of North America fairly hard But the […]

Anima Mundi

Anima Mundi directed by Peter charles Downey (2011). An independent, unique and interesting feature documentary on permaculture, peak oil, climate change and Gaia theory. Starring David Holmgren, Vandana Shiva, Noam Chomsky, Michael C. Ruppert, Michael Reynolds (earthships), John Seed, Dr. Mark O’Meadhra, Dr. Christine James and Permablitz. HD 77 minutes. Anima Mundi is Latin for […]

Human population growth is still the greatest threat to our environment

In 2008, I wrote a post titled, “Should We Stop Having Children to Save the Earth?“.  This post got a lot of attention.  Even the BBC wanted to interview me!   Human population growth is an issue that is personal and public, as people take both sides defending their right to have a large family […]

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