* #ClimateCatastrophe #Overshoot #PhantomCarryingCapacity *
(1/n)
The #AngloSaxon capitalist model ruined earth for humanity and many other species. #BigOil has been its undertaker, b/c #BigOilKnew.
If capitalism hadn't made the #GreenRevolution possible, human society would already have reached the #overshoot (1) point at the end of the last century:
In 1968, the #biologists Paul and Anne #Ehrlich wrote the book The #PopulationBomb"...
#ClimateCatastrophe #Overshoot #PhantomCarryingCapacity
(2/n)
"...In an early edition, the preface read:
βThe battle to feed all of #humanity is over. In the π1970s hundreds of millions of people will starve to deathπ in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now. At this late date nothing can prevent a substantial increase in the world death rate.β
"#Ehrlich was [only] wrong because he didnβt..."
#ClimateCatastrophe #Overshoot #PhantomCarryingCapacity
(3/n)
"...anticipate the #GreenRevolution, which took off in the 1970s.
π#Farmers began to use new chemical #fertilizers such as #phosphorous and #ammonia (which is derived from #NaturalGas), and #agrochemicals such as #pesticides and #herbicides [#oil derivatives]).π
In addition, they began to use new types of #farming equipment that mechanized #cultivation and harvesting.
But thatβs not all. In the past, a #drought...
(4/n)
"...meant a much lower #crop yield, but π new technologies allowed #farmers to #pump water out of deep underground #aquifers.π
Also, scientists developed new high-yield crop varieties that never existed in nature."
"However, *this increased #CarryingCapacity [of earth] is an illusion.*
William R. #Catton, author of #Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change, called it [the] βπ Phantom Carrying Capacityπ.β
"Our ability to feed..."
#ClimateCatastrophe #Overshoot #PhantomCarryingCapacity
(5/n)
"...8 billion people is πcompletely dependent on #FossilFuelsπ such as #oil and natural #gas."
"Without plenty of affordable energy, we cannot continue to grow our population or even maintain it."
"...all this #GreenEnergy requires another finite resource:
#RareEarthMetals. The great thing..."
#ClimateCatastrophe #Overshoot #PhantomCarryingCapacity
(6/n)
"...about #oil is [in contrast] that all of the #energy is already stored inside of it." (1)
"Is There Enough Metal to Replace #Oil?" asked #RobertHunziker in 2022.
"The short answer: No, not even close!" (2)
And then, there's the food issue:
"About π50% of the worldβs #food production depends on #fertilizerπ that...
#ClimateCatastrophe #Overshoot #PhantomCarryingCapacity
(7/n)
"...is created this way. There is πno substitute.π This is why fertilizer prices (and thus, food prices) are getting higher and higher, because #NaturalGas has gotten so expensive..."
Instead of using natural gas exclusively for fertilizer production, we are just "firing away"
Humans have essentially painted themselves into a corner." (1)
Another #overshoot seems hard to avoid.
This time, the
#PhantomCarryingCapacity...
#ClimateCatastrophe #Overshoot #PhantomCarryingCapacity
(8/9)
...the #ExtinctionLevelEvent will most likely not be limited to plants and animals...
(2) https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/08/23/is-there-enough-metal-to-replace-oil/
A key issue for the accomplishment of renewables is power storage because of the impact of wind and solar intermittency, both of which are highly intermittent. Most studies assume gas will be the buffer for intermittency. Other than using fossil fuel such as gas as a buffer, an adequate power storage system to handle intermittency will require 30 times more material than what electric vehicles require with current plans, meaning the scope is much larger than the current paradigm allows.
#ClimateCatastrophe #Overshoot #PhantomCarryingCapacity
(9/9)
...That said, there is a lot we could do, apart from #PopulationControl, rethinking building construction (e.g. using #WindCatchers*), but first and foremost, a #SecondGreenRevolution, using a combination of #Agrivoltaics and #WaruWaru:
https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/109972629386382918
*
https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/110624369550177707
//
HistoPol (#HP) π΄ πΊπΈ π΄
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