Stories in topic "Environment/Sustainability"
Dr. Albert Bartlett's "Laws of Sustainability"
Posted by Gail the Actuary on November 6, 2009 - 10:15am
Topic: Environment/Sustainability
Tags: albert bartlett, sustainability [list all tags]
At the Denver ASPO conference, I had the good fortune to meet Dr. Albert Bartlett. Afterward, Dr. Bartlett e-mailed me some material he had written over the years. The "Laws of Sustainability" were included in this material. They are part of Al Bartlett's contribution to the anthology The Future of Sustainability by Marco Keiner, published in 2006. The document by Dr. Bartlett from which these were excerpted can be found here.
LAWS OF SUSTAINABILITY
The Laws that follow are offered to define the term "sustainability." In some cases these statements are accompanied by corollaries that are identified by capital letters. They all apply for populations and rates of consumption of goods and resources of the sizes and scales found in the world in 2005, and may not be applicable for small numbers of people or to groups in primitive tribal situations.
These Laws are believed to hold rigorously.
The list is but a single compilation, and hence may be incomplete. Readers are invited to communicate with the author in regard to items that should or should not be in this list.
First Law: Population growth and / or growth in the rates of consumption of resources cannot be sustained.
EROWI - energy return of water invested
Posted by Ugo Bardi on November 5, 2009 - 10:15am in The Oil Drum: Europe
Topic: Environment/Sustainability
Tags: energy, eroei, eroi, water [list all tags]
Energy Return of Water Invested (EROWI). From an article by Robert Service in Science Magazine. The data in the table originate from "Energy demands on water resources",report to the congress, 2006 link.
Tricking and Treating the Future
Posted by Nate Hagens on November 1, 2009 - 9:50am in The Oil Drum: Campfire
Topic: Environment/Sustainability

We live in some pretty incredible times. The realization that we have borrowed so much from the future (US current deficit is 41% of expenditures!!)that we'll likely not be able to pay it back using our current economic model and existing wealth distribution is slowly starting to dawn on people. At times the implications seem overwhelming. But this Halloween Campfire post is a quick reminder that despite our massive challenges, (and that we are human, imperfect, and mortal) - we can find joy, fun, meaning and satisfaction in many everyday, low throughput ways - we just have to decide to do so. That's both the trick and the treat.
Planning for Water Contingencies
Posted by Gail the Actuary on October 21, 2009 - 6:14pm in The Oil Drum: Campfire
Topic: Environment/Sustainability
We know that fresh water is essential to life. While we can survive for weeks without food, even a few days without water can be a problem. One rule of thumb as to the amount of water needed for drinking is two quarts (1.9 liters) per person per day. If one includes uses other than drinking, obviously more is needed.
In uncertain times, the question is what, if anything, we should be doing with respect to backup planning for water. We can think about this question on both a short term and longer term basis. In some instances, the issue may be more one of supplemental water (beyond what the city system is willing/able to provide) for irrigation of crops.

The Speech Obama Needs to Give
Posted by Gail the Actuary on October 18, 2009 - 10:30am in The Oil Drum: Campfire
Topic: Environment/Sustainability
This is a guest post by R. Daniel Allen Ph. D. Dr. Allen teaches at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in New Jersey.

Saving Seeds: Is this the way to go?
Posted by Gail the Actuary on October 8, 2009 - 10:27am in The Oil Drum: Campfire
Topic: Environment/Sustainability
Tags: hybrids, saving seeds [list all tags]
Through most of the world's history, people have saved their own seeds and replanted them. Now we have a multitude of hybrid seed to choose from. These hybrid seed have a lot of advantages-crops are very uniform, so they are easily harvested, and all mature at the same time. The crops generally have a very good yield, especially when adequate fertilizer is used, sufficient water is available (often through irrigation), and pests are kept under control.

But over the very long term, it is not entirely clear that we will be able to keep up this system. We likely won't have the commercial fertilizer, nearly as much irrigation, and probably not chemical pesticides and herbicides. We are likely not to be able to store the food as well, either, or to transport it long distances.
Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization by Lester Brown
Posted by Gail the Actuary on October 6, 2009 - 10:28am
Topic: Environment/Sustainability
Tags: lester brown [list all tags]
![]()
Lester Brown released a new book this week called Plan B 4.0, Mobilization to Save Civilization. The book is for sale, but it can also be downloaded free as a PDF.
I participated in a conference call with Lester Brown, in which he talked about the book, and several of us asked questions. In this post, I will give you at least a brief introduction to the book.
Chapter 1 is an Introduction. This book really addresses problems of the whole world, not just a single area, such as the United States.
Chapters 2 and 3 give Brown's diagnosis of the problem. Chapter 2 is about population pressure on land (food) and water. Chapter 3 is about the issues of climate change, and also mentions that oil supply is decreasing. Brown indicates that he advocates a phaseout of coal because of its climate issues and because it is the "most easily replaced of the three fossil fuels" (p. 75).
Sustainability: Planning from a Base of Zero
Posted by Gail the Actuary on September 30, 2009 - 8:01pm in The Oil Drum: Campfire
Topic: Environment/Sustainability
Tags: sustainability [list all tags]
If we want to plan for truly long term sustainability, it seems to me that we need to plan from a base of zero in terms of fossil fuel usage, rather than from present day usage. This is very much a change from most thinking--how we can make tweaks to our current system to use less oil or gas. Over the long term, we know our current system won't work, so at some point we need to be thinking where we want to head, while we still have resources in hand that we can use to make changes.
We are so unaccustomed to thinking local, that it is hard to even contemplate the idea. What can be made with strictly local inputs, besides simple things like baskets and bricks? It is hard to even contemplate the idea, if one has to put all of the necessary steps in place, like transporting the raw materials to an area where they can be worked on, then working on the raw materials, and distributing the finished products to new locations.
Norman Borlaug: Saint Or Sinner ?
Posted by Big Gav on September 30, 2009 - 10:14am in The Oil Drum: Australia/New Zealand
Topic: Environment/Sustainability
Tags: agriculture, food, green revolution, norman borlaug [list all tags]
The father of the "green revolution" in agriculture, Norman Borlaug, recently passed away due to cancer, at the age of 95.
Borlaug didn't approve of the "green revolution" moniker, dubbing it "a miserable term" (what he would have made of "The Agrichemical Revolutionary" isn't clear) but his work has had a far-reaching impact on the course of human development.
Borlaug received both praise ("More than any other single person of this age, he has helped provide bread for a hungry world. We have made this choice in the hope that providing bread will also give the world peace", said the Nobel peace prize committee, while the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization declared him “A towering scientist” and a “great benefactor of humankind”) from those impressed by the rise in agricultural productivity he engineered, and condemnation ("Aside from Kissinger, probably the biggest killer of all to have got the peace prize was Norman Borlaug, whose "green revolution" wheat strains led to the death of peasants by the million" is a typical example from Alexander Cockburn at Counterpunch) from those concerned by the impact of the introduction of industrial agriculture around the globe.
The Second Wave of Mining
Posted by Ugo Bardi on September 28, 2009 - 10:39am in The Oil Drum: Europe
Topic: Environment/Sustainability
Tags: mineral depletion [list all tags]

The author with a group of Romani people (also known as gypsies) in front of a pile of scrap iron, collected for recycling. That pile has been there for more than a year. The recycling activity carried out by the Romani in Italy has been halted, in large part because the government forbade it and forced the recycling cooperatives to close down (governments don't like things they can't fully control). But, also, recycling stopped because of the collapse of market prices of scrap iron. This may be a symptom that the "second wave of mining", recovering mineral resources from waste, is late in coming. Will it ever arrive?


k Nation (Jim Kunstler)






GAIA Host Collective