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Category Archives: Environment
“Agricultural Catastrophe” – France Forecasts 30% Plunge In Wine Production Amid Cold Spells, Heavy Rains
“Agricultural Catastrophe” – France Forecasts 30% Plunge In Wine Production Amid Cold Spells, Heavy Rains Oenophiles will be heartbroken to learn that the world’s second-largest wine-producing country is expected to slash production by as much as 30% this year due to spring frosts and summer downpours caused disease in grapes. “Wine production in 2021 is […]
Lake Oroville Hydro Power Plant Shut Down For First Time Due To Megadrought
Lake Oroville Hydro Power Plant Shut Down For First Time Due To Megadrought One of California’s most important hydroelectric plants has ceased operations due to falling water levels, according to the Department of Water Resources (DWR). On Wednesday, Lake Oroville fell to a record low of 642-feet above mean sea level. By Thursday, the lake stood at […]
The Threat of an Ice Age is Real
The Threat of an Ice Age is Real Most people have NEVER heard of the Beaufort Gyre, a massive wind-driven current in the Arctic Ocean that actually has far more influence over sea ice than anything we can throw into the atmosphere. The Beaufort Gyre has been regulating climate and sea ice formation for millennia. Recently, however, something has changed; […]
Beyond the Growth Imperative
Beyond the Growth Imperative For 30 years, environmental economist Tim Jackson has been at the fore of international debates on sustainability. Over a decade since his hugely influential Prosperity Without Growth, the world is both much changed – reeling from a pandemic and with unprecedented prominence for environmental issues – and maddeningly the same, still locked […]
Diagnosing Abiotic Disorders II
Diagnosing Abiotic Disorders II In this blog I continue to examine maladies caused by environmental conditions in the absence of a disease agent or insect. Salt affected plants show damage to older leaves starting from the edge of the leaf and moving inward. Salinity Salt in soils or water is simply the presence of too […]
Seven Years after Mount Polley Disaster, Mine Waste Still Flows into Quesnel Lake
Seven Years after Mount Polley Disaster, Mine Waste Still Flows into Quesnel Lake A ‘temporary’ permit allows wastewater to be dumped in the water. That may not change anytime soon. The view from Quesnel Lake toward Mount Polley Mine’s tailings pond shows the scarred landscape following a breach of the mine’s tailings dam on Aug. […]
The Future is a Landscape
The Future is a Landscape I’ve been reflecting of late about the way that our habitual expectations about change blind us to the way that change actually happens. One of the most important of these is the frankly weird but pervasive notion that the future is a single place, where only one kind of thing […]
Was the fall of the Roman Empire due to plagues & climate change?
Was the fall of the Roman Empire due to plagues & climate change? Preface. Harper (2017) shows the brutal effects of plagues and climate change on the Roman Empire. McConnell (2020) proposes that a huge volcanic eruption in Alaska was a factor in bringing the Roman Empire and Cleopatra’s Egypt down. In addition, there are other […]
Southeastern Europe Devastated By Wildfires
Southeastern Europe Devastated By Wildfires A dangerous heat wave is ravaging parts of southeastern Europe resulting in wildfires across Turkey, Greece, and Italy, according to VOA News. Firefighters across the European Union arrived in Turkey on Monday. The wildfires have burned for at least one week as political opposition mounts against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his sluggish […]
Nature is a jazz band, not a machine
Nature is a jazz band, not a machine We treat it so at our peril From genetic engineering to geoengineering, we treat nature as though it’s a machine. This view of nature has deep roots in Western thought, all the way to Descartes and Hobbs, but it’s a fundamental misconception with potentially disastrous consequences, argues […]
BC’s Faltering Effort to Manage Water Use Brings a Looming Crisis
BC’s Faltering Effort to Manage Water Use Brings a Looming Crisis Thousands of groundwater users could be cut off in March as they fail to apply for water licences. Critics blame government inaction. Farms across BC rely on well water for irrigation. If they don’t register by March 1, the supply could be cut off. Photo […]
This ship is sinking
This ship is sinking Is there time to rearrange the deck chairs as in the Paris Agreement, or should we just start passing out lifejackets? Many people still hope we’ll make a manageable transition to a low-impact economy. I’ve pretty much lost hope for that outcome, primarily because two factors now must be included in […]
Heat domes, wet spells, and the weather patterns that tie them together
Heat domes, wet spells, and the weather patterns that tie them together Do you have a favorite kind of weather that you love to experience? For me, it’s the first warm evening of spring, when the air is just warm enough and the wind just strong enough for the air to feel as though it […]
