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CURATED ECOLOGICAL NEWS The future is bioregional — if at all
“Jaime de Angulo (1887-1950) was a character worth knowing about. The Native Americans that de Angulo met fascinated and impressed him. He learned and described 25 of the roughly 100 Native languages then spoken in California. De Angulo grew to trust and admire the Native Californians with whom he spent most of his time. “The arrival of hordes of Euro-Americans was a catastrophe not just for the Native peoples, but also for the ecology of the region. Today the damage continues via globalization, toxification, and climate change. Now, extrapolate this dismal pattern of cultural and biological simplification and ruin to thousands of other bioregions, where intergenerational ties between people and land have been uprooted by colonialism and high-tech commerce. “How best to understand rooted societies and what has happened to them? Physical power organizes stars, ecosystems, and human societies. Unleashed too fast, power can also destroy systems. In societies, physical power often manifests as social power — the ability of small groups of people to influence the behavior of much bigger groups. “High-power societies, which most of us today regard as normal, are recent and temporary. They have overwhelmed low-power societies across the planet. The story of power had many pre-petroleum subplots, but, once coal, oil, and gas appeared as lead characters, a tragic denouement became inescapable. “Humanity soon will be returning to low-power ways of organizing itself. Suffice it to say that fossil fuels are finite and rapidly depleting, and alternative energy sources cannot fully replace them. Therefore, our current size of population and scale of social organization will not be maintained. Humanity will inevitably downsize. Re-indigenizing describes the shift in cultural practices that must accompany a return to living in place. “Then there’s a set of words that I’ll especially focus on here: bioregion, bioregional, and bioregioning. These related terms emphasize the role of ecosystems and natural boundaries, such as watersheds, in limiting, shaping, and psychologically grounding human societies. In this article, I’ll mention some of the strongest advocates for bioregioning, who’ve explained why it would lead to better outcomes for people and planet.” More at: All energy growth is contingent on unquestioned sacrifice zones
“For too long, discussions about energy have been confined to the realms of technicians and engineers. The energy we consume and the infrastructures sustaining it have largely remained out of sight and out of mind for much of modern history. Energy infrastructure becomes noticeable only when it fails. “The climate crisis has brought greater attention to energy’s role, revealing how hydrocarbons have fueled capitalist modernity. The increased visibility of energy, however, doesn’t necessarily lead to an inevitable transition toward a ‘sustainable use of energy’. Some activists have often embraced an apolitical understanding of energy and transitions. “This discourse reduces the transition to a mere switch between fossil fuels and ‘renewable’ energy. This narrative presents the energy transition as a global humanitarian mission, inadvertently setting the stage for new rounds of colonial expansion, resource grabs, and extractive practices under the guise of improvement, adaptation, sustainability and/or climate mitigation. “By mobilizing nature, workers, women, and sub-altern classes as sources of labor, energy has historically served as a justification for imperial incursions into what is framed as ‘wasted’ or ‘untapped’ lands, effectively erasing the biocultural complexity of these places. “This creates sacrifice zones, as the true uses of these landscapes — their ontological and epistemological dimensions — are rendered obstacles to capitalist aims. Expulsions and dispossession result from the apparently unquestionable ‘need’ of millions of solar panels, batteries, turbine blades, and rotors required for a global energy transition.” More at: Roads fragment ecology. Roadless rule threatened
“The Trump administration last week proposed rescinding the nation’s landmark roadless rule. The move would open nearly 45 million acres of wild, unfragmented national forests to road construction, logging and other development. If enacted, Trump’s plan would imperil hundreds of endangered species, pollute drinking water and increase wildfire risk. “The U.S. Forest Service published a notice Friday seeking comment on its intention to develop an environmental impact statement for the proposed rescission of the 2001 rule. The comment period will run until September 19. “Said Randi Spivak at the Center for Biological Diversity, ‘Forest areas free of roads and logging provide crucial refuge and connected habitat for more than 500 imperiled species, from grizzly bears and wolves in the Pacific Northwest to migratory songbirds in the Appalachian Mountains. “Implemented at the end of the Clinton administration, the rule prohibits road construction, road reconstruction and timber harvesting on a wide swath of USFS land, effectively protecting a variety of places in states from Alaska to Vermont as remote wilderness areas. “More than 370,000 miles of roads fragment U.S. national forests, with a maintenance backlog in the billions of dollars. Contrary to the Trump administration’s claims, roads increase human-caused wildfires, with studies showing wildfires were four times as likely in areas with roads than in roadless forest tracts.” More at: Environmental Economics — both inform the other
“The Ecological Society of America’s (ESA) Annual Meeting concluded two weeks ago in Baltimore, Maryland. Of the dizzying multitude of topics on the agenda, the most prevalent were wildlife conservation, forest ecology, and climate change. “However, to combat the multiple ecological crises we face, we need ecologists to draw connections to macroeconomics. As long as the human economy continues to grow, any solutions created and implemented within the confines of ‘ecology’ will just be stopgaps. The voices of scientific experts hold a unique sway over policymakers and the general public. The Earth needs those voices in support of movements for degrowth to a steady state economy. “The trophic theory of money struck a chord with many conference attendees. Trophic levels represent the position of an organism in its ecosystem’s food web. In nature, nutrition and energy flow from plants to herbivores to carnivores. “In the same way, materials and energy flow from extractive industries to heavy manufacturing to light manufacturing in the human economy. This conceptual model illustrates why we cannot ‘absolutely decouple’ economic growth from environmental impact.” More at: Insects underpin our food web — we’re decimating them
“Insects, bugs, creepy-crawlies are often considered a nuisance (or worse) by humanity. But we’re beginning to see that, despite our cultural misconceptions, insects are actually at the foundation of our biosphere, food supply, and nearly every life process on Earth. “Joining me today is journalist Oliver Millman. Oliver is an environmental correspondent at The Guardian, and recently wrote his first book, The Insect Crisis. If insect biomass continues to decline at its current rate of 1 to 2% per year, action at the macro level is the only way we’ll truly be able to change this trend. But he and I discussed some of the ways that individuals and communities can support insect populations. “For most people looking at what’s going on in the world, insects probably aren’t their biggest priority, despite their role in pollination, food webs, nutrients cycling, whatever — but they are disappearing rapidly. “Over the last few years, there’ve been a number of studies coming out of, Europe, the US, Australia, Costa Rica, that have shown enormous drops in insect numbers, rates of three quarters to 90% over the last few decades. The US, for example, has lost a fifth of its butterflies since the year 2000. There’ve been estimates of 1 to 2% a year of insects are going in terms of biomass. “So insects, one entomologist said to me, kind of look otherworldly. So therefore they seem slightly distant to us. Whereas, a cuddly kind of mammal with big doe eyes is a kind of ideal to trigger our sympathy and empathy. “What you’re describing is neoteny, which is big eyes and floppy ears, and it’s an evolutionary carryover of caring for our young. And if we see a baby fawn or a puppy or something, our heart goes out. But if we see a baby assassin fly, we don’t get the same reaction. So, There’s a complete mismatch, I suppose, between what we value and what is actually valuable to us.” More at: Canadian cars — if you can’t sell more, sell bigger
“If Canada’s federal government sticks to the current policy, and Canadian new car sales are 100% zero-emission by 2035, carbon emissions will decline much more slowly than the world needs. That is due to the auto industry’s particularly pernicious strategy for continued growth. Canada’s auto industry has done its part in maintaining the growth of gross domestic product (GDP). The industry can’t keep boosting unit sales in a country where almost everyone who can drive, does drive. But they can boost revenue by selling bigger, heavier, more expensive vehicles. Most new passenger vehicles are categorized as ‘light trucks’ — SUVs and many models of pick-up trucks. But ‘light trucks’ is a euphemism we should translate as ‘huge cars’. Most of them are used almost entirely to haul around one or two persons, just like small cars do. “If the auto industry maintains Business As Usual, the vast majority of internal combustion cars sold between now and 2035 will be huge. They will have correspondingly high tailpipe emissions well after 2035. “What will it really take for Canada’s auto industry to reach zero emissions by 2035? To answer this question, I projected six scenarios using a carbon-emissions calculator developed by the International Energy Agency. The car/light-truck mix of new vehicles, and the vehicle sizes within these categories, remain exactly as in 2024. “Based on these assumptions, I projected that Canada’s car-fleet emissions would be 41% lower in 2040 than in 2024. A 41% drop may sound impressive. But climate experts have warned for years that we must reduce global warming emissions by at least 43% by 2030. So, a 41% drop by 2040 is dangerously inadequate.” More at: Local food security — neighbors building community
“In the two years I’ve been farming, I haven’t met a single farmer who isn’t trying to improve something on a daily basis. And I love discussing all the issues that mutually concern us, because their thoughts come directly from the field, with their feet firmly on the ground. “I had a lot of ideas before settling down. Ideas to do without fertilizers or chemicals, and convert everything, from one day to the next, without using any products. Then you discover the real thing. All the advice you were quick to give, at the edge of the field, seems to have a lot less substance when you find yourself making your first swath. And, above all, to find out how much we could earn by reducing our costs and increasing our products. “Because that’s what farming is all about, after all. And not just to feed others — France, the people — only to end up with less than one minimum wage a year for an average of 70 hours a week. That’s the choice I made, out of desire, out of passion, and because I wanted to change what was possible on my own scale. “So what’s a solution we can live with, as farmers? Here on the Roussière Farm, we have chosen to feed the people around us. And it brings meaning back to our work. We are not feeding ‘the French’ (along with all the intermediaries that go with that), but families we know, people we can talk to and exchange with — neighbours. And because we know them, we also want to be extra mindful about what we do, for their sake too.” More at: What percent of your food might your garden provide?
“Grow your own food sounds like a great idea. What’s that harm in that! Gardening is a physical and emotional joy… And right away I have run out of unconditionally positive things that aren’t tempered by reality. Of course, for many people, their gardens tend to be heavy on pretty and light on utility. Some might weave wildlife into the selection of plants they grow. All these are good things… until you rack up the plastic pots and bags of mulch and shipping fuel and packaging. Even when you buy from a local garden center, most of the plants will be grown elsewhere. “I managed a garden center. The plastic waste was appalling. I tried to send it off for recycling, but nobody would take it. I was told that the plastic is typically too poor in quality, often an awkward shape for recycling centers, and dirty. “In the veg garden, when the numerous things that go wrong with seeds do go wrong, there’s usually not enough growing season to start over. Also, I don’t have a large space, so it doesn’t take too much to wipe out the entirety of what I have planted. “The idea behind veg gardening is that you are producing at least some of the food you eat. But many of us would like to think that we are saving money by putting in this work. A packet of seeds costs less than just one bunch of carrots these days, after all. Except that’s not true exactly… First of all, the carrots don’t just cost the money you spend on seeds. There is the soil and whatever you use to keep it nutritionally balanced. There is water. “Truthfully, I don’t even save much on the grocery bill in the summer. Because, it must be noted, the vegetable garden only produces vegetables. The entire average veg garden harvest hardly meets a month’s caloric needs for one person. “So… what am I learning from all this? Mostly that I can’t do for myself. I think individual gardening is not the answer. I think communal farming is. Rather than trying to produce a nutritionally diverse harvest, I could grow what I want in my life that I can’t get from farmers around here.” More at: We needn’t indulge the every demand of data centers
“There are not many desirable options for accommodating the electricity needs of data centers. And some of the possibilities are especially bad. “A proposal by Alexandra Klass, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, and Dave Owen, a professor at UC Law San Francisco, calls for moving away from the idea that the grid needs to have enough power plant capacity to accommodate all users at all times, and instead take an approach in which data centers and other superusers are treated as a separate customer class with special rules and added flexibility. “The specifics are complicated, but they boil down to the idea that data centers would need to be flexible with their electricity demand and could enter into contracts to trade electricity capacity with other businesses. “The principles of this approach come from the way regulators and government officials have managed the supply of natural gas and Western U.S. water at times of scarcity. “The main idea is that gas markets developed ways for large consumers to get a lower price if they agreed that their gas supply could be interrupted at times of high demand. Companies worked out contracts for gas supply and later for pipeline capacity to deliver the gas.” More at: | 
