TUESDAYS — YOUR INBOX — ASSUREDLY ______________________________________________________________________
CURATED ECOLOGICAL NEWS 6th Mass Extinction — end of story — due to modernity
“Many of my stark conclusions rest on that we have initiated a sixth mass extinction (6ME). Other self-defeating factors also establish modernity as a temporary stunt, including resource depletion, aquifer exhaustion, desertification and salination of agricultural fields, climate change, microplastics, waste streams, ‘forever’ toxins, and plenty more. “Yet, towering over these concerns is a sixth mass extinction. Mass extinctions are defined as brief periods during which over 75% of species go extinct. I take it as given that large, hungry, high-maintenance mammals like humans won’t be among the lucky survivors. “All the aspects we like about modernity lose appeal when held up against the 6ME as a direct consequence. The 6ME delivers a single, inarguable, fatal blow to modernity. No point playing around. While it may seem extreme, extreme circumstances justify extreme responses. “Okay, we can’t truly know the future — yet some developments are reasonably certain. Current trends are rather clear, and ominous. Extinction rates are up 100–1,000 times the background rate. Even at the low end, we are currently witnessing the highest extinction rate since the Chicxulub volcano impact that took out dinosaurs 65 million years ago. “The count of living beings is falling fast. Annual population declines tend to be in the 1–2% range among mammals, birds, fish, and insects, accumulating to average declines of more than half in less than half-a-century. The road to extinction necessarily travels through population decline. Ecological interdependencies translate to collateral damage: insect loss means bird loss, for instance. “Causes: This one isn’t hard. It’s human activity and consumption. It’s 8 billion people, most of whom strive within the market system of modernity. The encroachment by and for agriculture, extraction, development, and disposal is a dominant phenomenon across the planet, leaving precious little wild space for biodiversity to remain intact. “The push to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy (itself a conjectural fantasy) would do precious little to address the 6ME threat. In many ways, it makes the situation worse by increasing materials extraction, co-opting more land for energy capture, and most importantly keeping modernity’s pedal to the metal.” More at: The Dark Triad: psychopathy, narcissism, and machiavellianism
“Most human beings relate to each other on the basis of reciprocal affection, and if we have a deficit of that kind of exchange, we’re likely to get depressed. That is not the social paradigm of the psychopath. They are always moving themself into positions of dominance over other people — a predatory approach and the treatment of other people as prey. “In this episode, Dr. Nancy McWilliams and Dr. Reid Malloy discuss something called dark triad personality traits, which are together psychopathy, narcissism, and machiavellianism. At the heart of this aggregate human behavior are collective actions that reinforce systems that over time become destructive to society or the biosphere. The prominent issue is when individuals that share these traits, particularly psychopathy, get in a position of power. “Pychopathic people are all about increasing their power and never feeling powerless. Many people with psychopathic psychologies are what Robert Hare and Paul Babiak called snakes in suits. They’re people who are organized around power at any expense, who aren’t capable of love, who can’t treat others as subjects, and treat them only as objects. “Narcissism would be when you want to be seen as perfect. They’re very preoccupied with constantly supporting their self-esteem. Everybody has normal self-esteem concerns — we want to be liked and appreciated and respected. It’s when it gets excessive. “Machiavellianism means the consequences — the ends — always justify the means. Anybody who is dealing with political issues has to be a bit manipulative and a bit Machiavellian, but it doesn’t necessarily go with psychopathy. The opposite of Machiavellianism is where you speak what you believe is the truth, irrespective of whether it’s going to get you somewhere. “The psychopathic individual tends to be an individual who will have interpersonal relationships that are characterized by dominance of others. We’re built and we’re wired both functionally and structurally in our brains to have reciprocal affectional exchanges that are not psychopathy. “There’s an asymmetric relationship between psychopathy and narcissism, and what that means is that most narcissistic individuals are not psychopathic. However, you don’t have a psychopath unless you also have pathological narcissism in the mix.” More at: Youth climate lawsuit challenging abuse of executive orders
“A week ago, 22 young Americans began presenting live testimony in Lighthiser v. Trump, a landmark lawsuit challenging federal actions that threaten their fundamental rights to life. “Lead attorney Julia Olson framed the case’s fundamental question: ‘Does the United States Constitution guard against executive abuses of power that deprive children and youth of their fundamental rights to life and liberty? These orders not only compel the federal government to block the renewable energy revolution underway worldwide, but they also target climate scientists and health experts as enemies.’ “Day One Witnesses: Youth and Experts Speak Out. The court heard powerful testimony from youth plaintiffs and expert witnesses, illustrating how the executive orders have already intensified the harms they face.” More at: “Human Rewilding in the 21st Century” book review (3rd in a series)
“This post covers six books I read (and/or listened to) over the summer. Loosely speaking, the theme revolved around gaining a better anthropological sense of who we really are as a species. Some paved the way to others in a memorable story of its own. “The book is largely structured as a reaction to a faction of postmodern, politically-progressivist anthropologists who are dismissive of the rewilding movement as a sort of racist hobby by privileged white people. “These anthropologists would rather abolish distinctions like hunter-gatherer, counterfactually intoning that humans were always part of a state system. Saying otherwise ‘demotes’ hunter-gatherers as savages, and risks erecting barriers that prevent present-day foragers from entering the folds of modernity as a fundamental right and privilege for every human – the unquestionably ‘correct’ way to live. “The book has an academic feel, chock-full of citations and footnotes (exposing me to a great set of literature I still need to pursue — especially Gowdy’s work). The main point is that rewilding is an authentic reaction to a real and emerging material condition, sensed by many, and is a fascinating development in modern anthropology in its own right.” More at: Nomadic and semi-nomadic lifestyles
“Among the towering Himalayan ranges in Kashmir, nestled within valleys shaped by time and snow, lives a community whose rhythm is not governed by clocks or calendars, but by the land itself. These are the nomads of Kashmir, people whose lives revolve around migration, livestock, tradition, and an enduring bond with nature. “In the Chattergul Mountains of Kashmir, heavy snowfall, sudden storms, and bitter winters test both the land and its people. But these mountains are home. The nomads, especially the Gujjars and Bakarwals, have developed an intimate relationship with the land, understanding its moods, its offerings, and its limits. “Migration typically begins in April, timed with the growth of fresh grass in the higher reaches. The decision is not spontaneous. It is rooted in routine, instinct, and environmental cues passed down through generations. With no proper roads and few modern amenities, families begin their trek at midnight to avoid scorching heat and traffic mess. “Climate change has made traditional knowledge harder to rely on. Snowfall, once predictable, now melts sooner, affecting water availability in grazing areas. Less snowfall has increasingly disrupted nomadic life by affecting grazing, water sources and resource management.” More at: Green Vermont’s see-saw water availability
“Fire danger levels are very high throughout the state [of Vermont] right now, and most communities have ‘no burn’ notices. My town’s permitting office has a sign out front flatly stating that burn permits will not be issued until further notice. Yes, there was rain in July, but we did not have many long-lasting gentle showers, the kind of rain that soaks into the soil. The rain that has fallen this summer has come in brief downpours that run straight down the hillsides without so much as dampening the soil. “Flow rates and water levels have been dropping steadily since mid-August. You could walk across the Winooski River right now. At the Montpelier monitoring station, the gauge depth is under three feet, with much of the river bed exposed. Quite a change from the last two years when the river stayed at 15-20 feet throughout July and August. “Many public water systems in Vermont draw from surface water. Low water levels also translate into increased contamination. Carcinogenic trihalomethanes form when chlorine disinfectants react with organic compounds. This rise is not due to an increase in chlorine, but to a decrease in water, combined with a constant level of dissolved organics. “Nearly half of Vermont gets its water from wells, and wells are hurting perhaps more than surface water. Low river levels are an indication of a dropping water table, and, indeed, there are reports of dry wells up and down the state to confirm that the table has dropped below drill depth — or just stopped flowing.” More at: Water cycle disturbance and consequence
“Water has always been a fundamental force shaping our planet. Yet, many of us are unaware of how intertwined our lives are with the water cycle, much less of the ways we deplete and degrade the water resources that we and other living creatures rely upon for our very existence. “If we continue with our same patterns of agriculture, industrial production, and consumption, what will the availability of clean and affordable water be like just decades from now? Are we already beginning to see the signs of destabilized hydrological cycles in our planetary system? “The most important water issues in today’s world are ‘it’s too much, too little, or too polluted’. I think those three areas encapsulate a lot of what we see within water. I’m, very focused in on water scarcity too in mismatches between water supply and water demand, or ones that occur really during drought. Of course climate change is a major component of that. “The biggest challenge we face with water is the disturbance of the water cycle – the healthy cycling of water through the land, through our land use changes through destruction of forests, wetlands, channelizing of waterways. Bigger storms with longer time periods in between are leading to this cycle of flood and drought, which are really two sides of the same coin. “The number one issue probably in many places is eutrofication, the main problem being nitrogen in the water. That massive increase in reactive nitrogen that we humans now make is more reactive than all the natural systems put together. So you get those big dead zones offshore – the hypoxia that it causes.” More at: Mississippi River mayors seek FEMA reforms
“Mayors along the Mississippi River are pushing for changes in how the federal government prevents and responds to disasters. As national politicians look at ways to reform the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a coalition of mayors is hoping to inform the process while also finding ways to tackle problems themselves. “Congress is currently drafting legislation that seeks to streamline the process for receiving aid. It also would elevate FEMA to a cabinet-level agency. At the same time, a council created by the President is reviewing the agency and recommending changes. “At a meeting of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative in Minneapolis this week, mayors want those changes to include new large-scale projects to reduce disaster risks before they happen. The mayors are calling to update or replace one program, called Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) [for which] the benefits mostly went to coastal communities. “The mayoral coalition wants Congress to instead look at a large-scale grant program to help mitigate disaster risk with projects that expand nature-based solutions, like wetland restoration projects. “At the meeting, the mayors also unveiled a new tool from the federal government. The Department of Commerce is bringing together data on drought and flooding in the Mississippi River Basin in a new dashboard. The dashboard shows large parts of the Great Plains and lower Midwest are currently experiencing historically dry soil conditions.” More at: Geothermal — benign, constant energy source
“Buried beneath the front lawn of the county courthouse and West Union town square are 132 boreholes, each 300 feet deep. Pipes connected to the bores run below the surrounding blocks, providing downtown businesses with year-round geothermal energy. It was one of the first municipal thermal networks in the country when it began operating in 2014. “In 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy highlighted West Union as having one of the highest-performing geothermal networks among a small but growing number of similar systems in operation nationwide. “As the water travels through the vertical bores, it is warmed or cooled by the surrounding rock and sediment until it stabilizes at 50 degrees, a temperature well-suited for cooling on hot summer days and a great starting point for heating buildings in the winter months. “A loop of horizontal pipe running beneath six blocks of West Union’s downtown then circulates the ground-temperature water to buildings connected to the system. Heat pumps in each building use compressors and fans to further warm or cool the buildings.” More at: | 
