Science Snippets: On the Verge of Starvation

The video embedded below did not Premiere on YouTube. Rather, due to a mistake on my part, it was released for viewing on Monday, 13 March 2023 at 2:05 p.m. Eastern time.

 

AVID Audio Course Description (Conservation Biology)

 

 

Latest Peer-Reviewed Journal Article:

McPherson, Guy R., Beril Sirmack, and Ricardo Vinuesa. March 2022. Environmental thresholds for mass-extinction events. Results in Engineering (2022), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rineng.2022.100342.

 

Draft script:

An article in Forbeson January 15th, 2018 is headlined We Have Five Years to Save Ourselves From Climate Change, Harvard Scientist Says. If you’re keeping score, January 15th, 2018 was more than five years ago. Here’s the lead from the article in Forbes: “The level of carbon now in the atmosphere hasn’t been seen in 12 million years, a Harvard scientist said in Chicago Thursday, and this pollution is rapidly pushing the climate back to its state in the Eocene Epoch, more than 33 million years ago, when there was no ice on either pole.”

 

The second paragraph of this article begins with a quote from the aforementioned Harvard scientist. Specifically, professor James Anderson at Harvard University said: “We have exquisite information about what that state is, because we have a paleo record going back millions of years, when the earth had no ice at either pole. There was almost no temperature difference between the equator and the pole.” The article goes on to explain that Anderson is best known for establishing that chlorofluorocarbons were damaging the Ozone Layer, as I’ve mentioned previously in this space.

 

And now, I’ll provide a little context by mentioning two factors I have described previously in this space. First, and very importantly, the rate of environmental change is critical to the continued survival of every species. I provided evidentiary support for this concept with a video released on January 23rd, 2023 titled, Science Snippets: On the Rate of Environmental Change. Second, from the stunningly conservative political body known as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the rate of environmental change is proceeding faster than at any time in planetary history. That tidbit comes from the IPCC’s October 8th, 2018 report,Global Warming of 1.5 Degrees. The take-home quote from this report goes like this: “These global-level rates of human-driven change far exceed the rates of change driven by geopolitical or biosphere forces that have altered the Earth System trajectory in the past …; even abrupt geophysical events do not approach current rates of human-driven change.” As usual, links to supporting documents can be found at guymcpherson dot com coincident with release of this video.

 

The IPCC report, Global Warming of 1.5 Degrees, was published about four-and-a-half years ago. More recently, and specifically on August 29th, 2018, Quartzran an article titled, The world could run out of food two decades earlier than thought. This article concludes that the world could be facing a 214 trillion calorie deficit by 2027. That tidbit comes from Sara Menker, founder and chief executive of Gro Intelligence, an agricultural data technology company. She pointed out that the crossover point for China, India, and African countries is 2023. By that time—and yes, I know this is already2023—China, India, and Africa will combine to make up more than half the world’s population. Here’s the critical message from this story: “By 2023, even if all the surplus produce from countries in Europe, North and South America was exported to China, India, and Africa, it still would not be enough.” Sure enough, as I’ve reported frequently in this space, people are starving to death around the world. The situation will get much worse. And then, it will spiral down.

 

Let’s fast-forward nearly four years to an article published August 8th, 2022 in Australia’s leading daily newspaper, The Sydney Morning Herald. Titled, ‘We’re in trouble’: Australia risks food insecurity, expert warns, the article from more than eight months ago includes this line, quoted from the Australian Security Leaders Climate Group: “Only about five days’ worth of perishable food exists in the supply chain at any given time.” The expert referenced in the headline is La Trobe Institute for Agriculture and Food director Antony Bacic, and he is quoted in the article thusly: “It’s such a critically important thing for Australia because without food, we’re in trouble.” I’d say that sentiment applies to all of us, not merely Aussies. When it comes to food, I’m a huge fan.

 

Let’s turn to more-recent information, similar to that I’ve presented previously in this space. Specifically, I’ll quote from my Weekly Hubrisarticle published January 1st, 2023 and titled Facing the Four Horsemen. It’s a long quote selected by the editor of Hubristo introduce the article: “If you believe you can overcome the impending collapse of global food production, welcome to Club Naiveté. I, too, used to believe I simply needed to grow and store my own food to insure my continued survival. Upon realizing it was the monetary system driving us to extinction, I exited the monetary system. I lived off-grid for more than a decade, initially in southern, rural New Mexico, and later in western Belize, Central America. I later discovered the aerosol masking effect, as described in my earlier essays in this space. There is also the extreme inconvenience associated with unattended nuclear facilities imploding, thus leading to loss of stratospheric ozone and therefore extremely rapid planetary heating. Both of these latter realities indicate, yet again, that we are all connected. Believing otherwise has brought us to the edge of extinction.”

 

My article for Weekly Hubris, subsequently renamed Hubris, points to many indicators that starvation draws near. Simply put, we cannot grow enough food for all the people currently on Earth. We’re at more than 8 billion and counting. I have seen no indications humans are interested in slowing population growth or addressing the many other urgent issues we face. Instead, I see us hurtling toward the abyss, focused only on our self-absorbed selves. We’re running out of potable water. We’re running out of food, notably the grains required to sustain civilization. We’re in the midst of an insect apocalypse. We’re destroying the soil and invertebrates we need to survive.

 

To summarize, then, loss of aerosol masking precludes even well-prepared individuals from surviving very long, as I have indicated many times in this space, most notably in a video created after we moved here to Bellows Falls, Vermont. In addition, this is a primary reason I stopped living off-grid. I recommend growing and storing a few weeks’ worth of food, and also having access to potable water (which is why we have a Berkey filter). Beyond these measures, I recommend being intellectually and emotionally prepared to die. Live with love for yourself and others. Live with integrity. There is little else to be done. Not only are we not going to save the world, whatever that means, but we are going to see the demise of the living planet. Abundant evidence indicates the ongoing Mass Extinction Event will be the last.

 

I’d love to believe, despite abundant evidence to the contrary, that we can escape the ongoing Mass Extinction Event. I’d love to believe, despite abundant evidence to the contrary, that we can continue to feed starving humans. I’d love to believe, despite abundant evidence to the contrary, that we can stop the rapid overheating of Earth.

 

Assuming we are unableto escape the ongoing Mass Extinction Event rooted in rapid planetary overheating, and leading to the ability to feed our own species, how do we proceed? I have suggested Planetary Hospice many times. Is it enough? If not, what is?