Tag Archives: Migration

Silent Earth Review

Posted on by

“Silent Earth” has received a five-star “must read🏆” review on Reedsy. Blending scientific depth and practical foresight, this book is both a wake-up call and a guide for navigating environmental collapse.

Synopsis

Silent Earth is a technical reference for civil engineers, land-use and urban planners, and city administrators. It covers a broad range of topics and should serve as a springboard for specialists wishing to learn more about adapting to climate change and biosphere decline.

As the Earth’s living systems deteriorate at an unprecedented rate, human societies face the urgent challenge of adapting to an increasingly unstable environment. Physical Geographer Garry Rogers offers a clear-eyed examination of our options, arguing that while complete restoration of the biosphere is no longer feasible, strategic adaptation remains possible. Drawing on extensive research, Rogers outlines practical approaches for communities to maintain essential functions as ecosystem services decline. While large-scale adaptation efforts face significant barriers, this groundbreaking work shows how planners and administrators can implement effective strategies to enhance resilience in a transforming world. Essential reading for navigating our environmental future. Ideal for policymakers, scholars, environmentalists, and engaged citizens, Silent Earth challenges readers to envision a future where, even amidst biosphere decline, adaptation and innovation can pave the way for survival.

Garry Rogers’ Silent Earth: Adaptations for Life in a Devastated Biosphere explores the escalating degradation of Earth’s biosphere, offering strategies for human adaptation. It points to the realistic inevitability of this need to adjust, as humanity is facing the consequences of irreversible damage already done. Rogers goes beyond the simple dialogue of climate change, expanding and examining the interconnected impact of the entire biosphere, from current impacts such loss of biodiversity to coral reef bleaching.

In Section IV, Rogers draws upon research to emphasize that as soon as 2030 we are on the brink, and that we urgently need to act not only to prevent further destruction, but also to prepare for survival:

The cumulative and synergistic effects of human impacts are pushing ecosystems closer to tipping points. Feedback loops and shifting ecosystem boundaries are accelerating environmental change, while these effects interact in complex ways, amplifying their individual impacts. As we approach 2030, addressing these interconnected challenges will require an integrated approach to conservation and climate action to mitigate the far-reaching impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem stability.

The strength of Silent Earth lies in Section V, which presents a blueprint for adaptation. Rogers proposes various strategies from water management to cultural and governance reforms. His emphasis on grassroots action and local resilience is both pragmatic and empowering, especially given his acknowledgment of the political and societal inertia that is likely to hinder adaptation on a wider scale.

Silent Earth is thoroughly researched, intellectually stimulating, and well-cited. Rogers excels in synthesizing vast amounts of ecological, social, and technological data into a cohesive narrative.

Silent Earth is a valuable resource for those interested in interdisciplinary approaches to global challenges. It’s an important and thought-provoking read for anyone seeking to understand and address the complex realities of ecological decline.

Reviewed by: Brittney Banning

Latest Posts

The Dalai Lama Offers Wisdom on Migration

Posted on by

Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama is the most popular world leader, according to a Harris poll, with a 78 percent favorable opinion.

GR.–In the narrow context of the migration problem, the Dalai Lama doesn’t mention the need for climate and population control.  If global warming-caused drought continues in the Middle East, migrants cannot return, for there, Earth’s carrying capacity can no longer feed them.  The situation should send a tingle of fear up our spine as it is the harbinger of the collapse of the current human civilization and close of the Anthropocene.

By John Vinson.–“In a world where genuine moral wisdom is rare, the recent words of the Dalai Lama on migration are refreshing indeed. The spiritual leader of Tibet began by affirming the importance of compassion. “When we look at the face of each refugee,” he said, “we feel their suffering, and a human being who has a better situation in life has the responsibility to help them.” But then he thoughtfully added that other considerations must balance compassion to uphold the greatest moral good.

“Specifically, the Buddhist monk warned that the numbers of migrants moving into Europe are too many for the charity of European countries to sustain, and that those countries have the right to preserve themselves. He observed that “[T]here are too many [migrants] at the moment… Europe, Germany in particular, cannot become an Arab country. Germany is Germany.” He went on to say “[F]rom a moral point of view too, I think that the refugees should only to be admitted temporarily. The goal should be that they return and help rebuild their countries.”  Continue reading:  The Dalai Lama Offers Wisdom on Migration | Californians For Population Stabilization

Save

robertscribbler | Scribbling for environmental, social and economic justice

Posted on by

GR:  Impacts of declining monsoon rainfall will extend beyond India. As mentioned in the comments on this post, emigration will grow to become a gigantic problem as India’s 1.4 billion residents respond to food shortages.  Decreasing life span and emigration will help with the country’s massive population problem, but not the way anyone would want.

 

“It has been observed that since 2001, places in northern India, especially in Rajasthan, are witnessing a rising temperature trend every year. The main reason is the excessive … emission of carbon dioxide.” — Laxman Singh Rathore, the director general of the India Meteorological Department.

The reduction in India’s monsoon rains is a big deal. It generates systemic drought, creates a prevalence for heatwaves, and locally amplifies the impacts of human-caused climate change. For three years now, the Indian monsoon has been delayed. India is experiencing its worst heatwaves ever recorded and water shortages across the country are growing dire. The monsoonal rains are coming, again late. And people across India — residents as well as weather and climate experts — are beginning to wonder if the endemic drought and heat stress will ever end.

Historically, there was only one climate condition known to bring about a delay in India’s Monsoon — El Nino. And last year, a strong El Nino is thought to have contributed both to the Monsoon’s late arrival and to a very severe drought that is now gripping the state. What the 2015 El Nino cannot also account for is the 2014 delay and weakening of monsoonal rains. And during 2016, as India’s monsoon has again been held back by 1-2 weeks, and El Nino is now but a memory, it’s beginning to become quite clear that there’s something else involved in the weakening of India’s annual rains.

Source: robertscribbler | Scribbling for environmental, social and economic justice

Save

Avoiding collapse: Grand challenges for science and society to solve by 2050

Posted on by

News Stories about global change.

News Stories about global change.

“These six examples illustrate that there is no one-size-fits all approach for researchers to address today’s grand environmental challenges, but two common themes emerge. The first is that it is no longer enough to simply do the science and publish an academic paper; that is a necessary first step, but moves only halfway towards the goal of guiding the planet towards a future that is sustainable for both human civilization and the biosphere. To implement knowledge that arises from basic research, it is necessary to establish dialogues and collaborations that transcend narrow academic specialties, and bridge between academia, industry, the policy community and society in general. The second theme is that now is the time to rise to these scientific and communication challenges. The trajectories of population overgrowth, climate change, ecosystem loss, extinctions, disease, and environmental contamination have been rapidly accelerating over the past half-century. If not arrested within the next decade, their momentum may prevent us from stopping them short of disaster.”  From: elementascience.org

The World Has Too Many Young People

Posted on by

World population dominated by youth

Numerous problems arise when populations are made up of young people.  Young people are more likely than middle-aged people to protest, migrate, and have children. As world population continues to grow and global resources decline, human conflicts will inevitably grow stronger. Climate scientists just declared a global climate emergency, and many people understand that we must make drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. However,unemployed youth few people are declaring population growth an emergency, but they should be.

Some scientists believe that it is too late to achieve a sustainable future by controlling population growth.  The numbers are so large, and the need for fuel, food, and fiber is so great, that our forests and soils have become too wasted to supply needs of our current population.  There is some hope.  Learn more.

Here’s an excerpt from a discussion of the age-distribution problem published by the New York Times.

By Somini Sengupta

The World Has a Problem: Too Many Young People

“AT no point in recorded history has our world been so demographically lopsided, with old people concentrated in rich countries and the young in not-so-rich countries.

“Much has been made of the challenges of aging societies. But it’s the youth bulge that stands to put greater pressure on the global economy, sow political unrest, spur mass migration and have profound consequences for everything from marriage to Internet access to the growth of cities.”–Somini Sengupta

 

Choking air, melting glaciers: how global warming is changing India

Posted on by

Globally, India is the third largest carbon-emitting country—though its per capita emissions are only one third of the international average—according to the World Resources Institute.

In its action plan for the Paris COP21 meet, India pledges to reduce its carbon intensity—a measure of a country’s emissions relative to its economic output—by 35% by 2030.  From: phys.org

GR:  Taking a long view of developments in India, one can see that from a bright beginning in 1950, the country has descended through failure after failure. Population control has failed, living standards (health and wealth) are extremely imbalanced, and wildlife and its habitats are disappearing. As climate change adds to the other human impacts, farming will fall farther and farther behind the needs of the swelling population. By 2040 or so when emigration becomes necessary, Europe, Russia, and China will have become fortresses. Where will the people go?  And we have to ask, was it all worth it?  Did the urge to reproduce have to be satisfied at the cost of all else?