Although climate change is predicted to have a substantial effect on the energetic requirements of organisms, the longer-term implications are often unclear. Sloths are limited by the rate at which they can acquire energy and are unable to regulate core body temperature (Tb) to the extent seen in mo...
And this is why we're doomed.
The Social Costs of Keystone Species Collapse: Evidence from the Decline of Vultures in India by Eyal Frank and Anant Sudarshan. Published in volume 114, issue 10, pages 3007-40 of American Economic Review, October 2024, Abstract: Scientific evidence has documented we are undergoing a mass extinctio...
Abstract
Scientific evidence has documented we are undergoing a mass extinction of species, caused by human activity. However, allocating conservation resources is difficult due to scarce evidence on damages from losing individual species. This paper studies the collapse of vultures in India, triggered by the expiry of a patent on a painkiller. Our results suggest the functional extinction of vultures—efficient scavengers that removed carcasses from the environment—increased human mortality by over 4 percent because of a large negative shock to sanitation. We quantify damages at $69.4 billion per year. These results suggest high returns to conserving keystone species such as vultures
I am talking about simple plug-in Balkonkraftwerk. Larger PV installations are a different regulation framework, and need to be signed off on by licensed professionals. Much more expensive, mich longer ROI.
Over 1800 food contact chemicals (FCCs) are known to migrate from food contact articles used to store, process, package, and serve foodstuffs. Many of these FCCs have hazard properties of concern, and still others have never been tested for toxicity. Humans are known to be exposed to FCCs via foods,...
Abstract
Background
Over 1800 food contact chemicals (FCCs) are known to migrate from food contact articles used to store, process, package, and serve foodstuffs. Many of these FCCs have hazard properties of concern, and still others have never been tested for toxicity. Humans are known to be exposed to FCCs via foods, but the full extent of human exposure to all FCCs is unknown. Objective
To close this important knowledge gap, we conducted a systematic overview of FCCs that have been monitored and detected in human biomonitoring studies according to a previously published protocol.
Methods
We first compared the more than 14,000 known FCCs to five biomonitoring programs and three metabolome/exposome databases. In a second step, we prioritized FCCs that have been frequently detected in food contact materials and systematically mapped the available evidence for their presence in humans.
Results
For 25% of the known FCCs (3601), we found evidence for their presence in humans. This includes 194 FCCs from human biomonitoring programs, with 80 of these having hazard properties of high concern. Of the 3528 FCCs included in metabolome/exposome databases, most are from the Blood Exposome Database. We found evidence for the presence in humans for 63 of the 175 prioritized FCCs included in the systematic evidence map, and 59 of the prioritized FCCs lack hazard data.
Significance
Notwithstanding that there are also other sources of exposure for many FCCs, these data will help to prioritize FCCs of concern by linking information on migration and biomonitoring. Our results on FCCs monitored in humans are available as an interactive dashboard (FCChumon) to enable policymakers, public health researchers, and food industry decision-makers to make food contact materials and articles safer, reduce human exposure to hazardous FCCs and improve public health.
You can safely feed in a lot more than 800 W if you know what you're doing, but it's illegal.
There are now small scale storage systems available to flatten the curve of production and increasenlocal consumption.
I can't imagine using a TV. None of them are wall sized and I don't have the space. Pull down screen fits the bill.
Bought an EH-TW7000 4K PRO-UHD Projector a couple years back for less than 1 kEUR. Was about the best value then, haven't looked recently.
Maybe put Lineage OS on a compatible Android TV box. These do have remotes and have almost no Google telemetry.
If you use an Android TV system you don't get to complain about your video output device tracking.
Many video projectors don't. My Epson doesn't.
[ERT: 30 min.] - Feun Foo Permaculture & Rewilding Update (September 2024) - Part Two (Practice/Actions)
If you think electric vehicles and renewable energy will solve climate change, you’re missing the bigger picture. The problem runs deeper than technology alone can fix, so keep reading. Cars dominate our energy mindset just like gasoline prices are the main way we understand energy costs. Electric v...
The idea of rebuilding and relying on a supply of necessities near to where you live is called relocalization and is often promoted as a wise response by people aware of the simplification/collapse…
Looking back, 2024 may well be viewed as insignificant compared to what lies ahead. That 2024 could be a year of no significance does ...
My source on allemannsretten is having been there and making use of it. I'm sorry if the random source I pulled up doesn't fit your criteria. Maybe this will https://www.lifeinnorway.net/allemannsretten-right-to-roam/
Yes, the details in different Scandinavian+Finland countries will vary.
There are in practice very few restrictions in Scandinavia. It only works because the population density and rate of abuse is low.
In some countries (with low population density and low pollution) there are laws allowing to roam and forage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_to_roam
Mining for coal is much more resource-intensive than renewables or nuclear power.
But can you mine without fossil fuels and fossil-derived materials? How much materials do you need to mine to first transition and then maintain the infrastructure? Can you maintain renewable just with renewable? Taking progressively lower grade ores? What do you do with growing volume of tailings?
Such articles are more than a bit misleading.
Obviously at high population densities foraging is itself a problem.
Offering an escape from industrial foods, foraging nourishes the soul and body, but it needs democratic access to the land
Abstract
Waste heat production represents an inevitable consequence of energy conversion as per the laws of thermodynamics. Based on this fact, by using simple theoretical models, we analyze constraints on the habitability of Earth-like terrestrial planets hosting putative technological species and technospheres characterized by persistent exponential growth of energy consumption and waste heat generation: in particular, we quantify the deleterious effects of rising surface temperature on biospheric processes and the eventual loss of liquid water. Irrespective of whether these sources of energy are ultimately stellar or planetary (e.g., nuclear, fossil fuels) in nature, we demonstrate that the loss of habitable conditions on such terrestrial planets may be expected to occur on timescales of ≲1000 years, as measured from the start of the exponential phase, provided that the annual growth rate of energy consumption is of order 1%. We conclude by discussing the types of evolutionary trajectories that might be feasible for industrialized technological species, and sketch the ensuing implications for technosignature searches.
Abstract
Human populations tend to grow steadily, because of the ability of people to make innovations, and thus overcome and extend the limits imposed by natural resources. It is therefore questionable whether traditional concepts of population ecology, including environmental carrying capacity, can be applied to human societies. The existence of carrying capacity cannot be simply inferred from population time-series, but it can be indicated by the tendency of populations to return to a previous state after a disturbance. So far only indirect evidence at a coarse-grained scale has indicated the historical existence of human carrying capacity. We analysed unique historical population data on 88 settlements before and after the Thirty Years War (1618–1648), one the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, which reduced the population of Central Europe by 30–50%. The recovery rate of individual settlements after the war was positively correlated with the extent of the disturbance, so that the population size of the settlements after a period of regeneration was similar to the pre-war situation, indicating an equilibrium population size (i.e. carrying capacity). The carrying capacity of individual settlements was positively determined mostly by the fertility of the soil and the area of the cadastre, and negatively by the number of other settlements in the surroundings. Pre-industrial human population sizes were thus probably controlled by negative density dependence mediated by soil fertility, which could not increase due to limited agricultural technologies.
A newly identified emergent constraint applied to a key drought metric reduces uncertainty in future predictions of the longest annual dry spells, revealing that their increase due to climate change will be 40–50% greater than climate models project at present.
Abstract
Climate models indicate that dry extremes will be exacerbated in many regions of the world1,2. However, confidence in the magnitude and timing of these projected changes remains low3,4, leaving societies largely unprepared5,6. Here we show that constraining model projections with observations using a newly proposed emergent constraint (EC) reduces the uncertainty in predictions of a core drought indicator, the longest annual dry spell (LAD), by 10–26% globally. Our EC-corrected projections reveal that the increase in LAD will be 42–44% greater, on average, than ‘mid-range’ or ‘high-end’ future forcing scenarios currently indicate. These results imply that by the end of this century, the global mean land-only LAD could be 10 days longer than currently expected. Using two generations of climate models, we further uncover global regions for which historical LAD biases affect the magnitude of projected LAD increases, and we explore the role of land–atmosphere feedbacks therein. Our findings reveal regions with potentially higher- and earlier-than-expected drought risks for societies and ecosystems, and they point to possible mechanisms underlying the biases in the current generation of climate models.
Climate change and a range of other human impacts are putting marine animals at risk of extinction—even those living in almost pristine marine habitats and diverse coastal regions—reports a new study by Casey O'Hara of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at the University of Ca...
Ocean acidification close to critical threshold, say scientists, posing threat to marine ecosystems and global liveability
Heat extremes in Western Europe have increased by an outstanding amount in the last 70 years. Climate models simulate weaker trends. This is largely due to atmospheric circulation trends, favouring heat, missed by climate models.
Abstract
Over the last 70 years, extreme heat has been increasing at a disproportionate rate in Western Europe, compared to climate model simulations. This mismatch is not well understood. Here, we show that a substantial fraction (0.8 °C [0.2°−1.4 °C] of 3.4 °C per global warming degree) of the heat extremes trend is induced by atmospheric circulation changes, through more frequent southerly flows over Western Europe. In the 170 available simulations from 32 different models that we analyzed, including 3 large model ensembles, none have a circulation-induced heat trend as large as observed. This can be due to underestimated circulation response to external forcing, or to a systematic underestimation of low-frequency variability, or both. The former implies that future projections are too conservative, the latter that we are left with deep uncertainty regarding the pace of future summer heat in Europe. This calls for caution when interpreting climate projections of heat extremes over Western Europe, in view of adaptation to heat waves.
Let’s be CLEAR about what “Mainstream” Climate Science actually says. (Part Two)
Exponential growth rarely ends well — OK, it never does so.
Abstract
Individual coral polyps contain three distinct components—the surface mucus layer, tissue, and skeleton; each component may exhibit varying extent of microplastic (MP) accumulation and serve as a short- or long-term repository for these pollutants. However, the literature on MP accumulation in wild corals, particularly with respect to the different components, is limited. In this study, we investigated the adhesion and accumulation of MPs in four coral species, including both large (Lobophyllia sp. and Platygyra sinensis) and small (Pocillopora cf. damicornis and Porites lutea) polyp corals collected from Si Chang Island in the upper Gulf of Thailand. The results revealed that MP accumulation varied significantly among the four coral species and their components. Specifically, P. cf. damicornis exhibited the highest degree of accumulation (2.28 ± 0.34 particles g−1 w.w.) [Tukey's honestly significant difference (HSD) test, p < 0.05], particularly in their skeleton (52.63 %) and with a notable presence of high-density MPs (Fisher's extract test, p < 0.05). The most common MP morphotype was fragment, accounting for 75.29 % of the total MPs found in the coral. Notably, the majority of MPs were black, white, or blue, accounting for 36.20 %, 15.52 %, and 11.49 % of the samples, respectively. The predominant size range of MP particles was 101–200 μm. Nylon, polyacetylene, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) were the prevalent polymer types, accounting for 20.11 %, 14.37 %, and 9.77 % of the identified samples, respectively. In the large polyp corals, while MP shapes, colors, and sizes exhibited consistent patterns, remarkable differences were noted in the polymer types across the three components. The findings of this study improve the understanding of MP accumulation and its fate in coral reef ecosystems, underscoring the need for further investigation into MP-accumulation patterns in reef-building corals worldwide.
Thank you for your observations. Can you provide a rough geographic location, so that people can compare?
Abstract
Twenty years after the first publication using the term microplastics, we review current understanding, refine definitions and consider future prospects. Microplastics arise from multiple sources including tires, textiles, cosmetics, paint and the fragmentation of larger items. They are widely distributed throughout the natural environment with evidence of harm at multiple levels of biological organization. They are pervasive in food and drink and have been detected throughout the human body, with emerging evidence of negative effects. Environmental contamination could double by 2040 and widescale harm has been predicted. Public concern is increasing and diverse measures to address microplastics pollution are being considered in international negotiations. Clear evidence on the efficacy of potential solutions is now needed to address the issue and to minimize the risks of unintended consequences.
Neutron star collision. Supernova nucleosynthesis is also when fusion turns off.
Heavier nucleosynthesis requires neutron star collisions, so not fusion-driven. Supernovas are also when fusion stops.
My capacity factor is something like 11%. Need to recompute it, using latest data.
My wife absolutely hates it, though she knows why I do it.
If you look at the global primary energy use https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-primary-energy , then the only transition you see is from coal and oil to natural gas.
If you think the bulk of your energy consumption is low-carbon you're sadly mistaken. If the fossil energy extraction dips significantly, billions of people will starve.