Compiled by Dick Bennett. https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2024/04/omni-climate-memo-mondays-173-april-8.html
Borenstein and The New Republic: Heat
Peter Uetz. Overpopulation
SETH BORENSTEIN. “Greenhouse gases shot up in ’23.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Apr 07, 2024). Go to: Greenhouse gases shot up in ’23.
A weekly reckoning with our overheating planet.
Scientists have previously speculated that melting ice sheets dumping vast quantities of freshwater into the ocean could change the currents of the Atlantic Ocean. The new modeling suggested, though, that complete collapse of the Atlantic Ocean’s current system is no longer “theoretical” and could occur much faster and more completely than anticipated. Europe would abruptly get much colder, seasons could fully flip in the Amazon rainforest, and many other places could see big changes in weather patterns.
Can our food systems survive this kind of shock? . . . .When I asked experts about how U.S. food supply might be affected by weather shifts like the one outlined in the new paper, their responses weren’t reassuring. In essence: Both domestic and international food systems are quite vulnerable. But figuring out how vulnerable is hard. Not only is the United States failing to make its food system more resilient, it’s not even gathering enough data to know how to make the food system more resilient. . . .
Even without better data, though, it’s possible to identify specific vulnerabilities in the U.S. food system and changes that should probably be made. The high efficiency of the current food system has often come at the cost of redundancy—meaning backup plans. “We need to have more diverse places where food is coming from; we need multiple routes, roads, where it’s coming from, multiple storage facilities. . . . Then there are things that can be done quickly, and locally. Communities that “had been doing some of this work before the pandemic hit were better able to adapt” to the 2020 disruptions, Neff said. And “one of the key things was having people in the local food system connected to each other and knowing each other and having those relationships in the first place so people knew who to call and contact and help develop responses.” You’ll be reading more about food system resilience and agriculture reform at TNR shortly. . . .
Peter Uetz. “Myths about Overpopulation.” Free Inquiry (April-May 2024).
Uetz analyzes eight myths to explain why overpopulation is a major existential threat to the planet. Final paragraph: “Further population growth or even stabilization at a high level will be catastrophic for the planet, especially if human consumption and the destruction of nature keeps growing. We need to stop population growth and consumption, so that civilization and nature have a chance to survive.” Uetz is a professor of systems biology at Virginia Commonwealth Univ., in Richmond. He adheres to “a strict one-child policy, no car, no meat consumption, and 100 percent renewable energy in his house.”