Humans are the problem, not carbon.

The carbon cycle---

 https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_cycle#/media/File:Carbon_cycle-cute_diagram.svg

NOTE:  At the link, be sure to read the Key below the diagram, and be aware that the "purple" numbers (fluxes in gigatons of carbon per year) appear to be BLUE.  At least, on my screen they do.  Then go to the upper right and expand the diagram so it takes up the full page.

Life on Earth is carbon-based.  It's an element without which we wouldn't exist.  The problem is that we are overloading a natural cycle, and thus committing species suicide.  Most of us are aware of this, right?

So, the question is:  why aren't the Powers-That-Be AND Main Street folks doing more to mitigate the problem?  Why, for example, are more & more drilling permits being issued for fossil fuels?  We should be phasing out such fuels rather than finding more to burn.  Why are we talking about 2050 instead of 2030?  In 2021, why isn't coal ancient history?  Are those (in particular) in the Upper Crust taking all this seriously, or are they trying to put it off onto the next generation?  Is "greenwashing" the flavor of the day?  Arguably, it seems so.  Ditto re this:  is the Rat Race of unlimited growth & overconsumption still ruling the day?  [Or is sustainability?]

There are a lot more "why?" scenarios, and they have little or nothing to do with climate disruption.  This Crisis upon us NOW is multi-faceted, all the various parts are systemic, and the whole ball of wax constitutes the greatest existential threat humans ever have faced.  Politicians of all stripes seem to be either ignorant of most of the overall problem, or coming up with solutions which tinker around the edges of it.  The same is true for most of the moguls of Big Business.

Solutions are known.  History and research have shown us the way.  By the end of January 2022 (hopefully), I'll have a short book out which will summarize both the problems and the solutions.  The only thing standing in our way is the mindset of some people.  If we don't solve this, Mother Nature will.  The latter already has started, but it's merely the beginning.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

This short article speaks for itself...

 and loudly.

https://inequality.org/research/blame-corporate-greed-for-inflation/?emci=f24e5327-b556-ec11-94f6-0050f2e65e9b&emdi=75fbb4b7-c656-ec11-94f6-0050f2e65e9b&ceid=6171896

Trickle-down economics does not work, except of course for the Upper Crust.  Why?  Because there's little to no trickle-down.  This is not rocket science.  It's as clear as a cloudless day.

In general, the neo-aristocrats of Mega Business appear to not care much about their workers, their communities, or overall society.  For the most part, they seem to care only about increasing their wealth.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Sustainability: Start at the Village/Town/City/COUNTY Level

https://steadystate.org/resisting-the-temptation-of-growth-at-the-county-level/  

and -

https://transitionnetwork.org/

Homo sapiens has been working on sustainability for planet Earth for at least thirty years or so.  Despite some progress (especially in Europe), we aren't close enough to where we should be.  National politicians all around the world seem to get side-tracked by neoliberal influences, which also inundate Main Street with "unlimited growth" propaganda.  So - often there's lots of hopeful talk at the national level, but action mostly becomes limited to kicking the can down the road.

The political Right here (in the USA) was co-opted decades ago, first by neocons, then by neolibs... and most of them on Main Street appear to be completely unaware of the coup.  They seem to think they're still in the "Conservative Movement".  That movement, started by Russell Kirk in the 1950's, is long dead.  The so-called conservatives of today are supporting an ideology which would be anathema to the original modern-day conservatives of the Kirk Era.  That ideology they're supporting is corporatist-globalist-neoliberalism, and it doesn't want to conserve much of anything, except for maybe Plutocratic Rule.  It's against Small Biz, anything rural, anything natural, and is working to utterly destroy Nature by  favoring infinite growth at any cost to our finite habitat.  Its goal is to have the entire world run by Big Biz Elites.  Forget family farms, the mom-and-pop corner store, and any kind of level playing field in the business-financial-economic-labor arena.  In general, neoliberals and the Super-Rich are against all of that.  

The kicker is this:  they finance most national political election campaigns.  That's why, in the USA, we've seen little progress toward sustainability over the past few decades.

The two links above show ways to get things rolling.  [Again, you have to copy and paste; the links are inactive.  As a Low-Tech or No-Tech person, I have no clue as to how to make them active.  Nor do I have the time to find out how.  I'm guessing Blogger makes them inactive in order to discourage people from leaving blogspot.  In my opinion, that's not a good idea.]

If I recall correctly, the Transition Movement (the 2nd link) started in the UK.  It is spreading to countries around the world.  Kudos!  From the ground up is the way to start, rather than from the top down.  The top won't budge much at all until the bottom level starts a groundswell.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

The Bibliography for "The Beginning of the Path to...", Plus More on the Crisis & Solutions

Tentatively, the full title of the book I'm writing is:  The Beginning of the Path to Human Extinction, and HOW TO GET OFF IT - Notes on a Paradigm Shift.  The bibliography below is incomplete because the book is not yet finished.  Hopefully, it will be by January, 2022.  Many of the following references can be found online, so those easily can be added to your socio-eco-econ-ethical Crisis "library" collection.  If you don't have such a collection, here's a grand start.

Some may think my use of the term "human extinction" is nothing but hyperbole.  The experiences (both non-work and work-related) and the education I've had in the last 79 years tell me it isn't.  We're at the beginning of that path.  It's time to get our heads out of the sand, shed the apathy or ignorance we seem to cling to, ignore the Edward Bernays style propaganda, and get to work.

Many people around the world have made laudable first steps toward transitioning to a sustainable human existence.  For the most part, I think those efforts have been on a micro scale, and that's a necessity.  Some of the efforts have been on a macro scale, and that's a good start.  But too many Powers-That-Be appear to still be tinkering around the edges of the Crisis, or kicking the can down the road.  For example, there's a lot of talk about "net-zero" (carbon emissions) by 2050.  What that amounts to is postponing actions which could be taken now, and would result in solutions within ten years.  Those solutions would not require new, unknown technology.  2050 will be too late.

It isn't only carbon that's being dumped into the atmosphere by us.  The natural Nitrogen Cycle is being overloaded with nitrogen oxides (N2Ox) by human activities - primarily factory farming, manufacturing, fossil fuel combustion, solid waste incineration, and wastewater management.  Like methane (CH4), N2Ox compounds are multiple times more potent a greenhouse gas than is CO2.  Currently, nitrogen oxide emissions from our actions amount to only about 7%  of greenhouse gas emissions, but their potency is a concern.

Drastic changes are necessary to solve these problems, so all of us need to get on board and convince our Leaders to act, not just talk.  We need to start phasing out fossil fuels NOW, rather than issuing new drilling permits.  Similarly, we need to start transforming factory farms NOW.  We need to support/encourage/subsidize family regenerative farms NOW, rather than providing welfare to fossil fuel corps.  We need to significantly reduce or eliminate the monstrous carbon footprint of cement/concrete manufacturing NOW.  We need to tax mega carbon emissions NOW, and then disburse the funds directly as a universal basic income.  We need to tax billionaires NOW.  They stood on the shoulders of society to get where they are.  Society provided them with all kinds of infrastructure, communication, education, contacts, law enforcement, a civil habitat, etc.  [Yes, they helped pay for all that...but then, so did we all.]  Those are only a few of the things that could be done now, but there's little to no action because of the undue influence of corporatism/neoliberalism.

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NOTE:  Due to faulty copy-and-paste Tech algorithms (or maybe something else), the references below did not "paste" onto this venue quite right.  I spent an hour just correcting the transfer, but didn't get to things such as the proper indentation of each entry's 2nd (& 3rd, if applicable) line.  In other words, the bibliographic form below isn't exactly correct, but it's readable.

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Here's your bibliography for the education & tools needed to prevent the extinction of Homo sapiens.  There are many inspiring, brilliant, and useful references below.  The ones I think are the most illuminating are marked with an asterisk *.  Find the ones which most appeal to you.

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Almond, R.E.A., Grooten, M., and Petersen, T. (Editors). 2020. Living Planet Report 2020 – Bending the curve of biodiversity loss, World Wildlife Fund (WWF). pp. 6-35, 50-73, 112-135.

Bacevich, Andrew. 2020. The Age of Illusions: How America Squandered Its Cold War Victory, Metropolitan Books.

______________. 2005. The New American Militarism – How Americans AreSeduced by War, Oxford University Press.

______________. April 18, 2021. Op-Ed: We don’t need a new Cold War with China, Los Angeles Times.

*Barnes, Peter. 2001 and 2003. Who Owns the Sky? - Our Common Assets and the Future of Capitalism, Island Press.

Bello, J. et al. September, 2020. Providing an enabling environment to promote the Sustainable Development Goals: Coventry University’s experience, Emerald Open Research.

Belmonte-Urena, Luis Jesus. et al. July, 2021. Circular economy, degrowth and green growth as pathways for research on sustainable development goals: A global analysis and future agenda, Ecological Economics, Volume 185.

Bernays, Edward. 1928. Propaganda – Molding the Public Mind, Horace Liveright Publisher.

Bernier, Austen K. 2016. Neoliberalism and the Environmental Movement: Contemporary Considerations for the Counter Hegemonic Struggle, CU Scholar, Undergraduate Honors Theses, Paper 1013. pp. 31-81, 86-92.

Biggs, Eloise M. et al. December, 2015. Sustainable development and the water–energy–food nexus: A perspective on livelihoods, Environmental Science & Policy, Volume 54. pp. 389-397.

Bindi, Marco. et al. 2018. Impacts of 1.5 Degrees Celsius of Global Warming on Natural and Human Systems, IPCC Special Report, Chapter 3. [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change]

Blanco, Eduardo. et al. January, 2021. Urban Ecosystem-Level Biomimicry and Regenerative Design: Linking Ecosystem Functioning and Urban Built Environments,  Sustainability, Volume 13, Issue 1.

*Brown, Lester R. 2008. Plan B 3.0 – Mobilizing to Save Civilization, W.W. Norton & Company. pp. 133-139, 153-163, 176-182, 194-204, 239-258, 267-272, 280-287.

*Brown, L.R., Flavin, C., French, H., et al. 1999. State of the World, 1999, A Worldwatch Institute Report on Progress Toward a Sustainable Society, W.W. Norton & Company. pp. 41-59, 78-95, 133-150, 169-188.

Buscher, Bram. April, 2021. Planning for a world beyond COVID-19: Five pillars for post- neoliberal development, World Development, Volume 140.

*Cairns, John Jr. 2004. Eco-Ethics and Sustainability Ethics, Inter-Research (Publisher). pp. 189-202, 220-252, 274-277, 288-306.

Castree, Noel, et al. 2009. A Companion to Environmental Geography, Blackwell Publishing, Ltd.

*Clarke, Felix. November, 2021. Book Review: Entropy Law, Sustainability, and Third Industrial Revolution, R. Sengupta, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK (4 August 2020), Ecological Economics, Volume 189.

*Collins, Chuck. 2016. Born on Third Base – A One Percenter Makes the Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing Wealth Home, and Committing to the Common Good, Chelsea Green Publishing. pp. 59-100, 141-203.

*Commoner, Barry. 1971. The Closing Circle – Nature, Man, and Technology, Knopf Press and Bantam Books. pp. 14-48, 112-124, 140-215, 250-292.

_____________. 1976. The Poverty of Power – Energy and the Economic Crisis, Alfred A. Knopf (Publisher). pp. 6-29, 76-112, 221-249.

Costanza, Robert, et al. 1997. An Introduction to Ecological Economics, St. Lucie Press (a publishing imprint of CRC Press). pp. 80-100, 108-139, 206-216.

*Curry, Patrick. 2011. Ecological Ethics – An Introduction, Second Edition, Polity Press. pp. 28-49, 184-243, 253-266.

*Czech, Brian (Edited by). 2020. Best of the Daly News – Selected Essays from the Leading Blog in Steady State Economics, 2010-2018, Steady State Press. pp. 3-56, 65- 66, 82-84, 93-95, 107-110.

*____________. 2021. Supply Shock – Economic Growth at the Crossroads and the Steady State Solution, Steady State Press (an imprint of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy – CASSE). pp. 51-116, 137-169, 275-327.

Dallek, Robert. 2017. Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life, Viking (an imprint of Penguin Random House).

*Daly, Herman E. 1996. Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development, Beacon Press.

_____________. 1999. Ecological Economics and the Ecology of Economics, Edward Elgar Publishing. pp. 27-73, 77-105, 123-131.

_____________ and Farley, Joshua. 2004. Ecological Economics, Principles and Applications, Island Press. pp. 19-35, 64-76, 121-122, 201-220, 228-244, 323-342, 365-372.

D’Amato, D. and Korhonen, J. October, 2021. Integrating the green economy, circular economy and bioeconomy in a strategic sustainability framework, Ecological Economics, Volume 188.

Dhara, Chirag, and Singh, Vandana. June, 2021. The Delusion of Infinite Economic Growth, Scientific American.

Ehrlich, Paul R. December, 2014. Human Impact: the ethics of I=PAT, Stanford University, Center for Conservation Biology.

____________. February, 2008. Key issues for attention from ecological economists, Environment and Development Economics, Volume 13,Number 1.

*____________. 1997. A World of Wounds: Ecologists and the Human Dilemma, Ecology Institute. pp. 51-93, 113-151.

____________. March, 2020. Paul R. Ehrlich: A pandemic, planetary reckoning, and a path forward, Environmental Health News. [Online]

Epstein, Graham. et al. June, 2015. Institutional fit and the sustainability of social–ecological systems, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 14, pp. 34-40.

Faria, Luiz R. R. July, 2020 and April, 2021. Conservation optimism and reckoning with the future, Conservation Biology. pp. 745-747.

Fazey, Ioan. et al. June, 2018. Ten essentials for action-oriented and second order energy transitions, transformations and climate change research, Energy Research & Social Science Volume 40, pp. 54-70.

Fernandez, Emilio. et al. March, 2019. Operational principles of circular economy for sustainable development: Linking theory and practice, Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 214.

Fuller, R. Buckminster. 1969 (New Edition, 2020). Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, Lars Muller Publishers. pp. 57-106, 121-138.

Georgescu-Roegen, Nicholas. 1971. The Entropy Law and the Economic Process, Harvard University Press.

Gill, Joel C. et al. June, 2019. The role of Earth and environmental science in addressing sustainable development priorities in Eastern Africa, Environmental Development, Volume 30. pp. 3-20.

Gulyas, Boglarka and Edmonson, Jill. January, 2021. Increasing City Resilience through Urban Agriculture: Challenges and Solutions in the Global North, Sustain ability, Volume 13, Issue 3.

Grossa, John and Marsh, William M. 2001. Environmental Geography: Science, Land Use and Earth Systems, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. pp. 44-48, 81-102, 134-155, 162- 182, 199-206, 227-234, 264-281, 336-355.

Hachaichi, Mohamed and Baouni, Tahar. February, 2020. Downscaling the planetary boundaries (Pbs) framework to city scale-level: De-risking MENA region’s environ- ment future [MENA = Middle East & North Africa], Environmental and Sustainabil-ity Indicators, Volume 5.

Hammond, Debora. 2010. The Science of Synthesis: Exploring the Social Implications of General Systems Theory, University Press of Colorado.

Hanna, Elie and Comin, Francisco. October, 2021. Urban Green Infrastructure and Sus- tainable Development: A Review, Sustainability, Volume 13, Issue 20.

Hawken, Paul. et al. 1999. Natural Capitalism – Creating the Next Industrial Revolution, Little, Brown and Company. pp. 48-61, 82-110, 190-212, 285-308.

*Heinberg, Richard. 2011. The End of Growth – Adapting to Our New Economic Reality, New Society Publishers. pp. 6-20, 56-69, 105-153, 241-254, 268-283.

Herrfahrdt-Pahle, Elke. et al. July, 2020. Sustainability transformations: socio-political shocks as opportunities for governance transitions, Global Environmental Change, Volume 63.

Hickey, Colin and Robeyns, Ingrid. December, 2020. Planetary justice: What can we learn from ethics and political philosophy?, Earth System Governance, Volume 6.

Johnson, Justin A. et al. September, 2021. Energy matters: Mitigating the impacts of future land expansion will require managing energy and extractive footprints, Ecological Economics, Volume 187.

Karlsson, Mikael, and Edvardsson Bjornberg, Karin. August, 2020 and April, 2021. Ethics and biodiversity offsetting, Conservation Biology. pp. 578-586.

Kates, Robert W. February, 2016. Sustainability Science, International Encyclopedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment and Technology, Wiley Online Library, John Wiley & Sons.

*Keller, David R. (Edited by). 2010. Environmental Ethics – The Big Questions, Wiley-Blackwell (A John Wiley & Sons Publication). pp. 77-81, 98-109, 137- 142, 193-210, 268-274, 352-358, 380-411, 426-446, 509-533.

Kolbert, Elizabeth. 2006. Field Notes From a Catastrophe – Man, Nature, and Climate Change, Bloomsbury USA. pp. 136-144, 183-199.

Leach, Melissa. et al. November, 2018. Equity and sustainability in the Anthropocene: a social–ecological systems perspective on their intertwined futures, Global Sustainability, Cambridge University Press.

Lehmann, Paul. et al. July, 2021. Managing spatial sustainability trade-offs: The case of wind power, Ecological Economics, Volume 185.

*Lent, Jeremy. 2021. The Web of Meaning – Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe, New Society Publishers. pp. 121-148, 260-289, 349-382.

Leopold, Aldo. 1949 (Ballantine Edition, 1966). A Sand County Almanac, Oxford University Press and Ballantine Books. pp. 237-295.

Limburg, Karin and Costanza, Robert (Editors). 2010. Ecological Economics Reviews, ANNALS of the New York Academy of Sciences, Volume 1185. Published by Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the NY Academy. pp. 11-26, 54-96, 119-131, 164-193, 225-244.

Marselle, Melissa. et al. May, 2021. Pathways linking biodiversity to human health: A conceptual framework, Environment International, Volume 150.

*Mattis, Kristine. August, 2018. Dying of Consumption While Guzzling Snake Oil: The En- vironment Crisis Requires Overhauling Our Corporate Industrial Civilization, CommonDreams.org

*____________. December, 2018. An Economy That Does Not Consider Ecology Is Not Sustainable, CommonDreams.org

*McKibben, Bill. 2007. Deep Economy – The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future, Henry Holt and Company. pp. 46-66, 95-108, 129-158, 177- 226.

___________. 1989. The End of Nature, Random House, and Anchor Books(Doubleday). pp. 47-70, 95-117, 139-149, 171-217.

Molles, Manuel and Sher, Anna. 2019. Ecology: Concepts and Applications, 8^th Edition, McGraw Hill Publishing.

Okushima, Shinichiro. September, 2021. Energy poor need more energy, but do they need more carbon? Evaluation of people's basic carbon needs, Ecological Economics, Volume 187.

Orr, David W. 1994. Earth in Mind – On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect, Island Press. pp. 35-39, 60-63, 74-77, 104-111, 131-152, 154-170.

Pal, R. et al. 2006. Degradation and effects of pesticides on soil microbiological parame ters – a review, International Journal of Agricultural Research, Volume 1, pp. 240-258.

Poitras, Geoffrey. June, 2021. Rhetoric, epistemology and climate change economics, Ecological Economics, Volume 184.

Prashad, Vijay. September, 2020. Washington Bullets: A History of the CIA, Coups, and Assassinations, Monthly Review Press.

Preston, Jr., Richard J. 1970. North American Trees, The M.I.T. Press. pp. ix-x, xiii-xxiii.

Quigley, Carroll. May 1968. Needed: A Revolution in Thinking, National Education Association Journal, Volume 57. pp. 8-10.

Rees, William E. October, 1992. Ecological Footprints and appropriated carrying capacity: what urban economics leaves out, Environment and Urbanization, Volume 4, Number 2.

____________ and Wackernagel, Mathis. 1996. Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth, New Society Publishers. pp. 7-29, 40-57, 125-140, 149-157.

*_____________. June, 2015. Economics vs. the Economy, Great Transition Initiative [Publisher].

Sareen, Siddarth and Wolf, Steven A. July, 2021. Accountability and sustainability transitions, Ecological Economics, Volume 185.

Sarkodie, Samuel A. January 10, 2021. Environmental performance, biocapacity, carbon & ecological footprint of nations: Drivers, trends and mitigation options, Science of The Total Environment, Volume 751.

*Schumacher, E. F. 1973. Small is Beautiful – Economics as if People Mattered, Harper & Row Publishers. pp. 53-62, 102-117, 134-145.

Slater, Thomas. et al. January, 2021. Review article: Earth's ice imbalance, The Cryosphere, Volume 15. European Geosciences Union. pp. 233-246.

Smith, Robert Leo. 1996. Ecology And Field Biology, Fifth Edition, HarperCollins College Publishers. pp. 130-142, 151-194, 361-409, 633-654.

*Suzuki, David and McConnell, Amanda. 1999. The Sacred Balance –Rediscovering Our Place in Nature, Greystone Books – The Douglas & Mcintyre Publishing Group. pp. 76-104, 184-200, 207-240.

Taibbi, Matt. 2010. Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America, Spiegel & Grau Publishers (a former publishing imprint of Penguin Random House).

Tolle, Eckhart. 2005. A New Earth – Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, Penguin Books/Plume Books. pp. 8-23, 25-84, 279-309.

Tschiderer, Luca. July, 2021. Book Review - The Birth of Energy: Fossil Fuels, Thermodynamics, and the Politics of Work, Cara New Daggett, Duke University Press, Durham NC (2019), Ecological Economics, Volume 185.

Vassallo, Paulo. et al. April, 2021. Biophysical Accounting of Forests’ Value Under Different Management Regimes: Conservation vs. Exploitation, Sustainability, Volume 13, Issue 9.

Visalli, Dana. March, 2021. A Climate of Change, MAHB Blog (Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere) at Stanford University.

Wackernagel, M. et. al. July, 2017. Making the Sustainable Development Goals Consistent with Sustainability, Frontiers in Energy Research.

*Washington, Haydn (Edited by). 2020. Ecological Economics – Solutions for the Future, Published by the Editor. pp. 25-90, 188-218, 309-356. [Book arose from the 2019 Australia New Zealand Society for Ecological Economics Conference held at RMIT University, Melbourne Australia in November, 2019.]

*Watts, Alan. 1971. Does It Matter? – Essays on Man’s Relation to Materiality, New World Library. pp. 1-53, 99-128.

Weston, Burns H. and Bollier, David. 2013. Green Governance – Ecological Survival, Human Rights, and the Law of the Commons, Cambridge University Press. pp. 50-76, 112-120, 123-154, 226-256.

*Wilson, Edward O. 2016. Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life, Liveright Publishing, a division of W. W. Norton & Company.

*______________. 2002. The Future of Life, Alfred A. Knopf (Publisher).  pp. 22-41, 79-102, 149-189.

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Be Well