irruption

the fundamental principle is this: whatever necessity is least abundantly available (relative to per capita requirements) sets an environment’s carrying capacity.” William catton overshoot________________ “without powerful restraints, humans-like all other species-exploit all available resources; the difference is that, with people, what is ‘accessible’ is defined by evolving technology” William rees the human nature of unsustainability___________ “major jumps in population, at around a.d.1300, 1600, and in the late eighteenth century, each led to intensification in agriculture and industry. as the land in the late middle ages was increasingly deforested to provide fuel and agricultural space for a growing population, basic cooking, heating, and manufacturing needs could no longer be met by burning wood. a shift to reliance on coal began, gradually and with apparent reluctance. coal was definitely a fuel source of secondary desirability being more costly to obtain and distribute than wood…” Joseph tainter the collapse of complex societies__________ “wood was also used for cooking, for heating houses, and for all industries that needed fire-power, for which demand was increasing with alarming speed even before the sixteenth century…there were many eager takers for the forest wealth which was bitterly fought over since its abundance was only apparent…” “…it was said that a single forge used as much wood as a town the size of chalons-sur-marne. enraged villagers complained of forges and foundries which devoured the trees of the forest, not leaving enough for the bakers ovens…” “charcoal reached paris in the sixteenth century by way of sens from the forest of the othe; by the eighteenth century, it was arriving form all accessible forests…” Fernand braudel the structures of everyday life: civilization and capitalism 15th-18th century, volume I__________ humans are a product of evolution and, like any species, in the absence of competition, they will expand to completely utilize the resources of an available environmental niche and human technology defines what is accessible by eliminating competition from other species…and, given the nature of humans and a close look at their recorded history, other humans as well (as alluded to in the braudel quote)…energy moves civilization…you can argue that it is technology or ideas or economics, but without some sort of energy source that meets the needs of those technologies or ideas ( economics is voodoo) they are inert…don’t think so? what happens when the power goes out at your house? get restless looking at blank screens and inert play stations? head out some wi-fi “hot spot” or a sports bar in some oasis of electricity…or just fire up the generator and turn fossil fuel into electrons? humans still devour wood…but mostly for shelter and furnishings rather than fuel these days (for the nonce…this could change...woodcutter could become a job classification again)…we moved on to coal because wood was becoming scarce…didn’t want to..wood was familiar…there was an extant infrastructure for its procurement and distribution…one for coal had to be built…costs in money and time and labor, not to mention shortages and high energy costs…new technology helped along the way and coal is still mined…still big business…but like all fossil fuels it is not a renewable resource…and all the easy stuff has been mined…it’s getting more difficult to find, harder to mine, and the quality is deteriorating…sounds a lot like oil ( current conditions are an artificial construct…the glut and low prices will not last indefinitely)…I read that fuel cell autos powered by hydrogen are the coming thing( this was on yahoo, among other places…apply salt liberally)…there will need to be a new fuel infrastructure built if this is so…the current one would just leak hydrogen dangerously…new technology…new complexity...new interconnectivity of processes…new opportunity for cascade failures and diminishing returns…when does technology become too costly to maintain…when do diminishing returns on investment in technology and infrastructure dictate a shift to simpler and more sustainable economic ( voodoo) models…that point is out there ( barring cold fusion…that could change things...but even so there is only a finite amount of matter on the planet to be changed to energy…it is not a panacea) and we will find it as a species sometime…how far will we have degraded the planet’s carrying capacity by the time we get there? as a side note to my discontent...a new "style" magazine was in the n y times today...i have not done all the math bit there were 95 full page color ads and 9 black and white...104 of 190 pages were advertizing...yet another up-scale marketing bonanza for the times...as a further note to add to this the back page of the saturday business section had a full page ad announcing a "reimagined" sunday magazine section to make its debut on february twenty-second of next year..."brands" are asked to "add your voice to the conversation...for more information about advertising and launch packages contact your account manager."...the "paper of record" panders to the elite while the rest of us watch...i haven't browsed the condominium prices in manhattan just yet...i wan to save some entertainment for later.