The title and the guy telling the story pretend it's all just farm in & outputs, but quite at the start he mentions that he starts with food scraps from local restaurants... So, that's external input in my book.
The other external input is all the machinery and the fossil fuels that are used.
To be more resilient in an uncertain/collapsing future scenario these are not the type of solutions that can be sustained.
I'm all in favor of composting and producing food (yourself) and as locally as possible, but please don't lie to yourself about the degree of 'sustainability' when you are working like this, even if it involves composting stuff yourself.
@compost
The problem is not only loss of topsoil.
Some examples:
we hardly had any plums nor cherries the last couple of years. Why? When the trees are in full blossom a week of rain ruins everything (+ the fact that there are no bees with cold rainy weather anyway)
Onions bolt when temperatures fluctuate heavily. On top of that wetter springs make them rot away. Same kind of story for garlic. (professional growers in my region complain about this lot!)
The best bet for annuals is nowadays to sow as many times as possible a couple of weeks apart and hope that some batches will succeed.
The whole climate change problem related to food production is soooo much more complex and diverse than what most people realise.
It's not without reasons that I'm very pessimistic about the future.
@davidho
Thank you for this "gift article", but despite this free gift I could not read it, because NYT came up with all possibilities to become a paying subscriber.
But, wtf, just the head line is more than enough to know what this is:
Just another piece of shit from the techno-fixers who will do anything to keep on going on doing what they are best at: destroying life on the planet.
Year In Review: Google’s Corporate Paternalism in The Browser
It’s a big year for the oozing creep of corporate paternalism and ad-tracking technology online. Google and its subsidiary companies have tightened their grips on the throat of internet innovation, all while employing the now familiar tactic of marketing these things as beneficial for users. Here we’ll review the most significant changes this year, all emphasizing the point that browser privacy tools (like Privacy Badger) are more important than ever.
Many of us have been identifying strongly with Cassandra over the last few years. We watch the media downplay and dismiss one threat after another. We endure endless opinion pieces about everything from climate alarmism to coronaphobia. Influencers accuse us of hurting everyone’s mental health. Strangers call us doomers and fearmongers. Our friends and family treat us like we’re paranoid. When we share dozens or even hundreds of studies, they refuse to look at them. They say, “I don’t want to read anything that’ll bring me down.”
“I’m trying to stay positive.”
....
Here’s the thing:
You’re not a fearmonger.
You have sentinel intelligence.
Sentinel intelligence refers to a special cognitive ability that allows someone to detect threats before anyone else. Richard A. Clarke and R.P. Eddy talk about this trait in their book.... They review a number of natural and economic disasters throughout history. ”Not only were Cassandra's ignored, but “the people with the power to respond often put more effort into discounting the Cassandra than saving lives and resources.”
I wrote a book about it, but I can not do much about it, save raising awareness about it and give suggestions as how to prepare both mentally and physically for things happening and things to come in the near future.
All this did not make me a happier person. It is making me sick and depressed.
To keep 'up-to-date' I, just as many others around here, follow the news about war, ecology, more war, crises, pollution and the proposed solutions out of the pipe of technology (techno-fixes).
That neither helps or gives any relieve.
Watching shit, makes you feel shit, like this article explains:
I decided to detox on this and to focus more on things I can do that have a positive effect on me and hopefully also on the world at large.
I have new project in mind that I will advertise here soon.
(PS edit april 2024: not sure if I want to spend more time online instead of in the garden...)
"Earth close to ‘risk tipping points’ that will damage our ability to deal with climate crisis, warns UN
Analysis also warns of further tipping points on horizon such as drying up of groundwater vital for food supplies"
It is clear that a collapse is not just a '#doomer' scenario, but a real threat. #Acceptance of that fact is step 1 towards a sane way of dealing with the situation. The next step would be to adopt another mindset. A very profound #Mindshift is needed.
Why it is unlikely that we can avoid a collapse of both the ecological system and western civilisation is the main topic of my book, but in the last part of it I focus mostly on the things that we can do that will soften our #crashlanding.
"In 2008, the International Rescue Committee estimated that the war and its aftermath had caused 5.4 million deaths, principally through disease and malnutrition,[11] making the Second Congo War the deadliest conflict worldwide since World War II.[12] Another 2 million were displaced from their homes or sought asylum in neighboring countries.[9] Conflict minerals were a major source of funding for the war, and for subsequent fighting.["
Let me repeat that:
Conflict minerals were a major source of funding for the war, and for subsequent fighting!!!
If you are the tiniest bit cryptocurrency-curious, you need to read Zeke Faux's book Number Go Up. Finished it on Sunday. Super-fast read. Totally bonkers stories throughout. The chapter on pig butchering was new to me and yet another damning indictment of the state of the griftswamp.
When people say: "We'll adapt to climate change..." ask them the following questions and you will quickly learn who you are facing:
Are you willing to open your borders to climate refugees?
Are you willing to help the poor to adapt? In your own land or abroad where (poor) people struggle to adapt with technical means like building sea walls to guard against rising ocean levels, infrastructure to handle extreme precipitation events, or adding air conditioning to handle heatwaves.
Finally we see that the so called adaptation of the rich is weaponised: others suffer more when the rich is trying to prevent the worst for themselves.
Hydrogen is NOT and energy source, it is an energy carrier; aka a battery.
What is true for all batteries, is that they don't work with 100% efficiency. You loose energy when you put energy into the battery (convert electricity to H2) and you loose energy when you get it out of the battery (convert H2 to electricity in a fuel cell for example).
So, when we make 'green' hydrogen, we have solar panels or windmills - already disputable 'green' sources - with a relatively low efficiency and convert the generated electricity to H2 (60% efficiency) and later back to electricity (60% efficiency again), so we are left with 36% of the original electricity of the 'green' source.
See also the attached copy from my book Crash Course
Also realise that currently >90% of H2 is produced from fossil fuels! See Wikipedia below:
... As of 2020, the majority of hydrogen (~95%) is produced from fossil fuels by steam reforming of natural gas and other light hydrocarbons, partial oxidation of heavier hydrocarbons, and coal gasification....
"There's a relentless pressure to act happy now. You have to go to the office. You have to go to bars and restaurants. You have to go to concerts. You have to go on vacation. You have to post about it.
You have to talk to strangers.
But...
You can't talk about all the friends and family you've lost. You can't talk about how tired you are. You can't talk about politics. You can't talk about climate change. You can't talk about the wildfires or that town that burned down. You can't talk about living through the hottest days in human history. You can't talk about masks or air purifiers. You can't talk about student loans. You can't talk about the wars we're fighting or getting ready to fight.
You can't talk about anything that matters."
==================
💯 I can very much relate to this. During all the research and writing of my book, I often felt the need to talk about all the shit that's happening and the amazing info I found, but no, it's kinda taboo.
Just be happy and party while we can...🙁
(when you don't want to close your eyes for the darker side of our existence: my book #CrashCourse can be downloaded for free for my Mastodon followers until Friday 18 Aug. 12:00 UTC (midday))
I have just self-published my book Crash Course. It has taken me quite some time to find the best solution to do this. In the end I decided to avoid using Amazon's services.
@rahmstorf
The speaker maybe is right, but since hardly anyone is prepared to accept reality, take responsibility and act accordingly, chances are big that indeed we're F&%$&%cked!
Still it will be good to do good things, and not be paralyzed with fear or despair.
That's what my book is about: acceptance, a change of mindset and building resilience for times to come. #CrashCourse
Over their lifetime, electric cars produce less carbon than gas powered cars, but it is still way too much. And there are not enough raw materials to convert all the cars to electric.
We have to move to a mature public transport system.