Fixing Climate
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What's Wrong with Climate Politics and How to Fix It
Governments have failed to stem global emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases causing climate change. Indeed, climate-changing pollution is increasing globally, and will do so for decades to come without far more aggressive action. What explains this failure to effectively tackle one of the world's most serious problems? And what can we do about it? To answer these questions, Paul G. Harris looks at climate politics as a doctor might look at a very sick patient. He performs urgent diagnoses and prescribes vital treatments to revive our ailing planet before it's too late. The book begins by diagnosing what’s most wrong with climate politics, including the anachronistic international system, which encourages nations to fight for their narrowly perceived interests and makes major cuts in greenhouse pollution extraordinarily difficult; the deadlock between the United States and China, which together produce over one-third of global greenhouse gas pollution but do little more than demand that the other act first; and affluent lifestyles and overconsumption, which are spreading rapidly from industrialized nations to the developing world. The book then prescribes several "remedies" for the failed politics of climate change, including a new kind of climate diplomacy with people at its center, national policies that put the common but differentiated responsibilities of individuals alongside those of nations, and a campaign for simultaneously enhancing human wellbeing and environmental sustainability. While these treatments are aspirational, they are not intended to be utopian. As Harris shows, they are genuine, workable solutions to what ails the politics of climate change today.
Legume Nitrogen Fixation in a Changing Environment
The world population will grow more rapidly during the few coming years. This must be accompanied by a parallel increase in the agricultural production to secure adequate food. Sustainability considerations mandate that alternatives to chemical nitrogen fertilizers must be urgently sought. Biological nitrogen (N2) fixation, a microbiological process which converts atmospheric N2 into a plant-usable form, offers this alternative. Among these renewable sources, N2-fixing legumes offer an economically attractive and ecologically sound means of reducing external inputs and improving internal resources. Environmental factors such as drought, elevated temperature, salinity, soil acidity and rising CO2 are known to dramatically affect the symbiotic process and thus play a part in determining the actual amount of nitrogen fixed by a given legume in the field. Understanding how nodule N2 fixation responds to the environment is crucial for improving legume production and maintaining sustainability in the context of global change. In this thoughtful and provocative new Brief, we provide critical information on how current and projected future changes in the environment will affect legume growth and their symbiotic N2 fixing capabilities. Each section reviews the main drivers of environmental change on the legume performance that include drought, elevated temperature, salinity and rising CO2, and soil acidity. Importantly we discuss the molecular approaches to the analysis of the stress response in legumes and the possible biotechnological strategies to overcome their detrimental effects.
Futurecide
Author: W. Douglas Smith
language: en
Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
Release Date: 2024-04-26
Every civilization in history has faced moments of overwhelming existential crises, and they all eventually collapsed. Was this failure inherent in the evolution of civilization, something within the human species, or a combination of both? More importantly, was it predictable and unavoidable? Most civilizations believed they had a special relationship with the divine and were beyond the laws of nature. Our current economic civilization is now global and interdependent. Today’s economy is responsible for the most rapid mass extinction in Earth’s history. We face imminent catastrophic climate change and environmental disruption, yet the same sense of exceptionalism and hubris clouds humanity’s judgement and ability to act rationally. Environmental disruption is making the planet uninhabitable. No economy can consume its way out of scarcity. This law of nature conflicts with many longstanding economic theories. Sheltered and self-absorbed elitists promote lies and prey on humanity’s most vulnerable instincts of pecking order, conformity, and obedience to authority. These primal instincts may be maladapted to civilization in its current form. Today’s elitists are choosing mass extinction in a false belief in their own invincibility. To survive, humanity can no longer follow delusional leaders to self-destruction. In non-technical language, the author explores common phases in the development of past civilizations, and the critical junctures and decisions that made collapse inevitable. He investigates the linkages and contradictions between human social behavior, the economy, and the environment. In the closing pages, he identifies a clear path to redemption.