Dust Bowl of the 1930s Caused Abject Poverty and Suffering, a World-Class Environmental Disaster

"The Dust Bowl was the result of a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of natural factors (severe drought) and man-made factors: a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent wind erosion, most notably the destruction of the natural topsoil by settlers in the region.[1][2] The drought …

Might the Next Pandemic Be Prevented?

There's a good chance that another global pandemic, or multiple ones, requiring mass quarantines will hit the earth in less than 100 years. One reason: climate change. Another reason: increased deforestation and urbanization due to population growth. Chatham House, a policy think-tank, explains: "It is impossible to predict when the next pandemic will occur as …

Safer, More Efficient, and Cheaper Nuclear Energy Is Coming

Generation IV Nuclear Reactors are still in the research phase, but promise clean energy that is safer, cheaper, more efficient and cheaper than that produced by current nuclear power plants. It will also be able to work with renewable energy in future energy systems. Generation IV plants still have not solved the problem of nuclear …

Might Technological Innovations Put the Brakes on Climate Change?

According to hopeful experts, getting to zero carbon emissions by 2050 is certainly attainable, especially with new technologies, some of which are already in use. In short, there are many reasons to be optimistic rather than pessimistic about the ability of humans to adjust to and ameliorate climate change. The New Yorker, 2021: "Amid an …

Paradigm Shift: Russian Invasion of Ukraine Causes Change in How We See the World

Americans, and other nationalities, have sought to create central organizing principles for understanding the world. The broad outlines of world history begin with civilization, exploration, colonization (evolving into colonialism), and development of empires, to competition for resources, wars, regional and world dominance, rise and fall of empires. In the mid-20th century, the Cold War between the U.S. and Russia provided the central …

Jared Diamond of ‘Guns, Germs and Steel’ on Civilization’s Collapse, Ecology and Technology

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkJLur3jlDA Linus Pauling Memorial Lecture Series, 2004. "Diamond applies what he’s learned about the past to humanity’s future. He’s certain that his question is the world’s question: How are we going to cope with our current human population explosion which we must consider in combination with today’s enormously destructive technology? We can ignore what’s going …

Is Society About to Fall Apart?

"How do we know when society is about to fall apart?" asked Ben Ehrenreich in the NYT Magazine. "Meet the scholars who study civilizational collapse." Ehrenreich is the author of "Desert Notebooks: A Road Map for the End of Time." Bringing together climate science, mythologies, nature writing, and personal experiences, he "presents a stunning reckoning …

Bill Gates on How the World Can Avoid Climate Disaster

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNKdlnoAqIs CBS 60 Minutes: ""Without innovation, we will not solve climate change. We won't even come close," Gates says. Anderson Cooper reports for 60 Minutes." https://cbsn.ws/3qnNDyG

Are We As A Species Going to Become Extinct in Our Lifetimes?

My friend Bruce writes: "This is the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962 that I have faced the possibility of extinction of the human race. Do you think we are done for? Or do you think maybe at least a few of us will hang on to keep the species going?" …

With Disease and Climate Change Undeniably Altering Societies, Science Must Be Included in Historical Study

The Covid-19 pandemic and the prospect of cataclysmic climate change are stark illustrations that science cannot be separated from history. I have diminished the importance of the history of science to world history, hence Hank Green's Crash Course series of 46 approximately 11-minute lectures (totaling nine hours) on the History of Science is particularly relevant …