Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Collapse Café at the Doomstead Diner


Monsta from the Doomstead Diner called and created a podcast of our conversation.  We had intended to talk about trees but became so engrossed in more general issues about collapse that he has since recorded a separate conversation, about the death of forests from pollution, which isn't posted yet.  Meanwhile, here's the first discussion.  Be sure to visit the Diner for news and their forum - where anyone can sign up and start a topic around the Kitchen Sink!

 

Ohhh...this is why I chose that song to open the interview:  The Diamond Blue


9 comments:

  1. Hey Gail! Great interview! I was petrified during some of the segments where you point out how horrid it's going to get before we're all toast; that whole survival instinct issue that's a product of our reptilian brain (and what it may make us do in dire circumstances like survival or "kill or be killed" situations). It's going to be worse than the Civil War, worse than anything we can imagine because of our own brutality ADDED TO (or even multiplying the negative effects of) the collapsing food system and food chain combined with severe weather, sea level rise, earthquakes, sinkholes, toxic gases constantly being absorbed into the atmosphere (with no way to scrub it out once the trees and ocean are gone), more frequent and increasingly intense superstorms, tsunamis, and let's not forget the plagues of insects, vermin, ticks, bacteria, viruses, flu-strains, uptick in diseases that once yielded to antibiotics (now that they are becoming ineffective) and when the whole system falls apart the entire medical and dental fields will not be available, nor will police, fire, municipal services like sewer systems and water piping, and all the rest because the world banks are about to fail from myriad causes and bring down the global economy with it. Soon there will be no reason to "remain civil" and people are going to freak out without their tvs and distractions alone! Since there are so many guns - it's going to get ugly and violent very quickly, just like a forest fire (which I forgot to mention above) - the citizenry of the world are like so much dried out tinder, just waiting for something to ignite them all into war with everyone else. Thanks for scaring the shit out of me once again (and here I thought the trees were bad enough)! Just in time for Halloween!

    Tom

    ReplyDelete
  2. TOM - you're so very welcome...and THANK YOU! for that very comprehensive list.

    ReplyDelete
  3. great job, Gail. Vey insightful!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Here's some back-up for your assertion that we just do what we do to survive and the environment is disregarded:

    http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/runoff-down-slopes-of-extinct-philippine-volcano-wreaks-havoc-on-magalang-village/

    (from the article)

    The unprecedented calamity is blamed on unabated charcoal making by folks living on the slopes of the mountain who, according to sources, have cut down hundreds of trees, mostly acacia. Folks here fear that unless authorities stop the continued denudation of the mountain, something worse will befall this village.

    This village was carved out of farm and pasture lands previously owned by the Pampanga Agricultural College during the administration of former President Ferdinand Marcos in the ’70s, through the initiative of the Ayala Foundation, hence the village name. The village was subdivided into three categories: rice, orchard and livestock. From a community of a few hundred people, the village has since grown into about 2,000 residents. Mt. Arayat is said to be an extinct volcano, rising over 3,000 feet over the plains of Magalang and Arayat towns. It used to be teeming with forest and wildlife until illegal logging, slash-and-burn farming and other activities destroyed much of its natural resources. Run-offs are not a new experience here. They occur almost every rainy season, damaging crops and properties and washing away a flimsy bridge built over rows of huge culverts each time. But the run-offs seem to get worse each time. And this year is considered to be the worst in years. “This is year, it is run-off; tomorrow it could be boulders from the mountaintop,” a resident here feared.

    Tom

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks Mossy! Tom, one of the first things I thought of when I saw trees are dying is landslides. Of course, SLR and heavy precipitation and natural erosion and earthquakes all provoke them, as does logging. But the logging and forest death get short shrift in the discussion. I've seen scientists talk about climate change driving landslides but then the locals complain about logging. Check out the second video here: http://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2013/10/17/new-bluff-collapse-videos-from-the-usa-and-canada/ and look at how brown the trees appear, and where you can see leaves up close, they are all ripped up. Meanwhile the scientist talks about FUTURE sea level rise!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Very well done! A pleasure to listen to!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I really liked the way you understand the dynamics of power/energy...even CLEAN hybrids and windmills need fossil fuels in their manufacture and rare Earth Elements involving mining/refining/transporting....But the bourgeois MSNBC watching NPR-ites think they can "save the planet"...I think it boils down to human nature and the ruthless "Alpha" males instead of stealing Cheetah's dinner and becoming head of the pride, are ruthless in their quest for more money and power. Keep up the good work Gail!

    ReplyDelete
  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  9. i guess you saw this by now: Foliage season under fire from climate change – ‘A lengthening growing season could open up the door for invasive species’

    http://www.desdemonadespair.net/2013/10/foliage-season-under-fire-from-climate.html

    Tom

    ReplyDelete

Blog Archive

My Blog List

Search This Blog

Followers

counter