There is an assumption made here that we have never fully defended, but simply taken for granted, and I have noted it n some of the criticism we’ve recently recieved, so it’s high time to address the topic in a straight-forward fashion. The assumption is: Political power is a type of complexity, and thus it is a function of energy.

Ran Prieur recently pointed to a graphic illustration of this, provided above:

The Agony of an American Wilderness
By Samuel MacDonald

There are only a handful of books about the Allegheny National Forest in particular, and of them, most are books of photographs. The Agony of an American Wilderness is the only substantive book I know of on the region. Its author, Samuel MacDonald, was once the Washington, DC editor of Reason magazine. I’ve read his weblog for some time now despite my deep disagreements with him for the same reason I felt compelled to read his book: because there are so few people writing about the Allegheny National Forest.

Few renewable energy advocates suggest that any one source can replace all of our current fossil fuel usage. Rather, they suggest that it is a combination of sources working together that will allow us to replace fossil fuels. As a practical consideration, we will surely see many different renewable energy sources employed as fossil fuels become increasingly expensive, but should we expect these sources to allow civilization to survive? Or was Jay Hansen correct in his assessment: “No combination of renewable energy systems have the potential to generate more than a fraction of the power now being generated by fossil fuels”?

Many of the so-called “alternatives” to fossil fuels rely on the electrical grid. We have seen the problems that nuclear and photovoltaics will face even delivering on their production promises, but even if they were to somehow solve those problems, there is still the problem of the grid itself. Most of the energy sources offered are simply means of generating electricity; this is applied to necessities like transportation through innovations like hydrogen batteries or electric cars. Even so, the electricity itself must be transported from the nuclear power plant, PV cell, or other means by which it is produced, to the car it will power, or the home it will heat, or whatever other task the energy is needed for.

From the National Arbor Day Foundation:

The National Arbor Day Foundation has recently completed an extensive updating of U.S. Hardiness Zones based upon data from 5,000 National Climatic Data Center cooperative stations across the continental United States.

The last time the USDA Hardiness Zones were updated was 1990. The latest data gathered, however, suggests that the zones are moving north, which is to be expected as the United States as a whole grows warmer. The Arbor Day Foundation’s website provides the following interactive map, which allows you to see what changes have been happening:

North American forests are storing less carbon due to warmer autumns, reports a study published in the journal Nature by an international team of researchers.

Madagascar will increase penalties for people caught setting land-clearing fires on the biodiverse island, according to a report from Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

Biofuels made from world's dominant energy crops -- including corn, soy, and oil palm -- may have worse environment impacts than conventional fossil fuels, reports a study published in the journal Science.

A species of butterfly in Denmark foolds ants into raising their larvae, reports research published in the journal Science.