Bill McKibben in Times Square, during the International Day of Climate Action last October, 2009.

If you are interested in climate change and the environment, the entire April issue of Scientific American is great.  The theme of most of the issue is managing Earth’s Future.  Get a copy of it, because only a little bit of it is online. There are some gorgeous paintings in it too, called the 8 Wonders of the Solar System. There are several articles on global warming and planetary boundaries. From Boundaries for a Healthy Planet,  “Scientists have set thresholds for key environmental processes that, if crossed, could threaten Earth’s habitability. Ominously, three have already been exceeded.”  Key points of the article are:

1) Although climate change gets ample attention, species loss and nitrogen pollution exceed safe limits by greater degrees. Other environmental processes are also headed toward dangerous levels.

2) Promptly switching to low-carbon energy sources, curtailing land clearing and revolutionizing agricultural practices are crucial to making human life on Earth more sustainable.

As the article states, human growth has expanded to the point where we have literally changed the planet.  Pollution used to be a local problem; now it’s global.  Resources drying up locally affect everyone, everywhere.  And population growth unchecked is a real problem.  (Watch out in discussing population to certain conservatives, by the way.  Glenn Beck and other right-wingers think Al Gore is in favor of Eugenics and forced sterilization.)   But there’s no doubt that simple family planning could help slow down climate change.

“The sudden acceleration of population growth, resource consumption and environmental damage has changed the planet.  We now live in a “full” world, with limited resources and a capacity to absorb waste.  The rules for living on such a world are different, too.  Most fundamentally, we must take steps to ensure that we function within the “safe operating space” of our environmental systems.  If we do not revise our ways, we will cause catastrophic changes that could have disastrous consequences for humankind.”

The article is written by a scientist from the University of Minnesota who stars in a video in a post below,  Jonathan Foley.

One of my favorite pieces is a book excerpt from Bill McKibben, activist, author and founder of 350.org. I like the new spelling to signify that we have a different earth we are living on– “Eaarth“.  Here is an excerpt from their interview with him about his new book:

In his new book, Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet, McKibben argues that humankind, because of its actions, now lives on a fundamentally different world, which he calls “Eaarth.” This celestial body can no longer support the economic growth model that has driven society for 200 years. To avoid our own collapse, we must instead seek to maintain wealth and resources, in large part by shifting to more durable, localized economies.

“SciAM:  You [...]