Category Archives: Carl Safina

Discordant harmonies in views of natural systems by The Sierra Club and others

This essay was first publish at the blog of the Green Congregation Committee, First Parish in Needham, on the Parish Realm Web site and communications board. The views obviously are those only of its author, not of First Parish or … Continue reading

Posted in Anthropocene, Association to Preserve Cape Cod, biology, Buckminster Fuller, Carl Safina, civilization, coastal communities, conservation, Daniel B Botkin, discordant harmonies, ecological disruption, ecological services, Ecological Society of America, ecology, environment, field biology, field science, First Parish in Needham, forest fires, fragmentation of ecosystems, Gaylord Nelson, George Sugihara, invasive species, Lotka-Volterra systems, marine biology, Nature's Trust, Peter del Tredici, philosophy of science, population biology, population dynamics, quantitative biology, quantitative ecology, riverine flooding, shorelines, stream flow, sustainability, sustainable landscaping, unreason, water, wishful environmentalism | Tagged | Leave a comment

Sustainable Landscaping

Update: 2018-05-26 It’s not about plants, not entirely. But it seems that, in one agricultural area, pollinators (bees) under stress have ceded their pollinating responsibility to a couple of species of exotic (read invasive) flies. See: J. R. Stavert, D. … Continue reading

Posted in adaptation, American Association for the Advancement of Science, argoecology, biology, Botany, Carl Safina, complex systems, conservation, ecological services, Ecological Society of America, ecology, Ecology Action, environment, fragmentation of ecosystems, invasive species, land use to fight, living shorelines, New England, population biology, population dynamics, quantitative biology, quantitative ecology, sustainability, sustainable landscaping, water as a resource | 4 Comments

Will soils hang on to their Carbon?

(Update, 2019-07-01) Another obstacle to afforestation as a means of rapidly drawing down CO2 from the climate system: U.Büntgen, P.J.Krusic, A.Piermattei, D.A.Coomes, J.Esper, V.S.Myglan, A.V.Kirdyanov, J.J.Camarero, A.Crivellaro, C.Körne, “Limited capacity of tree growth to mitigate the global greenhouse effect under … Continue reading

Posted in adaptation, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Anthropocene, argoecology, bacteria, being carbon dioxide, Carbon Cycle, carbon dioxide, Carl Safina, climate, climate change, climate disruption, Global Carbon Project, global warming, microbiomes, nonlinear, nonlinear systems | 3 Comments

on nonlinear dynamics of hordes of people

I spent a bit of last week at a symposium honoring the work of Charney and Lorenz in fluid dynamics. I am no serious student of fluid dynamics. I have a friend, Klaus, an engineer, who is, and makes a … Continue reading

Posted in Anthropocene, bifurcations, biology, Carl Safina, causation, complex systems, dynamic generalized linear models, dynamic linear models, dynamical systems, ecological services, ecology, Emily Shuckburgh, finance, Floris Takens, fluid dynamics, fluid eddies, games of chance, Hyper Anthropocene, investments, Lenny Smith, Lorenz, nonlinear, numerical algorithms, numerical analysis, politics, population biology, population dynamics, prediction markets, Principles of Planetary Climate, public transport, Ray Pierrehumbert, risk, sampling networks, sustainability, Timothy Lenton, Yale University Statistics Department, zero carbon, ``The tide is risin'/And so are we'' | 1 Comment

Our Nisse and his porridge, 24th December 2017

I celebrate a Norwegian custom, honoring the Nisse of the house and land on Christmas eve. (Swedish tomte.) While we don’t have a farm, Claire and I are avid environmentalists, my being such since 1971. So, any being who cares … Continue reading

Posted in Carl Safina, Earle Wilson, environment, environmental law, Henry David Thoreau, natural philosophy, naturalism, Nature, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

`How old is today?` (Carl Safina)

How old is today? light comes from everywhere and from nowhere. The ocean, glittering then vanishing in gauzy vapors, handles us more gently than anyone could have hoped. Snow flurries in and hurries out. Mists veil coasts so raw, so … Continue reading

Posted in Antarctica, Anthropocene, biology, Carl Safina, Charles Darwin, coastal communities, coasts, ecological services, Ecological Society of America, ecology, Ecology Action, Henry David Thoreau, humanism, Hyper Anthropocene, Nature, population biology, population dynamics | 1 Comment

Statements by the Ecological Society of America on the proposed U.S. exit from the Paris Agreement, and on Climate Change

By withdrawing from the Paris Agreement on climate change, the United States is abdicating its role as the world leader in using science-based information to inform policy. Business, political, and scientific leaders the world over are condemning the decision. More … Continue reading

Posted in adaptation, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Statistical Association, Anthropocene, argoecology, Carl Safina, climate change, climate disruption, complex systems, ecological services, ecology, Ecology Action, environment, global warming, Hyper Anthropocene, marine biology, mesh models, model-free forecasting, population biology, population dynamics, quantitative biology, quantitative ecology, science, Science magazine, Spaceship Earth, sustainability, Takens embedding theorem, the tragedy of our present civilization, the value of financial assets, tragedy of the horizon, Wordpress, zero carbon | Leave a comment

Alpha Male Wolves, from Carl Safina

“The wolves of Yellowstone have some surprising lessons on being a man.” By Carl Safina. And about his recent book.

Posted in being carbon dioxide, Carl Safina, climate change, Humans have a lot to answer for, karma, wolves | Leave a comment