By Seth Masia
Solar Today deputy editor
The April issue of Scientific American features a special report on "Managing Earth's Future: Solutions for a Finite World." It leads with the idea that Earth is the one system that is truly "too big to fail," in the sense that we can't survive its failure.
There's a terrific article by Jonathan Foley of the University of Minnesota on the specific limits of biodiversity loss, land use, fresh water use, nitrogen and phosphorus, stratospheric ozone depletion, ocean acidification, climate warming, chemical pollution and aerosol loading. Beyond those limits (and we've already exceed some of them), natural system may not be recoverable. A panel of eight experts provides a roundup of solutions.
And then there's a sobering article by Bill McKibben, "Breaking the Growth Habit," drawn from his new book Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet.
Worth the read.
Seth Masia
Liz Merry
