Quite possibly! On the other hand, megafaunal extinctions elsewhere (e. g. Australia, South America) seem to coincide with the arrival of humans, and NOT with the Younger Dryas. Moreover, most of these megafauna had survived previous ice ages, suggesting that human overhunting in prehistory was the cause. Some people have even suggested that overhunting in North America caused the Younger Dryas, due to the (relatively) sudden death of these ruminant species, who had been emitting low levels of methane, a greenhouse gas. The point about the suddenness of climate change is well taken, and we can let the science decide the ultimate outcome, but my bet would be that humans, rather than a comet, are more likely to have caused the Younger Dryas event.
Any discussion of the top 10 ways corporate food is making us fat should mention animal foods. One of the most consistent nutritional patterns scientists have observed is that vegans (and to a lesser extent vegetarians) suffer much less from obesity than do meat-eaters.
In fact, vegans weigh less even AFTER adjusting for caloric intake (!). Check out Dr. Michael Greger's video "Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death" here (start at 28:55 for a five-minute discussion of obesity and meat-eating):
Thanks for the refresher course on power, authority, and legitimacy.
I don't mean to belittle the problem of inequality -- it needs to be addressed, and pronto -- but Egypt also faces serious resource constraints. Food prices are rising, which are closely related to oil prices. Egypt has food subsidies, but they are made possible based on oil and natural gas exports, and and Egypt's oil exports are declining. Natural gas exports have been able to close the gap but now natural gas exports have leveled off.
Not all of these problems, obviously, are within Egypt's power to address -- not much they can do about rising wheat prices. But everyone is going to have to address resource constraints due to the inability to increase worldwide oil production since 2005; and likely within a few years, we will have a decline in worldwide oil production. Egypt is a dress rehearsal for, well, the rest of the world.
Gail Tverberg's comments on Egypt are quite interesting:
The loss of species diversity is connected to a lot of things in our civilization (buckshot urbanization, deforestation, etc.) but it is connected to nothing so much as livestock. People probably don't want to hear this, but with the possible exception of not reproducing ourselves, the single most important thing we can do about this is to go vegetarian or vegan. Just a thought.
Vaclav Smil has estimated that 94% of the zoomass of mammals on the planet is humans, their livestock, and their pets. That leaves 6% for elephants, giraffes, and everything else. "The rapidly growing zoomass of domestic animals has made dairy and meat mammals the dominant class of vertebrates on Earth." Lester Brown in Plan B 2.0 puts it slightly differently, saying that 98% of all land-based vertebrates are humans, their livestock, or their pets.
Quite possibly! On the other hand, megafaunal extinctions elsewhere (e. g. Australia, South America) seem to coincide with the arrival of humans, and NOT with the Younger Dryas. Moreover, most of these megafauna had survived previous ice ages, suggesting that human overhunting in prehistory was the cause. Some people have even suggested that overhunting in North America caused the Younger Dryas, due to the (relatively) sudden death of these ruminant species, who had been emitting low levels of methane, a greenhouse gas. The point about the suddenness of climate change is well taken, and we can let the science decide the ultimate outcome, but my bet would be that humans, rather than a comet, are more likely to have caused the Younger Dryas event.
Any discussion of the top 10 ways corporate food is making us fat should mention animal foods. One of the most consistent nutritional patterns scientists have observed is that vegans (and to a lesser extent vegetarians) suffer much less from obesity than do meat-eaters.
In fact, vegans weigh less even AFTER adjusting for caloric intake (!). Check out Dr. Michael Greger's video "Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death" here (start at 28:55 for a five-minute discussion of obesity and meat-eating):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30gEiweaAVQ
Thanks for the refresher course on power, authority, and legitimacy.
I don't mean to belittle the problem of inequality -- it needs to be addressed, and pronto -- but Egypt also faces serious resource constraints. Food prices are rising, which are closely related to oil prices. Egypt has food subsidies, but they are made possible based on oil and natural gas exports, and and Egypt's oil exports are declining. Natural gas exports have been able to close the gap but now natural gas exports have leveled off.
Not all of these problems, obviously, are within Egypt's power to address -- not much they can do about rising wheat prices. But everyone is going to have to address resource constraints due to the inability to increase worldwide oil production since 2005; and likely within a few years, we will have a decline in worldwide oil production. Egypt is a dress rehearsal for, well, the rest of the world.
Gail Tverberg's comments on Egypt are quite interesting:
http://ourfiniteworld.com/2011/01/29/whats-behind-egypts-problems/
The loss of species diversity is connected to a lot of things in our civilization (buckshot urbanization, deforestation, etc.) but it is connected to nothing so much as livestock. People probably don't want to hear this, but with the possible exception of not reproducing ourselves, the single most important thing we can do about this is to go vegetarian or vegan. Just a thought.
Vaclav Smil has estimated that 94% of the zoomass of mammals on the planet is humans, their livestock, and their pets. That leaves 6% for elephants, giraffes, and everything else. "The rapidly growing zoomass of domestic animals has made dairy and meat mammals the dominant class of vertebrates on Earth." Lester Brown in Plan B 2.0 puts it slightly differently, saying that 98% of all land-based vertebrates are humans, their livestock, or their pets.
http://www.vaclavsmil.com/wp-content/uploads/docs/smil-article-2002-pdr2003.pdf