Josh Wells

If you go back 40 years to the first earth day there were some pretty dire predictions being made back then too.

http://www.westernjournalism.com/apocalyptic-predictions-first-earth-day/

I imagine a lot of folks gave themselves ulcers worrying over all those predictions that failed to come true. But somehow this time is always different.

Brett Andrzejewski wrote:

Josh Wells wrote:
Not something I lose sleep over but the point is hard times come and go. In the context of world and human history that is the norm, not the exception. If there is a "collapse" in our lifetime it's unlikely to be as bad as the prophets of doom predict.

What I loose sleep over are the scientific climate change papers.

I haven't been able to find this scientific article:
"Only complete economic collapse will save us from run away climate change."

This one written by Dr. Jim Hanson formerly of NASA:
Hanson Paper

"The Earth was 10–12°C warmer than today in the Early Eocene and at the peak of the PETM (figure 4). How did mammals survive that warmth? Some mammals have higher internal temperatures than humans and there is evidence of evolution of surface-area-to-mass ratio to aid heat dissipation, for example transient dwarfing of mammals [136] and even soil fauna [137] during the PETM warming. However, human-made warming will occur in a few centuries, as opposed to several millennia in the PETM, thus providing little opportunity for evolutionary dwarfism to alleviate impacts of global warming. We conclude that the large climate change from burning all fossil fuels would threaten the biological health and survival of humanity, making policies that rely substantially on adaptation inadequate."

I've come to the same conclusion: If we burn all the fossil fuels (~ 1200 ppm CO2) humans will not be able to thermoregulate (loose heat to the environment, sweat to stay cool) their body temperature. Humanity will all die of heat exhaustion.

OR

This video where Dr. Guy McPherson discusses another scientific paper where if we change the climate too fast we can actually push the Earth out of the habitable zone completely. Thus, killing all life on the planet. I don't know if Dr. Jim Hanson took into account that hundreds of millions of years ago the sun was not as bright as it is today.

Now that is what I loose sleep over

When do you expect the earth to warm by 10–12°C?

Landon Sunrich wrote:

josh wells wrote: Imagine living in Rome when it was sacked by barbarians. Or in Europe when the black plague wiped out a third of the population

or Bangladesh when the West Antarctic ice sheet begins to collapse...

Not something I lose sleep over but the point is hard times come and go. In the context of world and human history that is the norm, not the exception. If there is a "collapse" in our lifetime it's unlikely to be as bad as the prophets of doom predict.

Adam Klaus wrote:

Monica Rocha wrote:...when the collapse does happen...

Monica, I really wouldnt worry it so much. Lots of folks, like Jim Jones, have been waiting for the collapse. The world isnt perfect, but there is a lot of joy and wonder to be experienced right now.

I would follow your heart, find your path, enjoy this life while it's living. There are a lot of charlatans and false prophets out there profiting off of our natural instinct for fear. There is a better way. Dont do permaculture because it will shelter you from bad times; do permaculture because it enables you to live a more full and delightful life of prosperity.

A lot of people were sure the world was coming to an end, in the 60's, the 70's, the 80's, etc, etc, etc. Bummer of a worldview for them, they missed out on a lot of good living, convinced the world was about to end. You are young, your life is precious, your time is finite. Live and love, cherish the day that you have. Do what feels right to your soul, and let the world unfold as you go....

This is solid advice. There are a lot of doomsday predictions floating around out there that if paid too much attention can have you living in constant fear. It helps to look at the present in the context of the broad sweep of history. Bad times come and go and it's extremely unlikely you'll see what could truly be considered the worst of times. Imagine living in Rome when it was sacked by barbarians. Or in Europe when the black plague wiped out a third of the population. I'm sure for those people it seemed like the end of the world had come. But the sun kept coming up each day and life went on.

Australia isn't dry every where. I would highly recommend checking out Tasmania. It's very green and absolutely beautiful. I've been all over the world and Tasmania is one of the nicest places I've ever been. The nice thing about Australia is it isn't overpopulated like most parts of the world.

Al Senner wrote:Swans are mean as hell! Ive seen them behead canada geese and once saw one kill a groundhog, though they never bother with ducks. Ive heard the mechanics of mating requires them to be in water to reproduce and a 1 acre pond is the minimum for a pair. They are worth a pretty penny if you succeed though.

I'm picturing a swan wearing a hood and holding an axe.

tel jetson wrote:I'm confused. what is the purpose of inspection if treatment will not be practiced? identifying healthy brood by removing brood comb has the rather detrimental effect of chilling brood and stressing the colony, which seems particularly egregious if it is only to satisfy curiosity. adding stress to a colony by inspecting for disease or pests can easily result in increased susceptibility to the very disease and pests being inspected for.

There are treatments that don't involve the use of pesticides but even absent those hives should still be inspected. Just one example of why would be American Foul Brood. If you have a have that gets it the sooner you find it and destroy that hive the less likely it is to spread.

John Polk wrote:Lawyers that get to manage the bookkeeping.

Sounds like congress.

Hester Winterbourne wrote:

Ryan Molpus wrote:Here is the start of my project. I just built the front beds and starting a large swale on the back side that will allow multiple areas of draining water to be captured. It's a little boring at the moment, but will take pics as things progress.

I live in an HOA, so planning to push the envelope a bit so I can start some form of change. I have a ton of starts (edibles and companions) that will be added over the next few weeks.

Ryan - tell me more! What is an HOA? It looks so exciting to me because I haven't heard of most of the things, but it sounds like it will be beautiful and definitely push some envelopes once people realise you are eating your front garden!

Oh wow I want a Honeyberry!

HOA = Home Owners Association

Basically a bunch of neighborhood busy bodies that get their jollies from telling others what they can and can't do with their property. Never ever ever buy a home with an HOA. Nothing but trouble.

Fred Morgan wrote:When dealing with wood, you want to make sure to seal the ends. Of course, if the ends are buried inside another piece, life is good. Wood splits often because the ends dry (more surface area) much quicker than the middle.

Also, when drying, the idea is slow and steady, and give it time to rest. Solar kilns often provide some of the best results because things cool down overnight. This allows the wood to equalize (the middle often is wetter than the surface during drying), reducing stress, and checking.

Dry to fast, you get what is called "case hardening" where the outside is dry, and sealed, but the inside is still wet.

Remember as well, when something is drying, it really doesn't shrink much on the length, but on the width. A given type of wood should dry pretty much the same, as long as you are using heart wood, or sapwood, i.e. similar densities.

Green woodworking is cool stuff, we have furniture from when my wife was a child in school made that way, and it is still sold. We have woods down here so hard that you almost can't work with them, except green.

What do you use to seal the ends?