Land Use RE: Energy and Mining Resource Extraction Footprints

 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800921001646?dgcid=raven_sd_via_email

In case the link doesn't work---

From the journal, Ecological Economics, Volume 187 -

"Energy matters: Mitigating the impacts of future land expansion will require managing energy and extractive footprints".

High Tech (& Tech in general) gobbles up such a large amount of natural minerals, and all of us gobble up such a large amount of fossil fuel energy, that those two categories have an ecological footprint almost as large as agriculture when it comes to the disruption of natural habitats.  This is one of the main reasons that biodiversity is rapidly plunging.

The authors of the above article propose mitigation actions for the future.

The human land use dilemma is growing, and overconsumption plays a major role.  Here's only one example:  no one really needs a new cell phone every year or two.  The production of just ONE phone uses up about 500 pounds of natural resources, and that requires more & more extraction from the land.

As to energy, nearly all of us in highly developed countries use too much of that.  The situation must undergo a paradigm shift if the world is to achieve sustainability.

The entire downhill slide we're on as a species is driven by the rat race of unlimited growth and too much consumption.  From what I've seen, too many people seem to believe we can continue on with both of those if we just convert to a Green Economy.  That's erroneous thinking.  Many studies have shown it to be so.  Links to some of them have been posted on this venue for the past year-plus.  "Going Green" and continuing on with the growth & consumption of the past decades simply are not compatible.

Ecological economics and the concept of a Steady State Economy have been around for years and years.  They've been marginalized and denigrated by the "growth" Establishment, particularly by the Plutocrats (both private and public).

If we are to survive and thrive, it's time for a major change.  To overcome the Establishment propaganda, education - formal & informal - and activism are key.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

It's Not a Great Mystery

The first link: 

Protecting nature is vital to escape 'era of pandemics’ – report | Wildlife | The Guardian

A report issued by a scientific group which was convened by the  Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services includes the following conclusions (among others):

1.  the increasing number and frequency of pandemics is due in large part to anthropocentric damage to natural ecosystems;

2.  in addition to reaction to pandemics, prevention is crucial; and,

3.  leading experts in ecology, wildlife biology, epidemiology, and similar fields have made the above points clear, but there has been little government action.

Here's a link to the report:

IPBES Workshop on Biodiversity and Pandemics Report_0.pdf

The Executive Summary starts on page 2, and in it, needed actions are capsulized.

Politicians have been tinkering around the edges of the pandemic problem for decades.  Emphasis almost always is on a reaction to an outbreak.  Not enough effort is put into prevention.  That involves significantly reducing our negative impact on the natural environment.  We have to stop pretending we're doing that already.  Not only politicians have to stop; all of us must.

Suggestion:  bookmark the above three links; continually build your eco-library.  [If you've never done "library research" prior to the advent of the internet, you may not fully realize how fortunate we are to have such a tool:]

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Not only my opinion.  Happy Trails