populationing.....

Paul Ehrlich, the leading false prophet of inevitable environmental doom and author of the infamous The Population Bomb, has died at age 93. Why infamous? Consider the prologue to the 1968 edition:

The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970's the world will undergo famines—hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now. At this late date nothing can prevent a substantial increase in the world death rate….We can no longer afford to merely treat the symptoms of the cancer of population growth; the cancer itself must be cut out.

His solution? "We must have population control at home, hopefully through a system of incentives and penalties, but by compulsion if voluntary methods fail," he argued.

Population Doomster and False Prophet of Ecological Apocalypse Paul Ehrlich Has Died

The author of The Population Bomb was never right but never in doubt that the world was about to end.

RONALD BAILEY

Instead of a population collapse due to mass starvation, the world population grew from 3.5 billion in 1968 to 8.3 billion today. Instead of a substantial increase in the world death rate, it fell from 12 per 1,000 people in 1968 to 8 per 1,000 people in 2023. Farmers deploying modern tech have boosted the number of daily calories per person by more than a third since the 1960s. Consequently, rather than millions starving, the proportion of undernourished people worldwide declined from 27 percent in 1969–71 to 8.2 percent in 2024.* Global average life expectancy at birth rose from 57 years in 1968 to 73 years in 2023.

https://reason.com/2026/03/16/population-doomster-and-false-prophet-of-ecological-apocalypse-paul-ehrlich-has-died/

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WE ARE IN TROUBLE AND WE DON'T KNOW IT... OR WE REFUSE TO KNOW IT BECAUSE WE KNOW BETTER... THE MORE WE ARE, THE MORE WE CONSUME, THE MORE WE DESTROY THE PLANET [THE BIO-SURFACE THERE-OF]... THE CHINESE KNEW THIS, THE INDIANS DON'T... MOST PEOPLE HAVE COME TO REALISE THE RESOURCES ARE FINITE DESPITE THE AVAILABILITY OF PLENTY — AND THE MORE WE BURN FOSSIL FUEL, THE MORE WE GLOBAL WARM.

IN AUSTRALIA, PAUL EHRLICH HAD A SOMEWHAT DILETTANTE FOLLOWING IN THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY, MOSTLY DUE TO THE FRAGILE ECOLOGY AND THE DICEY SURVIVAL OF "MARGINAL" SPECIES.

EVOLUTION IS [SHOULD BE] OUR TEACHER. CHANGES DUE TO VARIOUS FACTORS, INCLUDING POPULATION GROWTH LED TO THE DESTRUCTIONS OF FORESTS — FURTHER ENDANGERING SOME SPECIES, INCLUDING KOALAS. THEIR OWN POPULATION BOOM IN SOME AREAS BUT COLLAPSE IN OTHERS. WE HAVE TO "MANAGE" IN ORDER TO AVOID THE KOALA EXTINCTION. WE HAVE TRAGICALLY KILLED OFF A FEW SPECIES, BY OUR POPULATION EXPANSION, INCLUDING INTRODUCING OTHER ANIMALS SUCH AS CATS AND FOXES...

THE CLIMATE OF OUR PLANETOID IS LIKED TO VARIOUS CYCLES OF NATURAL EVENTS, INCLUDING MILANKOVITCH CYCLES, SUN CYCLES AND THE CARBON EQUATION.

PRESENTLY THE CARBON EQUATION HAS THE MOST INFLUENCE ON GLOBAL WARMING/COOLING. THE DAMAGE THAT OUR BURNING OF FOSSIL FUELS IS DEBATED DAILY, THOUGH MOST OF THE SCIENTIFIC DATA POINT TO WARMING TIPPING POINTS, WITH SOME DANGEROUS OUTCOME FOR SOME PEOPLE, INCLUDING THE RISE IN SEA LEVELS. TALK TO THE TUVALU PEOPLE...

STUDYING DATA FROM GEOLOGICAL STRATA CAN TELL US THE EXTEND OF VARIATIONS OF CLIMATE SINCE LIFE FIRST APPEARED ON THE PLANET, AND LIFE'S INFLUENCE ON THE ATMOSPHERE... LIFE IS THE BIGGEST FACTOR IN THE CARBON EQUATION WHICH TRANSFORMS CARBON INTO CO2, METHANE AND OTHER DERIVATIVES. AS WELL, SCIENCES HAS BEEN ABLE TO ESTABLISH VARIOUS ADAPTATION OF LIFE TO THE COMPOSITION OF THE ATMOSPHERE IN THE RELATIONSHIP. AT FIRST OXYGEN, THE PRODUCT OF LIFE'S REJECTION, BECAME A "POISON" TO SOME LIVING STRUCTURES. MOST OF LIVING ENTITIES ADAPTED AND OXYGEN BECAME A NUTRIENT.

THE COMPLEXITY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE BIOSPHERE HAVE BEEN MAPPED TO QUITE A DEGREE OF CERTAINTY — THOUGH WE ARE STILL INVESTIGATING THE MOST RECENT RELATIONSHIP FROM ABOUT ONE MILLION YEARS AGO TO THE PRESENT.

WE HAVE EXPOSED THIS SYNERGY SINCE THE INCEPTION OF THIS SITE, AND THE DANGEROUS CONDITIONS WE FACE BEYOND NATURAL CYCLES, DUE TO OUR INDUSTRIAL MODIFICATION OF THE CARBON CYCLE.

THE INTRODUCTION OF COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS HAS ALSO MODIFIED THE CARBON CYCLE. THE CLOSURE OF THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ HAS SHOWN HOW IMPORTANT THIS MANUFACTURED RESOURCE HAS BEEN. PRICES OF FOOD ARE GOING UP AND SOME EXTRA PEOPLE ARE STARVING. THE GEOPOLITICAL GAMES ARE GETTING SERIOUS. WAR IS ON THE TABLE, INSTEAD OF FOOD.

AS WELL, DESPITE MOST OF HUMANITY GOING TOWARDS GREEN ENERGY, THE CLOSURE OF THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ HAS SHOWN THAT FOSSIL FUELS ARE STILL MORE THAN 80 PER CENT OF OUR MODERN ENERGY REQUIREMENTS. THE VARIOUS DYNAMICS OF FINANCING AND EXTORTION ARE COMPLEX... SECRETLY, TRUMP AND BIBI WOULD PREFER THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ TO BE CLOSED FOR A LOT LONGER, WHILE CLAIMING THE CONTRARY PUBLICLY...

THE FUTURES MARKET FOR POTATOES HAS REACHED MORE THAN 700 PER CENT SINCE THE BEGINNING OF DONALD'S "EXCURSION" INTO IRAN... WHICH SO FAR HAS ONLY BEEN AN EXCHANGE OF BOMBS AND MISSILES.

IS THIS THE PRECURSOR OF WHAT PAUL ERHLICH WAS WARNING US ABOUT?

WE SHOULD KNOW BY THE BEGINNING OF NEXT YEAR, 2027... AND WE WILL ADD, AS WE'VE DONE FOR THE LAST 20 YEARS OR SO, OUR PREDICTION BASES ON OBSERVATION, THE MAJOR TIPPING POINT IN THE BEHAVIOUR OF THE ATMOSPHERE OF MID-2032... BE PREPARED...

THE REASON MAGAZINE IS UNREASONABLE ON THIS ISSUE, OF COURSE... BUT THIS IS ANOTHER STORY.

GUS LEONISKY

PLEASE VISIT:

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

Gus Leonisky

POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

RABID ATHEIST.

WELCOME TO THIS INSANE WORLD…

forests.....

David Lindenmayer

What is a healthy forest?

Many proposals to create so-called ‘healthy forests’ through thinning and repeated burning risk further damaging Australian ecosystems already degraded by logging, clearing and over-management.

There has been increasing discussion about what constitutes a so-called ‘healthy forest’. There is even a foundation that aims, in part, to make forests healthy, typically by using industrial forestry methods like mechanical thinning and/or regular burning. But what actually is a healthy forest? What are the characteristics of a healthy forest? And what kinds of management can produce a healthy forest? These are important questions to answer because it affects decisions about how best to manage Australia’s forests as well as the nation’s woodlands.

What constitutes a healthy forest will vary with the type of forest in question such as tall open forest versus an open grassy box-gum woodland. It will also vary with the natural stage of forest development for a given forest type; such as whether we are examining a patch of long undisturbed old growth forest or a young forest regenerating after a wildfire.

These are not just subtle nuances; they are fundamentally important to thinking about good management.

Large old trees are a critical component of many types of healthy forest and woodland. These trees play a wide range of key roles, including supporting an array of tree-related microhabitats (termed TReMS) such as hollows and bark fissures. They also store disproportionately large amounts of carbon relative to the other trees in a stand. Sadly, large old trees are increasingly rare or are virtually missing from many Australian forests, especially those with a long-term history of industrial logging.

The understorey and midstorey layers can be another critical part of a forest or woodland and a key part of determining if it is healthy. These are the vegetation layers underneath the overstorey trees. Understorey and midstorey layers provide habitat for many species, and are where animals forage and nest.

Many studies from around the world, including in Australia, have shown that significantly more species inhabit patches of vegetation where there are multiple layers. This is because structurally complex forests and woodlands support more niches to support more species. Understorey and midstorey trees like wattles also play key nutrient fixing roles that can promote the growth of overstorey eucalypts – a vital function given the nutrient-poor soils that characterise many parts of Australia.

A dense understorey and/or midstorey is a natural part of the development of some types of forest and woodland. Indeed, a dense understorey and/or midstorey layer is critical for limiting the highly negative effects of the hyper-aggressive native Noisy Miner on many small-bodied native birds of conservation concern.

There is even a body of ecological theory and supporting evidence to describe these effects, called the landscape texture hypothesis. In fact, our long-term studies have shown that areas of densely structured regrowth woodland support a suite of birds not found in old growth woodland. This means that to support the full suite of birds in a landscape, it is important that landscapes support areas of dense regrowth woodland as well as old growth woodland. Unfortunately, the understorey and/or midstorey is missing from many woodlands in Australia, particularly those with a long-term history of extensive and repeated clearing and livestock grazing.

Unhealthy forests and woodlands can be created by human land management. Examples include clearing, logging, mechanical thinning, and too-frequent burning. These activities lead to the widespread loss of large old trees, over-simplification of the structure of forests and woodlands, degradation or loss of habitat for many species, and the alteration of key ecological processes such as an increase in fire severity.

Some people have recommended using the same methods that led to forest degradation in the first place to restore forests and woodlands so that they become healthy. One of these proposed methods is mechanical thinning. Mechanical thinning will grow fatter trees faster, but not taller trees (because the removal of neighbouring trees reduces competition for light). Fatter trees also do not necessarily develop hollows faster because cavity development is a function of tree physiology and the ability to heal wound tissue.

At the same time, thinning can remove the dense regrowth habitats that are important for many species and increase interference competition by over-abundant native ‘pest’ species such as the Noisy Miner. It can also increase fire risks and generate significant amounts of greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

Of course, for the vast majority of forests and woodlands globally, mechanical thinning is entirely unnecessary. This is because these vegetation types thin themselves naturally. That is, self-thinning is a natural process whereby as forests and woodlands mature, they become characterised by fewer, larger old trees. And for many locations, natural self-thinning is part of a transition to a less flammable mature forest state.

It is important to remember that forests and woodlands have existed in Australia for more than 180 million years without the kinds of industrial intervention now proposed to radically alter them. The problems caused by humans, and especially those created in the past 240 years, will not be solved by continuing to employ the same kinds of inappropriate management regimes that have been used by Europeans.

These perspectives matter because in many cases, calls to create so-called ‘healthy forests’ will often lack scientific evidence to support them and may ultimately do far more environmental damage than if forests and woodlands had been left to mature naturally.

https://johnmenadue.com/post/2026/05/what-is-a-healthy-forest/

YET, WE NEED TO REMOVE ALL THE INTRODUCED PESTS [CATS, FOXES, ECT] OUT OF THE WOODS...

READ FROM TOP.

PLEASE VISIT:

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

Gus Leonisky

POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

RABID ATHEIST.

WELCOME TO THIS INSANE WORLD….

By Gus Leonisky at 18 May 2026 - 8:21am
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