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Humans as Agents in the Termination of the African Humid Period

There is great uncertainty over the timing and magnitude of the termination of the African Humid Period (AHP). Spanning from the early to middle Holocene, the AHP was a period of enhanced moisture over most of northern and eastern Africa. However, beginning 8000 years ago the moisture balance shifted due to changing orbital precession and vegetation feedbacks. Some proxy records indicate a rapid transition from wet to dry conditions, while others indicate a more gradual changeover. Heretofore, humans have been viewed as passive agents in the termination of the AHP, responding to changing climatic conditions by adopting animal husbandry and spreading an agricultural lifestyle across the African continent. This paper explores scenarios whereby humans could be viewed as active agents in landscape denudation. During the period when agriculture was adopted in northern Africa, the regions where it was occurring were at the precipice of ecological regime shifts. Pastoralism, in particular, is argued to enhance devegetation and regime shifts in unbalanced ecosystems. Threshold crossing events were documented in the historical records of New Zealand and western North America due to the introduction of livestock. In looking at temporally correlated archeological and paleoenvironmental records of northern Africa, similar landscape dynamics from the historical precedents are observed: reduction in net primary productivity, homogenization of the flora, transformation of the landscape into a shrub-dominated biozone, and increasing xerophylic vegetation overall. Although human agents are not seen as the only forces inducing regime change during the termination of the AHP, their potential role in inducing large-scale landscape change must be properly contextualized against other global occurrences of neolithization.

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/earth-science/articles/10.3389/feart.2017.00004/full

UB: To start with, we tried to argue with our book against a very dynamic treatment dealing with ecological crisis: what we call green capitalism, or the green economy, or ecological modernization of capitalism. Which is: we have a problem with the combustion engine so it should be the electric engine. This will not be sufficient, we know, because the resources have to come from the South and there is still the space problem.

We prepare our argument of solidary mode of living against a strong expectation of the green side of the government in Germany and Austria that we don’t have to question our imperial mode of living: we green it a bit. There’s a greening ecological modernization, if you like. I’m sure in Canada you have similar debates. Even many movements believed it; not the radical movements, but many NGOs and so on.

We argue: no, if we take the problem seriously: that we have to get rid of the capitalist growth imperative, that we have to get rid of the world resources market, this enormous flow from the South to the North. We need principles but also to take seriously experiences and then certain policies towards the solidary mode of living. This chapter is a first attempt. It’s very comprehensive and it was also criticized—which is why we’re writing another book.

But you point at a distinction which to us seems crucial: the distinction between the subjective preconditions and the objective preconditions. We don’t accept an environmentalist discourse that says “it’s just behaviour, it’s just the consciousness.” But we also don’t say, “it’s just the policy framework.” We say that if we want a real mobility transition, but only from the combustion engine to the electric engine, we need an understanding via conflicts and via learning processes that the car is not only not necessary but it’s not attractive. It’s a struggle over subjectivities that what we call the “automobile imperial mode of living” or “imperial automobility” is not any longer possible.

The objective conditions are the other infrastructures, the other production systems, which means also a loss of jobs. I work a lot with trade unions on this. A reduction of the car industry means to rethink how the production of mobility is organized and to take the power from the automotive industry and to produce much more the means for public transport. The argument from the automotive industry is always: “There is job loss.” And the unions are on their side. It’s necessarily to convince them to have good public transport—which does not mean planes but a good train and bus system—means also to create jobs. This is the subjective and objective.

Then, we have some principles. One principle, since we come from critical theory, is that the care principle—a principle to organize society carefully: to have care for yourself, for others, for nature, for society—should overrule the profit principle of the large companies. At the large scale of the automotive industry and military, the profit motive turns into political power. We have to reduce certain production but we also have to change property relations.

Another principle beside this care principle is to rebuild the public sector. Of course, we have many problems with the public sector. Corruption, inefficiency: we are aware of these things. But to guarantee basic provisioning, we need a strong public sector because this can be made responsible. When it comes to pensions, when it comes to health, when it comes to education, the private principle is “who has the money?” The public principle is that it’s a social right.

Finally, we argue that we need strong social movements, which are usually the indicators of the need of radical change. We have this wonderful movement in Germany to leave the coal in the soil and the anti-nuclear movement that has decades of experiences and work. At the end, it’s political contestation: it needs to be armoured—to draw on Gramsci—with coercion and the finances of the state. It needs a macro perspective. It’s not enough to remain within a niche. But we defend that the radical innovation usually comes from the edges. For example, we don’t argue “we have to wait until the majority wants it.” We need these starting points of an emancipatory politics, which means criticizing domination in a manyfold sense.

#beanfluencer

Source: https://masto.ai/@vagina_museum/113034287254264640

The menstrual product ad trope of a jubilant woman going rock climbing or bungee jumping or doing athletic feats is associated with the 1980s, but it's in fact way older than that. This menstrual product ad from the late 19th century shows a very jubilant woman going cycling.

The pads in the advert, which apparently help you cycle around dressed like a triumphant Roman, include "pasteurised peat". Peat moss, also known as sphagnum, was a popular choice for homemade menstrual pads as the moss can absorb up to 20 times its weight in moisture.

Image courtesy of Courtesy of Musée Carnavalet.

Source: https://masto.ai/@vagina_museum/113034287254264640

The menstrual product ad trope of a jubilant woman going rock climbing or bungee jumping or doing athletic feats is associated with the 1980s, but it's in fact way older than that. This menstrual product ad from the late 19th century shows a very jubilant woman going cycling.

The pads in the advert, which apparently help you cycle around dressed like a triumphant Roman, include "pasteurised peat". Peat moss, also known as sphagnum, was a popular choice for homemade menstrual pads as the moss can absorb up to 20 times its weight in moisture.

Image courtesy of Courtesy of Musée Carnavalet.

The government of Rondonia state believes illegal fires, often started by farmers clearing land, are one cause of the disaster and has launched an online campaign calling on the population to report them.

Following the cancellation of its small modular reactor (SMR) project in Utah, NuScale Power announced it will take “strategic” actions to reduce costs, including laying off 28% of its full-time workforce.

Related article from the shareholder's investigation into the company:

NuScale Power (SMR) Admits to Ongoing, Active SEC Inquiry

On July 29, 2024, Hunterbrook Media reported that the SEC is conducting an “active and ongoing” investigation into NuScale and noted that after Hunterbrook's publication “a spokesperson wrote in a statement: ‘[w]e are unaware of any SEC investigation into NuScale or any reason for such an investigation.’”

But, on August 2, 2024, NuScale did an about face. The company admitted that, contrary to its July 29 denial, in December 2023 the SEC requested information relating to the company’s employment, severance, and confidentiality agreements. In addition, NuScale revealed that the SEC requested additional information from the company on July 31, 2024.

Each of these events drove the price of NuScale shares sharply lower.

“We’re investigating the propriety of NuScale’s financial disclosures and operations, including whether the company’s agreements with employees suppress whistleblowing,” said Reed Kathrein, the Hagens Berman partner leading the investigation.

First image: https://mastodon.social/@augieray/112915887690122694

Second image: https://sociale.network/@OhSeitan/112916053578360622