I do love me some applied botany!

'Tis a good day when it begins with an hour plus of applied botany. Today is that kind of day. With the forecast to potentially hit 90 F today, an hour early and an hour late of applied botany will be good. The UVI is only reported as "5," but there is nary a cloud in sight, and things are bright and heating up quite rapidly.

Any science news?

Since we have a plant theme going....an analysis suggests that out blue rock can potentially handle a lot more floral bio-mass than previously thought. Of course the facts on the ground are sobering. Heck, even I have to fight with invasive species; two are only largely kept at bay. Evil Bittersweet Vine and the awfuller Japanese Knotweed. If you read the linked article, you will see why I did not even make an attempt at anything like a segue into my floral nemeses.

I know that I am stupid so I do not see why attempting to keep the earth's population at 7+ billions of humans is a good thing. Stuff is gonna breakdown real fast, real soon.

I will go with that theme. I read The Population Bomb, and while things have not worked out in the book's timeline, the underlying premises are--if anything--even more relevant today.

The book was not a simple Malthusian redux, but a warning. Sure, some of the criticism of the book's scenarios are spot-on, but that seems almost entirely relegated to the timeline, not the central issues. Yes, it was alarmist. But the book did much to raise awareness on a large--and popular--scale. Unfettered reproduction has not been the same since to those with both a working memory and no rose colored spectacles. I have lived with the knowledge for roughly 45 years.

The have-nots are becoming the have-some, and will surely claim that they have every right to live as many currently do in the Western World. So, what to do with a small planet that simply cannot provide bounty for all?

Negative population growth(NPG) seems the reasonable--and achievable answer. I, for one, am not holding my breath.

I think I will go water some plants...using self-captured rainwater, in a vessel made of woven local reeds, of course :)

On Edit: I read about the 63 trillion gallons of water lost to (mostly) irrigate the desert in the US southwest days ago, but didn't read this bit:

Rampant dependency on water has become a more focal point of environmental advocacy groups more so than ever in recent years as drought has threatened water supplies in even developed countries such as the U.S. Americans use nearly 400 billion gallons of water every day as a whole, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. In Europe, the average household uses nearly half of the amount as Americans. On average, American households use around 100,000 gallons per year — meaning the 63 trillion gallon loss amounts to nearly half a year of total water use and multiple years worth of household use.

Is it really any surprise that--assuming the statement is accurate--people in the US use--on average-twice as much water per capita as out counterparts in Europe?

I just thought that the water resource issue hooked in really well with my dire post of earlier today. Bottoms up!

Good thing we have all that unused bio-mass just-a-waitin' to be exploited.