{"id":173,"date":"2016-08-12T19:55:52","date_gmt":"2016-08-12T19:55:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=173"},"modified":"2020-12-12T16:15:17","modified_gmt":"2020-12-12T16:15:17","slug":"earth-overshoot-day-and-pollinators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earth-overshoot-day-and-pollinators\/","title":{"rendered":"Earth Overshoot Day and Pollinators"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earth-overshoot-day-and-pollinators\/#global\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20160719ff\/20150430-rosetta20091113-browse-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>Australia&#8217;s Earth Overshoot Day happened earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p>It used to be called Ecological Debt Day, involves a lot of math, and assumes that Earth&#8217;s glaciers, deserts, and oceans, are pretty much all the same thing.<\/p>\n<p>The basic idea, that we shouldn&#8217;t waste resources, isn&#8217;t silly, and I&#8217;ll get back to that.<\/p>\n<p>Some other scientists say that we should pay attention to pollinators. I think they&#8217;re right.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earth-overshoot-day-and-pollinators\/#global\">Global Footprint Network&#8217;s Earth Overshoot Day<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earth-overshoot-day-and-pollinators\/#hectares\">Hectares, Global and Otherwise<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earth-overshoot-day-and-pollinators\/#earth\">Earth has Oceans<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earth-overshoot-day-and-pollinators\/#pollinator\">Pollinator Peril \u2014 or \u2014 the Bats and the Bees<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<hr>\n<h4><a name=\"ehrlich\"><\/a>Ehrlich, Yeats, and Me<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Four_Horsemen_of_the_Apocalypse\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20160719ff\/20160811-423px-Durer_Revelation_Four_Riders-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>Taking the Bible seriously, including <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_P12P.HTM#CATHL.REV.6.4\">Revelation 6:4<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_P12P.HTM#CATHL.REV.6.8\">8<\/a>, isn&#8217;t even close to thinking I can second-guess God the Father; and I talked about that last Sunday. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/last-judgment-still-pending\/\">August 7, 2016<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Tightly-wound preacher-prognosticators aren&#8217;t the only folks with doomsday predictions and dire forebodings:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;&#8230;in ten years all important animal life in the sea will be extinct. Large areas of coastline will have to be evacuated because of the stench of dead fish&#8230;.&#8221;<br \/>\n(<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Paul_R._Ehrlich\">Paul Ehrlich<\/a>, on first Earth Day, (1970))<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&#8230;By the year 2000 the United Kingdom will be simply a small group of impoverished islands, inhabited by some 70 million hungry people&#8230;.&#8221;<br \/>\n(<a href=\"http:\/\/reason.com\/blog\/2010\/12\/30\/cracked-crystal-ball-environme\">Paul Ehrlich<\/a>, Speech at British Institute For Biology (September 1971))<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Turning and turning in the widening gyre<br \/>\nThe falcon cannot hear the falconer;<br \/>\nThings fall apart; the centre cannot hold;<br \/>\nMere anarchy is loosed upon the world,<br \/>\nThe blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere<br \/>\nThe ceremony of innocence is drowned;<br \/>\nThe best lack all conviction, while the worst<br \/>\nAre full of passionate intensity&#8230;.&#8221;<br \/>\n(&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.poetryfoundation.org\/poem\/172062\">The Second Coming<\/a>,&#8221; William Butler Yeats (1920))<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In fairness, William Butler Yeats (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/W._B._Yeats\">1865 &#8211; 1939<\/a>) lived in a particularly unsettled chapter of humanity&#8217;s story. I&#8217;ll get back to Yeats, Lovecraft, and getting a grip: but not today.<\/p>\n<p>Ehrlich&#8217;s &#8220;The Population Bomb&#8221; came out while I was in high school, and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Earth_Day#Earth_Day_1970\">Earth Day<\/a> started about the same time I entered college. I took environmental concerns seriously then, and I still do. The latest crisis <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thefreedictionary.com\/du+jour\">du jour<\/a>, not so much.<\/p>\n<p>I do, however, realize that the boy who cried wolf could be right. Occasionally.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"painfully\"><\/a>Painfully-pious <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usingenglish.com\/reference\/idioms\/crepe+hanger.html\">crepe hangers<\/a> notwithstanding, gloominess is not next to Godliness. We&#8217;re <strong>supposed<\/strong> to desire happiness, and hope is a virtue. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s1c1.htm#33\">33<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s1c1a2.htm#1718\">1718<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s1c1a7.htm#1817\">1817<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>I suspect that some doom and gloom has roots in the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Melancholia#Cult\">fashionable melancholy<\/a> that&#8217;s been &#8220;&#8230;an indispensable adjunct to all those with artistic or intellectual pretentions&#8230;&#8221; off and on for the last five centuries.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earth-overshoot-day-and-pollinators\/#1\">1<\/a><\/sup> And that&#8217;s another topic.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"hydraulic\"><\/a>Hydraulic Mining<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hydraulic_mining\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/1024px-Henry_Sandham_-_The_Monitor-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(from the United States Library of Congress, via Wikipedia, used w\/o permission)<\/span><br \/>\n&#8220;The Monitor.&#8221; Hydraulic mining for gold in California. (The Century Magazine; 1883 Jan., p. 325)<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"romans\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Las_M%C3%A9dulas\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/20150702-1024px-Panoramica_de_Las_Medulas-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>Romans called their <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hydraulic_mining\">hydraulic mining<\/a> tech &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ruina_montium\">ruina montium<\/a>,&#8221; &#8220;the collapse of the mountains,&#8221; or &#8220;wrecking of mountains.&#8221; Two millennia later, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Las_M%C3%A9dulas\">Las M\u00e9dulas<\/a> is a UNESCO <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/World_Heritage_Site\">World Heritage Site<\/a>, and we&#8217;ve learned to be a bit more careful.<\/p>\n<p>By the 1860s, the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/California_Gold_Rush\">California Gold Rush<\/a> was in progress. Folks were reducing hills to slurry with high-pressure <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hydraulic_mining#California_Gold_Rush\">water jets<\/a>, extracting gold, and sending the rest downstream.<\/p>\n<p>It was very profitable, until folks living and farming in the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hydraulic_mining#Environmental_consequences\">Sacramento Valley<\/a> hired <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hydraulic_mining#Legal_consequences\">lawyers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Several lawsuits and an act of Congress later, Americans had a new set of rules that allowed hydraulic mining \u2014 under better-controlled conditions. We&#8217;re still fine-tuning our environmental rules and policies, and expect that the process will continue as long as this country is around.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"northumbria\"><\/a>Northumbria&#8217;s Environmental Activist: St. Cuthbert<\/h4>\n<p><a><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20160719ff\/20160811-330px-Cuddy-s_Well_-_geograph-org-uk_-_1143264-165.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>St. <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cuthbert\">Cuthbert<\/a> lived around the time Li Yuan became <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Emperor_Gaozu_of_Tang\">Emperor Gaozu of Tang<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Harsha\">Harsha<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Empire_of_Harsha\">reunited<\/a> a sizable fraction of the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gupta_Empire\">Gupta Empire<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Cuthbert lived in the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kingdom_of_Northumbria\">Kingdom of Northumbria<\/a>, that&#8217;s now part of southeastern Scotland and northeastern England.<\/p>\n<p>His connection to this &#8216;environmental&#8217; post is that he set up laws protecting the breeding grounds of various birds on the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Farne_Islands\">Farne Islands<\/a>. That&#8217;s about 13 and a half centuries back now.<\/p>\n<p>The birds are still there, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Eider\">eider duck<\/a> is called the cuddy duck to this day in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Northumberland\">Northumberland<\/a>.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earth-overshoot-day-and-pollinators\/#2\">2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"comets\"><\/a>Comets, Malthus, and the Green Revolution<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.scientificamerican.com\/history-of-geology\/the-devils-tail-what-the-fossils-say\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/20141022-LUND_1857_Comet_Encounter-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>There&#8217;s good reason for keeping track of comets and asteroids.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Impact_event\">Impact events<\/a> occasionally coincide with an <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Extinction_event\">extinction event<\/a> like the one that killed <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Paleogene_extinction_event\">non-avian dinosaurs<\/a>, but scientists still don&#8217;t have enough evidence to show cause-and-effect.<\/p>\n<p>Even so, if a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chicxulub_crater\">10-kilometer-wide<\/a> hunk of rock hit Earth today, it would do considerably more than disrupt the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2016_Summer_Olympics\">Rio Olympics<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Stuff like the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chelyabinsk_meteor\">Chelyabinsk meteor<\/a> and the whatsit that knocked down trees near <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tunguska_event\">Tunguska<\/a> happens much more often, but isn&#8217;t nearly as disruptive.<\/p>\n<p>The 1857 &#8216;destroyer&#8217; comet in that caricature might have been <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/6P\/d%27Arrest\">6P\/d&#8217;Arrest<\/a> \u2014 or maybe not. Either way, Earth was still around in 1858, and wasn&#8217;t <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thefreedictionary.com\/fazed\">fazed<\/a> by Hally&#8217;s Comet in 1910.<\/p>\n<p>Our planet passed through the comet&#8217;s tail, that time, with the usual results:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;&#8230;The 1910 pass of Earth was especially close and, thanks to expansive newspaper coverage, eagerly anticipated by the general public. In fact, Earth&#8217;s orbit carried it through the end of the comet&#8217;s 24-million-mile-long tail for six hours on May 19, earning the story the day&#8217;s banner headline in The New York Times.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;While most reporters of the day turned to astronomers to get the facts straight, the yellow press chose to pursue the story in more fanciful ways, helping to fuel the fears of the impressionable that the end of the world was nigh. Despite some published reports leading up to the event, the comet&#8217;s tail did not contain poisonous gases, and there was never any danger of a celestial collision, either&#8230;.&#8221;<br \/>\n(&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/2009\/05\/dayintech_0519\/\">May 19, 1910: Halley&#8217;s Comet Brushes Earth With Its Tail<\/a>,&#8221; By Tony Long, Wired (May 19, 2009))<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/entertainment.howstuffworks.com\/tabloid.htm\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/tabloid-5-200-165.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>Today&#8217;s &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Yellow_journalism\">yellow press<\/a>&#8221; is the sort of &#8220;FBI CAPTURES BAT CHILD!&#8221; thing you&#8217;ll see in supermarket checkouts: and it&#8217;s as fanciful as ever. My opinion.<\/p>\n<p>An \u2014 imaginative? \u2014 approach to science shows up in serious journalism, too. Happily, I&#8217;m not a reporter. I don&#8217;t have an editor telling me which stories to cover and how to cover them, and I&#8217;ve wandered off-topic.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"decades\"><\/a>Decades before Ehrlich&#8217;s famous book, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Population_Bomb\">The Population Bomb<\/a>,&#8221; hit the shelves; <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Henry_Fairfield_Osborn,_Jr.\">Fairfield Osborn, Jr.<\/a> wrote &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Our_Plundered_Planet\">Our Plundered Planet<\/a>;&#8221; and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thomas_Robert_Malthus\">Thomas Malthus<\/a> beat them both by 150 years: <sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earth-overshoot-day-and-pollinators\/#2\">2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man.&#8221;<br \/>\n(&#8220;An Essay on the Principle of Population,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thomas_Robert_Malthus\">Thomas Malthus<\/a> (1798))<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>About <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/World_population#History\">1,000,000,000<\/a> folks were alive then, many of them none-too-well-fed. Japan was recovering from the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Great_Tenmei_famine\">Great Tenmei famine<\/a>, India&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chalisa_famine\">Chalisa famine<\/a> was over, with the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Doji_bara_famine\">Doji bara famine<\/a> on its way.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Rinderpest\">rinderpest<\/a> was killing about 90% of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Famines_in_Ethiopia\">Ethiopia&#8217;s<\/a> cattle, while locusts were eating their crops, and cholera \u2014 they were not having a good time.<\/p>\n<p>As of March 2016, I had about <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/World_population\">7,400,000,000<\/a> neighbors.<\/p>\n<p>Why didn&#8217;t we all die horribly of starvation and\/or disease around 1800, or in Ehrlich&#8217;s environmental apocalypse?<\/p>\n<p>Basically, because folks kept acting like humans. We developed new technology: the 20th century <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Green_Revolution\">Green Revolution<\/a>, for example.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earth-overshoot-day-and-pollinators\/#3\">3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>Like I keep saying, science and technology aren&#8217;t transgressions; they&#8217;re tools We&#8217;re <strong>supposed<\/strong> to use our brains, learn about the universe, and use that knowledge. (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s1c3a1.htm#154\">154<\/a>\u2013<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s1c3a1.htm#159\">159<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s2c2a5.htm#2292\">2292<\/a>\u2013<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s2c2a5.htm#2296\">2296<\/a>)<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"sane\"><\/a>Sane Environmentalism<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/earthobservatory.nasa.gov\/NaturalHazards\/view.php?id=79803\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/earth_night_rotate_lrg-detail329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>I don&#8217;t miss the &#8216;good old days:&#8217; seeing house-size gobs of suds floating down the Mississippi; and a year when my eyes stung, except on Sundays, when the city&#8217;s air cleared up.<\/p>\n<p>I was already concerned about pollution, wildlife management, and other environmental issues, by the early 1970s.<\/p>\n<p>At the time, I was glad that environmental awareness was spreading; and thought that some &#8216;environmentalists&#8217; had more enthusiasm than good sense. I&#8217;m still glad that more folks started &#8216;thinking green;&#8217; and think that <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Captain_Planet_and_the_Planeteers\">Captain Planet<\/a> helped make environmentalism look silly.<\/p>\n<p>Sadly, some folks still seem to have learned their facts about science and ecology by watching <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Indiana_Jones_and_the_Kingdom_of_the_Crystal_Skull\">Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tentacles_(film)\">Tentacles<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Swarm_(film)\">The Swarm<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The good news is that some scientists have apparently realized that an ecosystem that&#8217;s survived at least 3,700,000,000 years is hardly &#8220;fragile.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A run of some <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Timeline_of_the_evolutionary_history_of_life#Detailed_timeline\">3,700,000,000<\/a> years, give or take a few hundred million, isn&#8217;t bad for life on a planet orbiting a slightly <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sun#Solar_cycles\">variable<\/a> star: despite occasional comet and asteroid impacts, regional <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Permian%E2%80%93Triassic_extinction_event#Volcanism\">volcanic<\/a> activity, and epochs of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ice_age#Major_ice_ages\">continental glaciation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Other scientists, however, seem to be taking their cues from <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Revenge_of_the_Creature\">Revenge of the Creature<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/C.H.U.D.\">C.H.U.D.<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Environmentalism is undergoing a radical transformation. New science has shown how long-held notions about trying to &#8216;save the planet&#8217; and preserve the life we have today no longer apply.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Instead, a growing chorus of senior scientists refer to the Earth with metaphors such as &#8216;the wakened giant&#8217; and &#8216;the ornery beast&#8217;, a planet that is &#8216;fighting back&#8217; and seeking &#8216;revenge&#8217;, and a new era of &#8216;angry summers&#8217; and &#8216;death spirals&#8217;&#8230;.&#8221;<br \/>\n(<a href=\"http:\/\/theconversation.com\/forget-saving-the-earth-its-an-angry-beast-that-weve-awoken-27156\">Clive Hamilton<\/a>, The Conversation (May 27, 2014))<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I appreciate that sort of enthusiasm, and think that (some) environmental concerns are sensible. Fearing the wrath of an angry planet: not so much.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"God\"><\/a>God&#8217;s Property, Our Responsibility<\/h4>\n<p>As a Catholic, concern about the environment isn&#8217;t an option: it&#8217;s required. Seeing this universe as beautiful, good, and our responsibility, is part of my faith:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>God made the heavens and the earth and it was good (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_P3.HTM#PENT.GEN.1.1\">Genesis 1:1<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_P3.HTM#PENT.GEN.1.31\">31<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>Humans are commanded to care for God&#8217;s creation (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_P4.HTM#PENT.GEN.2.15\">Genesis 2:15<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>The land itself must be given a rest and not abused (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_P3B.HTM#PENT.LEV.25.1\">Leviticus 25:1<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_P3B.HTM#PENT.LEV.25.7\">7<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>All of heaven and earth belong to the Lord (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_P4P.HTM#PENT.DEU.10.14\">Deuteronomy 10:14<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>All the earth is the Lord&#8217;s (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_PGG.HTM#WISDB.PSA.24.1\">Psalm 24:1<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_PGG.HTM#WISDB.PSA.24.2\">2<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>Creation proclaims the glory of God (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_PSO.HTM#PROPHB.DAN.3.56\">Daniel 3:56<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_PSO.HTM#PROPHB.DAN.3.82\">82<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>God loves and cares for all of creation (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_PVF.HTM#GOSP.MAT.6.25\">Matthew 6:25<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_PVF.HTM#GOSP.MAT.6.34\">34<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>Creation reveals the nature of God (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_PYP.HTM#NTLET.ROM.1.20\">Romans 1:20<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>Creation and all created things are inherently good because they are of the Lord (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_PZF.HTM#NTLET.1COR.10.26\">1 Corinthians 10:26<\/a>)<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">Adapted from &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/beliefs-and-teachings\/what-we-believe\/catholic-social-teaching\/care-for-creation.cfm\">Care for God&#8217;s Creation<\/a>,&#8221; Our Catholic Faith in Action, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The world doesn&#8217;t belong to humanity. It&#8217;s God&#8217;s property: we&#8217;re just stewards, responsible for managing the place. (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p5.htm#339\">339<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p123a9p5.htm#952\">952<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s2c2a7.htm#2402\">2402<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s2c2a7.htm#2405\">2405<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s2c2a7.htm#2456\">2456<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>That responsibility includes using this world&#8217;s resources wisely, showing concern for our neighbors and future generations. (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s2c2a7.htm#2415\">2415<\/a>)<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h4><a name=\"global\"><\/a><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\">1. <\/span>Global Footprint Network&#8217;s Earth Overshoot Day<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jpl.nasa.gov\/news\/news.php?feature=2359\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/20150430-rosetta20091113-browse-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From ESA, via NASA, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(Earth, seen from the European Space Agency&#8217;s Rosetta spacecraft. (November 12, 2009))<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.news.com.au\/technology\/environment\/conservation\/its-official-were-wasting-our-natural-resources-faster-than-ever-before\/news-story\/45a09beaf49773c8f515a68209f509d8\">It&#8217;s official: We&#8217;re wasting our natural resources faster than ever before<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nGavin Fernando, news.com.au (August 9, 2016)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>HAVE you heard of &#8216;Earth Overshoot Day&#8217;? Spoiler alert: it was yesterday.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;No, this isn&#8217;t an event that warrants celebration. To the contrary, the closer to the beginning of the year this day occurs, the more concerned we should be.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Its timing in 2016 has environmental scientists worried about the consequences of how fast we&#8217;re burning through the planet&#8217;s natural resources.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>WHAT&#8217;S GOING ON WITH THE PLANET?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Earth Overshoot Day marks the point in the year where we run out of our &#8216;allocated&#8217; supply of natural resources.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Global Footprint Network (GFN), an organisation partnered with the World Wide Fund for Nature, produced the results.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;To calculate the date for Earth Overshoot Day, it crunched United Nations data on thousands of economic sectors such as fisheries, forestry, transport and energy production&#8230;.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Each Australian uses 9.3 hectares of Earth&#8217;s surface: according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Global_Footprint_Network\">Global Footprint Network<\/a>, or GFN. As for the GFN&#8217;s assertion being &#8220;official:&#8221; the outfit&#8217;s listed as a charitable non-profit <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Think_tank\">think tank<\/a> in the United States, Belgium and Switzerland.<\/p>\n<p>I assume that the folks who run the GFN are sincere, and really want to help:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;We are an international think tank that provides Ecological Footprint accounting tools to drive informed policy decisions in a resource-constrained world. We work with local and national governments, investors, and opinion leaders to ensure all people live well, within the means of one planet.&#8221;<br \/>\n(<a href=\"http:\/\/www.footprintnetwork.org\/en\/index.php\/GFN\/\">Global Footprint Network<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Let&#8217;s look at those numbers.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.news.com.au\/technology\/environment\/conservation\/its-official-were-wasting-our-natural-resources-faster-than-ever-before\/news-story\/45a09beaf49773c8f515a68209f509d8\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20160719ff\/20160810-1294dbbb7395d18b9171fe25df0b0fab-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>Gavin Fernando&#8217;s article included that &#8216;how many Earths&#8217; infographic, and GFN&#8217;s assertions about how big a piece of Earth&#8217;s resources folks in these countries consume each year:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>China<br \/>\n4.8 billion global hectares<\/li>\n<li>United States<br \/>\n2.6 billion global hectares<\/li>\n<li>Australia and Iran<br \/>\n210 million global hectares each<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hectare\">hectare<\/a> is 10,000 square meters, 1\/100<sup>th<\/sup> of a square kilometer. That&#8217;s roughly the size of an <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hectare#International_rugby_pitch\">international rugby pitch<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Trafalgar_Square\">Trafalgar Square<\/a>, or a square centered on the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hectare#Statue_of_Liberty\">Statue of Liberty<\/a>&#8216;s base.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;&#8230;But on a per capita basis, Australia&#8217;s contribution to the problem is much more dire.<\/p>\n<p>Australia has one of the world&#8217;s largest ecological footprints per capita, requiring 9.3 global hectares per person. The only country worse than ours is Luxembourg. China came in at 52nd&#8230;.&#8221;<br \/>\n(<a href=\"http:\/\/www.news.com.au\/technology\/environment\/conservation\/its-official-were-wasting-our-natural-resources-faster-than-ever-before\/news-story\/45a09beaf49773c8f515a68209f509d8\">Gavin Fernando<\/a>, news.com.au)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Earth\">Earth<\/a> is a pretty big place, with 510,072,000 square kilometers\/196,940,000 square miles: 29.2% land and 70.8% water.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s 51,007,200,000 hectares total: 14,894,000,000 land and 36,113,200,000 water.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m assuming that Mr. Fernando&#8217;s &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Billion\">billion<\/a>&#8221; is 1,000,000,000, not the long scale <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Long_and_short_scales\">billion<\/a>, and that&#8217;s yet another topic.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"hectares\"><\/a>Hectares, Global and Otherwise<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/World_population#Largest_populations_by_country\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20160719ff\/20160811-Countries_and_Dependencies_by_Population_in_2014-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From Ali Zifan, with data from CIA World Factbook, via Wikimedia Commons, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(World population, 2014)<\/p>\n<p>GFN says Americans use the equivalent of 2,600,000,000 global hectares each year.<\/p>\n<p>Since Earth only has 51,007,200,000 hectares total and my country&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/United_States#Demographics\">323,425,550<\/a> population is only about 4% of the world&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Demographics_of_the_world\">7,343,330,000<\/a> current residents, I figured that means we consume about 5% of the world&#8217;s resources.<\/p>\n<p>That doesn&#8217;t seem so bad, but the GFN&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Global_hectare\">global hectare<\/a> isn&#8217;t your ordinary hectare.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s &#8220;&#8230; a measurement unit for quantifying both the ecological footprint of people or activities as well as the biocapacity of the earth or its regions. &#8230; Examples of biologically productive areas include cropland, forests, and fishing grounds; they do not include deserts, glaciers, and the open ocean&#8230;.&#8221; (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Global_hectare\">Wikipedia<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>By their standards, Earth has around 11,300,000,000 billion global hectares: roughly 1.8 global hectares per person in 2004.<\/p>\n<p>Again by their standards, the 4% who live in my country use roughly 23% of our planet&#8217;s resources.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earth-overshoot-day-and-pollinators\/#2\">2<\/a><\/sup> That sounds like a problem.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"earth\"><\/a>Earth has Oceans<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ocean_fisheries\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20160719ff\/20160811-PacificAtlanticIndianOcean-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From CIA World Factbook, via Wikimedia Commons, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(Earth&#8217;s Pacific, Atlantic, an Indian Oceans)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/World_fisheries_production\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20160719ff\/20160811-Global_total_fish_harvest-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>On the other hand, I&#8217;m a tad dubious when experts ignore the 70.8% of my planet that&#8217;s under water.<\/p>\n<p>Very few humans live on the &#8220;open ocean,&#8221; but it is far from being a desert.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Food_and_Agriculture_Organization\">Food and Agriculture Organization<\/a> (FAO) says that marine fisheries caught <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/World_fisheries_production#Marine_and_inland_fisheries\">90,064,000<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tonne\">tonnes<\/a> of assorted fish, molluscs, and other critters, in 2007; compared to the 10,035,000 tonnes caught from inland fisheries.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earth-overshoot-day-and-pollinators\/#2\">2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>A growing fraction of that catch is from <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Aquaculture\">aquaculture<\/a>: &#8220;farming&#8221; fish and other critters. We&#8217;ve been doing it for millennia, and have been getting much more efficient lately.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earth-overshoot-day-and-pollinators\/#1\">1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<hr>\n<h4><a name=\"pollinator\"><\/a><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\">2. <\/span>Pollinator Peril \u2014 or \u2014 the Bats and the Bees<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-36849554\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20160719ff\/20160810-_90475528_image001-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From Brian Cutting, via BBC News, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(&#8220;Pollinators are under threat at a global scale&#8221;<br \/>\n(BBC News))<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-36849554\">Action needed to &#8216;future-proof&#8217; pollinators<\/a> &#8221;<br \/>\nHelen Briggs, BBC News (August 9, 2016)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>International scientists are calling for action to &#8216;future-proof&#8217; the prosperity of pollinating insects, birds and mammals.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>They say agricultural expansion, new pesticides and emerging viruses present the biggest risks in coming decades.<\/p>\n<p>And the bats that pollinate plants in tropical and desert climates need legal protection, they report in <a href=\"https:\/\/peerj.com\/\">PeerJ<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Some 35% of global crop production and more than 85% of wild flowering plants rely to some degree on pollination.<\/p>\n<p>The research took a horizon-scanning approach to identify future issues of concern over the next three decades&#8230;..&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I&#8217;ve heard and read that bees were going extinct for years.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve also heard and read that <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Phencyclidine\">phencyclidine<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Urban_legends_about_drugs#PCP\">PCP<\/a>) and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Formaldehyde\">formaldehyde<\/a> are the same thing, and that we should wear <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tin_foil_hat\">tin foil hats<\/a> to keep the CIA from reading our minds. Then there&#8217;s &#8220;Reefer Madness,&#8221; and I talked about that last month. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/temperance-catholic-style\/#madness\">July 10, 2016<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Where was I? Pollinators, PCP, tin foil hats. Right.<\/p>\n<p>Having noticed the four horsemen&#8217;s marked disinclination to mount up; despite decades of periodic predicted apocalypses (yes, it&#8217;s a real word), faith-based and secular \u2014 try saying <strong>that<\/strong> fast, five times \u2014 I figured the recurring &#8216;dead bees&#8217; story might or might not be real.<\/p>\n<p>But I decided to not fret about it.<\/p>\n<p>Then I learned that professional <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thefreedictionary.com\/apiarist\">apiarists<\/a>, beekeepers, were having trouble keeping their hives alive.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earth-overshoot-day-and-pollinators\/#3\">3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Photosynthesis\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20160719ff\/20160811-800px-Seawifs_global_biosphere-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>That&#8217;s a problem for apiarists, and anyone who likes honey.<\/p>\n<p>The good news is that we know a great deal more than we did a few decades ago, and may be able to do something about the situation before it becomes a huge crisis.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s Thursday evening as I write this, so I&#8217;ll just put links to a few resources at the end of this post,<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earth-overshoot-day-and-pollinators\/#4\">4<\/a><\/sup> and skip lightly over what I think are common-sense &#8216;to-do&#8217; items.<\/p>\n<p>The seven species of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Honey_bee\">honey bees<\/a> are the apiarists&#8217; traditional source of honey, but they&#8217;re by no means the only <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pollinator\">pollinators<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Since a great many folks like honey, I figure that studying honey bees with a view to making them more disease-resistant, and developing other <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Honey\">honey<\/a>-making insects into effective commercial producers makes sense.<\/p>\n<p>So, I think, does remembering that bees aren&#8217;t the only <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pollinator#Vertebrates\">pollinators<\/a> around. A remarkable number of birds and mammals carry pollen, including some <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Megabat#Behavior_and_ecology\">fruit bats<\/a>. The latter can be pests, since they eat fruit that we want: but maybe that&#8217;s worth the annoyance, if they also pollinate the trees.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve written about animals, being human, and using our brains, before:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/bulldogs-transgenics-and-a-robot\/\">Bulldogs, Transgenics, and a Robot<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(August 5, 2016)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/early-agriculture-new-tech\/\">Early Agriculture, New Tech<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(July 22, 2016)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<p><sup><a name=\"1\"><\/a>1<\/sup> From &#8220;The Elizabethan Malady: Melancholy in Elizabeth and Jacobean portraiture,&#8221; Roy Strong; via Melancholia, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Melancholia#Art_movement\">Art movement<\/a>. (Wikipedia)<\/p>\n<p><sup><a name=\"2\"><\/a>2<\/sup> St. Cuthbert, Malthusianism, and all that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Aquaculture\">Aquaculture<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Commercial_fishing\">Commercial fishing<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cuthbert\">Cuthbert<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cuthbert#Namesakes\">Namesakes<\/a><br \/>\n(The <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Eider\">Eider duck<\/a>, or &#8220;cuddy duck&#8221;)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ecology\">Ecology<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ecological_footprint\">Ecological footprint<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Environmental_science\">Environmental science<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Green_Revolution\">Green Revolution<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/History_of_ecology\">History of ecology<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Malthusianism\">Malthusianism<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Our_Plundered_Planet\">&#8220;Our Plundered Planet&#8221;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Population_Bomb\">&#8220;The Population Bomb&#8221;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thomas_Robert_Malthus\">Thomas Robert Malthus<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tonne\">Tonne<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/World_fisheries_production\">World fisheries production<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.footprintnetwork.org\/en\/index.php\/GFN\/\">Global Footprint Network<\/a><br \/>\n(<a href=\"http:\/\/www.footprintnetwork.org\/\">www.footprintnetwork.org<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"3\"><\/a>3<\/sup> Pollinators, background:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/peerj.com\/preprints\/2006\/\">A horizon scan of future threats and opportunities for pollinators and pollination<\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: small;\">Mark JF Brown, Lynn V Dicks, Robert J Paxton, Katherine C R Baldock, Andrew B Barron, Marie-Pierre Chauzat, Breno M Freitas, Dave Goulson, Sarina Jepsen, Claire Kremen, Jilian Li, Peter Neumann, David E Pattemore, Simon G Potts, Oliver Schweiger, Colleen L Seymour, Jane C Stout<\/span>; PeerJ Preprints (April 28, 2016)<\/li>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Beekeeping_in_Nepal\">Beekeeping in Nepal<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Beekeeping_in_the_United_States\">Beekeeping in the United States<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Honey_bee\">Honey bee<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pollination\">Pollination<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pollinator\">Pollinator<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pollinator#Pollinator_population_declines_and_conservation\">Pollinator population declines and conservation<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"4\"><\/a>4<\/sup> Earth Overshoot Day and related topics:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Food_and_Agriculture_Organization\">Food and Agriculture Organization<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Global_Footprint_Network\">Global Footprint Network<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Global_hectare\">Global hectare<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hectare\">Hectare<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ocean_fisheries\">Ocean fisheries<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tonne\">Tonne<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/World_fisheries_production\">World fisheries production<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.footprintnetwork.org\/en\/index.php\/GFN\/\">Global Footprint Network<\/a><br \/>\n(<a href=\"http:\/\/www.footprintnetwork.org\/\">www.footprintnetwork.org<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Australia&#8217;s Earth Overshoot Day happened earlier this week. It used to be called Ecological Debt Day, involves a lot of math, and assumes that Earth&#8217;s glaciers, deserts, and oceans, are pretty much all the same thing. The basic idea, that &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earth-overshoot-day-and-pollinators\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[20,49,50,83,22,51],"class_list":["post-173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-news","tag-animals","tag-ecology","tag-environmental-issues","tag-hope","tag-science","tag-stewardship"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Dwtw-2N","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4324,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173\/revisions\/4324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}