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Energy and Evolution

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Energy and Evolution

Introduction

The aim of this wiki edit is to aid in answering the question;

"Is it possible for humanity to define, arrive at and sustain an ecological footprint that is within the Earth's carrying capacity and simultaneously improve people's quality of life in a way which is fair?"

To help answer this I am incorporating recent advancements in neuro-scientific and human evolutionary studies with the systemic imperatives of energy acquisition.

 

Evolutionary Psychology

Evolutionary Psychology is the study of human nature through the lens of our genetic heritage. Because it has in no small part developed from the field of Ethology, the study of animal behaviour, it has managed to avoid many of the political pitfalls found in conventional psychology and the social sciences in general (Buss, 2005). In the same way our physiology was shaped by life on the Savannah's of the Pleistocene, so to was our psychology. In fact, when it comes to the fundamentals, the acquisition of energy resources, evolution has been shaping our psychology because from localized famines to global extinction events, resource scarcity has occurred continuously since life first began. 

The Evolved Brain

The brain is not a general purpose problem solving machine but has evolved to be domain specific (Buss, 2005) or modular in form and function. This modularity is so specific that when a study of people were asked to think about killing an animal and later asked on killing a human, two different areas of the brain showed activity on an fMRI scanner (Konnor, 2003). This functional specialization has evolved because the brain is an adaptation executor reacting to environmental cues (Buss, 2005). Moreover, the brain is for all intents and purposes a meat computer (Hanson 2010).

The Importance of Energy

To remain dynamic all systems, which includes all living organisms and the societies they create, must have an energy throughput (Daly, 2004). Moreover, they attempt to maximize this throughput. Firstly, by maximizing energy input and secondly by increasing the efficiency of their internal processing. This is known as the Maximum Power Principle (Odum, 2007). This can be seen throughout all human societies, past and present, who attempt to maximize growth by exploiting natural capital and increase efficient throughput of that capital by the division of labour and formation of social hierarchies.

Evolved Adaptation-Cooperation

Humans are social animals with an innate sense of cooperation and altruistic tendencies which go beyond that of just helping related kin. This is because people who cooperated survived and left more descendants than those who did not (Hanson, 2011). We can cooperate on one level while competing on another. For example we cooperate with each other in the formation of our societies while at the same time compete for status because of the greater access to resources it provides us. One example of how humans work together is warfare, an intensely cooperative venture where one group coordinates their aggressive actions against another.

Evolved Adaptation-Warfare

Aggression is a means of co-opting the resources of others and can occur at the individual or group level (Buss, 2009). Warfare is exclusively a male affair and observed across cultures and throughout recorded history (Buss, 2009). That it is so prevalent suggests it is a successful evolutionary adaptation for the acquisition of resources and a strategy that will most likely raise its ugly head when resource scarcity environmental cues are perceived, then acted upon by the subconscious mind.

Evolved Adaptation- Dispersal

Another way in which a group can deal with scarce resources is dispersal, an evolved strategy that has also been observed in other social primates. A divide is created within the group along cultural, religious, ethnic lines etc. The dominant group then forces the rest to leave the immediate environment freeing up more local resources for themselves now there are less mouths to feed. The refugees are invariably forced into a worse environment which is often dangerous for their survival. For example, the Polynesian tradition of voyages of discovery where islands at carrying capacity forced groups of people to take up journeys by boat to find new land.

 Conclusion

The evolutionary influence on our psychology in relation to acquiring energy is very ancient. Because resource scarcity events are relatively common over time, this influence is reinforced on a regular basis. Human reaction to the perception of resource scarcity events such as the peaking in production of fossil fuels is highly likely to be subconscious/genetic rather than conscious/learned in response. Moreover, These innate responses are unlikely to be considered fair and in no way incorporate an abstract notion such as human rights, which is unique to our current society.

References

Buss D.M. (2005) The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, New Jersey, John Wiley & Sons

Buss D.M. (2009) Evolutionary Psychology, The New Science of the Mind, USA, Pearson Education, Inc

Daly H.E. (2004) Ecological Economics, Principles and Applications, USA, Island Press

Hanson J (2010)'The Brain is a Meat Computer'[online] http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/America2Point0/ message to America 2.0 forum

Hanson J (2011) From Capitalism to Democracy, [online] http://jayhanson.us/index.htm (Accessed 30, May 2011)

Konnor M (2003) The Tangled Wing, Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit, USA, Henry Holt & Company 

Odum H.T. (2007) Environment, Power and Society, New York, Columbia University

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Quote of the Day

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"Energy has always been the basis of cultural complexity and it always will be … the past clarifies potential paths to the future. One often-discussed path is cultural and economic simplicity and lower energy costs. This could come about through the “crash” that many fear — a genuine collapse over a period of one or two generations, with much violence, starvation, and loss of population. The alternative is the “soft landing” that many people hope for — a voluntary change to solar energy and green fuels, energy-conserving technologies, and less overall consumption. This is a utopian alternative that, as suggested above, will come about only if severe, prolonged hardship in industrial nations makes it attractive, and if economic growth and consumerism can be removed from the realm of ideology."

 
Joseph A. Tainter

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Money Energy Flows

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Edited by Neal Grout, Tuesday, 5 Apr 2011, 17:27

“Minerals are inexhaustible and will never be depleted. A stream of investment creates additions to proved reserves, a very large in-ground inventory, constantly renewed as it is extracted… How much was in the ground at the start and how much will be left at the end are unknown and irrelevant… There are plenty of fossil fuels and no limit to potential electrical capacity. It is all a matter of money.” 

 M. A. Adelman, 1993

“…the world can, in effect, get along without natural resources… at some finite cost, production can be freed of dependence on exhaustible resources altogether.”

 — Nobel winner Robert Solow, 1974

 

 The economic unit of measure is “price” — which is a “transitory effect” — not a “cause.” For example, a dollar’s worth of oil today will not be a dollar’s worth of oil tomorrow

- Jay Hanson

 

 

The flow of energy through the economy is not dependent on the flow of money; in fact the exact opposite. Money (an abstract concept) is a reverse flow on energy throughput in an economy and dependent on that energy.

Its therefore not possible to invest our way out of a net energy crisis.

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Quote of the Day

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"What we urgently need now is fuel, heavy and light oil, water and food. More than anything else, we need fuel because we can't do anything without it. We can't stay warm or work the water pumps," 

 Masao Hara, the mayor of Koriyama city

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World energy crunch as nuclear and oil both go wrong

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Edited by Neal Grout, Saturday, 19 Mar 2011, 10:14

"Dr Euan Mearns at the Oil Drum said Fukushima has shattered democracies' faith in the safety of nuclear power. If Japanese engineers had prevailed despite the worst that nature could muster, it would have vindicated the industry. "Alas, this is not the case. The future of the human global energy system has just changed course with potentially far reaching consequences for civilisation," he said."

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/globalbusiness/8386829/World-energy-crunch-as-nuclear-and-oil-both-go-wrong.html 

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When will Oil Production Peak?

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"Just because output was lower in 2009 than 2008 does not necessarily mean the fall was geologically imposed. We think oil production was lower in 2009 than 2008 because of lower demand caused by the recession, itself caused in part by the spike in the oil price to $147/barrel. That in turn appears to have been the result of an effective plateau from around 2005 to 2008. What's more, output has risen strongly in 2010, rising by 2.8 million b/d in 2010 over 2009, and is forecast to rise by a further 1.5 million b/d this year (IEA - see http://omrpublic.iea.org/). In January this year, IEA figures, which are based on an all-liquids definition similar to the BP Stats, showed production at 88.5 mb/d, against 87.8 mb/d in July 2008. So already we are 700,000 b/d above the previous peak. Chris Skrebowski, ODAC trustee and independent forecaster, suggests the crunch will come in 2012/2013 at 92-94 mb/d. More generally we think that forecasting the precise date is now less important than preparing for the event. Whenever it comes, peak oil is far too close for comfort."

The ODAC team

http://www.odac-info.org/newsletter/2011/02/18 

 

This is probably the most accurate analysis of the situation I have come across.

Neal

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A Comparison of Yeast Cultures and Human Globalized Society from an Ecological Perspective

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Edited by Neal Grout, Thursday, 18 Mar 2010, 18:36

A Comparison of Yeast Cultures and Human Globalized Society from an Ecological Perspective

 

“Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?” Bob Shaw

 

Introduction

On an individual basis your average man can out smart, and out run, a typical yeast cell. But what about on a communal level? What are the similarities and differences between our modern human society and yeast colonies in regards to environment, growth and sustainability?

Ecological Definitions

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From an ecological perspective a species is considered to be in overshoot of its environment when the population exceeds the carrying capacity of said environment. Carrying capacity is the maximum number of individuals of a given species that an environment can support. To exceed the carrying capacity a surplus energy resource is needed to do so. A drawdown of the surplus resource then takes place while the population of organisms grows.  At the same time degradation of environment occurs as waste products build up. The resource is, at an exponential rate, eventually used up by the growing numbers of the organism and the environment is degraded from the effects of pollution. The species, no longer able to support its numbers because there is insufficient energy or because the environmental degradation can no longer support them, experiences a crash in numbers. The die off takes the population down lower than the original starting number of organisms because the environment has been degraded and the carrying capacity therefore reduced. (The Language of Ecology)

Mead

Mead was a tradition drink made in many parts of the world especially where a Northerly climate did not allow good grape production. Although not often made commercially due to ingredient costs, mead making is still popular for small time enthusiasts (myself included) because of its ease of production and usually gives a good quality end result.

The main ingredients to make mead are honey, water and yeast. At a basic level the fermentation process begins by creating the must. This is the water/honey solution, the energy source needed, that the yeast will ferment in, the ration being 4 or 5 to 1 respectively. The must is stored in a sanitized container called a carboy. It is essential the carboy is clean so the yeast can ferment without having to compete with other micro organisms. The must is almost always acidified because a slightly acidic environment is conductive for yeast growth but not so for other micro organisms such as bacteria. It’s important that the must is oxygenated in the beginning of fermentation because the yeast will for the first few days grow aerobically before later convert to anaerobic production.

The yeast is pitched into the carboy and begins to multiply. Its population grows exponentially, doubling in size every 90 minutes (Pines, 2001), making a drawdown on the sugars in the honey to feed and reproduce whilst at the same time producing the waste products, Carbon Dioxide and Alcohol.  C02 is released from the carboy through an airlock system. This is necessary as any build up of gas within the carboy can cause it to eventually explode especially when fermentation is vigorous. The alcohol level builds over time within the carboy. This is the byproduct looked for to produce an alcoholic beverage but it is at the same time detrimental to the yeast producing it. The yeast degrade their own environment with the pollution they themselves make.

 

 

A Tale of Two Yeast Colonies

Depending on whether a sweet or dry mead is wanted, two different species of yeast are used. For  sweet mead, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and for dry Saccharomyces bayanus respectively.

S. cerevisiae; Leaves 2-3% residual sugar in most meads. Rich, fruity profile complements fruit mead fermentation.


Flocculation: Medium
Temperature Range: 65-75°F, 18-24°C
Alcohol Tolerance: 11% ABV

S. bayanus; Low foaming with little or no sulfur production.


Flocculation: Low-medium
Temperature Range: 55-75°F, 13-24°C
Alcohol Tolerance: 18% ABV

We can see above that S. cerevisiae does not have the same level of alcohol tolerance as S. bayanus. Unable to tolerate the alcohol it has produced S. cerevisiae experiences a die-off because of it’s over polluted environment. This leaves residual sugars in the final product, therefore creating a sweet mead.

On the other hand S. bayanus can tolerate the increasing alcohol levels but is then able to make a complete drawdown on the sugars in the must and therefore also experiences a die-off. With no residual sweetness, dry flavored mead is created. (Wyeast Laboratories, Inc)

We can see above then that there are two distinct possibilities for a yeast population die off, degradation of environment and resource depletion, each equally as devastating to the yeast population as the other.

 

Our Global Society in Comparison

Human population has been growing exponentially, doubling approximately every 40 years, and currently stands at 6.793 billion people. The growth rate of 1.19% increases the world population by 77 million per year. (International Database Information Gateway, 2009)

What evidence do we have to show that humanity is in overshoot of its environment, the Earth?

 

Environmental Degradation

Global Warming: Humanity adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere through the use of fossil fuels such as petroleum, natural gas and coal, which increases in concentration over time as is evident from the Keeling curve. Carbon dioxide is by far the largest greenhouse gas emitted by human activity (along with methane and nitrous oxide) and is the prime agent affecting global warming and climate change. (Weart, 2007)

Climate Change: The latest core sample evidence suggests climate change can happen drastically when tipping points occur, altering weather patterns and atmospheric temperature within months. (Leake, 2009)

Water pollution:  Excess fertilizer run off from modern intensive agriculture in the form of excess nitrogen fertilizer creates dead zones in coastal regions. Fresh Water Rivers become polluted due to industrial processes making the water unfit for human consumption and killing native wildlife. (Dead Zone (Ecology))

Soil Erosion: Intensive modern agriculture strips the soil of its nutrients which then have to be replenished artificially using nitrogen made from natural gas and mined potash and potassium. Soil also suffers from erosion especially when tilled and during deforestation. Urbanization reduces land available for agriculture. (Draggan, Soil Erosion, 2008)

Desertification:  Spreading desert reduces the available land usable for agriculture and reduces biodiversity. This then leads to human populations migrating (Draggan, Desertification, 2008)

Sea Ice loss:  An indirect consequence of climate change. The melting of Arctic sea ice reduces the albedo effect and increases global warming creating a feedback loop. Current models predict Summer Arctic sea ice will completely disappear within the next decade. (NSIDC)

Glacial Melt:   Millions of people, especially in Asia and South America, rely on glacial melt water for drinking and irrigation of crops. (Glacier retreat and disappearance)

Chemical Toxicity:  Poisoning (McGinley, 2009)and feminization (Lean, 2008)can affect people and wildlife on many levels from dumped industrial waste materials to unsafe consumer goods. Bioaccumulation means species higher in the food chain (humans) suffer most from persistent organic  pollutants.

Biodiversity Loss: loss of wildlife is currently 50 to 500 times above background rate according to IUCN figures (International Union for the Conservation of Nature). In an effort to increase crop yields many species previously used in agricultural production have become extinct.

 

 

Resource Depletion

Deforestation: Wood is used as a fuel and building material. Forests are cleared for agricultural production. When large areas of forest are cleared this can also alter the local climate by increasing temperature and reducing rainfall.  Deforestation has been implicated in the fall of previous civilizations including the Maya (Fall of the Maya), Nazca (Coghlan, 2009)and Easter Islanders (Diamond, 1995).

Fossil Fuel Use: Industrialization has only been possible since the introduction of high energy sources such as fossil fuels. Of the three, crude oil, natural gas and coal, crude oil production is due to peak within the next decade. Petroleum fuels 95% of world transport infrastructure (Anderson, 2009).

Metal and Mineral Depletion: many of these are now at the point where extraction takes place from deep mines and/or from poor quality ores which require large amounts of energy. (Cohen, 2007)

Aquifer Depletion: Aquifers worldwide are being depleted much faster than they naturally replenish making it ever more difficult to irrigate crops. China, India, and the United States along with a number of other countries where water tables are falling, are home to more than half the world’s population. There are two types of aquifers: replenishable and nonreplenishable (fossil) aquifers. Most of the aquifers in India and the shallow aquifer under the North China Plain are replenishable. When these are depleted, the maximum rate of pumping is automatically reduced to the rate of recharge. (Brown, 2007)

Fisheries Collapse:  fisheries world wide are collapsing from intensive overfishing. Although overfishing has been going on since industrialization began (whale and Oyster populations collapsed over 100 years ago) it has only been since the 1950s when industrial scale fishing started that the most serious problems have be seen. The depletion of top predator species such as tuna, swordfish, marlin, cod, halibut, skate, and flounder can cause a shift in entire ocean ecosystems (Greenpeace International).

 

 

The Missing Link

Is it possible to correlate the actions of two very different life forms under such conditions even if they do share a large amount of the same genes? Can we find an example of a another life form, more closely related to Homo sapiens , a mammal, that displays the same characteristic boom and bust life cycle of the yeast in a carboy?

6be3ab73d132965a154265e83e101b08.gif

 

In 1944 a herd of 29 reindeer were introduced to St Mathews Island which is located in the Bering Sea Wildlife Refuge. With no predators to keep the population under control and an ample supply of vegetation (lichen, willow, and sedges) as a food energy source, the herd increased from 29 animals to 6000 in the summer of 1963 and underwent a crash die-off the following winter to less than 50 animals in 1957. (Klein)

Other organisms including bacteria, and higher life forms such as mice and rats, all go through a boom and bust cycle of population as long as there is an ample energy source to make a drawdown on.

 

Conclusion

Humanity is showing clear signs of population overshoot. In the same way yeast degrades its environment (the carboy) with carbon dioxide and alcohol, we also degrade ours (the Earth) also with carbon dioxide and toxins hazardous to life. In the same way yeast makes a drawdown in the sugars contained within the must, humanity makes a drawdown on a variety of resources to support its ever growing population and consumption.

Either environmental degradation or resource depletion can on their own cause a crash in population and many, if not all, life forms are susceptible to these problems under the correct conditions. Although there is a clear understanding that climate change (environmental degradation) is a possible serious problem, peak oil (resource depletion) is being mostly ignored by our society.

 

References

 

(n.d.). Retrieved November 12th, 2009, from Greenpeace International: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/oceans/overfishing

Anderson, B. (2009, June 16th). Peak Oil Primer. Retrieved November 8th, 2009, from Energy Bulletin: http://www.energybulletin.net/primer.php

Brown, L. (2007, Febuary 12th). Aquifer depletion. Retrieved November 15th, 2009, from Encyclopedia of Earth: http://www.eoearth.org/article/Aquifer_depletion

Coghlan, A. (2009, November ). Clearing Oasis Trees Felled Ancient Peru Civilization. Retrieved November 20th, 2009, from New Scientist: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18091-clearing-oasis-trees-felled-ancient-peru-civilisation.html

Cohen, D. (2007, May). Earths Natural Wealth. Retrieved November 11th, 2009, from New Scientist: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19426051.200-earths-natural-wealth-an-audit.html

Dead Zone (Ecology). (n.d.). Retrieved November 21st, 2009, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_zone_(ecology)

Diamond, J. (1995, August). Easter Islands End. Retrieved November 19th , 2009, from http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/24/042.html

Draggan, S. (2008, September). Desertification. Retrieved November 20th, 2009, from Encyclopedia of earth: http://www.eoearth.org/article/Desertification

Draggan, S. (2008, March). Soil Erosion. Retrieved November 22nd, 2009, from Encyclopedia of Earth: http://www.eoearth.org/article/Soil_erosion_and_deposition

Fall of the Maya. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20th, 2009, from pyysorg.org: http://www.physorg.com/news174152911.html

Glacier retreat and disappearance. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22nd, 2009, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_global_warming#Glacier_retreat_and_disappearance

International Database Information Gateway. (2009, September 10th). Retrieved November 20th, 2009, from US Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/worldpopinfo.php

International Union for the Conservation of Nature. (n.d.). Retrieved November 21st, 2009, from http://www.iucn.org/

Klein, D. R. (n.d.). The Introduction, Increase, and Crash of Reindeer on St. Matthew Island. Retrieved November 9th, 2009, from http://www.greatchange.org/footnotes-overshoot-st_matthew_island.html

Leake, J. (2009, November). Climate change catastrophe took just months. Retrieved November 20th, 2009, from Times Online: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/earth-environment/article6917215.ece

Lean, G. (2008, December). Men really are the Weaker Sex. Retrieved November 10th , 2009, from The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/its-official-men-really-are-the-weaker-sex-1055688.html

McGinley, M. (2009, October). Retrieved November 20th, 2009, from Encyclopedia of Earth: http://www.eoearth.org/article/Human_impacts_on_the_biodiversity_of_the_Arctic

NSIDC. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22nd, 2009, from NSIDC: http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/faq.html

Pines, M. (2001). The Genes We Share. Retrieved November 14th, 2009, from Howard Hughes Medical Institute: http://www.hhmi.org/genesweshare/

The Language of Ecology. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22nd, 2009, from Dieoff.org: http://dieoff.org/page14.htm

Weart, S. (2007, June). The Discovery of Global Warming. Retrieved November 20th, 2009, from http://www.aip.org/history/climate/summary.htm

Wyeast Laboratories, Inc. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20th, 2009, from http://www.wyeastlab.com/

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