On the retelling of the story of civilisation (1)
“Rethinking civilisation” recognises that the story of the superiority and inevitability of hierarchical social organisation is a fiction, but without daring to admit that this must be because the science on the subject has been compromised by its political and economic allegiances; a history written by the winners (1 July, p 32).
Perhaps admitting this would seem too activist, too Marxist or just too critical of science. As anarchists and anti-capitalists have told us, “another future is possible”.
On the retelling of the story of civilisation (2)
When it comes to discussions about the invention of farming, Australia needs a mention. Here, Indigenous people domesticated the entire landscape. Pleistocene Aboriginal people built vast prey farms (using fire to do so) with herds of grazing kangaroos and constructed massive eel farms.
On the retelling of the story of civilisation (3)
Could civilisation have been kick-started by an infectious agent? Toxoplasma, carried by cats, causes mice to lose their fear of felines. Some studies indicate this parasite may be connected to behavioural effects in humans. Is it possible that a microbe emerged 10,000 years ago that changed our behaviour in a way that created civilisation?
Excited by new views on the origins of life
Every once in a while, an article appears that changes my way of thinking about things. This was the case with Thomas Lewton’s interview of Sara Imari Walker. I have puzzled over the origins of life on many occasions and found the prevailing orthodoxies unsatisfactory. Walker’s Assembly Theory shone a completely new light on the topic. I suggest that you ask her for a timeline of her proposed research for the next four years and that Lewton interviews her at six-monthly intervals so that readers can keep abreast of progress on this (24 June, p 32).
One easy climate win: scrap cryptocurrencies
Thank you for your timely, urgent and compelling leader on net zero, in which you conclude that we must cut emissions now and fast to avoid climate tragedy. Where better to start than with the cessation of the generation of cryptocurrency? The immediate end of mining cryptocurrency that relies on “proof of work”, and that uses a staggering amount of energy, equivalent to Sweden’s annual energy budget, would seem to be a good place to begin (Leader, 24 June). How did we ever let this go so far?
Another easy climate win: scrap all meat production (1)
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Another easy climate win: scrap all meat production (2)
When it comes to the climate challenge posed by land use for farming, note that of all farmland is devoted to pasture or growing crops to feed animals, plus of the farming carbon footprint and three-quarters of food waste is due to meat products. A switch to plant-based diets , be the third-largest contributor to keeping warming to 1.5掳C above preindustrial levels; up alongside utility-scale solar.
A complete switch to a vegan diet would reduce the land needed for agriculture by 75 per cent. The real problem isn’t “how to meet rising human demand for food”, but meeting unsustainable demand for unhealthy quantities of meat.
Jolly outing in search of a gravity anomaly
You report on Earth’s lowest relative gravity spot, just south of India. This brought to mind an account of a UK equivalent: the anomaly in Surrey. This was , with interest in the press and some reports implying a complete absence of gravity (1 July, p 13).
Apparently, a masonic lodge out for a day found themselves in nearby Caterham. After lunch, and a few drinks, one suggested they investigate the anomaly. This was taken up by the party, who, grabbing a number of plates, went to the nearest railway bridge to drop them to see if they hovered or floated slowly down. Needless to say, the result was a pile of broken crockery.
No one should be allowed to trade in dead butterflies
Thanks to Jason Arunn Murugesu for alerting us to the sale of butterflies on eBay. Given the vast decline of these and other insects due to climate change, pesticides, agribusinesses and other things, no one should be able to make money out of killing and selling butterflies. It doesn’t matter if only 2 per cent of these butterflies are endangered; in the UK, for example, 80 per cent of butterflies have been in decline since the 1970s, according to Butterfly Conservation’s report of 2022, a situation that is getting worse (1 July, p 14).
Politicians need to get wise much sooner
It is with dismay that I read Sadiq Khan’s commentary, in which he says that he had no idea of the scale of air pollution’s impact on health until he was diagnosed with asthma. When we vote for our representatives, we expect them to know about these issues and do something about them. They shouldn’t have to be personally affected before they act (17 June, p 21).
Weightlessness problem could be easily solved
I don’t understand why there is so much worry about weightlessness during space travel. Getting to the moon takes just a few days, and for longer trips there is a solution. capsules together with a tether 2 kilometres long and set the whole turning, like a gaucho’s bolas, at a rate of one revolution per minute. This way, each capsule experiences 1 g of artificial gravity (8 July, p 21).
Space telescope's massive price tag is offensive
I have never been so incensed or upset than by your editorial hailing the $10-billion James Webb Space Telescope’s findings of distant galaxies. How can the cost be justified when, under our feet, Earth’s ecosystems are being destroyed by human actions (Leader, 17 June).