Overshoot, our Unfolding Predicament, in a Time of Non-Linearity.

“The Greatest Shortcoming of the Human Race is our Inability to Truly Understand the Exponential Function” The late great Albert Bartlett

The video above is a brief overview of Al’s hypothesis, a longer, more detailed version is embedded following: Exponential Growth Arithmetic, Population and Energy, Dr. Albert A. Bartlett

The late, great Michael Dowd and I believe that William Catton’s masterpiece Overshoot is one of the most important books ever written.
Mike recorded an audio overview of Catton’s book: William R. Catton, Jr Overshoot – 1

Let’s talk ‘Nonlinearity’.
Greenland ice melt has surged sixfold and scientists are alarmed

Date: May 4, 2026, Source: University of Barcelona Summary: “Greenland’s ice sheet is now melting in ways never seen before, with extreme events becoming more frequent, widespread, and intense. Since 1990, meltwater production has skyrocketed, and most record-breaking events have occurred in recent years. Scientists say warming temperatures are supercharging these episodes beyond natural climate patterns.”
Greenland ice melt has surged sixfold and scientists are alarmed

“Losing the remaining Arctic sea ice and its ability to reflect incoming solar energy back to space would be equivalent to adding one trillion tons of CO2 to the atmosphere, on top of the 2.4 trillion tons emitted since the Industrial Age, according to current and former researchers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego.”
“At current rates, this roughly equates to 25 years of global CO2 emissions.”
Cascading Consequences of the Loss of Arctic Sea Ice

Dive into Erik Michaels blog titled: What Can Be Done About Overshoot?

Via Environmental Coffeehouse
“William Catton was prescient enough to see what was coming from a long way off, and responsible enough to spend his life warning us. Peace on his soul, and heaven help our own.” ~ Alan Weisman

“William Catton was a pioneering world leader in dealing with environmental issues. He was one of the few sociologists who recognized the existential nature of the crisis now facing civilization. ” Paul Erlich

Abstract

“Many subsystems of the Earth system, which are currently closely following a stable state, are at risk of undergoing abrupt transitions to a drastically different, and often less desired, state due to anthropogenic climate change. These so-called tipping events often present severe consequences for ecosystems and human livelihood that are difficult to reverse. Forcing a nonlinear system beyond a critical threshold that signifies the onset of self-amplifying feedbacks constitutes a possible mechanism for tipping”.
Uncertainty quantification for overshoots of tipping thresholds

“Antarctica is being ravaged by a triple-whammy of climate chaos that has melted sea ice to record lows, a new study has revealed. For decades, the frozen wilderness at the bottom of the world defied global warming trends, with ice levels actually growing—until 2015 when it suddenly reversed.”
A brand-new paper just published: Antarctica sea ice collapse driven by triple whammy of climate chaos, scientists find.




Readers can support this blog by Buying me a coffee to be honest, it will be a beer not really coffee or via Paypal :
I’m also on BlueskyFacadebook and Twitter:

Asalamu Alaikum, Amandla Ngawhetu, Tiocfaidh ár lá.

Unknown's avatar

I'm an anti-imperialist, environmental activist and blue ocean sailor, who is passionate about the earth and all it's inhabitants without favour. Brace for imminent impact as we bare witness to the non-linear unraveling of the biosphere and habitability disappearing for most if not all complex life on the only habitable planet we know of. To quote President Niinistö in North Russia: ‘If We Lose the Arctic, We Lose the World’. Folks we have lost the Arctic.

Tagged with: ,
Posted in Abrupt Climate Change, Antarctica, Arctic, Collapse
One comment on “Overshoot, our Unfolding Predicament, in a Time of Non-Linearity.
  1. Kevin Hester's avatar Kevin Hester says:

    At the six-minute mark in this discussion Beril asks Paul Ehrlich are we in overshoot and he replies, “Of course”.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQtIcT3WxPo&t=687s

    Like

Leave a Reply

Kevin Hester

Kevin Hester is currently living on Rakino Island, a small island in the Hauraki Gulf near Auckland, New Zealand, monitoring the unravelling of the biosphere and volunteering at the Rakino Island Nursery is currently developing a proposal to create a marine reserve near by. The Island has no grid tied electricity or reticulated water.  I catch my own water from the roof and generate my electricity from the ample solar radiation on the island.

My Submission to the Ministry of the Environment
Kevin Hester, Dropping Anchor in an Exponential World
Follow Kevin Hester on WordPress.com
Blog Stats
  • 536,918 hits
Categories
Tags
2C 4C 5C 6th Great extinction 16 Ocean Passages Abrupt Climate Change Acidification of Oceans ai Alaska North Slope Alberta AMEG Anecdotes of Neil Finn and My Life "Colliding" Anthropogenic Climate Disruption-ACD Anthropogenic Emissions Anti-Nuclear apartheid Appearances Arctic Arctic Methane Emergency Group Arctic News Blog Arctic Sea Ice Artificial Intelligence Assassination Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation-AMOC Atmospheric CO2 Australian Greens Baseline Temperature Dishonesty Ben Norton Beril Sirmacek Bill McKibben Bleaching Event BRIC's Brush Fire Canada Capitalism Kills Captain Paul Watson Catastrophe Cenozoic Era China Chris Hani Chris Mooney Class war climate climate-change Climate-Exodus Climate Change Research Centre Climate Wars CO2 Warming Collapse communism Contagion Coral Reefs Coral Sea Cory Morningstar CounterPunch Cruise Industry Dahr Jamail David Korowicz Deep Green Resistance Dimitri Lascaris Donald Trump Doreen Fräßdorf Dr. Guy McPherson Dr. James E Hansen Dr. Mike Joy Dr. Vincent Gauci Dr Andrew Glikson Draught Dr Natalia Shakova Dying Oceans East Timor Ecocide Ecosystem collapse El Nino Endangered Dolphins energy environment Eric Draitser Erik Michaels Extinction Radio Feedback loops First Blue-Ocean Event in Arctic Food Crisis Forestry Fort McMurray Fukushima Daiichi Gaia gaza Gene Gibson Geneva Conventions genocide George Perkins Marsh global-warming Going Dark Grace Gifford Great Barrier Reef Greenland Green Movement Guests Gulf Steam Gulf Stream System Habitat Habitat Wars Harold H. Hensel health Heatwave Mass Casualties history Imperialism India Interviews Invitations IPCC IRA Ireland Ireland unfree Irish Freedom Movement Isis israel Jack Williams Jason Box Jennifer Hynes Joanna Macy John Kiriakou John McMurtry John Pilger John Schramski Joseph Mary Plunkett Karl Marx Katharine Hayhoe Katie Goodman Kevin's New Webpage Kevin Lister Kevin Trenberth Kris Van Steenbergen Larissa Waters Leon Simons Limits to Growth Livestream Mairead Farrell Malcolm Light Mangroves Mark Eakin Marshall Brain marxism Mass Marine Death Max Wilbert Mean Air Tempature Methane Michael C. Ruppert Michael Dowd Michael E Mann microplastics Mid-East Middle East Mike Sliwa Monarch Butterflies Most Abnormally Warm Month Recorded. Nafeez Ahmed Naomi Klein Nature Bats Last Nelson Mandela New Webpage New Zealand North Africa November Speaking Tour with Guy McPherson Novosibirsk Reservoir Nuclear Nuclear War Overdevelopment-Overpopulation-Overshoot P.M. Kohn Key-Eco Terrorist Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum--PETM palestine Patsy O'Hara Paul Beckwith Paul Craig Roberts Paul Ehrlich Pauline Panagiotou Schneider Pauline Schneider Paul Street Peak Oil Pepe Escobar Perfect Storm permafrost Peter Sinclair Phytoplankton plastic Plastic pollution PM John Key Podcast Politics Pollution PRN Professor Paul Beckwith Professor Peter Wadhams Prof Guy McPhersons Abrupt Climate Change Tour NZ 2016 Psychopathic Records of Air Tempatures Relief Analysis Richar Vivers RobertScribbler Robin Westenra Runaway Abrupt Climate Change Runaway Global Warming Russia Sam Carana science SeeMoreRocks Blog Seymour Hersch Siberia-Yamal-Taimyr Sinn Fein South African Communist Party South Florida Corals South Pacific Steve Bull Storms of Our Grandchildren-James E Hansen Subsea Methane Super Exponential Supply Chain Breakdown Sustainability Syria Syrian Conflict technology Temperature Anomalies TEPCO The Collapse of Industrial Civilisation The Coming War on China The Pain You Feel The Rape Of Nanking Thom Hartmann Tipping Points Titanic Tomas Reis Tour NZ 2016 Transport Truthout Ugo Bardi ukraine Umkhonto we Sizwe United Nations Updates US Presidential Elections war War Crimes Warmest February on Record Warmest Russian Winter Warnings Water Vapor Weather Channel wet-bulb temperature William Kallfelz World War World War Three
Social