Ecology Interventions

Ecology Interventions is a place where Tandena explores the inner workings of ecology and environmentalism.

I’m giving an ecologist’s unvarnished candor on new technological developments, old philosophical problems, and my own struggles to figure out the best future for the world. The writing will be in-depth but my positions are in-development. Here I give my original thoughts on topics like genetically modified wildlife, calculating ecosystem behavior, AI species identification, and a terrapunk vision of the future. If you love our planet, but climate doom and calls for degrowth seem misled, I want to invite you to environmentalism with hope, positive goals, and big ideas that are both practical and possible.

Introduction

What is the Goal of Conservation?
Overview of competing motivations within the umbrella of Ecology.
Environmentalism and Me
How I have such unorthodox positions.

Recent

Causes of Mass Extinction

A summary of all the earth's mass extinctions and their causes.

Indigenous Relationships with Nature

Native people's concept of nature is fundamentally different than Westerner's

Escaping the Growth Trap

Suggested solutions to the current global predicament by Robert Costanza.

The Synthetic Age

Godhood isn't a choice.

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Re-thinking Foundations

Novel Ecologies
What does nature mean in modern times.
Future Ecological Civilization
What's a realistic Ecotopia?
Is Biodiversity Valuable?
Arguments that biodiversity is not what we really want.

Opportune Targets

Wild GMOs are Coming
We should have a plan for how we grapple with them.
So far my biggest takeaways are:
1) Environmentalists are too shy of taking positive actions.
2) Actions must be based on outcomes, not on responsibility.

Conserving Biodiversity

Conservation Prioritization
My thesis on how to approach effective biodiversity conservation.
How NOT to Conserve Biodiversity
Every reason to fight extinction elsewhere.
Ecodata Superbloom
Exciting new prospects for eco-data.

Optimizing for the Long-term

The Cost of Extinction
A long-termist perspective on extinction.
A Definition of Healthy Ecosystems
A definition not based on an arbitrary reference point in time.
Ecosystem Collapses
Exploring examples of ecosystem collapse.
Bio-Geo-Engineering
A series of examples of intentional ecosystem engineering.