I could lead this discussion.

Chris OConnor wrote: ↑Wed Apr 26, 2023 9:42 pm Should we go with The Hidden Life of Trees guys?

The Hidden Life of Trees is extremely readable, clear and important. It contains abundant analysis and information that could generate good discussion. I hope we can agree to choose it.

I found that I had already bought The Hidden Life of Trees from a second hand book sale. Once I started reading it I could not put it down. It is a totally amazing book full of remarkable facts and wisdom about trees and forests. As I mentioned already, the sharing of information and nutrients throu...

The Hidden Life of Trees is about how trees in a natural forest communicate with each other with fungal root pathways, and how this shows their life is much more complex than we imagine. A great interview on this book is at https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/the-secret-life...

The title of this chapter is a bit misleading, as Smil aims to do his usual numbers roundup but aims it only partially at environmental threats. The first portion is about oxygen and mainly aims to debunk some assertions that our oxygen supply is threatened, most notably a tweet by Emanuel Macron s...

I like Spinoza's conception of God ("sive Natura"): the ultimate infinite source of all causality that remains only somewhat knowable by finite human minds. His small section against anthropomorphic notions of God is one of the most interesting parts of his "Ethics." Otherwise, ...

2. People underestimate riskiness of voluntary (especially if familiar) causes like driving, smoking and (my addition) going swimming. Shark attacks are reported to be protective for overall death risk. Poor swimmers are less likely to go into the ocean after a shark attack, so drowning rates, whic...

More than a year since the invasion. Support for Ukraine promotes values that are central to the stability and security and freedom of the whole world.

A political thriller, a love story, climate havoc, postmodern technology, royalty, social media, and above all, a superb introduction to the vexed existential question of the need for solar geoengineering to address climate change, Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson is a brilliant science fiction ...

belief is no longer necessary when you *know.* it is much like asking someone if they believe that Earth is flat when they've experienced the planet's roundness in space. I am willing to participate in satisfying any curiosity and skepticism that this might arouse---in fact, that's why I'm here now...