Here is a short explanation of the title. It breaks down the metaphor used in the text to clarify that "Initiation" refers to a rite of passage rather than a beginning. The title reframes the collapse of industrial civilization not as a meaningless end, but as a necessary rite of passage for humanity. It argues that humans are behaving as adolescents: obsessed with immediate gratification, a false sense of invincibility, and growth, the accumulation of material wealth.

I am pleased to announce the release of my new novel, The Long Fire Season. For years, I have written about the technical realities of biosphere collapse and the necessity of adaptation. Now, I am exploring those themes through the most powerful lens available to us: the human heart. Love in the Time of Nature's Decline The Long Fire Season…

One of the biggest problems with quantum physics - apart from the way it attracts new age woo - is that it doesn’t reconcile with Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. The two don’t meet when it comes to gravity. And so one of the major thrusts of physics since the 1940s has been to find that elusive ‘theory of everything.

We stand at the terminal edge of the Holocene. By now, those of us paying attention to the data know that the era of "green growth" and technological salvation is a delusion. We are beginning to understand what systems theorist Nate Hagens calls "The Great Simplification"—the inevitable thermodynamic correction that occurs as our civilization’s energy subsidy, the "Carbon Pulse," begins to fade.

The comprehensive 5-star rating confirms that the book successfully navigates the complex space between rigorous science and accessible prose.

"Plot is what happens, but character is why we care."

Watching the natural world change can be deeply saddening. Many of us feel a sense of grief or anxiety about the loss of species, the changing seasons, and the degradation of familiar landscapes. But paying attention—bearing witness—is a powerful act. It connects us to reality, helps us process grief, and can motivate meaningful action. Our project is to create "A Field Guide to the Anthropocene"

Given the urgency and the availability of global satellite data, the first phase focuses on creating a robust proxy metric – the SPPPI. This index targets a key component of biosphere stress: human pressure on Net Primary Production (NPP), the energy base created by plants.

Our planet's life support systems are failing, and we cannot fully restore what is being lost. But hope is not gone. We can focus on protecting refugia: special places that resist environmental damage and can act as lifeboats for biodiversity. Think of them as safe harbors—pockets of stability for plants and animals facing fire, heat, or drought. The goal of this project is to create a practical…

The Maplewood Journals is not a story of despair. It is a testament to human ingenuity and the power of collective action.

This is a book about facing hard truths. But it is also a book about agency and hope. It outlines a path forward, one that combines technical knowledge, political strategy, and a deeper ethical relationship with the living world.

This journey from the external world to the internal may seem like a shift in focus, but it reveals the fundamental truth of the Anthropocene: the crisis of the biosphere is inseparable from the crisis of our own consciousness.

As the world we know changes before our eyes, many of us are experiencing distress that, until recently, had no name.

Cognition is everywhere in all creatures. But what about us? Human cognition is an extraordinary elaboration of the capacities found throughout the biosphere. Our ability for symbolic language and cultural evolution has allowed us to accumulate and transmit knowledge across generations. This has transformed our species from one among many into a planetary force that is reshaping Earth systems (Henrich 2016; Steffen et al.

As the biosphere degrades and the risk of social disruption grows, the mission to preserve the blueprint of our knowledge becomes a critical imperative.

(This article is part of a series, The Thinking Planet, exploring the universal nature of cognition in the living world. Concepts and examples are drawn from "Silent Earth: Adaptations for Life in a Devastated Biosphere.") So far in the series, we've established that cognition is a universal feature of life. But does it matter for the planet as a whole?

By recognizing the intrinsic value and legal standing of the natural world, we open up entirely new avenues for its defense.

(This article is part of a series, The Thinking Planet, exploring the universal nature of cognition in the living world. All concepts and examples are drawn from an analysis of my comprehensive work, "Silent Earth: Adaptations for Life in a Devastated Biosphere.") While plants and microbes show us that a brain isn't required for cognition, the animal kingdom reveals an explosive diversity of minds shaped by evolution.

We are no longer simply a species living within nature; we are the architects and unwitting subjects of a new planetary layer, and we have only just understood its unruly dynamics.

(This article is part of a series, The Thinking Planet, exploring the universal nature of cognition in the living world. All concepts and examples are drawn from an analysis of my comprehensive work, "Silent Earth: Adaptations for Life in a Devastated Biosphere.") When we think of intelligence, we picture a brain. But the biosphere operates on a much broader set of rules.

Here's the next romance story: Fire Season: Love in the Time of Climate Change Francis Ralph Graham Controlled Burns (Fall 2023) The video call shattered into blocky squares for the third time in ten minutes. Sam’s face froze mid-sentence, his eyelids locked at half-blink as he described that morning’s precipitation gauges in Sector Nine. The screech of digital static crackled through Mia’s headphones.

Restoring Nature A noble and understandable impulse urges us to restore the planet to its former glory, yet a clear-eyed look at the evidence suggests this may be beyond our grasp.

What if the ability to sense, process information, and respond to it is not a rare gift but a fundamental characteristic of life itself?

The scale of climate impacts on transportation infrastructure is staggering. Research by the American Society of Civil Engineers projects that climate-related damages will surpass $1 trillion by 2050 (ASCE 2021).

When I started writing fiction, I read books, articles, blog posts, and Internet commentaries on writing techniques. I joined local writer groups and writing circles, and I followed hundreds of writers and groups on the Internet. I created an elaborate backstory for a world like Earth except that human-like intelligence was always present in all higher organisms. After I published the first novels, I repeated what I had learned about writing in blog posts and school lectures and learned even more from readers and writers.