[Back to Physical Challenges]

Introduction

The major challenges within the biosphere include:

• loss of biodiversity
• mass extinction
• species migration
• antibiotic resistance
• loss of topsoil

 Are there any others we should include here?

• Geomagnetic reversal is a possible concern.  There are some indications that a reversal may happen soon, and the actual consequences for either the natural world or modern civilization are not clear.  What we are sure about is the Earth's magnetic field protects us from harmful solar radiation, and this will be disrupted during a magnetic reversal.  But we are not clear about the magnitude of the effects (which could potentially be catastrophic), or what we could do to mitigate them.  So how much effort should we put into researching this issue?

Do watch an inspirational video, Inside Africa's Food Forest Mega-Project, which celebrates some significant success with the Great Green Wall project in Africa.  This started as a scheme to stop the Southward expansion of the Sahara Desert, and is achieving not only the original objective but also a great deal more.  There seems to be two major challenges to this brilliant scheme: political instability in the region, and 'failure' of the scheme to produce 'economic returns' - that is, profit for big business.  It produces food security, increased biodiversity and an improved quality of life for many people in the region, but that is not enough to persuade those with financial resources to invest in it.

To Note

For information, a report in TechCrunch (12 August 2021) says that Chris Sacca’s Lowercarbon Capital has raised $800 million to “keep unf*cking the planet”.  They plan to invest in numerous projects, many of which are planning to make money, which will adress various areas including electric planes and small, local carbon capture devices.