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Wow I loved this issue it was just mind blowing. That is a LOT of mushrooms! I can’t believe there is more human mass than wild mammal mass that is ridiculous!!

Thank you for a very fun read!

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Apr 26, 2023·edited Apr 26, 2023Author

It was you that encouraged me to find the chart. One of my dearest friends HATES MUSHROOMS so I am sure it will be unsettling for him. I think over time we've just eaten or displaced most of them (the wild animals). Eventually it will be all dogs and cats (and guinea pigs in NYC) :) Thanks for reading and a bit of inspiration.

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Apr 24, 2023·edited Apr 24, 2023Liked by Mark Dolan

Wow. We humans are pretty insignificant... and pretty dang messy! It's too bad ents aren't real, because it looks like the plants will inherit what's left of the earth someday.

Looking forward to reading about your big ask. 😂

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Thanks for inspiring this post with your bacteria comment. I don't think I quite understood the scale of our impact. We are surrounded by references to exponential growth. What I finally realize is how quickly our lifestyles will overwhelm the system. I never got that until now. I figured renewables could change things. I now see it's a modest part of a much larger challenge. I didn't include it in the story. While 200 Gt of waste sounds bad what is much harder to grasp is we are now generating about 35Gt more per year so doubling in 6 years and growing. I don't know when the system cannot carry any more but it seems soon. I wonder what breakdown might feel like?

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No problem; I'm sorry my mention of the vast numbers of bacteria upset you! 😉

I'm assuming we will be forced into a much simpler lifestyle, probably quite abruptly. At some point, something will break. Humans are adaptable, we'll probably figure something out, but hopefully before too many other species are wiped out.

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I think that is perfect -- in my control system background we push the emergency stop. No button for nature -- I think just something we never considered

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Nature has evolution - organisms adapt or go extinct.... and of course that includes us humans, as well.

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I've never heard of those people. Very interesting! Thanks for sharing that story. It's not a book I'll ever have time to read, most likely (too many others), but it's good to learn about.

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They were not a nice couple but ended up shaping Texas and California a lot (and probably contributed to the Civil War) -- a tough ledger but great to learn the history.

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