A common metric on a city’s self reliance is how much it depends on outside suppliers to feed its population. If separated from the outside world, how well (or indeed, how long) would a city last. Take Phoenix, AZ as one example: it exists in a desert. Without oil to fuel a steady stream of transportation, the city would die. It may as well be on the moon. This is a similar type of calculation performed by armies as they lay siege to a city. David Morris authored this paper on Self-Reliant Cities in 1987 where he says “A healthy city is a self-reliant city, capable of determining its own future. The self-reliant city emphasizes holistic planning. Local self-reliance builds a self-confident and engaged citizenry while it strengthens local economies and protects the environment.” There seems to be a need to revisit this analysis on the current global landscape.

Many media reports have challenged the notion that the global climate is warming, leading to increased skepticism from the public about the issue. Scientifically, we’re headed into terra incognito because we simply don’t know precisely what the climactic effects will be and a lot of research is trying to come up with good estimates: the majority consensus is that global temperatures will rise, but predictions differ on how much.

However, we do have lots of specific data about the vast amounts of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere resulting from the burning of fossil fuels. That alone should be the cause for great concern because the more CO₂ in the atmosphere, the more acidic the oceans will be; indeed, we are seeing an unprecedented rate of acidification. Rising ocean acidity can make the ocean uninhabitable for many creatures, and that can reverberate throughout the entire food chain. Shellfish, corals, and plankton are easily affected, but also types of algae have calcium coverings as protection. The L.A. Times ran a series, “The Primeval Tide of Toxins” (referenced in this blog) about how the acidic waters make the habitat more suitable for primordial creatures, like jellyfish, and we are witnessing a surge in their populations.

In short, climate is not the only potentially life-threatening result of human actions on the planet. There is an upcoming documentary on this subject named Acid Test.