Uploaded June 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Looking back on the great California wildfires of 2018, it seems that was a turning point after which every year had a record-setting “bad wildfire season”. In 2023, several months of Canadian wildfires began to peak with smoke blanketing the northeastern United States and New York City. This led to record air quality degradation, surpassing that of Delhi, thus making it the most toxic air anywhere in the world. It is obvious now that there was no real plan for mitigation beyond offering N95 masks, and that climate change is a major cause of these problems.
In this video, poet, critic, and novelist Alex Sheremet of Automachination compares these events to the predictions in the 1972 environmentalism classic, “The Limits to Growth”. Although some of the book’s specifics did not pan out, its central premise was that planetary limits, as well as a growing inability to deal with them faster than improvements in human development / standard of living, would lead to a sharp and sudden contraction in human lifespan. It identified the 2020s as a turning point, which, combined with the fact that COVID continues to cut the life expectancy gains of the 1990s, seems to have been accurate.
Our discussion of “The Limits to Growth” with Arnold Schroder (Fight Like An Animal Podcast): youtube.com/watch?v=dh46XiXwwLE
If you found this video useful, support us on Patreon and get patron-only content: patreon.com/automachination
Subscribe to the ArtiFact podcast on Spotify: spoti.fi/3xw2M4D
Apple Podcasts: apple.co/3wLpqEV
Google Podcasts: bit.ly/3dSQXxJ
Amazon Music: amzn.to/2SVJIxB
Podbean: bit.ly/3yzLuUo
iHeartRadio: https://ihr.fm/3AK942L
Read more from the automachination universe: automachination.com
Read Alex Sheremet’s (archived) essays: alexsheremet.com
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/automachination
Study: Long-term impacts of non-occupational wildfire exposure on human health: A systematic review from the Environmental Pollution journal: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S026974912300043X?via%3Dihub
Thumbnail background via Anthony Quintano, CC 2.0: creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
Tags: #canada, #newyork, #environment, #politics
Looking back on the great California wildfires of 2018, it seems that was a turning point after which every year had a record-setting “bad wildfire season”. In 2023, several months of Canadian wildfires began to peak with smoke blanketing the northeastern United States and New York City. This led to record air quality degradation, surpassing that of Delhi, thus making it the most toxic air anywhere in the world. It is obvious now that there was no real plan for mitigation beyond offering N95 masks, and that climate change is a major cause of these problems.
In this video, poet, critic, and novelist Alex Sheremet of Automachination compares these events to the predictions in the 1972 environmentalism classic, “The Limits to Growth”. Although some of the book’s specifics did not pan out, its central premise was that planetary limits, as well as a growing inability to deal with them faster than improvements in human development / standard of living, would lead to a sharp and sudden contraction in human lifespan. It identified the 2020s as a turning point, which, combined with the fact that COVID continues to cut the life expectancy gains of the 1990s, seems to have been accurate.
Our discussion of “The Limits to Growth” with Arnold Schroder (Fight Like An Animal Podcast): youtube.com/watch?v=dh46XiXwwLE
If you found this video useful, support us on Patreon and get patron-only content: patreon.com/automachination
Subscribe to the ArtiFact podcast on Spotify: spoti.fi/3xw2M4D
Apple Podcasts: apple.co/3wLpqEV
Google Podcasts: bit.ly/3dSQXxJ
Amazon Music: amzn.to/2SVJIxB
Podbean: bit.ly/3yzLuUo
iHeartRadio: https://ihr.fm/3AK942L
Read more from the automachination universe: automachination.com
Read Alex Sheremet’s (archived) essays: alexsheremet.com
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/automachination
Study: Long-term impacts of non-occupational wildfire exposure on human health: A systematic review from the Environmental Pollution journal: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S026974912300043X?via%3Dihub
Thumbnail background via Anthony Quintano, CC 2.0: creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
Tags: #canada, #newyork, #environment, #politics
