The Small Mammals Thriving While The Dinosaurs Die Off

Nevertheless, Purgatorius Persisted

An artist’s rendition of small mammals during the age of dinosaurs, circa 66 million years ago.

I’ve been thinking about the question “is Trump destroying the world order, the global economy, the rule of law, causing mass die-offs of humans and ecosystems, and contributing to global warming, or is he hastening the process already entrained, or is he irrelevant to those changes, or are all three true at once?”

And more usefully, while the Whole Thang Is Collapsing, where are the little critters that are making the new technologies that will come out of this alive and well and helpful to survivors?

Let’s start with the present day. The world is getting hotter, faster. A recent report found that human-caused global warming is now increasing by 0.27 degrees Celsius per decade. That rate was recorded at 0.2 degrees in the 1970s, and has been growing since.

“Each additional fractional degree of warming brings about a relatively larger increase in atmospheric extremes, like extreme downpours and severe droughts and wildfires,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California.

Is Trump causing global warming: Nope.

Is Trump contributing to global warming: He’d like to. Remember his hoorawing of increasing fossil fuels, so brilliantly summarized as Drill Baby, Drill? Alas, the stock market is essentially saying yeah, but no.

The price of a barrel of crude oil was nearly $80 when Trump took office; it has since fallen to $70. Demand, especially from China, has softened, while oil production has risen. ...

Here’s another reason, though, and one that should give heart to environmentalists. Renewables are beating fossil fuels because they’re simply better. Trump can slow the transition to cleaner energy, but he can’t stop it.

As the old saw goes, the Stone Age didn’t end because the world ran out of stones, and the Oil Age won’t end because the world runs out of oil. It will end because there are better forms of energy, including solar and wind. Electrification of various sectors, including automobiles, is already curbing oil demand growth.

Solar energy, in particular, is earning its way into the power generation mix because its cost has plummeted more than 90 percent since 2010. The so-called “levelized cost” of electricity from solar photovoltaic panels is lower than that of natural gas-fired combined-cycle power plants, even without tax credits for solar, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its 2025 Annual Energy Outlook. (Levelized cost takes into account construction and lifetime operating costs.)

So is Trump irrelevant to global warming? Nope. The Trump administration wants to claw back billions in funding for green projects and eviscerate the U.S. solar and wind industries.

What can we do?

If you can, invest in wind, solar, geothermal, heat pump, insulation.

What other little mammals are replacing the dinosaurs?

Underwater wind turbines in Scotland's MayGen project have set a new industry record, generating uninterrupted power for over 6 years without maintenance; the success of this 6 MWh tidal energy site—powering 7,000 homes—boosts investor confidence in marine energy, a constant and untapped renewable source now proving its durability in harsh ocean conditions.

And sand batteries.

The world’s largest sand battery has started working in the southern Finnish town of Pornainen.

Capable of storing 100 MWh of thermal energy from solar and wind sources, it will enable residents to eliminate oil from their district heating network, thereby cutting emissions by nearly 70 per cent.

“Our goal is to be climate neutral by 2035, and the sand battery is a major step toward that,” says Mikko Paajanen, CEO of Loviisan Lämpö, which runs the district heating network.

The industrial-scale solution from Finnish company Polar Night Energy is now the primary production plant for the network. The consumption of wood chips is set to drop by around 60 per cent as a result, while the existing biomass boiler will continue to serve as a backup and support the sand battery during peak demand periods.**

Launched just as Russia cut off gas supplies in retaliation for Finland joining NATO, the project was a timely example of how renewable energy could be harnessed in a new way.

Grains of sand, it turns out, are surprisingly roomy when it comes to energy storage. The sand can store heat at around 500C for several days to even months, providing a valuable store of cheaper energy during the winter. When needed, the battery discharges the hot air - warming water in the district heating network. Homes, offices and even the local swimming pool all benefit in Kankaanpää, for example.

Okay, back to the question of is Trump destroying the world order, the global economy, the rule of law, causing mass die-offs of humans and ecosystems, and contributing to global warming, or is he hastening the process already entrained, or is he irrelevant to those changes, or are all three true at once.

His financial and economic proposals and his megalomaniacal sadism are joining other ignorant autocrats in destroying the world order, global economy, rule of law, and causing mass die-offs of humans and ecosystems. Whether we can reverse these damages is on us. We need to plan today for an uncertain tomorrow.

What can we do? Add sand batteries to our small mammals team. Wind, solar, electricity, geothermal, sand batteries, underwater wind turbines, insulation, conservation, instant communication, big data -We appear to be growing. Maybe we can turn this thing around in a decade or so.

Let’s be on Team Mammal.