Overwhelmed Planet?

[Nuxfanabroad]

^Hey, it's not all about Me_, y'know??

[riffraff]

@riff, Or say you could wish the Earth 10x bigger(& all resources)?..I'm afraid our greed & avarice would also increase tenfold, in kind...

Correct.

Until we become a society where we no longer quest for wealth, it will always be that way.

Until we are truly a global society, it will always be that way.

Exactly where I was going with my post.

It takes a collective value change.

We could be handed all the second chances in the world (pun). And a whole new set of resources but unless it was wall evenly and globally distributed, cultivated and protected, greed and those with more money and power would drag civilization back to it its current state.

People on earth need a fair chance at the basic requirements to survive. The biz title today of "the me generation", while true, is only there because really, it always has. It's been developed over every generation and now it's maybe at its worse.

Anecdote time.

My wife, to be fair, as an aware person as any, opened the fridge yesterday.

Now, our fridge is a bit large for the spot it is in and the kitchen in general and the door swings into the entrance of the kitchen itself. A bit inconvenient in a Feng shui kinda way.

Back to the anecdote:

She says, " ye know we should get a new fridge with a double door that is easier to operate. And those bottom drawers are awkward. It would be easier to get your beer eh?"

Now my wife does her part when time allows to help the environment and all that so I'm not throwing her under the bus.

I looked at the fridge. It was jammed full of every type of food possible, and mostly organic. It was also well stocked with with alcoholic refreshments. The fridge is obviously just fine and looking after my family admirably. How could I possibly justify sending approximately 100 cubic feet of metals to a landfill? First world problems indeed. All this I thought and kept to myself and simply answered at the time:

"Nah. I'm good on a new fridge."

Edited May 27, 2015 by riffraff

[theminister]

This has been said dating back to Plato when he remarked that the goats at all the grass on the hillsides leaving them barren and washing into the sea.

People often state there are too many people on the planet but instead we should focus on what we do with it.

Moving away from animal locomotion was probably our largest faux pas.

[Nuxfanabroad]

A noted UBC researcher's(name?sorry, 10 yrs back) article on carbon footprints hit me here in Japan, about a decade back. I'd discussed it oftentimes with various students.

He'd outlined that we(particularly NA'ns) used about 32x the resources, as the avg unlucky person existing in say, Calcutta.

This gap that widened so conveniently for about a century(for OECD'ers) might ultimately lead to everyone's demise(for a multitude of reasons).

Edited May 27, 2015 by Nuxfanabroad

[etsen3]

It's easier to just blame it on the corporations or leave it to the government rather than change our lifestyles in any meaningful way.

[Nuxfanabroad]

I'd love to change the world

But I don't know what to do

So I'll leave it up to you...

Alvin Lee sang all that over forty yrs back.

Edited May 28, 2015 by Nuxfanabroad

[Nuxfanabroad]

& overpopulation?..

Paul Ehrlich's 1968 bestseller, "The Population Bomb" told us all about the oncoming train. Still today, Dr Ehrlich lectures at Stanford. His work was universally acknowledged(at the time), yet ultimately, not acted upon...

Once again, folks are too busy, & politicians only comprehend 'terms'.

We'd all been warned so many yrs back, yet for various reasons, the can was kicked further on down the road.

It's almost as if they'd loaded up the Titanic(with min lifeboats)anyways.. despite knowing beforehand that it would strike a berg.

[aGENT]

People need to make a monumental shift in how they live, consume, throw away etc.

Waiting for politicians and scientists to save us will be our own demise.

Educate yourself, act accordingly.

[Nuxfanabroad]

It's a proper sentiment, & a nice, proactive initiative..but then, you read things...

For example, I've read in a couple of different places: Between 2011~2013 China poured MORE CONCRETE than the US did, throughout the whole 20th century. GG!

Let that settle in for a moment.

[Jägermeister]

What has the environment ever done for me!?

[RonMexico]

I caught the tail end of a documentary last night about food waste. It's fascinating yet disheartening how much unexpired and edible food is tossed in the trash when there are people that go hungry and die from lack of food. On top of that, it has far reaching effects on the environment too. All that usable food decomposes in landfills and creates excessive amounts of methane gas which puts a strain on the Earth's atmosphere. Not to mention that landfills are a disgusting by-product of civilization.

[Nuxfanabroad]

"Eat to live, or live to eat?" ...-Moliere

...We won't be worrying about this issue much longer, I'd guess?

[thejazz97]

I thought we'd already passed the point of no return...

[Ghostsof1915]

Edited May 27, 2015 by Ghostsof1915

[Aladeen]

We have to start making technology that cleans the planet profitable. Like what this kid is proposing for the oceans.

http://inhabitat.com/19-year-old-student-develops-ocean-cleanup-array-that-could-remove-7250000-tons-of-plastic-from-the-worlds-oceans/

Or making CO2 scrubbers (artificial trees) mandatory on every building, on every car to make them more than carbon neutral.

http://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2013/02/artificial-trees-as-a-carbon-capture-alternative-to-geoengineering/

Solar Freaking Roadways.

https://youtu.be/qlTA3rnpgzU

Technology is our only hope at long term survival. Start putting money into such projects on kickstarter and indiegogo.

Give your dollars to companies that care about the environment. Not sure which ones do?

Go to their websites read their mission statements.

[TOMapleLaughs]

The population is expected to peak at 9-10 billion and then it's expected to fall, with developing countries making up 84-88% of the makeup and being most at risk when it comes to environmental concerns. While the concern for their welfare is valid, but if you want to get sinister about things, consider this: Why would the top economies not look at this as an opportunity to take advantage of the multitudes of 'disposable poor'? Is this why their access to things like condoms has been limited? Could be.

Birth rates among developed nations are falling and death rates (mainly from cancer) are climbing. We will see less demand from developed nations going forward into the 22nd century.

In Canada the issue is less population growth and more that burdened regions will be seeking our resources. Our growth rate is at roughly 1.2%, which is highest among G7 nations, and 2/3rds of that is due to international migration. Good thing we're a multiculti society.

[BI3KSA-]

It's unfortunate that the majority of humans need to see something drastic before they actually realize how far gone we actually already are, and how serious this really is. People are still denying climate change is real, both everyday people and politicians and other individuals in positions of power and influence. By the time its blatantly obvious it will be too late to reverse. We are already hitting the point of no return on some things, like the ice melt. Lots of people dont realize small rises in ocean levels or small rises in ocean temperature in specific places can cause all sorts of whacked out stuff, and already is. More hurricanes, droughts and the like. Countries so far aren't taking this seriously, and iirc not a single one of them are on target to hit their promised emission reduction levels. Hopefully we, the people, demand our governments step up and start fixing this problem before its too late.

[BI3KSA-]

I caught the tail end of a documentary last night about food waste. It's fascinating yet disheartening how much unexpired and edible food is tossed in the trash when there are people that go hungry and die from lack of food. On top of that, it has far reaching effects on the environment too. All that usable food decomposes in landfills and creates excessive amounts of methane gas which puts a strain on the Earth's atmosphere. Not to mention that landfills are a disgusting by-product of civilization.

You might find these articles interesting:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/22/france-to-force-big-supermarkets-to-give-away-unsold-food-to-charity

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/25/french-supermarkets-donate-food-waste-global-law-campaign

[goalie13]

There are endless, meandering paths from this central, all-important issue, yet I've become curious if sporting fans(in general) have become allergic to the matter.

In a related way, have sports themselves become a constant form of 'escapism'?

It's not that I am allergic to the matter, it's just that it is not what I come to CDC for.

To me, CDC is a place for sports and other fun chatter. Some threads get a little too deep, but I mostly try to avoid that. So yes, sports themselves and CDC are a way for me to escape.

[Nuxfanabroad]

^With regards to population-projections, I fear we've got some nasty curveballs(related to Taleb's 'Black Swan' theory) coming our way.

Almost appears economy & ecology are inextricably linked parallel lines, more than mankind can consciously fathom. To this layman, they appear spent, diminishing forces, falling earthwards in simultaneous descent.

It's almost worth a box of popcorn, to sit back & observe, wondering which system might implode, or peter out first.

The elite want to keep the juggler's balls up there in perpetual movement. They are the ones who truly have the world to lose. Impoverished & third world will subsist on schadenfreude, if they can only survive the actual crash.

If such a point ever happens, revolutions would be expected.