The Malthuseans were proven incorrect - the problem with them is that they only focused on the feeding and material well-being of the human population of the planet.
The Malthuseans had a far too narrow of a focus. Sure, there's enough food grown on Earth to feed 7 billion people. If only 10% of food went to waste, and half as much meat was eaten - perhaps 15 billion. Pure veganism (I adhere to none of the veg- practices) would push the limits of population with current technology to perhaps 20 billion.
However, we have been destroying and are continuing to destroy our planet in the process. As somebody from New Zealand, surely you cannot believe that the extinctions that occurred with and since the arrival of the Maori, and the even greater extinctions that occurred with and since the arrival of the British - are the result of solar fluctuations and orbital oscillations? The fact that all but the fringes of Europe are a human-engineered landscape with most species now extinct? Is that solar fluctuation and orbital oscillation at work?
7 billion people can live on Earth, perhaps even 15 billion. Maybe 20 or 30 billion. But not by consuming every last drop of oil under the ground, by consuming more and more and paving everything we can, and consuming all that we can. The good Earth can provide, but it cannot provide for 7 billion living the current Western lifestyle, with Western levels of consumption and waste, with Western levels of pollution and beyond.
Not with toxified rivers completely dead of all life in China, and formerly in the US when entire rivers lit aflame from tires, solvents, chemicals, and oil thrown in. Not with rivers in India that are canyons filled with sewage, garbage, and dead animal and human bodies. Where the rivers have been drunk dry and all that is left is sewage gurgling through a landfill canyon that is a few hundred miles long.
Energy poverty led the world from charcoal to coal. All the forests gone in Europe - they were put into piles and smoldered to manufacture charcoal. When that ran out, the world switched to coal. Then from coal to oil.
Hanging onto oil and the current energy infrastructure makes as much sense as a charcoal lobbyist in 1700s England trying to get legislation passed to shut down coal mines, ban railroads, and steam locomotion. Advocating against renewable energy and moving past oil is the same exact shit, just a different century.
You're a denialist - the world will move on despite the best efforts of the denialists. When that day will arrive is a matter of debate, as none of us can read the future with precision. None of us are Nostradamus. Oil, except for niche uses, and those desperately trying to hang onto what will become an obsolete technology, will be consigned to the dustbin of history.
I'm a minimalist and a post-materialist, and never has my life been richer and more vibrant since the day I shook loose of the past and embraced the future. I teach friends my ways - some of them adopt them in part. I've converted 20 people so far completely to LED lighting out of my own pocket. They weren't initially convinced - but now they are spreading the word themselves. I've introduced people to bicycling sharing programs, and Uber and Lyft. I've encouraged people to opt for condominiums rather than suburban houses.
I am discussing hard facts. My gut tells me to act on hard facts. So I do. There is almost nobody of any renown or intellect saying the same thing you are - as far as I'm concerned, climate change denialism is fake news and a fraud.
We have no common ground on this subject, obviously. I'll live the way I choose to live, and you are, of course, are free to live the way you choose to live. I'll keep doing what I'm doing, and reach out to several people a year for as long as I live to bring them around to a more correct way of doing things, and they in turn, perhaps, will do the same in turn with others.
I practice what I preach, and put my money where my mouth is. How about this - every time I see you post denialism - I'll network through friends to convert an entire home, apartment, or condo to LED lighting out of mine own pocket. Or I'll re-imburse somebody for a yearly subscription for a bicycle sharing program. I'll do this as someone might read your posts and get the wrong ideas - that CO2 is good and we should be pumping more and more of it. For every action, there needs to be a reaction. ;-) You're obviously free to go about buying people Chevy Suburbans and $500,000 houses in the suburbs. I hope you can keep up. Over 80% of my income is disposable. :-)
The Malthuseans had a far too narrow of a focus. Sure, there's enough food grown on Earth to feed 7 billion people. If only 10% of food went to waste, and half as much meat was eaten - perhaps 15 billion. Pure veganism (I adhere to none of the veg- practices) would push the limits of population with current technology to perhaps 20 billion.
However, we have been destroying and are continuing to destroy our planet in the process. As somebody from New Zealand, surely you cannot believe that the extinctions that occurred with and since the arrival of the Maori, and the even greater extinctions that occurred with and since the arrival of the British - are the result of solar fluctuations and orbital oscillations? The fact that all but the fringes of Europe are a human-engineered landscape with most species now extinct? Is that solar fluctuation and orbital oscillation at work?
7 billion people can live on Earth, perhaps even 15 billion. Maybe 20 or 30 billion. But not by consuming every last drop of oil under the ground, by consuming more and more and paving everything we can, and consuming all that we can. The good Earth can provide, but it cannot provide for 7 billion living the current Western lifestyle, with Western levels of consumption and waste, with Western levels of pollution and beyond.
Not with toxified rivers completely dead of all life in China, and formerly in the US when entire rivers lit aflame from tires, solvents, chemicals, and oil thrown in. Not with rivers in India that are canyons filled with sewage, garbage, and dead animal and human bodies. Where the rivers have been drunk dry and all that is left is sewage gurgling through a landfill canyon that is a few hundred miles long.
Energy poverty led the world from charcoal to coal. All the forests gone in Europe - they were put into piles and smoldered to manufacture charcoal. When that ran out, the world switched to coal. Then from coal to oil.
Hanging onto oil and the current energy infrastructure makes as much sense as a charcoal lobbyist in 1700s England trying to get legislation passed to shut down coal mines, ban railroads, and steam locomotion. Advocating against renewable energy and moving past oil is the same exact shit, just a different century.
You're a denialist - the world will move on despite the best efforts of the denialists. When that day will arrive is a matter of debate, as none of us can read the future with precision. None of us are Nostradamus. Oil, except for niche uses, and those desperately trying to hang onto what will become an obsolete technology, will be consigned to the dustbin of history.
I'm a minimalist and a post-materialist, and never has my life been richer and more vibrant since the day I shook loose of the past and embraced the future. I teach friends my ways - some of them adopt them in part. I've converted 20 people so far completely to LED lighting out of my own pocket. They weren't initially convinced - but now they are spreading the word themselves. I've introduced people to bicycling sharing programs, and Uber and Lyft. I've encouraged people to opt for condominiums rather than suburban houses.
I am discussing hard facts. My gut tells me to act on hard facts. So I do. There is almost nobody of any renown or intellect saying the same thing you are - as far as I'm concerned, climate change denialism is fake news and a fraud.
We have no common ground on this subject, obviously. I'll live the way I choose to live, and you are, of course, are free to live the way you choose to live. I'll keep doing what I'm doing, and reach out to several people a year for as long as I live to bring them around to a more correct way of doing things, and they in turn, perhaps, will do the same in turn with others.
I practice what I preach, and put my money where my mouth is. How about this - every time I see you post denialism - I'll network through friends to convert an entire home, apartment, or condo to LED lighting out of mine own pocket. Or I'll re-imburse somebody for a yearly subscription for a bicycle sharing program. I'll do this as someone might read your posts and get the wrong ideas - that CO2 is good and we should be pumping more and more of it. For every action, there needs to be a reaction. ;-) You're obviously free to go about buying people Chevy Suburbans and $500,000 houses in the suburbs. I hope you can keep up. Over 80% of my income is disposable. :-)
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