Humanity's Very Survival At Risk.

Damocles

Damocles

Accedo!
Staff member
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article2739926.ece

From the Times
October 26, 2007

'Humanity's very survival' is at risk, says UN

The speed at which mankind has used the Earth’s resources over the past 20 years has put “humanity’s very survival” at risk, a study involving 1,400 scientists has concluded.

The environmental audit, for the United Nations, found that each person in the world now requires a third more land to supply his or her needs than the Earth can supply.

Thirty per cent of amphibians, 23 per cent of mammals and 12 per cent of birds are under threat of extinction, while one in ten of the world’s major rivers runs dry every year before it reaches the sea.

More at link...
 
I hate to say it, because people always say lefties are "doomsday" oriented, but I think we're about to hit a real tipping point, and there really isn't a whole heck of a lot we can do about it.

We all call for renewable energy sources, and green technology, and reducing emissions, but in reality, none of what we are even capable of doing, even if we devoted all of our effort to it, amounts to a hill of beans. The earth is going to look so much different over the next few decades, and become a very inhospitable place in many areas, barring a change in the way things are moving.

It's gonna be a tough century...
 
it's going to be an awesome couple of decades.
Topspins is the optomist here.
We stopped smoking in most buildings, getting trans fats out of fast food. We got lead remove from gasoline years ago and we will get CO2 out of our emmission in the next decade or two.
Join me and profit and have fun off it.
Sunpower - solar panels
ENER - Hybrids and then hydrogen
Archer Daniels - bio fuels
When the DEMS take over it's be a moon shot type effort.
 
Onceler said:
I hate to say it, because people always say lefties are "doomsday" oriented, but I think we're about to hit a real tipping point, and there really isn't a whole heck of a lot we can do about it.

We all call for renewable energy sources, and green technology, and reducing emissions, but in reality, none of what we are even capable of doing, even if we devoted all of our effort to it, amounts to a hill of beans. The earth is going to look so much different over the next few decades, and become a very inhospitable place in many areas, barring a change in the way things are moving.

It's gonna be a tough century...
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I think you're right about that. I also think that if the majority of people were to take this crisis seriously enough, in time to do something on an individual level, the worst could be avoided. That won't happen though. Too many people will first, deny that there's a problem, then when it starts to affect them claim that it's temporary, then blame the farmers, the government, their neighbors, other countries, whatever.

If each of us just took a few small steps to conserve water, conserve energy, create less garbage, reduce our impact on the planet, the difference we'd see would be enormous. I don't think that it's likely that this would apply to most on this board, but we also should be careful about the extent of our reproduction. I did all I could in that regard: no kids. :p Ok the rest was serious.
 
Thorn said:
I think you're right about that. I also think that if the majority of people were to take this crisis seriously enough, in time to do something on an individual level, the worst could be avoided. That won't happen though. Too many people will first, deny that there's a problem, then when it starts to affect them claim that it's temporary, then blame the farmers, the government, their neighbors, other countries, whatever.

If each of us just took a few small steps to conserve water, conserve energy, create less garbage, reduce our impact on the planet, the difference we'd see would be enormous. I don't think that it's likely that this would apply to most on this board, but we also should be careful about the extent of our reproduction. I did all I could in that regard: no kids. :p Ok the rest was serious.
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No. no. not the red pill that will wake me up from my illusion.

It's so much easier to walk around with blinders ..

While we're worried about running out of fossil fuels, we may run out of water first.

The problem is that most people don';t really give a damn about the future .. even with their own kids in it.

Use, consume, and destroy everything we choose at our pleasure and God will take care of the future.

truly sad
 
"When the Dems take over..."

This is a worldwide phenomenon, not a local issue. The US is the biggest polluter in the world, do something about it. My country (Australia) is the biggest polluter in the world, per capita. We are going to do something about it by getting rid of our conservative federal government which is headed by a climate change denier and replace it with a government that is going to do something about it. The main opposition party has just signed up to a preferences deal with the Greens in our Senate (we have preferential voting, not first past the post). Meanwhile the conservatives are going ballistic about that, screaming out the sky is about to fall in. Typical of the narrow-minded thinking on that side of politics.
 
I find it rather amusing that the conservative party of Australia is named "The Liberal Party"...

The Greens are growing pretty fast in Australia, especialy in Tasmania. But they wouldn't have any seats at all if the senate wasn't elected by STV. I don't think they have any seats in the the House, which uses single member districts. I find it kind of interesting that the Labor party is allying with them. I also think its kind of said that the Australian Democrats are all but dead.
 
Did anyone see the report over the weekend that up to 36 states could see water shortages like GA just had over the next 5 years?

It really is time to re-think how we are treating the planet, and start looking at a more sustainable way to live, including technologies that are renewable. We won't do it in earnest, of course, but I am concerned about the changes I'll see in my lifetime. This is one topic where an "I told you so" to the Dano's of the world in 20 or so years won't be much of a silver lining...
 
Watermark said:
I find it rather amusing that the conservative party of Australia is named "The Liberal Party"...
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There's a reason for the situation that causes your amusement (and my chagrin) but I won't go into it unless it's of interest - our little economy and ouir little country (in terms of world importance - :D) - are largely irrelevant usually so I won't go on about.

Oh, we have black swans too, looks like we are a country full of contradictions.

Watermark: said:
The Greens are growing pretty fast in Australia, especialy in Tasmania. But they wouldn't have any seats at all if the senate wasn't elected by STV. I don't think they have any seats in the the House, which uses single member districts. I find it kind of interesting that the Labor party is allying with them. I also think its kind of said that the Australian Democrats are all but dead.
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You're right on all counts. That's unusual, someone outside of our sunburnt land knowing much about it beyond that.....we have black swans :D
 
Diuretic said:
There's a reason for the situation that causes your amusement (and my chagrin) but I won't go into it unless it's of interest - our little economy and ouir little country (in terms of world importance - :D) - are largely irrelevant usually so I won't go on about.

Oh, we have black swans too, looks like we are a country full of contradictions.




You're right on all counts. That's unusual, someone outside of our sunburnt land knowing much about it beyond that.....we have black swans :D
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I have an extensive knowledge of foreign politics. ;)

I think it sometimes surprises foreigners whenever I talk with such authority on their local politics and parties. But I can pretty much give you a summary of any developed nations politics. Australia just seemed really interesting to me. Especially since you guys use STV, and that's kind of the system I was supporting on this site. I also found the Democrats interesting, but now, well, they're dead. :( May as well face the facts.
 
Foreign politics often just seems to be more interesting than American politics. Our politics is predictable. The Republicans win the south, incumbents get re-elected for 20 years, third parties always end up with 1% of the vote... blah blah blah...

Just about any nation with single member districts and a presidential system is pretty much the same.
 
I know conservatism in a system can be good, but I just wish ours didn't promote such political stagnation to such an amazing degree. It's impossible to get anything passed, and if it does get passed, it's a hacked together piece of crap. And then, oncemore, it's impossible to REMOVE that. I'd really prefer a much more streamlined system. A unicameral congress elected by either STV or party list, and a weak governer without veto power, or no governer at all.

If we must have a restriction, I'd rather it be something like the filibuster, which forces longer debate on an issue, than an arbitrary supermajority cutoff that automatically kills a bill. It would allow us to get things in much quicker. Experiment. If it screws up, it's at least easy to remove.
 
Honestly give me the filibuster and some degree of stagnation anyday over a rapid, unwavering course toward dicatorship.
 
Warren said:
Honestly give me the filibuster and some degree of stagnation anyday over a rapid, unwavering course toward dicatorship.
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Without a unified head of state/government a dictatorship is very difficult to establish. This has been proven in most nations - third world nations with presidential systems close to the United States' often fall, and I've never heard of a parliamentary nation falling. The thing about proportional representation is that it is stability through compromise and talk, rather than through a balancing act of various governing institutions that constantly veto each others decisions.

Now, really Warren - do you think that a unicameral legislature would lead to "dictatorship"? Denmark? The Netherlands?

The only one I can think of is the UK, and they have by far the least institutions to ensure consensus out of any nation in the world. Still, there in no danger of falling into dictatorship.
 
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