As we go through class, watching different movies about a multitude of threats facing our planet and its inhabitants there is one common theme.
Humans seem to be willing to ignore these threats until its almost too late. We as a species have become so arrogant in our ways that it takes disaster to convince people to change.
This is a huge problem regarding our massive reliance on non-renewable energy, with only 40 years left of oil and perhaps another 100 with coal (Cartoon Guide to the Environment) most people seem willing to continue on ignoring the problem.
The average American alone relies on 400 gallons of fossil fuel equivalents each year for food and more than a billion people rely on fossil fuels for food.(Pimentel, David and Giampietro, Mario, 1994) Also 1-2 billion humans use fossil fuels to obtain their food.This is a huge problem because a disaster regarding fossil fuels could cause incredible damage in the form of public disorder and death.
We aren't even at the scary stuff yet. With a current global population of 6.7billion(U.S. Census, http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/worldpopinfo.php), the 1-2 billion doesn't seem too horrible. However that 1-2 billion rely solely on fossil fuels for food, this number doesn't include people whose diets are supplemented by fossil fueled foods. Just to give an idea, the U.S. uses 40% more energy then what is attainable by our plant matter. This means that a large portion of the American diet would be unavailable after the depletion of fossil fuels. So even though there are a few billion who depend completely on fossil fuel created food, the affects of fossil fuel exhaustion will be far more reaching.( Pfeiffer, Alan, 2004 http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/100303_eating_oil.html).
Now consider the fact that our population is predicted to rise to 9 million people by 2050( U.S. Census). A population of this size cannot be sustained on fossil fuels simply based on the fact that our current population is to high to survive with out non-renewable energy. Of course a switch to renewable energy is in the works but who can say if it will be in time? We as a species have ignored this problem for far too long and now we are very close to making a "final stand".
If we ignored fossil fuel depletion for so long, how long will it take us to realize that exploding global population is perhaps the true threat?
Even with renewable green energy our earth itself is finite. With rapidly growing population, the demand for renewable energy will continually be on the rise, as it has with non-renewable energy. Not to mention there eventually wont be any more viable living space.
Human beings need to stop living life like everything is infinite because we live in a very finite world and must be vigilant to prevent disaster.
On Earth life was created before mankind and should we fail to protect our planet and its resources we will disappear. However, earth will recover, whether it takes a billion years or 10 billion the earth will most likely be here and life will start again. We need to think of ourselves as a finite resource, one which the earth can and will do without, its up to us to ensure our continued presence on this planet.
Food, Land, Population and the U.S. Economy, Pimentel, David and Giampietro, Mario. Carrying Capacity Network, 11/21/1994. http://www.dieoff.com/page55.htm
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We definitely have a lot of problems and no simple solutions. We could always start with a one-child policy worldwide, an international army to keep order, and massive expenditure on alternative energy research effective immediately- with funding from every country in proportion to the energy they use.
ReplyDeletePeople in developed countries will also have to get used to less "pleasure" products and cheap junk that they do not need. as for the cheap labor that gets unemployed, use them on the farms instead. there is a huge population surplus, so I'm sure there are plenty of potential scientists and engineers in there, put them to work in the research labs.
mass-scale reorganization- from giving FAO more control over the fishing industry (more regulation, sustainable practices such as demonstrated in the movie), reorganization of public transit- meaning more of it, encouragement of its use and high taxes on cars in urban areas.
i would also add tons of money to an international space exploration effort. If we want resources in 100 years- thats the place to go. Earth isn't going to have them.
Of course these are not easy solutions and people will not be too happy with them, but things will be far worse if we do nothing. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Now if we had some leader with the guts to start this (and don't forget all the criticism that will come with extreme measures like these). . .