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http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=boundaries-for-a-healthy-planet
This country has been designed to need nonrenewable resources to provide food and
energy. Petroleum is a critical resource and we have used up most of it. There are not enough
nonrenewable resourses left to sustain this country until the population is reduced to a
sustainable amount, and it is extremely unlikely that this country will ever reduce its
population enough. When those resourses are gone gone, our food supply will be gone and
civilization as we know it in 2010 will disappear. The United States began going in the
wrong direction at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, when the country reached its
population capacity and began depending on fossil fuels for its energy supply. Artificial
fertilizer made from oil came later. The United States passed a point of no return more
recently. The most optimistic estimate says we have 100 years left. The most pessimistic says
we have 3 years left. I tend to assume the most pessimistic prediction is true when making
plans, so we have at least 3 years. I have heard predictions of 100 years of oil available in 30
years 40 years ago, and it is not here now, so I do not believe it will ever exist. I believe this
country will be in horrible shape in 2060, likely between 2012 and 2030. This will be an
exceedingly horrible time and things will be constantly getting worse. Farther than I will be
able to see, there will be madness, despair, and horror beyond understanding, imagination,
and belief. There will be little food, less electricity, and no health care. Anyone who will
need medication, such as insulin, to live will soon die. Much food and water will be
contaminated. We believe there are no limits to economic and population growth, but that
is not true. The continuous population capacity of the United States is about 5 million and
that of the planet is about 5 million. To save civilization, women must have had an average
of one child each or less, beginning at least by 1970. That has not been done and this country
is living on borrowed time. If civilization has not collapsed by 2060, it eventually will. It is
not a matter of if it will happen, but a matter of when it will happen. I hope history will prove
me wrong, but the evidence I see points my way. If civilization can be saved, some extremely
unpopular things must be done, and we should do them, anyway. Population must be
reduced. Economic growth must stop. Renewable energy must be developed, and eventually
everything must use only renewable energy. Everything must eventually be recycled.
Packaging should be minimal and must be recyclable. Farming must soon be done without
irrigation, artificial pesticides, or artificial fertilizers. This is not all, but is critical. Since the
people are extremely unlokely to reduce the population enough in time, even if the country
can be save, this country will not survive. Sorry to be the bearer of the bad news.
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gs_chandy at 04:48 PM on 03/31/10
Check out the 'One Page Management System' (OPMS) to help you make truly effective plans to accomplish your Mission - some small learning and a fair bit of 'unlearning' required to apply it. Write to me at gs (underscore) chandy (at) yahoo (dot) com to get more detailed information about this powerful tool and its freely available software.
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Kernos at 09:37 AM on 04/05/10
This article provides A solution for problems discussed in the previous article [Boundaries for a Healthy Planet]. Why does no one talk about attacking the fundamental cause: too many humans. Overpopulation was a meme in the past for environmentalists. Today it seems politically incorrect to even mention the concept. Stopping population growth in its tracks and cutting in half the current population would solve most of the boundries we are crossing or approaching.
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