Is this our last Century?

Experts say that extreme changes in climate, combined with dwindling resources, famine, war and disease have the potential to create a post-apocalyptic world in less than a hundred years. Harvard University and Woods Hole climatologist John Holdrens says we cannot continue going down the same path.
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Natural selection anyone ?
 
My last Century was a 1986 Buick.:confused: Never lived in it but I spent about an hour a day in it.

:p
 
My children will be trained in the latest post-apocalyptic and zombieworld survival skills and tactics. lol.
 
I dont think it will be, things change, people change. People have come through in the past over insurmountable odds and harsh climate changes with less knowledge than we have now. I think we can survive all this, we as people just need to change the way we think and act.
 
"You push that button, everything we've accomplished for the past 500 years will be finished. Our technology, our way of life, our entire history. We'll have to start all over again. For God's sake, don't do it Snake."

"The name's Plissken."

In his final rejection of the name "Snake," Mr. Plissken willingly plunges himself, and the rest of the world, into true humanity, removing all of the technology that offers some superiority over others. And in the end, there's nothing left except Snake's box of matches and an old pack of cigarettes, one final smoke left inside, and one final act of defiance. Snake lights one up, inhales, and blows out the match, plunging everything into darkness.

"Welcome to the human race," he says.
 
Well it really depends on the world population and how much resources we all use right??

Now the third world seems to be producting most of the population now, population having stabilized in most of the other developed nations.

Because the standard of living is lower in those third world nations despite having a higher birth rate they use way less proportion of the resources of the world than in the US.

At the same time we are using their lower wages and expectations to get them to produce goods for us which are affordable and fuel consumer spending and our economy.

But as their wages grow they expect more in their own country or they move to the countries who use a greater % age of the worlds resources per person.

I can't see any way that we avoid either civil disorder or environmental collapse without our standard of living getting lower.

If the people in low wage high population growth countries begin to increase in earning power and live like we do with air conditioners and 2 cars, or all move here we risk social disorder and environmental collapse.

If we make a big push for population control our supply of cheap goods ends. The human component of production becomes scarce wages go higher and while we should be able to feed ourselves and not risk environmental collapse the basics of living will take up most of our paychecks.:rolleyes:
 
hollowdweller said:
Because the standard of living is lower in those third world nations despite having a higher birth rate they use way less proportion of the resources of the world than in the US.
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Except (and this is notable) in the case of food. They (overpopulated 3rd world countries) use up a TON of food. There is a breakpoint where no matter how much food the US grows, it won't feed the whole world.
 
I for one wouldn't mind the end of inane commutes and pointless jobs worked to pay for crap we don't need. I'd be much happier living in a small community which sustains itself. What is unfortunate is the majority of the population has absolutely no useful skills for a primitive life.

That being said I'm sure I'll miss hot showers and things like chocolate.
 
Yeah, it would suck for me. I have no useful skills, and the only skill I've got to school for would become useless in such a collapse (no one around to produce pharmaceutics!).

I'd say I could live off the land, and I could, but there's not enough land for everyone. It really hurts when every persons plan is to 'head to the hills'!

I'm mostly hoping to graduate and get a house with some land, so that I can grow some basic foods of my own.
 
akennedy73 said:
"You push that button, everything we've accomplished for the past 500 years will be finished. Our technology, our way of life, our entire history. We'll have to start all over again. For God's sake, don't do it Snake."

"The name's Plissken."

In his final rejection of the name "Snake," Mr. Plissken willingly plunges himself, and the rest of the world, into true humanity, removing all of the technology that offers some superiority over others. And in the end, there's nothing left except Snake's box of matches and an old pack of cigarettes, one final smoke left inside, and one final act of defiance. Snake lights one up, inhales, and blows out the match, plunging everything into darkness.

"Welcome to the human race," he says.
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Good quote. I always dug the Escape from" " movies. I saw that one on opening night in the Imax theater in Houston. You could definitely tell who in the theater had actually seen the first one back in the day and liked it from the youngins in the theater who never knew there was a first one. All the older fans like myself had big smiles. All the youngins commented on how cheezy and "80's" it was. lol
 
Ok, this is just my opinion for what it's worth - from a country boy who grew up watching the animals and bugs in the woods.

We're not an intelligent species - or to be more precise, we're just as intelligent as every other species. We're no smarter than the foxes, rabbits, the deer and the wolves. There is only one thing that separates us from other species - and it's not art, language, opposable thumbs, tool-making, or humor. It's our ability to control exothermic reactions - in other words, fire. All other animals produce energy within their own bodies - endothermically. Endothermic energy production is limited by the natural biology of the animal - its metabolism. But with exothermic energy production, the sky's the limit. All the solar energy saved up in a forest can be harvested and utilized in campfires. And all the energy stored up in oil and natural gas can power mega-cities and flying through the skies at hundreds of miles an hour and higher than the tallest mountain. Fire is the one thing that has allowed us to colonize the planet and increase our numbers to over six billion.

All species exhibit population overshoot and collapse - including us. And the reason is simple. Even though all species are intelligent and highly adaptable, no one can adapt to something that isn't there yet. The natural systems that support life on earth are vast and complex. And due to their size and complexity, there are time-lags between cause and effect. It is those time-lags which cause species to overshoot the carrying capacity of their environments and collapse.

In the next generation, the next twenty years, we'll begin experiencing the effects from causes that far preceded the present time. The time-lag is over and the chickens are coming home to roost.
 
Fiddleback said:
Except (and this is notable) in the case of food. They (overpopulated 3rd world countries) use up a TON of food. There is a breakpoint where no matter how much food the US grows, it won't feed the whole world.
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True. Or maybe true?

I know we eat way more per person here but I'm not sure how that balances out against a larger population who eats less? Does anyone have any stats on that.

Right now (I think) the US is a net importer of food. Now if we truly closed the borders and allowed nobody in we could probably feed ourselves.
 
I think any whining weenie that wants to b!tch about global warming should spend a minimum of one winter in Prudhoe bay (my place of work)
 
hollowdweller said:
True. Or maybe true?

I know we eat way more per person here but I'm not sure how that balances out against a larger population who eats less? Does anyone have any stats on that.

Right now (I think) the US is a net importer of food. Now if we truly closed the borders and allowed nobody in we could probably feed ourselves.
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Certainly we can all agree that there is a tipping point where land can no longer support population, and that Humanity is racing toward that.

We can also agree that the US is much more suitable for food producing than many of the other nations around the world I hope.

And you've already stated that the industrialized countries have leveled off as far as population growth.

Eventually there will be UN (global) pressure to utilize all possible food producing land to support world populations.

I am a heartless bastard. I think we should join with other big food producers, and OPEC our production out just as we've had oil done to us. But then, I am, as mentioned, a heartless bastard. And everybody already knew that.

One day the currency of the world will be grain. And shortages will equal famine rather than simple inconvenience. Wars will be fought for it.

We may not last the century lads, because IMO we've lost the will for fighting.
 
"We really have less than a decade to start getting this right. If we're still dragging our feet in 2015 I think it really becomes at that point almost impossible for the world to avert a degree of climate change that we simply will not be able to manage without intolerable cost and consequences."
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BULL-ONEY !

What a load of utter and complete crap.

"Global warming" is a sham, a scam, a hoax, a fraud and a swindle. It is merely an instrument to impose taxes, regulations and controls on the masses.

Newsflash: Earth has not warmed up for TEN YEARS.

A better question would be: Will America survive 100 years (or ever 25) if we keep listening to these "Chicken Littles" and obey their every command?

To THAT question, the answer is "nope!"

.
 
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