We Need To Get Real About the Planet

Every day there is more bad news about climate change and global warming gases. It seems that the more we hear about it the more we pollute. U.S. emissions are projected to increase, and China is passing the U.S. as the top emitter of CO2.

Hello? We are going the wrong way!

To add to the bad news, new research shows that shows that shipping is twice as polluting as airplanes. Since airplanes are already a major polluter, this is big. However, shipping is the heart of the goods movement in the global economy - it is expected to grow by 75 percent in the next 15 years. Why? Increasing global trade.

All of this should be telling us something, but somehow that message does not seem to be getting through.

We can not do "business as usual." We cannot continue on a growth path based on fossil fuels. We cannot continue to consume at an ever-growing rate. We cannot continue to "grow" the global economy.

No amount of "bio-fuels" is going to allow increased consumption. No amount of nuclear power is going to allow for geometric growth of consumption. No amount of hydrogen fuel cells is going to allow for endless growth. All of these "options" in full swing (which they are not) will allow for increased consumption.

We have met and passed the capacity of the planet to support us AT THE CURRENT LEVEL.

I find it beyond coincidental that as we near the usable end of petroleum in the earth, that what we have put into the air is transforming the planet. There seems a balance there. While the perception has no scientific support that I know of, it matches natural balances.

Even if we were not nearing the end of the age of oil - and a short though glorious run it was - we are also running out of iron, gold, tin, fresh water, and fish in the sea. Even if oil were endless, the other natural resources of the planet are not, and some nations (like the U.S.) have used those resources at a prodigious rate. Can we accelerate our consumption of those resources and expect a positive outcome? No. There is not even a maybe. Just flat NO.

So where should we be putting our energy, resources, and economic investments? Should we continue to "grow" the global petroleum economy, or should we be figuring out how to live with the planet?

What are "they" thinking about? You know, the "they" who make the decisions about the direction of nations; the "they" who write and sign international trade agreements; the "they" who decide to war and bomb. So on to the big question.

Can "they" lead where "we" don't follow?

I think not, but it depends on how many of "us" there are. I think there are a lot of "us," but also a lot of "us" who are afraid of what we don't know. Unfortunately, what we do know is that the path we are on is going over a cliff. The question is how close to the cliff we get before "we" are ready to say "No."

The really bad part is the there is a gathering momentum to the changes that are happening. It is increasingly clear that where we think we are is not where we actually are.

We are on the only planet that we know of in the whole universe that will support life (at least life as we know it). We are terraforming the only habitable planet. Further, we are seemingly doing everything we can to make the only habitable planet that we know uninhabitable! I truly think that human intelligence is greatly over rated.

Posted by rowan at March 8, 2007 6:05 AM | [eMail this article!] |