Quote:
Originally Posted by kingsway
In general terms, and with obvious exceptions, living standards are rising across the world. African and Asian economies are growing rapidly. Third world countries often adopt new technologies faster than we do in the first-world.
According to many scientists and experts, they should have all starved decades ago - but new developments in Agriculture etc have made it possible to feed ever more people using less land and resources.
If we attempt to go backwards then yes, we are probably doomed. But, if we keep on changing and adapting, the future can continue to be good.
In my lifetime, life expectancy has increased by 30%, 30% fewer children die young, and people are 3 times more affluent than they were in the 1950's.
Without fossil fuels none of this could have happened, and we would probably still be reliant on slave labour!
Life isn't always easy - but it is infinitely easier for the majority of us, than it was 100 years ago!!  |
Yes, much of our progress over the last century has relied on fossil fuels, but the picture for the future is not rosy simply because of that unless you assume that a) fossil fuel reserves are effectively infinite and b) exponential human population growth can be sustained indefinitely. Neither is true, and with a world population forecast to reach 9 billion by the middle of the century and 14 billion by 2100 at the current growth rate at the same time as oil production has remained flat or decreased slightly (or decreased significantly, in the case of US domestic production) and demand is rising--we will hit a wall, sooner or later, and to live in willful ignorance of that fact is to live irresponsibly.