Quote:
Originally Posted by aerohead
How is this germane to a discussion on climate change?
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I'm here to raise awareness that we have a much more pressing problem than climate change that will hurt us much worse and much sooner. Which is resource depletion. Humans are already several decades into ecological overshoot. As was predicted 45 years ago in "The Limits To Growth". The best we could hope for now is an oscilating correction if we could let logic be the guide back to a simpler way of life where most people could grow their own food. But awareness is still too faint. People that even contemplate that there is anything whatsoever wrong still hold out uneducated hope for a techno salvation. But if the scale of our consumption is put into context it is obvious that rebuildables can never replace even a small portion of the carbon energy we are current blessed with. Not to mention the diminishing ore quality of several key minerals that have been consumed and washed away.
Because of only a 5% per year reduction in energy access over 10 years the Russian economy fell to 1/2 after the break up of the Soviet Union. Corruption and inequity took over. And many people apparently killed themselves.
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It takes only the slightest trend toward degrowth in our current socio-economic system to cause a big collapse.
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We are headed for a future with less. We will go kicking and screaming but it would be much better to guide ourselves down intentionally.