A reader at the Guardian has proposed we should
return to living like in the Middle Age because we are running out of oil.This
led to a debate, in which I added my comments. Lately I have been reading proposals to destroy the economy and
return us to the 18th century because we exhausted the earth's natural resources, or because
the world is getting hotter due to CO2 emissions.
Photograph: 1794 Morgenstern Bauernhof
We need to take this seriously because President
Obama´s Science Czar John Holdren is the character who wrote this in 1977 (from his book “Ecoscience: Population, Resources, and Environment”):
“...organized evasive action: population control,
limitation of material consumption, redistribution of wealth, transitions to
technologies that are environmentally and socially less disruptive than
today’s, and movement toward some kind of world government”
I can see the need to take some action, but
this guy uses a potential crisis to advocate world government? This tells me we
face a danger that the US White House is brainwashing us to push hidden agendas, and the Global Warming brouhaha is being used to sell them.
Photograph: US Citizen Undergoing Brainwash (from NY Times article about Dollhouse)
Anyway, below I quote from the first post, and a few
choice responses (including mine, of course):
Net: “I can't see that anyone has posted
the obvious. We are animals and don't
necessarily need lights after dark to survive. What we do need to survive
is food and warmth... What would be so wrong
in going back to the sort of life our grandparents and great grandparents
lived? Does this
energy rich, consumer lifestyle really make us that much happier. I'm quite
aware that it would come down to the survival of the fittest, so hopefully some
humans from non-industrial nations who are used to living without so much crap
will be the survivors of this suicidal human race to the end.”
Social Critic: “It´s reasonable to hope to have
an increasing gross domestic product. This isn´t that difficult to achieve...However, a larger portion of this higher gross
domestic product will have to be spent investing in and sustaining energy
sources...."
Theeighty: “That's like saying: "oxygen
levels are dropping, but don't worry, we have adult lungs now and we can
survive with almost no oxygen! ....Without energy, there is no economy. How much
economy do you think we would have if suddenly there was half, or no energy? ...That sentence of yours shows the total and
complete unawareness of what energy is: energy is everything..."
Social Critic: “...then the obvious answer is that
GDP has to grow by more than 0.5 % to offset the loss. A 2 to 3 % GDP growth
rate isn´t that unusual....The World bank expects the global economy to
grow by 2.8% in 2014....Thus my proposed 2 % GDP growth isn´t a wild estimate."
In conclusion, the end
of oil is upon us, but this doesn´t mean we have to tear our shirts and join a
monastery, nor do we have to turn communists so we encourage economic
destruction and poverty. If nations are willing to behave intelligently this
has a solution.
The solution isn´t what I see the radical left
proposing. Communism is a failure, humanity won´t abide by the human rights
abuses and lack of freedom associated with that system….The obvious solution is to nurture the economy
and manage a change into cleaner energy solutions, without going hysterical”
If you want to read the article and comments look up “US shale boom is over, energy revolution needed to
avert blackouts” by Nafeez Ahmed at The Guardian. The article itself is pretty funny and full of errors. I wrote
a comment for Dr Ahmed explaining why.
This Youtube video is worth watching:
If you want to learn about Obama´s Science
Czar, read this right wing
website:
Or this left
wing website:
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