Dan Minette wrote:
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Kristin A. Ruhle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>>
>> As for living standards, frankly I think at some point the world is going
>> to have to bite the bullet and accept that we can't keep consuming ever
>> more forever and ever without destroying the entire planet.
>
>This is one of those off the cuff remarks that have started to get to me.
>Its not you Kat, it is just one of those statements that has been repeated
>so many times it sounds self evident.
It wasn't me to start with. It was the other K.
> First of all, the only item for
>which per capita consumption has taken off is plastic. Per capita energy
>consumption in the US is flat over the last 25 years. Iron, copper, tin,
>etc. have gone down. We are growing our forests at 1.31 x the harvest rate.
>In other words, the forests are coming back...and have been for 80 years.
Er, as pine trees. A consumption of biodiversity is still a consumption.
>Just what are we consuming so that future generations will have to do
>without? Even in the case of plastics, there are plenty of complex
>hydrocarbons to last at the present world consumption rate (including power)
>for thousands of years. Some of them are a bit expensive, now, to extract,
>but nothing like solar power in relative expense. (I cannot possibly see how
>we can use up all the shale in the world...shale is sorta like the spam of
>geology.)
The problem is more the funny green squishy bits one has to peel away to
get at the spam of geology. Those *will* be lost to future generations,
and there's always the chance they might need them, as well as little
things like, you know, air and water....
>The real thing to remember, IMHO, is that there really isn't a shortage of
>any element. There is only a sliding scale of ease of extraction. And, as
>long as the future generations continue to gradually improve extraction
>technology (even at a slower pace than we have) there should be no
>shortages.
I think the problem here may be the word "consumption." Try "destruction"
instead. I'm sure we are replacing most of the things we actively
"consume" but in the process we are *destroying* all those little things
we can't really live without, like the ozone layer. We need to reduce our
consumption not only because we might run out of stuff but because we,
like children, haven't quite figured out how to get all the cookies
without breaking the cookie jar. And since we can't bake any more either,
it behoves us to eat 'em sparingly.
Kat Feete
-------------------------------
"I know about people who talk about suffering for
the common good. It's never bloody them! When you
hear a man shouting "Forward, brave comrades!"
you'll see he's the one behind the bloody big rock
and the one wearing the only really arrow-proof helmet!"
-Rincewind the Wizzard
Terry Pratchett
