Quote:
Originally Posted by nonniey
Interesting read.
https://unherd.com/2022/01/how-long-can-humans-survive/
"In the deep ocean, occasionally, a whale carcass falls to the bottom of the sea. Most of the time, in the state of nature, creatures have just about enough to survive. But the first creatures to find the whale have more food than they could ever eat. These scavengers live lives of extraordinary plenty — some of the smaller, faster-breeding species might do so for several generations. There is enough to go around a thousand times over. For a while.
And then the whale is gone, and the creatures go back to their lives of crushing pressure, constant darkness, and an eternal knife-edge struggle for survival. As Thomas Malthus had it in his bleak vision: organisms, which increase exponentially in number, will rapidly outgrow their resources, which can only grow arithmetically. So of course, the excess population which has grown up on this brief glut must die off
We are currently living in a time of whalefall, suggests the scientist Vaclav Smil in his new book, How the World Really Works......." |
Pretty interesting ... a bit circular, dropped me off right where it picked me up.
Fossil fuel = a fallen whale providing a limited source of energy but with energy efficiency we should be good and fossil fuel is still going to be needed to high energy purposes like making steel.
Ammonia thing was interesting, we only use 4% more water now vs the 60s even though there are a lot more of us.
I do believe in climate change and it being the end of human existence .. it is alarming to see it play out so rapidly in real time ... but it makes me laugh to think whether or not I drive a toyota vs an electric car makes a difference with all these companies, factories and countries not giving a shit.
Who cares is the US drops his car emissions if China and India gonna pollute their asses off.