PeakOil is You
The most important message for humanity...
Re: The most important message for humanity...
by DesuMaiden » Wed 04 Feb 2015, 01:12:13
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('onlooker', 'I') have noticed that members here fall into two camps those who see somewhat of a die-off but eventually settling into a more stabilized mode with a lesser size population and those who see catastrophic die-off with little chance of resuming any kind of civilized society and in fact maybe eventual extinction. I side much more with the latter. I think anyone who does not see the damage already inflicted upon Earth and the damage yet to occur is not seeing all or not seeing correctly. The Biosphere is in severe stress as we speak. The ecosystems that all higher forms of life depend on for survival are deteriorated and in danger of completely breaking down. We are in the process of drawing down vital resources such as fresh water, fossil fuels and topsoil. In fact soil is in some places dead and is only producing via fossil fuel derived fertilizers and pesticides. What happens when these are reduced drastically. Our huge world population is stressing ever more the planet. Global warming threatens to ramp up greatly with methane being released. This is not a matter of allocation of resources, powering down, reorganization etc. It is a matter of Earth being on the border of becoming inhospitable to higher life forms. Is their time to avert this? That to me is the question. My opinion is perhaps but unlikely because of our huge population, our ignorance of the true emergency state we are in and our affinity to live at a certain materialistic standard of living.
I'm in the same state as you. I think the system is collapsing. And we are facing an extinction level event right now. We can potentially render ourselves extinct with population overshoot. if we keep on increasing our population (and therefore consumption), the Earth's natural resources will naturally become too scarce. And when the natural resources become too scarce, we are endanger of becoming extinct.
For example, most of the fish in the oceans (over 90%) are now gone from overfishing. This is because too many people are on the Earth, and they all demand fish for food. So all of the fish end up getting eaten by the excessive population of human beings.
Another problem is fresh water. We are facing fresh water shortages because there are too many people using fresh water. There are too many people using the resource resulting in the resource being used at a faster rate than its replenishment rate. And in some cases, fossil aquafiers found under the ground are nonrenewable, because they take many thousands or millions of years to replenish. 2/3 of the planet will face fresh water shortages in 2025, which is only 10 years from now. That's an incredible number of people lacking in clean fresh water. And this is again because of population overshoot.
And then there is the issue of topsoil. The topsoil around the world is severely depleted from over-tilling. And the soil in most parts of the world have been so overexploited that without petrohemical fertilizers and pesticides the soil has become a junkie. The soil has become worthless for growing food because all of the nutrients has been sucked out of it. Again, this is because the demand for growing food is so high that the soil has essentially become overexploited, which is again caused by the growing population's ever-increasing demands for food.
There is also the issue of peak phosphate rock. Phosphate rock is essential to maintaining enough food being grown for our population. Without phosphate rock, our food production will go down, which will result in the starvation of countless people. But phosphate rock is a nonrenewable resource, meaning we can one day run out of it. And when we run out of phosphate rock, food production will go down, resulting in the starvation and death of countless people.
And there is also the issue of peak iron ore. Iron may be an abundant ore in the Earth's crust, but we have been building so many steel-framed buildings that we are running out of iron ore. The only brightside is that we can recycle iron and steel to a certain extent, but that doesn't change the fact that we don't have anymore iron to build new steel-framed buildings.
And then there is the issue of rare earth minerals. They are mined mostly from China, and unfortunately they are rapidly running out. We have very little of these rare earths anymore. And they are needed in the manufacture of computer parts and countless other electronic devices. So without rare earths, we can't manufacture computers and other electronic devices, which is a shame because these devices have really improved the standards of living around the world.
The bottom line is that there is simply too many people using up too much stuff and too quickly. And the population only knows how to grow, meaning the demand placed on the Earth only becomes bigger year after year. It will reach a point where the Earth is so overburdened by our ever-growing population that our economic and social systems completely collapse. Resulting in the deaths and suffering of countless people.
History repeats itself. Just everytime with different characters and players.
- DesuMaiden
- Tar Sands
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Re: The most important message for humanity...
by onlooker » Wed 04 Feb 2015, 02:25:56
Well said Desu, unfortunately this is the stark reality we are at now. I truly regret this situation not only for myself but for everyone as well as the animals and flora. I wish it were not so. But the facts are the facts. I do hold out hope for some event to occur unexpected not involving us but others. However since I have noticed that on this site not much is mentioned of this, I will withhold comments about this. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone.
"We are mortal beings doomed to die
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onlooker - Fission
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Re: The most important message for humanity...
by DesuMaiden » Wed 04 Feb 2015, 02:32:43
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('onlooker', 'W')ell said Desu, unfortunately this is the stark reality we are at now. I truly regret this situation not only for myself but for everyone as well as the animals and flora. I wish it were not so. But the facts are the facts. I do hold out hope for some event to occur unexpected not involving us but others. However since I have noticed that on this site not much is mentioned of this, I will withhold comments about this. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone.
When you realize how screwed we are as a species, it is easy to go into a denial mode. I often go into denial saying "it can't possibly be this bad". But no matter how much I deny reality, I eventually realize that sh1t is only going to get worse unless we do something about it.
History repeats itself. Just everytime with different characters and players.
- DesuMaiden
- Tar Sands
- Posts: 888
- Joined: Mon 06 Oct 2014, 16:00:31
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