by KaiserJeep » Fri 21 Jun 2019, 10:47:34
"Asymmetric" is a good term for what is happenning now. The parts of the World closest to outright collapse are either experiencing climate-related agricultural problems (such as sub-Saharan Africa) or warfare (such as Yemen). An estimated 65 million refugees exist in the world today, about 0.8% of the world population. That figure does not include IDPs (internally displaced persons, still in their own country) or those that cross borders for reasons such as a lack of food (including famine), water, education, health care and a livelihood, and thus are not legally-recognized as refugees.
No, I'm not word-smithing - the treatment of those flowing across the US Southern Border would be vastly different if they were classed as refugees - which is unlikely as long as the USA is a UN Security Council member and thus setting the legal definition of "refugee". However those flowing into European countries from the various Middle Eastern conflicts are clearly refugees. As are Cubans who reach Florida and set foot on US soil, before we can "detain" them at Guantanamo Bay. Of course, starving people are starving people, and various countries like to wordsmith to reduce their legal responsibilities.
You all seem to be converging on my long-held belief that this is a long drawn-out process, not an approaching event. Refugees, violence, economic warfare, and the deceptive politics associated with same, are symptoms of the human overshoot. My assumption is that such things will continue to worsen for the rest of my life. My other assumption is that I live in one of the places least likely to be seriously impacted by the overshoot. On this last, clearly PO forum member judgements differ greatly. However, my wife and I already practice frugality in everything we do, and believe in staying out of debt. As time passes, we strive to make ourselves more resilient and less vulnerable. Up until age claims us at least, as it does everybody.
Right now, my Grandkids and myself are enjoying playing with "G" scale model trains - and I am contemplating building a garden railroad in the backyard. I am teaching train operations (I have not practiced this hobby since I was myself a teenager with an HO scale layout) and they are sharing what they learn on a children's TV show called "Dinosaur Train". The first scenery they want to build is a "Time Tunnel" that takes the train to Triassic World, Jurassic World, etc. Right now, they bring over plastic dinosaurs to ride the train and try to explain to Grandpa what is happening. Grandpa of course has never seen the TV show so they have to be patient and use lots of words - at age 4 plus two weeks communicating with 67-year-old "Pop Pop".
KaiserJeep 2.0, Neural Subnode 0010 0000 0001 0110 - 1001 0011 0011, Tertiary Adjunct to Unimatrix 0000 0000 0001
Resistance is Futile, YOU will be Assimilated.
Warning: Messages timestamped before April 1, 2016, 06:00 PST were posted by the unmodified human KaiserJeep 1.0