by zeke » Fri 11 Jul 2008, 00:53:39
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('GoIllini', 'B')ut I think all of this is irrelevant. There won't be a die-off. The planet has a carrying capacity of 8 Billion if we get off the atkins' diet and switch to nuclear energy. And if we wind up with the average family having 1.8 children, as in a lot of European countries, we'll probably head back on down to 2-5 Billion.
Unfortunately, nuclear energy is a net energy loser, not to mention a toxic nightmare. If you do a bit more reading, you'll learn that the supply of Uranium for nuclear power isn't that great...especially the way we Westerners slurp through resources.
Also, more reading would reveal that the carrying capacity we seem to be enjoying is due to the temporary boost we're getting from oil, coal and natural gas. Once they begin to wane in supply, I think you'll find the actual earth carrying capacity of humans to be
quite a bit lower than 8 billion.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')I hate to say it, but the annoying Westerners on this planet aren't going to go away. And heck, all of the farmland and natural resources that us obnoxious Americans have might allow us to become even bigger jerks.
I'd feel way better about "all of the farmland" if we hadn't paved it over with roads, strips malls and the 'burbs. Or if we hadn't dogged the aquifers to death. Or if our farming methods hadn't destroyed the topsoil.
It might be that the survivors won't be a geographic or economic group, but those who can fit in ecologically on a severely damaged biosphere, and can do so without all of the "wonderful" Western technologies that got us to this bad spot in the first place.