Yes - Glad to see others understand this. "Disasters don’t instantly turn people into violent mobs. The myth of chaos is just that — a myth. More often than not, people help each other. They adapt. They organize. I saw it firsthand when wildfires devoured over 250,000 acres in Patagonia. While politicians postured, neighbors became each other’s safety nets. Sure, the usual opportunists lurked, but solidarity and togetherness outweighed selfishness."
This is an excellent update but, as noted in comments, unsupportable population cannot be ignored. These are hyper problems that are entangled in nonlinear complexity. Too many countervailing variables.
Our archaic political processes are now almost always backward worsening a very bad situation; e.g., pushing to increase population to maintain the workforce and production growth.
And you are using the old time scale. I think the faster and worse results are now most likely. That means tipping points to scattered chaos in the next five years with two billion + deaths (humans alone) by 2040. This will produce major ungoverned areas, primarily in equatorial regions but also in some unlucky temperate areas.
You are thoughtfully correct but the devil is in the details.
Ah, my dear Ricky, you are young, idealistic, and wrong headed. Your horizontal bar graph on the the contributors to CO2 tells the tale: the single greatest contributor to environmental collapse in all its dimensions is bringing another innocent life into this dying world to join the 108,000 being born today (net). On the current trajectory, we may see 2 degC by 2027 and 3 degC by 2032, and 6 degC by 2047, when any child unfortunate enough to be born today may celebrate (?) his/her 22nd BD. Have a blessed day. Gregg
Beautifully said. Do you know about the cultural shift we’re igniting to community wealth (replacing current systems now) or the IPBES transformative change assessment / idk if you follow Karen O’Brien
Am excellent essay Ricky. Glad you're still down in Patagonia. If war comes you're better off there. I have a feeling that the global North is in deep trouble and the rebuilding will start in the South
It’s population times per capita environmental footprint. How many people living like Americans could the earth sustain versus, let’s say, rural Indians? Certainly a lot more with the rural Indian lifestyle. Then there’s communal lifestyle versus atomized lifestyle. Amish versus non-Amish. Shakers versus everyone else. Amazonian tribes. Monasteries, too. All these modes of living have to be examined to build a workable future. And people don’t have to wait for their governments to start living them. They need to think and then live outside the box. It won’t be utopian because it involves people who have to learn to manage the naturally occurring conflict and stress that occurs from cooperative living.
Excellent essay, many thanks. The world’s systems, such are agriculture, are deployed to support people and so population numbers are key. Many countries with fairly efficient urban support structures have stable or declining population numbers, which is a good thing. Much of the population growth between now and 2050 will be in Africa, and that’s where catastrophe looms largest if the world does not work together to provide solutions.
Yes - Glad to see others understand this. "Disasters don’t instantly turn people into violent mobs. The myth of chaos is just that — a myth. More often than not, people help each other. They adapt. They organize. I saw it firsthand when wildfires devoured over 250,000 acres in Patagonia. While politicians postured, neighbors became each other’s safety nets. Sure, the usual opportunists lurked, but solidarity and togetherness outweighed selfishness."
This is an excellent update but, as noted in comments, unsupportable population cannot be ignored. These are hyper problems that are entangled in nonlinear complexity. Too many countervailing variables.
Our archaic political processes are now almost always backward worsening a very bad situation; e.g., pushing to increase population to maintain the workforce and production growth.
And you are using the old time scale. I think the faster and worse results are now most likely. That means tipping points to scattered chaos in the next five years with two billion + deaths (humans alone) by 2040. This will produce major ungoverned areas, primarily in equatorial regions but also in some unlucky temperate areas.
You are thoughtfully correct but the devil is in the details.
I wish your voice was heard everywhere. It's frightening how much people who should care - anc can do something about it - don't.
Ah, my dear Ricky, you are young, idealistic, and wrong headed. Your horizontal bar graph on the the contributors to CO2 tells the tale: the single greatest contributor to environmental collapse in all its dimensions is bringing another innocent life into this dying world to join the 108,000 being born today (net). On the current trajectory, we may see 2 degC by 2027 and 3 degC by 2032, and 6 degC by 2047, when any child unfortunate enough to be born today may celebrate (?) his/her 22nd BD. Have a blessed day. Gregg
Kids are also expensive. https://youtu.be/sJ3Pvj2b_2I?si=e8S4G2aFm3SPQYdS
Beautifully said. Do you know about the cultural shift we’re igniting to community wealth (replacing current systems now) or the IPBES transformative change assessment / idk if you follow Karen O’Brien
Would love to have your voice in this!
Am excellent essay Ricky. Glad you're still down in Patagonia. If war comes you're better off there. I have a feeling that the global North is in deep trouble and the rebuilding will start in the South
It’s population times per capita environmental footprint. How many people living like Americans could the earth sustain versus, let’s say, rural Indians? Certainly a lot more with the rural Indian lifestyle. Then there’s communal lifestyle versus atomized lifestyle. Amish versus non-Amish. Shakers versus everyone else. Amazonian tribes. Monasteries, too. All these modes of living have to be examined to build a workable future. And people don’t have to wait for their governments to start living them. They need to think and then live outside the box. It won’t be utopian because it involves people who have to learn to manage the naturally occurring conflict and stress that occurs from cooperative living.
Excellent essay, many thanks. The world’s systems, such are agriculture, are deployed to support people and so population numbers are key. Many countries with fairly efficient urban support structures have stable or declining population numbers, which is a good thing. Much of the population growth between now and 2050 will be in Africa, and that’s where catastrophe looms largest if the world does not work together to provide solutions.