The Population explosion and the future! Anthropocene Apocalypse

 The Population explosion and the future!

Anthropocene Apocalypse

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In Scenario 1 the population continued to grow eating up space, wilderness and destroying all naturally living creatures. Technology dealt with the problems of food, water, energy, weather and even oxygen in the atmosphere. We lived in huge urban developments and the world is devoid of wild-life and natural areas.

Scenario 2.

The premise:

a. We realise the impact of our actions on the environment and limit our numbers, conserve the wilderness and wild-life, stop our habitat destruction and pollution.

b. We lay aside 50% of the planet for wilderness and wild-life. We do not allow roads, hunters or development in these areas.

We are extremely good at solving problems. We can easily create a sustainable future where wilderness and wild-life has a place.

The result:

a. We introduce contraception, education and family planning on a global scale and successfully reduce our population.

b. We use technology to produce better transport, housing, energy production, and food.

c. We do not have urban sprawl, deforestation, overfishing, or other unsustainable exploitation of the environment.

d. We raise the standards of life for all people globally so that there is no longer war, conflict or poverty. There are social services, pensions and sick pay enabling people to live without requiring large numbers of children to support them through hard times.

e. We produce technology that is not polluting and is sustainable. We have ample energy (probably through nuclear fusion and solar) and our farming methods are not cruel or ineffective. We can produce ample good food to support the population without encroaching on the wilderness areas.

f. The forests are conserved. Fishing is sustainable. The weather and global warming is controlled.

g. 50% of the world is teeming with wild-life that we can marvel at. The air, water and soil are not contaminated with carcinogens. We globally control the weather and global warming. Everything regarding conservation and pollution is controlled and enforced globally.

I know which of the two possible future scenarios I would prefer to live in.

The future is for our grandchildren’s grandchildren. In my own life-time we have destroyed over half of the world. I feel we are at the precipice. Will we jump?

The natural conclusion to our population explosion

Anthropocene Apocalypse – Scenario 1 – The natural conclusion to our population explosion

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Let us look into the future and extrapolate from where we are to where we are heading.

Scenario 1

The premise:

a. The population continues to grow

b. There are no catastrophes that wipe us out

Man is extremely good at solving problems. So let us assume that we negotiate our way through problem after problem. We do not annihilate ourselves through nuclear war or manufactured biological warfare. We do not succumb to a virus. We merely continue to grow in numbers.

These are the consequences:

a. Space and shelter. We need land and housing and our cities, towns and villages grow. The countryside becomes consumed in plastic and concrete. Roads connect and transport systems enable easy access.

b. The Wilderness. The wilderness and natural world become open to us and exploited for farming, mining, logging and habitation until there is no more inaccessible wilderness areas. Roads run through every place.

c. The Wild-life. The wild-life now has no habitat left, no food, shelter or way of living. It is butchered for meat, hunted for ivory or medicine (The rarer it gets, the more it is worth, the higher the price, the more worth the risk). The remnants of the wild things are corralled into parks or zoos and confined, protected and used as objects of tourism. Those considered pests, unpleasant or dangerous are eradicated.

d. Food. Even with all the wilderness opened up for farming, the seas fully harvested and hydroponics, genetic modifications and intensive farming methods there is not sufficient food for the burgeoning population. Food is produced from bacteria and fungus in vast industrial vats (Pruteen, mycoprotein etc. – already produced in large quantities – in our pies, sausages etc.), textured, flavoured and used as a meat substitute. Proper meat is a luxury food item.

e. Water. Water is a dwindling resource and desalination plants provide supplies.

f. Energy. Fossil fuels are replaced by large-scale sustainable technology – probably nuclear fusion supplemented with solar.

g. Weather. The effects of global warming are alleviated. The hurricanes and extreme weather conditions are now able to be controlled.

h. Oxygen. Oxygen is a natural product of photosynthesis. With the destruction of the forests and pollution of the oceans it is no longer being produced in sufficient quantities. Oceans are seeded to produce algal blooms and hydrolysis plants produce oxygen from water.

Our lives in these huge metropolises are highly controlled. Our environment is plastic. Our food, water and even the air we breathe is manufactured. We take our children to see the last remaining trees in the tree museum. We then go to the zoo to get a glimpse of and wonder at the little animals that used to run free in the wild.

It’s a vision of the future. It is quite possible. But is that the way we really want to live? Is that the world we want to pass on to our children?

The population crisis – threatening to destroy the planet.

7.7 billion and counting.

Increasing by 81.7 Million a year!!

Every one of which requires land, water, food and space to carry out their life.

Every one of which is responsible for forest clearance, habitat destruction and the death of nature.

https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/world-population-by-year/

This is a madness that is destroying the planet!!

Anthropocene Apocalypse – 7.29 Billion and counting – heading for 12 Billion

Anthropocene Apocalypse – 7.29 Billion and counting – heading for 12 Billion

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There are now 7,293,000,000 people on this planet.

We all require water, food and fuel. We take up room; we destroy the habitat, pollute the water, air and soil and we will soon be 12 Billion.

The natural resources are being used up. The fossil fuels are being used. The climate is being affected. The forests are being destroyed all over the planet.

It is relentless.

If there were ten people they could eat, burn, slaughter and produce waste to their heart’s content. It would not make a speck of difference.

When you have ten billion all requiring wheat, rice, meat, fish, space, shelter, vehicles, fuel, gadgets and the rest it is destroying the natural resources.

Surely everyone can appreciate that this is simply unsustainable? Or are we blithely going to proceed until the last tree is chopped, the last wild animal butchered, the last insect poisoned, river besmirched with sewage, sea made stagnant and climate transformed into a greenhouse cauldron?

Will someone then say ‘Hey – I liked it better before’.

If we do not do something to stop it the politicians in hand with the businessmen will sell off the future to finance their yachts and penthouse suites; only then will they discover that they have to breathe the same air as us!

Photography – Hong Kong – incredible views

Photography – Hong Kong – incredible views

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huge numbers of people – an incredible place.

Human evolution – the movement out of Africa.

Human evolution – the movement out of Africa.

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I find it fascinating to think that Humans evolved in Africa. that we arose as a mutation in a group of primates that was to give rise to the Chimps. Our DNA is only 1% different to that of our brother/sister chimps, bonobos and gorillas.

I think that we are really a third group of chimps. The first humans almost certainly all had black skin.

We have only existed as Homo sapiens for a mere 200,000 years. That is so recent that evolution has had very little time to operate on us. We are all one species and the differences between us are slight.

At the beginning we were one of a number of humans. Unfortunately the other human species all died out. I wonder what the religious amongst us would have made of it if there were a number of human species around today. It would be hard to deny that we are animals and harder to suggest we are ‘God’s chosen’.

Early on in our evolution there was a global catastrophe caused by the eruption of Lake Toba caused a thousand year cold winter for the planet killing most humans off. We were down to a mere 150,000. We too could easily have died out.

The hunter/gatherers moved into Europe only a mere 40,000 years ago. DNA evidence suggests that the whole of the diverse European cultures originated from a mere 300 individuals.

The movement into America is even more incredible. The hunters probably crossed the Beringia Strait land-bridge and worked their way down the coast in canoes. DNA evidence shows that the whole of the native American tribes originated from a mere thirty individuals. They must have been very daring. Imagine making that sort of journey right down to Tierra Del Fuego!

And now we’re busy wrecking the whole planet!

Just 85 people own the wealth of half the planet!!

I still find it had to accept that 85 people hold the equivalent assets to the poorest half of this world. That means that 85 individuals own as much as 3.5 Billion people – 3,500,000,000,000.

Am I alone in believing that is obscene?

I do not believe that it is possible for anyone to ‘earn’ that magnitude of wealth. That amount of wealth can only be accrued through the ‘exploitation’ of other fellow human beings.

That exploitation is a matter worthy of discussion but not the main thrust of my present argument; the issue I wish to pursue is what these superrich people do with these unimaginable resources. My contention is that what they do is horrendous for all of us.

Perhaps I should extend this slightly before I get started for it is not merely 85 people that I am talking about here. There is a superrich club of thousands who between them own most of the world. That is the reality. 99% of us live off the 1% they leave us. They, and their corporations, effectively control the world and run it for their own ends. That means they set up mechanisms to keep the power for themselves so that they can control what goes on and accrue more.

So how do they achieve this?

They exploit global markets.

They exploit tax loopholes.

They control the media.

They buy off politicians.

They lobby, bribe and pressure.

They threaten.

The end result is that this tiny minority of individuals run the world for their own profit without regard for the environment, ordinary people, wildlife or the future. They are a law unto themselves.

This is surely madness!

It is manifestly a recipe for disaster!

It is my contention that many in this group instigate conflict, wars, unrest and social inequality in order to create markets and maximise profits.

War, poverty, starvation, slavery, extreme hardship, deforestation, climate change, ecological destruction and pollution are the product of their lunacy.

We are controlled and indoctrinated with the view that there is nothing that can be done about war, famine and poverty. It is human nature. It will always be with us.

I do not accept that.

Human nature has two distinct sides. There is the negative selfish, greedy, vicious, cruel and destructive side that we read about so often in the news as people and animals are attacked, robbed and sadistically tortured for amusement. But then there is the altruistic side exhibited by the majority who really care about the world, individuals, other creatures and are helpful, friendly, honest and selfless.

Over the course of time, through the invention of civilisation, human society has come a long way. The world is a safer, more pleasant place despite the efforts of the negative players and all their thoughtless cruelty, greed and selfishness.

In general societies have introduced laws that restrict the worst of their activities and these laws work to a degree.

If we manage to survive long enough we will create a better world – of that I am certain. The only problem is whether we will be able to do this in time before the greedy minority succeed in destroying the planet through their insatiable desire for profit and power.

In order to prevent them we must put a stop to this incessant mantra for more. It is my contention that there is no need for further growth and expansion; there is only a need for greater fairness.

Just imagine how beautiful the world would be if there was a virus that destroyed human ego so that nobody wanted to be more important than anybody else, own more and show off?

Imagine all the world’s resources being used intelligently and benignly to solve problems universally rather than to accrue more yachts, mansions and control?

Imagine all the energy deployed by the gangs of lawyers, lobbyists, thugs and bully-boys employed by the elite to bribe, threaten, coerce, misrepresent, obfuscate and confuse, used productively to promote global progress.

We could solve inequality, poverty, war, disease, overpopulation, pollution, and all the rest of the world’s ills. They are not insoluble as some would have us believe.

All that is required is that we find a global way of controlling the tiny exploitative minority so that they cannot mindlessly run the world for their own selfish ends.

Here is a simple 10 step plan to prevent the venomous greedy from controlling us:

1. We stop voting in politicians who are mentally ill sociopathic, psychopathic, paranoid schizophrenics (we seem to make a habit of doing this – Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, Thatcher, Reagan, Bush, Trump etc..)

2. We do away with institutionalised religion. It is used as an excuse by the wealthy. We do not want pie in the sky and the poor do not always have to be with us.

3. We jettison all tribal nonsense – such as hatred for other people, nations, religions and races. We ban xenophobia and begin thinking with our brains and not our glands.

4. We discard the outdated idea of countries and nations and replace it with a global government with global powers to protect people and the environment, to tie up the loopholes and put an end to multinationals exploiting us and the absurd financial gambling that creates boom and bust. With one market and one currency we immediately remove speculation and all the stupidity that goes with it.

5. We replace the stupid outmoded markets that gamble on the world’s resources for profit and create exploitation. We reward people fairly for their efforts. A new global system should not be hard to devise with one market and one currency.

6. We enforce the United Nations charter of human rights as the basis of universal law to ensure that all men, women, children and creatures are treated fairly with rights and responsibilities and respect.

7. We create a universal tax and welfare system so that all are treated fairly, have a safety net of sick pay, pensions and unemployment benefit so that none are needy.

8. We limit our global population to 3 billion – a level that is sustainable without creating environmental mayhem.

9. We have universal laws to control pollution, conservation and environmental degradation to create a world where all life can thrive and everyone has clean air, water and food without destroying the world.

10. We unify our efforts and research to accelerate scientific advances to fight disease, solve potential global destructors posed by asteroids, viruses and volcanoes and create paradise on Earth.

All of this is perfectly feasible! I told you it was easy!

A scab upon the planet – a poem

A scab upon the planet

Like a scab

That keeps growing.

A cancer

That eats away.

A river

That erodes its banks.

A fungus

On an agar dish.

Human civilisation

Spreads its canker

Across the planet.

It grows,

Expands

And consumes

All it touches.

 

It mindlessly

Reduces

All that dares to live

To dust.

 

Opher – 2.5.2019

 

 

I was sitting thinking of the many hopelessly overcrowded cities I have visited across the world with their sprawling suburbs, ramshackle slums and piles of trash, rubble and polluted dust. How they have devoured what once were beautiful landscapes teeming with life and turned them into ugliness.

They really are a cancer eating away at the planet.

Finding room for Nature!

A farm is an industrial complex. It is artificial. By its very nature it disturbs the balance of the ecosystems.

Of course nature, in all its forms – from weeds, insects and animals – impacts on farming. That is why pesticides and herbicides are used so greatly.

To a farmer nature is a pest to be controlled and eradicated.

For instance – a farmer a I happen to know of in Texas created a large lake and was perturbed that nature, in the form of beavers, has done damage to the artificial structures that he has put up. It was costing him money. He declared the beavers a pest and shoots them on sight. He thinks beavers are vermin (along with wild boar and coyotes and any other animals that intrude on his land).

He enjoys hunting and killing these animals and aims to kill them all.

He looks at it from the viewpoint of farmers, economics and humans. His solution is to eradicate all nature that doesn’t conform to being helpful to his enterprise. He labels anything that disrupts his farming or costs money as being a pest in need of eradicating.

There’s the problem.

Right across the globe – Africa, South America, America, Indonesia, Australia – farmers are clearing natural habitat, spraying crops and killing any creatures that dare to ‘intrude’ on to ‘their’ land.

Except it isn’t ‘their’ land is it?

I look at it from the viewpoints of the creatures that were there first. And I think that instead of killing everything (which many farmers obviously greatly enjoy) we should be learning to live alongside nature and respect it.

The huge areas of land that we are clearing from natural habitat to farmland is killing huge numbers of animals. They are literally starving to death.

On top of that we have extensive hunting and overfishing.

The intensive spraying with pesticides and herbicides is killing off all the insects and polluting our food.

There is no doubt that we are systematically destroying nature.

I believe there has to be a healthy balance. We have to give enough wilderness to the animals and plants so they can thrive too. We not only share a planet with them and should respect them but we are dependent on them!

To me it sounds fair that we preserve half of the planet for nature, in the form of national parks and conservation areas, and have half for humans.

We should respect nature and learn to live with it!

How to deal with the overpopulation problem.

Overpopulation is the big underlying cause of most of the world’s problems. It produces habitat destruction, pollution, and affects animal populations reducing biodiversity.

It needs dealing with as a priority before nature is driven out of business.

a. Make it a priority and publicise it.
b. Provide pensions and social welfare so people do not depend on their children when sick or in old age.
c. Provide good education for girls.
d. Educate the world.
e. Provide good sex education
f. Provide contraception and contraception advice.
g. Provide incentives for families of two or less.
h. Provide disincentives for larger families.

AI presents us with a huge opportunity. We could embrace it and spread the profits. Use AI to reduce the need for a workforce and direct people into the caring industries! Or else we leave it with the wealthy continuing to exploit us with the workforce thrown on the scrapheap as surplus to requirements.