CBS report: Earth's resources are running out.

[mrpackerguy]

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[Jarrett]

The same thing that happens when any species outgrows its environment. Just a matter of when.

 

[NWB]

What I would expect to happen is not a complete wipeout of our species, but rather a down-slope return on that graph to some lower historic number. Not exactly the end of the world. However, the time period during the down-slope will likely be rather unpleasant.

Unfortunately, I don't have a good graph handy, but try comparing the world population graph above with a graph of coal and oil production/use. You'll find a pretty good correlation.

Consider fossil fuels as a sort of energy battery. Millions of years of sunlight stored in underground carbon deposits. We've been draining that battery very, very quickly.

 

[scorpionldr]

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Now what do we do?

guess its time to pull out our knives and start whittling

well....ok, lets look at a few things here. We've went "green" energy. We've also made that technology too expensive for average man to have at it.

We've made fancy cars. Porsche, Ferrari, you name it, we said "oh its so beautiful! lets sell it for a hundred thousand or so" paying no attention to how we made it and at what cost it would take.

We've mostly ignored electricity or any other source of power than oil for generations.

We never said "the population is too high" (there is one sad movie I can recommend, but I'd rather keep the banter down on this thread) even when our own country's smallest states are among the most congested to be seen.

We dismissed land as being so abundant that we can waste miles and miles on putting people under it, with personal monuments.

The "rich" is among a very small population who can actually afford to invest in "changing the world for the better", and the majority ignores it.

So after all this, now we care? :scowl:

 

[michael_atw]

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I wonder if we could ever swallow such a bitter pill? Having to sterilize ourselves in order to save society?

 

[michael_atw]

well....ok, lets look at a few things here. We've went "green" energy. We've also made that technology too expensive for average man to have at it.

I don't think anyone has "made" that tech too expensive. It starts out just like any other tech. I believe the tech for electric vehicles is becoming more cost-effective, actually.

The problem with the present is we have no truly efficient and cost-effective method to create energy to use besides the non-renewable "dirty" resources. We have wind, solar, nuclear, hydro, geothermal, etc. but all have the drawbacks. Some are expensive, some are temper-mental, some can't be used everywhere, some are expensive, etc.


We could very well find the Golden Goose but we're sort of running on borrowed time and of course, it takes resources to research.

 

[scorpionldr]

I don't think anyone has "made" that tech too expensive. It starts out just like any other tech. I believe the tech for electric vehicles is becoming more cost-effective, actually.

The problem with the present is we have no truly efficient and cost-effective method to create energy to use besides the non-renewable "dirty" resources. We have wind, solar, nuclear, hydro, geothermal, etc. but all have the drawbacks. Some are expensive, some are temper-mental, some can't be used everywhere, some are expensive, etc.


We could very well find the Golden Goose but we're sort of running on borrowed time and of course, it takes resources to research.

the purchase of a more efficient (say, for example, a hybrid, since they're so popular) vehicle is noticeably more expensive than average, then you have to consider maintenance and parts (if it comes down to that), and not only that, but if its electric....that **** still isn't quite "integrated" into our society. I mean, I'm seeing charge stations at the local comm college but thats one place....

 

[michael_atw]

the purchase of a more efficient (say, for example, a hybrid, since they're so popular) vehicle is noticeably more expensive than average, then you have to consider maintenance and parts (if it comes down to that), and not only that, but if its electric....that **** still isn't quite "integrated" into our society. I mean, I'm seeing charge stations at the local comm college but thats one place....

Yes, but in your first comment you claim that we "made" green technology too expensive. No, that's how all technology initially starts out. It's not created to be expensive. It is expensive because the creation forbids the cost-effectiveness, initially.

 

[MatticusMania]

guess its time to pull out our knives and start whittling

1)well....ok, lets look at a few things here. We've went "green" energy. We've also made that technology too expensive for average man to have at it.

2)We've made fancy cars. Porsche, Ferrari, you name it, we said "oh its so beautiful! lets sell it for a hundred thousand or so" paying no attention to how we made it and at what cost it would take.

3)We've mostly ignored electricity or any other source of power than oil for generations.

4)We never said "the population is too high" (there is one sad movie I can recommend, but I'd rather keep the banter down on this thread) even when our own country's smallest states are among the most congested to be seen.

5)We dismissed land as being so abundant that we can waste miles and miles on putting people under it, with personal monuments.

6)The "rich" is among a very small population who can actually afford to invest in "changing the world for the better", and the majority ignores it.

7)So after all this, now we care? :scowl:

1) We've not "gone green", as you say, the average man cant even afford to
2) Expensive cars have nothing to do with this topic
3) We can get by without oil, we may have to stop driving as far, but there are alternatives, and its left to each and every one of us to enact change
4) There is still A LOT of open space in the US, its just that people prefer to live right on top of each other
5) See 4
6) Each one of us has the power to contribute to making the world a better place. The notion that it requires an abundance of money to do so is absurd. Change starts small and snowballs into something bigger. We can all do our part to cut down in resource waste, its just that most people are too selfish to care and far outnumber those who do.
7) Some people have cared for a very long time, attitudes like the one youve presented only make excuses without actually addressing any of these issues.

 

[NML1986]

I just got my driving licence back today after a year and a half of not driving, don't think I'll bother driving now.

 

[Bloodhammer]

Hmmm ... the fifth billion took 12 years, while the sixth billion took 13. Let's hope it's a sigmoid curve. You know, one good asteroid strike, and we could be down to a couple hundred thousand. That could give us a chance to get it right.

Or just a good 'ol pandemic. We should be about due for the next super-bug.

 

[nortonrider]

We could very well find the Golden Goose but we're sort of running on borrowed time and of course, it takes resources to research.

Hydrogen

 

[Bloodhammer]

Hydrogen has very miniscule energy output, when burned, compared to carbon.

 

[MatticusMania]

I just got my driving licence back today after a year and a half of not driving, don't think I'll bother driving now.

Aside from work, because I work 50 miles from home, Ive cut down my driving dramatically.
Ive been riding a bike to the gym, to the store, to anywhere local really, when Im not riding it for exercise.

 

[scorpionldr]

1) We've not "gone green", as you say, the average man cant even afford to
2) Expensive cars have nothing to do with this topic
3) We can get by without oil, we may have to stop driving as far, but there are alternatives, and its left to each and every one of us to enact change
4) There is still A LOT of open space in the US, its just that people prefer to live right on top of each other
5) See 4
6) Each one of us has the power to contribute to making the world a better place. The notion that it requires an abundance of money to do so is absurd. Change starts small and snowballs into something bigger. We can all do our part to cut down in resource waste, its just that most people are too selfish to care and far outnumber those who do.
7) Some people have cared for a very long time, attitudes like the one youve presented only make excuses without actually addressing any of these issues.

1. That's right. "Going Green" is a marketing scam. Want to know how much of the forest I'm consuming just by working for the company I'm with right now? (mind you with **** microline printer technology). Yet they talk about going paperless like the wheels have been in motion long before I began working with them. Yea, I wonder how much was going to waste before me.
2. Expensive cars absolutely have a lot to do with it. What do you think happens when people can't afford to buy these cars? They sit there. Wasted time, resources, metal, paint, it all adds up.
3. We're brainwashed into believing oil is the only option, that or the ethanol **** going around. That's only a delay, when corn suddenly changes and becomes more difficult to grow.
4. We handle that space like ****ing idiots! There's room in VA, GA, Cali, etc. Because the "metro" area is NYC (and the states around it), LA, Chicago, etc are "the main" areas, people don't decide to spread further.
5. Its still a lot of space that consumes plenty of the planet. You don't think that would come back to bite us in the end?
6. Not everybody is living on top of their game, which has led us to the problems we have currently. The average awareness of people today doesn't show overwhelmingly high numbers of people that want to make a change, something that is imperative at this point that just like the government does, gets covered up and flowered with nice comments about the state of affairs.
7. Look at 6. I reiterate. People are not changing, and if they are, probably not as much as they could.

You think the world has the power to change? I don't think that change comes from an obesity rate that swallows over half the general population of the United States.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

You realize it's that same open space that's far from cities that forces guys like Matt to drive 50 miles to work each day, right? That's the inherent flaw in our infrastructure. We built our nation with the idea of the automobile being a daily part of a workers commute from the suburbs into the cities. Oops. Didn't account for that finite resource that actually gets the car moving.

And going green is a marketing scam? *bites lip* OK. Let's assume it is a marketing scam ---- who cares? What's bad about turning to alternative forms of fuel that are cleaner and will leave a nicer planet for our kids to inherent? Honestly, what is bad about that? Likewise, what would be so bad about using a new energy source that is renewable and won't cost a guy $100 every single time he hits up a pump? Again, where's the con? At least if we make the change now while we still have gas reserves then the change will be calm and easy. I'd rather us make the change and find out we don't need it than wait, need it, but not be able to change because we don't have enough gas reserves to make it happen.

 

[bassguppy]

No need to worry, the Rapture will take care of our concerns.

 

[scorpionldr]

You realize it's that same open space that's far from cities that forces guys like Matt to drive 50 miles to work each day, right? That's the inherent flaw in our infrastructure. We built our nation with the idea of the automobile being a daily part of a workers commute from the suburbs into the cities. Oops. Didn't account for that finite resource that actually gets the car moving.
I'm saying that there isn't proper distribution of population density because unfortunately where the business is is where everyone gravitates to quickly.
And going green is a marketing scam? *bites lip* OK. Let's assume it is a marketing scam ---- who cares? What's bad about turning to alternative forms of fuel that are cleaner and will leave a nicer planet for our kids to inherent? Honestly, what is bad about that? Likewise, what would be so bad about using a new energy source that is renewable and won't cost a guy $100 every single time he hits up a pump? Again, where's the con? At least if we make the change now while we still have gas reserves then the change will be calm and easy. I'd rather us make the change and find out we don't need it that wait, need it, but not be able to change because we don't have enough gas reserves to make it happen.
It is a scam because currently it does about diddly to help the situation. If people really were going green this whole project would have been pushed forward HARD before they ever mentioned it. Thus far, I have yet to see incentive (such as cash for clunkers, which was EXTREMELY popular) to be able to get rid of my current ride to move to a more efficient one because the amount of money I'd have to invest in a new car with the difference of how little my car makes in trade-in value would be way more than I have the ability to spend so far

~!

 

[nortonrider]

No need to worry, the Rapture will take care of our concerns.

only 218 more days until 12-21-12

 

[duff beer]

Technology isn't the answer in the long run...people just have to stop breeding like rabbits. The cost is minimal (birth control), and is the simplest solution requiring the least effort.