Discuss: To Remake the World

Real Science…the correlation of sensory percepts…our best attempt to better our niche in the BIG Eolife on earth…when humans feel that it entitles them to pretend the extent that real science gives..i.e. make us Masters of the Universe in a false belief sort of way, we will Not survive in the most very real sense, Existence. Be good scientists; know the very real limits…without that honesty, no real hope. With it…ah…truly a potential for understanding for generations to follow. Honesty in who we really are.

We are so much littler than we think….understand, enjoy, do your very best…real goods and services…chipmunks, if they were dominant would do a better job than we pretend when we cannot appreciate the Gift of Life…which it is scientifically, religiously…please understand!

Dear Eric Levy,

Your thoughts are uncommon, refreshing and, yes, understandable.  Thank you for them.

My not-so-great generation of elders appear to be doing a disservice to everything and everyone but ourselves.  We are the “what’s in it for me?” generation.  We demonstrate precious little regard for the integrity of Earth; precious little willingness to actually protect the environment from irreversible degradation; precious little serious consideration for the preservation of biodiversity, wilderness, and a good enough future for our children and coming generations; and no appreciation of the understanding that we are no more or less than human and have “feet of clay”.

We live in a soon to be unsustainable way in our planetary home and we are proud of it, thank you very much. Certainly, we will “have our cake and eat it, too”. We will fly private jets, live in McMansions, go to our distant hideouts and risk nothing of value to us. Please do not bother us with the problems of the world.  We choose not to hear them, see them, or speak of them. We, economic powerbrokers, bought-and-paid-for politicians and our many minions in the mass media will meet you with hysterical deafness, willful blindness and elective mutism. If left to our own devices, we will continue in the exercise of our ‘rights’ to the unrestrained consumption of Earth’s limited resources; to expand economic globalization unto every corner of our natural world and, guess what, beyond; to encourage the unbridled growth of the human species so that where there are now 6+ billion people, soon we will have 9+ billion members of the human community and, guess what, even more people, perhaps 90 billion into the future, if that is what we desire.

We are self-proclaimed Masters of the Universe.  We have no regard for human limits or Earth’s limitations, thank you very much.  Please understand that we do not want anyone to present us with scientific evidence that we might be living in an artificially designed, temporary world of our own making…... a manmade world filling up with distinctly human enterprises which appear the be approaching a point in human history when THE INCREASE in global consumption, production and propagation activities of the human species becomes patently unsustainable in the world God has blessed us to inhabit….. and not to overwhelm, I suppose.

Sincerely,

Steve

Dear Eric Levy,

Please be reassured that change in terms of open discussion of good science and intellectual honesty with regard to The Human Population is in the offing. Signs of openmindedness and expressions of support for the apparently unforeseen scientific evidence are surfacing in many places, even though the new, unchallenged evidence regarding the human population is menacing to the Masters of the Universe and their many minions in my not-so-great generation of elders, all of whom are unaccustomed to sharing resources, making changes, and appreciating the importance of maintaining the integrity of the planetary home in which we live.

Always,

Steve

Earth is limited in its resources

Letter to the Editor, Chapel Hill(NC)Newspaper

Nothing surpasses the splendor and diversity of life on Earth. The celebration of the 37th Earth Day on April 22 reminds us of the responsibilities humanity has to protect the integrity of the planet we inhabit, to preserve biodiversity, and to understand as adequately as we are able the placement of humankind within the natural order of living things.

Because global human population numbers have skyrocketed to almost 6.7 billion people who consume ever larger amounts of limited resources, it becomes necessary for us to think and act more carefully with regard to the Earth lest we inadvertently upset the delicate balance established in the many intricate processes of the natural world. We are able to recognize that this celestial orb upon which live can be abused as readily as the multitude of life that depends on it for existence.

In my youth, President John Kennedy said something like this: Here on this good Earth the work of God must surely be our own. If such a thing is to become so, it could make good sense to think at least twice before we kill the animals, shoot the birds, pick the flowers, collect the rocks and disturb the few remaining original wildlife habitats—before humankind commandeers all that remains untouched on Earth.

Data indicate the people in the “developed” world, like me, consume 32 times as many resources as a person in the “undeveloped” world. As a consequence, my “ecological footprint” is huge.

A virtual mountain of scientific evidence indicates that Earth is not an endless provider or an overflowing cornucopia, but rather a bounded celestial body composed of finite resources. Perhaps we are called upon now to revolutionize the way we think, perceive and act toward the planet we are blessed to inhabit. The Earth appears sufficient to our needs, but perhaps insufficient to our unrestrained wishes.

Steven Earl Salmony, Chapel Hill

Reading this article reminds me of am article in a magazine, name long forgotten, back in the 70’s about a phenomina called networking and nets.  No one knew for sure what good they were, or what they could be used for, but it was recognized that they would be extremely durable, and would grow in unforseen ways.  This was, of course, before the WWW.  It is exciting to try to immagine what this thing Hawken is could lead to.

Millennia of gathered statistics, successes, failures,  Five hundred years in the planning _ Now Casting a ‘Global Village Reality’ _ The whole worlds’ a stage and all the men and women will be the players and the audience. The closest thing we have to a script outline or in this case a flow chart for a planet makeover: http://raenergy.igc.org/ought.html

We need more people like Hawken (and Lovins)—to do the best within the capitalist system—not abandon it, as the anarchists suggest. We need effective challenges to capitalism’s trump cards:one, economies of scale, and two, comparitive advantage. We need success stories, and cogent arguments. Thanks.