Ecological Footprint

[Eyreplenh]

I still think we're pretty much fucked.


---Despite all my work and expenditure, I'm still using 3.5 planets worth of resources

Ah, two things I forgot the other day. One is, obviously, that we cannot assume anyone would or could make much of a greater personal effort than you have, nor can we expect anyone to settle for a other/lower standard of living than what you have in Australia. That being said, there is a simple solution, a mathematical one, even -nominally that there should be roughly 3.5 times as few people around. It's not elegant, it's probably not doable and it's the most politically dead thing since national socialism in Germany (which is coming back, might I say), but it's true. Now, while a big reduction like this is not feasible in any non-genocidal ways, it is a fact that things like democracy and standard of living have great impacts on birthrates. In Europe there's only a couple of countries, Ireland is the only one I can think of offhand, that has a birthrate above 2 (and that is likely to change now that they are so financially roughed up the butt they cannot sit with a straight face). Latvia, on the other hand, is down on the 1.2 number, whereas my own country, the so-called best country in the world, are at 1,7. So... a gradual shift in these things in the third world combined with some technological improvements will lead to a place where we are still pretty much fucked.

Yeah. I think that is true. But the point I had forgotten and that is pretty important, is that even if the human race are heading towards, or even isan extinction event, there's a huge difference for any population if that event kills 90%, 70% or 40% -and I believe, like Arch said, that even individual effort, small things, can work towards shifting that percentage.