Environment and the coming Super Powers

[SobaViolence]

it's no longer the economy, stupid (http://guerrillanews.com/headlines/7006/Booming_nations_threaten_Earth)

“The world’s ecological capacity is simply insufficient to satisfy the ambitions of China, India, Japan, Europe and the United States as well as the aspirations of the rest of the world in a sustainable way,” the report added.

It said that if China and India were to consume as much resources per capita as Japan in 2030 “together they would require a full planet Earth to meet their needs”, it said.


related article (http://guerrillanews.com/headlines/7004/Chinese_Environmental_protection_s_power_growing)

A year ago, on Jan. 18, 2005, the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) ordered work to be halted on 30 large projects. Of these, 26 were power plants that involved eight provinces and three giant power producers, including the Three Gorges Corporation. SEPA said construction of these projects violated the country’s Environmental Impact Assessment Law.

[kaiser soze]

one way to help

Legalize and encourage Hemp production!!

ok, it won't turn the world around, but hemp products could be a logical/cheap/fast alternative to textile/fiber/petroleum needs

[Bob]

one way to help

Legalize and encourage Hemp production!!

ok, it won't turn the world around, but hemp products could be a logical/cheap/fast alternative to textile/fiber/petroleum needs

no way, because then people would start smoking it! which would be terrible because.....

seriously though, it's a good article...i believe that environmental impact is something that's going to be very important in the coming decades, but nobody of any consequence seems to want to think about it.

[SobaViolence]

the americans are at least relatively honest in their contempt for the environment. It seems everyone else says nice words, but end up doing the same if not more damage.

i'm looking at you, Canada.

vote Green.

[Ace42X]

the americans are at least relatively honest in their contempt for the environment. It seems everyone else says nice words, but end up doing the same if not more damage.


Actually, that is not the case in a lot of fields. In terms of consumption of resources, a US citizen consumes twice as much as a European.

Now, I'm not saying it's because they are all a bunch of wobble-bottomed lard-arses that are as wide as a car. But I am saying that an aquaintance pointed out that the only time he has seen a human get stuck between two OPEN double-doors is when he saw an American Sci-Fi convention.

[SobaViolence]

i was told i was too hard on americans. i was trying to be non-anti-american.


it didn't work out well......

[EN[i]GMA]

Actually, that is not the case in a lot of fields. In terms of consumption of resources, a US citizen consumes twice as much as a European.

Now, I'm not saying it's because they are all a bunch of wobble-bottomed lard-arses that are as wide as a car. But I am saying that an aquaintance pointed out that the only time he has seen a human get stuck between two OPEN double-doors is when he saw an American Sci-Fi convention.

Actually, obesity rates in Europe are nothing to be proud of either.

They are rising in most countries and I believe I heard that Greece and Italy are both 'fatter' than America.

[kaiser soze]

But I am saying that an aquaintance pointed out that the only time he has seen a human get stuck between two OPEN double-doors is when he saw an American Sci-Fi convention.

that wasn't a woman, it was Jabba The Hutt!

[Ace42X]

GMA']Actually, obesity rates in Europe are nothing to be proud of either.

They are indeed rising in Europe. As is the popularity of American style fast-food outlets, and American based multinational food corporations.

Coinky-dink? Possibily.

I believe I heard that Greece and Italy are both 'fatter' than America.

While I do not keep an eye on the Greek / Italy obesity statistics, I doubt that is the case very much.

And I threw the yanks being fat jab in just for shits and giggles. When I refer to the consumption of resources, food is the least of the world's worries, being more renewable than other sources.

[EN[i]GMA]

They are indeed rising in Europe. As is the popularity of American style fast-food outlets, and American based multinational food corporations.

Coinky-dink? Possibily.

I hardly think the problem is uniquely American.



While I do not keep an eye on the Greek / Italy obesity statistics, I doubt that is the case very much.

Your doubt may be misplaced: http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1438700,00.html


And I threw the yanks being fat jab in just for shits and giggles. When I refer to the consumption of resources, food is the least of the world's worries, being more renewable than other sources.

True, but not entirely accurate.

Food is mostly produced with the aid of petro chemicals such as fertilizers and x-cides.

So the more food we produce, the more oil we have to use that area.

That's what worries me most about wanton oil consumption.

We can find other means to propell cars and heat things, but I think that inventing an entirely new array of chemicals may be more challenging.

[Ace42X]

GMA']Food is mostly produced with the aid of petro chemicals such as fertilizers and x-cides.

So the more food we produce, the more oil we have to use that area.

That's what worries me most about wanton oil consumption.

We can find other means to propell cars and heat things, but I think that inventing an entirely new array of chemicals may be more challenging.

I disagree completely. Both in terms of fertilizers and pesticides, we have been reinventing the wheel. Solely for the benefit of fertilizer and pesticide manufacturers for a large part of it. Take the chickens which are fed antibiotics despite not being ill, or the cows being treated with growth hormones despite being already the biggest and heaviest yielding of breeds.

People have been producing food for time immemorial. It is the cars to worry about. Cows ploughing fields is easy. Cows pulling cars? Not feasible.

[yeahwho]

You guys hate electric can openers and everything they stand for. I'm always amazed at how greed can actually make fellow humans risk their own nourishment. Insane that we would have to regulate the food industry, but we do, because they cannot be trusted.

[EN[i]GMA]

I disagree completely. Both in terms of fertilizers and pesticides, we have been reinventing the wheel. Solely for the benefit of fertilizer and pesticide manufacturers for a large part of it. Take the chickens which are fed antibiotics despite not being ill, or the cows being treated with growth hormones despite being already the biggest and heaviest yielding of breeds.

Well, it was only through this 'green revolution' that we managed to avoid the Malthusian scare.

Food production has easily outpaced population production.

But now that I think about it, since the world population is supposed to peak at round 8 Bil and slowly descend, perhaps food production won't be as critical.

But I still think the situation is rather critical.

Our current level of food production is based on petrochemicals.


People have been producing food for time immemorial. It is the cars to worry about. Cows ploughing fields is easy. Cows pulling cars? Not feasible.

Perhaps if we redoubled are breeding efforts, perhaps cows bred with Cheetahs, all our problems could be solved in one fell swoop.

[franscar]

GMA']
Perhaps if we redoubled are breeding efforts, perhaps cows bred with Cheetahs, all our problems could be solved in one fell swoop.

Cheetahs have no stamina. You'd be pretty pissed if you set off on a road trip only for the bastard thing to die two miles down the road from exhaustion.

[SobaViolence]

go China! (http://guerrillanews.com/headlines/7067/Uprisings_in_China)
SHANGHAI, Jan. 16 – A week of protests by villagers in China’s southern industrial heartland exploded into violence over the weekend with thousands of police officers brandishing automatic weapons and using electric batons to put down the rally, residents of the village said today.

As many as 60 people were injured, residents of Panlong village said, and at least one person, a 13-year-old girl, had been killed by security forces, they said. The police denied any responsibility, saying that the girl had died of a heart attack.

[sam i am]

Cheetahs have no stamina. You'd be pretty pissed if you set off on a road trip only for the bastard thing to die two miles down the road from exhaustion.

Quite funny. Excellent post.

What would the new animal be called? A "cheemoo?" or a "cowchee?"