Quote:
Originally Posted by Daradon
But the way pollution, resource scarcity, and population is going we are headed for this some day. I really doubt our technology, green shift, or shift towards caring for others will help us in time. It's a snowball that is getting bigger quick, and the full extent of our current situation isn't reported in the mainstream.
We need drastic changes in the way we do things now and no one seems to be prepared to do that. Greed still runs and rules. Both in the halls of power (government and corporate), and with humanity as a whole.
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I have an issue with this post (but not the poster). The way things are going with pollution, resource scarcity, and population??? These things are all getting better, not worse. Look at prices for pretty close to any resource, they are at or below historical levels when adjusted for inflation, with the exception of gold - which is due to the huge increase in wealth we have all had in the last 20 to 50 years.
Pollution? In the developed world, pollution is so much better now than it ever has been, with the exception of the highly controversial CO2 - I don't want to get into that argument right now, but we used to have an issue with that PLUS acid rain, and the ozone hole, and polluted water everywhere. The pollution out there now is in China, and they are actually slowly working at getting even that better as they get richer. Rich people don't live beside dumps.
As for population, well, there's the real issue for the future. In 100 years, we may have too few people. Look at birth rates in wealthy countries, they are getting to the point that their populations are decreasing. And, as other countries get richer, their population growth rates go down as well. We've turned the corner on population in the world as a whole. Yes, all those things you have mentioned are serious concerns for, say, Africa, or portions of the Middle East, but that's the exception to the rule right now, not how things are.
There are other issues we are going to have to deal with that are just as damaging - dealing with population imbalances (as opposed to over population), shifting power centers potentially leading to war, shifting economic bases to change from a population growth model to something new, continuously disruptive new technologies. But not the old fears. Unless we drop the ball (and we haven't yet), we should have
those licked soon.