Solving the world's overpopulation problems?

[Encephalon]

Sounds good! Although all I seemed to have learned in geo class was how long it would take me to die if I was in the centre of a nuclear explosion, a few things about marshes vs stone and which countries on the globe (at the time) were pink vs blue.

 

What level does one have to get through before all the stuff you mention kicks in?

 

Edit: it's uncannily like Taoist alchemical practices :-)

 

That depends on the individual. An intro to phys. geog. will be extremely rewarding to people who have nurtured their natural curiosity. Once you introduce the element of location into your mental universe, connections between divergent bodies of data you've accumulated will create new patterns of understanding.

 

You can also go straight to human ecology and bone up with this -

 

http://www.amazon.com/Human-Ecology-Gerald-G-Marten/dp/1853837148/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320808895&sr=1-1

 

[joeblast]

You and your global warming deniers including the TV weatherman that you so idolize, do not have access to the computing power to create a comprehensive model of global warming. Only labs such as Los Alamos have the computational power to analyze the myriad variables that are part of the biosphere. Therefor, your so called rigorous analysis is not rigorous and only is a critique of partial data. Unless of course you have a computer that can operate in the teraflop range with all the data accumulated to date. I rather doubt it!

 

Even with my math background, which includes utility theory (800 level), I would be a fool to postulate a critique of the current model. However, there are a number of purveyors of pseudoscience that have no academic qualifications that deceive the gullible public with partial truth's and lies i.e, your TV weatherman.

 

 

As far as your analogy of applying yang and yin to your dislikes, the Tao has everything to do with nature being in balance. The Tao is not on your or anyone's side. The Tao is not a magical fairy that you can make a procurement as if it were a business transaction. Further, the Tao will not sprinkle magical fairy dust on the human species before the ship sinks!

ROFL ergo, "if the deniers simply had more powerful computers, they would necessarily reach the same conclusions as those who garner their models for subsidies." You have got to be kidding me! GIGO, brother. That's why nobody of rational mind believed the Congressional Budget Office when they scored portions Obamacare that were presented to the public as comprehensive - we all knew it was GIGO and there was no way in hell it was going to cost less than a trillion dollars for its 10 years of payment and 6 years of disbursed benefit, with a severely compressed cost curve beyond based on overly rosy assumptions of human behavior.

 

No matter how much computing power you have, if your model does not accurately reflect reality then it is little more than a surreal playground for a theorist. Fortunately, most other disciplines must adhere to the scientific method or GTFO, but that's unfortunately not the case with overpoliticized climate "science."

 

You have a severe issue with confirmation bias, my friend - all you can do is ad hominem attack the messenger, I am attacking the incomplete and woefully inadequate theoretical model upon which you apparently kneel.

 

As to your missing the yinyang point...well...I cant force you to accept logic, and if you bothered to comprehend my last post you'd know your last sentence was contained within my statement.

 

I never said I didnt attend college, I have no issues with college students - just the socialists, because that aint america and if you want socialism, move to another country and enjoy it, dont screw up this country further with neverending promises of other people's money.

[joeblast]

Might I humbly suggest an alternative? Geography is the study of the earth. It also happens to be one of most hyphenated sciences out there - physcial, cultural, population, environmental, marxist, feminist... you name it. Modern geographical studies borrows and steals from virtually every other academic subject to answer specific questions such as "Why is This happening Here? What accounts for the location of this phenomena?" But it also makes use of Global Studies and human ecology to study the earth as a whole. It's an elegant subject, with vast explanatory power, very Buddhist/Taoist in its Systems Theory approach, and it doesn't take a Phd to enjoy it. Even lower-division classes at the local junior college are enough to blow your mind at just how comprehensible the world can be, depending on the professor, of course.

 

"In regards to the reduced risk of energy problems I mentioned earlier in this thread, I made this decision based on the knowledge that there are trillions of gallons of oil waiting to be tapped within the U.S. alone, once we're able to reach them in an economically viable fashion. Also we're already tapping the Bakken Play, which holds an estimated 100 billion gallons of oil. That oil should make it to market in 5 years or so. My estimates regarding how (un-)dire the situation is, comes from listening to both sides and determining whose agenda seems more nefarious."

 

I don't know how you managed to scrounge up this data, Aaron, but it's grossly in error. The amount of energy required to release oil from shale requires an amount of energy equal to or greater than the energy you'd end up with, not to mention having to drain Lake superior to get enough fresh water to steam clean the oil out of the sand. The only reason this story continues to have viability is because the oil companies are positioning themselves for the go ahead... as long as the extraction costs are borne by the public treasury. The profits, of course would be privatized.

 

Economically viable? Then dont hand the reins to the environmentalists, the majority of which seem to care more about not expanding human influence on the planet than anything else.

 

Is that really the proper way to make a determination? The evil person may be correct and the good person may be entirely ignorant. One's intentions doesnt make him correct or not.

 

Yet we're still producing fuel from food, EPA estimates of electric car efficiency often leave out half of the generation of power in its efficiency calculations. Subsidy should be timely and targeted, in other words but a nudge in the right direction as opposed to a pillar of the structure.

[Aaron]

In regards to the whole "we're all gonna become animals 'cause the oil is gonna be gone" theory, I just wanted to add that wind power is increasing in popularity every year as a model source of renewable energy. In fact many authorities on the subject of renewable energy feel it will have less ecological impact than using solar (the chemicals in the cells are highly toxic), geothermal heat, or hydroelectric power. I was also surprised to learn that 16% of the world's energy is provided by these renewable resources and that this percentage is growing every year. Who knows, by 2020 we might be able to provide 50% of the energy that we produce from these sources. Clean energy.

 

The more I learn about this topic, the less I feel inclined to worry about the impending doom of mankind, it seems that many people are already aware of these issues and taking practical steps to solve them.

 

Aaron

[Harmonious Emptiness]

 

 

Once again: Simple:

 

government stops wasting money on military to secure oil abroad and pretending to fight drugs

 

puts that money to growing hemp everywhere rain falls - along highways, between houses, previously unusable land becomes usable when hemp is grown on it, so, ev-e-ry-where..

 

instead of coming up with useless jobs to employ people, employ them in harvesting and processing hemp ethanol (hemp produces, literally, 10 times the amount of ethanol per acre than corn, plus it harvests 3 times a year)

 

all the land that was previously useless can now be used to grow food

 

Follow wisdom of Taoism

 

Well, I'm with you in spirit, and there's no question that hemp will be a huge crop in a post-industrial society, but there are enormous forces, political and economic, aligned against the utilization of hemp, some of them in unison with an anti-marijuana agenda. People, 21st century competition for the remaining resources is going to be a game of "The Lst Man Standing" and will make all previous resource wars look like minor skirmishes.

 

There has been talk for decades about simply bribing the energy and chemical companies with monopolies in solar power, sustainable agriculture, water desalinization and the like in the hopes that they don't take down the rest of the planet with them.

 

They ain't interested.

 

I'm sure those in power have little to zero intention to let go of their stranglehold, but the world is really just going to have to say "TOO eFF'n BAD." There is no room for those diseases on the human race. They screw everything up and then blame it on those who suffer their consequences. The Tao will spit them out like the dead mucus they are..

[TzuJanLi]

Greetings..

 

All 7 billion people fit into the state of Texas (US), with a 20'x 50' plot of land, each.. the issue is excess, of resources and perceived 'needs' that are usually embellished 'wants'..

 

Be well..

[gendao]

The most to-the-point way to reduce world population would be a global agreement, ratified by the UN, to limit the birth rate to 2.0 per woman. Over time, the population would gradually decrease and stabilize.

Or at least ban any TANF/social welfare assistance for any additional children beyond 1. Therefore, if you CHOOSE to have any more than that, it's ALL ON YOUR OWN DIME, period.

 

Whereas currently, our liberal welfare system actually subsidizes this instead:

[Aaron]

Or at least ban any TANF/social welfare assistance for any additional children beyond 1. Therefore, if you CHOOSE to have any more than that, it's ALL ON YOUR OWN DIME, period.

 

Whereas currently, our liberal welfare system actually subsidizes this instead:

 

Oh Wow... Trolling... does anyone else notice. Not enough conflict in the Global Revolution thread for you Vortex? Anyways, I'm not taking the bait, hopefully others wont either. Lets try and keep the bickering to one thread, rather than spread it over many.

 

Aaron