- This continuing series brings you, a concerned American,
more information on what this civilization faces and what we can do to
change course toward a viable future for our children and all living creatures.
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- Richard Heinberg said, ""...the discussions
in Denmark took place in a conceptual fantasy world in which climate
change is the only global crisis that matters much; in which rapid
economic growth is still an option; in which fossil fuels are practically
limitless; in which a western middle class staring at the prospect of penury
can be persuaded voluntarily to transfer a significant portion of its rapidly
evaporating wealth to other nations; in which subsistence farmers in poor
nations should all aspire to become middle-class urbanites;and in which
the subject of human overpopulation can barely be mentioned . It's
no wonder more wasn't achieved in Copenhagen."
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- http://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=311db31977054c
5ef58219392&id=1853646c28&e=411677039a
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- Peak Everything: Waking Up to a Century of Declines By
Richard Heinberg, New Society Publishers, ISBN-10: 086571598X
, ISBN-13: 978-0865715981,
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- www.postcarbon.org;www.richardheinberg.com
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- What does it take to keep the USA and all other advanced
societies on this planet to maintain viability daily?
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- "It takes 85 million barrels of oil per day globally,
as well as millions of tons of coal and billions of cubic feet of natural
gas, " said Heinberg. "The supply network for these fuels is
globe-spanning and awesome. Yet, from the standpoint of the end user,
this network is practically invisible and easily taken for granted. We
flip the switch, pump the gas, or turn up the thermostat with hardly a
thought to the processes of extraction we draw upon, or the environmental
horrors they entail."
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- One look at the Valdez Oil Spill or the latest atrocity,
the Gulf Oil Spill presents a much more acute understanding, but for MOST
Americans and planetary citizens-they don't possess a clue because it does
not affect them personally. They never see the despoiled areas where millions
of oil derricks remain like skeletons that blight the land. They never
see damage done to wildlife like the Great Pacific Garbage patch, which
stems from plastics, which derive from oil. They cannot comprehend the
long term consequences of "carbon footprint" gathering in the
biosphere to disrupt the planet's environmental balancing systems.
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- WHAT HATH HYDROCARBONS WROUGHT?
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- For the past century, humans spewed VAST amounts of hydro-carbons
into the atmosphere from the Industrial Revolution. Additionally, they
spewed over 70,000 chemicals completely incompatible with nature-into the
land, air and water. Humans made the planet their personal garbage dump.
Without an iota of understanding the consequences!
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- "What have been the structural and super-structural
impacts of industrialism?" asked Heinberg. "Because only a reduced
portion of the population is required to work the land in order to produce
food-energy, now with tractors and harvesters rather than oxen, a large
majority of the populace has lost direct connection with the land and the
cycles of nature. If hunters get their food-energy from hunting, we get
ours from shopping at the supermarket."
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- Heinberg asks the pertinent question: how much longer
can we keep on this path of tearing up the environment? "Not much
longer," said Dr. John Tanton at www.thesocialcontract.com
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- James Howard Kunstler in The Long Emergency and
other experts like Heinberg state that we will need over 50 million farmers
to take over food production when gasoline runs out.
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- "Better to invest time and effort in personal and
community preparedness," Heinberg said. "Enhance your survival
prospects by learning practical skills, including manufacture and use of
Paleolithic tools. Learn to understand and repair existing tools including
water pumps, farm implements and woodworking tools that are likely still
to be useful when there is no gasoline and electricity."
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- You may be scratching your head wondering, "Can
it be this bad? Can we be at the end of oil? It seems all is well!"
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- That's the problem! It seems okay because the gas still
pumps out of the gas station and lights flash on with a flip of the switch.
It's the main reason most world leaders, not much brighter than their citizens,
fail to take action to conserve resources and to reduce human population.
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- In fact, I receive letters all the time stating what
a terrible person I am for bringing up birth control and family planning.
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- Culture and religion cannot grasp the enormity of what
our species faces. As you move through this series with me, I hope you
become the vanguard of citizens that work toward change. Each part presents
you with websites and people taking action to change course. Help them
to help your kids' future.
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- ____________
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- Frosty Wooldridge has bicycled across six continents
- from the Arctic to the South Pole - as well as six times across the USA,
coast to coast and border to border. In 2005, he bicycled from the Arctic
Circle, Norway to Athens, Greece. He presents "The Coming Population
Crisis in America: and what you can do about it" to civic clubs, church
groups, high schools and colleges. He works to bring about sensible world
population balance atwww.frostywooldridge.com He is the author of: America
on the Brink: The Next Added 100 Million Americans. Copies available: 1
888 280 7715
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