- In this continuing series on overpopulation in America
by Marilyn Hempel, editor of Population Press, you, a concerned citizen,
will find more information than anything in the main stream media. In
the current edition of Population Press, Hempel features John Gibbons with "Six
reasons why Earth won't cope for long." www.populationpress.org
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- This article was written on the eve of the last day of
the Copenhagen Climate Conference. The pressing reality, the dangerous
convergence of environmental and resource crises, has not diminished.
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- Richard Heinberg, author of Peak Everything: Facing a
Century of Declines, 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.
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- ... It's no wonder more wasn't achieved in Copenhagen."
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- http://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=311db31977054c5ef
58219392&id=1853646c28&e=411677039a
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- "As world leaders arrive in Copenhagen for the crunch
phase of the climate conference, the focus turns to what kind of deal is
likely to emerge," said Gibbons. "Pre-eminent climate scientist
Prof James Hansen of the Nasa Goddard Institute has already given the entire
process the kiss of death. Any political deal cobbled together is, he believes,
likely to be so profoundly flawed as to lock humanity on to "a disaster
track."
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- "Hansen voiced publicly what environmental scientists
and campaigners have murmured all year. A political fudge that ducks science
is the likeliest outcome at Copenhagen. Earlier this week, for instance,
EU fisheries ministers agreed a deal that pleased government and fishermen.
However, it does little to arrest the progressive annihilation of a common
resource that, like our atmosphere, is owned by no one-and so exploited
by all.
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- "The world faces a dangerous convergence of environmental
and resource crises, not all directly climate related. All, however, are
increasingly difficult to resolve in a rapidly warming world. Taken together,
they are not amenable to a business-as-usual political response. Here,
in no particular order, are six:
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- 1. Population Pressure: Sir David Attenborough has witnessed
how the natural world is being crushed by humanity. "I've never seen
a problem that wouldn't be easier to solve with fewer people, or harder-and
ultimately impossible-with more," he says. The Earth must provide
for around 80 million more people than this time last year. It took us
almost 10,000 years to reach a billion people. We now add that many every
12-15 years.
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- 2. Biodiversity: "The world is currently undergoing
a very rapid loss of biodiversity comparable with the great mass extinction
events that have previously occurred only five or six times in the Earth's
history," says the World Wildlife Fund. It has tracked an astonishing
30% decline in the Earth's biodiversity between 1970-2003. Overpopulation,
hunting, habitat destruction, deforestation, pollution and the spread of
agriculture are leading to as many as 1,000 entire species going extinct
every week-that's a species every 10 minutes. The economic cost of destroying
biodiversity is also immense. A 2008 EU study estimated the cost of forest
loss alone is running at $2-$5 trillion (¤1.3-¤3.4 trillion)
annually.
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- 3. Ocean Acidification: The evidence of the effects
of increased CO2 levels on the world's oceans is unequivocal. Surface ocean
acidity has increased by 30% since 1800, with half this increase occurring
in just the last three decades. The rate of change in oceanic pH levels
is around 100 times faster than any observed natural rate. Increasing acidity
is impeding the ability of plankton called foraminifera to produce shells.
These creatures form the base of the entire marine food system. The world's
vital reef systems are also in peril from acidification.
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- 4. Peak Oil: This month, the International Energy Agency
formally predicted global peak oil by 2020. [Some industry analysts think
it has already occurred.] Today, the world burns the equivalent of 82 million
barrels of oil every day. Projected growth in energy demand will see this
rise to almost 100 million barrels within a decade, but by then, output
from the oilfields currently in production will have plummeted to barely
a third of that. A massive energy gap is looming, and with discoveries
having peaked in the mid-1960s, we are approaching the bottom of the cheap
oil barrel. Non-conventional oil, renewables and nuclear will be nowhere
near capable of bridging this energy gap in time. The oil shocks of the
coming decade will be intense.
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- 5. Peak Food: The global food system is predicated on
plenty of cheap oil, fresh water, soil and natural gas. All four are in
decline. The food riots of 2008 were an early warning of a global system
in crisis. In the US, it is estimated every calorie of food energy requires
10 calories of fossil fuel energy. More food production is now being channeled
into fattening animals. Meat is a tasty but entirely inefficient way to
use finite food resources. Meanwhile, the UN predicts the collapse of all
global commercial marine fisheries by 2048, depriving up to two billion
people of food.
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- 6. Peak Water: During the 20th century, human water
usage increased nine-fold, with irrigation (for agriculture) alone using
two-thirds of this total. With almost all major glaciers retreating, many
river systems are at risk. Groundwater in aquifers is another key fresh
water source. Over-extraction, mostly for agriculture, has caused their
levels worldwide to plummet. Pollution, especially from fertilizer overuse,
adds to the loss of fresh water. The [Irish] Environmental Protection Agency
yesterday reported only 17% of Ireland's rivers are of "high ecological
status".
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- "The 19th century naturalist John Muir famously
wrote that "when one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it
attached to the rest of the world". As the Copenhagen conference
draws to a close, the words of a contemporary of Muir, politician and orator
Robert Ingersoll, have never seemed more apt: "In nature there are
neither rewards nor punishments; there are only consequences.""
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- John Gibbons blogs at www.thinkorswim.ie
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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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