I’m at the point in life where I’m not really all about saving the planet anymore. Oh sure, I recycle, carpool when I can all of those little personal things one can do to be more “earth friendly” but until we reform our current ‘limitless growth paradigm’, we are well and truly screwed. Hence the reason why my Eco-consciousness is changing from saving the planet to hoping that the shit doesn’t hit the fan during my lifetime.
“At the rate things are going, the Earth in the coming decades could cease to be a “safe operating space” for human beings. That is the conclusion of a new paper published Thursday in the journal Science by 18 researchers trying to gauge the breaking points in the natural world.
The paper contends that we have already crossed four “planetary boundaries.” They are the extinction rate; deforestation; the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; and the flow of nitrogen and phosphorous (used on land as fertilizer) into the ocean.”
Well that is all rainbows and unicorns, no? It gets worse…
“What the science has shown is that human activities — economic growth, technology, consumption — are destabilizing the global environment,” said Will Steffen, who holds appointments at the Australian National University and the Stockholm Resilience Center and is the lead author of the paper.
“The researchers focused on nine separate planetary boundaries first identified by scientists in a 2009 paper. These boundaries set theoretical limits on changes to the environment, and include ozone depletion, freshwater use, ocean acidification, atmospheric aerosol pollution and the introduction of exotic chemicals and modified organisms.”
Well, four down five to go. We can do this, right?
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
19 comments
February 2, 2015 at 6:17 am
Deb
I think about my 2 1/2 year old granddaughters earth, or maybe substitute earth is a better word…If it was just me I would probably say, what the hell…it’s all going to hell anyway, but I do keep her in mind even though I agree that the majority of damage, and that which we keep piling on, has taken away much hope that her older age (and those beyond her) are going to be rosey.
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February 2, 2015 at 7:15 am
robert browning
Main stream corporate media has to mention these credible studies to maintain the appearance of credibility. But until this kind of info receives full debate and exposure, most people will remain conveniently unaware. Preoccupied w football air pressure or Michael’s personal life, most people won’t know the status quo is stifling their quality of life.
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February 2, 2015 at 7:42 am
M.M.J. Gregory
I know it is true and the horror of it makes me want to plug my ears. No wonder the people who don’t understand it refuse to listen. We all better get over it in a hurry.
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February 2, 2015 at 8:02 am
john zande
The only thing which will save us is if we get off this rock and into space in a meaningful way… and that isn’t looking feasible any time soon.
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February 2, 2015 at 10:27 am
syrbal-labrys
:::sigh:::: Pretty much where I am, I think our venal corporate masters thought the film “Blade Runner” (book -Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) was an instruction manual, not a warning sign. I really don’t think all the itsy bitsy individual things I do every day to mitigate the rolling disaster accomplish much. I fear not only CAN we do this, but we will. And then the rich folks think they will fly away….to create brave new legends of the fall of earth.
But the only “warp” I see in their future is their greedy damned minds.
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February 2, 2015 at 10:28 am
The Arbourist
@Deb
I too would like to hope that we have a serene future ahead, but I’m of the sort that tends to plan for the worst and, as it would be, expect the worst. The Intransigent One and I decided to have puppies and kittehs instead of children partially because of the dark future ahead.
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February 2, 2015 at 10:30 am
The Arbourist
@Robert Browning
There is much invested in keeping people unaware and arguing over footballs. :/
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February 2, 2015 at 10:33 am
The Arbourist
@MMJG
Agreed. If we don’t, forces beyond our control will enforce an austerity program on Malthusian terms that I guarantee no one will like.
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February 2, 2015 at 10:33 am
The Arbourist
@J.Z
I look forward to turning into jelly on the trip to Mars. It’s on my bucket list. :)
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February 2, 2015 at 10:36 am
The Arbourist
@Syrbal
I pick such happy stuff for Mondays. *bleh* My hope is that through nakedly unashamed corporate malfeasance they manage to piss off enough people. Said angry people dismantle corporations and rebuild democratic institutions; also unicorns that poop rainbows for all. :)
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February 2, 2015 at 3:11 pm
syrbal-labrys
I was just saying today that if the 1000 richest corporate types in the world suddenly fell simultaneously DEAD it would greatly enhance the possibilities of survival, (if not ‘thrive-al’) of the rest of us. But barring some virus that hones in on the 1%ers? We are fucked.
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February 2, 2015 at 4:41 pm
Elektra Kenway
Bill Gates was in the news recently because he’s part of a research to make water suitable for consumption out of organic human wastes. I’m sure you’ve seen it everywhere.
Most commentators online found it either hilarious or disgusting.
But I was amazed. That’s the future. If their researches go forward, then that could be one huge to survival solved. Or, at least, neutralized (which is no little thing).
To this day, millions of people in the world have no access to water suitable for consumption. They are often forgotten.
Most of our issues regarding long-term survival of the species have a lot to do with money (and consequent human greed).
There’s a lot of “green” options (for electricity, fuel, etc), but they don’t often get as much publicity and investment as those that harm the environment, so they don’t give as much profit, of course.
Brilliant minds find better ways every day, but it’s them VS huge companies. They sell us the disease, and then they sell us the cure…
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February 2, 2015 at 7:01 pm
bleatmop
I’ve come to a similar conclusion about our inevitable destruction a few years ago. There is literally nothing we can do to save human life on this planet. If we rallied people and came up with an argument that convinced people to change their mind, wrestled power away from those that would and have been destroying us, employed all the scientific ability we can muster as a species, we would still be 10 years too late. IMO the survival of the species depends on us committing all resources to building a ship capable of interstellar traffic. A generational ship, something like that which is out of Wall-E. The next 100-200 years we have left could be devoted to this and hopefully we survive the voyage.
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February 2, 2015 at 11:34 pm
VR Kaine
” IMO the survival of the species depends on us committing all resources to building a ship capable of interstellar traffic. ”
Bleat, I totally agree. Not hard to figure out why Musk, Allen, and Branson are all figuring out ways to accommodate the rich in this regard. “Executive” planetary relocation for the bargain price of $100 million US, perhaps?
I agree with Arb re: the ‘limitless growth paradigm’, too. I just disagree with most here that it starts with the big bad evil corporations. They manipulate many consumer whims, sure, but people still can make a choice and they do every time they see one mutual fund earning 1% and another earning 10% – they move their money pronto.
As for what Syrbal says, I’d limit it to the guys at say, Monsanto dropping dead because when you see what guys like Bill Gates have done, there may still be hope for us all, who knows. He’s done more to truly help society as a whole than most of us have and he’s passionate about what he does.
Get rich, people, it’s our only realistic hope of getting off this keg-of-dynamite rock we’re on. :)
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February 3, 2015 at 12:00 am
lung
with the milestone of over 50 million new chemicals patented,
compounded with the tons of drugs and “cides” dumped
i can’t see how the exotic chemical threshold hasn’t also been breached.
didn’t regan in his book speak of scientists saying
there was 300 living off world at that time?
yes there is a club
i’m not in it
it’s a little late for me to make a billion
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February 3, 2015 at 9:12 am
The Intransigent One
@Vern – I can’t help pointing out that if we had a sufficiently robust social safety net – like a guaranteed minimum standard of living – ordinary people wouldn’t need to be fueling infinite growth in fear of spending their final years in poverty.
I’m not clear on the math though, regular people with their thousands each to invest, drive the infinite growth paradigm more than corporations and 1%ers with their hundreds of millions, and billions? Ok, player.
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February 3, 2015 at 6:14 pm
VR Kaine
IO,
People don’t chase high investment returns based upon a lack of safety net. They do so largely based upon greed and ego, however they want to rationalize it.
That said, however, and (I think) to your point, f they have no safety net then they typically are too afraid to invest, or perhaps are even just trying to stay afloat. If that’s your point, i totally agree. I’m not a Libertarian and believe in safety nets to a significant degree. I just believe in more accountability from the government (department) granting them and the people using them.
As for the math, I do disagree with yours. The 1% amass more and more wealth because the middle class keep remaining stupid and ignorant enough in order to give it to them. What’s the big non-government-regulated money maker in our society? Entertainment, aka “reality escapers” or “reality-alterers”. Be it professional sports, electronics, music, or even cosmetics – the middle class hands money over to these big corporations literally quicker than they can take it in (credit).
With credit debt up the wazoo, most will argue that they’re powerless against these big corporations. Bullshit. Do you think that because a Blockbuster wants to stay in business that it just does? People shift to Netflix and overnight, Blockbuster’s done. People can resurrect the electric car. People at the grass roots level are always wanting more and more and more, and companies adapt in order to give it to them. If they don’t, literally overnight those companies can vanish.
And how about the regulated money-makers? Take banking and natural resources. Those institutions can’t stay in power against the wishes of the people without having a government there to protect them. And who elects the governments? 1% of the population? That’s a bullshit cop-out to anyone who thinks that’s true. The majority middle class does, that’s who. One can argue that the elites influence the votes with their money, but that just means that an idiot middle class can be convinced to drink the kool-aid after a 30-second commercial, or front page headline. It’s a middle class that I’d argue largely wants the wool pulled over their eyes so they can absolve themselves of most responsibility, guilt, or shame over their decisions.
Did all the oil companies put a Republican in office last election? Nope. Is it going to do it in 2016? I highly doubt it. It’s a largely middle class that got Obama elected even though Hillary had the backing of the Wall Street “fat cats”. Yet why is Hillary, the woman who “was so broke she struggled paying all her mortgages” even a candidate? Because the middle class is behind her. Just like teens fixate and obsess over their favorite music idol on stage, middle class adults fixate and obsess over their favorite political candidate onstage which is why no middle class person has been voted to office in centuries.
Public corporations are forced to produce infinite returns because people demand it, plain and simple. The middle class want an income that always is increasing in value, a house that appreciates in value, land that appreciates in value, and investments that increase in value just as much as they want the new car every three years or the new iPhone every other year. People are free to buy what they want, when they want, and however much as they want but companies aren’t anywhere near as free like that going the other way. The only way those big companies have any power is because of government protection and middle-class ignorance or apathy.
You can hate all the 1%ers as much as you want to, but the fact is those who deserve to be there are much smarter, faster, self-reliant, and resourceful than any in the middle class and they refuse to accept misery+mediocrity like most of the middle class do. That includes those who have started with less than you likely have and now are living the life of their dreams with the 1%.
Those who don’t deserve to be there, i.e. trust fund babies and government-protected crooks, do they ever get called to task? Nope. All they have to do is keep putting bright shiny things in front of that same idiot middle class, and guess what happens? Talk talk talk but nothing nothing nothing.
Hating the 1% is what keeps the 99% ignorant, wimpy, and useless. It’s convenient and easy to them, which is why they keep doing it because they hate hard brain work, and they hate hard math.
If the 99%ers who are unhappy actually took time to hate themselves or their self-induced situation for a moment, like those who rise up from nothing and become a member of the 1% do, they might actually do something rather than talk but instead they focus on some evil invisible monster out there that they can project and displace all their weaknesses and inadequacies onto. Then the government – full of rich 1%ers – says “No, it’s not you, losers (oops!) , it’s us – ahem – I mean THEM! The “fat cats” (another evil invisible monster). Put us in power and all this will stop right now!”
And what does the middle class do? FALLS FOR THIS ACT HOOK, LINE, AND SINKER EACH AND EVERY TIME.
Fact is people all have the power they need – many just seem more addicted to perpetual victimhood as a way to meet all their emotional needs so that’s why they constantly give it up to the people they pretend to hate. If you hate the 1% so much, start camping out in front of parliament instead of some company’s headquarters somewhere.
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February 4, 2015 at 8:52 am
The Intransigent One
What a charming outpouring of contempt. I seem to recall having been raked over the coals by you, for ascribing a negative motive to a single individual; here you go doing it to a whole class. But what do I know? You own a business so clearly you’re right about anything to which you lend your superior intellect.
This whole blog is about the factors that prevent regular people from acting in their/our own best interests, from corporate control of media, to social and cultural factors that restrict true freedom of choice, and I could go on and on. Do you actually read this blog, or do you just stop by, see a few words that trigger your anti-liberal rage, and dash out a contemptuous pro-status-quo screed vaguely related to the topic at hand?
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February 4, 2015 at 10:42 am
The Arbourist
@Elektra Kenway
I seem to remember that making a bit of a splash in the social media networks when it came out. I agree with you, it is a huge step: using technology to solve one of the resource problems facing us. The big one will be Energy – we need to get fusion up and running in a viable state because right now we’re shitting in the bed (via fossil fuels) that we sleep in and not seeming to care.
Corporate greed will be the end of us, if we are not careful. :/
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