Not a Happy Camper
The Astronomer Fred Hoyle stated,
“It has been often said that, if the human species fails to make a go of it here on Earth, some other species will take over the running. In the sense of developing intelligence this is not correct. We have, or soon will have, exhausted the necessary physical prerequisites so far as this planet is concerned. With coal gone, oil gone, high-grade metallic ore gone, no species however competent can make the long climb from primitive conditions to high-level technology. This is a one-shot affair. If we fail, this planetary system fails so far as intelligence is concerned. The same will be true of other planetary systems. On each of them there will be one chance, and one chance only.”
He's right.
It is imperative that we make the world a better place, faster.
This is what must be done:
1. Reduce population. Not instantly, but quickly and gradually over a few hundred years. I would recommend a level of 200 million people within 300 years. I believe this can be accomplished by reducing our population by about 4% a year. This is a sustainable decrease that would result in significant reductions in energy and resource requirements. By the time we got to a level of 200 millions, the environment would be vastly cleaner and the population that did remain would be healthier.
2. Reduce energy and resource consumption. Presently we use too much energy. We must begin a steep decline in use, and that means rapid increases in efficiency and net decreases in energy consumption. This must be applied to every aspect of our society - computers must be more efficient, and we should use fewer of them. Cars should be rarer and vastly more efficient. etc. and so on.
3. Develop new methods of creating energy and meeting the technical needs of our civilisation that do not require the level of blanket destruction of resources and habitats that our present system requires.
4. Develop plans for broadening our footprint in the galaxy, so as to avoid extinction through accident (like asteroid strikes, etc.)
This is it. We must fix this on our watch. If you are reading this, this means YOU.
HW
“It has been often said that, if the human species fails to make a go of it here on Earth, some other species will take over the running. In the sense of developing intelligence this is not correct. We have, or soon will have, exhausted the necessary physical prerequisites so far as this planet is concerned. With coal gone, oil gone, high-grade metallic ore gone, no species however competent can make the long climb from primitive conditions to high-level technology. This is a one-shot affair. If we fail, this planetary system fails so far as intelligence is concerned. The same will be true of other planetary systems. On each of them there will be one chance, and one chance only.”
He's right.
It is imperative that we make the world a better place, faster.
This is what must be done:
1. Reduce population. Not instantly, but quickly and gradually over a few hundred years. I would recommend a level of 200 million people within 300 years. I believe this can be accomplished by reducing our population by about 4% a year. This is a sustainable decrease that would result in significant reductions in energy and resource requirements. By the time we got to a level of 200 millions, the environment would be vastly cleaner and the population that did remain would be healthier.
2. Reduce energy and resource consumption. Presently we use too much energy. We must begin a steep decline in use, and that means rapid increases in efficiency and net decreases in energy consumption. This must be applied to every aspect of our society - computers must be more efficient, and we should use fewer of them. Cars should be rarer and vastly more efficient. etc. and so on.
3. Develop new methods of creating energy and meeting the technical needs of our civilisation that do not require the level of blanket destruction of resources and habitats that our present system requires.
4. Develop plans for broadening our footprint in the galaxy, so as to avoid extinction through accident (like asteroid strikes, etc.)
This is it. We must fix this on our watch. If you are reading this, this means YOU.
HW
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