[lit-ideas] The Good Ol' Days

  • From: "Andreas Ramos" <andreas@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "Lit-Ideas" <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2007 11:32:17 -0800

An article in the New York Review points out global warming may reduce the human population down to 500 million.


The population is currently 6.7 billion.

That means a loss of about 93% of humans.

500m is not sufficient to maintain a global technological society. Computers, the Internet, satellites, jet engines, and so on will decay and can't be replaced. Medical science, research in physics, genetic engineering, etc. will probably end.

Lawrence doesn't care about the rest of the planet, so let's put it in terms he appreciates: the US population will drop from 300m to 21m. End of the USA. It simply will not have the population or the economic resources to wage wars of peace.

The article states the US must enact legislation within two years to reduce emissions by an astonishing 80% by 2050. If the USA does not pass the necessary laws, global warming will accelerate and the damage will be far greater.

An 80% reduction. How we will manage that economically, I have no idea. No more cars, no more airplanes, no more air conditioners. No more urban sprawl. No more brightly-lit up cities. Without a full-blast economy, the USA will be unable to pay its massive debts.

By late summer, another report from the scientists is expected. It will outline the impact of global warming on human society.

yrs,
andreas
www.andreas.com


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