Comments on: Nobel Prize Winners Say Climate Action is Urgent, Will Benefit Economy https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2018/10/10/nobel-prize-winners-say-climate-action-is-urgent-will-benefit-economy/ Just another WordPress site Wed, 14 Feb 2024 02:06:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Mary Wildfire https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2018/10/10/nobel-prize-winners-say-climate-action-is-urgent-will-benefit-economy/#comment-222355 Mary Wildfire Thu, 11 Oct 2018 12:37:56 +0000 http://www.frackcheckwv.net/?p=25586#comment-222355 <strong>Sigh. Sustainable economic growth is as real as fairies. </strong> This phrase is an oxymoron. The planet is finite--and humanity is banging into limits in all directions--so obviously we cannot keep growing our numbers or our per capita impact. Yes, we can increase efficiency and reduce the carbon impact of our economies, but there are limits--we can't live on air, or trade nothing but ideas. Even if we recycled everything, there is gradual loss, and heat buildup. The real question is when we need to begin shrinking our economies and our population, and the answer is clearly Yesterday--even WITH all the innovations and efficiencies these two say we need to adopt, which no doubt we do. We've already reached the point where the percentage of land vertebrates that are wild, that are anything other than humans or their livestock, is 4%. Four percent! How long till it's 1%, a huge mass of humanity and a dozen domesticated species, primarily for food, and a smattering of refugees living in zoos? This is an outrageous ripoff of future generations -- among many. Sigh. Sustainable economic growth is as real as fairies.

This phrase is an oxymoron.

The planet is finite–and humanity is banging into limits in all directions–so obviously we cannot keep growing our numbers or our per capita impact. Yes, we can increase efficiency and reduce the carbon impact of our economies, but there are limits–we can’t live on air, or trade nothing but ideas. Even if we recycled everything, there is gradual loss, and heat buildup.

The real question is when we need to begin shrinking our economies and our population, and the answer is clearly Yesterday–even WITH all the innovations and efficiencies these two say we need to adopt, which no doubt we do. We’ve already reached the point where the percentage of land vertebrates that are wild, that are anything other than humans or their livestock, is 4%.

Four percent! How long till it’s 1%, a huge mass of humanity and a dozen domesticated species, primarily for food, and a smattering of refugees living in zoos? This is an outrageous ripoff of future generations — among many.

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