RE: This is gonna be the thread where we talk about stuff
05-08-2014, 02:03 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-08-2014, 03:42 AM by TickTickTockTock.)
@Schazer
I don't think we're in disagreement. What you're saying is exactly my point- although we possess (at least some of) the technology for a more sustainable relationship with the environment, people just can't afford it as things stand. It is really unreasonable for people in developed nations to expect billions of people with a lower standard of living to make sacrifices for the environment's sake because civilization screwed up.
addition because I ran to class halfway through typing:
We don't have the economic capacity to support 7 billion people in the lifestyle I grew up in, certainly. But industrial farming can feed everyone and there's no real reason that we can't give everyone medical care and, like, public transportation and apartments with electricity except that the world is socioeconomically screwed up. While there is an absolute cap to the amount of resources on Earth, I don't think we're there yet. I suppose that my "core point" is that we have a gigantic population and they are dependent on a resource-exploiting economy to live, and we can't just stop or millions of people will die, so humanity needs to focus on fixing our own society until we don't need to cause environmental damage anymore rather than conserve without addressing the root cause.
I don't think we're in disagreement. What you're saying is exactly my point- although we possess (at least some of) the technology for a more sustainable relationship with the environment, people just can't afford it as things stand. It is really unreasonable for people in developed nations to expect billions of people with a lower standard of living to make sacrifices for the environment's sake because civilization screwed up.
addition because I ran to class halfway through typing:
We don't have the economic capacity to support 7 billion people in the lifestyle I grew up in, certainly. But industrial farming can feed everyone and there's no real reason that we can't give everyone medical care and, like, public transportation and apartments with electricity except that the world is socioeconomically screwed up. While there is an absolute cap to the amount of resources on Earth, I don't think we're there yet. I suppose that my "core point" is that we have a gigantic population and they are dependent on a resource-exploiting economy to live, and we can't just stop or millions of people will die, so humanity needs to focus on fixing our own society until we don't need to cause environmental damage anymore rather than conserve without addressing the root cause.
"The parties are advised to chill." - Supreme Court of the United States, case opinion written by Justice Souter