Ludwig:” And the biggest component of this is a big reduction in immigration.”

I thought the article was talking about the whole world, not just us.

Next step for my household is solar – can’t afford it right now though. Why can’t I keep my hot water tank and the power companies be forced to go solar instead?

Valerie,

I understand your worry, and the power of your question "How puny..."

In the vastness of space and time we can look in one direction and can hardly imagine the hugeness of the cosmos, the billions upon billions of celestial bodies floating like dust particles in a sea of blackness. And where are we?

We are smaller than small.

Yet, peer in another direction and the perspective changes radically. How puny is puny, really when we can never know what an atom actually looks like? Now, we are the universe. Or are we somewhere in the middle, the center?

What is beyond? We can not, and will not ever, know. We can not, and will not ever, miraculously travel to other habitable worlds. We will never, ever leave our solar sytem for any reason. The laws of physics will not allow it.

Does it matter now why we are here or what our "purpose" is? All we have is eachother and this "little" life-giving ball, this terrarium we call Earth. It is here. And now. It is all we will ever know, all we will ever experience.

And it is good. Everyone must know it is good.

Agree with the author to a certain extent and with Ludwig to a large extend.
But differ with some of the later writers who seek to blame everything on capitalism.

The damage arises from having too many people. If ¾ of the world population disappeared tomorrow, along with it would go most of the factors causing the damage.Alternatively, if capitalism disappeared tomorrow, we’d still be faced with on going damage -- even if we all chose to live like Kalahari Bushmen.

The clearing of forests across Europe and Asia commenced long before capitalism.And the mega fauna were killed-off long before capitalism. William F. Ruddiman http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8014.html identifies human induced climate change from 8000 years ago -- long before capitalism.

SPQR:
"The damage arises from having too many people".
Thanks AGIR, we agree. How do you think the population explosion was possible? Capitalism!
Did you know that Marx was full of admiration for capitalism? It brought an end to the misery and inequity enforced by feudalism, but it imposed a new, anonymous form of tyranny, the bourgeoisie; greater distribution, but even greater inequality and far more rapacious, and this time a mode of production that was its own dynamic. The impact engendered by Adam Smith and co is comparable to that kicked-off by Oppenheimer and co, except of course that the former were genuinely intent on a system that would best accommodate the human condition.
But the Enlightenment didn't only invent political economy, it also invented scientific method, another form of perpetual motion unto ruination. The issue of this unholy alliance was industrialisation, not dedicated to human succour, but to exploitation, and that precious derivative: CAPITAL--hallowed be they name--to be speculated and reinvested ad infinitum--go forth and multiply--with the aid of science, the new deity. We have the ludicrous spectacle today where science, drunk on its success, fancies itself a philosophy, a doctrine worthy of propogation; verily, the truth is objective!
Who'd have thought..
And I thought you were a God-fearing man, Boaz? Isn't there something about false idols in the fine print?

Of course it's all the fault of capitalism! Am I a genius? It's CDF!

Am I suggesting we go back to primordial days? No f--- way! We have to keep going with the unfinished Enlightenment project. Have we already made it--a world of unsustainable glut and povety side by side, one feeding off the other?
But you've got God as a foil, haven't you? The ultimate copout!
Are our problems greater than those faced by the Enlightenment thinkers? No bloody way! They never had a skeric of the plunder, or security or life expectancy we have; but we don't have a skeric of their courage and commitment and belief in the human spirit!
They had to reinvent the world and so do we.

Fat chance!

Holy Moses! Squeers, now you gone and done it:
First you vilify science:
“We have the ludicrous spectacle today where science, drunk on its success, fancies itself a philosophy, a doctrine worthy of propogation; verily, the truth is objective!”
When Botnet reads about this he’ll be hacking mad

Then you mock the Judeo-Christian belief system
2) “CAPITAL--hallowed be they name … And I thought you were a God-fearing man, Boaz? Isn't there something about false idols in the fine print”
When AGIR rides back into town and reads this, I expect he’ll come gunning for you too .

And all of it was totally unnecessary since my post wasn’t specifically aimed at you, but the pack you run with, among whom are indeed some who harbour the fantasy that if we reverted to an earlier more innocent age everything would right itself.

But I will take you up on this point:
“How do you think the population explosion was possible? Capitalism”

Here’s a conundrum:
This is human population growth --- due to “capitalism”
http://tinyurl.com/3vxcnhc

and here’s another that mirrors it pretty well –but could hardly be said to be due to capitalism.
http://www.science.org.au/nova/087/087box02.htm

Funny, ay?

An Internet guide to how man is changing the world. What are you going to do about it?........See, this is what they thought 100 years ago...LOL....EG...." man will never fly"..Oh it gets better:) " see, when they make threads like this...you know their sh!tting themselves.

Ask your selves, if we are going forwards as easy as they say......Why does it seem as if this is not the case? Really....its like treating a drug-addicted-oil-syndrome! They will never see, unless they read it, in the futures histories:)...............really!....its like the three blind mice, and nowhere to run:)

If this planet dies.............your all dead.......but thats right! GOD will say you:).....Hey! you ever know...........this world is full of surprised people/industrialist/religionists/capitalists and so on:)

Look! All that are born on this planet/world.........all of what it gives, is for all of us.

Even the good book and Jesus, would not say, this is not true.

It feels some times, Iam thinking for & billions people! but, However..........even Jesus was only one man.

The clock is ticking. Not even the dinos can beat whats time:)

But roll the dice!.....you never know, you just might beat the odds:)

Oh Dear, Oh dear, Oh Dear.

Good luck.

EVO/leap/Evolution/..Its code:)

Planet....1.......Morons running it.....0

You do the maths. But dont take too long.........

LEAP