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Can a collapse of global civilization be avoided?

rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org

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Re: Can a collapse of global civilization be avoided?

#3

Post by jakeonthemove »

Food is so important, yet so cheap that farmers can not sustain themselves. When people really start starving, food costs will rise and farmers will be the new rich.

There is no overpopulation. Overpopulation of urban centers, yes, overpopulation of useable land - no.

We'll have trouble sustaining the current growth, and the way money are spent on useless and short term stuff is alarming, but that will most likely lead to another recession instead of collapse.

That's my opinion on just these matters - the article is a great piece of information that needs to be read by everyone.

Re: Can a collapse of global civilization be avoided?

#4

Post by tokenadult »

Yes it can be avoided. The predicted collapse has been avoided during the forty years that Ehrlich has been making predictions like this. (I'm old enough to remember his early career, and how different the predicted future years of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s looked from what he predicted in my youth.)

http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/apocalypse-not.aspx

http://www.masterresource.org/2010/03/howlin-wolf-paul-ehrli...

Ehrlich counts on people not remembering anything that happened before they were in high school, and being young enough not to remember what he has said time and time again, and been wrong about every time.

Re: Can a collapse of global civilization be avoided?

#5

Post by JoeAltmaier »

jakeonthemove wrote: post #3

Food is so important, yet so cheap that farmers can not sustain themselves. When people really start starving, food costs will rise and farmers will be the new rich. There is no overpopulation. Overpopulation of urban centers, yes, overpopulation of useable land - no. We'll have trouble sustaining the current growth, and the way money are spent on useless and short term stuff is alarming, but that will most likely le…

I've heard that Iowa can feed two United States (if we were content to eat only corn and beans). SO agriculture can be very powerful. If necessary we could make huge changes in production in a year (growing season) and respond to pressure.

Its politics alone that determine who starves and who enjoys the benefits of technological society.

Re: Can a collapse of global civilization be avoided?

#8

Post by euroclydon »

jakeonthemove wrote: post #3

Food is so important, yet so cheap that farmers can not sustain themselves. When people really start starving, food costs will rise and farmers will be the new rich. There is no overpopulation. Overpopulation of urban centers, yes, overpopulation of useable land - no. We'll have trouble sustaining the current growth, and the way money are spent on useless and short term stuff is alarming, but that will most likely le…

Of all U.S. government policies that stand little chance of being reversed, the cheap food policy stand tall. As Bob Marley said, "A hungry mob is an angry mob." Nothing threatens the status quo more than the unavailability of food. Plus, individual farmers have little power. They have always relied on government to prevent them from being completely impoverished by the distributors, or in more modern times, by the seed technology companies.

Re: Can a collapse of global civilization be avoided?

#9

Post by jk4930 »

[deleted] wrote: post #2

[deleted]

Full of ideology: Politicians and economists are stupid (esp. with their [quote] "worship of ‘free’ markets"), we need to change our (bad) Western culture, we need a "steady-state economy" (the usual propaganda stuff from eco-socialists) because growth is evil and technological innovation is useless (even bad), we need more redistribution a.s.o. Of course, economists who share this view are called "distinguished economists" (not stupid then) and they should lead the transformation of the society into the steady-state sustainable society.

The most funny statement might be this: "The industrial revolution set civilization on the road to collapse." The opposite is true because before the industrial revolution societies collapsed frequently and usually never get beyond subsistence level and the Malthusian trap. The industrial revolution broke us free from this curse.

Ehrlich repeats his ideological BS (e.g., population bomb, we'll all die because of overpopulation in the 1970s and 1980s). He's a green fascist.

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