The recent meeting of most of the world’s powers in Glasgow, Scotland was interesting to observe. The many conclusions found, discovered or uncovered all darted around the subject of overpopulation. The general consensus was that there is too much CO2 chasing too little Oxygen; on the planet and where the Oxygen is drained and allow Methane to become the main source of pollution on the planet. Some say it will take 12 years and others say 75 years or more. Judging from current population estimates and life expectancy, most of us are going to be here “when the lights go out in Georgia!”
When you think about Coal…..many mining activities and Oil Derivatives that contribute to Methane in our environment, we may have to think back to the days of the Gold Rush in 1848 and before in areas around the Erie Canal. The pollution, killed fish, polluted the water supply and made people live a lot less and certainly not longer.
When you think about the Gasoline powered vehicles which we have created at the turn of the 20th century and before, we used Oil based gasoline, refined or fracked that was designed to create low octane gasoline. Kerosene was used in many small motors, but did not have the Octane rating to run high powered engines efficiently. Then came the addition of Lead to the Gasoline which removed the early ignition of the fuel. Lead was a fairly big molecule which polluted areas around gas stations and storage facilities from spills and leaks. It seldom entered the water supply. Well meaning Environmentalists asked the Oil Companies to come up with something else which did not cause cancer because people tended to only spill the gas on their hands. In those days, we also had gas station attendants that put their lives at risk’ rather than the average citizen.
The Oil companies then removed the Lead and added MTBE. Methyl Tert-Butyl Either, which tends to run directly into the water table because it has a much smaller molecule make up. Now our entire water supply has become home for perchlorate, heavy metals and other rocket fuels which are consumed by cattle, cows and babies and others who drink that milk. When MTBE was found to be hazardous Gas Companies came up with Ethanol, from corn stocks. Of course Ethanol clogs the engines of our fossil fuel autos and small engines and motorized equipment. The Airlines don’t use it……and either do our Jet Fighter planes or bombers. Only the Mid-west Farmers love this one!
We are now on the verge of moving to a Lithium Based Economy. As a result, Regulations will be required in all Mining Operations, the Rehab of all vehicle batteries and Government Regulations of what the cost are and how much the Lithium Mining Interests (Oil Companies again?) are profiting from their income. Electric, Autonomous Driven Vehicles are here, but presently only 3 to 4% of the total vehicles purchased. The current Chip Shortage of course is Manufactured to keep those Old New Fossils off the road while they ramp up the production of Electric Vehicles. The Oil Shortage is Manufactured by the Oil Companies to crank up the pump prices and make giant income because of the so-called supply shortage, along with collecting taxes for state government. Ever wonder why Not Only OPEC but Russia and others are keeping the Supply shortage going? Why are we restricting imports from Iran?
The truth is that we have a severe Overpopulation problem. We have 7.8 Billion people on a planet that can only sustain. 9.5 Billion. That number will be reached between 2030 and 2050. At best 19 years!
Are there solutions? Yes, but this will require over-turning our complete economic model of existence. Crypto Currency? Maybe? Other solutions? Maybe? In the meantime, we are going to go through some difficult times, no matter who is in charge.
Interesting to note, that China recently just stepped back from its One Child Policy ….to Three Children because it believes it has either the farming capacity or the cash to buy enough food for all its people.
Once our Polar Caps melt and our Oceans become Methane Lakes, the severe weather affecting our planet today will seem like childs’ play. We then will have constant Methane Rain, which will pollute the land, and nothing will grow. The Methane Rain will consume our water tables and we will have to have Methane Removing Refineries for some time to come just to have a potable water supply.. We will have to wear hazmat suits and find enough cash to buy oxygen just to breathe. For those than think that Climate Change, Global Warming or any other designation is just a hoax, they might turn themselves – in for a cognition test.
OVER POPULATION? It’s all up to you!
So you’re for massive cutbacks on all Greenhouse Gases, or what.
I have some bones to pick with what you say, but rather than saying it, I’ll just signal it.
Dr. D.,
We can all just close our eyes and pretend that Overpopulation is not occurring. We can also pretend that the environmental disasters for over 150 years never happened. There was no Three Mile Island. There are no Superfund Sites to clean up. The pollution at El Toro and our Irvine Superfund site will never be cleaned up! The Smog of the 1950’s had nothing to do with the deaths of millions, both here in LA and across our nation. We can pretend that doing what we did in the 1830’s, encourages us to go back to Horse Droppings and Buggy Whips. We can pretend that all the Roundup in the world has nothing to do with ill health. We can pretend a whole bunch that it is totally impossible to stop the environmental bleeding because of China and India and their 4 Billion folks who die along the side of the road, pollute the rivers and streams with excrement and make our homeless population seem like child’s play. We can also pretend that the millions of Africans dying everyday don’t matter much to someone living in a gated community in Newport Coast. Yeah, we can close our eyes to every negative idea about what we are doing as a society and believe everything will work out no matter what we do! On the other hand, fundamental common sense may dictate another course of action. Our first corrective action should be to totally disregard news both at the local and national level. Watching a car chase for three hours probably does nothing to improve our way of life on this planet.
Saying how many people got gunned down in South LA again is probably not as redemptive as it could be. When was the last time a local reporter interviewed three homeless moms, veterans or drug addicted folks? Does any of it make a difference to the enlightenment of our name calling politicians or blue/red nutjobs? Who knows? One thing for sure is: When you are in a deep hole, you may want to stop digging!
How is this story getting so much traffic, on a Sunday morning? 300 hits so far.
More proof of overpopulation I guess…
Dr Kevorkian was trying to help out with this problem, but the squeamish put up a big fuss. Then there are the anti-abortionists…
So the stadiums are not the only places in SoCal that “tarp the fields” –
*Good comments.
In other news: We are wearing our USC Sweatshirts for the first time in five years!
No more Clay Helton. No more droopy Slovis.
Jaxson Dart, is very cool and the interim USC Coach Donte Williams, is a nice guy
and we hope the new Official Coach chosen, can keep him on as one of his three
main Coaches. Fight On Trojans…..the Days of the Toejams are over!
Thank you Winships for noting that not much was said or implied regarding OVERPOPULATION at the recent world conference, ostensibly addressing CLIMATE CHANGE issues in Glasgow, Scotland. It has been a frustrating issue to me since the late sixties, when I deduced that we were overpopulated then (as far as providing QUALITY of life for all humans, based on the quality of life as known by the middle class within Western democracies at that time).
The less gifted, burdened with belief systems, were always quick to mock the Malthusian theories. They do to this day. Of course, “they” are full of shit as they have been always. Paul Ehrlich had the right notions with “The Population Bomb,” but he blew it by making predictions based on dates, most of which never materialized, due to exceptional engineering in machinery for mass food production. So fucking what? Staving off the inevitable and reducing the equation to basic subsistence. Swell.
I gave much effort to inducing ANY professor of Economics at UCI (including the brilliant and ethical jockey wanna-be, Peter Navarro) to be a guest on my public affairs show on KUCI to discuss economies based on the eternal growth paradigm on a finite planet. NO takers, week after week after week. The Chair of the Quantum Physics department, who was kind enough to join me, said that the bunch at UCI, while qualified to teach, were too intimidated by my gentle approach to interviews. WTF?
One of the central problems with conferences of this type, as well as within American politics and our dead-on-arrival judicial system, is the failure to address the fatal component in world societies: the irrational, primitive belief systems regarding extra-terrestrial beings that are considered gods. In 2021… It gets WORSE. It is no surprise that Catholics, Mormons, Orthodox Jews, Muslims, and just plain tribal peoples, are the main culprits. All have excuses. ALL are ignorant or malfeasant.
What is really troubling is that these folks are the lowest common denominator when it comes to intellect and knowledge. They pass this along to their offspring, most of whom don’t escape the cycle. One need only observe the modern Trump voter and the areas of myopic inbreeding that are destroying what is left of honest debate based on facts. Even WORSE, the ethical, knowledgeable, intelligent, cognizant, and conscientious are NOT having many offspring, if at all. Thus, with all the technology and access to a world of amazing innovation and ideas, we are getting dumber and less evolved, per capita, as a culture. This is a tragedy.
Finally, I found a letter that I wrote to a friend back in the “good ol’ days of 2010:
“Hi Suz, Here is some insight as to my current state of frustration with politics and the state of the nation and why I have targeted progressive democrats as being delusional and politically naïve when it comes to policy and the natural world. You and I have been on the same page from day one regarding human overpopulation and its impact on the planet. We have recently discussed how it continues to be the elephant in the room in all media-related discussions and that even Bill Moyers cut off Dr. Jane Goodall after she began to address the topic on one of his recent shows. And, below is just another example of what I receive daily. Combined with an article of great import and apparent inaccuracy in the Times, compels me to write to you.
“As you know, I consider Barbara to be a kindred spirit. After BLIND copying her on over a hundred of my self-written pieces, this is her forwarded message to me. This effortless gesture is consistent with what I have been experiencing for years. Few liberals take the time to understand the big picture, fewer respond to my insights at all, and even fewer make any attempt to clarify THEIR positions on any topic in writing, all while bemoaning the loss of the communication skills of the young. My purpose here is not to single out Barbara, but to point to a greater reality. In fact, this presents yet another dilemma to me, brutal honesty, jeopardizing another valued friend or let it go without confrontation. Would that course be an insult to her intelligence and jeopardize my new profession as a non-defensive mediator?
“I realize I have responded to others in the past month to express my discontent with their thoughtlessness, but Barbara, like most computer users, doesn’t grasp the concept of blind copying to keep her friends anonymous (and the process of emails cleaner) from a technical standpoint and her intentions, like most new-agers is admirable, if shortsighted and naïve. The embedded video in her forwarded message is a clarion call to the choir with pretty pictures, as you and I discuss our appreciation of the beauty of nature on an almost daily basis. You moved into the center of it (rural Oregon) for goodness sakes. And, we take the time each day to breath it in and I am confident that all on her exposed list do as well. I can feel the earth changing already…too bad the majority of the population of the planet is off-line in a struggle with subsistence. The fact is that this pie-in-the-sky blather is cosmic blindness and Corporate propaganda. Coming to me from a bright, educated, ethical friend like Barbara, it is more evidence that WE ARE DOOMED.
“At a gathering just last Saturday, it was agreed that the majority of our species only react to catastrophe, while the miniscule minority act to ensure the sustainability of the quality of life for all. This lovely little “film” texts us that there are 6.6 billion humanoids on earth, yet it only SHOWS open, beautiful vistas, neglecting the neglected, teeming (in)human jungles of Mexico City, Mumbai, Beijing, the ever-growing underbelly of Los Angeles, and thousands of other human dumping grounds where the poor have six kids each, with no understanding that the laws of supply and demand apply to labor as well as goods. Ironically, it is produced by and organization called HeartMath. Not ironically, HeartMath is a for-profit corporation, in sync with health INSURANCE corporations. Why don’t they do the math of what the energy demands/results would be if all 6.6 billion lived the energy-consuming lifestyles like the “team” at HeartMath? Or address the fallacious belief systems (not unlike their own effort to apply math to spirituality) that contribute to the madness of human overpopulation, or examine the politics of countries who rely on U.S. aid but can’t attain it unless they agree to no birth control and no abortions (under Republican administrations).
“Other links of interest: Policy and Strange Sessions in the Confederacy. And the incongruent stats within this recent LA Times piece (be sure to get past the health INSURANCE and flirty online dating service ads to page 2 and pay careful attention to the numbers in the last paragraph). The headline states that 40% of all pregnancies brought to full term in Los Angeles County (43% statewide) were unplanned (in 2006 according to the county’s Dept. of Public Health). It is a staggering figure in 2010! The article claims that the government goal is to reduce that to 30% (about a 25% reduction) while the chief of the department, Dr. Susie Baldwin correctly claims that ANY unplanned pregnancy should be a “rare thing.” Yet, in the final paragraph, the article talks about world wide reductions in the same ballpark, between 20-30%, but of the change in THOUSANDS (as in 4% to 7%) not in HUNDREDS (as in 40% to 70%) which is a phenomenal disconnect or oversight. Besides the stats, the nature of the article rambles between related topics in an unrelated way, without any insight into the inferences to be drawn.
“Sorry kids, we’re fucked!”
Note to the reader: None of the links provided within the text of the letter to Suz made it through the copy & paste process. Sorry. No matter, the gist of the letter remains. It confirms many of the concerns of Anna and Ron.
TR, you can write a piece on this and send it to me, and the links will work. Apparently there’s a lot of interest on this topic – the Winships’ story got thousands of readers.
Thanks for the opportunity. I will do as you ask!
The only thing less likely than me visiting this place is the Winships getting anything right. I guess miracles come in pairs.
The number of people added to Earth’s population over the last decade is greater than the number of people that existed on Earth when the Declaration of Independence was signed. Yay?