YOs-
"...food embargo..." and "stand up to the systematic starvation of
poor cities and countries around the world." Exactly.
The world is overpopulated and overconsuming, but the major axis of
trouble isn't sheer quantity of food as such, but energy,
specifically fossil fuels. Atmospheric CO2 levels just topped 400
ppm in a recent measurement. This is danger-zone territory. And
the science on this is conclusive: last year an honest climate
skeptic at Cal Berkeley got oil company funding to run the research
according to his own methodology, and he also came up with the
conclusion that human activity is causing global mean temperature
rise and climate change. There are no viable counter-hypotheses at
this point.
When women have equal rights, birth rates drop to sustainable
levels, and economic prosperity occurs. So the solution to the
overpopulation part of the equation is global feminism, enforced by
"whatever means are necessary." We can't continue to tolerate the
oppression and subjugation of women across a large swath of the
globe. For moral reasons, and also for reasons of sustainability.
Overconsumption is also a tough nut to crack. If China's automobile
ownership per capita sought to reach America's, there would not be
enough iron ore in the Earth's crust to do the job. Arguably, every
human deserves access to a certain minimum material standard of
living, that includes safe clean drinking water, sanitation,
housing, food, education, medical care, and communication. But we
are going to have to make major changes to get from here to there.
At a global population of about 1 billion, American lifestyle for
all is sustainable.
At a global population of 2 - 3 billion, Western European lifestyle.
At 4 - 5 billion, Eastern European lifestyle: and that's pretty
good, look at Poland.
At 6 - 7 billion, the sustainable standard of living is Cuba.
Everyone has access to the necessities of life, but luxuries are few
and far between, and a strict regime enforces it.
So here's a challenge: monitor your energy consumption (electricity,
natural gas, petrol) and seek to reduce it as far as reasonably
possible. Keep records. Note what works. For group living
situations, divide electricity & gas by the number of people to
get consumption per person per month.
One reasonable goal is to get electricity down to less than 125 KWH
per month per person. This is easy enough to monitor via your
electric bill (and you don't need a surveillance-enabled "smart"
meter to do it). For folks who work from home, it's useful to split
out the portion of the bill that's work-related, to clarify what's
"personal" and what's "work." Total energy impact from work
includes commuting if any, as well as electric power consumption for
desk-work or power tools.
One thing that's useful for monitoring power consumption of specific
devices, is a "Kill-A-Watt" meter. This is a plug-in device that
measures kilowatt hours for various devices at the AC power outlet.
Cost is about $15 - 20. SudoRoom could buy a couple of these and
lend them out to members.
But there's one thing the world can't afford. More about that in my
next email...
-G.
=====
On 13-05-16-Thu 12:46 PM, Andrew wrote:
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