We could save it, you know. But that'd mean an end to life as we know it.
Do you really think we're going to stop driving cars or using electricity?
Of course not. We're consumerists and we love to consume. We're like little viruses, having our fun in the poor, miserable host.
But a virus that kills its host is doomed. And so are we. It might not be 100 years. It might not be 500.
But at some point, Earth will not be fit for humans, unless something massive changes in how we live. But that won't happen, will it? That's why you're here, on the internet, in a modern house, and you likely benefit from automotive traffic, be it car or shipping truck.
If we really wanted to stop this sort of doom from happening though, we could.
Solar power and nuclear power are both options. But as long as we use burnable fuel, the atmosphere will become filled with greenhouse gases. Those gases will warm the planet, including the oceans, leading to the sublimination of methane deep within the ocean. It'll bubble to the surface, and just like that, we're Venus.
Venus. The hell-planet. That'd be us. An alien would travel to our star system and say "Look, all the planets here are inhospitable hellscapes. Utter nightmares. Let's go home." Wouldn't that be depressing?
Earth would be a terrifyingly infertile wasteland, perhaps too hot for even water to exist in liquid form. We'd be utterly doomed. Maybe some life would continue, but humans?
Ha. Don't think we'll survive such a thing. Not easily, anyways. Even if we did make it through the apocalypse, it won't be fun. It'd be hot, humid and humiliating. We'd have to live naked, as animals, because it'd be too hot to ever wear clothing. The sun would pierce the thick haze, burning our skin. If we ever touched even a single ray of sunshine, it'd toast us quick.
Farming wouldn't be a thing because all the big land animals will be extinct too. We'd suffer greatly. Only vegans who could survive off tree bark and bitter grass would pull through. Yup. Tree bark and bitter grass would be the only thing left to eat, unless you wanted to eat the monstrous insects that'd creep around.
Everyday life would be a burden. We'd wake up from our beds sweating. We'd sweat the entire day, unable to do anything but smoke the genetically modified herbs and hope for some relief from the endless torture. Would it do any good? Of course not. Although corn might grow, it'll be so sickly sweet and nutritionless from the endless genetic modifications, that eating it would nearly poison us. Just my prediction, at least.
We'd try to keep gardens, but the swarms of GMO mosquitoes would lay their eggs any place fertile enough to farm, and devour anyone who dares enter. Farmers would be literally eaten alive by genetically altered mosquitoes. Can you imagine what that would look like? It'd be pure madness, I say.
But this desolate future could be averted by the use of advanced, efficient, and clean sources of energy. However, people are terrified of nuclear, even liquid fluoride thorium reactors, and too skeptical of solar power. So I doubt it.
Liquid fluoride thorium reactors, or LFTRs, are small, and relatively simple. A LFTR is great because it operates at low pressure, so if something goes wrong, there’s no boom. They require high temperatures to work, which means if there’s an electrical problem and the heat goes out, it can’t go out of control. As soon as it cools down, the reaction stops.
The coolant AND the fuel are both inseparable, so if there’s a leak, the coolant goes with it, instantly cooling down any spills. The best part, is that there is very little long-term waste. It’s very safe, and quite durable, so I’d recommend LFTRs if you want to keep the planet from apocalypse.
Solar energy is developing quickly, but incrementally. That sort of advancement puts people off, because if you were to look at it on a graph, it doesn't seem to be going anywhere at any one moment. It's chaotic, and you never know if someone will give the most common type of solar collector a tiny improvement, or a new developer will come out with something hugely more efficient. It's just hard to know what will happen next because it's not consistent enough.
It’s still pretty adorable how far we’ve come with solar though. But not far enough, apparently. I don’t think that’s any reason to give up, but even so, a lot of people just can't afford to spend the money on solar. What a shame.
We just don’t want to use any of the energy sources that could save us. Oil is profitable and hyped up by everyone. Gas stations love selling it, so I doubt we're about to give up on using it. Complicated forms of energy harvesting, like solar and nuclear, are just a bit too complicated and scary for us. Will humanity survive without them? I doubt it.
We're simply, completely, and utterly doomed, and there is no hope.
No hope at all.
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Human race is doomed. The planet will be just fine.
lol, classic Carlin right here :D
We only use fossil fuels and nuclear because of the cartels running the world. Solar/electric cars are making big leaps forward with fuel cell technology and the use of copper instead of of silver in solar panels will be a game changer. The earth will still be here after the last human being is gone and it will heal itself from day one.
There is hope, but we need to stop blaming people in general and start looking at how the government prevents alternative energies through regulation, licensure, and other disincentives. The energy industries work their protectionist magic through government's revolving door. It's not a complacent populace that doesn't care. It's the way our laws and energy infrastructure are set up.
We don't need to blame anyone because this is all our fault.
Congratulations, I've just become your 500th follower. woop woop
No hope needed for Earth. Earth will live on.
But the world is in chaos and its destruction is coming so fast.
Much faster than that even! many different kinds of natural disasters have been occurring at increasing rates of over 500% in he past 100 years alone. But, so yes ... I agree.
if you want to protect the planet, privatize it.
You sound like stark.
who is stark?
Ironman, this his line "I just privatized safety".
I understood that reference ;) #MarvelAddict
The planet is already privatized to al large degree.That is one of the major reasons everything is so fucked up. Monetary power and political power are reinforcing each other. The system is largely corrupt. So how does more of the same save the planet?
If only I had a space ship with plenty of resources....I would leave this little ball of shit called Earth and take you with me....LOL
Edit: (@heretickitten I mean, not @dragonslayer109 LOL)
This earth is amazing only if we care much about it. This is still the best place live, we all just need to help each other.
Tongue and Cheek... I approve :)
Ultimately the earth could sustain enough damage that she tries to bucks us off like a wild horse....but I believe that we should all look within on how we can do our part and maybe our example will be noticed by others.
We all have to start it within ourselves. If everybody in this world will do it, maybe we could save the world.
Yeah, if everyone does it. But is that likely?
If you could speak to the world, what would you say to inspire them?
I'd say like this, You don't have to worry about convincing other people, all you need to do is to convince 1 person and that's yourself. Is it difficult to convince your own self?
Yup poisoning our only home.
The Earth will be fine, it's just the multicellular life forms that are doomed. At least until the sun goes supernova... ;)
Seriously though I agree we need to use more clean energy and get off of oil.
How do you think we'll be able to get off oil?
Any ideas beyond what I mentioned in the article?
I can't wait until transparent solar film becomes mainstream. Every window should have this type of film on it.
Here is an example:
http://solarwindow.com/2016/03/solarwindow-in-the-lab/
theres no proof we are warming the planet by burning oil. this post should be under the fiction tag, not science. there is more sea ice and polar bears than ever, and earth has been cooling for 20 years. we are far from doomed, dont believe the hype, it only exists to take your money.
Funny you should mention that, but every month so far this year has been the hottest months we have ever had here in the UK, we are having the hottest year in all our recorded history. But there is global warming and then there is climate change, global warming might be lies, but climate change certainly isn't. We have a stark choice, one that no one wants to even hear about. We can have modern civilisation or human survival, but we can't have both. By the time we realise this it will be far too late. I am not saying this with any sort of sick pleasure either, or to scare people. You can help but scare people if the situation you are all in is very scary can you? How can anyone talk about something like this in a non scary manner? Why do I feel like Jeramiah lamenting in the wilderness? Bollocks.
Canada would uninhabitable today were it not for climate change in the last ten thousand years.
I realize most of this post is written sarcastically and tongue-in-cheek, but I'm more optimistic. Advancements in technology may be incremental, but they still increase at an exponential rate.
Elon Musk has pushed the boundaries of self driving and electric vehicles further than anyone would have expected in such a short time. There will be resistance to change from industries and companies currently profiting off burnable fuels: these companies are rich, hire persuasive lobbyists and contribute finances to politicians, and in turn the politicians act as their puppets. But despite living in a corrupt oligarchy, capitalism and economics will save us. People are rational and make economically smart decisions: if something is cheaper than something else they choose the cheaper choice. When electric cars and solar powered everything is cheaper and more widespread than limited resources such as fuel, the switch will happen, especially when that fuel contributes to rising carbon dioxide levels. People's greed and economic choices will save us but having a safer planet as a tiebreaker won't hurt either.
I've been anti-Greenpeace since before backlash due to their myopic views on GMOs due to their anti-nuclear power stance. Such an absurd take, can't believe pro environment organizations would indirectly support fossil fuels by denying the use of their best current alternative.
But thanks for the info on LFTRs, will research them further. Upvoted and followed @heretickitten
I think genetically modifed stuff is completely ok.
I just don't like the whole copyrighting lifeforms and DNA aspect.
I'm pretty scientific and a fan of pushing the limits of reality, so I really think we can do better in all areas of technology.
What technologies do you want to see developed further?
-Everything that reduces emissions and increases that of renewable energy.
-continued advancements in food production to help bring more people out of poverty. For instance, I recently discovered supermeat and think this will be a complete game changer in terms of feeding an expanding world population in a sustainable way.
We need the positive apocalypse! An apocalypse worth having! Permaculture the earth, green every desert! Make the planet into the garden of eat'n'
WE will all just have to raise ourselves to a higher frequency where there is no physicality!
I like how you had in the title "nothing we WILL do about it" rather than "nothing we CAN do about it." The difference is extreme and it tells the future of humanity. But can you blame us poor humans? How are we to know better when it's "all we know."
I have recently hit a point in my life where I have been bothered by the consumption. It's more a realization of the system that I am feeding into and the understanding that nearly no modern conveniences come without something/someone else's expense/suffering.
I mean, they have a system in place where I can't obtain food, water, and shelter without kneeling to the almighty state currency, USD. I am not saying I expect anything free, but I see this as control.
I believe, even more so now than ever, that we have the technology to get the masses off gas powered vehicles. I believe a few of the biggest problems regarding this are money in politics and the fact that the rich oil elite spend ridiculous amounts of money ensuring that these new technologies don't have a fast path to taking over the market. Essentially, the "elite" control too much and won't allow the power to shift until they have enough corporate control for the newer technologies. An example of what I mean; if the oil rich have ownership in the majority of the new "green sector" they wouldn't care so much if the masses switched off oil because they still get their pockets filled. You know?
There is energy literally EVERYWHERE around us. People forget this. Every element of oxygen, hydogen, nitrogen, and whatever else, they all hold a certain amount of energy in their atoms, it's just a matter of humans knowing a way to harvest them. I believe a good example of this is the atom bomb... split the hydrogen atom and... well.... there is a reason we don't do that regularly.
Hydrogen fuel cells are another amazing example of unused technologies. We can literally each set up our own renewable energy, self sustaining systems but no business or governments are interested in helping people consumer less. I have never heard of LFTRs but I will do some reading :D
With solar, it's kinda funny. Right now many states offer very nice incentives for you to invest in solar. For example, in Wisconsin you get roughly 48% of your cost back in tax credits at the end of the year if you do it all right. That's nearly 1/2 the sticker price and getting a $5k system for $2.5k really isn't too bad when you start looking at average kwh per USA household. I would gladly invest in solar currently if I had the money and if I lived in a more permanent location. I don't foresee living here more than 3 years currently since I want to move out of the city and live more homestead like. But I plan on getting solar panels when I get out of town, hopefully while incentives are still in place. I saw an article the other day that showed some states are already started to reduce their incentives because the overall price of panels (mainly produced in China) are coming down steadily. The problem here is: cheaper panels + less incentives = more expensive panels for consumer and less reason to switch.
It will be hard to get the masses to get of the state that we are in. I do believe this election process has opened many peoples eyes to the crazyness that is afoot in this country. In the end I just home Mother Earth wins, but she needs warriors and healers. They are being born each day as we enter this new age. I don't have much faith in humanity in it's current state, but I believe that we will correct out path.
Great article and I like your point of view. Keep up the good work.
Surely this piece by @heretickitten is sarcastic, because WE are the hope. At the Garden of Eden, we’ve proven that a better way is possible. We live the solution every day. Nobody has to live the way we do, but just to know the potential is there--just to know there are people out here choosing a different way--is inspiration enough to expand one’s horizons of what they thought was possible.
We’ve been living the change for years in our sustainable community, and life is far more abundant and enjoyable than anything we’ve experienced out there in the matrix.
Consumers could merely shift their preferences, and the whole system would collapse. If values shifted to health and wellbeing, then living aligned with nature might be seen as enjoyable and even desirable. People could simply prefer and therefore CHOOSE to consume less energy. We use electricity thoughtfully. For a dozen people in a 4,000 square foot house with modern amenities, our electric bills are frequently under $40 a month--and we don’t even have solar panels! We just really really really enjoy and prefer to live consciously and sustainably; it’s much more satisfying than supporting a mindless consumer culture with no real values!
Although, @alexbeyman posted an article a few days ago about life on Venus, and it did get us thinking about expanding our new paradigm communities across the solar system instead of just across the world...
https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@gardenofeden/we-are-the-garden-of-eden
@dragonslayer109 it seems to me that this is not quite correct that we do not want to use solar energy, we just do not give the opportunity to do it. corporations that sell gasoline, simply will not allow us, and solar battery are very expensive. many people are now becoming more intentional in terms of environmental friendliness. they try to approach to consumption consciously, trying not to buy too much, take the trash to be recycled, not thrown away clothes in the trash, give to recycling or shelters. perhaps because of this all is not lost, because people are becoming more and more conscious .
Interesting article but aren't we making steps of progress with how we treat the earth?
minimalist behaviors and practices could aid in the requirement for electricity. Go solar and have a backup clean energy, such as wind power for those cloudy days. Just a thought
Anyone who still believes the nonsense that fossil fuels are "destroying the planet" should simply give them up...
Yes this world is deteriorating and will colapse in no time, this is to the madness of lots people. People who only cares about their own interest and benefits. This current states is impossible to heal not unless there is a strong conviction to change and even in the existence of strong conviction still not possible as long as everybody will cooperate.
Will this has the chance to heal? To directly andwer that, No, but we can do something to at least alleviate.
Alleviating cancer doesn't cure it.
That's all I can say. The only way to cure cancer is to forcefully remove it. All of it.