ADC                            The future of the planet

Global warming is a very serious matter. One of its manifestations is that of causing much more violent weather than in past history. The hurricane that recently pounded New Orleans following on from the Caribbean and Florida coasts, are almost certainly due to global warming. Some people may say that the USA is having its comeuppance, as it is the country where most of the global warming initiators are taking place.

But the whole of mankind is abusing the natural world.  Deforestation, carbon dioxide and methane generation, are all adding to the destruction of the natural world. There are various attempts at slowing down the rate of destruction, but there is only one country on this planet that is really seriously doing anything meaningful. China has a population-reduction programme, and it is people who are doing the damage.  Why should an African peasant not be permitted to own a car while we in the west often have several cars in one family. Almost all of the other countries are either doing nothing to reduce population, or are actively engaged in making the problem even worse than it is now. And the Muslims and the Roman Catholics appear to be trying to outbreed each other.

There is a slogan that the Greens could adopt "It's people who are the polluters".  The opposition are sure to muddy the argument by asking for volunteers to commit suicide.  But it really doesn't take a great brain to see that we could all have a secure future if there were less of us.  The overcrowded lifeboat analogy comes to mind.

But governments and other authorities appear to want to make matters worse.  In Britain we have the situation where even this little island is creaking at the seams.  It is true that we are taking people from elsewhere in the world, so the total number is not increasing.  The National Health Service is short of money, but it wastes enormous amounts of the stuff by trying to outdo nature when she decrees that a woman cannot breed.  It is my contention that China's principle of 'one child families', is admirable.  It was probably a good thing that the Tiananmen Square revolt failed, for  had it succeeded the western pressures to breed would probably have taken off in that country too  And the pressure to have children to 'look after you in old age', would have made things even worse than they are at present

It doesn’t take a very great brain to see that almost every activity that man engages in, causes further damage to the environment. Even the lowliest peasant in a third-world country is contributing to the problem. Just by being alive he is causing additional CO₂ and methane generation. And if he has a few pigs and cows, they generate more than he and his family do. The lemming is supposed to breed up to the point where they destroy their own habitat. For "lemmings" read "humans".

There is unarguably a maximum number of human beings that this planet  is capable of sustaining. Nature has its own ways of repairing the damage that man creates, but she has her limits. I don’t suppose anyone knows what this figure is, but I would like to suggest a number What about ten million people world-wide. I feel that this is a viable number to maintain a modern society allowing for the scientific progress we have achieved to date.  Wouldn't Britain be a wonderful place with only about a tenth of its present population.

If this proposal was adopted by mankind, and I fear that it will not be, it would take quite a few years to bring it to fruition. In the meantime we would have to weather the storm that our profligacy has generated. We could look forward to a better future, rather than seeing total disaster looming ahead.

Every man (and woman) wants things; let them have them!  If the quantity of people was not above the critical level, mother nature will be able to cope. Forests would re-grow and the natural methods of disposing of the dangerous gases would take place. Mankind could look forward to a long-term rosy future. As things are going at present, not only is man fouling his own nest, he will soon be running out of things like fresh water. The concept of water-wars has been mooted already.

I am not of a religious nature, but believers may conclude that HIV has been sent as a method by the Deity of thinning out mankind.  (In another essay I record my own religious and ethical beliefs)

There surely will come a time when it can be scientifically shown that the environmental changes we have started, are an irreversible phenomenon, and nothing we can do will stop the inevitable doom. If one looks at the winds on some of the other planets, it shows that nature is capable of producing some pretty devastating effects. Imagine regular winds on a world-wide scale such as we have seen recently in New Orleans.  Farming would be impossible. And there is no guarantee that the recent hurricane is the maximum possible.  (I have used this possibility as the subject of a science-fiction story.  A copy available on request as an email attachment).

There are other effects that global warming will initiate. Polar ice caps are already seen to be melting, the Gulf Stream will cease to operate.  The rise in ocean levels is estimated to be about three metres by the time the ice has all gone. The rise in sea level will probably be quite slow, but think of the low-lying land that is heavily populated at present. A number of Pacific Islands, Bangladesh, even parts of Europe are at serious risk. It is going to take a lot more than a little Dutch boy putting his finger in the dyke. London is at serious risk as it is only just high enough at present to avoid being flooded. It is also known that the south-east of the country is subsiding by about a millimetre a year due to geological effects. We may well have to move the capital to a city other than London.  Perhaps this will be the real initiator of action.  I will not see the real effects, my children certainly will, and their children will be the ones who have to cope with what we have sown.  George Bush will be out of office by the time that the real effects begin to bite; but he is wealthy enough to buy a small mountain where he will build a house.  Perhaps he will call his house "Mount Ararat"