Heal the Planet for Profit – Redux
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Giorgione The Tempest 1508 “Mankind’s only chance to not destroy its planet lies in diverging from all other species in that not all ene
[See the full post at: Heal the Planet for Profit – Redux]Bill Gates on Bill Gates:
“The world is not exactly lacking in rich men with big ideas about what other people should do, or who think technology can fix any problem. I own big houses and fly in private planes – in fact, I took one to Paris for the climate conference, so who am I to lecture anyone on the environment?”
“It’s true that my carbon footprint is absurdly high. For a long time I have felt guilty about this… In 2020, I started buying sustainable jet fuel…”
Bill Gates is not an expert in science or technology. He is missing an education. A common logical fallacy is to assume an expert in one field knows something about another field.
Bill Gates should use his expertise to write a book on the creation, maintenance, and defense of a large monopoly with a strong hierarchical structure to become fabulously wealthy through anti-competitive practices. That is the only thing that Bill Gates is an expert in that I’m aware of.
Politicians are experts in getting elected and little else. Bureaucrats know how to please their masters but shouldn’t be assumed to have any real expertise. (See Fauci.)
Ilargi,
I am not sure we are behaving like all other species in our use of energy/resources, but I have not worked the idea thru completely. Here’s what I have so far:
1) humans consume massive quantities of non-essential stuff, something that other species do not do. This has a huge impact on the speed with which we consume energy2) Graeber speaks of money’s capacity to turn morality into a matter of impersonal arithmetic, which allows for the justification of what would otherwise seem outrageous or obscene. Example: Exchanging a cow for 10 live chickens is imprecise. Calculating the exact value of the cow and chickens may necessitate chopping a chicken in half to equalize the trade. The idea is that violence and quantification are linked. Humans capacity to create money, with all of the perversions this brings about, sets us apart from animals. I’m inclined to think it, rather than our animal-like behavior, sets the stage for our destruction.
Again, still not clear in my mind, but here’s another challenge: poor people the world over use much less energy per capita than the wealthy West. Are the poor more animal-like?
I really question this idea that humans are just like amoebas.poor people the world over use much less energy per capita than the wealthy West
They don’t have access to the excess.
I really question this idea that humans are just like amoebas.
They are drive by the same -primordial?- instincts.
humans consume massive quantities of non-essential stuff, something that other species do not do.
Opposable thumbs an all that. And no access to excess. We are more intelligent and use that intelligence to havoc destruction more efficiently. How does that sound?
Classic example is Reindeer Island:
In 1944, 29 reindeer were introduced to the island by the United States Coast Guard to provide an emergency food source. The Coast Guard abandoned the island a few years later, leaving the reindeer. Subsequently, the reindeer population rose to about 6,000 by 1963[6] and then died off in the next two years to 42 animals.[7] A scientific study attributed the population crash to the limited food supply in interaction with climatic factors (the winter of 1963–64 was exceptionally severe in the region).[1] By the 1980s, the reindeer population had completely died out.
But you can study this much better with bacteria in petri dishes, with a little sugar added. I guess the grand idea is can we deal “better” with surplus energy, and looking around me I would say no.
I do not believe that we can prevent the upcoming COLLAPSE.
What we can do is manage our response to what lies ahead. Investing oneself in an authentic and purposeful Way (energy flow) to meet the needs/demands of the PRESENT moment wherever you are. This is the “energy” reservoir of untapped potentiality. How far could we go if all were focused on generating this source?
A shift in human consciousnesses on a large scale is our only HOPE.
I do not know exactly how this will happen.
From my own experience, I know that it is possible.
Peace/LOVE/joy/happiness/kindness/cooperation/compassion begins with me.
Amen. Om Shanti. Shanti. Shanti.
Bill Gates.
“Right of ANYBODY to have an opinion on ANYTHING”, that I’ve written about couple of days ago, taken 1000 steps further in this case.
Moneyed man ventures into the field that he’s not qualified for, and accepted as a most natural phenomena (you know, democracy, freedom…). One thing is when an actress, school dropout because she could not pass a chemistry class starts a line of perfumes. This a totally different game of single individual playing with the planet. And only THEN that we get outraged, mind you!One more thing, as Columbo would have said:
Qualified people, but marginalized in this grand scheme of things that society had turned into, suddenly find themselves in temptation to accept employment by likes of B.G. and support their agenda and be well paid for that. With pressure from the spouse and desire to provide for the kids, no wonder line easy to cross.Susmarie108, said,
“A shift in human consciousnesses on a large scale is our only HOPE”.Let’s get specific/investigate why our ancestors’ way of thinking was different and resulted in longer sustainable social/economic societies than what we have going for us.
The questions:
What is life?
Why did we have gods?
What did those gods do that is missing in our belief systems?https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gods_and_goddesses
This is a list of deities in different polytheistic religions, cultures and mythologies of the world.
Ancient Egyptian deities
Mesopotamian deities
Ancient Greek deities
Ancient Roman deities
Norse deities
Hindu deities
Hindu gods
Devi
Japanese deitiessumac.carol said,
“I really question this idea that humans are just like amoebas.”
My point of view:
We cannot exist/live without the symbiosis of microscopic life in side of us and surrounding us.
Lets be aware of this symbiosis and respect it.(
1. Gut flora refers to the world of microorganisms, predominantly bacteria, that populate our intestines. Research has been increasingly focused on trying to understand the role that the gut flora play in terms of human health. A variety of names are used to refer to this inner population of microorganisms: 1. Gut bacteria 2. Intestinal flora 3. Microbiota 4. Microbiome 5. Microflora It has become exceedingly apparent that the gut flora plays an important role in both our health and our vulnerability to disease.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungus
2. Abundant worldwide, most fungi are inconspicuous because of the small size of their structures, and their cryptic lifestyles in soil or on dead matter. Fungi include symbionts of plants, animals, or other fungi and also parasites. They may become noticeable when fruiting, either as mushrooms or as molds. Fungi perform an essential role in the decomposition of organic matter and have fundamental roles in nutrient cycling and exchange in the environment. They have long been used as a direct source of human food, in the form of mushrooms and truffles; as a leavening agent for bread; and in the fermentation of various food products, such as wine, beer, and soy sauce.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virus
3. A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism.[1] Viruses infect all types of life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life
4. Life is a characteristic that distinguishes physical entities that have biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased (they have died), or because they never had such functions and are classified as inanimate. Various forms of life exist, such as plants, animals, fungi, protists, archaea, and bacteria. Biology is the science concerned with the study of life.
5. Circle of Life
Elton John, Lebo M.
From the day we arrive on the planet
And blinking, step into the sun
There’s more to be seen than can ever be seen
More to do than can ever be doneSome say eat or be eaten
Some say live and let live
But all are agreed as they join the stampede
You should never take more than you giveIn the circle of life
It’s the wheel of fortune
It’s the leap of faith
It’s the band of hope
Till we find our place
On the path unwinding
In the circle, the circle of lifeSome of us fall by the wayside
And some of us soar to the stars
And some of us sail through our troubles
And some have to live with the scarsThere’s far too much to take in here
More to find than can ever be found
But the sun rolling high through the sapphire sky
Keeps great and small on the endless roundIn the circle of life
It’s the wheel of fortune
It’s the leap of faith
It’s the band of hope
Till we find our place
On the path unwinding
In the circle, the circle of lifeIt’s the wheel of fortune, yeah
It’s the leap of faith
It’s the band of hope
Till we find our place
On the path unwinding, yeah
In the circle, the circle of lifeOn the path unwinding, yeah
In the circle, the circle of lifeNo animal has extended its mouth so long or so wide as humanity. Giraffes and large whales currently occupy both categories in (oh, this is going to hurt) the Species Without Prostheses contest.
I eat/use stuff from halfway around the world on a daily basis.
And we want to terraform Mars.
“We destroyed it for profit” apparently does not in their eyes contradict “we’ll fix it for profit too”.
Reminds me of my Rite Aid drugstore. They often have a sandwich board on the sidewalk advertising a “Stop Smoking” kit of some sort. And behind the counter inside are…hundreds of cartons of cigarettes.
generic wrote: Bill Gates is not an expert in science or technology.
No, but his wife plays a doctor on tv. That must count for something.The problem with ceasing to consume as a solution is, it kills the economy, which must keep expanding to survive. And as we know, it’s not as simple as all that. And in the end, that’s the issue, the over-complexity thing. Problem is, that is build into any system, and human economies are not an exception. Despite the technofantasists who insist there is a solution right around the corner. Even if that were true, look where all the other solutions got us…to the point where we obediently listen to the same people who gave us the last solution and are now offering the solution to that solution. …Cigar, cigarette? Get your nicotine patches here, get ’em here. Chemotherapy Ward 4, This Way. Sorry, but going cold turkey on consumption, even if you could get people on board, would create as many problems as it solves.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiogenesis
In evolutionary biology, abiogenesis, or informally the origin of life (OoL),[3][4][5][a] is the natural process by which life has arisen from non-living matter, such as simple organic compounds.[6][4][7][8] While the details of this process are still unknown, the prevailing scientific hypothesis is that the transition from non-living to living entities was not a single event, but an evolutionary process of increasing complexity that involved molecular self-replication, self-assembly, autocatalysis, and the emergence of cell membranes.[9][10][11] Although the occurrence of abiogenesis is uncontroversial among scientists, its possible mechanisms are poorly understood. There are several principles and hypotheses for how abiogenesis could have occurred.A New Chemical ‘Tree of The Origins of Life’ Reveals Our Possible Molecular Evolution
MICHELLE STARR3 OCTOBER 2020
At least 3.7 billion years ago, a few simple molecules worked together to create something new. Then a few more. And, somehow, these snowballing combinations eventually produced the first very basic living organisms that would evolve and branch out to become all life on Earth.
(continue ….)
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6511/eaaw1955
Synthetic connectivity, emergence, and self-regeneration in the network of prebiotic chemistry
View ORCID ProfileAgnieszka Wołos1,2,*, View ORCID ProfileRafał Roszak1,2,*, View ORCID ProfileAnna Żądło-Dobrowolska1,*, View ORCID ProfileWiktor Beker1,2, View ORCID ProfileBarbara Mikulak-Klucznik1,2, View ORCID ProfileGrzegorz Spólnik1, View ORCID ProfileMirosław Dygas1, View ORCID ProfileSara Szymkuć1,2,†, View ORCID ProfileBartosz A. Grzybowski1,2,3,4,†
See all authors and affiliationsScience 25 Sep 2020:
Vol. 369, Issue 6511, eaaw1955
DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw1955https://tol.allchemy.net/
The Tree of Life originating from 5 starting materials:
ammonia, water, nitrogen, methane, and hydrogen cyanide.https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/scientists-just-found-the-building-blocks-of-life-near-a-distant-star/ar-BB1dGTbO?ocid=msedgntp
It took two years for the scientists to comb through the data, and published the results. Turns out, the compounds—methyl isocyanate and glycolonitrile—are possible raw materials for the evolution of life. Scientists call them “prebiotics.”
Space surveys previously found prebiotics in meteorites as well as in the nearly-imperceptibly thin dust that stretches between stars. But finding them in the vast swirl around a pair of still-forming “proto-stars”—the universe’s furnaces of creation—could bring us a step closer to understanding where life comes from and how it might spread across the universe.@zerosum: thank you for the Circle of Life – reminder. The lyrics resonate with me. You?
A few random thoughts on the wisdom of trying to save the world.
After having lived in Siberia for 6 months in 1983, I can tell you living in a society 100% government controlled is not the solution to anything for anybody! All I saw was corruption, incredible pollution, increditable energy waste, thinking outside the box was severely punished, and only conformity is rewarded. A person living in such an environment would never be allowed to even bring up such ideas never mind try to solve them! So government is 100% not the answer! They are the problem squared! Government bureaucrats hate change and fight it every inch of the way! No sarc!
For a recent example how government isn’t the solution, look no further than how Dr. Fusci and the CDC have handled covid. They have suppressed vitamin D and outlawed the use of invermin and marilaria medications! This is what governments do best! Corruption! Not allowed to think! Resist change, tooth and nail! No sarc!
Now about this idea of money. Really money isn’t real! Money only exists as an “idea” we humans have invented! Caveman survived without money! Then governments declared a monopoly on the creation of money! What happens if you “will” some money into existence? You are jailed for being a counterfitter! OK a little sarc!
Now the idea of making a “profit” is also a man made idea too! Caveman didn’t need to make a profit to survive! If you asked a caveman what “money” and “profit” were, I think he would just club you for being an idiot! OK a little sarc!
As for planting more trees. Yes, trees can temporarily absorb and store carbon. Here is the problem with that idea. Then the tree grows old and eventually falls down and decays, releasing the stored carbon back into the air. Another problem with just planting ever more trees is eventually you can reach a point where there might not be enough carbon for all of the trees (never mind plants on the ground with no sunshine) to survive in good health. They would all be competing for the available supply of carbon in the air. Some trees would lose. OK a little more sarc.
About geothermal energy. The earth’s core only has a fixed amount of energy available. If we start sucking out more energy from the earth’s core, then the earth will cool down faster. So that kind of energy isn’t sustainable either! O.K. a lot of sarc.
If we rely more on solar panels, then we are going to have to cover more of the earth’s surface thus depriving mother earth of the sun’s life giving energy. So we steal the sun’s energy from other earth for ourselves. That should be a sustainable source! OK more sarc!
If we build enough windmills we could easily run out of wind available to make the blades rotate. We would use up all of the wind’s energy! Without wind, how would we keep our trees green without any rain? OK more sarc!
SO MORE OF ANYTHING IS BAD!
So in the end we are all dead!
So don’t worry! Be happy!
@ Dr. John Day
Reading the news this morning, it sounds as though you’re in a real battle of the elements; below freezing, snowing, blowing, and likely no electricity…
Hope you’re getting through this okay…
V in ThailandFinance types can contribute to problem solving in this way: measure GDP simply as the harvesting of the sun’s energy. Then we can measure progress. Climate change and oil depletion will take care of itself.
“One way to do this is by planting trees, which soak up CO2 through their leaves.”
There are no brains, and it hurts, it hurts! Okay, you planted a tree to offset burning some oil. How much? Well, certainly no more than the size of the tree over time, and in fact a lot less. So one sapling is, let’s say two liters? Okay Jimbo, ou drove a mile, you’re done for the year! We already ran out of square feet to plant on!
You got ten trees? Okay, 20 liters petrol a year for you!
No, really, it gets worse: a tree died! Now all the CO2 you captured is re-released (over time). Whaaaaah!
Hold on a minit: ALL the CO2 pulled up from ALL the wells EVER, are ALSO above ground, ALWAYS, forever, when any tree dies. Soooooo…I’m detecting that you’re not really absorbing CO2, you’re absorbing juicy cash for your full-body tobacco-enema scam.
And that’s just ONE problem. Here’s the next, from yesterday: “That is going to require a huge investment”
Billy, Billy, what did I just say yesterday? There is only one environmentalism: Don’t Buy Stuff. “Huge investment” is BUYING STUFF. Trillions and trillions of more stuff, made of more oil, more shipping, more mountains of more ore, more mines, more toxic rare earths and unrecycleable compounds. Congratulations: you sir, are an idiot! You literally cannot tell up from down, environmental from not, you can’t even tell “Blue skies from pain”, “a green field From a cold steel rail or A smile from a veil”
“Did they get you to trade
Your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
And Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change™?”So your plan for environmentalism is to Buy More Stuff™, level more mountains, burn more oil, and make more money. Are you quite certain you are well, sir, should we “arrange to have you sent to no asylum”? “He’s mad, mad, mad, mad, mad, mad, mad, mad, mad / Not quite right (not quite right)”
They are crazier still: they are going to create massive machines that sequester CO2 using…energy, that is, CO2. They have mechanical trees that can replace real trees. That is, made of metal, rare earths, and oil, and take up the space of an actual tree that grows for free. No joke. If I put this in a children’s book, you wouldn’t believe it. You’d think I was one of those far-out loonie peacniks, like John Lennon, exaggerating far beyond any rational cause. Nope. We had to level every town to save every town. We had to kill every person to save every person. Except me, Bill Gates. “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide, I was rolling down the [skies] / In some cold blue steel”
And I guess that’s the Mad Mad Mad Mad World aside from the deadly attack from renewables being all shut off in a normal freeze. No electric = no heat, basically, anywhere in Texas. Or Mississippi.
Not only that, Billy-Boy’s world is literal hell on earth. Concrete, pavement, oil, malls, and a complete lack of green: all the things that people pay big money to escape from at Barefoot Resorts in Acapulco or Fairmont Banff, Alberta.
Not this:
https://natedsanders.com/ItemImages/000058/Norman%20Rockwell%20Signed%20Stockbridge%20Main%20Street%20at%20Christmas%2058062b_lg.jpegEven though that has cars, just as it had horses before. This, that the Kunstler crew would be doing, is the OPPOSITE of Gates and co, who are an anti-life death cult that would make Voldemort blush.
Two notes: horses were the original tree-killer when the colonists arrived. North America is unrecognizable now, even where to our eyes it seems green and natural. Two, man clearly CAN do this, as planetwide they always did, “the forests a squirrel could run from Portland to St Louis and never touch the ground” were there, ready to be burned for “energy”, and the tribes had the tools to do it, but they chose not to. That’s not “capitalism” or some such, that was their society, their values. Because it was stupid, suicidal, one-way trip that made life WORSE for every one, every day, man, woman, children, and even the other tribe over the hill combined. Still true. Maybe this American Chestnut:
“Indian Chief “Two Eagles was asked by a white U.S. government official, “You have observed the white man for 90 years. You’ve seen his wars and his technological advances. You’ve seen his progress, and the damage he’s done.”
The Chief nodded in agreement.
The official continued, “Considering all these events, in your opinion, where did the white man go wrong?”
The Chief stared at the government official then replied,
“When white man find land, Indians running it, not taxes, no debt, plenty buffalo, plenty beaver, clean water. Women do all the work, medicine man free, Indian man spend all day hunting and fishing all night having sex.”Then the Chief leaned back and smiled, “Only white man dumb enough to think he could improve system like that.”
And all it takes is to stand a little hard weather. But maybe you think otherwise. It’s 10f in Texas after all.
Day can’t hear you: his power is off. In 5 states and Mexico too.
Go Team Green! Behold! A Pale Horse! That kills as many people as Famine and Pestilence.
I feel the essay was very well written and exposed many of the issues we are facing.
PlanetOfTheHumans provides more context.
With respect to a sustainable path forward the only solution I see is a massive culling of world population and a return to lifestyles experienced hundreds of years ago but I suspect instead we will pollute, poison and destroy ourselves in all possible ways prior to arriving at the next steady state
Enjoying life while it lasts
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