53 replies to this topic

[seta-san]

hedleigh, on 23 January 2013 - 10:15, said:

Again it seems you have missed his point though. We are all a plague on the earth, not just the ones from poor countries. Also the poorer nations probably have less impact on the planet than developed ones.

not really. as burning coal and gas certainly isn't good but has gotten very clean over the years whereas they slash/burning the rainforest for grazing land for their animals. The earth can take our C02 if we have the plants to devour it. The earth has seen a significantly higher CO2 release before humans just by volcanic activity... burn the rainforest and we're all ****ed.

[ArKeYa]

z0phi3l, on 22 January 2013 - 19:10, said:

"Sir" Attenborough and people that believe like him are idiots We've had crackpots making these same comments for centuries and it hasn't happened, crap like this falls under the "It's a Conspiracy" forum

[]SK[]

I think you'll find the average carbon footprint of someone living a 1st world country is way more than anyone in a 3rd,

[+hedleigh]

seta-san, on 23 January 2013 - 10:21, said:

not really. as burning coal and gas certainly isn't good but has gotten very clean over the years whereas they slash/burning the rainforest for grazing land for their animals. The earth can take our C02 if we have the plants to devour it. The earth has seen a significantly higher CO2 release before humans just by volcanic activity... burn the rainforest and we're all ****ed.

It's also caused by developed nations wanting fancy wooden furniture made from rainforest timber. Some of the worst offenders are multinational companies looking for a quick and cheap profit.

http://www.rain-tree...tm#.UP-7UjXJa14 is just one page I found.

[seta-san]

]SK[, on 23 January 2013 - 10:26, said:

I think you'll find the average carbon footprint of someone living a 1st world country is way more than anyone in a 3rd,

our carbon foot print is indeed large. but nothing compared to what the earth has put out in volcanic eruptions. The earth can handle CO2. The earth can't handle the lack of vegetation(the rain forests).

hedleigh, on 23 January 2013 - 10:33, said:

It's also caused by developed nations wanting fancy wooden furniture made from rainforest timber. Some of the worst offenders are multinational companies looking for a quick and cheap profit.

http://www.rain-tree...tm#.UP-7UjXJa14 is just one page I found.

No, paper for furnisher or paper is grown specifically for that purpose. It's not taken from natural wooded areas and where it is it's only allowed by government as a mean of controlling wild fires.

[Dushmany]

I think we'd all agree on overpopulated, but there's no solution available at the moment that everyone can agree on

[seta-san]

Dushmany, on 23 January 2013 - 10:37, said:

I think we'd all agree on overpopulated, but there's no solution available at the moment that everyone can agree on

my solution is simple and no one should have any qualms about it. Let nature take it's course in the third world. Let disease do and famine do it's own thing like it was supposed to do. Europe, much of asia, and north America are in population free falls at the moment. It's mostly just the third world that is the problem.

[dknm]

I have a plan! Let's go colonise these resource rich countries. The inhabitants can barely provide for themselves, so it makes further economic sense to maybe give them visas and citizenships. Golly look at our cheap labour developed economy!! Fast forward and we run out of money: Please go back to your rock and let's forget we ever met. We engaged with those people either for charitable or ulterior motives, it is a moral duty to at least provide them a chance to basic healthcare: soap and vaccination go a long way.

Is population control by means of prevention (education, condoms, more condoms I say !) a sensible idea? YES. There will always be issues with selecting an arbitrary number for fertility rates, but a seven fold increase will soon prove unsustainable.

Now, it's beyond the scope of my comment to prove you wrong; however any pollution metric you will pick

• deforestation
  
• waste contaminating water/soil
  
• oil spills
  
• air pollution - coal/car exhaust/ petrochem plants
  
• plastic landfill
  
• idiotic fishing policies

will tend to consistently peak in any other place than Africa, with top offenders being (in no order): America, Europe and China.

The harsh truth is that each and every one of us sitting with a laptop in our lap will have contributed in our lifetime to making the environment a bit worse than it was before us. It adds up.

[Albert Bonici]

dknm, on 23 January 2013 - 11:12, said:

I have a plan! Let's go colonise these resource rich countries. The inhabitants can barely provide for themselves, so it makes further economic sense to maybe give them visas and citizenships. Golly look at our cheap labour developed economy!! Fast forward and we run out of money: Please go back to your rock and let's forget we ever met. We engaged with those people either for charitable or ulterior motives, it is a moral duty to at least provide them a chance to basic healthcare: soap and vaccination go a long way.

Is population control by means of prevention (education, condoms, more condoms I say !) a sensible idea? YES. There will always be issues with selecting an arbitrary number for fertility rates, but a seven fold increase will soon prove unsustainable.

Now, it's beyond the scope of my comment to prove you wrong; however any pollution metric you will pick

• deforestation
  
• waste contaminating water/soil
  
• oil spills
  
• air pollution - coal/car exhaust/ petrochem plants
  
• plastic landfill
  
• idiotic fishing policies

will tend to consistently peak in any other place than Africa, with top offenders being (in no order): America, Europe and China.

The harsh truth is that each and every one of us sitting with a laptop in our lap will have contributed in our lifetime to making the environment a bit worse than it was before us. It adds up.

So, as individuals, should it be the case that we are required to address this fact in a responsible way, by deliberately going out of our way to "consume less", or to "recycle" where we can,

Or, should we make more laws and taxes around the consumer capitalist society letting goverments tell us what we should be paying our tax on...