The Ecological Crisis and How to Solve It

[jordan179]

Inspired by a post of maskedretriever

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We are in the midst of the Sixth Great Mass Extinction. We are wiping out the other species on Earth at a rate far greater than the ecosphere's rate of natural replacement through evolution and speciation, and in doing so we are destroying genetic diversity. The horror and folly of this is extreme: Nature has been

Comments

[luagha]

I suggest you do a websearch on 'polywell fusion.' If it works out the way it is looking to work out, we might be able to leave fission-based nuclear generation behind. To switch over, all we will have to do is repeatedly hit the watermelons (green on the outside, red on the inside) with sticks.

[thebrettzone]

I'm all in favor of nukes. And for reducing population, of course.

But people should be careful with the "we're killing the Earth" statements. Only 0.000001%1 of all living things on Earth throughout history are currently alive. Mother Nature herself does a good job of "wiping out species".

We should be aware of our impact but also be careful not to overstate the nature of the problem.

1 Guestimate, but it's a really, really low number.

[pathia]

We need fusion, period, unless we can get that, we won't get off this mudball fast enough.

Until then, we need to use more fission, especially in the US. Both sides hate it for stupid reasons. The left screams bloody murder about pollution, but...as opposed to what? One nuke plant, or fifty coal fired plants? Seriously, it's not even logical.

Right screams that terrrrrirrrrsts will get the nuke material if we make breeder reactors. Why not, I dunno, just post military guards at them? Would that be so hard O_o

[luagha]

It's not the right screaming that the terrorists will get the nuke material. Jimmy Carter forbid breeder reactors and nuclear reprocessing because of the proliferation risk by executive order and no executive since has been willing to rescind the order because of likely blowback and demonization.

[ford_prefect42]

Suggestion. Start a program that pays people to get sterilized. Start the payout at $20, increase it steadily to keep the doctors busy performing tubal-ligations and vasectomies. Make the offer open to anyone, anywhere in the world. Keep that up until population growth is where you want it.

[kitten_goddess]

Awesome, ford_prefect42! Good idea. However, I think the payout should be more than $20 in developed countries to make the effort worth someone's while. Plus, all time lost from work due to recovery from the surgery should be compensated as well, especially for women, since tubal ligations are more complicated than vasectomies.

[ford_prefect42]

Well, I had in mind getting the most population reduction for the buck, so doing this in the US and Europe is a little overrated, the birth rates are already below maintenance. If we have limited funds (and we do), then we're best off getting the most people in and out we can for the money we have. Granted no one int he first world will be swayed by $20, but MILLIONS in the third world will be thrilled to take it.

I'll accept that the pay-scale should be different across genders.

[yechezkiel]

We are in the midst of the Sixth Great Mass Extinction. We are wiping out the other species on Earth at a rate far greater than the ecosphere's rate of natural replacement through evolution and speciation, and in doing so we are destroying genetic diversity.

Proof? I don't mean of "how many species are going extinct", but of this compared to the normal background extinction rate.