Trawling across the net I came across a series of photos that illustrate some of environmental by-products of our (and here I mean human) desire to do business with natural resources and consume ever greater quantities of products for a rising global population. If you want to see what essentially unfettered capitalism can do the the environment, check out this site by Lu Guang (卢广) (see profile above from the People’s Republic of China. Lu won the $30,000 W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography for his documentary project “Pollution in China.” at the 30th annual awards on October 14th at the Asia Society in New York. (Here is a version with English translation and reams of Age of Stupid comments below - you have been warned)
I also found a series of very interesting videos on youtube about climate destabilisation. First wonderingmind42 gives us the low down on the logic of not taking a risk with the environment:
Then, he attempts to provide some solutions:
Next up is a long series of videos so I won't embed them here but suffice to say that they are worth the watch though I say that with the caveat that I do not endorse everything the professor argues but rather that he provides food for thought. Some have interpreted his comments as arguing for a crude eugenic style population control but in hearing his concerns about over population I interpret the problem as over-density of population in concentrated areas such as cities, in environments not capable of sustaining that density in the long run. Furthermore, it is the consumption rate per capita of populations that is more of a problem than simply gross population per se. For example, the average US and European citizen consumes vastly more energy per capita than their equivalent in less developed areas and the effect of this is magnified when the energy produced to meet wasteful demand is done in a manner that is itself unsustainable and polluting. The film 'Age of Stupid' demonstrates this point quite well. The solution is not forced abortions and sterilisation but perhaps the end of cities or intensive energy consumption locales of dense populations. Presented by Dr Albert A. Bartlett, professor emeritus of Physics at University of Colorado-Boulder.
Part 1,Part 2,Part 3,Part 4,Part 5,Part 6,Part 7,Part 8
Green Party Taiwan is hosting a very important meeting of the Asia Pacific Green Network in Taipei County next year featuring Vandana Shiva. Go to their website and sign up to play your part.
