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Thursday, January 16, 2003
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Humanity's Crisis is a dialogue constructed from a recent exchange of letters between myself, Timothy Wilken, MD of the SynEARTH network, and Arthur Noll, the author of Harmony. Today, we follow with the addition of a new voice. Chris Lucas, an author, complexity scientist, and leader of the UK based thinktank CALResCo Group, engages in dialogue with Arthur Noll. I will occasionally respond with comments when appropriate, and then have the last word. (01/16/03) | |
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Dennis J. Kucinich writes: For the America I envision seeks world unity instead of unilateralism. It gains its power through being the first to help, not the first to strike. It extends itself to the peoples of the world to lift their burden. It is an America, which when asked for help, dispenses bread instead of bombs, medical assistance instead of missiles, and food instead of fissile materials. There is a role for America in the world. It is in working with the community of nations to achieve the security of all nations. It is in restoring the promise of the Non Proliferation Treaty to lead the way to get rid of all nuclear weapons. It is in helping to assure international order. It is through strengthening and abiding by international treaties. It is in assuring control and eventual elimination of biological and chemical weapons, and landmines. It is in protecting our global climate by cooperating with the rest of the world in reducing carbon emissions. America can help protect the world. America can help save the world. But America cannot control the world, nor should we want to do so. (01/16/03) | |
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Jay Salsburg writes: Why does civilization grow but does not progress? Perhaps the concept "progress" itself does not exist. All that actually happens is, as individuals, our ability to exercise innate capability becomes more accessible and less inhibited by the high cost of living. We are born with these abilities and they come with 'existence' in the world. Available tools mark the milestones on the journey to civilization. Number one on the list of tools is energy utilization and resources, then number two, natural resources. You may ask yourself at this point, "Are not energy resources the same as natural resources?" No! Natural resources occur in the Earth. Their acquisition relies on mining, drilling, or harvesting fuels and minerals. Conceptualize natural resources as a Savings Account. All the deposits in this Savings Account made millions or billions of years ago. At present some deposits are being made but at a very slow rate. We (Humans) are withdrawing from this Savings Account more than a million times faster than the deposits. Logic dictates that if you continually withdraw assets from your Savings Account eventually your assets will fall to zero. Without Income to balance expenditures, Bankruptcy. Energy Utility companies meter our (individual consumers) consumption and we pay for materials as real property, food and consumer products. Mass consumption seems to elevate our standard of living. Recycling our minerals is the life-blood of civilization. Any inhibition of the circulation strangles our vitality. If civilization is to progress, we must wean ourselves from using our Savings Account and transfer to our Income. What Income? The Income of energy to the Earth. (01/16/03)
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Jay Hanson writes: Economists everywhere are wrong: perpetual economic motion is impossible! Imagine having an automobile with a ten-gallon tank, but the nearest gas station is eleven gallons away. You cannot fill your tank with a trip to the gas station because the trip burns more gas than you can carry -- it's impossible for you to cover your overhead (the size of your bankroll and the price of the gas are irrelevant). You might as well plant flowers in your auto because you are "out of gas" -- forever. It's the same with the American economy: if we must spend more-than-one unit of energy to produce enough goods and services to buy one unit of energy, it will be impossible for us to cover our overhead. At that point, America's economic machine is “out of gas” -- forever. Nearly everyone in the world (all governments, and all but a handful of scientists, etc.) has accepted the economists' perpetual-motion machine. Even the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the USA Department of Energy has no idea how much energy is required to produce energy ("net energy"). Nor does the EIA have any idea how long energy can be produced ("peak")! But even a child can understand that machines do not run on money -- they run on energy ("Daddy's car needs gas!") -- and available energy is a prerequisite for producing more energy. Once the truth is told, no one will ever believe that the energy experts in the Clinton Administration were just too stupid to see it coming; too stupid understand these simple energy principles that can be taught to a child... The sudden -- and surprising -- end of the fossil fuel age will stun everyone -- and kill billions. Once the truth is told about gas and oil (it's just a matter of time), your life will change forever. Envision a world where freezing, starving people burn everything combustible -- everything from forests (releasing CO2; destroying topsoil and species); to garbage dumps (releasing dioxins, PCBs, and heavy metals); to people (by waging nuclear, biological, chemical, and conventional war); and you have seen the future. (01/16/03) | |
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Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen writing in 1975: Hardly anyone would nowadays openly profess a belief in the immortality of mankind. Yet many of us prefer not to exclude this possibility; to this end, we endeavor to impugn any factor that could limit mankind's life. The most natural rallying idea is that mankind's entropic dowry is virtually inexhaustible, primarily because of man's inherent power to defeat the Entropy Law in some way or another. ...Now, economic history confirms a rather elementary fact -- the fact that the great strides in technological progress have generally been touched off by a discovery of how to use a new kind of accessible energy. On the other hand, a great stride in technological progress cannot materialize unless the corresponding innovation is followed by a great mineralogical expansion. Even a substantial increase in the efficiency of the use of gasoline as fuel would pale in comparison with a manifold increase of the known, rich oil fields. This sort of expansion is what has happened during the last one hundred years. We have struck oil and discovered new coal and gas deposits in a far greater proportion than we could use during the same period. Still more important, all mineralogical discoveries have included a substantial proportion of easily accessible resources. This exceptional bonanza by itself has sufficed to lower the real cost of bringing mineral resources in situ to the surface. ... The general picture is now clear. The terrestrial energies on which we can rely effectively exist in very small amounts, whereas the use of those which exist in ampler amounts is surrounded by great risks and formidable technical obstacles. ... It would be foolish to propose a complete renunciation of the industrial comfort of the exosomatic evolution. Mankind will not return to the cave or, rather, to the tree. But there are a few points that may be included in a minimal bioeconomic program. ...Will mankind listen to any program that implies a constriction of its addiction to exosomatic comfort? Perhaps the destiny of man is to have a short but fiery, exciting, and extravagant life rather than a long, uneventful, and vegetative existence. Let other species -- the amoebas, for example -- which have no spiritual ambitions inherit an earth still bathed in plenty of sunshine. (01/16/03) | |
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New York Times -- The tools for constructing environmentally conscious, energy-efficient office buildings have existed for decades, but commercial developers have not adopted the principles ... "This is a concept that has sputtered along for 20 or 30 years," said Daniel R. Tishman, executive vice president of Tishman Realty Corporation. "It's an economic thing." It is a phenomenon with parallels to the popularity of sport utility vehicles, except that buildings are responsible for more than 36 percent of the country's energy consumption, and transportation only 27 percent, according to the Energy Information Administration of the Department of Energy. ... Governmental entities are also pressing for green building. In 2001, the federal General Services Administration joined the Green Building Council. In 2000, New York State approved a tax credit for developments that comply with requirements for energy use, materials selection, indoor air quality, waste disposal and water use. It was the first state to do so, and others, including Maryland, have followed. Still, of the 1.6 billion square feet of nonresidential construction projects started last year, only 2.3 percent applied for certification from the Green Building Council. (01/16/03) | |
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Jay Salsburg writes: Dome technology may offer many advantages over contemporary housing designs, and I do not mean the current available dome designs. What are they? 1) Three times more interior floor space per dollar. 2) Strength Amplification. 3) Clear span interior. 4) All metal construction. 5) Extremely good wind and ice load resistance. 6) Superior thermal insulation. 7) Superior window utilization (better view). 8) 48 foot ceiling. ... Civilization is a culture of human existence that depends on technology to provide the primary necessities of life; food - shelter - clothing. Without Shelter (used here in Capitals to indicate the formal sense) the other two primal necessities would be only for survival. Shelter is the Artifact that sustains civilization. (01/15/02) | |
10:56:35 AM 
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© TrustMark
2003
Timothy Wilken.
Last update:
2/2/2003; 7:50:38 AM.
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