Earth Week
Not PC has some predictions from the original Earth Day in 1970.
“Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.”
• George Wald, Harvard Biologist“By…[1975] some experts feel that food shortages will have escalated the present level of world hunger and starvation into famines of unbelievable proportions. Other experts, more optimistic, think the ultimate food-population collision will not occur until the decade of the 1980s.”
• Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University biologist“Demographers agree almost unanimously on the following grim timetable: by 1975 widespread famines will begin in India; these will spread by 1990 to include all of India, Pakistan, China and the Near East, Africa. By the year 2000, or conceivably sooner, South and Central America will exist under famine conditions….By the year 2000, thirty years from now, the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America, and Australia, will be in famine.”
• Peter Gunter, professor, North Texas State University“Scientists have solid experimental and theoretical evidence to support…the following predictions: In a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air pollution…by 1985 air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half….”
• ‘Life’ Magazine, January 1970“At the present rate of nitrogen buildup, it’s only a matter of time before light will be filtered out of the atmosphere and none of our land will be usable.”
• Kenneth Watt, Ecologist.“By the year 2000, if present trends continue, we will be using up crude oil at such a rate…that there won’t be any more crude oil. You’ll drive up to the pump and say, `Fill ‘er up, buddy,’ and he’ll say, `I am very sorry, there isn’t any.’
• Kenneth Watt, Ecologist
Best of all, Not PC has the story of how one of the Earth Day founders and MC turned his girlfriend into compost!! A true story!
Incidentiaally I’m all for environmental responsibility. I’m just not into hysterical doomsday predictions.
April 24th, 2011 at 9:27 am
Is this a mirror image of climate change or what? Man will find it’s equilibrium population as do all species on this planet.
Just that all the sensible people have to live along side the nutters.
April 24th, 2011 at 9:29 am
I thought we were goneburger in December 2012
April 24th, 2011 at 9:31 am
Leave us hope that Luc doesn’t read of this. He may self compost at the thought that climate change will prove to be another failed prediction.
April 24th, 2011 at 9:32 am
But of course there was a much more relevant climate change comment that was left out of this article:
“The world has been chilling sharply for about twenty years. If present trends continue, the world will be about four degrees colder for the global mean temperature in 1990, but eleven degrees colder in the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us into an ice age.”
• Kenneth Watt, Ecologist
How did that one work out for us then?
April 24th, 2011 at 9:39 am
It must be remember that John Holdren was Paul Ehrlichs colleague and closely involved with all the population bomb predictions. He is now Obamas chief science advisor.
April 24th, 2011 at 10:10 am
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/
That was a bit out, no?
April 24th, 2011 at 10:12 am
>Demographers agree almost unanimously on the following grim timetable
Almost unanimously? The science is settled then!
April 24th, 2011 at 10:14 am
The old “Hadron Collider” syndrome strikes again.
April 24th, 2011 at 10:16 am
“Let’s examine oil prices as an example. Let’s say that I wagered in 1864, when the price of oil was $110 per barrel (2009$), that the price of oil will decrease over time. I would have been correct regardless of whether the wager termed in 1865 after one or in 1964 after one hundred years. However, if I bet in 1892 when the price of oil was $13 per barrel, that oil prices will increase in the future, I would have been correct in every year henceforth except 1931, 1933, 1945, and from 1963-1973. Neither of these bets would have indicated anything about the scarcity of oil.
Knowing this, how could anyone claim that either Simon or Ehrlich was correct? Simon was lucky, Ehrlich unlucky. The point is that scarcity is only one of many factors that can influence prices.”
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/7343
April 24th, 2011 at 10:23 am
It is certain that the Earth is doomed.
The odds are very very slight that it will be in our lifetimes – but we are doing our best to confound the odds.
April 24th, 2011 at 10:26 am
Are those who are drawn to environmentalism, and Malthusian conclusions, any different from “the end is nigh” religious nutters? They subconsciously, or perhaps consciously, desire a misanthropic “great cleansing”.
April 24th, 2011 at 10:32 am
Yes Pete the world is doomed
I predict that it will be in about 5.5 billion years when the sun starts to slow down, until then I intend to enjoy myself.
The above predictions say one thing and one thing only, nobody knows nothing, you can speculate, you can spread fear but facts in all things like AGW etc are few and far between,
But by all means keep believing the alarmists and live in fear. Life’s short enjoy
April 24th, 2011 at 10:35 am
I would like the Govt to spend all the funds they get from the ETS by plugging up Mt Ruapehu as our contribution to reducing global warming .. oops, I mean climate change.
April 24th, 2011 at 10:37 am
The end is unsustainable when it depends on continual growth (and not so good for the environment):
April 12, 2011
Thousands of jobs will be lost under new capped infrastructure charges announced today by the Bligh Government, according to the Property Council.
Speaking at the Building Revival Forum in Brisbane, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh outlined wide ranging changes to local government charges on new development in Queensland.
“This is a devastating decision for all Queenslanders,” Mac Dermott says.
She says the property industry is not only the biggest contributor to Gross State Product (12.6 percent) and directly employs around 280,000 Queenslanders, but draws a considerable amount of tax.
“The property industry is the single largest contributor to State taxes – providing $3.8 billion, or one third of the State’s total tax revenue.
“In addition to this, local governments across the State collect over $4 billion in rates and charges.”
Arguing for more of a focus on economic survival rather than revival, Mac Dermott says she is concerned that between 2006-07 and 2009-10 the value of residential and non-residential building activity in Queensland declined by 2.6 percent.
“Over the same period NSW and Victoria recorded 21.4 and 26.7 percent increases respectively,” she says.
On the employment front, Mac Dermott says the State Government’s own figures show that over 11,000 construction jobs were lost in 2010 alone.
“After this morning’s announcement, we can expect thousands and thousands of jobs to be lost in 2011.”
http://www.qbr.com.au/news/articleid/73217.aspx
April 24th, 2011 at 10:39 am
Good examples about why you should not make such concrete predictions about the future. Economists know this which is why they comment with a great deal if accuracy about things which have happened in the past.
April 24th, 2011 at 10:46 am
the Aust Agenda program slamming their ETS/carbon thing as well .. the whole thing is imploding
April 24th, 2011 at 10:46 am
Back in the 70′s we were also told that oil would run out in 20 years. I recall my Grandfather laughing that they were told in the 50′s that oil would run out in 20 years… Hey guess what – now in 2011 we have peak oil and we could run out in 20 years…
April 24th, 2011 at 10:52 am
This is 2011 and god damit I was promised flying cars, cities on the moon and the extintion of the human race on earth.
So somebody better deliver!
April 24th, 2011 at 10:55 am
Interestingly the proponents of statism often see malice where proponents of liberty do not. Call it the Malthusian curse; they ascribe to almost all men a sort of super-bestial nature that ignores man’s social nature. This borders on a self loathing, projected onto all other men and it is what really feeds the statist beast; the libido dominandi. The fear of other men is the origin of the state.
April 24th, 2011 at 10:56 am
Murray
I think the previous PM had an experimental flying car – but the drivers were never told ‘hurry hurry or I’ll miss the rugby’.
April 24th, 2011 at 11:00 am
I’d be ok with putting her into outer orbit burt.
April 24th, 2011 at 11:00 am
When are “substitutes found” for oil, other than drill deeper, tar sands etc? When do we see something sexy?
April 24th, 2011 at 11:04 am
The environmental movement seems to feel a need to talk up the worst case scenario in order to get anyone to listen, I don’t know how well that is going to work out for them overall.
Seems a bit silly to me, but then again no more silly than professing blind faith in some sort of invisible, balancing market mechanism that we don’t see or understand, but which will surely sort it all out for us.
I remember in 2005 when I was living in Auckland, buying petrol for around $1.20 / litre. It’s now around $2.20 / litre. Based on that alone we must be getting pretty near the end times for the lifestyle where most people can afford to drive wherever they go…?
April 24th, 2011 at 11:05 am
Thanks Sonny, I think.. ….. I think I agree with you……….. or maybe I don’t,
but if you need a job designing forms for government departments I am sure they will be knocking down your door.
April 24th, 2011 at 11:06 am
hj I propose GFF: greenie fat fuel
We melt down all the whiney assed greenies and use them to fire powr plants. Everyone is happy, they save the planet and we keep the lights on.
April 24th, 2011 at 11:10 am
hj: More nuclear generation, and more battery-electric cars?
April 24th, 2011 at 11:10 am
I’m here, nasska, watching and chortling…and painting a kitchen ceiling, luckily for you.
April 24th, 2011 at 11:14 am
Luc
You are here, great. Tell us how the ice age predicted in the 70′s was just science getting it wrong but
global warmingclimate change is now based on settled science.April 24th, 2011 at 11:18 am
David, you should include the latest prediction to blow up in its maker’s faces, just to show that the stupidity continues. In 2005 the UN predicted 50 million climate refugees by 2010, has anyone seen them ?
The prediction stayed up on a website until just a month or so ago when after it was pointed out, it was removed. Pity about google cache etc`.
The thing to realize is that the people making such predictions are not acting as scientists but political advocates for a certain political program. They seem to see the need to turn the world to a low growth and BTW much lower population basis, for “sustainability”. With rare exceptions they see the best way to do this is through a form of “benevolent despotism” run by a small elite (which naturally includes themselves) who would not be restricted in the same way as the hoi polloi, but in recognition of their cleverness and brilliance, they should be entitled to live, as it were, high on the hog, because they are so, well, essential. The rest of us though, once our numbers have been suitably reduced, should be essentially enslaved (for our own GOOD though) to provide the wherewithal for the elite to continue to direct us in a sustainable way.
April 24th, 2011 at 11:20 am
Actually burt we’re in the sixth cycle of climate doom since 1900, Every couple of decades they just change the stroy from ice age to burning to death and back again as the weather just continues to shit all over their doomsday predictions.
April 24th, 2011 at 11:21 am
hj
It’s less about when we “find” the alternatives than when they become economically viable.
April 24th, 2011 at 11:25 am
IEA acknowledges peak oil
The IEA’s position is summarized in the graph above – conventional crude oil production has already peaked in 2006!
http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2010-11-11/iea-acknowledges-peak-oil
April 24th, 2011 at 11:28 am
It’s less about when we “find” the alternatives than when they become economically viable
……
we haven’t found anything economically viable yet except the bike (and it would be unacceptable to give up the Remuwera Tractor)?
April 24th, 2011 at 11:30 am
hj
Peak oil as a concept is a no brainer – global politics and oil producer greed makes the graph interesting but not conclusive.
April 24th, 2011 at 11:32 am
hj
What is economically viable is entirely dependent on the price of oil. If petrol gets to $7/litre then battery powered cars suddenly look cheap. At $2/litre petrol still wins.
April 24th, 2011 at 11:36 am
hj
Put it this way, if I found 40-trillion barrels of oil in my back yard do you think I would sell it quietly at $100 USD a barrel or do you think I would tell the world I had enough for the next 50 years and sell it at $20 USD a barrel ?
April 24th, 2011 at 11:53 am
A new engine that replaces the piston engine will throw a spanner in the works for the oil company ripoffs.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20928035.100-shock-wave-puts-hybrid-engines-in-a-spin.html
April 24th, 2011 at 11:58 am
Shockwave engine cont:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf_-IMgla34&feature=player_embedded
April 24th, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Steve
Like the rotary engine I suspect the fact that a smaller unit produces more power will result in massively over powered vehicles which guzzle fuel creating a public perception that the engine design is inefficient.
April 24th, 2011 at 12:04 pm
Burt, it is a turbine which powers a generator which powers an electric drive. Have a google. I find it very interesting
April 24th, 2011 at 12:07 pm
Steve
I did read the links and I get it. We are in a different place now than we were when the rotary engine hit the market. At that time the big deal was that a small engine could produce more horse power than a chunking V8 to make your car go faster. Lets hope we look at this as a means to reduce consumption rather than a way to crowbar more horse power under the bonnet.
April 24th, 2011 at 12:10 pm
Development is an ongoing process, otherwise we are going nowhere
April 24th, 2011 at 12:12 pm
Steve
Lets hope the inventors don’t sell their patent to Shell or BP !
April 24th, 2011 at 12:14 pm
Any of you older bastards remember the RX2?
Went like the clappers for 1970 did 19MPG, used a litre of oil every 1000K’s and shit the engine every 30,000 miles if you were lucky.
http://www.google.co.nz/search?q=mazda+rx2&hl=en&biw=1078&bih=885&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=7WmzTbHdHabTiALg_a2wBg&ved=0CCUQsAQ
Still gas was 33cents a gallon in those days and mechanics charged $8.00/hour!
April 24th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
johnboy
You missed the key point. The RX7 engine was tiny and produced more horse power than a 5 litre V8, which consequently did about 12MPG. So sure it drank the gas – but what would happen if we made 50 hp versions linked to electric generators rather than 200hp versions to prove a small engine could outperform a 5 litre V8 ?
April 24th, 2011 at 12:35 pm
Fair enough burt:
I think I will wait for 20 years till the technology is proven before I buy one though (just as us wise people did with rotary engines
)
Hang on a minute. I just realised, I will probably be dead by then.
April 24th, 2011 at 12:55 pm
Johnboy
Indeed. I never owned a rotary, tempted as I was.
The way I see it, having owned a lot of different engines over the years. The broader the user selectable rev range on an engine – the quicker it wears out. Conversely, constant velocity engines fare much better in terms of longevity.
The shock wave turbine however appears to lower the number of colliding parts – that’s potentially a massive step forward. A gas turbine, is that new ?
However it looks like it needs to be connected to a generator, possibly because it is unsuitable for variable speed operation like we expect from conventional vehicle engines, kind of like a gas turbine. So why don’t we have gas turbines connected to generators in our cars ?
April 24th, 2011 at 1:08 pm
“So why don’t we have gas turbines connected to generators in our cars ?”
I remember them trying that with railway locomotives and the Rover turbine car, never seemed to work.
Turbines are best when they operate at fairly fixed power outputs hence COGAG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_gas_and_gas
This new engine seems to be a variation on a gas turbine so may show different characteristics when operating in a variable power situation.
April 24th, 2011 at 1:52 pm
Donald Fagen had a great song on his first solo album, called I.G.Y (International Geophysical Year).
Author Brian Troutman writes –
It’s a great song, in any case, seen through the eyes of a young Fagen imagining the rocket-powered future. Listen HERE
Lyrics –
April 24th, 2011 at 2:14 pm
One of the reasons many of those predictions didn’t come to pass is that people observing the threats acted to avoid them, such as pollution being restricted through regulation.
That politics often works by tugs on extremes helping pull the centre side to side is an unpleasant fact of the inertia of opinion and attention, and it’s a bit rich decades after the fact to hold the wailing of dire warnings against people because the threat was recognized and mitigated.
April 24th, 2011 at 3:07 pm
“Of the estimated 1 billion people who will observe Earth Day worldwide this year, few will know about the progress that has been made. Fewer still will know how it was made. The media, uninterested in looking at the real story, will simply credit the environmental movement for the improvements.
Buried beneath all the badgering and fear-mongering about lavish Western lifestyles is a reality that the stuck-on-green left won’t talk about and the average American isn’t aware of: The world, especially in developed nations, is a cleaner — and greener — place than it was when the environmental movement began.
Topping the agenda of today’s environmentalist groups is the pulling down of market economies, the raising up of central planning for egalitarian goals, forced lifestyle changes and the vilification — in hopes of the elimination — of signs of wealth.
None of these advance the planet’s environmental health. But capitalism has. Through wealth generated by the free market, we have enough resources to move beyond the subsistence economies that damage the environment, enough disposable income to fund clean-up programs, enough wealth to scrub and polish industry.
Only in advanced economies can the technology needed to recycle hazardous waste or to replace dirty coal-fired power plants with cleaner gas or nuclear plants be developed. That technology cannot be produced in centrally planned economies where the profit motive is squelched and lives are marshalled by the state.
There’s nothing wrong with setting aside a day to honor the Earth. In fairness, though, it should be complemented by Capitalism Day. It’s important that the world be reminded of what has driven the environmental improvements since Earth Day began in 1970. ”
http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2009/04/what-about-capitalism-day.html
April 24th, 2011 at 3:25 pm
Does anyone have a collection of media quotes, circa Y2K, about the extreme perils and dire emergencies facing the world, etc, etc, and what a terrible place the world will be in the year 2010? Should make amusing reading also.
April 24th, 2011 at 3:46 pm
Other way around Fentex. Most of those problems were well on their way to being fixed before the environmentalists got on the bandwagon.
Environmentalists are a sympton of the positive benefits of capitalism, not the cause. They turn up late and take credit for the work of the free market.
April 24th, 2011 at 4:23 pm
Ed Snack 11:18am. You hit the nail on the head.
cheers
David Prosser
April 24th, 2011 at 4:28 pm
Quote: David Farrar (July 2008) “So the cash rate dropped 25 basis points to 8.00%. I would like to know exactly when the Reserve Bank thinks inflation will drop back to under 3%? 2009? 2010? 2011?”
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2008/07/reserve_bank_lowers_cash_rate.html
April 24th, 2011 at 4:41 pm
Johnboy 12:14pm. I remember the rotary engines of WWI. The cylinders were arranged in a circle, and the engine turned around a hollow shaft. Castor oil, and gasoline went through the shaft. It had to be castor oil. That floats on gasoline. Regular oil would make it overheat. No cooling system, as the thing had thin walls, and spun, say 20 times a second at 1200 RPM. Very good power to weight ratio. However, after a couple of flights, the oil had to be replaced, and they fairly chewed through the gas. There were also limitations on HP. Anything bigger than say 250 HP was impractical for some reason. Rotaries were replaced by radials in the 1920s.
cheers
David Prosser
April 24th, 2011 at 5:03 pm
Fentex
Same as what Sonny said.
People gobbed off 40 years ago with no factual basis to their thesis and you are trying to say that the problems then didn’t occur because of this , what was basically bullshitting?
Bit disingenuous even for Easter that type of thinking.
April 24th, 2011 at 5:20 pm
Oil supplies are rapidly dwindling and demand is increasing leading analysts to warn of an impending oil crunch. The global oil supply has lost the equivalent of the volume of the North Sea oil reserve in 15 months. By 2014, supply is expected to fall short of demand. Other factors could bring that forward. Fatih Birol says the age of cheap oil is over and we all need to prepare ourselves for higher oil prices. Further he says no government is prepared for what lies ahead. Jeremy Leggett describes the oil crunch, when global supply fails to meet demand.
The big news is the gloomy outlook in the interview from Fatih Birol, Chief Economist of the IEA. We will post the transcript when it appears tomorrow (Sunday, US Time).
http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2011-04-24/energy-april-23
April 24th, 2011 at 5:24 pm
The thing about PC is that he is a libertarian. Libertarians believe people can take and do whatever they want (within reason). Therefore the idea of limits to growth or that we can damage the biosphere by emitting green house gases makes them choke on their coffee.
April 24th, 2011 at 5:26 pm
the dcline is now pretty terrifying.. sory can’t keep up
http://www.abc.net.au/cgi-bin/common/player_launch.pl
April 24th, 2011 at 5:34 pm
When these idiotic predictions were made, these people were treated as the cranks they were(and still are). Unfortunately, many years later, politicians saw this doomsday talk as a means to power.
And when we’ve explored everywhere where there might be oil, I think it’ll be time to worry about oil supplies.
It’s about then when steam trains will make a comeback.
April 24th, 2011 at 5:45 pm
“I remember the rotary engines of WWI. ”
Fuck you must by really ancient David!
“. Rotaries were replaced by radials in the 1920s.”
The reason was that the centrifugal forces inherent in a rotating crankcase were far too great as the size of the engine increased. The Sopwith Camel was a typical example where it had a rapid turn to one side due to gyroscopic forces but was sluggish in the other direction.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sopwith_Camel
Fooled the opposition a bit for a while but put the fear of Christ up the learner pilots!
April 24th, 2011 at 9:19 pm
Like frogs in boiling water, they never felt the heat
‘cos butter’s made in kiwi-land, home to millions of dipped sheep
in pens all made of airwaves, they natter constantly
“how does he smile under so much stress? That nice man, Mr Key?”
I suppose his grin froze, flexing greenstone clothes, which glimmer in inclement weather,
poisoned by pride, so he needs no bride, it shows through his self-pleasure
so if banker is king, and Key’s the chief, of NZ Inc by-sea,
who bows down, when IMF comes round collecting rent moneys?
April 24th, 2011 at 9:28 pm
At the risk of being thoroughly OT, david P, you are being mislead by the similarity in nomenclature. A WW1 era “rotary” engine is a reciprocating engine where the crankshaft remains fixed and the cylinders rotate. This came about largely because the technology of the era was experiencing significant problems air-cooling stationary cylinder (radial) designs for a variety of reasons. Johnboy is correct that a major limitation on increasing the output of rotary designs was the gyroscopic effects of the large rotating mass. It was also advantageous at the time that rotary designs were relatively speaking very compact and light.
By contrast modern rotary designs are non-reciprocating, which has a number of significant advantages. I can’t myself see enough detail to have any real idea of this “new” design mentioned above (although it seems sufficiently different to make it both interesting and probably completely impractical), but various “new” rotary designs have been introduced at regular intervals for a very long time. With the exception of the wankel design none have made it into commercial production. Remember the Australian Sarich orbital engine and other related designs ?
One major drawback to nearly every new rotary design (and in fact suffered by Wankel designs in spades) is that in practice the design and shape of the combustion chamber is a critical feature. The ideal chamber has the lowest possible surface to volume ratio consistent with obtaining an adequate compression ratio. In reciprocating engines with circular cylinders that is not too difficult and helps explain the popular appeal of hemispherical cylinder head shapes. In a Wankel however the chamber is very long and thin and has a much higher S/V ratio. That makes efficient combustion considerably harder to achieve and is a major reason why a 1300 cc Wankel has relatively speaking such incredibly poor fuel consumption.
April 25th, 2011 at 9:30 am
The population and famine stuff always was deeply bogus. They assumed that populations continue to grow at the current rates, but assume that advances in agricultural science cease in 1970. Always bet on science
April 25th, 2011 at 9:36 am
All this stuff about wanking engines and hypothetical oil peaks is very interesting and diverting … but tragically now we face probably the most serious threat that mankind has ever had to deal with.
I refer to the debilitating decline of humanity’s faith in itself and its will to continue to progress and develop. Everywhere it dens to be taken for granted that ‘we should consume less’ and that ‘greedy capitalists’ are destroying the planet etc., when the truth is that human life has never been so comfortable, interesting or prolonged as it is now. And this sick mindset has invaded the thinking of almost all the world’s governments and agencies.
How has this happened? Its almost as if humans en masse have developed a kind of depressive mental illness founded on some illusiary guilt about their own survival…. and if this continues then as a species we are well and truly fucked. Peak oil bullshit is not the issue here folks. The critical challenge we face is one of pride, celebration, effort and joy over depression, guilt, self loathing and superstition.
April 25th, 2011 at 1:54 pm
The world may not be as bad as some would believe.
There are some interesting developments.
Deutsche bank has this long article that basically says if the price of oil goes up the efficiency gains will outstrip increase in vehicle numbers and oil demand will decrease.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/24860052/Deutsche-The-Peak-Oil-Market-Oct-4-2009
This was written in 2009 but foretold the development of hybrids and EV’s as disruptive technologies.
This article suggests Toyota will make the next model of Prius 15-20% more efficient
http://green.autoblog.com/2011/04/24/toyota-targets-45-thermal-efficiency-for-engines-in-next-gen-hy/
If all cars were that efficient we would only need a third of the oil we currently use to power our cars and this is before we use plugins and EV’s.
But where will the electricity come from?
Well Bob Brockie in todays Dom talking about Thorium: the nuclear fuel that could save the planet. (can’t find link)
Its abundant.
Its safe.
Its cheap.
It can burn up plutonium and other toxic waste from old reactors.
It was developed in the 1960′s so why wasn’t it used? Because it didn’t produce the bomb making byproducts that uranium produced!
April 25th, 2011 at 1:58 pm
Here’s a link to an article that is similar to the one in the Dom
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/8393984/Safe-nuclear-does-exist-and-China-is-leading-the-way-with-thorium.html
April 25th, 2011 at 6:54 pm
Dave Mann – sub-atomic particles flicker in and out of this universe at an osculating at various frequencies. Those frequencies alter, sometimes according to mere human intent. These oscillations permeate the entire physical universe right up to the level of galaxies. Solar systems and cosmic clusters oscillate around the gravitational centre of each galaxy. This oscillating, . Rhythm vibration is in everything, including the dimensions that are not perceptible to human study, as yet. The existence of the dimensions that are not perceptible, is only known because m-theory (11 dimensions) is the only grand unifying theory that works mathematically.
We must start thinking in terms of these cycles/rhythms if we are to become vital as a people again. For too long we have been distracted by Aristotelian idealism, which is at the root of the west’s neuroses. We build linear systems which relate to these ideas. All pre-suppose an abstract continuum – i.e. economic growth, time, space, weight etc. But now we know that linear thought is not at the heart of things. Humans, as with all things in the universe are subject to these rhythms, which incorporate non-linear feedback loops and natural cycles birth, death, day, year, and on and on and on. Music is merely symbolic of this grand order, which is why it appeals on such an innate level.
You see, with Aristotle’s tutelage, man has learned the hubris of idealism – that we can defy the laws of nature, which are built around rhythm and osculation, with an approach that has continuum at it’s heart. We are badly out of sync with the universe, and we are feeling it in our own rhythms. Where in life do we honour these cycles? All the public holidays have become about about money, another continuum. We are rhythmical, vibrational beings operating amidst other rhythmical, vibrational systems, but our approach to ourselves, and our surroundings is linear. Something has to give.
April 25th, 2011 at 6:57 pm
have you finished?
April 25th, 2011 at 7:12 pm
oh yeah – this is why rightists are such up-tight, repressed jerks that can’t dance. They aren’t in the rhythmical vibration, they’re in the continuum (only exists in lala land). Just a theory.
April 25th, 2011 at 7:16 pm
Oh yeah – i bet rightists are shit in bed as a result as well. Where as OMFG green party girls…
April 25th, 2011 at 7:28 pm
> Most of those problems were well on their way to being fixed
> before the environmentalists got on the bandwagon.
Exactly how concerns are addressed (by regulation, incidental efficiencies or market preferences) is beside the point of someone yelling loudly about the threat and putting it in front of people who might demand regulation or purchase cleaner products.
> People gobbed off 40 years ago with no factual basis to their thesis and
> you are trying to say that the problems then didn’t occur because of this
No, I’m saying it’s a bit rich to call people loudly drawing attention to some real threats (such as pollution) into disrepute when some such threats really existed and steps to mitigate them occurred as people became aware of them, however the mitigation occurred (Norman Borlaug chose to improve wheat for a reason).
Pretending that the extremes people went to once for political leverage mark them as silly and a laughing stock is just asking for an embarrassing comeuppance the next time one raises ones own voice in protest at something.
April 26th, 2011 at 12:25 am
This post by DPF is typical of the cherry picking ignoramuses indulge in.
Not a climate scientist in sight.
And total ignorance of the fact that the overwhelming consensus of the science community in the 70s was that the planet was warming.
And it still is.
Let’s face it, worst case scenarios never occur, right?
Every extinct species capable of critical thinking would agree, right?
However, I can assure all Earth Day devotees that Planet Earth will be just fine, regardless of what happens to humans (in fact, it may well be better for our absence).
So no worries.
April 26th, 2011 at 9:19 pm
“We are rhythmical, vibrational beings operating amidst other rhythmical, vibrational systems, but our approach to ourselves, and our surroundings is linear. Something has to give.”
Magic Bullet you really need to cut the dose.