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Top-level
 Science is exponential, tech and human support is exponential. The growth in economic capacity since WW2 is exponential. 14 people make half a million tons of steel a year. A country smaller than Cuba is the 2nd largest exporter of food. Wealth is available to every human, denying it is an intentional crime. Paying living wages would supercharge the economy. Humans are emerging. Our only crisis is Billionaires are trying to take the new world from us. 20 comments
Its also the largest exporter of flowers in the world, it has schools, theatres, railways, universities, ports, warehouses, manufacturing, daycares, shipping, literature, homes, shipbuilding and it uses less electricity than the crypto scam which produces nothing but crime. It is 25% switched to wind and sun, so far. @johncarlosbaez @kevinrns but that’s not replacing fossil fuels, just adding to them. That wont save us. @detritus@todon.eu @johncarlosbaez What is adding? The problem is carbon. Burning carbon adds two atoms, oxygen. Making the new carbon molecule MUCH heavier, and able to hold more heat. Adding CO2 is like rolling the windows up on a car in the parking lot. It gets HOT. Then hotter, rising past death. We must end carbon. Quickly. The faster the cheaper, the sooner the cheaper. @kevinrns that’s my point exactly. If renewables just add to enegy total but dont actually replace fossil fuels then we’re still not decreasing carbon emissions. We could add 30000000% renewables but if we’re still using all the oil and coal as before then we’re still fucked. @johncarlosbaez @detritus - it's true that *more energy* won't save, only *less carbon emitted*. But the revolution in solar power is having some effects. Carbon emissions are dropping in the US and EU, as even this somewhat old chart shows (that trend is continuing). Unfortunately that trend was overshadowed by China's skyrocketing emissions. So I'd say our future depends a lot on what the Chinese and Indians do. @johncarlosbaez @detritus@todon.eu Sun and wind are a small fraction of power delivered now. Power that heats enough to keep from freezing, cools enough to keep from literally cooking, making food, homes, medicines and care. The ONLY way to safety, to saving the life envelope, is BUILDING many terawatts of non carbon energy. Its not growth, its not people, its not modern life, its carbon. We cannot move forward until we BUILD THE REPLACEMENT for carbon fueled energy. @johncarlosbaez @kevinrns the little dip in your graph even for US alone is due to covid, most likely. Overall there’s no slowdown in our march toward global doom.  @kevinrns @johncarlosbaez The capacity of the Earth’s ecosystems to function despite our damage is not increasing exponentially. Quite the opposite, in fact.  Our efforts to mitigate the damage seem to also be increasing exponentially, but the oligarchs are desperately struggling to stop those efforts and ensure our extinction. Using safe materials is an extra cost, the thieves care about that. I dont. Make safe things safely. It will cost more! So what? We can afford it. 14 people make 1/2 a million tons of steel. Economics was once the study of how to maximize the creation and distribution of scarce goods. Economics now is the study of preventing the distribution of plentiful goods. Mind blown: Cuba is a huge country compared to the Netherlands: Cuba: 110,860 km² (via Wikipedia) Where were all the practical geography lessons when I was in school? |
Gregory's Server
@kevinrns - I agree with you. When I talk about the collapse of civilization I'm talking about climate change. But if we could break free from the grip of the super-rich we could tackle that. Already last year we added 50% more renewable energy last year than the year before. China added enough solar to power more than 50 million homes.
What's that country smaller than Cuba?