Part 14: The 7th billion human on planet Earth--climate destabilization

By Frosty Wooldridge

Part 14: Climate destabilization

“The ship is already starting to spin out of control.  We may soon lose all chance of grabbing the wheel. Humanity faces a genuinely new situation.  It is not an environmental crisis in the accepted sense. It is a crisis for the entire life-support system for our civilization and our species.”  Fred Pearce, The Last Generation: How Nature Will take Her Revenge for Climate Change

In October of 2011, the 7th billion human being will land on this planet.  From that threshold, humans will continue multiplying by 1.0 billion every 13 years to reach more than 10 billion within 39 years at the mid century.  The ramifications stagger the mind of any thinking American.  This series will give you an idea of what our civilization faces. 

Anchor Brian Williams at NBC reported that Glacier National Park plummeted from 128 glaciers at the beginning of the last century to less than 10 today. Those last 10 won’t last much longer.  Why?  Warm weather and more of it on the way. The same goes for glaciers in the Himalaya, Andes, Rockies and Alps.

You may hear a great deal on climate change one way or the other, but glaciers don’t lie—they melt when the weather warms for longer periods of time.

Many Americans run on emotions and others on run on denial.  Frankly, most don’t have a clue and really don’t care.  As long as their cars start in the morning, who notices much of a change in anything?

Nonetheless, humans burn 84 million barrels of oil per day.  How much oil? To give you an idea of that quantity of oil, you may take one barrel or ‘drum’ that equals 42 gallons.  Each measures 20 inches in diameter, and if you placed 84,000,000 of them next to each other in a row—they would create a belt of drums that spans 25,000 miles around the world at the Equator.  Humans fill those drums up and burn them down 24/7, decade in and decade out.  Do the math or go to www.thesocialcontract.com and look in the archives for “How much oil do we burn” by Dr. John Tanton.

In his book, Too Many People, Lindsey Grant addresses such things as our energy depletion, food crisis and much more.  You may find his book at  www.sevenlockspress.com and www.amazon.com .   Grant is a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Environment and Population Affairs.

CLIMATE AND ENERGY

When you include billions of tons of coal, natural gas and wood, the human race creates untold millions of tons of carbon emissions worldwide 24/7.  The U.S. alone burns 2.17 billion tons of coal annually for electricity.

Something must give in the short and long term.  The planet never intended to experience current fossil fuel burning.

In 2010, we expect to expect to create eight billion metric tons of carbon emissions. 

No matter how you cut it, human activity on this planet defies any norms of the past.  But even if it’s not caused by human activity, climate destabilization will affect all of us.

“The International Panel of Climate Change is the recognized scientific consensus on climate change,” said Grant.  “It predicted a ‘most likely’ warming of 2 degrees C by 2100, with more to follow…and it has described the likely effects: wide swings of weather, more storms, floods and droughts; rising sea levels of 20 inches or more in the next century; higher temperatures and increased aridity in the tropics.”

My question grows: how will that affect the United States with an added 100 million hungry mouths and how will it affect the world with another three billion mouths to feed in the next 40 years?

NOBODY WILL ASK THOSE QUESTIONS, BUT THEY BETTER

“A smaller population would have some margin to adapt or to move elsewhere,” said Grant. “As a matter of precaution, communities should provide themselves wider margins to adjust to such changes. Too many people are living too close to the edge.”

Tell me about it!  I’ve seen that ‘edge’ in China, Mexico, India and elsewhere.   With 18 million humans starving annually around the world, they fall over the edge by the day into the millions!

CARBON FOOTPRINT GROWING

“Atmospheric carbon dioxide has risen from 280 parts per million before the Industrial Revolution to 363 ppm today,” said Grant. “It amazes me how casually the human races is tinkering with the very air it breathes.”

One look at the skies over Denver, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Mexico City, Paris, Bejing and Tokyo illustrates what it’s like to be able to ‘see’ the air you breathe.  Toxic air borne poisons fill your every breath!

“It is a sobering thought that, if the world had stopped population growth by 1960—when it was half the present level—we would now be a long way toward the “50 percent to 70 percent reduction” called for by the IPCC,” said Grant. “If it had stopped at two billion, we would not have a problem.”

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In a five minute astoundingly simple yet brilliant video, “Immigration, Poverty, and Gum Balls”, Roy Beck, director of www.numbersusa.ORG, graphically illustrates the impact of overpopulation.  Take five minutes to see for yourself:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPjzfGChGlE&feature=player_embedded

“Immigration by the numbers—off the chart” by Roy Beck

This 10 minute demonstration shows Americans the results of unending mass immigration on the quality of life and sustainability for future generations: in a word “Mind boggling!”  www.NumbersUSA.org

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muw22wTePqQ

This is the best website to start:  www.numbersusa.org ; watch Roy Beck’s “Immigration by the Numbers” at 14 minutes. Bi-partisan and very effective. Become a faxer of pre-written letters to your reps to make positive  change.

Visit www.TheSocialContract.com for the best information on what we face as a civilization as to overpopulation, energy, immigration and much more.

Canada www.immigrationwatchcanada.org ; in Australia www.population.org.au and[email protected]; in Great Britain www.populationmatters.org ; and dozens of other sites accessed at www.frostywooldridge.com.   In Florida, www.flimen.org .

Must see DVD: “Blind Spot” www.snagfilms.com/films/title/blind_spot/ , This movie illustrates America’s future without oil, water and other resources to keep this civilization functioning. It’s a brilliant educational movie! www.blindspotdoc.com

Must see: Rapid Population Decline, seven minute video by Dr. Jack Alpert-

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTWduFB_RX0

Must see and funny: www.growthbusters.org ; www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXSTrW_dARc
Dave Gardner’s Polar Bear in Bedroom:

growthbusters.org/2010/03/save-the-polar-bear-in-your-bedroom ; Dave Gardner, President, Citizen-Powered Media ; Producing the Documentary, GROWTH BUSTERS; presents Hooked on Growth: Our Misguided Quest for Prosperity, Join the cause at www.growthbusters.org ;760 Wycliffe Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80906 USA; +1 719-576-5565

Check out this link with Wooldridge on bicycle and Lester Brown and panel discussion:

www.upnorthmedia.org/watchupnorthtv.asp?SDBFid=1631

Tomorrow’s Americaproject on www.youtube.com/contemporarylearning.

Producer: GEORGE A. COLBURNwww.tomorrowsamerica.com

DC: 202-258-4887

Email: [email protected]

Link to www.tomorrowsamerica.com for more discussions on America’s predicament.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

www.starbrightmediacorp.com

www.tomorrowsamerica.com

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Frosty Wooldridge has bicycled across six continents – from the Arctic to the South Pole – as well as six times across the USA, coast to coast and border to border. In 2005, he bicycled from the Arctic Circle, Norway to Athens, Greece. He presents “The Coming Population Crisis in America: and what you can do about it” to civic clubs, church groups, high schools and colleges. He works to bring about sensible world population balance at www.frostywooldridge.com He is the author of: America on the Brink: The Next Added 100 Million Americans. Copies available: 1 888 280 7715