2 ms·

You're making a lot of points which I can't answer right now. But I'd say that resources are vastly more than people realize. The entire mass of the Earth is th

You're making a lot of points which I can't answer right now. But I'd say that resources are vastly more than people realize. The entire mass of the Earth is the available resources at our disposal. We just don't have the tech to harvest them. For example, absorbing water from the air, the sea, melting ice caps etc, we can only harvest from fresh water sources but there's no theoretical reason why we can't harvest from these other sources. So I don't really worry about finite resources, as long as tech improves there are basically infinite resources, assuming that we can't get through the entire mass of the planet.

jelliclesfarm 6y ago
I respectfully disagree. Resource abundance is a myth. Extraction of resources itself is highly energy expensive and wasteful not to mention that many non renewable resources are what fuels our basic needs. To give a simple example: the daily bowl of oatmeal. From farms out of the farm gate to processing to point of sale, the entire supply chain runs on fossil fuel. Ag is entirely fueled by fossil fuels. If we magically erase the existence of fossil fuels that is a non renewable resource tomorrow, we will all starve. We might not die at once, but our access to almost everything we need to survive would be blocked. And that’s just one example of non renewable resource. I also mentioned soil Phosphorus that is limited..and also sand that is non renewable and used extensively for construction. Water and arable land that is needed for everything from timber to food to fiber. Mining etc. Unless we have a drastic paradigm shift and we tap into some kind of Tesla’esque ‘Free Energy’, we are living off savings instead of capital.
- cercatrova 6y ago
  My point is that with technology advancing, the total theoretical amount of energy we can use is at least the Earth's mass. This is predicating on technology increasing of course.
  - ddingus 6y ago
    Energy density can't be ignored here. Fossil fuels are definitely finite, and few things match their energy density and general utility. Our environment is warming, and we need to bootstrap ourselves onto other energy now, while we have fuels and quick or we may find ourselves energy constrained and fighting the battle in a far less livable place.
  - jelliclesfarm 6y ago
    We produce more plastic than earth’s biomass : https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/09/human-made-materials-now-outweigh-earths-entire-biomass-study https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/09/human-ma... Human-made materials now outweigh Earth’s entire biomass – study [..] The giant human footprint stamped across the world in 2020 is greater than the impact on the planet of all other living things, research suggests. The amount of plastic alone is greater in mass than all land animals and marine creatures combined, the study estimates. While human beings might believe in “the immensity of the globe and the seeming infinity of the natural world”, the researchers say they wanted to provide an objective and rigorous measure of the reality of the balance between man and nature.[..] [..] Their research shows that human activity including production of concrete, metal, plastic, bricks and asphalt has brought the world to a crossover point where human-made mass – driven mostly by enhanced consumption and urban development – exceeds the overall living biomass on Earth. On average, every person in the world is responsible for the creation of human-made matter equal to more than their bodyweight each week, the paper published in Nature says. The research found that the stamp of humanity has been increasing in size rapidly since the beginning of the 20th century, doubling every 20 years. The researchers support a proposal to name the current epoch as Anthropocene, reflecting the abrupt and considerable impact of human activity.[..] Way past carrying capacity we are..

jelliclesfarm 6y ago

I respectfully disagree. Resource abundance is a myth. Extraction of resources itself is highly energy expensive and wasteful not to mention that many non renewable resources are what fuels our basic needs. To give a simple example: the daily bowl of oatmeal. From farms out of the farm gate to processing to point of sale, the entire supply chain runs on fossil fuel. Ag is entirely fueled by fossil fuels. If we magically erase the existence of fossil fuels that is a non renewable resource tomorrow, we will all starve. We might not die at once, but our access to almost everything we need to survive would be blocked. And that’s just one example of non renewable resource. I also mentioned soil Phosphorus that is limited..and also sand that is non renewable and used extensively for construction. Water and arable land that is needed for everything from timber to food to fiber. Mining etc. Unless we have a drastic paradigm shift and we tap into some kind of Tesla’esque ‘Free Energy’, we are living off savings instead of capital.

cercatrova 6y ago
My point is that with technology advancing, the total theoretical amount of energy we can use is at least the Earth's mass. This is predicating on technology increasing of course.
- ddingus 6y ago
  Energy density can't be ignored here. Fossil fuels are definitely finite, and few things match their energy density and general utility. Our environment is warming, and we need to bootstrap ourselves onto other energy now, while we have fuels and quick or we may find ourselves energy constrained and fighting the battle in a far less livable place.
- jelliclesfarm 6y ago
  We produce more plastic than earth’s biomass : https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/09/human-made-materials-now-outweigh-earths-entire-biomass-study https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/09/human-ma... Human-made materials now outweigh Earth’s entire biomass – study [..] The giant human footprint stamped across the world in 2020 is greater than the impact on the planet of all other living things, research suggests. The amount of plastic alone is greater in mass than all land animals and marine creatures combined, the study estimates. While human beings might believe in “the immensity of the globe and the seeming infinity of the natural world”, the researchers say they wanted to provide an objective and rigorous measure of the reality of the balance between man and nature.[..] [..] Their research shows that human activity including production of concrete, metal, plastic, bricks and asphalt has brought the world to a crossover point where human-made mass – driven mostly by enhanced consumption and urban development – exceeds the overall living biomass on Earth. On average, every person in the world is responsible for the creation of human-made matter equal to more than their bodyweight each week, the paper published in Nature says. The research found that the stamp of humanity has been increasing in size rapidly since the beginning of the 20th century, doubling every 20 years. The researchers support a proposal to name the current epoch as Anthropocene, reflecting the abrupt and considerable impact of human activity.[..] Way past carrying capacity we are..