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What a great distraction from the real problems! If we had that free limitless renewable energy, and we used it as we do now to fuel "growth" building malls an

What a great distraction from the real problems! If we had that free limitless renewable energy, and we used it as we do now to fuel "growth" building malls and car parks, extracting ores from the crust, and produce pesticides, then we will have solved no problem at all. Spieces do not become extinct, they are being exterminated. Energy production is but a tiny part of the ecological crisis we're in. We need to solve the energy usage problem, not its production. This is madness.

avalys 5y ago
It seems like your "real problem" is that you want to tell 80% of humanity that they will never be permitted to achieve the same quality of life we enjoy in Western society today. Good luck with that.
- fguerraz 5y ago
  Not only that but the West must also regress, that is correct. That is pretty much obvious once you have accepted that current growth is unsustainable and has been for a long time. But we can (and probably will) keep pretending, that's fine, it will just be more and more "to late" and we'll cause more and more irreversible damage. There is no green growth. Heck, I shouldn't care, I have no children and a comfortable life. Let's keep playing music until we sink.
nitrogen 5y ago
extracting ores from the crust The Earth has an insane amount of material. It's the greatest tragedy that life occupies only the thinnest film on the thinnest edge of the Earth. The more we can make use of the full potential of the Earth, the more life there can be. It's a waste to just leave all that matter buried, doing nothing more than providing gravity. We need to solve the energy usage problem, not its production. More energy means more solutions. Think carbon sequestration, vertical farming, building megastructures to combat sea level rise, climate engineering, or even just pumping heat into space as infrared. We are indeed in a climate crisis, but 85% of the crisis is that people have given up on the future and just want to panic.
- fguerraz 5y ago
  For me what you write reads like "we need to focus on treating the symptoms rather than the cause of our problems." Are we so attached to always having more and more? mostly to the benefit of a handful of super wealthy? While our democraties become authoritarian and ecosystems collapse? Social justice (not a skewed idea of "progress") goes hand in hand with solving the ecological crisis.

avalys 5y ago

It seems like your "real problem" is that you want to tell 80% of humanity that they will never be permitted to achieve the same quality of life we enjoy in Western society today. Good luck with that.

fguerraz 5y ago
Not only that but the West must also regress, that is correct. That is pretty much obvious once you have accepted that current growth is unsustainable and has been for a long time. But we can (and probably will) keep pretending, that's fine, it will just be more and more "to late" and we'll cause more and more irreversible damage. There is no green growth. Heck, I shouldn't care, I have no children and a comfortable life. Let's keep playing music until we sink.

nitrogen 5y ago

extracting ores from the crust The Earth has an insane amount of material. It's the greatest tragedy that life occupies only the thinnest film on the thinnest edge of the Earth. The more we can make use of the full potential of the Earth, the more life there can be. It's a waste to just leave all that matter buried, doing nothing more than providing gravity. We need to solve the energy usage problem, not its production. More energy means more solutions. Think carbon sequestration, vertical farming, building megastructures to combat sea level rise, climate engineering, or even just pumping heat into space as infrared. We are indeed in a climate crisis, but 85% of the crisis is that people have given up on the future and just want to panic.

fguerraz 5y ago
For me what you write reads like "we need to focus on treating the symptoms rather than the cause of our problems." Are we so attached to always having more and more? mostly to the benefit of a handful of super wealthy? While our democraties become authoritarian and ecosystems collapse? Social justice (not a skewed idea of "progress") goes hand in hand with solving the ecological crisis.