Saturday, October 10, 2009

TEMPORAL BLINDNESS AND OVERPOPULATION IN AMERICA

By Frosty Wooldridge

Cap and trade? Will it work? Not a chance! Screw in a mercury, curly-cue bulb to save electricity! Will that stop carbon emissions? Sorry! Drive a Prius for greater fuel efficiency? Only delays the inevitable! Add more lanes to Los Angeles’ freeways to solve gridlock? That’s like a four hundred pound man facing a heart attack—unbuckling his belt to allow more room for his bulging belly. That’s a tragic choice!

“TEMPORAL BLINDNESS is a limitation in cognitive process. People with temporal blindness cannot gather and process available information into predictions of future conditions. Their processes cannot connect future conditions to a causing behavior.

When their processes do create unpleasant predictions, and identify the causal behavior, they fail to create enough present meaning for the future conditions to motivate a change in that behavior.” Dr. Jack Alpert

In a brilliant essay, Dr. Jack Alpert, www.skil.org, introduced a new concept for Americans to consider: “Why do we need rapid population decline?”

The first question you might consider stems from our civilization that grew population every year for over 400 years. How will you stop that kind of a cultural juggernaut? Simple: either we do it or Mother Nature will! And, Mother Nature always bats last.

“Everyone knows population-increase grows cities and crowds freeways,” Dr. Alpert said. “As a result freeways get wider and cities get bigger. Everyone knows that if city dwellers want bigger cars or houses, cities and freeways grow even if the population doesn’t.

“Hard to grasp is that city growth requires more square miles of ocean and farm land to feed its dwellers. Cities need more water to flush its toilets and water its lawns. Farms need more land and water to feed city people. Cities need more energy to heat homes, run transport and support goods and services.”

Alpert points out that what you see at first glance is not the real problem. Like an iceberg, with 92 percent of its volume below the water, the actual human predicament is 10 times bigger than our first estimate.

“Cities already consume 75 percent of the resources of humankind,” Alpert said. “Farm land is finite. Oil reservoirs, aquifers and rain are finite. Places to put waste are finite. Mined resources like soils and iron are finite.

“There is a whole web of life from bacteria to polar bears that share this finite environment. When humans usurp their space and resources, they are extinguished. Loss of diversity threatens the ecological system.”

Are you beginning to see below the surface? Catch a glimpse of the reality of overpopulation? Understand the implications for your children?

“When there are relatively few cities and a lot of unallocated global resources, city growth appears to have no limits,” said Alpert. “But when the support for all these cities equals the environment's abilities to produce, one city must compete with another for scarce resources. Eventually the competition turns into disenfranchisement and conflict.

“Conflict consumes resources. This leaves less resources to support cities. Which increases scarcity. Which increases competition. Which increases conflict. Which diverts more resources away from supporting cities. The circular process causes civilization to experience a death spiral.

“Two possible approaches to keep scarcity of goods and services from triggering collapse of civilization. One increases global carrying capacity with technological efficiency and substitution. The other constrains total human footprint.

“Many people think these dangers can be avoided by a combination of technological expansion and population stabilization. However, even with a cessation of population growth technological expansion is facing a very large task.

“First, because we don't know how close the current human footprint is to the globe's limits. Some would say we have overshot them at present technology and are depleting fish stocks, oil reservoirs, aquifers, and damaging climate.

“And second total human footprint would still continue to grow because 80% of today's global population, the poor, consume at a rate of 1/8 to 1/16 of that consumed by the 20%, who are wealthy. We should expect these have-nots to increase their consumption. If they doubled that consumption every twenty five years, It would take a century or more for them to catch up with the haves and it would quadruple the total human footprint and the technologist's challenge.

“In addition to the poor's increase in consumption the haves will increase their wellbeing. The goods and services required by even a constant population will likely double every 20 years for centuries.

“If we are counting on technology to protect us from the vagaries of scarcity, it will have to double global production of goods and services (with fixed land and less dense energy) every 20 years for centuries.

“Any technological shortcomings will have to be addressed by constraints on total human footprint. At first this might be viewed as capping the excesses of the rich. However, if improved health care increases longevity that increases footprint and it has nothing to do with excesses.

“Since total human footprint is the product of population times per capita consumption, any improvement in wellbeing will have to be matched with reductions in population. Even an improvement in healthcare requires a decrease in population.
“If we expect a doubling of human footprint every twenty years, and technology fails to keep up then the prevention of scarcity must be addressed with a halving of the population every 20 years.

“Rapid population decline (RPD) appears to be "the" path to a viable future for our kids, our nation, humankind, and our ecosystem.

“Rapid population decline (RPD) occurs only when deaths greatly exceed births. The three mechanisms for having deaths exceed births are:

1) deprivation (starvation or disease,)
2) genocide, and or
3) birth rates far below two per woman.

“The challenge that confronts us is, "Can we engineer a future with lesser amounts of RPD caused by deprivation and genocide and more RPD caused by lower births?"
(1) Many answers to the following questions justify a shift in emphasis from current proposals that address visible problems (eco destruction, resource exhaustion and social inequity) to RPD proposals that produce civilization viability.

1. What is the carrying capacity that is divided between humans and other species?
2. How much and how fast can carrying capacity drop?
3. When will carrying capacity drop?
4. If billions are living hand to mouth on a dollar
or two a day, how fast can a doubling of food costs (demand over supply) put billions on a death diet?
5. How long can/will the rich keep the poor from starvation using redistribution?
6. When it is obvious that redistribution will not satisfy the starving hordes and inhibit their social conflict, how long will it be before the rich or powerful resolve their desperation with genocide?

Another question Dr. Alpert asked, “How fast can a lower birthrate reduce the population?"

In SKIL Note 63, Alpert provides graphs of population vs time for various birthrates established by various behaviors. He said, "The graphs describe the opportunities for the human experiment that are created by birthrate-driven rapid population decline. He hoped the model's products make implementing very low birthrates a little easier. By visiting SKIL Note 63 you will be able to see the graphs and down load the model that runs under the latest version of MS excel. For all 67 SKIL Notes, a selection of articles, and books that more fully describe our temporal blindness, the human predicament, trends that resolve it, and behaviors to create these trends click here.

As Alpert illustrates, our civilization must change course from unending growth to population stabilization or Mother Nature will change course for us.

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To take action: First and foremost, join www.numbersusa.com and become one of nearly a million Americans making impact with pre-written faxes and phone calls to change immigration policies toward a stable future. Bi-partisan and highly effective!

Second, join www.thesocialcontract.com for up to date information via the Social Contract Quarterly. Exceptional publication to keep you informed.

www.fairus.org ; www.vdare.com ; www.alipac.us ; www.firecoalition.com ; www.cairco.org ; www.limitstogrowth.com ; www.capsweb.org ; www.populationmedia.org ; www.worldpopulationbalance.org ; LimitsToGrowth.org

Exceptional website on population: Dr. Jack Alpert, www.skil.org Learn what our civilization must do in order to remain sustainable in the 21st century.

America on the Brink: The Next Added 100 Million Americans by Frosty Wooldridge. This book covers all the ramifications of adding 100 million people to the USA in the next 26 years by 2035.

Visit this site for a rendition of Colorado Governor Lamm’s speech: “How to Destroy America”

http://usawakeup.org/HowToDestroyAmerica.htm

Must see DVD: “Blind Spot” http://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


In Canada: Tim Murray,
Director Immigration Watch Canada www.immigrationwatch.org
Vice President Biodiversity First http://biodiversityfirst.googlepages.com/index.htm
Blog http://sinkinglifeboat.blogspot.com

Please visit Annie Leonard at www.storyofstuff.com for a compelling and highly interesting 20 minute video concerning our high consumption, highly wasteful and unsustainable society. She educates and provides avenues for you to make a difference.

Visit this web site by Chris Martenson: http://www.chrismartenson.com/environmental_data

In Colorado: visit www.soprisfoundation..org for information how you can network with like-minded folks to create a more sustainable future for Colorado and other states.

View CNN’s “Planet in Peril” with Anderson Cooper and Lisa Ling:

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2008/planet.in.peril/
Ghost of Thomas Paine—compelling video of common sense
http://www.lawatchdog.com/index.html#anchor_2296


BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA: D.C.: (202)224-2854 comment@whitehouse.gov
Books to read: “The Long Emergency” by James Howard Kunstler
“Peak Everything” by Richard Heinberg
“Too Many People” by Lindsey Grant


Become a member of “Frosty’s Press Agent Corps” whereby you volunteer a few hours to send out emails to top TV and radio hosts to offer top speakers on America’s overpopulation crisis driven by unending immigration. Email frostyw@juno.com and receive two informational letters showing you exactly what to do.

Roy Beck's "IMMIGRATION BY THE NUMBERS" is the single best educational appreciation of America's future if we allow ourselves to add another 100 million people. Just click on this site for the most sobering experience of your children's future.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4094926727128068265&q=roy+beck&hl=en

Roy Beck gives a graphic presentation of our fate if we continue to allow legal and illegal immigration to swamp this country. If you have children, you will be particular unnerved at their fate. I know Roy Beck personally and his integrity and knowledge stand at the top. Pass this web site 14 minute video far and wide across America to educate everyone you know. We either stop this human tsunami or the future of this country will be much like Rome's. We must, as a nation and a civilization, move to secure our country from this massive, unrelenting population overload from a line that never ends. This will be the most compelling 14 minute video of your life.

Once you see it, go to my web site for action items www.frostywooldridge..com and join www.numbersusa.com to become a weekly faxer of pre written letters and join the phone calling teams.

Bob Woodruff of ABC asked input from all citizens concerning the future of our planet. Go to www.earth2100.tv for a sobering reality check as to what we face and to what I have been writing about for the past 20 years. Our ‘window’ to change to a balanced population and non-polluting energy diminishes every day we listen to irresponsible media and thus ignore the blatant symptoms manifesting all over America and the planet.

From: Frosty Wooldridge

This three minute interview with Adam Schrager on “Your Show” May 4, 2008, NBC Channel 9 News, addresses the ramifications of adding 120 million people to USA in 35 years and six million people to Colorado as to water shortages, air pollution, loss of farmland, energy costs and degradation of quality of life. In the interview, Frosty Wooldridge explains the ramifications of adding 120 million people to the USA in 35 years. He advances new concepts such as a “Colorado Carrying Capacity Policy”; “Colorado Environmental Impact Policy”; “Colorado Water Usage Policy”; “Colorado Sustainable Population Policy”. Nationally, the USA needs a "National Sustainable Population Policy" to determine the carrying capacity of this nation for the short and long term. Wooldridge is available for interviews on radio and TV having interviewed on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and FOX.

Go to: www.frostywooldridge.com and click on “Audio/Video” tab

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.

2 comments:

  1. Excellent stuff. The key here is also that to cease having children is something individuals can and should do, regardless of who they are or where or how they live on the planet.

    Another excellent resource on this topic:
    www.paulchefurka.ca

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rampant population growth threatens our economy and quality of life. I'm not talking about the obvious environmental and resource issues. I'm talking about the effect upon rising unemployment and poverty in America.

    I should introduce myself. I am the author of a book titled "Five Short Blasts: A New Economic Theory Exposes The Fatal Flaw in Globalization and Its Consequences for America." To make a long story short, my theory is that, as population density rises beyond some optimum level, per capita consumption of products begins to decline out of the need to conserve space. People who live in crowded conditions simply don’t have enough space to use and store many products. This declining per capita consumption, in the face of rising productivity (per capita output, which always rises), inevitably yields rising unemployment and poverty.

    This theory has huge implications for U.S. policy toward population management. Our policies that encourage high rates of population growth are rooted in the belief of economists that population growth is a good thing, fueling economic growth. Through most of human history, the interests of the common good and business (corporations) were both well-served by continuing population growth. For the common good, we needed more workers to man our factories, producing the goods needed for a high standard of living. This population growth translated into sales volume growth for corporations. Both were happy.

    But, once an optimum population density is breached, their interests diverge. It is in the best interest of the common good to stabilize the population, avoiding an erosion of our quality of life through high unemployment and poverty. However, it is still in the interest of corporations to fuel population growth because, even though per capita consumption goes into decline, total consumption still increases. We now find ourselves in the position of having corporations and economists influencing public policy in a direction that is not in the best interest of the common good.

    The U.N. ranks the U.S. with eight third world countries - India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Uganda, Ethiopia and China - as accounting for fully half of the world’s population growth by 2050.

    If you’re interested in learning more about this important new economic theory, I invite you to visit either of my web sites at OpenWindowPublishingCo.com or PeteMurphy.wordpress.com where you can read the preface, join in my blog discussion and, of course, purchase the book if you like. (It's also available at Amazon.com.)

    Pete Murphy
    Author, "Five Short Blasts"

    ReplyDelete