Environment & Energy

about all of the environmental issues whether they are nuclear, fossil fuels, over-population, resource extraction pollution, consumer and industrial waste disposal, leaking landfills etc. and the various negative effects on the biology of the living things on the planet.

But I am curious about your figure of 80 million deaths in the last 14 years from "uncontrolled release of fossil fuel waste" which I take it you mean air pollution. I would be interested to see how many of the 80 million deaths had doctors specifically attribute their deaths to solely "air pollution". We know we have increased cases of respiratory disease due to air pollution but some sourcing for your number would be helpful for inspection in order to gauge the voracity of that number.

At the same time that you push for nuclear power plants, which has the only real application being the production of electricity, you also have railed against electric vehicles operating on battery technology and so I'm curious what your transportation solutions are for the planet that can be scaled quickly.

Automotive emissions have come down dramatically on a per vehicle basis from where we were 30 years ago. Our overpopulation and unchecked consumerism has greatly increased the number of vehicles however per capita on the planet and so we still have a major problem in trying to get people to drive more efficiently, maintain their vehicles, reduce idling etc.

When it is all said and done we have as much a "people" problem as we do a "source" problem. Getting people to use mass transit and forgo their car, carpooling, combining shopping trips etc. are all things that a certain percentage of the population does but obviously nowhere near a majority.

Early on I took environmental courses way back in the '70's and the fundamental and inescapable conclusions by people looking at the issue of the environment were that the "problems" are not just matters of technology or regulation. All of it is linked with people, behavior and population growth. So when we speak of "pollution" and cutting it back it is not just an application of technology. Our automotive emissions technology shows us that we can reduce that on a per car basis by leaps and bounds but if we vastly increase the number of vehicles and largely fail to maintain them and operate them in a more efficient manner we aren't getting anywhere near the result we could.

Many people keep demanding higher and higher speed limits which means worse fuel mileage and increased emissions for example. Many people complain about plastics yet they largely keep right on buying the containers, bags and products that contain them. Many people complain about pesticides and other chemicals in agriculture but they won't garden, window garden, pay a higher price for naturally grown crops or naturally raised animals. I'm not talking about people who can't afford to purchase higher priced naturally raised/grown food.

Suffice it to say that yes some of the people who complain about this aspect or that of environmental issues are being more of a contributor to problems than they might realize or care to admit or educate themselves about. The long and the short of it is that any approach that is going to sustain us on this planet has to be comprehensive and address many difficult areas. Two of the most difficult are the effects of overpopulation along with the huge gap between developed and underdeveloped nations. It feeds increasing consumerism and we end up shooting ourselves in the foot. But how do we tell people who are doing less well than some that they should not aspire to some of the things those in developed nations have?

Doing better and "having" is what drives a capitalist system. Increased spending, increased consumption, increased profits. But what do we replace that with if we even can do it in time? How do we get that to be accepted? All the answers in the world are for naught if society and cultures won't accept them and instead resort to wars of "survival of their way of life" scenarios.

So in conclusion I can say I am more pessimistic than optimistic about the long term survival of humans on the planet. Mainly because of the "people problem" aspect to things. A small example in closing is that I religiously pour out any and all liquid contents from bottles, cans, packages down my drain. I do not carelessly let anything with a water component end up trapped in a landfill rather than returning it to the water processing cycle. It may not seem like much to some but taking personal action is the point. Like turning off lights when leaving a room of the house or apartment. Do what you can in your own life to be better about our environment. Even if it's not everything it can be something. Do what you can for those you encounter every day. Small is beautiful as they say.