The end of Oil and other resources on planet Earth.

[Blaze]

I wasn't belittling anyone. I was merely saying that you seem more the type to feel everything you do for the earth is a champion movement. That's not bad. It just means ecology is something you get excited about.

SOMEBODY needs to calm down.

I really, really don't see how this can be a simple issue.

I just don't see how it can be anything but. As soon as we start trying to JUDGE which people are more important or less important than which environmental factors, it becomes a mess. Who's judgement system are we using? Where is it happening? WHEN is it happening?

You can say what you say now, but what if someday the difference between you living 20 years or dying a painful death over a week is the death of a few howler monkeys?

[mikehendo]

Lets just kill everyone then..
Then there would be no fresh water shortage, no more pollution, and no more poaching.

Or, better yet, we can figure out what people provide. No one needs an unproductive member of society.

Or, lets move on to say that the species as a whole has precedent over any individual human. and a few should die so that the multitude can live. Just hope that you aren't in the minority on that one. However, if the purpose of the human race is survival, what harm is there in a few dying?

While most of this post is dripping with sarcasm, Fuggle does have a point. Humans shouldnt always take priority over nature. Humans are put on this planet to watch over nature, not decimate it.

[Keaton]

[quote="Blaze";p="485520"]I wasn't belittling anyone. I was merely saying that you seem more the type to feel everything you do for the earth is a champion movement. That's not bad. It just means ecology is something you get excited about.

SOMEBODY needs to calm down.[/quote]

I took what you said the wrong way... I think it was the "rather than doing something logical" that I read into too much. Anyway, I sincerely apologize.


EDIT - Isn't it in humans' best interest to preserve nature as well? I mean, not to the point where we're giving up our survival to make room for the growth of other species, but just looking at it practically, it's really in our best interest for plant life to stick around not only for us to eat but to turn the carbon dioxide we generate into oxygen, for many species of fish to continue to survive so we can harvest them, for other species of fish that help that feed and regulate the harvested fish to also survive... you can see how that logic can spread out to cover a great number of species. What I'm trying to say is, an intact ecosystem is essential to our survival, so while sometimes nature may have to make room so we can ensure our survival, at other times the best thing the human race can do for itself is practice a little self-regulation.

[Blaze]

I didn't mean that you were being illogical, but just that some people would feel it was, "Meh, the right thing to do." You likely feel it is, "YAY! I'm doing the right thing!" Not bad... but possibly annoying.

[Keaton]

[quote="Blaze";p="485609"]I didn't mean that you were being illogical, but just that some people would feel it was, "Meh, the right thing to do." You likely feel it is, "YAY! I'm doing the right thing!" Not bad... but possibly annoying. [/quote]

Granted. When it comes to the environment, sometimes I can get annoying, especially about the whole thing where I hate seeing any species killed off, even when it makes sense for a species to go away.

[naval_aviator_2040]

same here dude

[mikehendo]

Thankyou for this little side tangent, gentlemen.. Now.. back on topic..

[Deacon]

[quote="Keaton";p="485606"]Isn't it in humans' best interest to preserve nature as well?[/quote]
Isn't it in a debater's best interest to not ask silly, vague questions? No, it's not necessarily "in humans' best interest to preserve nature" as is. Which human, btw? Which nature? What kind of preservation? Yada fucking yada.

[Keaton]

"...so while sometimes nature may have to make room so we can ensure our survival, at other times the best thing the human race can do for itself is practice a little self-regulation." Not necessarily "as is" if nature makes room for our survival.

[Martin Blank]

Generally speaking, the conservation of resources is in humanity's best interests. Biodiversity is one of those resources, as evidenced by the growing biotech industry, particularly the transgenic side of it. What we have, through poor education, laziness, greed, ideology, sense of manifest destiny, or any of several other ideas, is the poor utilization of resources.

Vast swaths of rain forest are cut down to get at soil that can only support crops for a couple of years, even with fertilizers, because poor education and poverty force farmers to make do.

Rivers are diverted without careful consideration of the geological and ecological results of the changes; the Aral Sea in Russia a prime example of this because ideology led to a sense of superiority over the land, and corruption let the problem fester.

Mountains are leveled -- essentially removed from the landscape -- by coal mining in many countries, the US included, because of ideologies that prevent replacements in the form of nuclear reactors from being built.

Lots of resources in this world, and it's a rare one that's tended to properly.

[peter-griffin]

we'll be dead sooner or later.

[bort]

here is an interesting article i saw on the whole oil issue.

[Deacon]

Yay! Random link with no explanation or reaction or thoughts or anything.

[Metzgirl]

I heard Tom Friedman, Pulitzer prize winning columnist, arguing that the government should raise US gas prices to 5dollars/gallon. He theorized that raising the gas price by that much would require industries to develop more renewable energy, more fuel effecient devices, and even bolster the US government to the point of repaying the deficit.

Unfortunately, it was a radio program, so I can't link to the text.

(I'll save my comments until others have voiced their oppions)

[Deacon]

Friedman often has a lot of good things to say. And either he's flung himself to the floor, far away from his rocker, or you're remembering incorrectly, as that's an absolutely ridiculous suggestion.