Collapse of Society/Environment Pt. 2(merged)

[Keith_McClary]

Dilbert again.

[Pops]

Heard on a PBS story about "developers" trying to sell bunker condos, that they have a hard time getting mortgages.
Banker: 'So, you're betting you'll never pay this off. Is that right?"
Bunker Guy: "well..."

[Beery1]

Well, for those with the ultimate doomstead (rapture) here is a way to assure our pets will be spared from the zombie hoards.

Where are these zombie 'hoards', why do pets have access, why would pets want to be spared from them, and how do I get my greedy hands on them without waking the zombies?

[babystrangeloop]

Where are these zombie 'hoards'

Probably lingering around in the Trashiscapes at the Hirshhorn.

[Keith_McClary]

Just replace the balloon in the second panel with PO and pointy-haired-boss with your favourite "leader".

Dilbert

[Repent]

Humor: Peak Easter eggs

http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2 ... ster-bunny

Those are all conditions that we could write in the form of equations, but here we can use a well known method in system dynamics which builds the equations starting from a graphical version of the model. Traditionally, stocks are shown as boxes and flows as double edged arrows. Single edged arrows relate stocks and flows to each other. In this case, I used a program called "Vensim" by Ventana systems (free for personal and academic use). So, here is the simplest possible version of the Easter Egg Hunt model:
...
Here, production goes down to nearly zero, as the children deplete their egg reservoir. In this version of the model, we have robot-children who continue searching forever and, eventually, they'll always find all the eggs. In practice, at some moment real children will stop searching when they become tired. But this model may still be an approximate description of an actual egg hunt when there is a fixed number of children - as it is often the case when the number of children is small.

[Tanada]

IMO collapse of the rule of law will be even worse for the environment than 4C of global warming.

For one thing it means rampant pollution with no concern for the consequences short or long term.

For another if it is a total collapse people will devastate the ecosystem trying to get enough food for themselves and their children to survive.

[Newfie]

Quite likely. There will be a scramble.

Think of this....there are at least two types of denial....we here like to poke at those who deny GW and financial collapse scenarios.....yet many among us still ardently believe that e can convince the politicians and bankers to change their ways.....two sides of one coin.

I must say your new avatar has improved my environment, the last brunette was my favorite though.

[careinke]

IMO collapse of the rule of law will be even worse for the environment than 4C of global warming.

For one thing it means rampant pollution with no concern for the consequences short or long term.

For another if it is a total collapse people will devastate the ecosystem trying to get enough food for themselves and their children to survive.

I prefer anarchy over statism (or any other ism for that matter). There are a lot of us who could teach the others not to kill the ecosystem, and instead embrace it. Anarchy doesn't have to be violent or forceful, Isms on the other hand always are.

[Cloud9]

Tanada are you going through some type of phase shift? My dear, every time I look at you, you have changed. Disconcerting my dear, very disconcerting.

In a total collapse, the state would pose a much greater threat to our individual survival than that which could be posed by starving hordes. In a fast crash, the vast majority would perish before they figured out how to rape the environment. The rape of the environment scenario plays out in the event of a slow collapse. Under those circumstances the desperate have time to adapt.

[Loki]

Meh, want to see how anarchy works out for the environment, check the Brazilian Amazon or Haiti.

[Tanada]

Tanada are you going through some type of phase shift? My dear, every time I look at you, you have changed. Disconcerting my dear, very disconcerting.

In a total collapse, the state would pose a much greater threat to our individual survival than that which could be posed by starving hordes. In a fast crash, the vast majority would perish before they figured out how to rape the environment. The rape of the environment scenario plays out in the event of a slow collapse. Under those circumstances the desperate have time to adapt.

Thank you for your concern, it has been a rough four months and I have had too much time to dwell on the negative and not enough boosting of the positive so my grip on optimism has slipped. I will no doubt claw my way back to optimism in a little while, it is just very easy to get sucked into the uber doomer outlook reading through the old threads on here when things are going badly in your personal life.

[careinke]

Meh, want to see how anarchy works out for the environment, check the Brazilian Amazon or Haiti.

If you looked at the actual types of governments for those two countries, you would find the barren one was run by totalitarian regimes. A totalitarian government is not anarchy.

[Cloud9]

Tanada sometimes we have to pray the alcoholic’s prayer: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, The courage to change the things I can, And the wisdom to know the difference.

[careinke]

A take on Anarchy that you may not have heard.

You are an anarchist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07ZDRw00Uqc

[dohboi]

I used to get pleasure from convincing southern frat boys that they were actually radical feminists, but that's a different story.

Think about how different the association is that we have with a word like "community" versus a word like "communism." The roots are the same, but the tiny difference between the suffix -ity and -ism makes all the difference.

So I think anarchists should change the term for their ideal to 'anarchity.' It sound more like a warm, fuzzy feline than a scary, threatening ideology.

For the record, I don't really consider Ron Paul and other libertarians to be true anarchists--they seem to be blind to the dangers of any other forms of concentrated power beyond government power. Paul, in particular, in spite of some of his rhetoric, votes pretty much along Rep party lines.

----
T said:

IMO collapse of the rule of law will be even worse for the environment than 4C of global warming.

For one thing it means rampant pollution with no concern for the consequences short or long term.

For another if it is a total collapse people will devastate the ecosystem trying to get enough food for themselves and their children to survive.

The difference is that total mayhem can be self-limiting--the more violent and chaotic, the faster the collapse and the less time to do damage. A 4 degree C world, on the other hand, is very likely to be self perpetuating and self exacerbating--as you know, multiple feedbacks kick in till you have not 4 or even 6, but more like 12 or higher temperatures. At that point, since humidity levels will also soar in most places, humans can't even exist outside for very long. And of course most other species would be doomed a those temps too, particularly as we will get there so quickly.

I hesitate to recommend this video to you if you are already feeling down. Take some vitamin D, get some exercise and rest, then watch it if you want.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7ktYbVwr90

Climate Change is Simple

Also, I don't want to put any more on your plate than you've already taken on, but as you are reviewing these threads anyway, it would be interesting to see what you would pull out as the 'best of' POForum postings--by whatever criteria you wish to choose for 'best.' Which posters do you see as the doomiest?