Ibon wrote:These bio-engineering or geo-engineering proposals are blatant attempts to fix the problem with no sacrifice to the dominant consumption / population origin of the problems. As often mentioned we could be wasteful and inefficient and free to wallow in abundance if we were only a couple hundred million on the planet.
Don't forget, IPAT involves the T, which can either be a multiplier of harm or strong divider.
Basically, yes, guilty as charged! "are blatant attempts to fix the problem with no sacrifice to the dominant consumption / population origin of the problems" Exactly write, and exactly wrong, at the same time! Anyone who barters in a stone age village 'consumes' if they didn't produce the thing themselves. They've paid for it in some means, and become a 'consumer'. Wow, they must be a terrible person!
But consumption of what, by what technology?
We have the potential to a world of 10 billion (or more) people a convenient, dignified, beautiful modern life. No, it won't be the same as today, but will involve a bunch of different tech, including how we design our cities. But yes, it's a blatant attempt to fix the world as pain-free as possible. Guilty as charged!
EG: 100 million running on fossil fuels do more harm than a billion on carbon neutral energy sources like the abundant reliable electricity that comes from nuclear-waste eating breeder reactors.
7 billion in a suburban McMansion car based lifestyle do more harm than the same number in New Urbanism, which occupies 10% of the land and enables a cosy, convenient, community building culture NOT based on the car! (But can of course have some cars and trucks in a car-disciplined life maybe a little bit more European than Europe.)
Industrial agriculture is a multiplier of harm where this regenerative wholistic agriculture might actually heal the land and feed billions. Indeed,
massive kelp farms might feed billions with hardly any input from the land itself! And we solve population growth by giving everyone everything they need to live a dignified, prosperous life,
especially in educating and empowering women and children.
So unless you're addicted to some kind of Book of Eli doomer scenario for the future, what's wrong with admitting where the Technology can actually reduce the Impact of Affluence and Population in the IPAT equation?
Dr James Hansen recommends breeder reactors that convert nuclear 'waste' into 1000 years of clean energy for America, and can charge all our light vehicles and generate "Blue Crude" for heavy vehicles.
https://eclipsenow.wordpress.com/recharge/