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Re: Yuri receives hypocrite of the week award (was Re: Ecological Economics and Entropy)
Atanu Dey <atanu@are.Berkeley.EDU> wrote in article
<57kqvq$gph@agate.berkeley.edu>...
> I believe that if it were in the interests of the powerful of
> this world, they would be able to solve the problem without major
> disruption in their lifestyles. Yet they don't do that. I suspect
> that ultimately, it is a rational choice by the movers and shakers.
> If the third world were to prosper, it would hurt the interests of the
> first world. That is an unsupported hypothesis.
>
The money and ENERGY requirements needed bring the entire world up to
American and Western European standards of living are staggering. Even
utilizing all the tricks of efficiency and recycling, you would be looking
at an energy output of about 3 times current levels (at U.S. usage almost 5
times). The capital cost of this increased living standard would run into
the 10s of trillions of 'dollars'--perhaps even 100s of trillions. {In a
'non-sophisticated' energy project that I assigned a few years ago, the
projected costs of converting the U.S. to 50% non-fossil energy by the year
2050 {based on projected population growth, a 25% increase in energy
efficiency, and basically a stagnant living standard} was 8-12 trillion
($8-12e12) dollars! The environmental impact could well be disasterous
especially since to accomplish such a feat in a short time span (<100
years) would require heavily reliance ON fossil fuels. From a strictly
environmental point of view, the Third World better stay the Third World
for the forseeable future (or until environmentally benign energy sources
are available at reasonable cost).
> Yet, I am forced to conclude that because I don't see any reason why
> the population explosion of the world cannot be halted humanely with
> the application of known technology and a few billion dollars.
> Atanu
What about the several dozen RELIGIONS around the world that have strong
objections to 'technological' population control. The few billion dollars
won't buy off the leaders of these groups. There are also strong ethnic
objections in some parts (among some groups in the U.S. for example) to any
kind of birth control.
The problem of overpopulation and poverty in the Third World is a VERY
complex one and not, I'm afraid, amenable to simplistic solutions.
Rick Tarara
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Richard W. Tarara
Department of Chemistry & Physics Free Physics & Energy Instructional
Software
Saint Mary's College available at:
Notre Dame, IN 46556
219-284-4664 http://estel.uindy.edu/aapt/rickt/software/
rtarara@saintmarys.edu
http://www-hpcc.astro.washington.edu/mirrors/tarara/
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