Reply #34: Well, a few things... [View All]

[skids]

1) The general trend in post-industrial civilization is for smaller
families. Rampant reproduction is a relic of the necessities
and mores of agrarian society, where big families made for
a comfortable "retirement." It slowly goes away as the old culture
inevitably dissipates. However, we still have a lot of agrarian
cultures, and they will continue to overpopulate unless they get
the infrastructure needed to move beyond those roots. In the meantime
it would be nice if the friggin abstinence prudes would just get out
of the damn way and let the family planning orgs do their jobs.

2) Efficiency is ONE example, one contribution towards a sustainable
society, not the only one.

3) I'm no big fan of capitalism. I think it can be positively applied
if it is contained within a field-of-play, but unbridled the results
are essentially a byzantine form of destructive anarchy.

4) We are closer to new energy technologies than you may realize, the
challenge is merely bridging the gap between what we need now
and what we will have later, and doing so with the least loss
of life and environment. Burning the remaining coal would be one
example of a bad bridge technology choice. Renewables are a good
bridge technology -- eventually they will run into footprint issues,
but they should get us through.