Making the news today....

[sime42]

30 minutes ago, Retired Climber said:

The psychology behind why we (as humans) do this to ourselves, and the planet on which we live, is both fascinating and depressing, in equal measures. Some of the ideas are seen as fairly complex. However, it can be summed up in a fairly basic manner; Humans are selfish and short sighted, and the planet would be a lot better off if most of us perished. 

Exactly. That's it, we could end this discussion right there with that summation!

 

As an addendum.

We are all, to a greater or lesser extent, complicit in the transfer of wealth to the huge multinational corporate beasts like Amazon, BP, Monsanto, Apple etc, (and their attendant parasites such as law and banking companies). We don't have to drive the mile in our SUV to the supermarket or school, keep our houses warm enough to wear shorts all year round, eat meat every day, buy the latest iPhone every year, have the biggest TV, have that bit of plastic tat delivered from China in 15 minutes.............blah blah blah. The list is endless. All those needless purchases just mean less money for us and more for them.

It all comes down to overconsumption, I think anyway. No point fretting about the state of affairs unless we're willing to change our own habits.

[openspaceman]

2 hours ago, Retired Climber said:

Humans are selfish and short sighted,

Yes and that trait is what meant our ancestors survived but we have never got beyond that economic competitiveness to progress any further than a cell of yeast pickling in its own excrement.

2 hours ago, Retired Climber said:

 

and the planet would be a lot better off if most of us perished. 

 

In fact it only needs us 2 billion wealthiest to perish as  we are behind 90% of the pollution.

 

Even so there would still need to be some intervention to help nature out and rapidly reduce CO2 because all that coal we burned was produced at a time  many organisms that decayed vegetation had not evolved.

[Retired Climber]

6 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

Yes and that trait is what meant our ancestors survived but we have never got beyond that economic competitiveness to progress any further than a cell of yeast pickling in its own excrement.

 

In fact it only needs us 2 billion wealthiest to perish as  we are behind 90% of the pollution.

 

Even so there would still need to be some intervention to help nature out and rapidly reduce CO2 because all that coal we burned was produced at a time  many organisms that decayed vegetation had not evolved.

Thanks to evolution, we are all the decedents of ancestors who leveraged their greed and selfishness to make sure they got to pass on their genetic material. An exceptionally good strategy to build a strong species, but an abysmally bad strategy to sustain one long term. 

 

The problem we have, is that if humans were a lot more intelligent we'd be fine; if we were a lot less intelligent we'd also be fine. We are trapped in the middle ground in which we are too intelligent to live a sustainable life, but not smart enough to know how to live how we want to, whilst remaining viable long term. 

[GarethM]

That strangely sounds like a decent argument for all tap water to contain birth control and then heavily tax bottled water.

 

If you can afford the bottled water you can have a kid.

[Mesterh]

China may be making some news later on today.

 

Nancy Pelosi: US House Speaker set to arrive in Taiwan amid escalating tensions

NEWS.SKY.COM

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The US airforce jet that Ms Pelosi flew on to Malaysia has taken off from Kuala Lumpur. It...

 

The world's top two polluting counties feel the need to have a bun fight. It doesn't look like global environmental problems are high on their list of things to sort out.

 

[GarethM]

Pelosi and Brandon probably just think they're going out for a meal and got the reservations mixed up.

[peds]

1 hour ago, GarethM said:

Pelosi and Brandon probably just think they're going out for a meal and got the reservations mixed up.

High-brow comedy right here. Real top-drawer wit.

[GarethM]

Sarcasm maybe the lowest form of wit, doesn't make it any less funny or depressingly true about the leaders of the "Free" world.

 

You could even say "In God we trust".

Edited August 2, 2022 by GarethM

[trigger_andy]

6 hours ago, Retired Climber said:

Maybe those who have been spending time contemplating rioting and generally feeling sorry for themselves should have done a bit of overtime and bought some BP shares. 

100%
 

Plenty time to whine and winge but soon disappear when it’s time to put the graft in to actually provide for their families. Always complaining, always asking for yet another hand out. 
 

Eggs will be along soon enough to be their shining White Knight no doubt. 🙄

[eggsarascal]

41 minutes ago, trigger_andy said:

100%
 

Plenty time to whine and winge but soon disappear when it’s time to put the graft in to actually provide for their families. Always complaining, always asking for yet another hand out. 
 

Eggs will be along soon enough to be their shining White Knight no doubt. 🙄

Not at all, I've always said hard graft pays and I have no time for the feral, feckless and long term useless.

 

It's more your interpretation of what I type rather than what I actually type.

 

Apart from the few times I've used the NHS I can't think of any time I've taken out of the system that I've paid into for most of my working life, no child benefits, nothing.

 

What I do realise is there are people less fortunate than me.