A reader writes:
"We are seeing the consequences of over use of resources , exuberant enlightened self interest coupled with amoral ethical regimes. Place this with short sighted economic planning (the quarterly system) and we have the mess we are in now.
"Cheap energy has resulted in excessive food production , which has resulted in excessive population growth (population will follow the food curve) and it has to a point we can no longer expand food production to the point of supporting population levels let alone population growth. Too many people not enough resources equates to increased civil unrest from decreased economic opportunity , too many people and not enough resources leads to increase in food prices this leads to malnutrition and more civil unrest . Add to this a rapacious economic system whose regulations are set up and maintained by the very people who benefit from the said system .
"One does not have to call for revolution nor predict collapse it is self evident that it will happen as the various lobbying interests of industry and finance continue to influence legislation where there interests take preeminence over the common good and this will lead to civil unrest and food shortages (exacerbated by speculation, again enhanced by political manipulation by lobbyists) .
"It is ironic that the conservative element of our country which boasts about their moral high ground are funded by the amoral corporate system."
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My response (for those not watching the Superbowl today):
Yes, it's evident that some form of rough collapse will continue, with the dominant wealth stealing till there's little left to steal and the middle class is reduced to 3rd world living conditions. Even the "3rd rail" SS is now in the crosshairs. It appears the fraudulent Wall Street (US & EU) grab was so widespread that it was impossible for governments to even prosecute, and "austerity" or "stimulus" to save us (or them) is just digging the hole deeper. States are cutting into the bone now. If that's the case then the economy is beyond the tipping point, and resource depletion is now passing various tipping points as we sleep. Officially the peak oil plateau was hit in 2006. The argument now is only about how steep or gradual the downside will be.
As for food and population, we now know industrial food prices already are fueling riots and regime change in the Mideast and elsewhere. The underreported news is organic can feed the world, as Rodale Institute documented in 2008 based on the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report: "These conclusions also confirmed findings and recommendations of the recently released report of the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) panel, an intergovernmental process supported by over 400 experts under the cosponsorship of the FAO, GEF, UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, the World Bank and WHO (issued on 14 April 2008). The IAASTD report stated that “the way the world grows its food will have to change radically to better serve the poor and hungry if the world is to cope with growing population and climate change while avoiding social breakdown and environmental collapse.” "
http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/20081203/fp1
http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/files/GreenRevUP.pdf
The problem with that option is twofold. First: the financial powers that nearly collapsed the global economy control the industrial food and financial system that makes the top 1% richer and makes industrial food unaffordable to one billion people, and Second: other resources (water, minerals, energy) can't even support the current population's consumption. Not to mention the effects of climate instability on failing grain production right now. And the financial system demands exponential growth just to survive. Facing all these brick walls we ask, can change come in time? Not while the powers that be pay reactionary elements to kill every effort to ease the transition to a more sustainable society.
