Report: standard of living will fall unless overuse of natural resources is stopped

Associated Press ^ | 7-9-02 | NAOMI KOPPEL

[Oldeconomybuyer]

GENEVA (AP) --

[backhoe]

Enough of this malthusian vomit! - None of their 'prophecies' has ever come true. - They predicted that we would run out of oil by 1988, but the proven reserves are now at three times the level that they were when that stupid prediction was made.

Agreed- I pondered posting this earlier:

Potential oil supply refill?

The world has more oil not less

The Origin of Methane (and Oil) in the Crust of the Earth
Thomas Gold
U.S.G.S. Professional Paper 1570, The Future of Energy Gases, 1993

PETROLEUM RESERVES EVALUATED WITH MODERN PETROLEUM SCIENCE

Another Washington Post article here

Oil Fields' Free Refill - More oil than we thought (maybe)

[Prodigal Son]

OK. Fair enough WWF. Let us assume for a moment that we should take you seriously. In 2030, if none of the things that you mention have happened, can we kill you and your offspring? Can we sue you for 10 gazillion dollars? Put your money where your mouth is. If the things you claim actually happen- we crown you dictator of the world and you can be in charge- if not, we castrate all of you and cut out your tongues. Deal?

[Travis McGee]

bttt

[Free the USA]

thanks for the ping

[Alberta's Child]

What you didn't mention here is that Simon was once a student (or at least a disciple) of Ehrlich and used to believe the same nonsense that Ehrlich did. It may have even been Simon who authored this famous quote (and if it was Simon, he must have had Ehrlich in mind): "How many times does an expert have to be incorrect before he ceases to be an expert?"

[Physicist]

That scenario could be improved if new technologies are found to improve the efficiency of resource use.

Yeah, but that's the whole point. You could have picked any decade in the last two or three hundred years and made the argument that society was "unsustainable" and would collapse in 30 to 50 years, if only you had assumed that technology would not progress. But technology has progressed, and it will continue to progress, as long as the luddites and limitists STAY THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY.

[Zon]

Human beings are running up an unsustainable "overdraft" on the planet's natural resources, and standards of living will start to plummet in less than 30 years if changes are not put in place immediately, a leading international conservation organization said Tuesday.

In the early 1970's they said that man-induced global cooling was going to reek devastating havoc on the planet in twenty years -- a mini ice-age the Chicken Littles proclaimed. It's now thirty years latter and besides, they were laughed out of any serious/honest discussion by the time the 1980's rolled around.

They assume humans are inept creatures unable to use their conscious faculties to create, discover or invent solutions to problems. Almost as if the Industrial Revolution never happened; the computer/information age never happened; the communication age never happened and the nanotechnology/molecular-nanotech age is not going to progress in similar, albeit accelerated fashion as technology advancements have always progressed.

"The fact that we live on a bountiful planet, but not a limitless one presents world leaders ... with a clear challenge," said Claude Martin, director-general of WWF International.

"At the summit, world leaders will have a magnificent opportunity to address the root causes of our obvious failure to achieve sustainable development and set us on the path to a truly sustainable future."

And that would be the same organizations/governments whose world leaders in the 20th century killed 190 million people in wars of which 65 million innocents were murdered by their own governments. Now the WWF wants in on the power-usurping "fun" as does the UN.

[kitchen]

Well, here it is. Is this plagiarism or recycling?

[Leto]

If this report were correct the prices of commmidities would be rising. They have fallen (relative to inflation) over the past 20 years. This is just more Malthusian nonsense from the leftist tree hugger brigade.

[1rudeboy]

This AP article reads like a WWF press release. Imagine an AP article about the latest NRA report claiming guns cause less crime.

[Eddeche]

Associated Press | 7-9-02 | NAOMI KOPPEL

Relation ?

[MissAmericanPie]

LOL, priceless. Wonder how many fools these fools hope to fool?

[mafree]

One more "Chicken Little" scare tactic by the enviro-wackos. Won't work.

[edger]

Right On! My favorite Julian Simon book is "Hoodwinking the Nation." Simon's argument is simplicity itself--Coal, Oil and Uranium are not resources until acted upon by the human intellect.

Bjorn Lomborg, member of Greenpeace and professor at Aarhus University in Denmark, set out to prove Simon's numbers are all wrong. He ended convinced Simon was right and his book "The Skeptical Environmentalist" confirms the fact.

[countrydummy]

I could not agree with you more! This is so pathetic! I am sure the teachers of our schools will use this for a science lesson to our kids!!!!! Makes me sick!!!!

[hattend]

Human beings are running up an unsustainable "overdraft" on the planet's natural resources, and standards of living will start to plummet in less than 30 years if changes are not put in place immediately, a leading international conservation organization said Tuesday.

Why are the prices of most resources dropping? If they were getting rarer and harder to find wouldn't the price go up? Where's the proof?(beef?)

[Zon]

So, unless our standard of living falls, our standard of living will fall.

Got it now...

Is there any doubt among us on these threads that our standard of living has been curtailed due to the above cheaters and those of their ilk -- Greens, etc -- colluding with their parasitical soul-mate-politicians and self-serving bureaucrats?

There is no doubt.

[Zon]

Malthus's observation that in nature plants and animals produce far more offspring than can survive, and that Man too is capable of overproducing if left unchecked.

Man is most definitely checked by his ability to use his conscious faculties to solve virtually any problem. Conscious faculties which plants and animals do not have.

Malthus' view that poverty and famine were natural outcomes of population growth and food supply was not popular among social reformers who believed that with proper social structures, all ills of man could be eradicated."

Even the social reformers failed, intentionally or unintentionally, to account for man's conscious nature that is without boundaries, save for laws of thermo dynamics, when it comes to solving problems. Where the social reformers are in error is creating closed boundaries. See post #27 for additional explanation of open-ended versus closed boundary effects.

[sauropod]

Both. plagercycling. ;-).

[blackie]

It's time for everyone to buy SUV's !!

We're never going to sell our 4X4 Bronco or our White Lightnin' pickup, both have V-8's and they get around 15 mpg...perfect !!

Stop the attacks by the wacko, extreme left-wing, anti-internal-combustion-engine, enviro-nazis terrorist's on our Freedoms !!

Freedom Is Worth Fighting For !!

Molon Labe !!