Comments on: Fidel Castro on global warming, biofuels and world hunger http://polizeros.com/2007/05/30/fidel-castro-on-global-warming-biofuels-and-world-hunger/ Musings on politics: anti-war, global warming, peak oil and otherwise Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:59:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Eli Stephens http://polizeros.com/2007/05/30/fidel-castro-on-global-warming-biofuels-and-world-hunger/#comment-138797 Eli Stephens Wed, 30 May 2007 15:17:23 +0000 http://polizeros.com/2007/05/30/fidel-castro-on-global-warming-biofuels-and-world-hunger/#comment-138797 For a companion piece, read <a HREF="http://lefti.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html#117342085950933773" rel="nofollow">my review</a> of the must-see movie, "How Cuba Survived Peak Oil" (and then see the movie). For a companion piece, read my review of the must-see movie, “How Cuba Survived Peak Oil” (and then see the movie).

]]> By: DJ http://polizeros.com/2007/05/30/fidel-castro-on-global-warming-biofuels-and-world-hunger/#comment-138796 DJ Wed, 30 May 2007 12:44:41 +0000 http://polizeros.com/2007/05/30/fidel-castro-on-global-warming-biofuels-and-world-hunger/#comment-138796 It has long been recognized that the resource problem is twofold: too much demand, and too many people. Americans have long been criticized (and rightly, I might add) for defending their "right" to burn as much energy as they can afford, without regard to the consequences to the rest of the globe. But Castro commits the same sin when he attacks that "right" while failing to note that the "right" to reproduce human beings in unlimited quantities is equally unrealistic. The planet has already exceeded its long-term carrying capacity-- even presuming the majority remain in abject poverty. Yet the current economic stratification is consider4ed unacceptable, and many of us feel the moral imperative to reduce poverty. That takes energy, resources, and disposal capacity which are already in short supply. We're working on a simple math problem: AveConsumption * Population = Consumption. But consumption cannot be controlled by reducing average consumption as long as population is permitted to increase without limit. That, of course, is a fallacy: population cannot and will not increase without limit. If we don't limit ourselves, nature will do the job for us. And we'll be surprised and shocked that so many people are "suddenly" starving. Actually hunger in the world is already staggeringly high, and is likely to get worse quite quickly as climate changes affect our economy. It has long been recognized that the resource problem is twofold: too much demand, and too many people. Americans have long been criticized (and rightly, I might add) for defending their “right” to burn as much energy as they can afford, without regard to the consequences to the rest of the globe. But Castro commits the same sin when he attacks that “right” while failing to note that the “right” to reproduce human beings in unlimited quantities is equally unrealistic.

The planet has already exceeded its long-term carrying capacity– even presuming the majority remain in abject poverty. Yet the current economic stratification is consider4ed unacceptable, and many of us feel the moral imperative to reduce poverty. That takes energy, resources, and disposal capacity which are already in short supply.

We’re working on a simple math problem: AveConsumption * Population = Consumption. But consumption cannot be controlled by reducing average consumption as long as population is permitted to increase without limit.

That, of course, is a fallacy: population cannot and will not increase without limit. If we don’t limit ourselves, nature will do the job for us. And we’ll be surprised and shocked that so many people are “suddenly” starving. Actually hunger in the world is already staggeringly high, and is likely to get worse quite quickly as climate changes affect our economy.

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