tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post1037182915983505201..comments2024-03-22T05:20:44.167-07:00Comments on The Disaffected Lib: The Buffalo's RevengeThe Mound of Soundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-18163663480114021742012-08-09T15:39:37.278-07:002012-08-09T15:39:37.278-07:00Just imagine how big China's problem would be ...Just imagine how big China's problem would be if it weren't for the "one child" policy. At least if they can hang on past the hump, their population is actually expected to start shrinking. The gender skew, while it points to an annoying sexism, actually helps some in terms of trying to shrink the population.<br />Meanwhile it's interesting to realize that, like many Western leading economists, leading Chinese economists can also be idiots.<br /><br />Actually, we might not have to imagine how bad it would be--I suspect that's about how big India's problem will actually be, since as I understand it their population shows no signs of stopping its growth and they have no significant policies in place for managing the situation.Purple library guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01930984683714519212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-76796176250680944832012-06-20T06:25:00.206-07:002012-06-20T06:25:00.206-07:00@ Koot. Yeah, as we've grown the human popula...@ Koot. Yeah, as we've grown the human population from 2.5 to 7+ billion in just my lifetime, we've supersized problems beyond all human experience or imagining. Few realize the scope of it but we're sailing in uncharted waters in so many ways. In some ways it seems, to me at least, that we now exist in a giant, environmental Ponzi scheme.<br /><br />@ Stewart. Coming off a mild, relatively snow-free winter, a dry spring in NS must be disconcerting. I suppose part of that may result from back to back La Ninas. For what it's worth, the Americans think an El Nino may now be forming.<br /><br />As for China, I think the current managenment is finding the population issue an enormous threat to their grip on power. A leading Chinese economist recently advocated a two-state solution. Hive the country into poor (a billion or so) and rich (the remaining 200-million). The suggestion is based on the sensible argument that there are nowhere near enough resources to float all boats in China yet that small sector of people capable of driving China's economic ascendancy need to be rewarded with Western-style standards of living. It's a conundrum also besetting India. The carrot is obvious enough. What no one wants to mention is the stick - state repression - needed to keep the "have nots" in line.The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-19970917802712650032012-06-20T01:44:55.067-07:002012-06-20T01:44:55.067-07:00Soylent Green anyone?
China appears to harvest or...Soylent Green anyone?<br /><br />China appears to harvest organs for transplant from living political prisoners.<br /><br />Stories:<br /><br />http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=20d0fa3c-f0a4-4767-ab09-25456c176c4b<br /><br />http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/824qbcjr.asp<br /><br />It's chilling to think of what solution will be involved if 500 million Chinese people are considered surplus to requirements.<br /><br />As an aside and being in NS, I can say that it is very dry and cool out here and I much prefer wet weather. :)<br /><br />I can't remember a spring this dry. No slugs in the garden to speak of but the plant life needs a drink.Stewartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-71244725970745192682012-06-16T12:24:48.575-07:002012-06-16T12:24:48.575-07:00"That leaves Beijing with half a billion peop...<i>"That leaves Beijing with half a billion people too many. How does an emerging economic superpower cope with an internal challenge of that magnitude?"</i><br /><br />The fact that this population is gender skewed to the point that there are millions of males who won't be able to find wives (Unless reverse matriarchal Mormonism takes root)- itself a good reason to join the army, go to war, and maybe rape the women of the enemy - one way to leave spawn.kootcoothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11344208424209840730noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-55261842937795180672012-06-15T13:44:49.921-07:002012-06-15T13:44:49.921-07:00@ Karen. We will come to our senses but the secon...@ Karen. We will come to our senses but the second part, "in time", remains doubtful. A growing majority of the American public now accepts the reality of climate change but they still have trouble connecting it to global warming. They get sea level rise, they get the cyclical floods and droughts, they get the south's mega-droughts but they don't get what's actually causing it and they certainly reject the solutions needed to address it.<br /><br />@ Neil - I think our ability to avoid outright extinction rests mainly on our prospects for avoiding total war. The world is armed to the teeth and very much adrift in uncharted waters.<br /><br />There are reports now that air,water and soil contamination in China has so degraded their ecosystem that is has left the country unable to sustain a population of more than 700-million. That leaves Beijing with half a billion people too many. How does an emerging economic superpower cope with an internal challenge of that magnitude?The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-53283917384576513552012-06-15T12:59:35.966-07:002012-06-15T12:59:35.966-07:00As we continue to push a wide variety of ecosystem...As we continue to push a wide variety of ecosystems into failure and collapse, it's becoming clear that eventually humanity will no longer be able to sustain itself as a species and it, too, shall collapse. Will it go extinct? Likely not, but its population will be dramatically and significantly reduced. Ironically, it will be our disappearance that willl allow the Earth to flourish again, but with the likelihood that it will never again see the rise of an industrial or technological species since so many of the resources to produce them will have been permanently exhausted.ThinkingManNeilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10233707013338083180noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-28335705166015950892012-06-15T11:30:30.666-07:002012-06-15T11:30:30.666-07:00"In fact, of the eight states above the aquif..."In fact, of the eight states above the aquifer, only Nebraska, with its sandhill dunes, is permeable enough to contribute any serious replenishment."<br /><br />Those being the sandhill dunes that Keystone would like to run a pipeline through, yes? <br /><br />Sickening. I'm trying hard to be hopeful that enough of us will come to our senses in time.karenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11131927710530023725noreply@blogger.com