To date, we have increased both our consumption of ecological resources and our population.
Our future depends mostly on how much more we consume, leading to one of several options, some shown here.
One way to keep the worst fom happening (population crash, accelerated mass extinction) is to reduce our ecological consumption by half. This can be done by:
- Using renewable and efficient technologies
- Adopting healthier, less wasteful lifestyles
- Providing for everyone's basic needs
- Limiting population to the current level
- Regrowing the natural world
About This Site:
Big Pic Explorer is a repository for the writing and research of Bradley Jarvis concerning the long-term future of humanity. Much of it includes, and is based upon, mathematical modeling of population and resource consumption over time.
Related discussions can be found on the Idea Explorer blog.
Subscribe to the RSS feed for updates to this and related sites, and comments about individual news items.
Links:
News and Views
- Doomsday clock advances one minute (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)
- Hard-core capitalists right to fear climate change (The Nation)
- Drug resistant TB appears in India (Mother Jones)
- Planet's ecology to be dramatically affected by climate change (Climate Progress)
- Summary of global warming impacts (Climate Progress)
See the News Archive for past stories.
Latest Additions:
- Land of Conscience: Breaking Mad
- Idea Explorer: Fatal Optimism
- Pithy Comments: Globicide
- World Economy Projections
- Minimum Consumption
- Thoughts Three (PDF)
- Population, Consumption, and the Future of the World (presentation)
Graph of Note:
Viewed at the large scale, the global economy hit a bump over the past few years, but will continue to grow -- though at a decreasing growth rate. Within a couple of decades it is likely to collapse, perhaps irreversibly.
Related Writing:
- Disqualifications For Office (Suite101)
- State of the Union 2011: Poised For Progress? (Suite101)
- Lights Out (novel and music)
- Death Stoppers (poem)