Highly critical areas of discussion that senseless people will politicize...

Peak Oil

Peak Gas

Peak Uranium

Peak Coal

Peak Water

Peak Rain Forests

Peak Fisheries

Peak Climate


Now...take all of the above buffered against a growing Earth population forecasted to be 10 billion by 2050, and without being an alarmist, the collective we are in big trouble soon...like between tomorrow and the next 40 years!

IMO...another Peak issue we need to deal with, which directly effects all of the above, is what I'll call Peak Intelligence. I'll define this as our collective personal limits on solving complex problems, like those effects related to the Peak categories mentioned above.

Peak Intelligence...means we've apparently reached our full capabilities and now we're on a downhill slope with rapid acceleration towards the abyss.

These items mentioned above are arguably the most critical issues we face TODAY! And I say 'today' because we're already late in responding to some of them so we might just be in deep do-do. But hey! we've never been smart and proactive so why start now? Most of you will simply politicize these issues because you refuse to accept personal ownership.

Lastly, if this thread was about Peak Beer, I suspect there would be a lot of proactive interest!!

Comments??

 

I think intelligence and competency peaked with the WWII generation and has declined with the Baby Boomers in office.

And if we're going to continue to be led by stupid people in both parties then there might be shortages of basic items.

But otherwise I have more confidence in human ingenuity than most people seem to have.

Particularly liberals who are suckered in by every doomsday scenario that comes along provided it is not based on the Bible in any way.

 

I need to add:

Peak Raw Materials

 

Peak Gay Rights , Peak Firearms Ownership, Peak Illegal Immigration, Peak Palestinians,Peak Union Membership, Peak California...

 

I long ago wrote another thread here talking about how the collective we have reached the Peter Principle. I simply believe the collective we are not smart enough to solve complex problems. This is critical because the problems are becoming critical!

Politics and religion and special interests have polarized us which leads to a divided nation...meaning we can no longer think rationally...meaning we can no longer find consensus...meaning we can no longer solve complex problems.

IMO none of this is about Dems or Reps or Oprah; we the PEOPLE have a responsibility to pitch in and help manage this nation to the best of our ability. In order to do this, each of us must divorce ourselves from our heavily biased positions. And this is the big rub because most of us are incapable of doing this.

Whatever happened to thriving to be number one?

Whatever happened to being the best we can be?

When did the collective we become mediocre at best?

 

This is why the Republicans will eventually win (language warning)...

http://www.videobash.com/video_show/idiocracy-intro-245281

 

I suppose you would call my position biased because I strongly believe that liberals are misguided and conservatives have the best answers to our problems.

So have no wish to "split the difference" with the left.

I want to beat them.

But I do think that both sides have been badly served by the people who have gone to Washington to represent them.

 

IMO this is not a Rep or Dem issue. I enjoyed the video!

 

You should know your position is biased. One reason why political bias serves no purpose is because all of you cancel out each other. It's all personal perception and not based on finding the best solutions to our problems. The end result is a divided nation, no consensus, no problem solving...no advancement...

 

Interesting that no one on this entire PF cares about these critical issues? I guess this can be chalked up to politics and some self-serving behavior.

Unfortunately, some within our lifetime, and others in our kids lifetimes, will become national and/or world crisis. The depth and pain of the crisis will depend on our pro-activeness. Since currently we are not proactive, we can expect the maximum pain...

 

This would be easy for you to say ... right now your peak political platform is abortion/contraceptives as a function of the Ryan Plan simply because the ultimate peak player is God or Gods' will as *conservative-only* ...

And that's all.

Sad.

 

There is nothing wrong with bias when you are right.

And conservatives have the best position on most issues most of the time.

I'm not a spit-the-difference guy who is willing to settle for half right and half wrong just for the sake of "consensus."

 

I have not idea what you just said.

Nor will I make any wild guesses about what you might be trying to say.

 

Maybe when people stopped striving for basic literacy and also working together to solve problems and devoted their energies to looking backward and complaining about having to share burdens and responsibilities.

 

Problem is you're the only one who believes YOU are right.

Instead of personally biased positions, why not debate some facts with some facts to find the best possible solutions?

If we remain incapable of debating the issues based on facts and merits, failing to understand real cause and effects, then how can we solve our critical and complex problems?

Instead of half-right and half-wrong...how about EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT SOLUTIONS in which everyone is a winner...

 

How do we turn this around?

 

Dejavu all over again.

According to the AGW alarmists, it will get warmer. That should actually alleviate some of those problems by making more land arable like it used to be at the beginning of this Holocene period.

 

That's a pretty vague statement.

What you're suggesting is that I give up half of what I think is right and agree to accept half of what I think is wrong.

Which does not make any sense to me at all.

 

Peak oil will cause trouble until a new equilibrium is reached with other energy sources taking up the slack at a higher cost level for both. This will have a dampening effect on the economy for a while but eventually the markets will work around it.

Peak water could cause a lot of trouble, because of the effect on food production, mass migration, ecological disruption and water wars (literally). Imagine Egypt's reaction if the Nile was seriously curtailed further upstream (the Blue Nile, maybe?).

 

Well...in the early stages of global climate change, hot and dry areas will become hotter and dryer, while cool and wet areas will become cooler and wetter. It's not really 'global warming'; it's 'global climate change'.

While you might open up new areas for agriculture you might also lose other areas which become too hot and/or dry. And these effects might require human migration.

I'm not sure why AGW needs to be called 'alarmists'? This thread is about finite quantities of critical resources to mankind. Something like AGW will simply exacerbate the critical resource issues.

If you agree to population growth, and if you understand finite resources, then it is logical to understand that at some time in the future, humans cannot be sustained with the status quo.

The biggest question for me with these critical issues is when the negative impacts will begin to effect mankind? If you can think about each of the resources mentioned in the OP, you should be able to understand that mitigating the potential issues cannot be accomplished in a few months; it might take years or decades to implement effective change. This logically implies that we cannot wait until the (*)(*)(*)(*) hits the fan unless we wish to spend decades mired in (*)(*)(*)(*)! This means we must be proactive...not political...not alarmists...just proactive...

 

There is nothing vague about effective and efficient. They might be subjective but the goal here is to do better than we are doing. There definitely is something vague about half-right and half-wrong.

I'm suggesting everyone give up what THEY BELIEVE is right and wrong and do some effective problem solving.

As long as you, or anyone, BELIEVE they are more right than others, this is arrogance or righteousness. Problems cannot be resolved in politics and personal interests and personal bias. In these very subjective arenas, people can't even agree on the actual problems! If people cannot agree to the definition of a problem it is unlikely they can solve any problems...

 

Agree...

Regarding oil, it is obvious to me that at some point the private oil companies are finished; either they will be nationalized or the price will simply not be affordable to Americans. Maybe they can export to others who are willing to pay more. Meanwhile we need an alternative fuel that will work in the existing fossil fuel machines. The oil companies can be part of this development and production or they can continue down their current path.

Regarding water, communities disappear and people die without water! If we know today that we need more potable water tomorrow, in more areas of the USA, why not build another 100 dams/reservoirs in those areas that have the water, then via pipeline or canal transport this water to all areas of the USA, and in parallel generate some clean hydro-electric power? This would employ millions of middle-class workers for decades and be very positive to the economy.

The key to all of this is knowledge of the issues, the options for mitigation, the time frames and costs involved, and being proactive...

 

What the hell is peak climate? Is that a new talking point from peak Democrats?

 

You lose credibility as soon as you politicize things. The finite resources mentioned in the OP, and their potential critical issues, ARE NOT about Dems and Reps. They are about all living things on Earth.

I penned 'Peak Climate' because it belongs in the discussion. If I said global climate change you would have been on political steroids! I might define Peak Climate as within our general life spans that climate as we know it has peaked and that changes will follow that will negatively impact humans. In this regard, it makes no difference to me if it is a by-product of humans; the fact is if climate changes are coming we need to prepare for them...

 

I say you are completely wrong. The biggest influence of global warming is the warming of extreme northern and southern latitudes making more land arable. As you move toward the equator, there is less of an effect. This is proven in the proxy data, what little there is of it, throughout history.

As it is, when you look back at warmer periods on earth, you find much more vegetation which can support the larger and more prolific animals of the time.

I say bring it on baby. The warmer the better. The opposite choice is bad juju. As it is, there is question if this mild interglacial has been extended because of AGW. If so, that is a good thing as the next glacial period will not be nearly as nice as it is now.

You do realize we have been in a 2.5 million year long ice age don't you?