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True the environment cannot sustain the type of consumption we are seeing more and more of.
However.....suppose, just suppose a major breakthrough is found in the way we produce energy which leaves a footprint which is considerably less than what exists presently, wouldn't that be a game changer? Not simply a technical breakthrough, but one which is commercially viable.
It is going to be near impossible to convince people in the newly emerging middle classes of the world that they should not want many of the things that those in the West have. Also let us not forget that many of these people yearn for things like automobiles, battery powered mobile devices, heaters, gas/electric stoves, all tools which make us far more productive. I wish that everyone who wants them was able to afford them.
It seems to me therefore that the more practical way to avoid the conflict and wars that you correctly predict is not to try and limit consumption per se, but to reduce, drastically perhaps, the footprint that consumption leaves behind.
However.....suppose, just suppose a major breakthrough is found in the way we produce energy which leaves a footprint which is considerably less than what exists presently, wouldn't that be a game changer? Not simply a technical breakthrough, but one which is commercially viable.
It is going to be near impossible to convince people in the newly emerging middle classes of the world that they should not want many of the things that those in the West have. Also let us not forget that many of these people yearn for things like automobiles, battery powered mobile devices, heaters, gas/electric stoves, all tools which make us far more productive. I wish that everyone who wants them was able to afford them.
It seems to me therefore that the more practical way to avoid the conflict and wars that you correctly predict is not to try and limit consumption per se, but to reduce, drastically perhaps, the footprint that consumption leaves behind.
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