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Join an exciting panel of scientists and leaders for a conversation on the future of the nation and the world in our changing climate. The Origins Project at Arizona State University is hosting the “Great Debate: Climate Change, Surviving the Future.” The panel consists of:
Jim Hansen, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Susan Solomon, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NOAA
Wallace Broecker, The Earth Institute, Columbia University
John Ashton, Founding Director, E3G
Sander Van Der Leeuw, Global Institute of Sustainability, ASU
Lawrence Krauss, moderator, Origins Project director, ASU
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15 Comments
Add CommentGot to get this out where more will see it, folks. And got to get a transcript of Ashton's words spread widely. Will Climate Desk pick this up? With Reuters on board, one can hope. I'll check in and nag where I can.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI hope the full video will be placed on line when this panel is complete?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI missed the beginning, and would like to see all of it.
I am disappointed that, while they mentioned the per-capita emissions part of the problem, they have not mentioned the equally important population factor. We should be reducing population while we are reducing per-capita emissions.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPopulation growth is the result of an excess of births over deaths. Reducing the birthrate is as effective and of course much more humane than increasing the death rate. We now have numerous incentives that promote higher birth rates; we could just as easily turn those around to do the opposite. People respond to incentives and disincentive and that is regardless of the type of government or economic system.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDidn't catch the presentation, but improving women's rights and education while expanding healthcare and family planning service availability have all been proven to be some of the most effective ways of reducing childbirth. While wealth accumulation has some correlation to birthrate, many European countries have lower per capita GDP than the USA while also having lower fertility rates. You don't necessarily need to relentlessly pursue GDP growth to start lowering population growth.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDoes what I eat, in fact how I live, have to depend on how many kids somebody chooses to have on the other side of the globe?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEspecially when population growth is used as weapon by religious or political nuts.
If population is not part of the equation, I'm not playing.
Japan's population faces dramatic decline.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/30/world/asia/japan-population-decline
Wealth leads to population decline when combined with democracy & freedom of choice regarding personal fertility control for women. Population decline will leaded to other problems but they will be surmounted. The only thing keeping populations increasing in developed countries is migration from underdeveloped countries.
The answer to population control is wealth creation. The world’s population will also age. With an aged population, consumption of many resources will also decline.
Carlyle I agree generally but would dispute your final point. Ageing populations are consuming significant resources in terms of medical care especially, and energy more generally. Though we are living longer we are far from arresting age related declines in health and mobility. The massive blowing out of health budgets around the developed world is a reflection of the massive increase in age-related illnesses.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYes. Costs blow out. Basically service industries increase & this is a major economic problem but you do not see the same consumption of manufactured goods by the elderly, nor the construction of large homes. They do not change furniture or appliances, drive big cars or engage in energy intensive motor sports the way younger people do. It will no doubt be a difficult transition period with for example an increase in the construction of retirement villages but the construction of family homes will decline.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisImproving women's education is the single best way of reducing population growth. This is not news, and we observe reduced population growth in any country where education standards for women improve.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhile it is true that wealth tends to reduce birthrate, wealth is also the huge consumer of fossil fuels and may aggravate the problem more than it helps. It is a humane method of population reduction, however. The biggest obstacle to reduced population growth is religions. Even in a place as enlightened as the U.S. the Catholic church maintains a primitive policy of prohibiting birth control/contraceptives. It is hard to imagine what REALISTIC moral case can be made for that policy. Birth-control, women's rights, prosperity, and education are the principle market-based methods of bringing population under control.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI missed the event. Can it be watched or listened to elsewhere?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.ustream.tv/recorded/28998884
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe Nefarious Irishman’s Daily teaser
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRcwormus.com
My Pathetic Nightmare
Posted March 5, 2013 by Robert Wormus & filed under Miscellaneous.
The Nefarious Irishman’s prophetic Nightmare
Last night I dreamt, I was writing about science at a Starbucks close to me, when a young red headed boy, perhaps 12 years old approached me smiling, and handed me an old school book.
He then said, “As your direct descendant, I have been given the honor to present to you a precious gift.” I couldn’t help but look at the tattered, old physics book with a smile. He then cleared his throat, and said (in a deeper voice) “On this, the 4th millennium anniversary of your discovery of the ‘Anthropic Paradox’.”
Caught totally off guard, confused, disoriented, and completely failing to comprehend the implications of his words, I heard myself asking him, “What grade are you in”? He answered, “I’m on the second level.” No I meant what grade in school? He said we go by levels of complexity where I come from.
My mind was still spinning; words like ‘Direct descendent’, ‘Anniversary of the fourth millennium’, and ‘levels of complexity’, echoed in my head. Finally, still shaky, I was able to attend the moment.
“What did you mean by ‘as my direct descendant’, I asked? Apparently not aware of the absurdity of his answer, he said, “Thanks to the repercussions of your theory, we share the same genome annotation, and live in the same Civilization 1 status alternate universe, on respectively different time arrow loci. You are my Great^499^ Grandfather, My name is Cass”
Papa?, I’d like to tell you a little about your legacy. Four thousand years ago in your year 1992, you started writing a series you dubbed ‘The Nefarious Irishman’s adventures’ aimed at your grandchidren and love ones. It went viral on Facebook. The story goes on to say that you were influenced by ‘The Khan Academy’ and Solomon Khan’s approach at educating children of all ages; while depressed by our nation’s declining math and science scores, and decreased funding in science and education.
Numerous published quotes were attributed to you about the failure of the educational system of the twentieth and twenty first centuries. For over ten years you wrote a science lesson on everything from the atom to the Z-boson once a day.
My favorite, and one that had an everlasting impact on the future of Math and Science was published in ‘Education’ and was directed to President Obama:. Cass touched the ‘book’, and said, “Display ‘Robert Castleton Wormus; letter to President Obama, Journal of Education” <the book lit up and displayed this> Robert Castleton Wormus Commented Jul 22, 2012 at 18:54:55 in Education
“Imagine if every video game in the U.S.A. were federally MANDATED to test math skills (with instantly provided didactic help) before the user could continue on to the next winning level. OUR NATIONAL MATH SCORES WOULD SOAR!!!”
“Papa, it took 22 years for Congress to legislate the Education mandates you recommended, and your Grandchildren’s children, and their children, all the way to me have benefited”.
I was prematurely elated. Wildly excited, I blurted out “And my theory on ‘The Anthropic Paradox’ that too, in futile anticipation?”
“Unfortunately, your generation, will pay little attention to your ‘wild rants’ until the ‘Great Fathom of 2041’, when the Western United States and the semi-arid regions from North Dakota to Texas will develop drought conditions, what rain occurs, comes in tumultuous torrents causing catastrophic flooding, and incalculable economic losses, deaths, and pestilence. The Midwest will, once again, become the Great Dust Bowl. California’s Central Valley will no longer be irrigated. Food prices will soar to unprecedented levels. The entire world, on the brink of a global meltdown…..I awoke with a startle, sweating profusely!
www.rcwormus.com
The Nefarious Irishman’s Quote
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You and I, and the kitchen sink, in fact, everything loses molecular identity as structure is reduced smaller and smaller from any combination of the 109 known elements (www.ptable,com) to their constituent compounds, to as many as 200 or more electrons, playing musical chairs and hide and seek simultaneously while orbiting around an equally crowded nuclei, to a fundamental electron orbiting a nuclei consisting of a single proton/neutron pair, to six pair of distinguishable quarks with names like strange, charm, up, down, and bottom, top; the inverse process we call Creation. Robert Castleton Wormus