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Originally posted by Rajk999We could do all that. But we won't. Despite having the ability to transition to a sustainable economy, the profit motive all but guarantees that we'll continue destroying the environment until not one more dollar can be wrung out of it. For all our endless blather about greening the economy and our pitiful tinkering around the edges of the problem, environmental devastation continues unchecked. I'm afraid your faith in the power of our vaunted technology to save us from damnation will prove to be without basis as long as it is wielded within the confines of consumerist capitalism.
The world is now at a place where it is possible to live in a house, and to drive a car that runs entirely on solar energy.
It must have been less that 25 years ago that Bill Gates spoke of a computer in every home and the skeptics laughed at that as being impossible. Now kids are walking around with computers in their book bags that would have seemed im ...[text shortened]... oil companies, electricity grids, gas stations all shrinking and obviously the carbon footprint.
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Originally posted by rwingettAll man made endeavors are doomed to failure.........eventually.
It would be a grave mistake to conclude that the current rate of prosperity can be maintained indefinitely. Our material wealth is maintained by undermining the natural capital of the world to unsustainable degrees. All your starry-eyed paeans to progress are going to turn to dust with the impending ecological collapse we are unleashing. Future generations will curse our era as the most benighted in history.
That is because man is corrupt.
Therefore, fear those who purport to "fix" these failures with more control over you.
When they start implanting things on your right hand or forehead, don't take it.
Originally posted by whodeyIt's not control over 'me' that is the problem. It is the illusion that we can control nature and bend it toward our will that is the problem. We are seeing the consequences of that hubris all around us.
All man made endeavors are doomed to failure.........eventually.
That is because man is corrupt.
Therefore, fear those who purport to "fix" these failures with more control over you.
When they start implanting things on your right hand or forehead, don't take it.
-Removed-Interesting... no real contradiction at all me thinks. This reminds me of the Ginko tree and the dropping of it's leaves.
A local weather forecaster use to have a sort of contest each year as to when the Ginko tree would drop it's leaves (if you don't know this already the Ginko tree will drop all of it's leaves at once). You have got to know that the dropping of it's leave would occur at a certain time of the year... Fall. This is analogous to Mark 13:28-29... it is a season.
As Suzianne has stated;
28 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates.
The actual day, thus the contest in my example is analogous to the Mark 13:32-33, it is the hour which no man knows, we can only get close.
32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard, keep awake.[a] For you do not know when the time will come.
So you see, the two scriptures references are not in contradiction at all but they are two different things... season and day.
Originally posted by rwingettOf course it is money .. it is money that will make the producers of solar panels mass produce it and make it so cheap that you wont care to be connected to the electricity grid. Its the very same consumerist capitalism that will fix the environmental problems, and they will do the right thing although for the wrong reasons [money and profit] but who cares .. the right thing will eventually be done.
We could do all that. But we won't. Despite having the ability to transition to a sustainable economy, the profit motive all but guarantees that we'll continue destroying the environment until not one more dollar can be wrung out of it. For all our endless blather about greening the economy and our pitiful tinkering around the edges of the problem, e ...[text shortened]... rove to be without basis as long as it is wielded within the confines of consumerist capitalism.
Originally posted by Rajk999You need only look around you to see that the right thing is not being done. There are no major environmental indicators that are getting better. Nor will they as long as long as we conceive of nature as nothing more than a reserve stock of resources to be used up and exploited as quickly as possible, at the greatest possible profit.
Of course it is money .. it is money that will make the producers of solar panels mass produce it and make it so cheap that you wont care to be connected to the electricity grid. Its the very same consumerist capitalism that will fix the environmental problems, and they will do the right thing although for the wrong reasons [money and profit] but who cares .. the right thing will eventually be done.
Despite bringing more solar and more wind power online every year, carbon emissions continue to climb, from 8.37 billion metric tonnes in 2006 to 9.9 billion metric tonnes in 2013. And it's going to continue rising, despite all your green-washing enthusiasm, as long as consumerist capitalism remains in place.
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Originally posted by rwingettEnvironmentalists are no better than Christians in this regard .. doomsday predictions abound in their ranks as well. Here is another view :
You need only look around you to see that the right thing is not being done. There are no major environmental indicators that are getting better. Nor will they as long as long as we conceive of nature as nothing more than a reserve stock of resources to be used up and exploited as quickly as possible, at the greatest possible profit.
Despite bringing mo ...[text shortened]... , despite all your green-washing enthusiasm, as long as consumerist capitalism remains in place.
The crux of modern day environmentalism is that things are getting worse. Today we hear all kinds of hyperbolic claims that without action to eliminate the use of fossil fuels, we’re facing mass extinction. However, not only have environmentalists been wrong for decades, but the environment has improved significantly.
If you think environmentalists are overzealous today when they (falsely) link fracking to serious health and environmental problems, take a look at their long track record of silly doomsday predictions.
Back in 1970, in the lead up to the first Earth Day celebration, environmentalists made a host of ridiculous claims. Harvard Biologist George Wald claimed, “Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.” Life Magazine predicted, “In a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air pollution… by 1985 air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half.” Ecologist Kenneth Watt argued, “By the year 2000, if present trends continue, we will be using up crude oil at such a rate… that there won’t be any more crude oil. You’ll drive up to the pump and say, ‘Fill ‘er up, buddy,’ and he’ll say, ‘I am very sorry, there isn’t any.’”
Civilization hasn’t ended, urban dwellers aren’t wearing gas masks, and gas stations are well-stocked.
Despite little accuracy to their claims, environmentalists continued to make outlandish predictions. Environmentalist Bill McKibben (founder of 350.org) warned in the 1980s that “a few more decades of ungoverned fossil-fuel use and we burn up, to put it bluntly.”
Amazingly, these environmentalists are holding strong to their false premonitions. Stanford University biologist Paul Ehrlich, one of the most outspoken doomsday prognosticators, said in the 1970s, “Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years.” While that obviously failed to come true, Ehrlich stated that “My language would be even more apocalyptic today” in 2015 than it was decades earlier.
We’ve heard doomsday predictions about mankind and energy use for 45 years. Yet over this time period, we’ve increased our fossil fuel use while improving air quality at the same time. Data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency show air quality has improved dramatically since the 1970s. Measures of the six major pollutants: carbon monoxide, ozone, lead, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter (PM2.5) have declined significantly over the past decades—even as the U.S. population and its fossil fuel use has increased.
We’ve also reduced our emissions intensity—that’s the ratio of carbon dioxide to economic output, usually expressed as emissions per dollar of gross domestic product. As data from the Energy Information Administration show, the carbon intensity of the U.S. economy has been decreasing steadily since the late 1940s.
http://environmentalpolicyalliance.org/the-environment-is-improving/
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Originally posted by Rajk999Your link is worthless. The 'Environmental Policy Alliance' is nothing but a bunch of industry propagandists. Bury your head in the sand all you like, but continuing with business-as-usual is a road to destruction.
Environmentalists are no better than Christians in this regard .. doomsday predictions abound in their ranks as well. Here is another view :The crux of modern day environmentalism is that things are getting worse. Today we hear all kinds of hyperbolic claims that without action to eliminate the use of fossil fuels, we’re facing mass extinction. Howe ...[text shortened]... the late 1940s.
http://environmentalpolicyalliance.org/the-environment-is-improving/
Originally posted by rwingettFor the last 50 years both Christians and Environmentalists have been predicting that the world will come to an end/run out of resources in 20 years. Time continues to prove both sides wrong yet they continue ... so continue 😀
Your link is worthless. The 'Environmental Policy Alliance' is nothing but a bunch of industry propagandists. Bury your head in the sand all you like, but continuing with business-as-usual is a road to destruction.
-Removed-We are on the cusp. We're not there yet, only because things aren't quite bad enough yet for the world to accept a leader who seems to pull our fat out of the fire. The fire isn't high enough yet for the desperation of the world to turn to the AntiChrist. But clearly, the way is being prepared.
Let me be clear. I'm not one of these whom others accuse of wanting to bring the end times on. I would prefer that these things not happen before I pass on. But the time grows more and more short.
Originally posted by SuzianneWOT ? No mention of fig trees ?
We are on the cusp. We're not there yet, only because things aren't quite bad enough yet for the world to accept a leader who seems to pull our fat out of the fire. The fire isn't high enough yet for the desperation of the world to turn to the AntiChrist. But clearly, the way is being prepared.
Let me be clear. I'm not one of these whom others accuse ...[text shortened]... d prefer that these things not happen before I pass on. But the time grows more and more short.
Originally posted by SuzianneHow is it "clear" that "the way is being prepared?"
We are on the cusp. We're not there yet, only because things aren't quite bad enough yet for the world to accept a leader who seems to pull our fat out of the fire. The fire isn't high enough yet for the desperation of the world to turn to the AntiChrist. But clearly, the way is being prepared.
Let me be clear. I'm not one of these whom others accuse ...[text shortened]... d prefer that these things not happen before I pass on. But the time grows more and more short.
