Study: When Human Consumption Slows, Planet Earth Can Heal

[JEB]

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/07/22/study-when-human-consumption-slows-planet-earth-can-heal

by
Lauren McCauley

Despite the oft-repeated claim that the recent decline in U.S. carbon emissions was due to the so-called 'fracking boom,' new research published Tuesday shows that it was the dramatic fall in consumption during the Great Recession that deserves credit for this drop.

As nations grapple with the best strategy for decreasing carbon emissions ahead of the upcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations in Paris, the report, published in the journal Nature Communications, underscores the need for communities to transition away from an economy based on endless growth and towards a more renewable energy system to stem the growing climate crisis.

<snip>

What the researchers found was that 71 percent of the rise in carbon emissions from 1997 to 2007 was due to "economic growth." Alternately, "83 percent of the decrease during 2007-2009 was due to decreased consumption and changes in the production structure of the U.S. economy," with just 17 percent related to changes in the type of fuels used.

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Big changes coming, one way or another. I found the article well worth a thoughtful read.

[villager]

1. "One way or another," indeed

And we are the lucky generation that gets to see the "answer' to that play out right in front of us...!

[Hatchling]

2. Old people and children are doing their best.

We highly recommend poverty as one of the best methods of cutting down consumption. Especially of food.

[JEB]

3. I have no doubt that the oligarchs

will expect, the elderly, the poor and children to bear the brunt of the coming changes.

[Hatchling]

5. If it gets any more difficult-

I will just turn myself in for Soylent Green.

[Martin Eden]

4. Economic GROWTH is not always a good thing

Not if it means accelerated depletion of resources transformed into pollution.

Is buying the latest material goods that will soon be obsolete and replaced again the key to human happiness & fulfillment?

How do we maintain a quality standard of living in ways that really improve the human condition, without destroying the environment we depend on for life itself?

I believe we have to question the fundamental assumptions upon which our political/economic system is based.

[Octafish]

6. Thank you, JEB! Great article!

They don't call it ''Black Gold'' for nothing. Oil is so profitable, its "owners" kill millions for it.

For the cost of the Iraq war, could have converted the entire nation's energy grid to solar, geothermal, wind, etc. and gone a long way toward saving the planet. It would be 100% Renewable. Clean. Energy. Grid. I kid you not.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/for-the-price-of-the-iraq-war-the-u-s-could-have-a-100-renewable-power-system/5330881

The same people who pay for climate change denial, I suspect, would be in opposition. They don't care who dies, they want to get paid.