Our greatest strength will be our downfall. Fuck Fuck Fuck!

[MercutioATC]

(yes, the "Fucks" were just a ploy to get clicks, since that's what seems to motivate DU now)


Humans don't adapt to our environment. We thrive by adapting our environment to suit US. We move from hermetically sealed homes to hermetically sealed cars to hermetically sealed offices and back again, and we've been increasingly doing this for decades....and we've done that really well so far.

I'm neither a 2012 conspirator nor a religious freak nor a armageddonist. I'm just making an observation. We're only as "dominant" as our isolation from nature allows us to be.

Should stuff like "cap and trade" be a priority, or should we be looking at where we actually stand?

[villager]

1. "Nature bats last," as the saying goes. And it's the ninth inning.

Bottom of the eighth, if we're really really lucky...

[WhiteTara]

6. and "there are no jobs on a dead planet." n/t

[MineralMan]

2. Unrecommended for using profanity as a trick to get people

to read your OP. Try writing a compelling title instead. Or even an informative post. I'm not even sure what it is you're trying to say here.

[MercutioATC]

4. God, I love you purists! (and I'm atheist)

My premise is that, as a species, we've reached our current status in a really unsustainable way...we don't adapt to our environment, we artificially "create" environments that suit us. That's a fundamentally weak position for sustainability.

Does that make things a bit clearer?

[MineralMan]

7. See my recently started overpopulation thread.

As for me being a purist, I am not. I have no problem whatever with profanity when it is used in an appropriate way. As a trick, however, not so much.

[elocs]

18. Agreed and not specifically for the profanity, but resorting to a cheap ploy for views.

I find that writing a compelling title and an informative post does usually work well.

[Hello_Kitty]

3. I'm reccing this to counteract the profanity police above.

Fuck that shit!

[MercutioATC]

5. I'd rather you support it for content, and I don't participate in the whole "rec/unrec" thing...

But, with this crowd, I'll take what I can get.

[CreekDog]

9. Content? You got none

That's like saying Archie Bunker was a philosopher.

The other day you were saying people commit suicide because they are bullied and that makes us a nation of "wimps".

You aren't saying A N Y T H I N G.

You are just ranting in your usual uninformed way.

[MercutioATC]

10. I'm positing that our "strength" as a species will also be the reason for our downfall.

Your contempt for me aside, do you have anything to lend to the actual conversation at hand?

[CreekDog]

12. First, I did respond and add to the conversation

1) i responded to one of your replies to point out that you post shallow thoughts that you think are grandiose.

2) i also responded to your original post, though with more thought than you've given the cap and trade policy --and or the effort to stem global warming.

and then you chide ME for not saying much?

look in the mirror man. :wtf:

oh wait, nevermind, you won't find anything wrong. never.

[MineralMan]

11. Oh, my...so, you object to my objection about

profanity used just as a trick to get you to read a thread? How quaint...

Wouldn't it just be awful if someone wrote an effective title, then followed it up with content that provoked a discussion of an issue? Now that would be a terrible thing.

[CreekDog]

13. Everything the OP does is okay with him --nothing he does is ever wrong

his thoughts are grand and his ways of expressing them necessary in the greater scheme of things.

you and I are flawed individuals who cannot see his brilliance. you and I are undermining his expression of grand truths not by censoring him, but by criticizing him, which is somehow wrong.

[MercutioATC]

27. You're a troubled little man.

Yeah, I know...that's just me being "grandiose"....

...but it's still true.

[CreekDog]

28. thanks for the diagnosis

:rofl:

[MercutioATC]

29. De nada,

No charge.

[laughingliberal]

20. me too. lol! nt

[CreekDog]

8. Well of course...why didn't I think of inventing corn that grew with no water

and wheat too.

why didn't the environmentalists think of designing homes to withstand 200mph winds from massive hurricanes?

sheesh.

i guess we should just junk cap and trade and go for adaptation.

:wtf: :sarcasm:

[MercutioATC]

15. Are you really that simple?

The OP's central premise was that it wasn't about how individuals conduct themselves now. It's about how we choose to conduct ourselves in the future.


Neither "Nature" nor "The Planet" really care what we do. It may be in OUR best interest to limit greenhouse gasses...or such.., but the "planet" really doesn't care.

[CreekDog]

17. I never said, nor did it even cross my mind whether the planet "cares"

i have no idea where you picked that up.

i was criticizing the simplicity of your connecting the concept of adaptation with one sentence about perhaps not doing cap and trade (cap and trade is to alleviate global warming, not a way to adapt to it).

if you were saying something else, you have a heck of a way of doing so.

[laughingliberal]

22. I'm not in favor of cap and trade and it has nothing to do with my beliefs about the crisis our

species finds itself in. It has to do with the way it is going to be manipulated by Wall Street to create the next bubble they will use to steal our money. Straight carbon tax is a better idea.

[mrcheerful]

14. Well I find dooms dayers very amusing they are worrying about an event to happen in the future

they have little knowledge on the event as it is all speculation from people long dead, then they try to speculate how to over come the dreaded event without a clue of what is going to happen to cause the event they are preparing for. On top of everything they haven't a clue on how long the event will continue to cause problems, the rule of thumb is to have enough supplies to last them for 10 years and then they can climb out of their holes finding everything they need to resupply them or grow their own foods.

First off lets see, they usually dig a hole in the ground to live in safe and sound while the event is destroying the world above them. The problem with that could just be that the land scape they built that hole in could change because of the event they are trying to out live. There could be a river or ocean above them after the event happens or a volcano could dump millions of liters of lava on their hole thus encasing them in rock when the lava cools. Then theres also the problem of growing food after your supplies are used up. Growing food is hard work and its a crap shoot at best if the seeds you plant will produce enough food to get you through the none growing season.

Then theres the water problem, you need a lot of water to grow food as well as to keep you alive and after a world destroying event again we are looking at the future and really haven't a clue on what changes that type of event will cause. I grew up during the early 60's when nuke attacks were feared, we had what to do in case a nuke went off near us to survive the blast classes. First thing they told us was what happened to the people of Japan after we dropped the nukes. I said screw hiding under the desk, I would rather die right then instead of trying to live after the blast as it was a crap shoot if you lived through the radiation sickness weeks and months.

People watch to many Hollywood dooms day movies and many believe the way Hollywood shows the event thats what they will have to look forwards to, but again it's just another speculation on the future event.

[MercutioATC]

16. IMO, that mindset is the biggest exacerbating factor.

Actually, your subject header was the first thing that gave me pause. Have you done ANY research beyond posting random links?


Gimme closure.

What the fuck are you trying to say? How would YOU solve the problem (or, do you not see a problem)?

[mrcheerful]

19. Some things can be solved, some things you learn to adapt to without trying to solve the problem

There are some things we as individuals can do and somethings are beyond what an individual can do alone. We as individuals can recycle, cut back on waste and what we put into the air but it isn't much in the grand scale of things if industry isn't forced to stop or cut back polluting.

[debbierlus]

21. Looking at where we actually stand...perception change is the first and crucial step

Perception is everything.

[Gregorian]

23. Rec'ing because I don't care how you say it if it's important.

Even liberals can't handle the truth. We've got a mountain to move, and very few willing to acknowledge there's a mountain.


And just to make this a happy post I'll share that I'm typing this while little birds are flitting around outside my open door because I threw them a bunch of bread. :)

[girl gone mad]

24. I hate to break it to you..

but cap and trade is largely designed to transfer more wealth to the wealthy and the banking cartels.

[mike_c]

25. we have expanded our geographic range MUCH faster than we could adapt...

...biologically to the altered conditions we encountered. In doing so, we've become one of the most cosmopolitan species on Earth. But despite our use of environmental manipulation to support range expansion, we DO still have a natural geographic range, although whether it remains suitable for us after thousands of years of cumulative ecological impact is a big unknown.

[MercutioATC]

26. True, but we choose not to realize that.

...and the fact is that WE don't adapt. We alter our environment to suit our needs.

[vadawg]

30. as much as i always agree with you, you have confused humans with americans

humans are pretty adaptable to all the environs on the planet as can be seen by the fact that we pretty much survive everywhere without the need for modern conveniences...

[AllentownJake]

31. Cap and Trade is bullshit

Don't worry, I'm pretty sure as resources become more scarce the natural human reaction will cause a great reduction in population.

[bvar22]

32. !

[dysfunctional press]

33. my home isn't hermetically sealed.

i have windows open all year round.
same for my car.

[JVS]

34. Fuck Fuck Fuck!

[MadHound]

35. Oh you would be surprised at how well humans can adapt to the environment

Look as the Inuits and other aboriginal species around the globe.

Humans have always had a fine ability to adapt to the environment, it's just that we haven't be forced to do so for a very long while, at least not collectively as a species.

When the shit hits the fan, yes, there will be a massive die off of humans, but there will still be a large number of humans left, large enough to keep the species going. Call it herd culling.