Three Paths To Near-Term Human Extinction
We’re headed for extinction via global climate change
It’s hotter than it used to be, but not as hot as it’s going to be. The political response to this now-obvious information is to suspend the scientist bearing the bad news. Which, of course, is no surprise at all: As Australian climate scientist Gideon Polya points out, the United States must cease production of greenhouse gases within 3.1 years if we are to avoid catastrophic runaway greenhouse. I think Polya is optimistic, and I don’t think Obama’s on-board with the attendant collapse of the U.S. industrial economy.
Apparently — too little, too late — a couple people have noticed a few facts about Obama. This “awakening” might explain why his political support is headed south at a rapid clip.
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We’re headed for extinction via environmental collapse
Nature is bankrupt, just like Wall Street and the USA. Thanks for playing, but you lose. The banksters on Wall Street “win.” But only in the short term. In the long run, we’re all dead (as first stated by John Maynard Keynes).
Among the consequences of taking down more than 200 species each day: at some point, the species we take into the abyss is Homo sapiens (the wise ape). The vanishing point draws nearer every day. Our response, in the industrialized world: Bring on the toys. Burn all fossil fuels. Harvest the rain forests and strip-mine the soil. Pollute the water, eat the seed bank.
And, most importantly, figure out how we can make a few bucks as the world burns.
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We’re headed for extinction via nuclear meltdown
Safely shuttering a nuclear power plant requires a decade or two of careful planning. Far sooner, we’ll complete the ongoing collapse of the industrial economy. This is a source of my nuclear nightmares.
When the world’s 442 nuclear power plants melt down catastrophically, we’ve entered an extinction event. Think clusterfukushima, times 400. Ionizing radiation could, and probably will, destroy every terrestrial organism and, therefore, every marine and freshwater organism.
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Meanwhile, back on Wall Street
The Securities and Exchange Commission is busily covering up Wall Street crimes, just as they did during the last presidential administration. And, as it turns out, they’ve been performing this trick for two decades. Finally, though, the S&P is taking the U.S. to the woodshed.
The S&P knows what the media and politicians know: U.S. national debt isn’t really $14 trillion and change, as we’ve been led to believe. In fact, it exceeds $200 trillion. And, back when it was a mere $10.5 trillion, it exceeded the value of all circulating currencies as well as all the gold ever mined. It cannot be paid off, ever. The response will be default. With luck, it’ll happen quickly and completely, thus sending us directly to the new dark age (with the post-industrial Stone Age soon to follow).
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-three-paths-near-term-human-extinction
Interesting what he says about the nuke plants. I made that same point on this forum back when we were talking about Fukushima -- when collapse starts, WHAT HAPPENS TO ALL THE NUKE PLANTS? In a collapse of civilization, nuclear plants won't get safely shut down and the waste safely stored. They'll just be abandoned.
On the road to collapse, before the nuke plants are abandoned altogether, we'll see more meltdowns. Think Chernobyl -- that happened in they dying days of Soviet empire. Probably safe to say Chernobyl didn't have the best funding and state of the art operation. As collapse ensues, systems fall apart, people get sloppy. You can see this in North Korea; they've had famines before, but now the *soldiers* are going hungry too. What happens when a nuke plant or nuke missile crew hasn't eaten for two weeks?
The author's other two points are that capitalism itself is collapsing, and he sounds like Cid Yama on the runaway warming doom.
So pick your poision guys.. three ways to collapse.. runaway warming doom, econodoom, or nuke doom, maybe all three. And this guy didn't even mention peak oil!
