Enjoy your life instead of worrying about climate change
When you look at the starry sky above on a beautiful night outside the city, you see an illusion. Some or most of the white twinkling stars you see no longer exist. The night sky you see was printed millions of years ago, and the stars that emit the light may no longer exist. Our worrying about trying to fix the environment is like that—just an illusion. The truth about the environment has been in the making for millions of years and is completely out of our control.
But we think we're such masters of the Universe. We think that with our technology, we can fix everything including climate change. But we forget about the time scale of the universe and the forces that are way beyond our reach. And, of course, trying to help doesn’t hurt. But recycling a few cans and not taking fewer airplane trips here and there will not save the day. Let me try to explain.
The mess we find ourselves in is called fossil fuels. Yes, that back oil has the concentrated power of millions of years of trapped solar energy, which will combust like a song and give us immense power. Not only does it provide us with cheap superpower energy, but it also creates plastics and petrochemicals, which are the pillars and building blocks of our society. In other words, we are made of oil.
If you are a boomer, and there are many of us out there, we are here because of oil. If there were no petrochemical age, most likely, I would not be here writing this. Oil has allowed humanity to transcend all hardships and obstacles of the past. It gave us medicine, medical instruments, and, most of all, abundant food. Without abundant food, there would never been a fertility that allowed us to go from a few million to eight billion in a short amount of time.
The only problem with oil is that it releases heating-trapping gases as a byproduct of the energy transfer. That creates climate change
Because of global warming, there will be floods, droughts, fierce storms, high temperatures, and rising sea levels, as we are already witnessing. There is nothing you and I can do about this. No one will ever stop using oil. The reason is simple. We can’t.
Humanity will continue to consume oil, and due to the capitalistic growth model, we’re consuming at accelerating speeds. Asking the world to stop consuming oil is like trying to stop your breathing. You can’t make yourself stop breathing. Just try.
Let’s say that, by a miracle, we’re able to stop burning oil next month. The earth will still warm up. This process has already left the port and is in full swing. And it might actually be a good thing we’re burning oil fast because oil is about to run out.
According to sources, there are about forty-seven years left of oil reserves. That is tomorrow! Because we’re not saving for future generations, the availability of oil will sharply decline, and what is left will cost an astronomical buck. Only the super-rich will be able to enjoy what most people on the planet enjoy today. And this will coincide with something even more fascinating— world depopulation.
Most countries on earth are already experiencing zero growth. Yes, in order to achieve the numbers we have today, families had an average of five children; today, we are trailing below the replacement growth rate.
The ten Countries With the Fastest Population Decline and Worst Demographics
If you think we’re going to destroy the planet, think again. We’re going to destroy ourselves and much of the habitat that allowed us to exist on the surface of this planet easily.
The coming population collapse
But I don’t think we’re destroying ourselves so easily, either. There will be changes because our society right now is an anomaly. If we graph our growth and expansion, we can see that as we hit the oil age, there is an abnormal spike. It will be followed by a nose dive right back to where we started. And we’ll plunge back into our humble existence, trying to make it with the few resources we have left. Get your shovels and picks and start digging. Life is about to get very different.
And there is another variable here. We might beat global warming and global depopulation with wars. The ways things are going, China, Russia, and the possible second Trump presidency could cause a global war and do the job faster.
Meanwhile, enjoy this incredible moment of opportunity on earth. Enjoy the marvels we created and use them for your benefit and happiness, for they will not last too long. Life is too short to feel miserable. Enjoy yourself and your friends. Nothing good comes out of guilt.
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