Intelligent Chat: Humanity Vs. Earth

How are our habits affecting the earth and what should be done about it? Why do we treat the planet the way we do? What are the long term affects of our actions? Would you change your lifestyle to acclimate to the planet?

Discuss:

Eliminate the fossil fuel economy
Introduce the hydrogen economy
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/hydrogen-economy2.htm
Also
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-cell2.htm

Yeah, that's a possibility, but hydrogen as a fuel source will only be feasable when they can make storage devices safe.

We would already have hydrogen cars readily available if it were not for the fact that the hydrogen tanks are still prone to exploding on collision.

At this moment, the problem with putting pure-hydrogen vehicles on the road is the storage/transportation problem. Hydrogen is a bulky gas, and it is not nearly as easy to work with as gasoline. Compressing the gas requires energy, and compressed hydrogen contains far less energy than the same volume of gasoline. However, solutions to the hydrogen storage problem are surfacing.
For example, hydrogen can be stored in a solid form in a chemical called sodium borohydride, and this technology has appeared in the news recently because Chrysler is testing it. This chemical is created from borax (a common ingredient in some detergents). As sodium borohydride releases its hydrogen, it turns back into borax so it can be recycled

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/hydrogen-economy5.htm

We aren't at war enough.

You may laugh and scoff but the population of this planet has increased by 50% in the last twenty years alone... yes, that's an increase of two BILLION humans.

At least when we were warring and skirmishing we were maintaining ourselves to a high standard. We didn't have to live within means and adapt to our surroundings because we utilised the bow, axe and sword with maximum effectiveness.

More war equals more deaths which equals an equlibrium with our environment. How long will it be before there are too many people on the planet that can be adequately provided for?

Worst case scenario:

We bomb China ;)

*joke people, stop jumping*

Or they boob us.

Bert, I agree about war and the population
it is sad but true. Not to be insensitive,
I would also add natural disasters.
I know love is one of the strongest emotions,
but in the face of starvation, people are still
bringing babies into their poor environment
when there is not enough to provide as it is.
If it doesn’t slow down, we just may have no
choice someday but turn into the movie
Solute Green.

What about the theory that AIDs was introduced as population control? Hmmmm.

Please elaborate.

How do you blame society? And is "humanity" not society at large?

OK. You elaborated on your first post. It used to just say "society."

Anyway, we all have the natural urge to procreate. That isnt society as much as animal nature and general hornyness. Society is to blame for little girls dressing like 20 year old strippers, society is to blame for our body fat percentages being higher than the Mcdonalds hamburgers percentage of fat that we eat (frighteningly high), not for the problem with over population. How would changing society affect the population?

And most people would say that society is very much warmonger oriented, so how does that relate to the earlier discussion of "more wars= less people: good thing?"

Society would be a fantastic answer if this post was entitled "Humanity Vs. Humanity," and perhaps it would apply to this question too if you elaborated more. What does society teach us about the Earth, perhaps?

Absolutely. What about the long term effects that OUR actions will have on the planet? JPM said earlier that he figures our great, great, great, (etc.) grandchildren will be able to clean up our mess, but how long can the earth sustain our standard of living? We are exhausting the worlds resources faster than we think we are, especially considering that the earths resources take a long time to replenish. Look at how much damage we have done already to the ozone layer ever since the industrial revolution. How do we know that new technology is going to be any safer as long as long term effects go?

-K. Kristina