● Armageddon - Talk About World Problems

Well, I hope you all know about all the problems going on, on the planet today. Global warming, over-population, the bad economy, animals going extinct, the decline of the rainforests, diminishing coral reefs and ocean life...

So here you can talk about, and voice your concerns over all these problems.

And please, don't post here just to say you believe in global warming, or that you don't really care about any of that, because thats not what the thread is for.

If you can't think of what to say, it was discussed in the 'Never Ending Posts of Randomness' so you can voice your opinions on what was said there. (They're in order by the way.)



Don't be afraid to voice your opinions!

Looks like this thread had an Armageddon of its own.

But yes, the world is in a bit of a pickle. Industry abuses the environment, money is pocketed and the cycle continues. Nothing is sustainable.

No kidding

People tend not to think much about the future with regard to the environment, and more about the here and now, which I can understand really because we hear all the time from these 'experts' who declare that in 300 years, such a thing will happen, this will happen, be prepared for...and it all just gets monotonous after hearing it for the thousandth time, especially since a lot of people will think, "Oh well, I'll be long dead by then." Of course, there are those who try to disprove or lessen the scale or what damage is being done to the Earth (particularly with regards to global warming) but with all the crap that gets thrown around the media, it's hard to discern what's actually happening and what's just been blown out of proportion and made to seem more than it really is, whether it's propagandist bull or whatever.

And yes, it is quite a pickle we're in. It's like I said in the quote in the first post though, we can't have it both ways. Because we've become so dependent on today's industry and all the pollution that it drags along with it, if all of the world's manufacturing activities suddenly time travelled back a few centuries to pre-Industrial Revolution era, we're basically screwed because we've undergone such a major transition to introduce mechanisation which has vastly revamped the social, economic and cultural aspects of our lives.

We can't live with it, we can't live without it. But that's the way the cookie crumbles

Rofl yeah XD I was a bit disappointed at the inactivitiy in this thread, especially since I made it a stickied topic on purpose, but I suppose that's to be expected. People just don't caaare.



Yeah that's true, but global warming really has been proven true. Even if some of the facts are exaggerated, even if you don't know anything except global warming is happening, if you think about it, you already know terrible stuff is happening in the future. Its a vicious cycle.

Lol so I guess it's basically 'damned if you do, damned if you don't." XD

We can't go back, but we do need to go forward. They need to stop endlessly drilling for oil and put more effort into using solar power, hydro-power, etc. It makes more sense to anyway, they're cleaner, renewable, don't pollute the air, and I don't know if this is completely true, but isn't it easier? It may be a little more expensive, but it lasts longer. Oil runs out fast, and they have to go back and keep drilling, again and again, but if you make solar panels, or turbines are made once and last.

Then again, there's a problem with that too, if we start using waterfalls and stuff for hydro-power, we're taking away the Earth's natural beauty, but we don't really have much of a choice. Its either that or we're all screwed.

Waterfalls? Hehe I don't think that's how hydropower works but yeah it would still have an adverse effect on the environment, obviously if you're building dams, turbines and the like to harness energy form water the surrounding ecosystem will suffer in certain ways.
It's the whole mindset of 'lets wring as much money out of fossil fuels as we can' instead of 'we should be phasing them out and starting to improve renewable energy sources' that's the problem. Money makes the world go round. Like, with solar power the technology is so expensive and needs quite a large area to be effective... and obviously sun (which is apparently a problem for some places ). Why bother with all that fallibility when you can have electricity at the flick of a switch. All that is probably fair enough, but that's when things like government rebates on solar panels and stuff come in handy. More of those initiatives probably need to be put in place...

Yeah thats true. Ugh I hate money, because of all the crap it causes. People die for it, people kill for it, people love it more than people themselves. Its scary.

Makes you wonder what it would be like in a world where everyone loved each other, and money didn't exist. Everyone would give everyone else whatever they needed, and everyone would help each other out. *goes glassy-eyed*

Heh. That sounds really childish, doesn't it?

I have the perfect quote that sums all of that up:

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace ~ Jimi Hendrix

I love that quote! I've heard it before, but I thought it was Bob Marley who said it? Thats what the thing where I read it said. Hmm maybe Bob Marley was quoting Jimmy Hendrix?

once again capitalism proves itself to be useless at some times, remember 1929? the world wide economy was crushing but it was somehow repeared, and only 80 years later we came back once again to the same problem, only it doesnt concern just us humans but the rest of the world, and what do we do? turn our backs on our own planet. if i were to be god XD (MUHAHAHAH) i would quit the use of fosil fuels and give us humans a big slap in the face. if we cannot solve our own problems we are doomed XD i truly hope that when i finish collage fosil fuels have been replaced by another alternative source of power, although this believe is hopeless -___-

You know what they say, "ignorance is bliss" but it'll come back and bite us all in the rear some day.

...and the prospect of you becoming God is frightening "All hail our Father, the Lord Galm."

Alternative sources of power completely replacing fossil fuels is an optimistic view at this point in time because natural solutions, like solar power and wind turbines for example, aren't utilised to any sort of significant percentage of the world's overall energy usage. But the good thing is that we are taking notice of the problems we're causing, and taking action to mitigate the damage we're doing to the planet (including it's non-renewable resources).



Indeed, money does make the world go round. Annoyingly (and in Britain at least) it goes round willingly to the benefit scroungers and asylum seekers, people who seem to only have to click their fingers and the support comes rolling in from the government, whereas the country is struggling with economic recession, funding problems with the NHS and banks unwilling to lend money among other things, yet taxpayers have to fork out to bail out undeserving spongers. A couple were in the news recently after it was found they are claiming benefits because of immobility, which would be reasonable if it was a legitimate disability. The hilarious part is, they were claiming incapacity benefits because they were too fat. That really annoys me. Not to mention that a few weeks ago, an illegal immigrant was flown back to Britain on a private jet after fleeing the country, which cost taxpayers an absurd amount of money.

^ Ah yeah that is really annoying, people just love to abuse the system and leech money from other (tax paying) people's pockets. In fact I went into the CBD today and it's amazing how there is public housing basically right next to 5 million dollar waterfront properties in one area. Public housing and government benefits are important but it just seems absurd and frankly excessive when there's those types of people being subsidised to live in areas with scenic views of Sydney Harbour just because they can prove they have a connection to the suburb, like their grandparents used to live there or something. That, to me, can't be justified by 'maintaining the heritage of the community' or 'providing for lower socioeconomic groups among long term residents'. It was the wealthy people that moved into the suburb that gave it affluence not the relatives of the people who used to live there when it was either industry or decrepit property and poor infrastructure. That's just one tenuously linked example though.

Gosh, this is turning into Geography... soon we'll be throwing round terms like ecologically sustainable development and intergenerational equity.

Ahh yes, "Ignorance is bliss."

When I was younger, I just couldn't understand it, I thought. "why would you ever want to be ignorant of something" but I understand it completely now.

Its one of my favorite quotes now. XD

Global warming and all the other crappy problems have progressed so far, that a lot of people would have to change their ways to make a difference and restore the Earth (partially at least). But of course, mankind is the worst race, and no one will get off their fat butts and actually do SOMETHING so we're all screwed.

I support my previous statement, let's kill all the evil people.

Population control!

Rofl, because they were too fat. XD XD Why would they fly an illegal immigrant back to where he came from on a private jet? Aside from the fact that that is wasteful and stupid, why would they treat him so well?

At least in the US, recycling is the law. Its just not enforced. I say we enforce it, if you don't recycle at least once a month, you have to pay a fine.

Then maybe people will get it into their heads to actually do something to help the environment. People are like dogs, if you don't bribe them with a treat, or threaten them with a smack, they'll do nothing except poop all over your lawn.

That being said, I dislike dogs. (bad experience with this psycho dog in my neighborhood years ago.)

You got that right.. Ignorance can lead to some sort of happiness but it will not last forever. Because it will still lead to some sort of crisis that we cannot intervene or control. But there is a optimistic side to all of this.. I'm just don't know what it is..
If we try to solve these problems like these are math problems. The outcome will be gastronomically difficult and the proof of this being correct will not be easing our minds. If we could only speed up the pace of human technology. All of these will be wiped of the face of the earth.

The more we descend into the problem the more complicated it becomes. Maybe the only remedy left if human technology didn't catch the deadline is if we give up our 'earth' hegemony..

How pessimistic of me??

damn those greenhouse gases XD if they really wanted us to take public transport...........they could at least make them cheaper...............its so stupid ....................

I'm gonna be honest, this looks like a bit of a mish-mash you put together, but I'll look at the points you've made.

"some sort of crisis that we cannot intervene or control"

Now...I don't agree with that. At the moment, measures are still being introduced to combat the abuse of the world's natural resources in favour of more eco-friendly alternatives.

Let's be honest, it's not as if nations across the planet have decided to flat-out deny the opportunities to bring in renewable energy sources and just turn a blind eye to the declining environments around us. There are many issues involved, including the significant costs (labour, materials etc.) plus the nimbys (Not In My Back Yard) who take up the drawbridge mentality that solutions such as wind farms would create a negative impact on their surroundings, which I can understand to a certain extent because wind turbines aren't exactly pretty to look at and they do generate quite a bit of noise (although well-built turbines generally emit a lower number of decibels than an average amount of road traffic).

I live just a few yards away from a somewhat busy main road and have done for the past 10 years, and at first it was annoying because of all the traffic, but eventually it gets filtered out because you become so used to hearing it, and now it doesn't bother me at all.

"If we try to solve these problems like these are math problems. The outcome will be gastronomically difficult and the proof of this being correct will not be easing our minds."

Eh? I don't really understand what you're getting at with this.

"If we could only speed up the pace of human technology. All of these will be wiped of the face of the earth."

I'm afraid it's not that simple. While I agree that greater technological evolution would help to mitigate the world's environmental problems, you have to take into consideration one of our worst enemies: human nature. We have to want to create change, and to be honest, there just isn't a significant enough following right now to suggest that the eco-friendly crowd can convince the pollution machine to slow down.

We, as a race, know that we're destroying the planet, but the perspective of "everyone for themselves" and "do now, worry later" means that until the environment gives us a slap in the face with mass flooding, barren landscapes and a huge, suffocating blanket of carbon dioxide and sulphur in the atmosphere, we'll never learn.

Hindsight's a wonderful thing but it won't serve us much purpose when we die out as a race. Of course, many people do care about the environment and want to do their bit to help (recycling, using less electricity for example) but the sad fact of the matter is that most people aren't entirely sure what they can do to help, or are expecting their country's government or other organisations to carry the burden and wave a magic wand around.

"Maybe the only remedy left if human technology didn't catch the deadline is if we give up our 'earth' hegemony.."

Give up hegemony? I think that's asking for trouble. The great thing about having individuals governments is that the respective nation follows that government's laws and regulations, so internal disputes are unlikely to lead to violent demonstrations.

In view of the whole world, the US is deemed to be the 'leader' if you will, but they don't rule over any other nation. They could obliterate any country in the world, but they don't need to. It's been this way for many years, and by maintaining a hegemonistic leadership (in theory), relations with the 'stronger' nations of the world such as within Europe, and more recently China, become more prosperous.

...and if the stronger nations across the world are playing on an even field, then it would open up opportunities to work together to help solve the world's problems, no?