Decades ago, we were told about "the coming resources wars". At the time, they were trying to get us to rationalize our fucked up military adventurism in Iraq, and to pretend it was all about freedom and not oil.
Although similar, it's a different thing now, as more of us begin to see how stupidly distracting and ultimately destructive it was to be chasing something that would harm billions while benefiting a very few.
Populations tend to expand geometrically, while food resources expand arithmetically, and mineral resources are finite to begin with.
So it follows that there will come a time when demand exceeds supply to the point where the whole thing goes ka-flooey.
There's some hope, but there's also a need to recognize a couple of bare-naked truths.
- Cooperation and planning and sensible policies can get us thru a lot of bad shit
- There's no negotiated settlement to be had with a natural world that's been damaged badly enough to threaten human survival
- We don't have a very happy history of getting everybody together and singing from the same hymnal
Fresh clean water
Clear breathable air
Healthy nutritious food
Why is this too much to ask?
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