Dr. Mercola September 18 2008 55,909 views
Dr. Albert A. Bartlett's eight-part presentation on "Arithmetic, Population, and Energy" may be the most important video you’ll ever see. Few people understand the full implications of innocuous-sounding growth and consumption numbers. But those numbers, when examined, tell a disturbing tale.
Dr. Bartlett, professor emeritus, department of physics, University of Colorado at Boulder, believes that the greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function, and by the end of this video series, you’ll understand exactly why that is.
Well, to all the smart guys here who think this is all nonsense, you really don't understand arithmetic or you are too lazy to activate 5 % of your brain. In the face of already dwindling resources like water, food and energy it requires no PHD in mathematics to understand that anything which spells growth in the energy consumption, food consumption, water consumption, population growth area etc will have negative effects on a grand scale. With everything there is a saturation level which we have reached with most things there are. Our banks go broke because everyone was pushing for more growth, although saturation was reached already a while ago. Who pays for all these mistakes now with their tax money ? Its you. Growth for ever doesn't work, Ladies and Gentlemen. Its another inconvenient truth. All big empires in the past history we know of went under, because they were growing too big and then collapsed to a much smaller but manageable size. Being optimistic is great, being realistic is what is needed now.
I agree that its a problem. I try to live sustainably personally. An important point to consider, however is that the hockey stick in an exponential graph depends entirely on scale. Change the scale and you change the entire graph. You can choose a smaller scale, like hundreds or millions instead of billions and it will make the graph look like the population exploded a long time ago. For example, if all you want is a hundred dollars in savings and you set the scale on your investment graph to show hundreds of dollars, then you will see a great hockey stick effect once the investment reaches ~$100, but expand the scale to thousands, millions, billions, etc, and the graph will go back to being flat. We can't be alarmed just because the graph looks scary, because you can make any graph look scary in just that way by changing the scale. I'm not arguing that we shouldn't be sustainable, that we shouldn't evaluate how we live, but don't base your decisions on irrational fears.
Are we all not reading the same Newsletter? Population increasing? Have we seen the statistics of how the current generation might not outlive their parents. Have we seen the statistics of how children have diseases that used to only be seen in 80 year olds. I'm worried about population decreasing if anything and the devastation that would bring. Isn't that the point of this newsletter in many ways? Aren't we worried about a decrease? Growing up, I hardly heard the word cancer (or AIDS for that matter) and now I know plenty of CHILDREN dying from it! My husband and I trust in the Lord and know that there are huge consequences to not following his commandments such as "Be Fruitful and Multiply". Everyone can do what they want but the fear of the Lord tells me that I do not want to see the consequences of not following His ways. I think the parents of the baby boomers felt this after such a devastating war...it's funny how you can suddenly worry about the other extreme so quickly!...one war, one widespread disease, one sick person in power could have us looking to the Lord wondering why we didn't have more children. I say especially to Christians...have children and may the Godly seed fight for what is right in this world. We made need Godly seed more than we need space in the "terrible" times to come. If you don't like what I'm saying then I say go right ahead with sterilization maybe the world doesn't need generations coming from you that want to stop life so that we can live more comfortably. I am certainly glad my parents didn't chose what was "best" and still had me! I would think we all would be glad of that no matter how bad things were!
One note on economic growth. You are wrong in assuming that our current economic problems are due to previous growth. It is due to the previous growth being artificial and unsustainable, as it was caused by an injection of easy credit and free money rather than investment of capital and savings. Easy credit and free money are only free for the present-they always inevitably lead to a reckoning down the line. Investment of savings and capital on the other hand were paid for in the past, so the future will not require them to be repaid. So, I'm not saying that economic growth can continue indefinitely, forever and ever-that has not been shown-but our current situation does not prove that we cannot have sustainable, continued economic growth for the forseeable future.
Just say 'NO" to religious fanatics on this site.
Their 'seed' too...
International bankers and global corporations have done more damage than the common man will ever have on the environment. Yet the average person gets to foot the bill for the corruption that is forced upon them due to the last 150 years of usurpation by the criminals operating out of Washington D.C. Only members of the Sheeple concur with the environmental wackos that spew forth blame on the middle class rather than the wealthiest families that have been raking in billions of dollars at the expense of the rest of us. And they do it while blaming us for what ails us. Wake up sheeple! This collapse of the dollar has been planned for a long time. We are now in a transition to completely socialist form of government as we merge into a one world government system, which George Bush and others referred to as, the New World Order. Sorry all of you Communists Star Trek freaks, but, the needs of the many never outweigh the needs of the few or the one. We are only two years into this. This recession will give way to a depression that will dwarf the depression that began in 1931. Maybe the imminent deflationary cycle, and then hgyperinflation hot on its heels, will open the eyes of more people to the fact that history does not happen by accident - it is planned. Just look back over the 20th century. Look behind the scenes, analyze the undercurrents in society and follow the money. Make a conscious choice Neo - will it be the red pill or the blue pill?
For all of those who think population is NOT a problem, here is a 9 minute video that will absolutely change your mind: www.youtube.com/watch
A little background - I met Roy Beck (the guy who does this video) in Washington D.C. This particular video is geared toward the USA (not the world as a whole, though he does cite some amazing worldwide statistics). Roy is a very nice, very genuine guy. He works as a D.C. lobbyist on immigration matters and he's VERY knowledgeable on the subject (been doing this for the past decade). Of greatest interest, he said that things are much worse now (this was about a year and a half ago that I spoke to him). At the time he noted that Bush had just INCREASED the number of allowed LEGAL immigrants into the USA, making the statistics he cites in his video actually much worse.
Thanks for the negative points! I can see a good number of people don't actually watch the video. You don't believe a particular point, despite evidence to the contrary, and you just throw out negative points to show your displeasure at anyone who dares hold a different opinion.
If you watch the above video, you'd see that Roy Beck does not have an ax to grind. The statistics are simple math. They do not hold a partisan viewpoint or support a particular party. They just ARE.
Honestly, watch this video as it's based on years worth of research and solid statistics: www.youtube.com/watch
You're right, Mike. It seems that a good majority of people subscribe to the following mantra: "My mind is made up, don't confuse me with the facts".
As for Roy Beck and NumbersUSA.com, the man KNOWS what he's talking about and has the facts (not Pollyannaish opinions) to back him up. If you live in the U.S. and don't think we have an immigration (overpoulation) problem - both illegal and legal - you really MUST wake up and take the blinders off. The most classic examples of the problem are when schools and hospitals have to close (as in So. Cal.) because the "law" says they have to educate or treat millions of illegal aliens - despite NOT being compensated for doing so. In other words, the consumption FAR exceeds production. Never in my 49 years have I heard of schools and hospitals closing because they couldn't "keep up" (also known as non-sustainability - sound familiar?). In many regards, I believe California is our first state to be at 11:58, maybe even 11:59...
For those people who believe that overpopulation is not a problem, I suggest they cut their consumption back to 2 liters of petrochemicals per day - which is 0.3 liters more than Dr. Albert says we should be consuming, based on what our extraction/production is (i.e the break-even point). Since those of you reading this probably use around 10 or more liters of "fuel" per day, why not try cutting back your consumption by 3/4 and then tell me how your food tastes, how comfortable your house is, how you got to work, etc. Now maintain that level indefinitely. Good luck with that!
Like the man said, the math is actually quite simple. It's not so much about population as it is about sustained production being able keep up with our exponential growth and consumption. Yes, we have lots of land, but what we use to farm and develop it is extremely resource intensive. Thus, his example of farming corn to produce ethanol - the model simply doesn't work.
To better thinking...
I saw the video and agree. Also, Russ G says, "schools and hospitals have to close (as in So. Cal.) because the "law" says they have to educate or treat millions of illegal aliens - despite NOT being compensated for doing so." I work within a hospital system that includes such a hospital in Orange county that is in the process of being sold because the majority of the patients are indigent and the hospital just cannot make enough money to stay afloat. So true as stated Russ!
If you find Dr. Bartlett's arithmetic to be accurate, and his logic flawless, then of course, he's talking genocide or eugenics, as some have mentioned. If, for instance, there are "too many Chinese", then the natural extension of that thought is that some must be eliminated; and in the broader sense, too many people period, this can only lead to one conclusion - population reduction, ie. genocide/eugenics. This conclusion is particularly obvious in parts 7 & 8. While Dr. Bartlett doesn't come right out and say it, this is the obvious logical solution. The problem is, who gets to decide who lives and who dies and what gives them that right? Ironically, he deems his particular audience as worthy of life. Why? By virtue of their intelligence?
The UN must believe that they have that right, too, since the UN Resolution 2000 calls for a 90% reduction in the world population through starvation, disease, and calamity. Interesting that there is no real concern for Africa, that the food supplies of Europe, China, and the USA have been systematically poisoned, and that that contamination is being spread (and has been for some time,) to South America.
The elite 1% who believe it is their birthright to live off the resources of the planet consider you all useless eaters. That's the best explanation for continued promotion of Monsanto, public schooling, allopathic medicine (to the suppression and exclusion of nutritional and alternative cures,) and Big Pharma. It is to their perceived benefit that we eat the poison food, then seek their poison "cures" and die expensive deaths. Not only are we, the useless eaters, eliminated, they reap huge profits in the meantime all at our expense.
So, if we want to take this man seriously, it seems mass suicide would "solve" a lot of the world's problems. From this perspective, we either wait for someone else to decide for us or we take care if it ourselves.
Figures never lie, but liars always figure.
Jodee, what about birth control? That doesn't kill anyone, it just prevents them from being conceived.
Not when the most used birth control is a controlled abortion. Then too, abortion is rampant in this country, China, and India. These do harm life, not just prevent it.
Overpopualtion has long been a serious issue and very few people are recognising it as such. In fact Western governments in particular are buying people (tax break, family benifits etc etc) to encourage us to have further children and further populate the world.
The threat of Nuclear war now looks like a wet firecracker comapared to what over population will bring upon us as we refuse to deal individually with our innate desire to breed, and just like the threat of war we will (as always) realise we have gone wrong too late in the piece to retreat.
Exactly. The overpopulation argument assumes that no new technology (or other change) comes along to help 'correct' the problem. The real issue, in my mind, is the distribution of resources. There are areas where the amount of resources are insufficient to handle the population level. When people have a lack of resources, it leads to attrocities such as starvation and war.
Thomas Friedman's newest book "hot, flat and crowded" suggests that the best way to overcome some of these issues (whether real or symptons of other issues) is for a new technological revolution. In the current sense, we some innovation in energy usage/production (to clean/green/affordable/sustaining energy).
Innovation and related technology changes is what allows more resources to be used more efficiently to handle increasing population size - the problem with Malthusian overpopulation assertions.
Alex, what sort of technology did you have in mind? Will it provide more land for growing food without clearing more and more forests and jungles,eliminating yet more native animals? Energy is not the only thing we need.
Did any of you watch the above video? Or perhaps I should have said did any of you listen to it? Overpopulation is major problem, Watch it again.