'Flight shaming' and the ethics of recreational flying?

[Student Pilot]

Co-incidentally overcrowding of the earth has started to appear in the arguments of "Greenhouse effect/Global Warming/Climate change" proponents, probably because it sounds so convincing.

Overcrowding not a worry then?

[turboplanner]

No, centuries before it's an issue.

[Student Pilot]

Maybe if the world started doing something now then it would not be so catastrophic when it becomes a problem? Alarmist silly talk.......yes?

[Jabiru7252]

'Fission' reactors are the dirty reactors. 'Fusion' reactors might be the go if we could come up with a way of containing the reaction. I think fusion reaction takes place at temperatures between 30 to 100 million degrees C and that's gonna get the OH&S folks all stressed for sure. (Source of info: Physics for Wankers, 2nd edition).

[Jabiru7252]

By the way, in the late sixties and early seventies I went to a crappy public high school where most of the teachers were losers. But, one did tell us spotty kids that by the time the year 2000 was upon us there would be so many people on the planet that they would be 'invading' other countries looking for a place to live. How remarkably accurate this guy was is astonishing.

[Old Koreelah]

No, centuries before it's an issue.

Yes, if packed into feedlots like cattle, our species doesn't take up very much space.

But... we're plundering the planet for the food, water and resources those people consume.

We're changing environments at an accelerating rate, and most native critters can't adapt quickly enough to survive. Animals and plants are becoming extinct at an alarming rate.

We may be next.

[turboplanner]

Yes, if packed into feedlots like cattle, our species doesn't take up very much space.

But... we're plundering the planet for the food, water and resources those people consume.

We're changing environments at an accelerating rate, and most native critters can't adapt quickly enough to survive. Animals and plants are becoming extinct at an alarming rate.

We may be next.

Well clearly we will have to end extravagant hobbies like Recreational Flying then.

[Old Koreelah]

Well clearly we will have to end extravagant hobbies like Recreational Flying then.

Of course, but you go first...

[turboplanner]

Not on your life! I think this thread is ridiculous and is only likely to give authorities PC ideas. Emissions by Australian recreational aircraft are so minute that they can't be measured.

[Guest Machtuk]

We are each owed a death, might as well enjoy what you have now?

[M61A1]

. Greater Tokyo comfortably contains 40 million.

I would say that depends greatly on what you call comfortable. I certainly doesn’t appear comfortable to me.

Comfortable is when it’s less than an hours drive to your neighbour’s house, But more than half an hour.

[kgwilson]

The human race has been consuming more than we are able to produce for many years. The day is called world overshoot day when our consumption annually exceeds our ability to renew what we have consumed. It began to be measured in 1986 & in the 80s the day landed in August. A decade later it was September & in 2017 2nd of August. Apparently we now need 1.7 planets to offset our use of natural resources each year.

 

The Corona virus is ramping up. Only about 4,600 deaths so far, a long way behind the Flu which claims 400,000 a year & with an annual population growth of 80 million & climbing a major disaster like the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs is about the only thing that wlll save our species and it will only do that by destroying most of it.

[Flying Binghi]

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Hey, I got banned for covering global warming - there been a policy change..?

 

 

 

 

 

.

[Jerry_Atrick]

I would say that depends greatly on what you call comfortable. I certainly doesn’t appear comfortable to me.

Comfortable is when it’s less than an hours drive to your neighbour’s house, But more than half an hour.

Although I don't need to be more than a few minutes drive from anywhere to feel comfortable, I definitely agree with the sentiment. I moved from London, which, if you consider the area inside the M25 (about 103 mile circular road that more or less defines greater London these days, albeit containing Surrey, Hertfordshire, Essex and Kent). We moved probably further out than we should have, but my wife, who thought she was a city dweller really enjoys the open space and remarked that she didn't know she was subliminally feeling claustrophobic.. Being able to see beyond the endless rows of houses to fields and a skyscape, even if one lives in a village is liberating for her.

 

Ignore the mess, as the house is a WIP, but the view I have from my home office is below... Even living in the village where the road is narrow and when walking to the pub (not visible but at the far end of the village) gives that sense of being hemmed in, a short stoll and one is in rambling country side... That is good enough for me and far healthier than cramped living that overpopulation, albeit potentially sustainable (or at least deferring the inevitable through technology) will bring..

 

The question is, what sort of quality of life do we want?

 

[onetrack]

There's one simple thing that we all need, that will cause great concern towards excessive population growth - and that thing is WATER - clean, potable water, in adequate quantities to sustain life.

We have seen the Australian (mostly country towns) run out of drinking water in the last 12-18 months - in more than one State. We've seen South Africans queueing for water and not flushing toilets because of a lack of water.

It's a problem that will only get worse as the years creep on, and the population continues to explode.

Even now, Perth is running on 40% desalinated water - if we had to rely on dams and groundwater, a third of Perth would be abandoned by now.

[Jerry_Atrick]

I feel for those where water is running low... It is the opposite here - we have had more or less non stop rain over the last couple of months... Unf, there is no way to redirect it to Aus and SAF.

 

But, I bet they declare London in drought yet again as they don't have the infrastructure (or more accurately, the infrastructure has been allowed to decay for want of a better word) under private ownership. Out here, I think most water resevours are underground and the system leaks like a seive.

[Guest Machtuk]

Australia has plenty of water, the Artesian Basin is huge ( about 1/4 the size of Australia) but the cost of extracting it and managing it is prohibitive in places. If we all believed that fool GT we would be dead as a species in a few generations!

[M61A1]

There's one simple thing that we all need, that will cause great concern towards excessive population growth - and that thing is WATER - clean, potable water, in adequate quantities to sustain life.

We have seen the Australian (mostly country towns) run out of drinking water in the last 12-18 months - in more than one State. We've seen South Africans queueing for water and not flushing toilets because of a lack of water.

It's a problem that will only get worse as the years creep on, and the population continues to explode.

Even now, Perth is running on 40% desalinated water - if we had to rely on dams and groundwater, a third of Perth would be abandoned by now.

I saw a doco a while back, where they used satellites that detected gravitational difference to map ground water depletion. Apparently there are quite a few places around the world that are running low on water because they thought bore water was inexhaustible supply. People like those growing grapes and oranges in California in a place where they really shouldn't be growing such crops were among the subjects.

Similarly around my area, farmers blame the mine for bore levels dropping, but the mine uses waste water they piped from the city. Not many farmers irrigated here in the sixties, but they all do now, and somehow it's nothing to do with them.

Anyway according to St Greta, we'll all be screwed before then.

 

Ever notice how a lot of the alarmists are also anti-GM. The people who want us all to eat more plants despise the genetic modification that has allowed us to feed the exploding population by by developing higher yielding, disease tolerant plants that use less water. Geniuses.

Edited March 13, 2020 by M61A1

[spacesailor]

A great pity, Australians are Not water-wise.

How many Perth houses are built with rain water tanks.

spacesailor

[M61A1]

A great pity, Australians are Not water-wise.

How many Perth houses are built with rain water tanks.

spacesailor

When I lived in Brisbane I enquired of the council about installing a rainwater tank. I was told that they would fine me if I put a rainwater tank on my house, then when the drought got bad and they had water restrictions they were paying people to put tanks on their houses.

[Bruce Tuncks]

In SA, they encouraged ( with money ) people to put rainwater with a pump plumbed into the house. The next hike in water rates was a hike in the supply charge, so those well-meaning rainwater users were screwed financially and saved very little.

I wonder it you could "go off the grid " if you were 100% self-sufficient or would they be able to extract a "supply charge" if the pipes went past your place.

A lot of people with good neighbors could go off the grid, buying the odd tankful from a neighbor in an emergency.

[M61A1]

 

I wonder it you could "go off the grid " if you were 100% self-sufficient or would they be able to extract a "supply charge" if the pipes went past your place.

A lot of people with good neighbors could go off the grid, buying the odd tankful from a neighbor in an emergency.

That was a point of contention in the small town I grew up in. When they had town meetings about installing a town water supply there were some people who had happily lived on tank water their whole lives, (as had everyone) who's main objection was that they still had to pay for it to be available despite the fact that they didn't want it or use it. The reservoirs and pipes actually ran through our property, but we still had to pay for connection at the front boundary.

I think if you are having a "water emergency", your neighbour is not going to sell you any water, because they will be in the same boat.

[mnewbery]

That metropolitan access fee everyone is moaning about also maintains the firefighting reticulation and hydrant points. Some times the social cost is entirely justified

[Old Koreelah]

That metropolitan access fee everyone is moaning about also maintains the firefighting reticulation and hydrant points. Some times the social cost is entirely justified

Good point, mn. The crazy push to privatise everything, in the mistaken belief it will save money, often results in our critical infrastructure being neglected. Our recent national emergencies have shown how important it is to spend a bit on water, fire and health facilities.

[M61A1]

The crazy push to privatise everything, in the mistaken belief it will save money

 

It usually does, and improves service as long as it isn't a monopoly. Governments are rubbish at efficiency and service.