Congratulations to humanity for successfully publicly acknowledging that global industrial-scale carbon emission poses risks to the future of humanity. Good job, folks. Our species’ most privileged representatives boarded countless jet planes and flew to Paris to congregate, blame, shame, and finally admit that we are burning fossil fuels more rapidly than atmospheric carbon is being absorbed. Then they patted themselves on their backs, flew home, and trumpeted their success. Presumably these leaders are riding bicycles to work this week, right?
Unfortunately, none of this matters. Not even a little bit. It is irrelevant because no matter how much our wealthy countries are willing to inflict economic damage upon themselves in limiting emissions, they will still be reducing the wrong variable in the equation of anthropogenic climate change. What variable is more important than per capita carbon emission? Try the number of people emitting. The population of humanity has more than tripled in the last hundred years. In the next hundred years it almost certainly won’t triple again, but it will grow.
You think carbon emissions are bad for humanity? Wait until there are regional freshwater shortages, global fishery depletions, deforestation, pollution, famine, and war. War bred from ignorance, desperation, and envy. Genocide, chemical and biological warfare, ethnic cleansing, and resource hoarding are in our future. All because we, for some reason, aren’t willing to even acknowledge population overgrowth. Nobody is talking about it. Why not? What is wrong with you people? It is THE problem of our time.
You spoiled brats at universities across the U.S., whining about microagressions, pissing and moaning about white privilege, demanding African studies be incorporated into the curriculum, more sensitivity workshops, blah blah blah. You’re all clueless. You want to talk about privilege? You’re manufacturing victimhood because you can’t find any and you want to be victims so bad you can almost taste the social sympathy. Well here’s a cause for you, on the house: Black lives matter? Does that include the black lives on other continents? The black lives in Africa are dying in greater numbers at earlier ages than any other ethnic group and when the population reaches its breaking point I suspect they will suffer the most. From climate change and resource scarcity and God-knows-what-else.
But I know, it’s hard to talk about birthrates. Good luck reforming the American higher education system. You’re saving the world.
