Perhaps the most depressing thing I learned in the past few weeks is that we are stuffed. I mean really screwed.
Let me explain. According to a book my father read, we have only 40 years of iron ore left on this planet. That means we only have 40 years of being able to make anything with 'fresh' iron or steel. Think about that for a second. No more 'new' train tracks. No more reinforced concrete. No more cars made from 'fresh' steel. No more fixies (actually, given they're all ridden by hipsters, this may not be such a bad thing). No more bedsprings. No more new kitchen appliances. No nothing made from iron or steel.
It gets worse. We have only 30 years of oil left, according to most sources. So what, you may ask? We'll be driving electric cars by then. Except we won't. Most car manufacturers will have electric versions of current models out in the next few years. But to replace all the cars on the road today with electric or fuel cell ones will take more than that 30 years. It may take less time in some developed nations, but in most? Don't bet on it. We'll still be needing petrol and diesel for many more years than we have left to dig it up.
Don't forget we need oil for planes, too. Very few electric ones exist, and the ones that do are tiny, single-seater devices. Electric jumbos? Not in your lifetime.
Oh, and we need oil for plastic. Computers, containers, clocks, fans, air conditioners and car interiors, not to mention everything else we use today, are all made using the stuff. And it's going to disappear. So if we need it for the future, any products we make using it will have to use recycled predecessors.
We can move to a sustainable, recyclable economy. But it's going to take a complete turnaround of our current thinking to do it. We need to invest all our money (and I mean almost every cent) into sustainable energy. We need to invest vast amounts into education, as every statistic on the planet shows educated people breed less, and that's a major issue right now - we can't be sustainable with our current population. And we need companies to stop working on any current unsustainable products and move straight into ones that are. And don't tell me we can't, as we've done it before.
In WWII, Lyndon Johnson walked into a major car company's factory and told the bosses it needed to be converted into an fighter plant. They told him that couldn't be done for months. He told them they misunderstood. It would start tomorrow and they had no choice. Think about that. It seems impossible today, but why couldn't we?
The only reason we haven't until now is that, thanks to Thatcher and Reagan in the 80s, we are now so reliant on corporations, so terrified of them, that we no longer have the political gumption to tell them to change. This needs to become an abhorrent way of thinking.
I expect conservatives and right wingers to say I'm talking bolshy nonsense. I'm not. The facts and figures are inescapable. In 50 years from now, we will have billions living without public transport, electricity or even running water, simply because we didn't act now. Stuff climate change, this is the major problem facing us today.
The lovely thing is, if we do move to a sustainable economy, we also negate most of the harmful effects of climate change.
So let's give it a shot. Democracy means when enough people shout, even politicians listen. I would like to start a campaign for change in our economies. I will write to my local representative to say what I feel. I encourage you to do the same.
Chris
