Saving our Beautiful Planet

Population Explosion, Climate Change, Resource Depletion

SAVING OUR BEAUTIFUL PLANET

Paul H. Carr, Ph. Dwww.MirrorOfNature.org.

Star Island NH 200 Yr-Old ChapelUU & UCC Conference Center

“For the Beauty of the Earth….Source of All to Thee We Raise…”

The Challenges to our Beautiful Planet:

•Overpopulation,

•Climate Change,

•Resource Depletion

1.“Limits …”published in 1972.

*Has sold 10 million copies

*In 2012, predictions were shown to be accurate & updated.

2. 2011 UN IPCC Report predicts hurricanes & weather extremes will increase from global warming.

3.Can we deploy new technologies in time?

4. Re-envisioning Beauty to Save our Planet.

THE POPULATION EXPLOSION CAN’T GO ON FOREVER

1880 to 1972: CO2 INCREASE 30 PPM 1972 – 2012: 77 PPM

CO2 POLLUTANT DRIVING CLIMATE CHANGE

We can’t keep burning oil forever

OIL RESOURCE DEPLETION

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Looking-Back-on-the-Limits-of-Growth.html#ixzz1rG5D2BHa

LOOKING BACK ON THE LIMITS TO GROWTH (1972) World’s food production predicted to crash in 2030..

ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL.

POPULATION PROBLEMS ARE LOCAL.

“THE RICH ARE GETTING RICHER,THE POOR ARE HAVING MORE CHILDREN.”

Population Imbalance

*Italy’s fertility rate only about 1.4—well below the number needed to replenish its population (2.1).

* Population of Europe is decreasing.

* Heavy debt and an aging, shrinking population are a very bad combination.

Europe’s Real CrisisThe Continent’s problems are as much demographic as financial. They won’t go away soon.The Atlantic, April 2012

Most population growth is occurring in Africa and southern Asia.

Population explosion (World): -Birthrate exceeds deaths. Population decline(Europe): -Death rate exceeds births.

GLOBAL WARMING OVER THE CENTURIES

Physics Today, March 2012, pg. 31 NUMBER OF EVENTS WITH DAMAGE OVER $ 1 BILLION (NOAA)

2008: 9 2011: 14 Average since 1980: 3 to 4

• Since 1996 over $1 billion damage doubled compared with the previous 15-year period.

Hurricane Katrina 2005: $146 B

Hurricane Irene 2011: $15B Hurricane Sandy 2012: $50B

T24 Aug 2005. Tropical Storm ApproachesSouthern Florida.

28 Aug 2005. Katrina, Category 5 Hurricane, gained energetic winds of 175 mph due to the record high temperatures of the Gulf of Mexico.

28 Aug 2005. Katrina, Category 5, 175 mph winds. Absorbed energy from the record high temperatures of the Gulf of Mexico.

29 Aug 2005. Katrina causes $100Bs damage to New Orleans, LA

KATRINA: Tropical Storm to Hurricane Global Warming Wake-Up Call

November 1, 2012

Hurricane Sandy •At least 100 U.S. deaths. •Economic losses expected to climb as high as $50 billion. •Eight million homes without power.

The broadening scientific consensus:

*Climate change amps up other basic factors that contribute to big storms.

*The oceans have warmed, providing more energy for storms.

*The Earth’s atmosphere has warmed, so it retains more moisture, which is drawn into storms and is then dumped on us.http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-01/its-global-warming-stupid

Most recent prediction for 2100: 3 to 6 feet

Can we deploy new technologies in time?

• BIRTH CONTROL

• INSTALLED COST OF PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR CELLS HAVE ACHIEVED GRID PARITY ($0.10/kWh)

• ELECTRIC CARS NOW GET 100 MILES PER GALLON EQUIVALENT

Melinda Gates’ New Crusade: Investing Billions in Contraception TechnologyShe plans to use the Gates Foundation’s billions to revolutionize contraception worldwide. The Catholic right is pushing back. Is she ready for the political firestorm ahead? (Newsweek, May 7, 2012 )

Her Catholic faith, has always informed her work. “From the very beginning, we said that as a foundation we will not support abortion”“We’re serving the other piece of the Catholic mission, which is social justice.”

“100,000 women annually die in childbirth after unintended pregnancies.600,000 babies born to women who didn’t want to be pregnant die in the first month of life. “

Teaming with British to start raising the $4 billion the foundation says it will cost to get 120 million more women access to contraceptives by 2020.

Depo-Provera is popular in many poor countries because women need to inject it only 4 times a year. http://www.londonfamilyplanningsummit.co.uk/

INSTALLED COST OF PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR CELLS ACHIEVES GRID PARITY ($.10/kWh)

(U of Illinois Prof. Angus Rockett)

$0.10/kWhr

Sunny future: Dow Chemical hopes to transform the solar power industry by integrating solar cells with conventional roofing shingles. Credit: Dow Chemical

Presently they seem to cost about $6/ sq. ft but will come down with production increases.  Any-way, $15K for a 2500 sq. ft. house means a payback of about 6 years.Gene Norris, FL

2012 NISSANLEAF® Plug INAs low as:$27,700*Net value after federal tax credit

106City MPGal100 mi range.®

Mitusbishi i

ELECTRIC CARS106 MILES/GALLON

EQUIVALENT

Conservation, efficiency, & a more vegetarian diet can reduce our use of fossil fuels. Nature is the capital on which capitalism is based. In the long-term, our world’s economy will be constrained by ecology. There are indeed Limits to Growth.

What are you doing to conserve?

What car would Jesus Drive?

RE-ENVISIONING BEAUTY

Is beauty “in the eye of the beholder” or/and a Spiritual experience?

Without divinely created beauty, nature becomes an object that may be ravaged.

For example, the Canadian tar sands can be beautiful in the eyes of its owners because it is a source of black gold.

Canadian Tar Sands: “Scraping Bottom” National Geographic, 3/2009

RE-ENVISIONING BEAUTY

Let us re-envision beauty to transform our relationship with life on earth.

Science is based on respect for nature’s laws.

Spirituality engenders reverence for and the consecration of nature, created, sustained, and redeemed by a Divine power.

Population Explosion, Climate Change, Resource Depletion

SAVING OUR BEAUTIFUL PLANET

Paul H. Carr, Ph. Dwww.MirrorOfNature.org.