Common Purposes

Over population, and the human need for material possessions (Money, gold, shells, teeth and what ever else has floated our boats throughout the ages). Working to reduce these would at least knock a bit of a hole into the 9 listed, instead of just creating another 9 and so on.

The nutrition bar for ending malnutrition could be marketed with Marie Antoinette saying let them eat "ground peanuts, sugar, and powdered milk, fortified with vitamins and minerals" (if the mineral content is anything like those dietary supplement pills that contain 200% of your recommended daily allowance of manganese (linked to CJD) it may be considered as something more than feeding the hungry). Seriously this is just a short term fix (although for humane reasons) that consumes additional recourses to start with by manufacturing it and then importing it from another country. It should not be seen as a way to profit from those who are starving. We all know what the long term solution is and that is to address the actual causes.

My gripe is not with the makers of the nutrition bar; that was the easiest one to pick on. But it is with the Band Wagoner's, who pedal these reports on how to save the world from the likes of killer bees, for the pure justification of their own position and status. We don't necessarily need to listen to what they have to say, but if we don't there is no need for them. It seems to be a never ending cycle of one up man ship for who can get the next potential disaster.

MillMatt,

Everybody is "green" if it makes money.

Most problems stem from bad government, and bad financial management, always have and always will.

Cheap energy (power) is the best way to solve most problems. Get ten times the average milage of a car and see what happens... It is possible, and soon...

You have the answer! If there is no "green to be made" (money), it aint gonna happen!

Very interesting, I too saw that article posted on CNN and WAS a subscriber to B2.0 for a short period of time. My initial thought was here's a hip new magazine that I might be able to relate to. (read hip as under 30 for another 6 months) I was sadly disappointed with their content and lack of substance. That's not the point of this blog though. I truly feel we need to start changing the perception we have of each other and what each other has. The guest stated material possessions, right on track with what I'm thinking. Someone recently stated that we have the poorest upper middle class in history. Think about that statement - upper middle class as defined by Money, ie CNN, is income about $70,000. How can someone making north of that be poor or only a couple of paychecks away from foreclosure? Oh yes, the I got to have it right now and it has to be better than my neighbor attitude. Couple that with a youth group that can't walk across campus without making 3 phone calls while listening to an IPod. Keep in mind I'm only 6 years out of college but this all baffles me...My opinion (essentially so I stop the rant) 1) KISS. Keep it simple stupid. What I mean buy that, buy what you can AFFORD. If you have to charge it and can't pay it off within 3 months, don't buy it. 2) Be gentle with the Earth, it's very similar to our eyes - you get one shot and they don't regrow. I don't buy into the whole global warming but I do think we need to make some drastic changes. 3) Stop worrying about what everybody else is doing and what everybody else has. 4) Turn off the TV. (unless extreme engineering or dirty jobs is on!!)

That's my rant for now. Sorry to essentially agree but I'm very worried for my son's future based on what I see happening now.

Does consumerism drive the world? The report states "Transportation is second only to electricity generation as a contributor to global warming". A question I have always asked is how much energy is consumed by the consumer good goods industry? It starts with the production of the raw materials, then the various manufacturing stages for product and packaging, then transportation to place of retail (many stages in between), use by consumer and then disposal, which includes transportation processing and then storing of waste material in landfill or otherwise incinerating or recycling.

These all provide employment and mass consumerism also has the benefit of reducing production costs and time to market to benefit to the likes of medical science with rapid advancements.

But is rapid progression as sustainable as a natural progression and can the gaps left from missing out on key stages in sociopolitical or cultural evolution be plugged with technology? How many wars can be linked to control of items of value, from oil to diamonds and cocaine?

I must apologize for my interchanging of the words "buy" & "by", I just noticed that. I do think that consumerism drives the world as we know it. Even if a small % of people stopped buying things, it would have a huge impact on our economy. Maybe not so much the companies themselves but look how much it impacts our markets. Watch what happens to the NASDAQ, DOW, & S&P500 when financial statements are released... Especially the lumbering giant Walmart, when on company can impact millions, it's really quite scary.

I do think consumerism may be interchangeable with another noun, that being greed. We're all human, we will never get away from wanting things, but take a look at the housing market. There's only one reason that it exploded, GREED. A majority of the market increase was falsely created by investors. Then take investors selling to investors, and investors moving into areas where other investors are and really pushing hard on the supply and demand curve. It did create a huge labor market where many people found jobs, some very well paying ones at that. So does that mean it was a bad thing? Does the offset of job creating make up for the amount of foreclosures and money lost by our financial institutions? The idea of the economy being an engine is quite fake, the more people buy stuff the stronger the economy gets?? That's really a load of crap, the last thing I need is more women's shoes filling the closest. (my wife's.....) It's an illusion, the hardest thing to grasp is do we need that illusion to continue our standard of living?

To wrap up, I think we're are own worst enemy. Without consumerism, no jobs. No jobs, no money to participate in consumerism. We walk a very delicate line between greatness and ruin. If people stopped buying "stuff", is your job save? If the auto industry continues to tank, I better start looking...

In the nine of humanities biggest problems I am surprised there is no mention of religion. Of the current thirty six "conflicts" occuring in the world today, all but one (the Iraq war) are driven by religious intolerance. Hunger, disease, malnutrition, poverty, ignorance, slavery and epidemics are only part of the legacy of religious intolerance. Until mankind learns to either live in a religiously peaceful world or live without religion there will be no solutions to the peripheral results of religious intolerance.

Who is in charge of a religon and what is it they need to gain or protect, by starting a war directly or indirectly?

The answer to that question has always been a Caliph, Pontiff, Messiah, Pope, Prophet, Gurhu, and so on. What do they have to gain you ask? In a word; power.

Not a hint of enlightenment; where is Budda when you need him?

To me, religion (and it's intolerances) is the biggest problem in the world. Just imagine a world without any religious or philosophical devisiveness at all. There would be no "my way is better than yours" or "if you don't believe then you must die" ideas. Just imagine a world without jihads, crusades, inquisitions, and other terrors fostered upon us by zealots. I'd rather live in that world. Make me king of the world and I would ban all religions that preached intolerance. I think Buddah said it best (and I paraphrase) " On your path of seeking God you will need the raft of religion to cross the river of ignorance. One you reach the other side you no longer need the raft". Have you crossed the river of ignorance? Are you "enlightened"?

i think peak oil is a huge issue. if peak oil happens and we're not prepared to transition smoothly away from oil (especially with regard to our vehicle fleet), then the global economies will have no choice but to burn a hell of a lot more coal.

burning more coal will, in turn, accelerate the global warming issue (we know that co2 in the atmosphere traps heat).

but basically the biggest problem is the system ... a system based on enormous consumption of natural resources & perpetual growth.

Money IS the religion of most of the world today. Politicians are the Priests of MONEY. The MONEY holders are the popes of the religion of MONEY.

RichH

The list of nine of humanity´s biggest problems could well be expanded to a dirty-dozen list or more. But no matter how many more you add to list as you see the problems they will all have something in common. But better or for worse they are all the creation of man´s craft and engineering and the problems thereby created can only be solved by engineering.

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