Another Dem. stunt or real threat?

[Rod Champion]

http://www.policymic.com/articles/85541/nasa-study-concludes-when-civilization-will-end-and-it-s-not-looking-good-for-us?utm_source=policymicFB&utm_medium=main&utm_campaign=social

[Onslow]

The excerpt below is a clue that this is not political fear mongering. 

There is argument to be made however that the US is the best positioned country in the world when it comes to food and energy security.  India, Pakistan, Egypt, Bangladesh, Vietman, and Palestine, are fukked.  Egypt and Palestine are already welfare states that are not capable of sustaining it's population.  I would suspect Pakistan is near that point.

The future of potash

Potash is poised for a strong surge in demand due to two main factors: a shortage of current potash supply and the limited farm credits for potash usage that farmers all over the world have experienced. For one reason or another, potash has been under-utilized in most countries.

The International Fertilizer Association predicts the world's appetite for potash to grow at 3.7 per cent per annum based on current consumption patterns. This equates to almost two million additional tons of potash required each year. The world's consumption rates can only be satisfied by adding the equivalent of one new potash mine every year.

The United Nations has reported that world population will rise 40 per cent in the next 40 years - and by 2050 food demand is expected to double. It is clear that there will be a significant increased demand for crops used in food, animal feed, fibre and bio-fuels, which will substantially change agricultural production. More food will need to be produced on less land.

It is not without reason that at North Atlantic Potash, we believe the current demand for potash will continue to exceed industry's ability to expand supply capacity.

http://northatlanticpotash.com/aboutpotash.html

[Mudwall Gatewood 3.0]

I don't know a damned thing about "economic stratification", but I will entertain the hypothetical unease over "the strain placed on the ecological carrying capacity" and "the benefits of technology are outweighed by how much the gains reinforce the existing, over-burdened system".

The entire article is theoretical cerebral gymnastics at its best, but it does give us something to ponder and discuss.

This statement from another article on Safa Motesharrei's forecast is one that I can fathom. 

"......simply being modern and technologically advanced will not be enough......"

[Dougfish]

I would say this article appears to be fairly accurate, but I suspect there is more than "a few decades" remaining. The root causes they address seem like the right ones. What they don't say is the way out... and that is even worse. This can be postponed by a few decades if another world war breaks out and millions die. The root causes are there:

Middle East/North Africa: Civil war in Syria, spreading into Lebanon and agitating the consistently volatile situation of Iraq (thanks George). Never forget Russia and Iran love themselves some Bashar al-Assad. Libya, post revolution: more unstable now than it was under Ghadaffi (thanks Barack and Hillary). And remember, there's erl (oil) in dem dare hills.Egypt, a dictator deposed and replaced by a "democratically elected", allahu akbhar yelling Islamist who was also deposed and has been replaced by martial law (thanks again Barack). Iran on the verge of a nuclear weapon? Israel on the verge of a preemptive strike? Israel forever at war with her neighbors and crushing Palestinians with US weapons, dollars and bulldozers. Afghanistan- we are about to bail on another war we started and won't finish as the Taliban and al-Qaida salivate (thanks George and Barack). Pakistan- fixated on recapturing Kashmir while fighting India and both countries have nukes.

Eurasia: The EU experiment has failed, economies collapsing and bailouts are just a continual shell game of moving the money around. This is a practice that began here. Succession movements underway in numerous countries. The big red bear (BRB) ran into South Ossetia, Republic of Georgia in 2008 as a dress rehearsal for reforming the Soviet Union. present day situation: the BRB annexed Crimea last week and has troops on Ukraine's border, ready to roll on a moment's notice. Other former Soviet republics are taking note- some are skeered while others are enthusiastically awaiting brother Vlad to save them.

Asia-Asiatic Pacific: The boy dictator in North Korea did a successful nuke test last year and followed it up with a semi-successful ICBM test. He is borderline mentally retarded and ill-tempered; he knows his isolated nation with a centrally planned economy is failing. He also knows the US Russia and China will not continue to throw money at him each time his sabre rattles. China, economic troubles on the horizon but an ever-increasing military. Gets into pissing matches with Taiwan, the Koreas, Japan and the Philippines to name a few. Depending on who's bullshit you read, they will be our full peer competitor by 2017-2025. Did I mention there is a lot of Jihad going on in places like Indonesia, the Philippines and East Timor? By the way, where the fuck is that plane?

North America: We are so politically polarized that we are growing to hate one another based on the letters R or D. Could the 2016 election be the beginning of our next civil war? Oh, I did not mention the letter L. we'll be in the mountains with our gold, ammo and shelf-stable food awaiting the outcome of the apocalypse.


So that's about it. All we need is the Gavrillo Princip moment to set it all off.


Happy trails...

Good golly. What a roll you were on right there.  bd;0

[tomato can]

Wasn't Iraq unstable prior to GW?

[Mudwall Gatewood 3.0]

Wasn't Iraq unstable prior to GW?

Possibly, maybe, perhaps, could have been,  but we had ~4500 more living, breathing citizens, and ~32000 citizens moseying around without wounds, and all of us were trillions of dollars richer.   

[Big J]

This comment in the comment section made me laugh  "This is what NASA is using its money for ? lol"

TC, the whole Middle East has been unstable since forever.  One good thing came from Iraq War, and that is Saddam being removed, but for what?  Another whacko coming into power in another 5 years?

Good stuff troutfanatic.  Only a matter of time till something implodes.  The Russian/Ukraine thing could be a good spark to set things in motion.  We shall see, we did get through the Cold War pretty uneventfully.

[Mudwall Gatewood 3.0]

.........we did get through the Cold War pretty uneventfully.

We did?

[benben reincarnated]

I can do a lot of fishing in a few decades.

[rbphoto]

I can do a lot of fishing in a few decades.

THIS -

provided you never have kids, don't get promoted at work, don't leave WNC, and/or nothing else providentially intervenes

to which I just shake my head and say "I wish."

[Mudwall Gatewood 3.0]

I can do a lot of fishing in a few decades.

That sounds good, and I assume "few" means 2, the fewest of the few.    I'm 57, so add 20......80 was my goal (my guesstimate of when I'll start pooping my pants).  I can deal with coming up short 3 years, and Ma Nature's vengeance providing an out from the excreta humiliation. 

I certainly will not pull a Sheldon and start consuming cruciferous vegetables. 

[Shane]

only takes one little nasty microorganism to hit the reset button

[Grannyknot]

What is a dem stunt?

[Woolly Bugger]

This thread is depressing, I'm going fishing before it's too late

[bmeador]

This thread is depressing, I'm going fishing before it's too late

I AGREE!!!!  And what does it really mean for my 3-day weekend???  I have beer, ale, whiskey, Wild Turkey (2 bottles) and my fly stuff.  Screw it, I'm going outside...