Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Will beer control global warming?

Do human beings behave like animals according to the r/k selection theory? Are they a plague on earth, as the famous naturalist, Sir David Attenborough believes, a type of virus killing mother earth or a species of parasite whose voracious consumption is sucking all the nutrition out of the planet? Some believe that humans were responsible for the disappearance of the megafauna in, what is know as, ' the overkill hypothesis '. These are not paranoid delusions by a bunch of nuts but topics of serious discussions by academics. It does seem that we resemble the malaria parasite in many ways. When malaria enters a human body it hides in the liver and multiplies. Large numbers then reenter blood and infect red blood cells. At this stage mosquitoes suck up infected blood and carry it to new victims thus ensuring the survival of the parasite. When the parasites destroy the red cells the patient gets chills and fever and may die without treatment. They withstand our immune system and develop immunity to whatever drugs we use. Humans evolved in Africa and spread out all over the earth. Mother earth tried to destroy us with smallpox, cholera and many other weapons but some survived. We developed vaccines and antibiotics which made us immune. Now we are causing fever to earth in the form of global warming, which may kill us all. The discovery of agriculture around 10,000 years ago completely changed human society from small groups of hunter-gatherers to permanent settlements and probably laid the foundation for modern civilisation, with some hiccups along the way. Some scientists believe that humans will be extinct within the next 100 years. We can see conflicts everywhere. There are several wars in the middle east, a low intensity conflict in Ukraine, repeated terrorist attacks by various groups in Pakistan and the uncivilised aggression by China against all its neighbors. Some think that the civil war in Syria started because of prolonged drought, a blob in the Pacific Ocean maybe causing drought in California and India is bracing for another weak monsoon this year, all signs of global warming. Global warming could cause an explosion of pests, resulting in serious shortages of food. Large numbers of people result in poverty by reducing the value of labor. Wealth accumulates in few hands because the rich transfer production to countries with large populations, producing vast inequality even in developed countries, like the US. If population is reduced by more than half, the value of people will rise, global warming will be controlled, inequality will be reduced and there will be fewer conflicts. Some believe that thirst for beer led to farming, which led to civilisation. Perhaps if we sat around drinking beer all day we would be live happily with all creatures. Another reason to reduce taxes on beer. Are politicians listening?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Yes I think it is possible to control global warming by reducing use of 2 wheeler vehicles. Rather prefer public transport. This is duty of young generation.
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Sakti Deb said...

Human beings will always have aspirations. Aspirations lead to progress and progress is leading to global warming. Cannot go back to the stone age. Need solutions fast.