Hobo:
thanks for your explanation. My background is also in science so I understand/ knew already what you wrote.
It's just differences in perspective. Half glass, half full.
I'll die in a few decades, give or take. In the meanwhile I watch what I eat, exercise, try to be positive. Doesn't matter in the long run, cause I'll die anyways.
Most of the people I randomly meet, I'll never meet again, or for sure in 5 - 10 years. But in the meanwhile I still try to be pleasant and neighborly. You live your life the way you see fit, and I do the same. That's all.
And like I said... the sense of entitlement displayed by BB constantly amazes me.
Perhaps I came on a bit too strong. It really bothers me that many politicians and ordinary people who take information written in the media as the gospel truth.
By a "sense of entitlement" I assume you mean the BB's are insensitive to the limited resources on earth - displaying wanton consumption and could care less about how we leave the earth for our children to inherit.
That may be true if you look at things like the rate that the US consumes petroleum and non-renewable resources. On the other hand, it is not true if you consider the BB has stopped the population explosion (ie, achieved zero population growth) when over-population looked to be a real problem threatening the US in the 1950's. The BB also invested a lot of effort and money in cleaning up air and water pollution. In the 1960's most cities and factories were dumping raw sewage and industrial waste into our waterways - not so today. Also, the pollution from cars has been dramatically reduced - resulting in much cleaner air.
The BB's started the green revolution in the 1970's - finding biodegradable herbicides and pesticides, plus promoting foods grown without manufactured chemicals. Recycling has taken a huge step forward thanks to the BB's. Serious research and many pilot projects into alternative energy were the results of the results of the BB generation recognizing the energy problems facing the future.
As scientists, we must look for the heart of the problem if we hope to find a cure. The real problem is world population growth. When most BB were born, the population of the world was in between 2-3 billion people. Now the world population is above 6 billion - doubling every 12 years!
You can grouse about a "sense of entitlement" exhibited by the BB, but the problems facing our children and our grandchildren were not caused by greedy BB's. Global warming, pollution, food shortages, and consumption of our planet's non-renewable resources is a direct result of massive world population growth.
If every American recycled 100 percent of our products, drove electric cars powered by renewable energy sources, and reduced our carbon footprint to zero - all of the problems facing the world today would still be just as bad as they are today.
You and all your friends can "tread as lightly as you please", but it will not make the slightest difference. The rest of the world is running like a herd of stampeding elephants, mowing down everything in its path. And I do not see the slightest hope on the horizon that this worldwide problem can be halted before most people in the world die of starvation.
