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Le rapport recommande un aménagement urbain orienté vers le transport en commun, une densification des quartiers et la mise en place de moyens pour freiner le transport individuel.
l’étude de Dunsky recommande également de modifier nos comportements pour réduire notre soif d’énergie.
(...) Des coupables : un appétit pour des maisons unifamiliales pas très bien isolées, l’auto solo, même si elle est électrique, des camions électriques
Are mere numbers so important that, for their sake, we should patiently permit such a state of affairs to come about? Surely not. What, then, can we do? Apart from certain deep seated prejudices, the answer would be obvious. The nations which at present increase rapidly should be encouraged to adopt the methods by which, in the West, the increase of population has been checked. Educational propaganda, with government help, could achieve this result in a generation.
There are, however, two powerful forces opposed to such a policy: one is religion, the other is nationalism. I think it is the duty of all who are capable of facing facts to realize, and to proclaim, that opposition to the spread of birth control, if successful, must inflict upon mankind the most appalling depth of misery and degradation, and that within another fifty years or so.
I do not pretend that birth control is the only way in which population can be kept from increasing. There are others, which, one must suppose, opponents of birth control would prefer. War, as I remarked a moment ago, has hitherto been disappointing in this respect, but perhaps bacteriological war may prove more effective. If a Black Death could be spread throughout the world once in every generation survivors could procreate freely without making the world too full. There would be nothing in this to offend the consciences of the devout or to restrain the ambitions of nationalists. The state of affairs might be somewhat unpleasant, but what of that? Really high-minded people are indifferent to happiness, especially other people's. However, I am wandering from the question of stability, to which I must return.
There are three ways of securing a society that shall be stable as regards population. The first is that of birth control, the second that of infanticide or really destructive wars, and the third that of general misery except for a powerful minority. All these methods have been practiced: the first, for example, by the Australian aborigines; the second by the Aztecs, the Spartans, and the rulers of Plato's Republic; the third in the world as some Western internationalists hope to make it and in Soviet Russia. (It is not to be supposed that Indians and Chinese like starving, but they have to endure it because the armaments of the West are too strong for them.)
Of these three, only birth control avoids extreme cruelty and unhappiness for the majority of human beings. Meanwhile, so long as there is not a single world government there will be competition for power among the different nations. And as increase of population brings the threat of famine, national power will become more and more obviously the only way of avoiding starvation. There will therefore be blocs in which the hungry nations band together against those that are well fed. That is the explanation of the victory of communism in China.
These considerations prove that a scientific world society cannot be stable unless there is a world government.
Impact of Science on Society, Bertrand Russell, 1953 (pg 103-104)
originally posted by: sraven
You will note that the concept of mass urbanization
is directly contrary to
global depopulation.
originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: swanne
Canada, while mostly fictitious, used to be a place populated (I thought) by sane and rational peoples.
WTF happened???
originally posted by: swanne
... Are we not witnessing the rise of a reign by fear of climate change? A reign by ecoterror?
originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: swanne
Canada, while mostly fictitious, used to be a place populated (I thought) by sane and rational peoples.
WTF happened???
originally posted by: Astyanax
a reply to: swanne
1. These are changes natire will force us to adopt anyway, and the sooner we do so the fewer and less devastating catastrophes we shall have to deal with. And the more of a habitable world we shall leave for generations yet unborn.
2. This is a study report, with recommendations. It's a long way from becoming official policy, no matter who commissioned it. Besides, the extracts you quote don't propose any kind of coercion, so why are you alarmed? If there are other parts of the report that do propose coercion, show us.
I think you're distressing yourself unnecessarily, or least very prematurely. You, too, have a political voice. If these things worry you, oppose them in a practical way that will get you listened to by power, don't just go about crying Doomsday. I will oppose you in my turn. Doesn't matter. Democracy in action.
I am in hearty agreement with these proposals, if you haven't guessed already. Without dealing with everything you mention, I'll just note that electric vehicles are far less green than fossil-powered ones (which are already unacceptable -- and I speak as a petrolhead: bikes, cars and old Land-Rovers -- because (1) the carbon debt incurred in manufacturing the bloody things, with parts and raw materials shipped from all over the world, is astronomical. And (2) batteries.
The future demands more cooperation, less individualism. This terrifies and depresses me too, but I shan't expect you to understand that.
originally posted by: Astyanax
a reply to: swanne
1. These are changes natire will force us to adopt anyway, and the sooner we do so the fewer and less devastating catastrophes we shall have to deal with. And the more of a habitable world we shall leave for generations yet unborn.
2. This is a study report, with recommendations. It's a long way from becoming official policy, no matter who commissioned it. Besides, the extracts you quote don't propose any kind of coercion, so why are you alarmed? If there are other parts of the report that do propose coercion, show us.
I think you're distressing yourself unnecessarily, or least very prematurely. You, too, have a political voice. If these things worry you, oppose them in a practical way that will get you listened to by power, don't just go about crying Doomsday. I will oppose you in my turn. Doesn't matter. Democracy in action.
I am in hearty agreement with these proposals, if you haven't guessed already. Without dealing with everything you mention, I'll just note that electric vehicles are far less green than fossil-powered ones (which are already unacceptable -- and I speak as a petrolhead: bikes, cars and old Land-Rovers -- because (1) the carbon debt incurred in manufacturing the bloody things, with parts and raw materials shipped from all over the world, is astronomical. And (2) batteries.
The future demands more cooperation, less individualism. This terrifies and depresses me too, but I shan't expect you to understand that.