Senescence Gloss

A gloss is a marginal notation regarding text in a document

Spent a nice morning doing laundry and reading.  Sipping tea that I picked up while I was shopping for vegetables at my favorite Russian store over in Vantucky.  This piece caught my eye and, after reading it, damned if, at first, I was not jealous of not having written something like it myself.  Then I decided, what the hell, just put up the link, and then write away.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176452/tomgram%3A_engelhardt%2C_turning_74_in_a_failing_world_/#more

Whenever I think that I want to extol the virtues of a piece of writing, I always read it fast then walk away (in this case, the walking away was tea and laundry).  While going over this piece a second time,  (first read= fast, second read = slow), I got a completely different take on the piece.  While well written, this is the screed written by one of the many in my sorry-ass generation who always knew we were taking the wrong path, but lined up for our paychecks anyway.   Tommy boy was a professional pearl-clutcher in the past and is staying true to form in his dotage

Now, you might think that I am implying that somehow I was above all that and have always maintained some sort of doctrinal purity and commitment to the cause of the environment, social justice, and non-intervention.  Nothing can be farther from the truth.  1992 to 2007 was "belly up the bar" days.  I did everything that I needed to do to make certain that the filthy lucre flowed (I would sit down now and make a full confession, but the truth is, I am not feeling especially Catholic today and just don't want to bother).

But, on mature reflection, what I first thought was an epiphany turned out to be  just another of those tiresome "I'm going to die, so all that I see is the world dying with me" Jeremaids that have been lately infesting the nether regions of the web.

Look, overpopulation occurs.  Population biology and Paul Ehrlich have never been wrong, except for the rookie mistake of actually setting a date that the "ugly" would begin. The carrying capacity of the planet is around 1 to 1.5 billion humans long term.  No one alive today will be alive when we hit that number.  My guess is that there will be an undershoot to around 750 million then a gradual climb back to equilibrium.

No Tommy boy, the "Human Experiment" won't be coming to an end.  What will be coming to an end is the fatuous and destructive experiments of industrial civilization and "the green revolution (trading oil for food)".

Tommy boy recognizes Donny Boy as a symptom of a deeper problem.  That part I can agree with.  It is nice to see that he recognizes a clown as the clown that he is.

Where he makes his mistake is thinking that the "empire" was a plan by evil CEO's, neocons, and Madison Avenue.  Nope, just like Donny-Boy, these are straw men too.  Donny and the lineup of usual suspects that Tommy-boy parades out are only there because of a population that wants what they consider to be a "fair share".  But the "fair share" that is wanted is beyond the capacity of the earth to produce.

No Tommy, my guess is that you have always taken more than your fair share by a considerable margin.  So have I.  I am guessing you have dined in a restaurant in your presumptive Manhattan environs, feasting on New Zealand lamb, washed down with French Wine, with a lovely arugula salad dressed with imported Greek free-range olive oil and Italian Balsamic.  I am 99% certain that you have a sizable frequent-flyer usage.  I would guess that you drive your Prius to fetch your dog from the groomer.

Yes Tommy Boy, you are right, that world is coming to an end.  The planet is on the wrong side of the halfway point for energy and resources.  Unless there is a serious Deus ex Machina in the way of cheap and clean (or even just cheap) energy in the none too distant future, the ability of industrial civilization to continue as-is will be seriously degraded.

But industrial civilization is what brought all the people and all their needs.  We can afford cheap socks made in China more than we can afford the same sock from a US maker for 50% more. All of us are the problem.

We are looking forward to a compressional collapse of population when the industrial sector starts coughing and climate change starts to get traction.  The only reason that we can have this many people is because we traded debt and oil and got overpopulation in return.  The US has given a better quality of life to other peoples, but to do so, we have traded away the chance of a better future for a lot of our own people.

You are right, industrial civilization is dying.  A whole buttload of people will die along with it.  But the non-senescent younglings will create a new civilization on top of the remains.  It might be a better civilization.  It might not.

Earth Abides, and mankind will abide with it.  There will certainly be fewer.  My sincere hope is that my descendants will not feel the need to spit on my grave for my collaboration with something that I always knew was wrong.