THE IMPOSSIBLE HAMSTER CLUB

Asking the question: Why do so many believe the economy can grow for ever?
Crazy consumption and really gross domestic product

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqwd_u6HkMo Uploaded on Jan 24, 2010 What the impossible hamster has to teach us about economic growth. A new animation from nef (the new economics foundation), scripted by Andrew Simms, numbers crunched by Viki Johnson and pictures realised by Leo Murray. www.neweconomics.org www.onehundredmonths.org www.wakeupfreakout.org www.impossiblehamster.org We wanted to confront people with the meaning and logical conclusion of the promise of endless economic growth. We used a hamster to illustrate what would happen if there were no limits to growth because they double in size each week before reaching maturity at around 6 weeks. But if a hamster grew at the same rate until its first birthday, wed be looking at a nine billion tonne hamster, which ate more than a years worth of world maize production every day. There are reasons in nature, why things dont grow indefinitely. As things are in nature, sooner or later, so they must be in the economy. As economic growth rises, we are pushing the planet ever closer to, and beyond some very real environmental limits. With every doubling in the global economy we use the equivalent in resources of all of the previous doublings combined.

Devil’s advocate: The theory is, even if something becomes scarce, let’s say oil, then the capitalist/growth system will drive the price up, this will give incentive to the next big thing that can replace that. We see this in action with oil in Canada and the Dakotas. It used to be too expensive to bother with, but now it’s an energy bomb.
Back to reality: The theory is horribly bad at recognizing the specific qualities and properties of any given discovery or technological breakthrough. It just assumes that since we have solved problems in the past, we will continue to solve them in the future. Michael Crichton wrote a book about it and went around lecturing about it. He was fairly well received. ]

Michael Crichton, Oh god time to check out of this conversation.
Yeah, he was VERY well received by Senator Inhofe and those crazies.
May that bastard rot in hell for all the mischief and crazy-making he’s authored.

Oh Lausten, you even linked to some “State of Fear” regurgitation - now I gotta go puke.
Please don’t tell me you believe that fiction writer’s maliciously manipulative crap.
I challenge you to come up with specific quotes of his that impress you regarding global warming science and evidence.
But, you (or anyone else) won’t -
Because there’s nothing defensible there.
Still I have challenged you.
Let’s see if you can come up with something serious, al a Crickton.
>:-(