We all know now that the planet is on an inexorable slide to climate chaos, but some special people are planning on running away. The World Wildlife Fund , via the BBC:
The planet’s natural resources are being consumed faster than they can be replaced, according to the WWF. If current trends continue two planets would be needed by 2050 to meet humanity’s demands.
[…]
Countries are shown in proportion to the amount of natural resources they consume.
Humanity’s demand for resources is now outstripping supply by about 25%, as the growth of our ecological footprint shows. Meanwhile the health of the planet’s ecosystems, measured by the living planet index, is falling, at “a rate unprecedented in human history,” according to the WWF.
No wonder the neocons, the Nietzschians, the Randians and the warhawks like Instapundit are so keen on the idea of transhumanism. In the transhumanist ideal the enhanced elect, the ubermenschen, will inherit the earth, and then when that’s bled dry, the other planets. That’s the general idea put in very simplistic terms; unfortunately the plans only seem to have room for Americans – the rest of us untermenschen can go hang, or rather drown or starve. I suppose someone has to be the Morlocks in this narrative and it’s us non-rich-white-males.
This all sounds rather bizarre but actual US government policy bears it out. The US is currently attempting to militarise all of near-earth space and to claim the other solar planets as their own, using their own warped version of ‘manifest destiny’ for justification. You can bet your ass the transhumanists’ll be on that like white on rice. Humanity ( but only of a certain type) uber alles and fuck the universe. They’re entitled.
US stakes claim on space
New policy just slightly territorial
By Lucy Sherriff Published Thursday 19th October 2006 13:06 GMTThe US has claimed “dibs” on the Universe with its new space policy. The document, signed by President Bush, was released on a Friday, just before a long weekend in the States. This, in itself has caused a bit of a stir, but not more so than the tone and content of the document.
In it, the US government allocates itself rights to access and use space without anyone else getting in its way. It also sets security at the heart of the space agenda, frequently citing its right to use space as part of its national defence.
Significantly, however, it does not commit to restrict, or even to join talks about restricting the development of space-based weapons. This is despite a UN vote last year in which 160 nations voted in favour of such talks.
The rapacious gluttons* have fucked over one ecological system irreparably, now it’s on to the next and screw the rest of us left to face the dangerous death throes of a dying planet. That’s why the Right don’t care what damage they do. They think they have an escape hatch when it all goes to shit.
* I”m one too. I live in Northern Europe, so I can hardly exempt myself from the description.
UPDATE: here’s something we can do at least. Make your own solar panel for less than 150 euro.
Read more: Environment, Climate Change, Science, Transhumanism, Space, US politics, Manifest Destiny
