Comfort or dependance?

Dear Tom, It is hard to be motivated when the comforts of security, money, and love are avaliable to us. It's just too much effort to try anything else. Its easier to stay in our comfort zone. What do you do when you come across barries like this?

FH

By using some imagination and knowledge about the Observable Reality.

What you call "comfort" is an illusion. You forget that what you call "comfort" is really your dependance on power, water and other supplies that are available for "money".

If you watched the news, even occasionally, you would notice that the frequency and intensity of so-called "natural disasters" increases dramatically. Even insurance companies raise premiums or even cancel their cover altogether.

Unfortunately, with humanity attached to their "comforts" (and associated generation of pollution) the situation will become worse. A lot worse. The MAIN danger is associated with overheating of the planetary interior. Frequency and intensity of seismic activity will continue to increase dramatically. With frequent hurricanes, earthquakes, floods etc... central power supply will become very unrealiable. Without power, there will be no water too... You won't be able to refrigerate your food either... Hence, if you are not self sufficient in energy, water and food, at least to some degree, your "comfort" will be gone as soon as some disaster hits your area. Can your house withstand a 7.5 earthquake every week? Are you ready?

Tom

I think everyone should read this article. It is very informative about hydrogen economy and the effects of fossil fuel.

sean

It is an interesting reading indeed. However, it author(s) assume a CENTRAL generation of energy. The concept of self-sufficiency and distributed generation is simply ignored.

Also ignored is an obvious fact that we need to become more energy efficient. People waste a lot of energy without even realizing it. How many energy inefficient devices do you use everyday? What is your daily energy consumption? Can you half it by using energy efficient devices (such as solar hot water)?

Tom

Tom, the situation seems irreversable. We should of course all adopt your above suggestions, however this would be a bandaid solution. To make a real dent in energy consumption we would need to change the way our whole society is structured. Major cities/suburbs infrastucture would need to be demolished and restructured to make a real impact.

First, as individuals we need to adopt a more open mind to energy conservation and the way we go about our daily activities. Secondly, we need to look at how BIG business/corporations work. I'm certain energy consumption from big business rivals or even surpasses domestic use. The same for water usage.

Marcus

Demolishing cities: Nature will do it soon if their inhabitants fail to think and act coherently.

Business: please take note, that "business" will ONLY engage in things for which there are consumers and demand. Hence, it is ultimately up to people what they choose to demand. Have you noticed that promoting confusion, misinformation, wars etc... is "good for business" and "economy"? Can you imagine an alternative direction?

Tom

Tom, if the planetary interior overheats, won't this mean that heat will be radiated out to space at a faster rate, causing a negative feedback cycle and therfore cooling the interior ?

AJ

Yes, this is a natural mechanism. However, a thickening blanket of greenhouse gasses and pollution generated by ignorant humanity traps a lot more Solar heat and in fact reduces the amount of heat that can escape from the planetary interior.

When the rate of heat generation inside Earth is larger than the rate of the heat escape, even by the tiniest amount, the planetary interior accumulates heat and overheats. Raising ocean temperatures, increased seismic and volcanic activity, melting of polar ice caps etc... are direct evidence of this process.

The other natural way of cooling overheated planetary interior is via volcanic activity. If some volcanos explode and eject enough dust to shield the Sun (i.e reflect enough of the Sun energy back into space), the planetary surface will freeze. As you know, ice ages are quite common in planetary history...

Tom

Wouldn't this mean that most of humanity will die and we would be launched into an ice age and start evolution from the early beginning?

A.S

The number of survivors and what resources they will have depends on the duration of the ice age. It can be anywhere from 5 to 500 years, depending on the quantity and intensity of volcanic explosions.

An ice age is actually an optimistic (and hopefully realistic) scenario. If the planetary interior overheats too much for too long the entire planet can actually explode. Have you seen this article?

Tom

Hello Tom, I have just read your last comment about the dangers of dependency on central supply of the basic commodities like electricity and water. And I agree. You are right. But I just don't see how this could be overcome in a large city setting where most habitations are made up of large blocks of bulidlings, crammed in a small space over a large area and occupied by dozens of families at the same time. How do you decentralize the supply in this city kind of situation? How do you make the generation of these commodities more numerous and local? In a countryside it's easier to imagine but a city seems quite problematic. Any ideas anyone? It's really interesting and I think it should be discussed (especially in the view of that's coming up).

Daniel

It seems that cities are designed as death traps. Any major disaster will cause the loss of power, then water and shortly after food. Without water, fresh food and with poor hygenic conditions (due to the lack of water) diseases are likely to take a very high toll.

The best chance is to move away from cities before it is too late.

Tom

The link in your second answer on this page does not work.

H.K.

Now it does. Sorry for the mistake.

Tom

Tom, I have read your forum now for a number of years and agree with what you say. However getting out of this 'comfort zone' is a lot more difficult than it sounds, especially if other people depend on you such as family. I moved from sydney to Perth to try and begin this transition. The problem is you still need money to live. Sure you can grow a few vegies, install some water tanks etc but at the end of the day you need some income. How do you explain to you 6 and 7 year old children what you are trying to do when all their friends in the street have game boys etc and make fun of them because they have none. It's difficult.The consequence is that I am still stuck in this 'comfort zone'. Sure I try to buy energy efficient devices such as washing machines and compost all my food wastes but at the end of the day I have progressed very little than when I lived in Sydney. It is all very frustrating. I admire you for what you have done Tom. This forum gives me inspiration to keep trying.

Dave

1. Income: Please take a note that "income" will become irrelevant when disasters occur. Imagine what will you be left with. Do you have enough knowledge how to survive?
2. Children: why don't you use your intellect to inspire them to become aware of the Reality, not just games. Read them the first half page of The Freedom and see what they think. Are they aware WHY they choose certain things?

Tom

In my opinion, yes, it is very frustrating when living in this type of society, but once we realise that we chose this 'exam' ourselves, then it makes sense to have to put up with hardships etc.., since we wanted this type of life, we wanted to experience the feelings that one gets by interacting/living with others in this type of environment. So, the frustration can be replaced with a focus on self development in the context of what we come across everyday; and the best attitude for seems to be leaving other people to experience the consequences of their attitude/actions for themselves - Tom was right - you can only lead the horse to water but it must do the drinking.

rafal