Merle
Member
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2022
- Messages
- 415
- Gender
- Male
- Basic Beliefs
- Agnostic Humanist
Oh, what a zinger. Did you learn that debate tactic in middle school?I've read your school essay.
In other words, you refuse to answer the question, and yet you reserve the right to criticize anybody who dares to address the question. How can you criticize those who are brave enough to answer this question if you yourself avoid the question?I'm certainly not taking your hypotheticals seriously.Suppose that we will soon be in overshoot by more than 200%, that it would take 2 planets the size of Earth to support our lifestyle. We could easily reach that point soon if we extrapolate our Ecological Footprint as calculated by the Global Footprint Network.
Question: If 100 years from now we needed to cut our consumption in half, which would you prefer:
a) 125% of the current population living at an average of 40% of today's consumption or
b) 50% of the current population living at an average of 100% of today's consumption.
Please answer. If a person refuses to answer that question, how can he be taking this discussion seriously?
I will oblige you and add option "c".Actually, Wiedmann et al provide a clue to help answer this question:
That suggests that we shouldn't try to reduce the world's population uniformly, just eliminate the top one or two deciles of consumers....the world’s top 10% of income earners are responsible for between 25 and 43% of environmental impact. In contrast, the world’s bottom 10% income earners exert only around 3–5% of environmental impact.
That doesn't line up with either of your choices, though.
Question: If 100 years from now we needed to cut our consumption in half, which would you prefer:
a) 125% of the current population living at an average of 40% of today's consumption or
b) 50% of the current population living at an average of 100% of today's consumption.
c) eliminate the top one or two deciles of consumers.
Now that I added option c, can you answer the question?
If you choose option c, can you explain how your plan would eliminate those who may be reading this that are in the top 20%? Some of us don't want to be "eliminated".