So how does everyone think we should best prepare our grandchildren for the world of Mad Max? I'm assuming that we're all gonna be selfish and have multiple grandchildren.
The problem isn't population - population is actually leveling off. The problem is energy use. We're going to be living in different places, and we're going to be living differently, but we're going to be living. Realistically speaking, if you're typing on a computer in English and worrying about your grandchildren, you're going to be fine. It's the brown people without running water that are fucked. They'd be a lot less fucked if the developed world learned how to use energy like sub-saharan africa.
We also need to take into account the very bad things that seem to be happening to marine life and insects. If whole ecosystems break down, and food chains no longer function, we could all find ourselves screwed in ways that are not obvious until they're upon us.if you're typing on a computer in English and worrying about your grandchildren, you're going to be fine
Honestly, the idealist in me thinks we're gonna have future generations who have a whole new mentality where it's about being as least selfish as possible. They figure out what's best for communities at all level as a whole and embrace solutions for them. They'll look back at the past and think it's all one massive tragedy of the commons. They'll say shit like . . . Beef was a staple food source? That's insane! Resource per calorie it's so inefficient! You guys used up helium for party balloons and not for industrial purposes where it's needed? The heck's wrong with you? You shipped waste from North America to Asia to be recycled instead of doing it locally? Where's the sense in that. I could literally go on with this list for a while, but you get the idea. I think they'll look at our squandering with the same sense of pity and disappointment that we look back at people in the past for their misguided behavior. Then they'll make their own mistakes for their future generations to look back on in pity and disappointment and little by little, through hard lessons, we make a better world.selfish
I've been telling people us non-vegans are gonna be on the wrong side of history sooner rather than later. Same as you have a racist grandmother now, we're gonna be the backwards meat-eaters to our grandchildren. Grasping at straws and pseudo-science. Saying we're supposed to be eating dead animal flesh... because that's the way it's always been and it's human nature. But my stupid rationalizing ass has been thinking that's an extra reason to eat as much tartare as I can, before it's outlawed in 20 years.
History will acknowledge that "vegan" was not a practical or pragmatic choice until recently. It still remains a philosophical choice available largely to the wealthy... or a necessity experienced largely by the poor. The developed nations aren't outliers; there's a pretty steady correlation between available wealth and available meat. The future will have less meat. The future will also have more viable meat alternatives. We don't look at the denizens of Victorian London as backwards defilers of the environment; we look at them as victims of circumstance. It'll be weird for children of the future to think that we used to eat bacon from the stomachs of pigs and drank milk that was harvested from cows but they won't blame us for it.
Yeah, I'm saying in a generation or 2 being vegan and/or eating lab grown meat will be the norm. And some old people are gonna cling on to the meat eating and defend it as the proper way of doing things. And talk about how back in our day, everyone wasn't a pussy that eats grass. But eh, that's what happens with all big societal changes.
I think we'll be even more embarrassed by fossil fuels, particularly coal and oil extraction, loud, shouty cars that serve no social good, and the concept of just going for a drive. With time we may be embarrassed by all fossil fuel use, but there is some low hanging fruit we should be embarrassed by today.
True, it's really embarrassing but I feel people don't have that much of an attachement to their fosil-fuelled cars and would gladly switch to electric anytime. Sure, there are some car enthusiasts out there but it's more of a sub-culture than a widespread feeling (at least where i'm from). Maybe I'm underestimating Mid-America's love for derby demolition, but I don't know that much about that part of the world. My mom would not even notice if I swapped out her SUV to a Sedan as long as it stays the same color. People are suuuuper defensive about their eating habits. I think you'd have more of an uprising banning soft drinks than banning all fosil fuelled cars. My friends threw in our "gender binary" point of view on gender as another thing our generation will cling on to and be looked upon unfavourably for. Who knows!
People are defensive of changes outside of culture. "I am a vegetarian" is a personal choice; "we're all vegetarians now" is a social shift. In 2004, my wife discovered that wheat gives her eczema. She's an ardent baker; suddenly the constant cracks on her hands and lips made a lot of sense. So she gave up wheat back when it was a few random celiacs and her. Then a whole groundswell of people also gave up wheat (for good or questionable reasons; not getting into that here) and over time things got a lot easier. In 2005 I had to call ahead to the weird bakery that ran out of the back of a tea shop to get enough gluten-free bread to make stuffing. In 2013 I could buy Udi's at the local supermarket. Now, I go out to bars and have to be cautioned by the servers "you should know that one's gluten free" when I order a beer. People like to eat what tastes good and what they can afford. Food is much trendier than you think. Last week I was walking around looking for chocolate wafers for a cheesecake and found myself saying "holy shit, Snackwells" when I saw some of those wretched little devil's food cookies. I hadn't seen them in a decade; when I was in college they were half an aisle.