Obsession: Fastest growing production system in the world

Why is everyone so OBSESSED with growth?

"Aquaculture is the fastest growing food production system in the world." ...

> I mean, you know what happens to ANY system with exponential growth, right? It plateaus, then levels off at a lower level.
>> Plus, if e.g., bateria do it, they're "bound by their environment" (they can only have so much impact in a human body, or a petri dish).
>>> If humans do it, on the global scale, we're influencing all of the other systems.

... "As the industry grows, so does its footprint on the environment and on local communities.

> Ah, ok. At least they said it.
>> But they're still selling fast growth as "the schabang", the reason to join the industry.

- ASC job profile description, here.

Growth, schmowth*.

Unless it's personal growth we are talking about.

*Thinking (so by no means final opinion, just shaping it): the faster we race towards the top or bottom, towards any system limit, the faster we reach it, right?
And if we incur more environmental damage along the way, it will be harder, once we reach the top ... and then face that slight decline which inevitably follows (plateau-ing),

to maintain a standard of life. Or just life (as we know it).

So, I'm arguing for conscientious, conscious, mindful, whatever you call it, "progress". Taking species, including human beings, along with us for the ride to the top. And I would argue it need not be a straight line. When you walk a landscape, and you're going somewhere, be it in a jungle, a bog or in a forest, it's seldom that you can take s beeline towards your goal. You need curves and deviations.

Science fiction: Just another scientific article?

I think if you search through literature history, you'll find some book or other, from like, 50 or more years ago, that paint a picture so stark it's crazy and scary. Back then, it was called distopian futuristic sight. Now, it's just called 'another scientific report'.

The report will warn that the effects of human emissions of heat-trapping gases are already being felt, that the ultimate consequences could be dire, and that the window to do something about it is closing.

“The evidence is overwhelming: Levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are rising,” says the report, which was made available early to The New York Times. “Temperatures are going up. Springs are arriving earlier. Ice sheets are melting. Sea level is rising. The patterns of rainfall and drought are changing. Heat waves are getting worse, as is extreme precipitation. The oceans are acidifying.” (1)

But to give you the gist, the 18-page report will try and put the whole science of the last four dacades or so into crisp, clear language. And they will try to promote the science and 'What We Know' across the globe, as they say, in a 'broad outreach campaign to put forward accurate information in simple language' (1).


Like I said, time and time again: we won't need popcorn, watching the news 20 years from now. Possibly, they'll stop making any sort of movies, apart from propaganda movies.

On the other hand, there is always hope.
Even when there is no more hope, when you think all is lost, there is always hope (2).


Take for instance, this guy, Paul Rosolie, who fights in and for the rainforests in the Amazon basin (3). And he warns that even though it may seem we've lost so much and yaddi-daa [environmental scaremongering of the past], there is still so much to save and do. Right NOW. And in the future.

I'll just post an excerpt here:

While the battle is currently ongoing, it's by no means lost, according to Rosolie. He points to a flight he recently took above the heart of the Amazon: "Green. For hours. We were traveling at 140mph and all we saw were trees, interrupted by oxbow lakes and marshes, and the golden rivers that look like anacondas lying across the earth. It was incredible. And during the flight I kept thinking how we always hear about the destruction, and how time is running out. And it is true. But what we don't hear, and don't know, is that there is still so much left to save." (3)

(1) Read more here: Scientists Sound Alarm on Climate, Mar 18 2014 | Justin Gillis.

Got it via Naomi Klein's tweet, here.

(2) Losely after "Pittacus Lore, from I am Number Four. Quote here.

(3): Mother of God: meet the 26 year old Indiana Jones of the Amazon, Paul Rosolie, here.