Meet the pleasant, if apocalyptic, 'Dr. Doom'

[4dsc]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA20060827.01A.profcontroversy.30967fa.html

I have to agree with the professor's statement about population reduction.

When classes resume at the University of Texas at Austin this week, 90 impressionable undergrads will file into an ecology class taught by a chatty zoology professor known — not always out of earshot — as "Dr. Doom."

His real name is Eric Pianka, and students enrolled in his ecology, evolution and society course will hear a sad synopsis of Earth's vanishing species and habitats — coupled with an apocalyptic warning about humans racing obliviously toward the edge of a high cliff.

If he models his lectures on previous ones, Pianka may remark that the planet would be better off without 90 percent of the humans who now populate it — no offense to anyone in particular.

"We should have done something about our population 25 or 30 years ago," the Denton A. Cooley Centennial Professor of Zoology said during a recent interview at his university office.

"Now we're going to have to go into a collapse. It's going to be very painful. The death rate is going to have to exceed the birth rate. We're going to have famines; civilizations are going to fall apart," he added.

All the good stuff is going to happen in the future.

[elocs]

1. I can read about this all the time at PeakOil.com.

There are some major doom and gloomers there. Their attitude is that it doesn't matter what you suggest or what you do, we're all screwed. Just think, these are probably going to be the good old days.

[pscot]

2. I got a bad feeling about this

I think our future's behind us.

[Delphinus]

3. From the article:

Pianka's employer has stood behind him. In a sense, Pianka states what many scientists have been saying for decades: Exploding human populations, particularly in developing countries, coupled with voracious consumption patterns in developed ones, put great strain on Earth and its resources, which in turn create conditions ripe for wars, famines and environmental catastrophes.

Jared Diamond has said something similar in his book "Collapse". It's true and if we, as a species, want to continue on this planet, we'd better take off our shock and anger and face the facts.

[Parisle]

4. This Is What You Get,...

-----This is what you get when all significant decisions in the US are, in effect, made by corporate elitists. They write their own laws, plan foreign policy and control the media. The profit motive does not lead to good decision-making across the whole spectrum of issues confronting Americans or the entire planet.

[kestrel91316]

5. Unrestrained growth in a closed system is non-sustainable.

[Boomer]

6. You would think that was self-evident...

But I'm still amazed at the number of people who scoff at the notion that there are limits to uncontrolled growth in a closed system. How hard a concept is that to comprehend?

Our ability, as a species, to create technologies that extend our growth beyond normal parameters just means that we're going to collapse with greater force.

Selfishly, I hope that collapse comes after my death, 'cause it's going to be very, very ugly.

[kestrel91316]

8. Unfortunately, our educational system no longer teaches

basic logic and basic science, from what I can tell.

Junior high geometry was a useful class in teaching logic.
A does not equal B, and such.

[Dogmudgeon]

7. He was "Swift Boated" by wingnuts earlier this year

Reported to the Feds and all.

Eric Pianka.
The Mims-Pianka controversy.

Forrest Mims -- the main wingnut involved -- used to write excellent beginners' books on electronics. He should stick to his area of expertise. Political science doesn't suit him well.

As for Eric Pianka -- he's not a lightweight by any means. More power to him! And let's hope the Powers That Be listen to him.

--p!

[hunter]

10. Oh man, I haven't thought about Forrest Mims for a long time...

But I still have a stack of his books amidst my treasures.

I was a childhood electronics genius, and he was like a god to me. Electronics was my life until my first two years in college. I wanted to be a television engineer. Then I noticed there were fewer and fewer women in my classes, so I changed my major to Biology. (Ahh, the whims of a young man.) Then I started taking evolutionary biology classes, and paleontology classes...

Poor Forrest Mims... as he lay bloody and battered on the highways of Reality, I passed him by... and threw salt in his wounds. I wasn't the only one.



Prime Dry Salted Codfish. Poor Forrest Mims. I went to Google Groups, but I was afraid, too afraid.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. A shame he seems to have given up trying to help, himself

His two adult daughters, whom he adores, are proof that he didn't have himself sterilized as a youth. He drives 70 miles a day back and forth to work, though he does so in a Toyota Prius. He's got air conditioning throughout his house.

He says he tries to reduce his imprint on the Earth, but not as much as some of his friends, who've replaced their cars with bikes. In the end, Pianka said, it doesn't really matter.

"In truth, it backfires. It's kind of like crews cleaning up the highways. All it does is encourage people to toss their (trash) out. When you walk or ride a bike or drive a Prius, all you do is encourage some (expletive) out there to drive a Hummer or an Excursion."

I think he's profoundly wrong here, and the hypocrisy leaves a bad taste in your mouth. 70 miles a day of optional driving - just so he can have a nice view of buffalo? No, cleaning up highways does not encourage people to toss out more - it's when people see trash all over the place they figure one more piece won't make a difference.And I just can't see any logic behind "walking enourages others to drive a Hummer" - huh? For a professor, he sure comes out with apparent bullshit. You'd think he'd try to explain that piece of non-logic.

As a more-than average energy-hungery American, he probably produces 10 times the amount of CO2 as the average Brazilian. His "it doesn't matter what we each do, it's just the number of people that count" attitude is shortsighted.