LAST ONE OUT'S A LUDDITE :

Earth 'will expire by 2050' : Our planet is running out of room and resources. Modern man has plundered so much, a damning report claims this week, that outer space will have to be colonised (Mark Townsend and Jason Burke, July 7, 2002, The Observer)

Earth's population will be forced to colonise two planets within 50 years if natural resources continue to be exploited at the current rate, according to a report out this week.

A study by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), to be released on Tuesday, warns that the human race is plundering the planet at a pace that outstrips its capacity to support life.

In a damning condemnation of Western society's high consumption levels, it adds that the extra planets (the equivalent size of Earth) will be required by the year 2050 as existing resources are exhausted.

The invaluable H. D. Miller, of Travelling Shoes, has already debunked this nonsense far better than I could, so let's try a different angle.

Grab a roll of Reynolds Wrap, foil up the old noggin and let's pretend we believe this bunkum for the nonce. Earth is doomed and we have to head for new planets. Well, guess who's going to lead us there? Not some eco-friendly, avacado-growin', patchoulli-stinkin', hemp-wearin', crystal-danglin, snail darter-huggin', tree-worshippin', vegan co-operative, but the big, dirty, nasty industrialized West, and not just the West generally but the prime offender of all that Gaia holds dear : The U. S. of A..

Guess what else; we're going to need a heck of a lot of natural resources to transport 10 billion people to New Arcadia. So crank up the strip mining operations and the crop dusters and the oil drills--Man's getting off of this dying hell hole and there's no need to leave it neat.

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 8, 2002 11:50 AM