Population Explosion, Climate Change,
Resource Depletion
SAVING OUR
BEAUTIFUL PLANET
Paul H. Carr, Ph. D
www.MirrorOfNature.org.

Star Island NH 200 Yr-Old Chapel
UU & UCC Conference Center
“For the Beauty of the Earth….Source of All to Thee We Raise…”

The Challenges to
our Beautiful Planet:
•Overpopulation,
•Climate Change,
•Resource Depletion

1.“Limits …”published in 1972.
*Has sold 10 million copies
*In 2012, predictions were
shown to be accurate & updated.
2. 2011 UN IPCC Report predicts
hurricanes & weather extremes
will increase from global
warming.
3.Can we deploy new
technologies in time?
4. Re-envisioning Beauty to Save
our Planet.

THE POPULATION EXPLOSION CAN’T GO ON FOREVER

1880 to 1972: CO2 INCREASE 30 PPM
1972 – 2012: 77 PPM
CO2 POLLUTANT DRIVING CLIMATE CHANGE

We can’t keep burning oil forever
OIL RESOURCE DEPLETION

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Looking-Back-on-the-Limits-of-Growth.html#ixzz1rG5D2BHa
LOOKING BACK ON THE LIMITS TO GROWTH (1972)
World’s food production predicted to crash in 2030.
.

ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL.
POPULATION PROBLEMS
ARE LOCAL.
“THE RICH ARE GETTING RICHER,
THE POOR ARE HAVING MORE CHILDREN.”

Population Imbalance
*Italy’s fertility rate only about 1.4—well below the
number needed to replenish its population (2.1).
* Population of Europe is decreasing.
* Heavy debt and an aging, shrinking population are a
very bad combination.
Europe’s Real Crisis
The Continent’s problems are as much demographic as financial. They won’t go away
soon.
The Atlantic, April 2012
Most population growth is occurring in Africa and southern Asia.
Population explosion (World): -Birthrate exceeds deaths.
Population decline(Europe): -Death rate exceeds births.

GLOBAL WARMING OVER THE CENTURIES

Physics Today, March 2012, pg. 31
NUMBER OF EVENTS WITH DAMAGE OVER $ 1 BILLION (NOAA)
2008: 9 2011: 14 Average since 1980: 3 to 4
• Since 1996 over $1 billion damage doubled
compared with the previous 15-year period.
Hurricane Katrina 2005: $146 B
Hurricane Irene 2011: $15B
Hurricane Sandy 2012: $50B

T
24 Aug 2005. Tropical
Storm Approaches
Southern Florida.
28 Aug 2005. Katrina,
Category 5 Hurricane,
gained energetic winds of
175 mph due to the
record high temperatures
of the Gulf of Mexico.
28 Aug 2005. Katrina,
Category 5, 175 mph
winds. Absorbed energy
from the record high
temperatures of the
Gulf of Mexico.
29 Aug 2005. Katrina
causes $100Bs damage to
New Orleans, LA
KATRINA: Tropical Storm to Hurricane
Global Warming Wake-Up Call

November 1, 2012
Hurricane Sandy
•At least 100 U.S. deaths.
•Economic losses expected to climb as
high as $50 billion.
•Eight million homes without power.
The broadening scientific consensus:
*Climate change amps up other basic
factors that contribute to big storms.
*The oceans have warmed, providing
more energy for storms.
*The Earth’s atmosphere has warmed,
so it retains more moisture, which is
drawn into storms and is then
dumped on us.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-01

Most recent prediction for 2100: 3 to 6 feet

Can we deploy new
technologies in time?
• BIRTH CONTROL
• INSTALLED COST OF PHOTOVOLTAIC
SOLAR CELLS HAVE ACHIEVED GRID
PARITY ($0.10/kWh)
• ELECTRIC CARS NOW GET 100 MILES
PER GALLON EQUIVALENT

Melinda Gates’ New Crusade: Investing Billions in Contraception Technology
She plans to use the Gates Foundation’s billions to revolutionize contraception
worldwide. The Catholic right is pushing back. Is she ready for the political
firestorm ahead? (Newsweek, May 7, 2012 )
Her Catholic faith, has always informed her
work. “From the very beginning, we said that
as a foundation we will not support
abortion”
“We’re serving the other piece of the
Catholic mission, which is social justice.”
“100,000 women annually die in childbirth
after unintended pregnancies.
600,000 babies born to women who didn’t
want to be pregnant die in the first month of
life. “
Teaming with British to start raising the
$4 billion the foundation says it will cost to
get 120 million more women access to
contraceptives by 2020.
Depo-Provera is popular in
many poor countries because
women need to inject it only 4
times a year.
http://www.londonfamilyplanningsum
mit.co.uk/

INSTALLED COST OF PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR CELLS ACHIEVES GRID PARITY
($.10/kWh)
(U of Illinois Prof. Angus Rockett)
$0.10/kWhr

Sunny future: Dow Chemical hopes to transform the solar
power industry by integrating solar cells with conventional
roofing shingles. Credit: Dow Chemical
Presently they
seem to cost about
$6/ sq. ft but will
come down with
production
increases. Any-
way, $15K for a
2500 sq. ft. house
means a payback
of about 6 years.
Gene Norris, FL

2012 NISSAN
LEAF® Plug IN
As low as:
$27,700*Net value
after
federal tax credit
106City MPGal
100 mi range.
Mitusbishi i
ELECTRIC CARS
106 MILES/GALLON
EQUIVALENT

Conservation, efficiency, & a more
vegetarian diet can reduce our use of
fossil fuels. Nature is the capital on
which capitalism is based.
In the long-term, our world’s
economy will be constrained by ecology.
There are indeed Limits to Growth.
What are you doing to conserve?
What car would Jesus Drive?

RE-ENVISIONING BEAUTY
Is beauty “in the eye of the beholder”
or/and a Spiritual experience?
Without divinely created beauty,
nature becomes an object that may
be ravaged.
For example, the Canadian tar sands
can be beautiful in the eyes of its
owners because it is a source of black
gold.

Canadian Tar Sands: “Scraping Bottom”
National Geographic, 3/2009

RE-ENVISIONING BEAUTY
Let us re-envision beauty to transform our relationship
with life on earth.
Science is based on respect for nature’s laws.
Spirituality engenders reverence for and the
consecration of nature, created, sustained, and
redeemed by a Divine power.

Population Explosion, Climate Change,
Resource Depletion
SAVING OUR
BEAUTIFUL PLANET
Paul H. Carr, Ph. D
www.MirrorOfNature.org.