You can just call it capitalism. Almost every problem with everything listed is actually a capitalism problem not something inherent to itself.
All of those existed way before capitalism. Except the ones that require technology more advanced than what they had available.
And several of them were/are issues in “non-capitalist” countries like the USSR and China. (Though, to be fair, those are still state capitalist.)
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Capitalism started when some no-nobles started having more power than (some) nobles. Meaning that the power balance shifted from nobles to capitalists. Which happened around (because of) the industrial revolution.
All of these undoubtedly existed before the industrial revolution: war, monoculture farming, clear cutting forests, building on floodplains, development that destroys habitats.
These were impossible before the industrial revolution for technological reasons: space tourism, deep sea mining.
This is impossible without capitalism for semantic reasons: corporations bulldozing ecosystems for endless “growth”. Before capitalism, it wasn’t corporations, and it wasn’t done with a bulldozer. But kingdoms did “bulldoze” ecosystems. And communist countries did bulldoze ecosystems too.
Golf, lawns: these are harder to prove and I don’t care enough to do the research. Golf probably couldn’t be done before industrial revolution, but maybe a primitive version of golf could be played.
So at most, the tweet might be right in the best of cases about golf and lawns. Which would make for a much more boring tweet.
That was a huge waste of effort trying to educate somebody that doesn’t care to learn new things.
Wasn’t a waste though, I read it. 😄
are you really that ignorant? Have you failed that much in basic, elementary education or are you just intentionally being stupid?
But… But… Number must go up!
the inherent problem with capitalism is that people strive for something. the moment that you want your situation to be B instead of A, you are unhappy (with A). that is how ambition inherently creates unhappiness. there is nothing you can do about it. only way to solve this would be to never strive for anything, but that’s not gonna happen for the vast majority of people.
and the same also goes for larger macroeconomic situations. if you want to have a nice boat, you gotta chop down some trees for wood. so you’re sacrificing a part of the peace of the landscape, for your ambitions. even if it’s the ambition of a whole country. you’re still sacrificing something.
Thank you! So many AI bros keep going “then why aren’t you against xyz?” And I’m like, I am? I can actually have a consistent moral framework?
But how do you have such a big context window???
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Monoculture farming is pretty much the only thing that’s keeping billions upon billions from starvation and is pretty much the foundation of society.
There’s also not that much wrong with it. You can absolutely do modern farming sustainably, it’s just many don’t. So, like all companies, farmers need to be forced to do the right thing.
Also, the Netherlands is basically a giant floodplane, and wetre all fine. It’s not our fault other places have a skill issue.
the Netherlands is basically a giant floodplane, and wetre all fine.
…so far.
What with climate change, larger storms, and sea level rise, though … might get a bit more spicy in the times to come.
Well, turns out that you can actually prepare for that, since we know it’s coming. Upgrading the flood defenses started decades ago.
River floods are much more risky than sealevel rise, since Germany is lagging hugely with providing water retention for the rivers, and getting people to move out of the way is kinda complex in such a densely populated country.
While some of the feats of large scale agriculture seem impressive, the fossil fuel industry and those who sell the machinery seem to have inflated the numbers quite a lot.
Biodiverse landscapes grow a higher density of food with fewer pesticides and herbicides, and better soil health and water retention in the long term. The problem: you need those pesky people to maintain and harvest complex biodiverse systems, and they want livable wages! Best call them savages and uncivilized, drive them away in the name of progess and force everyone to use your machines, fertilizer, pesticides, machinery and fuels.
The problem: you need those pesky people to maintain and harvest complex biodiverse systems, and they want livable wages! Best call them savages and uncivilized, drive them away in the name of progess and force everyone to use your machines, fertilizer, pesticides, machinery and fuels.
Yeah, you can pretty much only do polyculture by hand, that’s true. Are you suggesting we go back to unmechanized farming?
That would be super great for the planet, as it would cause the deaths by starvation of roughly 90% of the population, with the majority of the remaining humans forced into subsistence farming.
Neither corpses not subsistence farmers would cause much pollution. It might be somewhat hard to get volunteers for it though.
On the other hand, you can absolutely maintain a biodiverse landscape AND use mechanized monoculture fields. You just need to give nature time and space too, and that’s something most farmers refuse to do. Which is why they should be forced to. I don’t see why a factory gets banned from destroying biodiversity, but it’s fine when farmers do it.
give nature time and space
That’s what a biodiverse landscape does? I didn’t say unmechanized - but there’s a difference between running giant machines over 200ha of the same and running a small tractor over a 2ha field. For the landscape it makes all the difference: having 2ha of one thing, then a hedge (that can contain edible fruits and berries), then something else, maybe have pasture with nut and chestnut on it, instead of just pasture.
Even in a small vegetable garden planting different plants together is so much easier. Higher plants give shade to smaller ones, aromatic ones protect pest-endangered ones … recreating an actual ecosystem is the real deal.
Todays’ rural areas are empty of people. They were bought out by those people who consented to being enslaved by the machine and fuel complex. The ones who were forced to leave had to become wage slaves in the cities. The ones who run the system now don’t even want to touch the soil anymore! They just send a fucking drone to analyze where to dump how much of their chemicals. It’s not a sustainable way of managing soil and water.
That’s what a biodiverse landscape does? I didn’t say unmechanized - but there’s a difference between running giant machines over 200ha of the same and running a small tractor over a 2ha field. For the landscape it makes all the difference: having 2ha of one thing, then a hedge (that can contain edible fruits and berries), then something else, maybe have pasture with nut and chestnut on it, instead of just pasture.
I agree entirely, with pretty much everything you posted, but that’s still monoculture. One crop per field, only much more ecologically friendly.
There’s also not that much wrong with it. You can absolutely do modern farming sustainably, it’s just many don’t.
uh, i like the example of the Kansas aquifer. It’s basically a whole lot of water that has been stored deep underground for thousands of years.
It is slowly being depleted. The reason is the center-pivot irrigation farming that produces food, and depletes water. The water is basically non-renewable on human timescales.
It will probably take another 100 years at the current extraction rate until the aquifer is completely dried up. So, it’s not sustainable.
And yet i’m fine with this. Because we probably won’t be around in 100 years anymore to actually worry about the water supply in the midwest. human population will shrink and we’ll be able to live within the renewable bounds by then. So, it is unsustainable (since we cannot do this forever), but also we won’t need to do this forever. So it’s fine enough.
But hey, we all are going hard right in the Benelux, so in a decade you guys will probably have to pay some private equity company a monthly subscription for them to hold the dikes closed for you lol. Or maybe they will just be so fucked and non-maintained through privatization that the will all fail anyway because it isn’t profitable enough
Yeah, but don’t worry, maybe if we vote for the VVD even harder, it’ll be different next time
I love space tourism! It paves the way for humans to travel far beyond this planet. Plus, in the early days, we might get to see a billionaire become a firework 🤞
Call it data prison. Once they get your files, they don’t give them out, hold them hostage for a fee you pay.
Does this include golf in Wii Sports?
Yes, even in Wii sports the golf courses contributed to global warming, that’s why we have storm island
Yes, because if kids see golf in video games, it will make them want to golf in real life
I would think space tourism would be cool if the normal person could afford it.
And maybe add “we can get up there without putting tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere”
Gigantic Catapults.
FYI, you’d have to launch the objects with about 10 km/s, at which point the velocity is high enough to ionize the air around you and create a plasma that basically eradicates everything except the most resistant heat shields.
also the air friction slows you down so you won’t actually reach orbit
Titanium armor and balls of steel oughta do right?
something, something trebuchets
I love that argument where the AI addict asked if I hate AI so much, would I be able to complete my work without it. And apparently AI all shut down yesterday, and I didn’t notice whatsoever because that’s how much I use it.
What about lawns reconverted to preservation spaces with native plants, and an occasional bumbling human meandering about?
Those aren’t lawns:
Some people misuse the term so I wanted to be sure
Me IRL
Just one?
Nobody wants to get datacenter chlamydia
But if you spread it to more datacenters, you could be doing a great public service…
And Hill’s biscuits. They’re the only people who can fuck up a custard cream. Mind boggling.
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Yeah, if you live in Scotland. Basically anywhere else and it’s an ecodisaster wrapped in massive land wastage.
i heard iceland is only habitable because of the gulf stream
oh wait, we were talking about golf?
Well yes, but have you ever really given golf a chance?
Maybe you will like it…
Golf in trimmed greens is noob-level, give me extreme golf in an untrimmed mangrove
And alligators….
I’m in Florida’s, gators love golf courses.
I feel like one possible future where I go to jail is when a conversation goes like
Me: “That thing you’re doing is unnecessary, bad for the environment, and bad for society.”
Them: “But I like it”
Me, screaming “BUT I LIKE IT” while I punch them in the face over and over and over and over.
Liking something is not a trump card that supersedes all other concerns, and yet some galaxy brains act like it is. Much more respect for people who can admit “I don’t care about the environment or society” out loud.
well put. and the worst part is the chuds who want to use public funds to pay for their habit - get FUCKED with that garbage, it’s a racist, shitty waste of a ‘sport’.
Not to spoil your righteous rage to much, but in the retirement community I live in the courses have a duel purpose.
If it’s dry people play golf.
If there is a hurricane or flood or rain event, they function as retentions ponds.
Seeing a golf course turn into a lake in a single day is an awesome sight.
No rivers or swamps around here to soak up the rain. So the whole place was engineered on purpose to use the courses.
yeah and there’s simply no other way to do flood abatement than building a fuckin golf course that requires water, fertilizer, gas to mow and is a historically racist as fuck sport, played by a tiny number of people, both in terms of population and asset utilization.
it’s trump’s favorite, that should tell you everything.
reevaluate your choices.
Nope. No reevaluation required.
Did you miss the retirement community part?
This is the last stop this train makes. I’m just chilling in heavens waiting room. Shouldn’t be long till they call my number.
ah the boomer creed: fuck you, I got mine
I absolutely believe my crotch rocket (of which I am a rider) and AR-15s (which I am a owner) are in the “But I like it” category. Will society be better without them? Absolutely.
Miniature golf is great.
Golf courses requiring the lushest green grass that requires a massive amount of maintenance can go fuck itself.
And some people like starting forest fires.
Just because you like it doesn’t mean it’s a good thing.
yeah golf is great (written from my nintendo Wii U)
I have had fun golfing through heath and forests with a minigolf club.
There is no need for the pesticide and fertilizer ridden, green wasteland that golf normally gets played on.
I hate all this shit independently…
And I hate little removed who advertise they hate this shit as their entire personality and do nothing about it but post on Lemmy 🫡🤷
