This is really depressing.
So What's the next major Crisis going to be?
Bentley Wright
Brayden Hill
This is true. The political crisis will arise from Trump's policies, a bad reaction to a world event, or from the outcome of the Mueller probe.
Specifically with the probe, both major sides have their hearts set on opposite outcomes. If Trump is deposed it will cause a huge political crisis as the election mechanism is replaced by deep state determinations (I think we were set up for this either way with the Trump/Clinton election). If Trump gets rid of Mueller there will be huge protests and if the Republicans circle the wagons they will rapidly become even more authoritarian. If Mueller doesn't come up with anything to finger Trump, liberals will lose their minds.
Not really seeing Porkies share decreasing. It's more that conflict is accelerating as the stakes rise due to the possibility of deploying ever more powerful technology. They're fighting over who gets to (try to) impose the final solution.
This is just not true. Intensive growth is a thing. Plus we're not talking about a finitr planet, at the minimum we're talking about the Sun-Earth-Moon(tides) assemblage, and I'm thinking we will rapidly begin colonizing space soon. So, I agree that it will be a political crisis but not for the same reasons.
Kayden Long
Liam Howard
sea ice is actually not that important, except as a metric
the more important things in the 'OH WHY IS THIS MELTING' category are glaciers and permafrost
Blake Turner
Sea ice and glaciers provide an effect known as albedo, essentially it reflects more sunlight and absorbs less energy than open water does, by a very considerable margin at that.
Sea ice and glaciers melting contribute to what is known as a positive feedback loop. The hotter it gets, the less sea ice you have - the less ice you have, the more energy the ocean absorbs - the more energy the ocean absorbs the hotter it gets, etc.
Lincoln Bennett
Global warming/sea levels aren't a problem for people in first world countries that can afford to engineer around it, either in the form of levees or desalination. However it'll be an apocalypse-tier event for the third world (africa, the middle east, southeast asia) who can't afford it.
But we're amidst a major economic crisis right now. The champion of global capitalism, America, is now turned against it and is deliberately attempting to destroy it by creating a new protectionist bloc of countries (notably NAFTA). China's internal debts will directly instigate an economic collapse there, while America's student loan crisis will destroy an entire generation's wealth.
What you've described is the end of oil, not the end of capitalism or society as we understand it. As oil becomes more and more expensive alternatives naturally become cheaper.
John Ward
Shale production stops when the price point of crude gets really low, but to say that no one has profited from it all is silly.
The shale revolution will resume when the oil glut ends.
Wyatt Smith
If you're from the US or Europe (even if you're not, though doubly so if you are) every aspect of your continued existence depends on oil being both plentiful and cheap. Industrial society is in no way capable of operating in even a hundredth of its current state without dem hydrocarbons, and that scaling back (and the millions who die in the process) is what I would call the end of what we think of as industrial society at scale. I don't necessarily think that this would end capitalism though - shit is pervasive.
Demand for alternatives would definitely grow, but that doesn't make them cheaper. It's rather quite the opposite. (basic supply vs. demand)
Additionally, every one of those alternatives is dependent on oil for mining, processing, transporting, manufacturing, transporting again and installing, which also increases the cost of the potential alternatives. Alternatives that currently have no way of sustaining the logistics of the supply-chain that we depend on for food.
Jose Green
Yes, but H2 cells and corn exist. Petroleum oil is just one form of it.
As production grows costs fall, at least to a point. We're not at that point when it comes to corn and H2 cells.
Lucas Carter
en.wikipedia.org
Solar may yet save us all, the price point of photovalics is halving every 10 years. Also, many of the poorest countries on the planet are ripe for solar power.
space porky is on it