March 2023
Updated Oct 2023
I’m not a “tree hugger” but I do like trees! Our early human ancestors appear to have lived their lives in a sustainable and renewable way that had little or no impact on our wonderful planet. Back then sustainable and renewable were unknown words or concepts. Much of the current main stream and other media seem to be obsessed with “Being Green”, “Global Climate Change” (GCC) and / or Global Warming (GW) and seem to want to “blame” the current GW on the industrial revolution, there may be some merit with regards to human created Green House Gases (GHG) but the current GW started about 1.2 MILLION years ago, after being in a (partial) ice age for some 65 MILLION years. Some experts suggest that the planet will continue to warm until we have no ice at our polar caps and until then we are still in an ice age. Then the planet will start to cool again in a cyclic fashion. Global Warming and Global Cooling might well be cyclic but we really need to respect our planet and stop damaging it in a parasitical manner.
The planet we call Earth is our home and it was formed some 4.5 BILLION years ago and not for the benefit of humans because humans have only been around for a lot less than a MILLION years. The Earth has its own “maintenance system” which consists of the constant moving of the Tectonic Plates, Earthquakes and Volcanoes. The Earth is just one of many planets in our Milky Way Galaxy and there are apparently over a BILLION Galaxies in our Universe and that is mind blowing. It sort of puts humans in the same category of fleas on a dog, in that we have no control over “cosmic events” but we can do everything possible to make human lives as good as possible without being parasites that damage the Earth.
We ought to be looking more at how we live and stop being parasites that rape the planet of its resources yet give nothing in return.
Over population is something that we might need to have a look at but unless we carry out drastic measures, there isn’t much we can do about the success of human procreation. According to some sources, humans started out as 2 people (1 Male & 1 Female). This may have some merit but its likely not the full story. Our human numbers currently exceed 8 BILLION (mind blowing). 8+ BILLION people that all need feeding, shelter and clothing. 8+ BILLION people all producing bio and other waste but we seem to blame cows for the excess of methane (a GHG) production but hey ho.
As far as we (currently) know, modern humans didn’t start inhabiting the Earth until some 30+000 years ago but there some suggestions that humans could have been around for a MILLION years but supporting evidence is a bit thin on the ground. Humans are basically Omnivore, our teeth show that we are “designed” to consume meat (flesh), Fish, vegetables, seeds and fruits to help us gain the nutrients our bodies need. Humans are “carbon based life forms” and need carbon / carbon dioxide to survive.
It would seem that our early human ancestors were able to find food, shelter and clothing that was available in a sustainable and renewable fashion. This didn’t appear to have had much impact of the planet but as our numbers grew, so did our need for food, shelter and clothing.
Todays humans, are a mixed bunch but mainly divided by wealth or lack of wealth. Quite lot still tend to live in a sort of renewable and sustainable way, in which modern technology has not been adapted by them. They eat what they can find and don’t kill animals for sport. They often live in “shelters” that are built from sustainable and renewable sources. We refer to these people as the “3rd World”. In principal, they don’t have much of a negative impact on the planet. However, a lot humans now live in a situation where technology is king (1st World). Electricity is the driving force that controls the modern technological world and without it we would be “back in the Dark Ages” or would be classed as 3rd world!
To maintain our lives that rely on technology, we need to find ways of producing Electricity in a renewable and sustainable fashion. Most of our electricity (in UK) is still produced by burning fossil fuels and / or Natural gas. It would appear that “Green Energy” is not providing us with the promised low cost and sustainable energy and this maybe due to “profits”.
Wind Farms ought to be a good option but don’t seem to “cut the mustard”. They need the “right sort of wind” and when they do work as intended, the National Grid doesn’t seem to be capable of making use of it and the energy produced can not be stored. This would suggest that the “Wind Farms” are not really a good solution. If they were used continuously to provide our energy needs, that would be a different story. The cost of providing a wind powered generator is verging on astronomical so it would make sense to make sure the Wind Farms are allowed to provide us with as much energy as possible. Unfortunately, we can’t control the wind and we need the right sort of wind. Wind farms might have a place but apparently not for obtaining energy in a controlled and reliable manner but we continue to build more!
Solar Farms / Panels ought to be a good option (using light from the Sun) but they only work effeciently when there is enough light, dull cloudy days are a problem. During night time they are unusable. When they are in full production mode, the National Grid can’t make full use of the energy created so to make them useful, the energy produced needs to be stored using batteries. Some of the large “solar farms” use “lead acid” batteries but the more modern batteries use Lithium (a mined Ore) and the mining of this creates a tremendous amount of pollution (not just airborne). It means we are still raping the planet and in principle damaging the planet. To get the Lithium, a huge amount of unwanted soil and rock has to be mined to get to the small amount of lithium. This mining (usually open cast) damages our wonderful planet big style, in the same way that any mining activity does. It might not produce much CO2 and other GHG but pollution like dust are not planet friendly. When we can find a way to store energy without damaging the planet, Solar Panels should be an awesome way of producing low cost and sustainable energy.
Wave Power. There are a couple of options that make use of our oceans waves and tidal flow. Waves are pretty much a constant sort of thing so using waves to generate electricity is basically a 24/7 situation where the waves produce “movement” to generate electricity. Tidal flow can also be used to generate electricity but this is usually a twice per day event so any energy produced would probably need to be stored. Using “waves” could probably provide us with most of the energy we need and would be sustainable and renewable but might need a backup for high use periods.
Water Power currently appears to be being ignored or not given much “appreciation”. Water Power prior to and during the early days of the industrial revolution was the main source of providing “Power” to Mills. It was an awesome means of “turning the wheels of industry” and is the reason many of our older industries were located on or close to rivers but seems to have become redundant. The use of “Water Turbines” made the use of “water power” more efficient but industry turned to electricity produced in other ways. See Steam along with Canals for transporting goods to allow mills to be placed away from rivers.
We could revisit Water Power by installing small “Water turbines” in our numorous fast flowing rivers. They would produce electricity 24/7 at little or no cost and wouldn’t need storage batteries. The turbines could be small and could be installed in such a way that wouldn’t cause problems with wild life. The energy would be there 24/7 and it would be fairly easy for the “National Grid ” to even out demand. It is likely that modern water turbines, in sufficient numbers, could produce more energy than we need so the “National Grid” would need to able to have a system to control the “online” and “offline” situation of the water turbines. We have an abundance of fast flowing rivers that are not affected by drought but maybe affected by freezing on a few days in the year. If the turbines are installed correctly, there shouldn’t be any negative impact on the environment and wild life. This method of providing us with our electricity requirements ought to be the main stay of electricity production. We need to unlearn and rethink with regards to generating Electricity. We are already using turbines in rivers with weirs along wih “fish ladders”. We just need more of them.
See also HydroElectric this is using big scale water turbines and is used in many parts of the world where there is a good supply of moving water and often dams.
Nuclear Power ought to be our “silver bullet” but unfortunately it relies on a mined ore (Uranium) and the mining of this produces a lot of pollution, similar to Lithium, so it isn’t a renewable and sustainable method. If we can get “cold fusion” to work, this would be a game changer.
Hydrogen Powered Generators are still in their infancy but could offer solutions to producing electricity see H-Gemie.
Geo Thermal Produced Energy can be used to produce electricity see GeoThermal Energy It is considered to be sustainable and renewable but can have some environmental issues. Its main advantage is that it does not burn fuel, it makes use of the heat in the Earths crust.
Bio-Waste uses human and sometimes animal bio waste to produce Electricity. It might not be the most efficient method but with 8+ BILLION humans and x Millions of animals producing bio waste, it looks like it could be a good option for producing a lot of our energy needs. It certainly fits in with being sustainable and renewable. See also Nano Membrane Toilet, being championed by “Gates Foundation”.
Energy in the form of electricity is not really a “basic need” in the survival of humans, it just makes life easier. We need to make sure our electricity requirements are met using renewable and sustainable methods that don’t involve damaging the planet.
I don’t hanker for camping out in the woods and attempting to survive like a caveman. The thought of having to catch and kill my food and cook it over a naked flame horrifies me. The very thought of not having an Internet connection brings me out in cold sweats. I eat, breathe and sleep computers and technology and would not be happy trying to live in a world without technology and electricity, so generating electricity in a sustainable and renewable fashion and is planet friendly is important to me, hopefully it is to you also.
Shelter / Housing is a basic need for all humans. Early humans made use of caves and temporary structures made of maybe wood and mud which would considered sustainable and renewable but due to our growing numbers, we had to find alternatives. Stone / Slate was a good option but needs mining or quarrying. Bricks was a good option but relies on the mining or quarrying of clay. To be planet friendly, we would construct our shelters / housing using sustainable and renewable materials.
Concrete was apparently invented by the Romans and they used “lava rock” and lime to make “self healing concrete“. This maybe the way to go for creating our shelters / homes but concrete isn’t seen as being “green” because its needs cement and this is produced by mining and quarrying.
Housing and shelter has and will always be a basic need but the hoax of land ownership is a stumbling block. The Earth belongs to no one and it does not have a sales office so it is impossible for anyone to legitimately buy land. With that in mind the concept of land ownership is a hoax!
We all tend to live in communities and social (or self build) housing should be the de facto standard. Unfortunately, due to the land ownership hoax, housing has become a “profit exercise” where small and large groups of people have made housing a profit potential and ignore the basic need. This means that we have a lot of homeless people and a lot of people living in poor quality housing that is poorly insulated and costly to keep warm. Housing should mainly be “social housing” and the homes should be the leaders in “eco homes”. Housing should be constructed in an planet friendly fashion using sustainable and renewable materials that cost little to keep warm and / or cool.
Food is a basic need. This a bit of a minefield similar to housing. Due to our ever increasing numbers, the availability of food for everyone is a potential problem.
In principle the food we eat is sustainable and renewable. We breed animals for food and we grow crops for food. Humans are naturally omnivores that eat vegetation, seeds and meat but the current thinking by some which is being forced upon us, is that we should only be eating vegetation and not meat. We should apparently avoid eating meat to save the planet! LOL.
Animals that humans eat are generally very efficient at converting vegetation into protein and humans (in the main) love protein. A typical beef steak is almost a complete meal that provides us with most of the nutrients our bodies need on a daily basis but eating (enough) meat free food can still provide us with most of our nutrient requirements but not all!
We don’t really have much of a problem with regards to renewable and sustainable food, we are all individuals and choose what we eat. Humans tend to thrive on a balanced diet and are omnivores. Eating Meat / Flesh is natural as is eating vegetables, seeds and fruits. In some parts of the world, they only get to eating frozen “raw flesh” and rarely get to eat vegetables but they survive and thrive.
People that don’t eat meat to “save the planet” are maybe not free thinkers and are easily duped!
People that don’t eat vegetables miss out on the wonderful source of food. Vegetables provide us with so many nutrients, it beggars belief that some people refuse to eat vegetables. Being a vegetarian that also eat meat is the very best option. A well balanced diet to get all the nutrients our bodies need is the purpose of eating food, if t tastes nice that is a bonus 🙂
Unfortunately, humans now count 8+ BILLION and we all need feeding. The land that we have available for animals to graze and for us to plant crops is reducing because of our need for housing. This means we need to strike a balance in the way we use available land. Having huge areas of land for grazing is a potential problem. Having huge areas of land to grow crops is a potential problem. Having huge areas of land for housing is a potential problem. In principle we need to make the use of our lands more efficient and get the balance right. With regards to growing crops, it seems that we can use hydroponics and “vertical farming” to grow “Microgreens“. Many plants that we eat are more nutritious at the “sprouting stage” compared to the fully grown stage so we need to take this onboard. We need to look after our farmers and give them our support. Without farmers we would all go hungry. To satisfy our nutritional needs, we need a balanced diet so we need dairy farmers, arable farmers and livestock farmers to give us a balanced diet that provides us with the nutrients we need to keep us healthy. Having a diet that contains a high proportion of fish has been found to be beneficial to a lot of people, so our fishermen are also people that we need to look after. We perhaps need to be looking at our oceans to provide food including seaweed. This is something that we need to look at.
With regards to food, humans are naturally omnivores because this is how we obtain the nutrients our bodies need. People that chose to be vegan or vegetarian make a choice and that is absolutely fine as long as they don’t try to enforce their choice on others, we are all naturally omnivores. The current situation of having 8+ Billion humans that need feeding is potentially going to be a big problem. Food may become something that is anything that you can obtain and eat may become a “profit potential” where food becomes a currency. We might be forced into eating insects or even laboratory grown meat. We could probably survive by only eating crops that we grow along with making more use of seaweed (algae) harvested from the oceans but generally speaking eating meat / flesh and fish is natural and is sustainable and renewable.
Clothing is usually seen as a basic need. (in the 1st world) Apparently nettles can be used to make a fibres / clothing but would this mean that we would have to use our lands to grow nettles instead of vegetables and other crops? We could stop eating beef / red meat and then have to find an alternative to leather for clothing etc. We could stop eating sheep which would impact our wool supplies but we could rely of the Petro – Chemical industries that use Oil to produce synthetic fibres to make clothing. We could stop eating pigs and that would be the end of the world, no bacon! We could stop eating “poultry” and eggs. Imagine a world where we don’t have duck down or feathers to make our duvets and no eggs to make dippy eggs and toasted soldiers 🙂
Vegetation is already used successfully to make fabrics, Bamboo is fast becoming an important source for fabrics. Soft and comfortable clothing can be made from Bamboo but unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be hard wearing .
The biggest problem is probably over-population. Humans have become parasites that consume the Earths resources and cause untold damage to the planet by mining and other activities. However the Earths constant movement of the tectonic plates, Earthquakes and Volcanoes also do untold damage to the planet, from a human perspective! From the Earths perspective, these are just maintenance events that maybe keep the planet in balance. At the risk of repetition, the Earth is one of many planets in our Milky Way Galaxy and there are apparently Billions of Galaxies in our universe. Humans have no control over cosmic events and influences. Looking at the big picture, humans are akin to fleas on a dog that cause a lot of itching and discomfort but ultimately have no control over cosmic events.
The one thing that appears to be constant in our Galaxy and Universe is Gravity and this appears to be the controlling factor, with regards to cosmic events but doesn’t seem to control the parasitical activities of humans. Not all humans are parasites, many try to live lives in harmony with the planet in a sustainable and renewable fashion but we have a lot of human parasites that are only interested in profits and they are not interested in the health of the planet or the well being of fellow humans.
Living our lives in a sustainable and renewable fashion is the only way forward. Humans are supposed to be more intelligent than animals. However, Animals don’t kill other animals for sport, they only kill to eat and survive. Animals don’t mine and use the Earths resources. Animals live in harmony with the planet in a sustainable and renewable fashion. We (humans) might need to re-evaluate our intelligence rating!