How much longer can we 'overshoot'?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Our population is consuming about 30% more trees, fish and fossil fuels than the planet can regenerate. How big a hole can we dig before we can't get out of it? Kai Ryssdal talks with Jared Diamond, a geography professor at UCLA.

KAI RYSSDAL: There's a technical term for what we're doing as we eat, shop, drive and go about our daily lives. The word is "overshoot" -- when a population uses up resources faster than they can be replaced.

Today, we're consuming about 30 percent more trees, fish and fossil fuels than the planet can regenerate. We can run a deficit like this for a little while, but there are limits to how big a hole we can dig before it gets too deep to get out of.

To help understand those limits we spoke with Jared Diamond. He's a professor of geography at the University of California, Los Angeles. You might know him better though his books -- Collapse, among others. When we talked, I asked him whether we've overshot our resources already:

Jared Diamond: Of course we are in overshoot and everybody knows that we are in overshoot -- and we are overshooting the things that people talk most about. First thing we're running out of is oil, and everybody knows it. Second thing we're running out of is water. Something like 70 percent of the fresh water in the world is already utilized. Topsoil -- we're exploiting it and it's running off into the ocean. We've already exhausted something like maybe half of the topsoil that was originally in the Great Plains. And then fish and forests...

You can listen to the entire interview here:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display...consumed1_pm_3/

[natty bumppo 297]

Our population is consuming about 30% more trees, fish and fossil fuels than the planet can regenerate. How big a hole can we dig before we can't get out of it? Kai Ryssdal talks with Jared Diamond, a geography professor at UCLA.

KAI RYSSDAL: There's a technical term for what we're doing as we eat, shop, drive and go about our daily lives. The word is "overshoot" -- when a population uses up resources faster than they can be replaced.

Today, we're consuming about 30 percent more trees, fish and fossil fuels than the planet can regenerate. We can run a deficit like this for a little while, but there are limits to how big a hole we can dig before it gets too deep to get out of.

To help understand those limits we spoke with Jared Diamond. He's a professor of geography at the University of California, Los Angeles. You might know him better though his books -- Collapse, among others. When we talked, I asked him whether we've overshot our resources already:

Jared Diamond: Of course we are in overshoot and everybody knows that we are in overshoot -- and we are overshooting the things that people talk most about. First thing we're running out of is oil, and everybody knows it. Second thing we're running out of is water. Something like 70 percent of the fresh water in the world is already utilized. Topsoil -- we're exploiting it and it's running off into the ocean. We've already exhausted something like maybe half of the topsoil that was originally in the Great Plains. And then fish and forests...

You can listen to the entire interview here:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display...consumed1_pm_3/

Overshoot ... so that's where illegals come from .... too many people

Edited November 9, 2007 by Natty Bumppo

[Nagishkaw 510]

Isn't that a Paul McCartney song ?

[natty bumppo 297]

Isn't that a Paul McCartney song ?

Oh Nagi ...

[Nagishkaw 510]

Oh Natty !

[natty bumppo 297]

Nagi ... we are so bad

[Nagishkaw 510]

And we have to stop meeting like this.

[natty bumppo 297]

And we have to stop meeting like this.

I know ... and I can't help myself .... Steven will be jealous ... we are using his thread

[one...two...tree 2,762]

And we have to stop meeting like this.

I know ... and I can't help myself .... Steven will be jealous ... we are using his thread

Your secret's safe with me.

[Nagishkaw 510]

I trust you, Steven. Thanks.

[♥JP♥ 5]

I need cold hard cash to keep this secret to myself or a donut.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I trust you, Steven. Thanks.

Thanks, Nagi...and you know it doesn't come cheap...

Paypal account #654321

Be sure to make it to Steven McGuillicutty and we don't accept dollars amounts less than $100.

[Nagishkaw 510]

[♥JP♥ 5]

how do you think he pays for those fancypants?

[natty bumppo 297]

I trust you, Steven. Thanks.

Thanks, Nagi...and you know it doesn't come cheap...

Paypal account #654321

Be sure to make it to Steven McGuillicutty and we don't accept dollars amounts less than $100.

Steven ... the hotel pictures you made...

Time we talk ?

Edited November 10, 2007 by Natty Bumppo